Long days....

Long days behind, long days ahead.

I know, I've been neglecting my blog again. Can't blame me much; since Dad died, it's been a mess - literally as well as figuratively.

The winter found us packing his things for storage in the barn, which was not a fun task.
The winter found us realizing there was definitely something missing at Christmas.
The winter found us working harder to stop the hurt.

... It mostly worked.

It's not so raw, at least for me, now.

One thing that did help me while away hours I might have spend moping was creating. I placed an order for Valentine's Day stuff and St. Patrick's Day stuff.
.. It came the day after Valentines Day. Oops.

No worries! I got the St. Patrick's Day stuff done early enough - which featured the debut of a new line.
That's right. Dream Weaver now does RINGS.

I'm still a bit of a beginner, but, yes, I can do rings now. The first one was posted with the other St. Patty's Day things - the Lucky Clover set - listed separately.

Here is the Lucky Clover Ring.


Here is the Lucky Clover Bracelet to go with it...


Here is the Lucky Clover Pendant...


And finally the Lucky Clover Earrings.

I also decided to be adventurous.

I created an Artfire Studio to see how I do there. So now, DreamWeaverJewelry is now on Artfire.

Only a handful of things up right now, but one of them is the Spiral Bridal Set I was working on last year. I debut my sister, Cathy, as the lovely bride model for this set - and plan to offer a complimenting bridal party set that will feature the spirals, but with fewer. The bride has to stand out, after all!

The bride's set is priced so she won't break the bank and wind up spending as much or more than she did on her dress! The bridal party's sets (Bridesmaids and Maid/Matron of Honor sets will be different) will also be priced so her attendants won't break the bank either.

I will also be offering all of these things as packages for those brides who gift their attendants with the jewelry.

I know from personal experience how hard it is to find jewelry to 1. match the dress, 2. compliment the bride's set, and 3. DO BOTH. When Cathy was married, my other sister and I searched quite a few places, and we couldn't do ANY OF IT ... unless we had things custom done... which would have cost more than the WEDDING.

So I decided to offer to do a little of both.

This may be the first one I have geared directly towards a bride, but any of my work can be worn for bridal - and this won't be the LAST bridal set I'll offer, for sure. I have other ideas!

But it DOES take time to make ideas into jewelry... As I learned quickly while hand-tooling those spirals. The first ones were not uniform, the wire crimped on me, I swore an awful lot, tried again, and after many many MANY hours, I started making spirals that were uniform, got the hang of it, and the earrings were the first, and easiest. The bracelet was a longer time in forming, since the spiral had to be uniform on both sides AND fit the crystal in the center, and by the time I made the necklace, it wasn't so hard anymore. I'm pleased, but not TOTALLY satisfied with the outcome. But then, I'm an artist. I never WILL be.

I also found, through Facebook, a site that I decided to throw my hand in, and leave things to fate. I found Heartsy.me.

On this site, deals and discounts are offered, and I've read good things about it from other Estyans, other sellers, and buyers both.

To be considered as a feature, you must get 30 votes in a 72 hour period on your link. Mine is here. Before even 12 hours had passed, I got my 30, so I'm being considered now for a featured deal. I am hoping that this will lead to a few sales; I'm waiting now to hear back. I am hoping this will bring new clicks, customers, and more sales!

In the meantime, go check them out - sign up, get deals of your own, buying OR selling. There are some BEAUTIFUL things there, and I lost a couple of hours last night clicking through things and voting.

For now, I have work to do. On my Facebook, I have promised new spring colors, and since those colors are waiting for me, I should attend to them. I did get two new colors in of the butterflies I'm so fond of, so I need to make them into the cascades, and possibly a ring or two. So I'm off to do that.

Thanks everyone for reading!

Dreams, Hopes, Death, and Aftermath.

During my last post, I did not mention that my father had been battling Lung Cancer, diagnosed around Thanksgiving of 2009.

On July 16, 2010, he lost that battle.

We had hoped that, since he was doing so incredibly on his treatment, that would not come to pass. Unfortunately, in some kind of freaky reaction, a cancer nearly in remission attacked, faster than even his doctors could believe possible. Within a month after stopping Chemo to start a pill form of treatment, he was gone.

Since then, I have tripled my efforts to get word out about my work, and started research on how I can donate a portion of my sales to cancer research and cancer charities. Considering that the few sales I get, this is saying something, however, as since opening my Etsy shop, I have had only 6 peices sell, 3 of them to personal friends.

However, I am also hoping to bring my work to a local flea market - For those of you in the Savannah, Georgia area, I want to try to get space at Keller's - this holiday season. With any luck, this will give me sales from holiday shoppers, and with more luck, I can not only cover things I need to, but also be able to start sending to charities with the start of 2011.

With that said, I have been working like mad to stock at least 2 bracelets each of every color I have (37 in all; 12 birthstones, 25 others) with a pair of 1-2-3 drop earrings to match every one of them. I have brought out a new line with my niece's help. Beth and I came up with the Dizzy Drop one afternoon over fondue... and now that is part of my line. I am working right now on Breast Cancer Awareness items to celebrate Breast Cancer Awareness Month this month (after a delay in some supplies). I have made Lung Cancer Awareness pins for my family, with more to do, and would love to spread those as well, hoping to get an order for some of those and the Breast Cancer pins for a local hospital, if I can. The World of Warcraft phone tags are done - one set each only right now - and can be viewed here. Not all of them are photographed right now, but I'm working on that. I also have been poking at bridal work, and have one set up on my Facebook page too, currently in the Sets section.

I am trying to spread the word of my work further than ever, working on my Facebook Page and also posting my work on deviantArt, where I'd had an account for some time, but never thought to post my jewelry until recently.

So I work, and keep plugging away, and with luck, manage to do better, not just for myself, but for those who honor those who fight cancer, past, present and future.