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If you’re a Charlotte area jewelry artist with a wholesale license, you might want to check out the Rings & Things Bead Tour (fancy way of saying sale) tomorrow.  Give yourself a little time if you go.  I like to look through everything and then go back and pick out individual strands. Rings & Things lets you browse their sea of beads with no pressure. I seriously can’t wait. If you’re interested, here are the details:

Sunday, June 14th, 2-6 PM

Renaissance Suites Hotel Google Map
Terrace Ballroom
2800 Coliseum Centre Dr.
Charlotte, NC 28217
(704) 357-1414

You will need to show your wholesale license to check out. Be sure you bring it along. More questions? Read this. I promise to post a photo or two of my purchases.

Step by Step Beads magazine is holding what appears to be a series of color based beading contests. The first one is the Tertiary Colors Challenge. From their site:

“The orange-purple-green tertiary triad presents a challenge of bold and striking contrasts. Create a piece of bead jewelry (or a bead in any medium: polymer, beads, glass, etc.) using the triad from the color wheel. Black, white, or clear are welcome, but the predominant colors must be the orange-purple-green triad (any shades of those colors).”

Entries are due May 15th. The judge is Margie Deeb. Winners will be featured in a Fall issue of the magazine and one will receive a copy of Margie’s book “The Beader’s Color Palette“.

I recently purchased this book. The rich imagery is inspiring and the breadth of ideas and palettes make it a valuable resource. If you don’t have it already, here’s your chance to score a copy and have one of your jewelry designs published!

Last Saturday and Sunday, I participated in the Mint Hill Arts Spring Jewelry Show. Here’s one of the pieces I took to the show. It’s a jasper pendant with smoky quartz on one side and synthetic chalcedony on the other. It’s wrapped with sterling silver wire and has a sterling silver extender chain and clasp. You can check out a few more pieces from the show in my gallery.

It was inspiring to see other people’s jewelry and the artwork on display at the center. I enjoyed meeting the people who attended and chatting with the artists who are members of Mint Hill Arts. I feel lucky to have been asked to participate. Thank you Tammy for pulling the whole thing together. You were so wonderful to work and show with. I hope we’re able to do it again soon.

I just added some pieces I recently completed to my Etsy shop. Here’s one of my new 3 in 1 necklaces.

It is designed to be worn three different ways. The wearer turns it to the side they wish to display. It has an ornate S clasp that is functional and  works as a ”bead” element. I’m very interested in designing necklaces that are assymetrical and offer different options (I like to think of them as wearing opportunities).

I came up with this design idea after a prolonged struggle with a necklace that just wouldn’t “work”. Sometimes, things don’t “work” the first time for a reason. Don’t be afraid to cut it apart and keep playing with it.

I just launched my ArtFire shop. I have been working very hard to have it up and running before the Mint Hill Arts show. Here’s a faceted smoky and rose quartz bracelet that is available in this shop. It’s a wire wrapped sterling silver piece with a sterling silver toggle clasp. It’s a simple design but I think it’s elegant and well, kind of pretty.

Over the past year, so much has changed. I’ve moved to Charlotte, North Carolina. I have a new dog and a new day job. I joined Art Fire and Twitter. Best of all, I have a renewed, stronger love of jewelry making. And of course, a new design for this site!

It’s sometimes hard (and makes me a little wistful) to let go of the old and run arms flailing into the new. But, hey, it’s Spring and I’m going for it. Stay tuned.