Free Shipping Offer

Hey all! For this weekend only (4/29 - 5/2) I am offering free shipping* in my Etsy store for any jewelry made from vintage silverware. Stock up on an early present for Mother's Day! To get free shipping, enter the coupon code Silverware1 at checkout.


I have also been adding a lot of new things to the shop these last few days and will continue to add new things throughout the weekend.

Happy Crafting!

*Free Shipping in the continental U.S. only. Please see Store Policies for further details.

Funky Find Friday: Steampunk

Okay, so I've been a bad blogger lately. I'm hoping to make up for some of that this month before I have the baby ('cause I'm not guaranteeing a lot of activity in April!). I thought I would do some redeeming with a Funky Find Friday.

This Friday, I thought I would talk about steampunk. What is steampunk you ask? Wikepedia says: "Steampunk is a sub-genre of science fiction and speculative fiction, frequently featuring elements of fantasy, that came into prominence in the 1980s and early 1990s. The term denotes works set in an era or world where steam power is still widely used — usually the 19th century, and often Victorian era England" *Source I cut this definition down more to say that as far as art, jewelery, and clothing goes its a combination of Victorian era things with mechanical things. An example of this would be lace and watch gears. Steampunk is gaining wild popularity in clothing and jewelry design and can be found all over Etsy. I first came across steampunk on Craftster.org in the form of jewelry.

Enough rambling, time to show examples:

First is this fab clock sculpture made by Tim Wetherell for an Australian museum.

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Or how about this steampunk skin for your ipod?

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Very popular are steampunk cuff links made from watch movements like these from London Particulars on Etsy:

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How about some steampunk inspired art pieces:

This digital art print by Galeriedeilluminata on Etsy is great:

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Or this print from Chet Phillips's Steampunk Monkey series on Etsy:

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I too have been caught up in the craze. Here's a necklace I made recently out of watch movements, gears and vintage silverware:

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Steampunk takes on different meanings to different folks. But in general, the style is fairly defined. I wear a brooch on my coat of a seahorse with a watch movement for a body (I'll try and get a pic later). I constantly get compliments on it and explain to people what "steampunk" is. I love the style as far as jewelry goes. I hope you enjoy it too!

Happy Crafting!

New Stuff in the Store!

I've been sadly neglecting my Etsy store lately. Not anymore! I listed a bunch of new stuff in the last couple of days. Here's a couple of the items I've done recently.

There's more new stuff in the store. Check it out! So far, most of the new items are jewelry, but I hope to have some new and different items listed by the end of the week. I feel like I might actually be getting back on track with everything before the holiday season begins this year.

Happy Crafting!

Today's Featured Gift Item: Swallow Necklace and Bracelet Set

Today's featured gift is a great necklace and bracelet set. The necklace is quite long, around 20 inches. It hangs quite nicely. It has a swallow charm and crystal square charms. The matching bracelet has square crystal charms. Today, rather than disscuss step by step how I made it, I'm going to give some more generic tips for jewelry making.

1. Have the right tools!
   I know this sound cliche, but having good tools saves you a lot of headache! The 2 tools you cannot live without (at least I can't!) are a wire cutters and a needle-nosed pliers. I actually have two neddle-nosed, one big and one small. I also have a jewelry bending pliers (it has round ends rather than flat ones). It also helps if you make necklaces to have a beading board. These have grooves in them so you can lay out your beads in order before strining them.
   


2. Take your time.
   The more I try to hurry when making something, the more jump rings go flying, things keep breaking and beads go scattering all over the floor. I find by taking my time I do a much better job of making quality pieces.
   


3. Look over your work when you're finished.
   I often have this problem. I think I'm done with a piece and then just lay it aside. Then later when I or someone else is wearing it, something comes off. This is especially easy to do when working with jump rings. Test out your jewelry. Spin the charms/beads around a few times to make sure they're attached well. Also, I use split rings as often as I can. These are like tiny key rings that you have to work harder to get on your jewelry, but that also makes them much harder to come off than plain jump rings.

I hope these tips are helpful. Ask questions in comments if you would like more information.
Happy Crafting!