Indigoskye Bead Fashions

The last of my spring shows have concluded and I am now home for the next six weeks or so to manufacture new jewelry items for my booth. It has been lovely to have time to enjoy a soda on my garden patio and to play with my dog, not to mention putter in my garden. It is also pleasant to find time to do a few cooking sessions and fill my freezer with wonderful dishes that will keep my family fed in style for the next few months.

My newest purchase for the studio is a jeweler’s bench. It is a used one from a retiring jeweler. It is banged up and needs a bit of sanding, otherwise it is sturdy, of the right height and has a nice pull out catch drawer for silver shavings. I haven’t figured out where to put it yet, but I’m hoping to get it moved into my studio sometime in the next week or so. I’ve also purchased new zippered walls for my booth, a new rolling canopy bag and am shopping for photo lights so that I can set up an area to shoot my jewelry more easily. I am so far behind on photographing my work it isn’t funny.

My Advanced Colored Stones class ended last week. I got an A on my lab final where I had to identify 20 stones and I’m waiting to learn what I scored on the written final. I’m glad that I started back to college last Fall. I’ve learned so much about the jewelry profession and about the raw materials that I work with every day. I have more to share with my customers about stones and it has made me a better buyer now that I’m more aware of stone treatments and where stones come from. There is still much to learn before I can start offering appraisal services to my customers. I’m looking forward to continuing my education.

First off, I’d like to apologize for not keeping up with my blog on this website.  2009 has been a very busy year for me.  As a thoughtful Christmas gift, my husband gave me a new fancy computer and in my efforts to transfer all my software and files, I lost track of the time.  I’m using a new HTML writer to update my website and the learning curve in using it has been interesting.  While I don’t consider myself to be a computer wiz by any means, at least I’m starting to feel comfortable on the net once again.

2009 has seen many changes in my jewelry lines.  I am starting to have a distinct celtic flare to my work as of late due to the number of celtic festivals that I will be attending this year.  The Highland Games have proven to be great fun for me as I sell my unique jewelry and learn more about my scottish roots.  I have new scottish themed jewelry for this year including handmade scottish terrier earrings, celtic crosses and cute sterling bracelets featuring pressed glass celtic beads.

I have also returned to college this past fall.  I am currently studying to gain a certificate in gemology and hope to add jewelry appraisal to my “bag of tricks” that I can offer to my customers.  So far I have taken two semesters in Colored Stones and a class on Pearls.  I hope to take Diamond Grading this coming fall.  Going back to college has been a complete joy for me.  I am meeting many interesting people in the gem trade and learning that there is far more to buying stones than I had imagined.  My new buying skills will result in better quality stones for my jewelry in the upcoming years and I’m very glad for the knowledge that I’ve gained.

My friend Cyndi Lavin recently put our ocean necklace up for sale on eBay.  The proceeds will go to cancer research and the winner will have a tax deduction for their purchase.  This is the ocean necklace from “A Charmed Life” that is currently on display in Belle Armoire magazine.

Please stop by the listing on eBay and place a bid.

Whew! I think that 2006 had to be my busiest year in business to date. I did far more venues than I’m used to and was happy to see most of my jewelry find new homes with my customers. What I have left I’m going to be photographing and popping up into my esty store which can be found at the link in the topbar of this blog. My art prints are available there as well.

2007 is going to be the year of changes for my jewelery business. I’m going to continue to do many of the new venues that I started this past year and I’ve earmarked one or two new venues to add to my schedule this year that should be plenty of fun. You’ll be able to see where my booth will be in the “event” section of my blog. Just press on the link and all the shows will be listed as they approach on the calendar. Venues for 2007 will start to be listed there as my confirmations come in.

Another change this year is that I’m currently in the process of setting up a new area in my studio to do metalsmithing. While I don’t expect to have anything of a gallery quality to showcase this year, I am hoping to have sterling and stone rings, pendants and earrings to add to my usual wire wrapped work possibly in late spring. I’ve been growing fascinated with hot metal and all the fun things that you can do to it with a torch. I’m not sure where my inner muse will take me, but it is going to be an adventure.