Champagne Celebration

In the spirit of New Year's celebrations, I listed my Champagne Collection on Etsy this morning. Made with gold filled wire with gold filled, vermeil, and brass beads in addition to citrine, several varieties and colors of freshwater pearls, and Swarovski crystal, this collection has been quite popular.

It all started when a high school senior approached me a couple of years ago to put together a necklace for her prom dress. The color was a greenish/goldish/creamish color that proved difficult to match at the mall. Fortuately, I love a design challenge, and came up with a collection of beads that blends well with all sorts of colors.

If you wear cream and khaki in the winter (doesn't most everyone?) and are looking for a way to add some sparkle, this is it.

Necklace is 48 inches (1.3 meters) and can be wound twice or three times for variety ($125).

Cuff is about 1.5 inches (3.8 cm) wide, and can be flexed to fit your wrist ($89).

Earrings hang 1.5 inches (3.8 cm) from your ear, and are on French wires, but could be put on ball/posts ($24). Sold separately, the set would be $238, but I'll give a special *blog pricing* at $225 (plus shipping of $5.00 in US - other places to be determined).

Happy New Year!

Pastel (and jewelry) Guy

www.matthewweld.com - pastels

www.studio206.etsy.com - handmade and custom jewelry

P.S. Don't forget to follow me on Twitter (see sidebar!).

In Summary...

As the month draws to a close, there are several items on my mind:

1. NaBloPoMo - I'm not sure whether it's the curse of the devil, or heaven sent. I've enjoyed blogging, and having to do it every day for thirty days has definitely worked toward making it a habit. However, it has taken a toll with my wife, who complains of the amount of time spent on the computer...

2. Pastels - My creative juices are beginning to flow, and soon you will see new products. I joined WetCanvas! yesterday (a place for artists to congregate on the Net), and I think it will be a great learning/sharing/teaching opportunity.

3. Jewelry - Yesterday, we went to a local Craft Fair to shop around. I had done that show in the past, but it's three days over a holiday weekend, and I just don't want to give up the family time anymore. I suppose if it were my sole income, I'd be there schlepping jewelry like a madman.

4. Etsy - Well, I've had an Etsy store for about 2.5 months now, and have sold three items. I realize that it's a great place for indie artists to showcase their work, but when the jewelry category is the largest, it's just REALLY hard to compete. I think I need to sell something more original in there. Perhaps notecards of my pastel paintings. I don't want to do prints of my works, but notecards would be OK, I think.

5. Christmas - Bring it on! I don't have anything on my list this year, except for a new website and a Blackberry Storm (as discussed here). I think the website is do-able, but the Storm's monthly access fee is completely out of my price range.

6. My Family - Still the best thing since sliced bread, and what I'm most thankful for this year.

7. Yahoo! Groups - Yep. I joined 2 of them this month. One with people from Montana who have stores on Etsy And the second is for pastel painters. I have corresponded with some wonderful people in both groups, and secondarily, have also put my name out there into the art world just a little tiny bit.

Thanks for reading and commenting!
Pastel Guy
www.matthewweld.com - pastel paintings
www.studio206.etsy.com - handmade jewelry for sale

So Many Options...

Earlier last week, I had another mini craft fair. This is when I take my jewelry to one of the local schools and set it up in the teachers' lounge for a couple of days. It's all on the honors system - I leave it there unattendend, and faculty and staff shops, leaving their checks and cash in a manilla envelope. They even have the option of signing an IOU sheet. So far that arrangement has worked just fine. Turns out I sold 18 pairs of earrings last week. Eighteeen pairs of mostly brown earrings. That means that I have to come up with 18 new designs to replenish my display board for the next mini craft fair.

Just when I think there's no way I'll be able to accomplish that, I pull out my styrofoam plates of beads and stare. Pretty soon the creative juices start flowing, and I can start cranking them out. The picture above is just one of my plates of dark brown. I also have light brown/amber, a couple different greens, a couple blues, black, turquoise, red, pink, pearls, etc.

See, I used to put each bead type in a little compartmentalized box. Then I started buying strands by the bagful, and so that took way to much organization for the right side of my brain to handle. So I decided that I should just arrange them as if they were a palette, and put all the similarly colored beads together, hence the styrofoam plates which were sturdier than paper. What I really need are stackable trays.

This organizational system is actually how I came up with my random designed jewlery, where there's no pattern, just a random assortment of beads strung together, either as a bracelet, a necklace or as a cuff. When you have all these great colors and shapes staring you in the face, it's hard to decide which ones to use. Why not use them all? With a symmetrical design, there would be no way to fit them all in without making it look stupid, and basically random anyway.

The fun comes when you take a handful from one plate and mix it with a handful from another plate. It's mixing colors just like paint! I've ended up with some great combinations: champagne and pearls, dark brown and turquoise, and pastels, just to name a few (the bummer is then separating them back out again once the piece is finished!).

So, I'm off to make some earrings...

Until tomorrow,
PastelGuy
www.matthewweld.com - pastel paintings
www.studio206.etsy.com - handmade jewelry for sale

Guesting Day

Today, I'm guest blogging on another blog, The Big Sky Montana Etsy Team, of which I am a proud member!

This posting is a story that shows how tragedy can result in beauty. While ranching and grizzly bears don't mix, a member of our Etsy team is able to make the cutest little lambs you've ever seen, despite the fact that the bears ate all her real ones. This is her story.

Peace!
Pastel Guy
www.matthewweld.com - pastel paintings
www.studio206.etsy.com - handmade jewelry for sale

Today on Etsy!

" Ladies and Gentlemen! (I'm typing in my deep announcer voice) Today on Etsy, you'll find the pride of...of...of his Mom on the Jewelry Showcase of Etsy!"

(back to regular voice) I know it sounds grand, but it's really not. I paid to be there.

It wasn't much, and if I just happen to sell something, I'll recoup my money, but I still feel ... desperate. I mean I'm paying for exposure. I know it (advertising, that is) is a multimillion dollar business, and we see hundreds of ads everyday, but I still feel...compromised. Everyone else is always blogging about how they "made the Front Page on Etsy today!" I think I'd better get over it! Ah well. The bright side is that it's already generated traffic through my little store.

But, hey! I wielded by computer's little snipper tool quite effectively, I think. I have Vista on my computer, so I had to go search in the Help library to figure it out (daunting task in and of itself!), but it's all quite easy. The hardest part was getting the blue circle around my bracelet to look somewhat like it was drawn by someone older than 2. I couldn't decide - highlighter or pen, fine or thick point, red, blue, or black ink... Thank goodness for erasers! I kid you not, the vague representation of a circle you see at the top of the page is the result of 6 tries - SIX!

I just hope I never have to go through rehabilitation or physical therapy. My head might explode first.

Until tomorrow,

PastelGuy

http://www.matthewweld.com/ - pastels

http://www.studio206.etsy.com/ - jewelry

Curvy - In a Roundabout Way

Curves.

Earrings have curves. Women (are supposed to) have curves. Road and vines have curves. I suppose the French have curves too (sorry, had to throw in a little artist humor there!).

Learners have curves, too.

It doesn't matter if you're old, newborn, or in school. Anytime you learn something new, there is a serious learning curve going on. Today has been one of those days for me. And I loved it!

The day started as an Institute Day for the teachers in our county. This means that all teachers employed in my county get together at a host high school and attend workshops of various topics. Of course our county is so large that there had to be TWO venues - one for K-5 and one for 6-12. Of the many workshops offered, I attended on on RTI (Response to Intervention), a new initiative here in Illinois that is sort of a backlash to NCLB. Don't get me started on that one! The other was a seminar on conducting a Socratic Seminar in your classroom. Now that would be cool - an alternative assessment that actually gets the kids to think on their own and not just memorize the 'right' answers! Finally a chance for the kiddos who can't seem to take tests well to outperform those A-list kids. What a boost for the self-esteem.

But I digress. Where was I?

Ah, yes. Learning curves. This evening, after packing for our camping trip tomorrow, I logged on with the innocent intention of checking my email. In the process, I learned about Twitter, I vistited some great blogs, like this fellow jewelry maker, Elleabelle. I visited my Etsy site and added some more items, and I visited other Etsy sites that have much more traffic than mine in order to glean some marketing ideas. This internet business is such a new and HUGE learning curve for me and many (most?!) of the people in my generation. Let me just say right now that I will NEVER join Twitter. Who has time for that? Like I'm going to stop teaching just to send a text "just busted Taylor for copying...again" so that my friends and coworkers can stay tuned. As if I really am interested in the blow-by-blow lives of people I've never met!

Sorry. *deep breath*

All in all, I learned a lot today.

Everyone has the right to learn. As teachers, that is our basic tenet, and we strive our hardest to ensure that everyone learns. It's just that making each lesson unique and fresh and entertaining is tiring. And some days I'm not sure that I've reached a single soul. When today's lawmakers keep putting more and more requirements on our plate, and not providing anything to make it easier, it's no wonder that most teachers don't make it past the first three years. *frown, sigh*

But I'll keep plugging away because that's what I've learned to do.

Pastel (and whatever) Guy

Announcing.....!

Now Open! Studio 206 Jewelry is finally available online!

Here's the dish:

While not everything is 'up there', there is enough to see what Studio 206 is all about, and more will be added a couple times each week, so stay tuned. There's also a section where you can request items. So for all you fans out there, find your PayPal number and start shopping! Christmas is in what, 80 days?

Studio 206 started after a class in stained glass when I started making picture frames and little angels. Along with some pendants made with techniques learned in the class, I frantically made enough merchandise for the local craft fair. The rest is history. This fall is my 8th anniversary, and I've moved from stained glass picture frames (they were pretty cool!) and custom windows to silversmithing and set stones. There was even a detour into pastel painting (I'll be back to that one for sure after the holiday season!).

Along the way there have been an amazing group of people who have become regular customers. To think that they like the results of my tinkering enough to request custom pieces is so affirming. There have been stained glass windows for a restaurant and several homes, jewelry for several bridal parties, a couple mother-of-the-brides, proms, and Christmas gifts. Even a retail store joined in the fray and regularly bought jewelry to display. My paintings made it into a couple shows this summer, even winning an award at an international exhibit in Tacoma, Washington. A gallery in St. Louis hosted an open house featuring my pastels in September, and I've even sold a couple of them.

So the next chapter has begun, and I've already made my first internet sale. Everything I read says that the Internet is the next venue for art sales. For people in my generation (yes, my birthday was yesterday! I'm now officially in my forties) who phoned a store and then went to look at things in person, this is a little weird. But I started this blog, have a website for my paintings, and now a cyber venue for my jewelry.

It's very enervating, and a lot has happened in 8 years...

...but I'm still waiting for the day when I see my jewelry on a complete stranger.

Thanks to everyone who has supported me in the past, and an advanced thanks to the customers-yet-to-be.

Pastel (and whatever) Guy

Glacier Ice

Here's a pretty pile of blue. Here's what was going through my head as I developed this design:

1. I wanted to use this Peruvian Opal that I found at a bead show a year ago (the light blue beads that look like candy in the photo above).
2. Silver always goes well with blue - brings out the coolness.
3. I really like making random patterns.
4. I also really like the look and idea of a 48" necklace that you can layer (or not)

So, I made a palette of colors that could go in this piece. I don't often use the seed beads (the itty bitty ones), but they gave space between the opal pieces, making them stand out since there is such a differential between the two. I added some milky glass stones, too, in order to expand the color range a tad. Now it could be worn with pinks, too. Usually I use the milky glass with lavender or pink crystal.

The result is a right pretty piece that matches my wife's eyes...

The next dilemma was to come up with a name that would be catchy but not too kitsch-y. Robin's egg is too cliche, light blue is boring, ice blue is a tad over-used, too. Even though it reminded me of my wife's eyes, naming it after her wouldn't mean anything to anyone but the two of us. Hmm. Glacier Blue. Caribbean Blue. Cerulean Blue. Ocean Blue. Sky blue (boring). I think I like Glacier Blue.

My Etsy site is coming along! In fact, this little pretty is on there for purchase if you're interested...

Until next time, when I have some hammered silver earrings to share...

Pastel (and Jewelry) Guy

Future Plans...

Hey y'all,


Here's the necklace that goes with yesterday's cuff bracelet. I really like doing these random patterns. I pile a big bunch of coordinating beads onto a paper plate, and start stringing. This necklace is 48 inches long, so it can be worn like a lavaliere, or wrapped up to three times, when it looks like the photo, and is 16 inches. I've done them in champagne colors, yellow, turquoise, green, blue, brown and turquoise, and many others. They sell for $125 and are quite popular.


After reading a bunch of marketing paraphernalia, I've decided that I need to post more often. So....

I'm going to post pictures of whatever comes out of my "studio" (it's actually a garage at this house!). Especially this time of year, one never knows what people want me to make. Sometimes is jewelry, sometimes it's calligraphy, sometimes it's stained glass windows or ornaments, sometimes it's garden designs, sometimes pastels, sometimes watercolor or pencil sketches - WHO KNOWS?! Keep coming back to see what creativity leaks out next!


Today, I rearranged my studio to accommodate my photography equipment, so that it can remain set up at all times. That should allow me to photograph and post without many time consuming middle steps. I heard back from Peachpit on the Etsy website who recommended that although she doesn't sell a lot, it would be worth my time. I guess I need to get into this century and start really using the Internet to my advantage...


If you're ever interested in purchasing anything you see here, please let me know!

PastelGuy