Jewelry making madness...

Happy Holidays all -

I am busy at work on my Spring collections, using the time off for the holiday from my "real" job to order supplies and madly work my fingers to the bone on new stuff. Look for pics of developing pieces this weekend as I finish up the necklace for the copper/amazonite pendant I'd previously posted and begin on new things.

Alternative metals are big for me this year - cooper, brass and stainless steel in addition to my loves: sterling silver and 14kt gold fill.

Check back in with me soon.
-Leah :-)

First Etsy Treasury

Hi All:

I had my first Etsy Treasury - which ended up being a lot of fun. A Treasury is a way to do a little window shopping, but share your window shopping with others.

I picked a copper/orange and turquoise color scheme and found a ton of really amazing work from all kinds of artists: furniture, jewelry, paintings, photos, purses, cards, soap, frames...

I had to take the link off here...because the Treasuries only last about 2 days.

Thanks to everyone who commented and thanks to the fabulous artists who created all the works of art.

-Leah :-)

Winter Break plans...

Hi All:

So this is my last week of class before my Winter Break...thank goodness, need a break to refresh and whatnot. Plus, that gives me 2 and a half weeks to work on new stuff for Reyna Red and Wind Dancer - which leads me to my run down of purchases this weekend. Heavy gauge copper, brass and steel wire...hammer and still on the lookout for a steel block.

Designs are running around in my mind...should be good. I'll be posting throughout my design process. But FIRST...I'm having a Holiday Clearance on my Etsy page, beginning December 20th.

Check it out here - http://www,winddancerdesigns,etsy.com

-Leah :-)

New project - Reyna Red

Hi all -

Thought I would post some pics of something I am working on. It's a two strand collar necklace with a elaborate wire-wrapped pendant. The pendant is done...sometimes I work backwards.

Here are pics - will post more as the piece evolves.

-Leah :-)

Reyna Red design featured in Etsy Treasury!

Hi All -

I LOVE these! They make my day.

One of my cloisonne necklaces was used in a Treasury on Etsy!

http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=26340

-Leah :-)

De-cluttering

Hi All:

So, since it's about that time to go into my corner and create, create, create...I thought I would give you a peek into my little world...my wee corner of the universe so to speak.

[It's actually not as cluttered as it is sometimes]

Please excuse the mess as I get to de-cluttering in my prep for designing a new Spring collection for Wind Dancer and adding some more kitsch to Reyna Red's Valentine collection. Still experimenting with Tensha and appliques, spray paint and laquers...we'll see what emerges from the workshop. Hopefully nothing will blow up. haha. Kidding.


-Leah :-)

In the Hot Seat - Etsy Critiques on the Fly

Hi All:

Well I made it into the hot seat this afternoon...took a long lunch and clicked just at the right time and ended up with some great feedback from the lovely admins at Etsy. The items they focused on were:

- Changing my avatar to something other than a pic of me - suggestions to change to close up of striking piece.

- The addition of actual international shipping rates, rather than my "email me!" version.

- And to shorten my shop announcement as I tend to be a bit wordy...well that's apparently fabulous in my descriptions...but not so much on the front page.

- Using Live models - this is going to be tricky...just moved to the Midwest, where I don't really know anyone. Will work on it though.

So since it's slow today at my day job...all those things except the live models have been done. Thanks to the ladies for their time and ideas, I really appreciate it.

And I thought I would post some pics - show some of my flavor and whatnot...

Pic of my packaging - keeping it simple for Reyna Red

-Leah :-)

Rumblings in my mind...

Hi All:

So...The holiday season of shopping, wrapping and shipping like mad is starting to wind down and now is about the time that I begin to putter around again in my studio, doodling on junk mail envelopes, randomly writing down ideas in school notebooks for new collections for Spring.

I have a kitschy collection for Valentine's Day already in the works...jumped the gun a bit there. Several preview pieces are available on my Etsy: http://windddancerdesigns.etsy.com/ and more to come. That's on the Reyna Red side of the fence....

Still pondering something new for Wind Dancer. Have been experimenting with military knots using precious metal wire and leather...still in the drawing board phase...but the samples have some real interesting texture. And am thinking to expand the wampum bracelets and maybe add some light weight earrings....hmmm....where's that envelope?

But now off I go to my day job that keeps me in bead strands and pretty sparkly things...

-Leah :-)

Feedback from my fellow Etsians

Hi all -

This morning I got up on the wrong side of 7am to participate in a feedback session on the fly...oi, the need for coffee was great and since I didn't hear the husband alarm clock of, "psst...honey, wake up. psst!" I had about 10 minutes to pry open my eyes and turn on my laptop before diving into constructive criticism from my peers on Etsy.

Turns out the host never showed up...but I think the small group that made it in at o-dark hundred (what can I say, I am not a morning person anymore), definitely gave me some good feedback and ideas. It looks as though I may be splitting the siblings (Wind Dancer and Reyna Red) up into 2 separate Etsy stores...oi, the amount of time I spend updating all my sites...the thought of adding yet another one is rather daunting. What's sleep again?

But I am still thinking on that. If you have the inclination to have a peek and give me your feedback, thoughts or peanut gallery input on whether the "kids" should be separated and sent to their respective corners of cyber space...drop me a line.

-Leah :-)

Hi fellow Bloggers!

Hi there...this is my first foray into the land of design blogging. I don't consider myself much of a marketing person, I prefer to sit in my corner (studio) and madly create until I can't feel my fingers and my eyes begin to cross. But those who have my best interests at heart, have poked, prodded and generally nudged me with sticks to get me out of my little corner and into the world of blogging.

So here I go out into the void...please be kind and give me directions when I stop to say hello...my navigation skills are not always so good.

Please check out my store on Etsy at: http://winddancerdesigns.etsy.com

-Leah :-)