Tools for the Etsy Community

I stumbled on this website that has some pretty cool feature to help with your Etsy store...if you happen to have one. cr8tivity.com
I like the scrolling side bar widget:

Latest Color Chart

I have been working for the past year to develop a color chart of my own speical blended colors. I took the time to Photoshop color swatches from pics of my enameled pieces. Here are my latest "standard" colors. Standard means I have been able to reproduce them kind of consistently. I sometimes do a color blend...then go back and try to reproduce it from my notes...only to find out make notes don't make a bit of sense! What can I say.....they seemed to make sense at the time.
On a side note. I am not really a political person. But this issue gets me and my family in the heart. My husband and I live the American dream. We are both self employed. We have created our own income. BUT this dream is being shattered by our Health Care system in America. My daughter was born with Beckwith-Weideman sydrome and is considered uninsurable. We have already gone thru probably 5 health insurance companies in the last 5 years. Our first was Nationwide. They were bought out by Healthnet. Heathnet really did not want to have clients in our state (they are a California company, we live in NV) so the raised our rates 400% so we were forced to find another. Our only other choice was to go with Group plan which has to accept all but you will pay. We found a great mildly reasonable plan thru Costco. The company was Summerlin. That only last 3 months when they informed us that they wanted to pull out of the state of NV all together too. But they were kind enough to get Anthem to take us all with out underwriting. Oh but your rates will go up 60%. I am currently in the underwriting process again. I will let you know how it goes. Good news is Natalie has Medicaid now thru the Katie Becket program. Hopefully that will last another year. But I am forced to pull her from our primary insurance as I just cannot afford to have 2 insurances on her. Apparently there is also a law in NV that states insurance companies can raise group plan rates 85% if one member is a "bad health apple". Sometimes the American dream is not such a good one.

Bangle-icious

I have stepped into the exciting-ness of making bangles. I have wanted to for a LONG time. But always afraid of the whole SIZE thing. What size to make? I then just decided no more thinking just DO IT!!
This is my first one and have many more to come:So to help myself and my customers I have done some research on fitting a bangle. The best and easiest way to measure for your enamel bangle is to measure a bangle that fits you and you love. You have the measure the inside diameter (distance from side to side). I have also found other info and instead or rewriting what I have learned I am just going to list what I have found and give credit.
I have found the best info on Ying Yu Jade website How to measure for a jade bangle. Since they are very close in type and delicacy I thought it was a perfect match for an enameled bangle.

Here are some methods for finding your correct size bangle when you cannot try it on first.
If you wear your bangle close to your wrist, it will not "clunk around" as much as a larger one will. This is important if you plan to wear it all the time. If you really like the feel of a big bangle that easily slips over your hand, then consider purchasing one that you will wear only for special occasions.
Also consider wearing your bangle on your non-dominant hand. For example, if you are right handed, wear it on your left hand because you don't use that hand as often and it will receive less abuse. I didn't like my bangle clunking against my watch, so I now wear my watch on my right wrist.
The easiest way to find your bangle size is to decide which wrist you will wear your bangle. Place your hand on a flat surface. Then measure between the highest points, which are the middle of of the knuckle, of your first and fourth knuckles. This is your bangle size. See illustration below. This shows the points on your knuckle you should measure between. When you measure. place your hand FLAT on a flat surface, then measure the distance between the points.
Another method is using a measuring tape to measure your hand . Squeeze your hand together TIGHT. Measure the widest part of the hand The average size is about 7" - 8.0"THEN, when you think you know your size, take a piece of cardboard or a plastic lid (for example a yogurt container, or coffee can lid) and with a ruler draw a line the diameter of the bangle you think will fit. Cut a round circle and put your hand through it. This will give you a better idea how it will fit.

Video on how to put on and remove a well fitted tight bangle.

Other Tips on How to Put on a well fitted Bangle.

Apply lotion to your hand. Use as much as needed! Your hands will become more flexible over time.

Loosen up your hand by giving yourself a quick hand massage (or better yet, have someone else give you a hand massage!). Apply more lotion if needed.

Hold your hand up VERTICAL from the floor and do not stiffen your hand. The key to putting on a bangle is keeping a loose flexible hand. If you keep your arm down in a horizontal position, the bangles will be more difficult to get on (the blood flows to your hand making it swell slightly).

Think of moving your hand through the bangles rather than moving the bangles over your hand.

I think that might be everything you need to know. Please let me know if there is any confusion. Michelle Teka and Zoe

Etsy Treasury

I was lucky enough this weekend to be included in 2 Etsy Treasuries. The first one from BigGirlStudio is White on White. The second is from slvilov is Sand and Sea. thank-you so much!!

1 week of Earring Card Design..the Plight of the Obsessed!

I have been working on revamping my store display for the 2 galleries I am in here locally. It is a co-op kind of thing so I can make my own display. I currently have my earrings hanging from a wire tree that I had made. (see previous post) I do no think that the tree is doing my work any favors. When you are looking at the earrings on each branch you can not see the forest for the trees. hehehe
So after much back and forth and driving myself NUTSO I decided on carding my earrings. Plus I am going to have custom displays hand made out of steel to hold the cards. I have been working for around 24 hours over a 48 hour period on these stupid throw away pieces of card. That was after trying to decided for a week which way I was going to go with them...got samples of all the ready made products from RIO and made mock-up's of my "handcrafted" versions. Put a range of jewelry on each type...studied them. Asked hubbies opinion....he did not care..or said how nice. I just did not like certain features of each of the store bought cards. So I decided to make my own. The clinker was going to be the 1/2 circle little flappy thing with the hole for hoop type earrings and my crescents. Could not get a punch custom made but DID find a punch that Basic Grey makes that is a 1/2 circle notching tool. THEN I had a coupon for Micheal's...Gotta have a coupon right?! They do not have any...So I ran home and found one on Ebay. THEN....I remembered that I have a cutting plotter (it is called a craft robo http://www.graphteccorp.com/craftrobo/about.html ) that can cut out any shape on paper using vector images. I used to use it for scrapbooking before I went digital. It is pretty cool. The HARD part, getting my idea and turning it into a vector image. I have spend 2 days drawing the image so I can print out my own cards with my logo and then use the plotter to cut them. Torture at time....yes. A BIG pain in the tookus...YES. Hubby was nice and was with the kids all day today. I had to order the paper from scrapbook.com so I cannot even show you the finished version....but I will...Michelle with obsessed.

More Circles....

I have been wanting to make jewelry using fibers for a LONG time. It is natural to me becuase my life has really revolved around fabrics, fibers and textiles forever it seems. So after playing with my washers..and mushing thru my silk cords, and hand dyed fibers this is what I came up with:

Here is some philosophy....buying Hand made

Thru the Kilns Window

I have been concentrating my efforts on enameling these days. After more than a year of making jewelry now I feel that I have finally found myself. I have learned in this time of growth that I LOVE to pound and melt things...Especially metal and glass. It is mesmerizing to watch fine silver fuse. I love the warmth of copper as it patina's. Finding nature with organic design. The simplicity of simple silver hoops! The depth of color in enameling.
A little about enameling: Enameling is fusing teeny weeny glass particles to metal, usually fine silver or copper. It is fired in a kiln at around 1400 or more degrees. They say is takes an hour to learn and a lifetime to master enameling. Being each item I make are entirely handcrafted by my own hands and that enameling is inconsistent even when I take clear notes to develop a color blend. There WILL BE variances between the photographed item and the item you will receive. Plus to take a digital picture of a handcrafted item..and put it on a computer..ECK! There will be differences. I may make the ear wire a bit different. Or a certain bead my change, a shade may vary slightly. But the effect of the piece itself will not. If you are not the go with the flow nature of handcrafted kind of person let me know...I can always explain the current variance or if time permits if do a quick snap shot of what I have. Thank-you so much for your understanding!
A quick note about digital photography....
I personally have been trying to master photography for online buying for over 10 years. You would not believe the amount of equipment I have purchased over this time...thinking maybe if I got those lights...this backdrop..that camera....and all along it was the photographer that was the issue. Well I think I finally have it figured out. I have the set up that give me good results. But that said I still cannot believe how the color shifts from original piece, to camera...to computer screen. Plus my camera sees ALOT better than I do!....these pictures are way enlarged. That is why I like to always take a picture of the item in my hand. So you can see the true scale. The computer screen is like a huge magnifying glass...making a pair of earrings 8" wide and showing everything that the naked eye cannot see. I do try to correct the colors...but it is my computer screen not yours. It really is maddening at times as I want you to see what I see.

Right out of the KilnCooled - Colors Develop

p.s. I went on to ruin this peice by adding a color that did not work! :(