Wrapping up this Year's Etsy Life Cycle

Procurement, production, photography, product listing, promotion, packing orders--the Etsy business cycle. It's been keeping me plenty busy as the year winds down.

During my hiatus related to my parents' aging and passing, I lost a lot of momentum in regards to my shop. The time spent with Dad and Mom was so important and so full of blessings. that I have absolutely no regrets.

It's taking a lot of time and effort, but slowly and surely I am regaining my footing and online confidence again. I'm hoping that my sense of humor returns soon, too.

Over the next several posts I'll get you caught up with some of the things that have been in the works. In this post there are some wraps in holiday photos.

The shawl in the Old Shale stitch variation was finished. I decided on a different gift for the redhead, so I put the shawl in my shop. This is how it looks when worn as a scarf:

The Candlelight Shawl in Alpaca and Merino

It's so unbelievably soft and luxurious that it was tempting to keep it, but alas, not the perfect colorway for my skin tone.

Here are some product photos that were re-shot in order to have a little Christmas spirit in the shop:

Chevron Scarf in Sangria Colors - Hand-spun and Commercial Wool

Salsa Fever Shawl - Dropped Stitch Shawl or Oversized Scarf

It's been fun to make the shop a little festive for the season. These photos were fun to take.

Crochet-Covered Stones

Honestly, I have never done this, but it looks so cool--yarn bombing river stones with pretty crochet. Check out these rocking specimens from Etsy!

Red Crocheted Lace Stone by KnotByThreadAlone

Cactus Crochet-Covered Stone by TableTopJewels

Blue Flowers Crochet River Rock by KnotKnotShop

Lace Stone Pebble Beach by astash

Crochet Lace Stone with Curlicues by Laughingneedle

Crochet Lace Flower Stone by Monicaj

Pretty Posie Crochet Lace Stone by Laughingneedle

Tribal Crochet Stone by KnotByThreadAlone

Wouldn't this be fun?  What if all of us who crocheted made a few and left them lying around in the city or on the beach for people to discover. It would probably brighten their day!

Crocheted Linen Lacy Stone by LineStudioRG

And if you don't crochet, you might consider a purchase from one of these talented sellers on Etsy. Then keep the stone yourself, or leave it somewhere.

Fashion Tapas: Late 20's Style Cloche

Ms. Gish Crochet Cloche by KnotChaCha

It’s a cloche with a tiny flare at the bottom. Just enough of a flare to still call it a cloche. Anything less and you’d have to call it a beanie. The crown is a solid charcoal wool and as the hat swoops down toward the tiny flip of a brim charcoal and black wool alternate in a spiral stripe that ends in a black edge. A vertical row of simple buttons decorates one side.

With this low profile cloche you could picture yourself in the late 1920s, a time when in fashion and actions women had been making statements all decade about their independence and worth.

As the decade of the twenties wound to a close, "talkies" were replacing silent films and Ms. Gish’s acting career was slowing down. By 1929, the cloche hat had evolved so that it only had the tiniest of brims—similar to what you see on this hat. Ms. Gish did not appear on screen during that year. I’d like to think that while she was not working she might have crocheted a hat like this for herself or a friend.

Mrs. Chaplin's Cloche

Valerie is so excited to be back home modeling hats again, and loves to show off this new design of mine:

The classically-shaped two-color cloche has a brim that can be worn down or turned up on one side. A simple button-flower decorates one side:

This hat design will be produced in two sizes. The smaller size (women's Sm/Med) will work best for head circumferences 21-22 inches and the larger size (women's Med/Lg) for a 22-23 inch measurement. I'll be listing some in the shop by this weekend. Be sure to stop by and see some of the color combinations. The one featured here is in burnt orange and plum.

Hi-Tech, Gun-Totin' Crochet

A recent discovery is this excellent blog by Inger Carina Bergholm Sundén. She crochets the most amazing things. If you are a crochet or a knitting enthusiast, you might want to follow her blog: Hello Craft Lovers!

Three of my favorite crocheted items from Inger are her crocheted USB memory stick cover, the crocheted IPad cozy, and starched crochet guns.

Outfitting the Urban Bird

Artist Laurel Roth's pigeon couture includes this sensational outfit called "Carolina Parakeet". It's part of a set called "Biodiversity Reclamation Suits for Urban Pigeons".  Read the article "Pigeons in Costume" by Chris Burns for more information about the crocheted set and the artist.

The Flowers of Mae: Wire Crochet Splendor

Charming Mae Barraclough teaches and works at the bead shop where I occasionally teach classes.  It was her Rose City Cuff that first grabbed my attention and convinced me to feature her here. Be prepared to be impressed.

The organic beauty of Mae's work with wire crochet will, as they once said in the sixties, blow your mind! Her designs evoke the splendor of flowers frozen in time, and many of her designs remind me of the intricate ironwork in Barcelona, Spain. Her work inspires you to imagine yourself in some exotic locale such as that, perhaps while sipping red wine as you picnic at Park Guell and gaze over the city.

Rose City Cuff

Tell us a bit about yourself: who you are and who you want to be.

I am a 24-year-old jewelry artist who moved to Portland in September 2010 from my hometown of Ashland, Oregon in order to pursue art and a dream to build a thriving business based on my jewelry designs that eventually expands into a bead store and gallery/studio space.

Currently, my work is for sale at several boutiques throughout Oregon as well as on Etsy. I also love teaching and am right now in the process of writing up many of my designs into patterns to be shared with fellow beaders through my blog.

Light Heart*

How has your career path led you to being a jewelry designer?

I have been obsessed with beads and jewelry making forever. I started selling designs to friends and family as a teenager mainly to justify buying more beads! Throughout college, work at the Bead Studio in Ashland was where I really began to push myself to become a jewelry artist and a professional beader, honing my skills and teaching classes in a variety of beading techniques.

I was a resident artist for one year at an Ashland gallery called Studio 5 and then became a studio artist at the Ashland Art Center until the recent move to Portland. I'm now pursuing my business full-time while teaching classes and working part-time at Dava Bead, where I get to hang out with a wonderful group of fellow artists.

Passionflower ensemble

Your Etsy store has some sensational wire crochet pieces. How did you get started working with wire crochet? What inspired you to focus on this area?

An avid crocheter and beader since childhood, I realized several years ago that the two techniques could be merged. It has since become my absolute favorite jewelry-making technique. I love how the classic stitches of crochet can be combined to build virtually any shape. Never content to work from patterns, I have developed my own techniques over the years through much experimentation. I consider my techniques and designs to be on the cutting edge of both beading and crocheting.

Greenwoods Go-Go

How does the process of creating a new design begin for you? What are your methods of visualization?

It varies from day to day, project to project. Sometimes I start in the three-dimensional realm by playing with materials and making it up as I go along. Other times, I start two-dimensionally by sketching many divergent designs and formulating a loose plan before beginning.


Do you have a special creative routine when you are designing or making a project, like listening to your favorite music or working in a special spot?

The spare bedroom of my house has been converted into a cozy little studio. It has become a private retreat from the hectic outside world where I can hole up and focus on creative pursuits. The work desk is set up right next to the window in order to take advantage of the natural light and be inspired
by the microcosm of nature that is my backyard.

La Dorada

What other types of handwork interest you?

I love knitting and crocheting with yarn as well as wire. I also enjoy paper crafts and I'm very interested in learning to draw, paint, and sculpt.


What do you do when you are feeling "stuck" creatively?  What helps you get back into the creative mode?

When I'm feeling stuck, I usually change gears completely for a while until the creative urge strikes again. It helps to go out into nature or do something physical like dancing. Sometimes I'll also pull out various materials and play around with them until a new idea begins to form. I also like to study jewelry of various cultures, both ancient and modern, and think about how various constructions would look in crocheted wire! Etruscan, ancient Roman, and ancient Egyptian jewelry styles are especially fascinating.

La Dorada 

What are you planning for the coming year that most excites you?

Another beading passion is off-loom beadweaving. I'm currently writing up patterns and creating kits for several beadweaving designs to be sold online through my Etsy shop. This will be my first foray into retailing beads themselves rather than finished jewelry, and it's very exciting as I've had a dream since childhood of opening my own bead store.


What is something you think people would be surprised to know about you?

My educational background is actually in biology and psychology. For most of college,  I wanted to go to grad school and become a therapist.  I dropped out after four years of full time study due to some financial and personal difficulties.

After much soul-searching, I have decided to return to school at Portland State University this coming Fall to pursue a different path: art and business. I didn't study either of these disciplines before because I have had a hard time taking myself seriously as either an artist or a business person.

Through much proactive effort, I have learned how to give myself permission to follow a dream of being an artist. Still with a strong desire to help people, I'm excited to explore how I can integrate this passion with my art and business in the future.

Lily Pad Deluxe

What advice do you have for someone who wants to learn wire crochet?

First get comfortable with crocheting with yarn. It's easier on the hands to learn how crochet works with yarn, since it's a lot softer and easier to manipulate. Once you have mastered the basics, get some metal crochet hooks and 28 gauge craft wire and start playing. How do different sizes of hooks affect the look of your work? What unique shapes can you make with standard crochet stitches? Look at granny squares crocheted from yarn and see if you can reproduce the designs in wire.


Do you have any advice for aspiring jewelry artists in general?

Spend time getting to know your artistic self and developing a clear vision of what is unique about your art.

Discover what truly inspires you through experimentation and let intuition be your guide. What materials feel right in your hands? What colors images, themes, and textures speak to your heart?

Be yourself, nothing less and nothing more, as big as you want to be, and others will resonate with the purity of your expression.

Stop by Mae's website and visit her online store for more of her work and friend her on her Facebook page, LMB Jewelry.

*Mae's piece, Light Heart, will be competing in Bead Dreams at this year's Bead and Button show. Wish her the best of luck in the competition!

Dance and Knit or Crochet

Wow! Now this is my kind of event: a tea dance at a venue with a "great big shiny dance floor", a DJ playing music from the 20s, 30s, 40, & 50s, and a "knitting, crochet, and craft corner." You can read the announcement over at the Artyarn blog.

Leave it to the Brits to come up with an event featuring such a marvelous combination! If it were close by, Mr. Cha Cha and I would surely go. I could take both my dance shoes and a knitting project!

So, what would one where to this tea dance that has a craft corner? Something both crafty-fashionable and danceable. Something like one of the artsy, sexy items below would be just perfect.

Recycled crochet doilies dress are really hot right now:

Recycled Doilie Dress by thewindowlady

Cocoon Crochet Dress (Reserved for Martha) by Ruby Pearl

I'm not sure you could easily dance in it, but this crochet tunic is pretty sexy:

Irish Lace Tunic by FlyingcowBG

How about this not-only-for-weddings dress:

Peach Wedding Dress by subrosa123

Or, if you want to crochet your own very danceable dress, check out this Lily Chin pattern available through the Interweave store.
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Yam Blossom Special

Yummy yammy color on my new blossoming scarf for fall:

More photos and info

Flowers on the Bias Scarf

Who said you couldn't wear flowers in the fall? This crocheted raspberry scarf has a bunch of them on both edges of both ends and on both sides. The patch of wild flowers outside my window inspired me.

Flirty Little Lynx Scarf

It's crunch time. Fall and winter swiftly approach. Customers will need hats, scarves, and neckwarmers, so my fingers have been busy.

I've been producing some lighter-weight crocheted scarves for Fall. This soft and drapey one is in the colors of a lynx.

A New Take on Thread Crochet

I've been working on a series of thread crocheted scaves. Here's one I distressed to make a raggedy texture:

There is more to come...stay tuned.


*****

Finished! Blue & Grey Accessories

Finally, a new batch of goods is finished--my little fingers have been busy!

The two purses have been unfinished objects for a long while now. It seems like purses always languish the longest in WIP (work in progress) because they require so much hand finishing work.

The denim blue hued Shag Bag is so named because it reminded me of all those ugly carpets back in the day. The purse is not ugly, though. It is super fun and has a sturdy padded lining of blue cotton batik. It feels like you're carrying a purse pet. The beaded-bead embellishments on the strap were crocheted around the hand-made cord to finish off the place where the cord ends were joined.

The silver Press Play Purse is crocheted from a double strand of thin cotton/viscose cordé. This close-up shows the cool button that looks like a stylized play symbol.  It was a perfect find for this bag. This bag has a silver lining. (Okay, it's really dark grey.)

How about a lovely bracelet to complement your new purse?

This bracelet has beautiful steel blue beads and a spiral of sterling silver beads for an accent. The magnetic closure is a very strong super magnet that make the bracelet secure, yet easy to put on and take off.

To top everything off, add a flirty scarf:

This drapey scarf was crocheted out of multiple strands. One fat strand is rayon in a pretty silvery blue. The second two strands are pink raw silk. One is teeny and one is thicker with luscious pink slubs. A final strand, half cotton and half rayon in a darker blue, add to the visual depth of color. Here's a close up:

There is so much more in queue to be completed. I'd better get busy!

Crochet on the Brain

The brain of a baby girl?

A very sweet friend gave me a most thoughtful gift for my birthday that consisted of several treasures.

First of all, this box of incredible thread made in France and a pamphlet of delicate crochet edging patterns:



This is very exciting because some of the patterns are for hairpin lace edging, and I just recently acquired a small hairpin lace tool.



The cotton is of the most amazing quality. It's so crisp that it almost seems like linen. If there are any crocheters out there who can date the thread by its box, for sure let me know in the comments below.


This is the treasure that you glimpsed in the first photo. It's a hot pad crocheted by someone named Marie. It is a series of raised ruffles crocheted onto a grid of filet crochet.

Here is a close-up of the front:



And one of the back:


This is a fascinating piece of work using a technique I had not seen before. A 15-minute online search finally brought me to a similar, but a simpler pattern. The difference, if you want to try to make one, it that the pattern at the Craft Yarn Council site has a grid of 11 by 11 and is worked in rug yarn. This beauty in the photo has a grid of 19 by 19, and it's worked in either size 5 or size 10 cotton.

Isn't it lovely?

Sweet Tart Scarf, Berry Cobbler Cowl, and Friend

First, an apology for not blogging as frequently this past month. Things in the studio have gotten intense in preparation for the holiday season on Etsy.

Valerie and I have been working hard to get things finished, priced, photographed, described, tagged, and listed on Etsy. Valerie's part is fairly easy. She just needs to sit around and look pretty while wearing things.

Well, that's not entirely true. She keeps me company and tells good jokes to keep me amused while I work.




Right now some things, like the items in this post, have had their photos taken and await descriptions to be written. I should also credit Valerie here for always having good suggestions about the written copy for product descriptions and being so good at coming up with names for things.

The first scarf is the Sweet Tart Scarf, so named because its colors are reminiscent of those yummy tart candies.

The second item is the Berry Cobbler Cowl. (You saw the commerical eyelash yarn and my hand-spun yarn in the last post.)




Valerie really loved wearing this one because it's so soft and cushy.



The cowl is long enough to wrap around your neck twice for extra warmth.

The final item doesn't have a clever name yet. Neither Valerie nor I can think of a good one because we are almost brain dead right now. It's crocheted from my lavender hand spun.


If you have a name suggestion, we'd love to hear it!