Experimenting with Etsy treasury promo

These are all treasuries that I've curated.  I am learning a lot about finding work that I like and might buy, but that also has a great thumbnail photo.

Crimon and Clover

Wearable Red Flowers

Hearts and Blood

Black Spiral Earrings

Where I spend my $$

Silk, royal bronze and copper tones, and rich blue.

I've finished up 5 new sumptuous necklaces.  Four of them are on silk ribbon necklaces, with my own handcrafted clasps at the back.  The shortest choker style necklaces have chain extenders, so they can be adapted to many neck sizes.  The silk looks and feels luxurious.  The handcrafted metal clasp is quite comfortable, no bulky bow on the back of your neck.

This bronze rose is "chained" to a gray silk ribbon.

Bronze Rose hanging on a cocoa silk choker.

You can see the clasp and extender chain here.

 
Maple Twig amulet in copper, on a cocoa silk 16 inch necklace.

Another one of the Maple Twig Amulets, this time set up as a choker, with the chain extension at the clasp.

A brass grape leaf with a vintage-style blue patina hanging on a 22 inch brass chain.

Studio Update- mixed media and metalwork

I am slowly catching up.
Sort of.
As I catch up, other jobs catch up to me.

I've added some of my stitch sketches to the Mixed Media section of my online shop.

 OK- mini art quilt collage in teal, gold, and red

Quantity - Mini Art quilt with echinacea

 Teal and Orange Mini Mixed Media Art Quilt

I've been making progress on my sampler collage quilt from the Create2010 workshops.

I've finished up quite a few smaller pieces so I can clear them and out and make space in my studio for new work. Click on each photo for more information.
 

Multitasking Creative Progress

If I post my progress here, I feel like I got more done.

Piecing my samples started at the Clothpaperscissors Retreat (create2010) into a sampler crazy quilt.

Adding my husband's work into a new section of my online Knitsteel shop.

Sterling Silver Bamboo pin by Bill Fiorini

 

Silver Bamboo Bundle Pin by Bill Fiorini

Twig Bundle Ring in Sterling Silver by Bill Fiorini

Bud Cuff Bracelet in silver, by Bill Fiorini

Sterling pine bough motif earrings with 24k gold inlay by Bill Fiorini

Cherry Blossom Sterling Silver Earrings with 24k gold inlay and seed pearl by Bill Fiorini

Silver Lady Face Earrings by Bill Fiorini (single sided)

Pine Bough Kozuka by Bill Fiorini

Time for Creative Play

Early in the summer, I told Bill that after he got through all of his medical issues, I wanted to go do a short workshop.  I signed up for 3 workshops at the CREATE2010 (ClothPaperScissors Retreat) in Chicago.  Things worked out and I was able to go this past Thursday and Friday.  Here's a little photo sampler of the creative play. 
Fiber and Mixed media let me play with color and texture spontaneously, in a way that I can't do in metal. 

Click on the photo title links below to see each image larger.
1. dreads approx 4 months, 2. Painted Face Canvas, 3. Stitch and Paint, 4. Stitch and Paint, 5. machine embroidery samples, 6. machine embroidery samples (3), 7. machine embroidery samples (2), 8. painted, 9. painted oak leaf, 10. painted and stitched Created with fd's Flickr Toys
Yes yes, that first photo is me at home, looking at my most recent issue of ClothPaperScissors magazine.  I needed a filler photo to get an even number of photos for the photo mosaic.
I took

1. Paint and Stitch with Jeannie Palmer  Moore
2. Painted Face Canvas with Julie Fei-Fan Balzer
3. Thread Painting with Elin Waterston

Go take a look at all of their websites/blogs- three very different women who all make vibrant heartfelt art.
And back to metal- before the conference I listed my Ginkgo Cascades Necklace on Etsy. It's all copper, very lightweight, with an ammonia blue patina on the leaves.  It's about 20 inches long, with the leaves dropping another 3 or so inches.  It's just gorgeous.  
You can see the handcrafted S clasp at the end of the chain in this 2nd photo.  Get it while you can.  I don't make elaborate necklaces very often.
Coming up- all the leafy work that customers have been requesting, that I need to get done soon!

Busy Life and Studio Update

Life has been full of sadness and blessings.

My Aunt Janet died peacefully last Saturday after a relatively short battle with leukemia.  As often happens, the funeral was also a sort of family reunion, a chance for a lot of we cousins, and cousins' kids, to reconnect, remember Janet and remember those who passed before her.

At the same time, my husband had a brief relapse and had to spend about 4 days in the hospital.  He's back home again and doing alright.  I've got a fantastic family, who all chipped in to help here with the kids, even while dealing with Aunt Janet's funeral.

Sales have been going well in my online shop.  School starts soon, which should give me a little more uninterrupted studio time.  I'm looking forward to some cooler weather, after an especially hot summer. 

I got two new Maple Branch Amulets finished and listed in my shop.  These hang on silk kumihimo cords, hand braided by my husband, Bill Fiorini. He has always enjoyed fiber arts as well as fine metalwork.  The fiber arts let him continue his meticulous pattern work, even when his energy levels are not as high. 

(I will be starting to list some of Bill's fine metalwork in my own shop under his own section heading.  I will let you know when it's available there.)

I did get the commissioned pieces done for a wedding party set,
  
bronze maple leaf earrings and a copper ivy cuff bracelet.

I've had a request for some abstract funky chased cufflinks that I'll be starting soon, as well as quite a few more leafy pieces.