So what does this mean for a crafts person who sells jewelry or a Tennis Pro that owns a club or a restaurant owner that has had a record season. … Quiet Time… New Idea Time…. Time to reflect …. or Maybe just Time to Keep On Truckin‘.

For me, Keep On Truckin means time to get working on the web-end of my business.  I started this new old endeavor a week ago with my niece, Laura Pennisi.  Laura just graduated with an Art Education major.  Not only is she an artist, but she is good with computers and lucky me, she hadn’t found a job yet.  It was March 30 and I knew I had exactly one day left to make my new Facebook banner before my Heaven Lane Creations page got changed over to the new format.  I was frantic.  I could not figure out how to make a collage of pictures that would fit into the new banner size.  Laura patiently showed me how to do it.  Like a good teacher, she modeled how to do it several times, assisted me and then let me demonstrate my understanding.  Look what we came up with

With my mentor next to me, it only took an hour.  Today, I tried to shoot more pictures of my latest creations to post on my store which I am hoping will be ready very soon.  But the shooting of the pictures and the editing took me three hours.  Not very efficient use of a jeweler’s time and I am still not satisfied with the photo results.  I will share with you my new creations.

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Here is my latest idea.  I want to find a person who lives really close by who is a great photographer.  Once a week they will shoot pictures of my jewelry and help me post.  Until I start making money off my business, I will pay them with lovely jewelry.  Any takers?

On to the main event.  Amanda Tibbetts is my partner.  This is what she sent me. 

Here is a close up of the pendant she made.

Here is what I made

Floating Bead Necklace

Soldering opens up a whole new world for me. My new best friend will require some new equipment including a torch. Don't tell Mark.

and as I went back to a dear old friend, a golden beading technique which allowed me to complete my Bead Soup Blog Challenge in time hosted by Lori Anderson

I will not reveal what I made from the products that were sent to me by  Amanda Tibbetts until Challenge Reveal Day, which is March 3rd, but I will tell you that I  would never have finished this project without my trusty old friend, the floating bead necklace, which I learned ten years ago at Studio Baboo in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Back then I was a full-time teacher.  One unbelievably snowy winter, I was sitting around the house on a three-week forced vacation called snow days with my three antsy sons, when I realized that I needed desperately to calm my mind and pour my enormous creative energy into a new hobby.  I discovered beading.  For the next year and half,  I learned several dozen techniques, but non as useful and versatile as the floating bead necklace.  It is my old stand-by.  It is by far, my most consistent seller and it has bailed me out of quite a few creative dilemmas.  Just a sampling of some of the jewelry I have made in the past few years using this technique.

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Jewelry makers, teachers, mothers, tennis pros… we all have our favorite tricks of the trade… the ones we know work and we can fall back on when we need an old friend.

Original Necklace had one strand of wood beads, one strand of mother of pearl beads, two strands of gold seed beads and a leopard spotted focal shell

Now I thought this would be easy, but it wasn’t.  For three weeks, I fiddled with ideas and themes.  Maybe it could be a bracelet, maybe turn it into a halloween spider jewelry.  I was stymied by the multi-color focal shell and did not like the combination of wood and shell together.  Finally, a week ago, I received inspiration.  This is what I came up with.

Something Old, Something New

Teaching and Selling at the same time works for me.

So now I am going to stop talking and show you a few pictures from the event.

My Banner adds a Nice Touch Photo by Mark Trank

By the time Mark got there to shoot the Crowds had thinned out

I really enjoy talking with customers. Photo by Mark Trank

By the way,  I have to share something really interesting.  There is a growing trend among jewelry artists to combine efforts to increase sales for all.  I saw evidence of this at the show… when a a few artists came up to me and offered to share space at a store or even give me a heads up on future events.  This is happening on line as well.  Check out Melinda Orr’s blog at http://orrtec.blogspot.com/ to be part of a Big Yard Sale and Give Away.

Andrea at Middle School Flea Market photo shot by Mark Trank

My Competition Photo shot by Mark Trank

When we arrived, I noticed that all the other people set up were basically selling chaserai –old shoes, old toys, old clothing and old household items for 50 cents to $1.00 each.  I was still undaunted.  My beautiful jewelry would still make great holiday gifts. And I wasn’t planning to lower my prices to $1.00. I did not have time to go to the bank, so my dear husband ran off the bank to get me money, in case I needed change.  Round trip one for the first hour.  After  Mark went home the second time, I proceeded to set up meticulously.  And then the winds came.  My jewelry stands were flying, my jewelry was flying and I had forgotten the duck tape.  So I called Mark up and he ran around looking for suitable weights and the duck tape needed to hold jewelry stands.  Trip number 2 to the craft show. By this time, he gave up on going home and sat with me.

During the last hour in which no one even came over to see my jewelry, he asked me three simple questions.  In the sweetest voice he could muster, he asked “how many degrees do you have, my dear?”  I knew where this was going, but I played along.  “Three,”  I answered with a sigh.  “Tell me what those degrees are in?” he asked.  “B.A. in Speech Communication,” I said. “From where?” he asked rhetorically. “University of Virginia,” I announced with a laugh.  “And your next degree?” Mark asked.  “Masters in Science Education,” I laughed.  “And where is that degree from?” he mocked. “University of Virginia,” I answered a bit more quietly.  “Your third degree?” he asked.  “Educational Specialists in Curriculum and Instruction,” I announced. “From where?” By this time, my voice was a bit tight. “the University of Virginia.”  So how is it that a girl with three degrees from one of the highest rated Universities is stupid enough to try and sell her Jewelry that looks more like art to a crowd that won’t even buy items for .50?” he concluded.  “Maybe you should stick to art shows!”  This coming weekend, I will be at the Alliance for the Arts Annual Festival.  Last year it was a good event for me.  By the way, I did sell two people some jewelry.  Both happened to be teachers and both were my student teachers that I had supervised.  So my education degrees came in handy after all. Tonight we were discussing this event and I had to laugh, when Mark said”  What’s next, a truck pull in Okechobee?”

So I called her up and said yes and then I looked up the event and found the description “It’s the perfect opportunity to show off your guy stuff… All those gizmos, gadgets and thingamajigs guys can’t wait to get their hands on.” Now that doesn’t sound like a women’s fashion event. However, I am a woman of my word.  I could not back out on this very kind lady now.  I started rationalizing how this event  might be a success… my thinking went like this.  All those guys have to have women either at home or being dragged out to the Big Boy Expo… maybe they will flock to my booth and buy my beautiful jewelry.

The weather report called for off and on thunderstorms throughout the day.  Have you ever experienced a South Florida thunderstorm in September?  We are talking pretty much hurricane without the hype…. torrential downpours, instant flash floods, frequent lightening and wind that can blow down outdoor tents and send them into the next county.   I remained optimistic.  I had less than 24 hours to get ready, so I frantically sent out an SOS to all my new Bead Soup Blogger friends, who gave me helpful suggestions for last-minute pricing. I threw together my display, which I hadn’t used in six months.

Six a.m. Saturday morning.  My husband has been coughing most of the night.  I was pretty much packed up, but someone would have to carry it out to my car, drive me  there and help me set up.  Sick Mark got elected. One of the joys of being married to me for nearly 30 years.  We showed up just as the skies were blackening.  Never a good sign.  Another bad sign, the information said a table would be provided, but unbeknown st  to my space sharer or me, that was for the inside vendors.  So guess who got elected to go back home and get me a table.  The day continued on like that. There was the trip to Walmart to get me tarps in case the rain came and to the Smoothie place because I didn’t bring enough food or drink. All day long,  my sick husband running back and forth.  At one point, the sky looked so threatening, he went to the car and fell asleep thinking he would have to rescue  me at any moment.  Well the rest of the male population was smart enough to stay home or just visit the vendors inside.  At one point, I was sweating so badly, it was like being in my own rainstorm. 

So by now, I am sure you are wondering what was gained.  Here is my list.  I met some nice people who were also struggling to make a living at their craft.  We told stories.  I learned that juried shows might not accept my tent because its blue.  I learned that I need to get weights to hold down my tent in case of inclement weather.  I learned that sharing a booth might not work because my table was facing sideways and I need to face the crowd for them to see what I am about.  I also need a banner. i have gained knowledge of all these things and a few pictures of my rudimentary set up.  So like all adventures, there is something gained and guess what else,  its poured all over Fort Myers except where we were set up at Germaine arena.  By the way, I did not sell one item, but gave out a few business cards.  When I got home, my 13 year old looked up at the sky and said ” Mom, look a double rainbow!!!”  I am thinking that means the pot of gold is still out there.

http://lorianderson-beadsoupblogparty.blogspot.com/

  Well its finally here…Bead Soup Blog 2011 Party Day.  In the end, I made two necklaces out of my wonderful ingredients sent by Jayne aka Boot C .  The first necklace was my effort to be symmetrical.  I wrote about my need for symmetry in my last blog.  I would actually call this reverse symmetry…   I was challenged by how to use the hammered piece of copper and ended up using my new wire wrapping technique to make it a pendant.  Then I used the ribbon Jayne sent to connect her wire wrapped semi precious stone flower in front.  But there was still one more centerpiece that I could not fit into this design, so I designed an entirely different necklace for that. I used Bead Weaving techniques.  Jayne had wire wrapped a lime green pearl in the copper.  I played upon those two colors in choosing my seed beads and glass pearls.  I ended up using Jayne’s clasp as a connector on the first necklace, so I used a button to clasp the second necklace. Let me know what you think please.  I wish every party was this long and fun.  Thanks Lori.

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Necklace 2 started off as a bracelet, but it was too big for my wrist, so being a fan of symmetry, I repeated the pattern on the other side and voila, it was choker.

Bead Soup Stewing

When I was a little girl, I had the hardest time waiting for big news or keeping a secret. If I found out what one of my brothers or sisters were getting for their birthday, I kept trying to talk about it subtley… dropping hints. Invariably, I would spill the beans. So now at age 52, I still have a hard time keeping a secret, especially when I am very excited. My excitement is over the Bead Soup Blog Party. In ten days, all 300 plus beaders who joined the Bead Soup Blog Party 2011 will reveal what they made with bead ingredients that they received from another beader from somewhere else. My ingredients stewed in their beautiful heart case that they came in from Jayne Aka Boot-C for more than week. In fact, during that time, I couldn’t get myself to make anything. I started cleaning closets and cleaning my bead room. Finally, on labor day, I got inspired.

Now I am not going to reveal what I made until September 17th (I promise), but I will tell you a few of things I learned about myself during this wonderful, challenging process.

1) I love symmetry. I was challenged because I could not place the ingredients I had in any symmetrical pattern. There was a little bit of everything, but nothing I had in my studio were exact matches. So how did I meet my need for symmetry while expanding myself? You will have to wait until September 17th to find out! (Hold me back)
2) This is my most creative piece. Why? Because necessity is the mother of invention. Because the first five tries were failures. Because scientific experimentation nine out of ten times disproves rather than proves your hypothesis. It reminds me of why science is such a creative process.
“Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.”— Albert Einstein
“Results! Because, man, I have gotten a lot of results. I know several thousand things that won`t work.”— Thomas A. Edison
Thanks to the All Result Journal Blog for compiling a list of great quotes on science and mistakes. Thanks to Lori Anderson for organizing this event. And lastly, thanks to nature for helping an impatient, impulsive girl grow up abit.

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I love interacting with people, I don’t always love interacting with technology.  Case-in-point, while working today at my friend’s store, the cash register roll jammed,  the inventory reader had an error message, my cell phone kept disconnecting while my friend was trying to help me navigate a complicated sale and I couldn’t ring up several sales.

So when I arrived home and saw this adorable package waiting for me, I just knew that my day was about to improve….my bead soup ingredients were here all the way from Oklahoma via Jayne aka BootC http://mamasgottodoodle.blogspot.com/ It got better when I opened up a pdf tutuorial produced by Christine Miles, http://wingsnscales.blogspot.com/ who showed me how to improve my photographs.  So here are my beautiful bead ingredients in much better photographs. I think…

It arrived in a Heart.  How cool is that?

When I spread out ithe beads, it looked liked palm trees and Florida skies

 Then I tried a technique that Chris taught me in her tutorial about cropping close and then expanding the photo, so here are my close-ups.

Lampwork beads the color of the Palms

A beaded bead made of semi precious stones and copper wire

 Thanks you BootC.  I think I am going to name my piece Oklahoma’s Majestic Palms.

Reveal Date is September 17

Yes, they did.  Since joining this party, I have learned to create an Etsy treasury (still have not done yet), learned to properly use Facebook for business, learned abit about marketing properly for blogs and getting others to notice your blog and your jewelry. I have added a signature to all my emails which will help promote my business and I have learned about the generosity of so many people, who don’t consider each other as competition, but as collaborators in the making of beautiful jewelry and educating people about our craft.  So thanks to Lori Anderson and all of you out there who have willingly participated and helped others like me. 

I still have not solved my photography conundrum, but I will post a picture of my first foray into wire wrapping cabochons.  I took a class last week from my friend, Babs Snyderman of Bab’s Beads in Fort Myers, Florida.  She is an accomplished jeweler and a very patient teacher. 

My First Wire Wrap. The Cabochan is Petried Wood. Wire is silver-filled.

 I have since worked on two more cabochans.  I am very proud of the second one.  If I ever figure out my lens conundrum, I will post.  One thing I have learned in all my years teaching, is that if you don’t immediatley practice a new skill, you will never remember it.  So I am determined to make many more wrapped cabochans in the next week to solifidy my learning.

Returning to my roots as an educator, I think the slide show will show how learning progresses up a ladder.  In teacher terms,  “scaffolding” to help a student learn.  It seems as I read many blogs of my fellow beaders, most have scaffolded themselves from the very simple to a more sophisticated form of beading.  For me, it has taken me from simply stringing into the use of fibers, seed beads, sewing, braiding, Kumihimo, knotting and crocheting.  But lately I have had a hankering to learn more about wire wrapping.  So tomorrow I am so excited to be taking a class from a wonderful Jeweler and teacher Babs in Fort Myers.  I will hopefully have a product worth showing.

Challenge #1) Camera lens problems.  Talked to my hair dresser, Hector, who is also a photographer.  We did all sorts of experiments to try and pinpoint the issue… problem with camera, problem with lens, operator error.  No luck, we still could not get the focus to work.  Talked to my friend’s daughter, Jaime.  She showed me how to put the lens on manual.  However, my eyesight is so bad and I wear glasses that progress from closeup to far away, I couldn’t focus on manual. (see earlier post The Learning Curve to see how bad the pictures came out). Then I tried to find a local camera repair center.  Only two numbers were listed on the internet or in the phone books.  Both were for security cameras.  Both claimed there was not a camera repair shop within a 100 miles.  I found one Ritz Camera Center still open in this area 20 miles south and took my camera in.  A knowledgable salesman (now that is a novelty) found the problem immediately.  Somehow my focus got shifted to the right and then locked in place.  He fixed it and then showed me what to do if this should happen again.  10 hours of hunting and I had the solution.  If at first, you don’t succeed, try, try again… as my mom used to say all the time.

Challenge #2.  How to make the wrap bracelets a bit faster with just one needle.  If any of you have delved into the wrap bracelet craze, you know it can be a frustrating endeavor… first you have to make sure your thread is centered (I only have two hands, I need a third to hold the thread together) and  then you have to go back and forth between two needles going the opposite direction. Needles get mixed up, the thread tangles and you need to secure the project so it doesn’t move while you are working. Its one of the reasons why I was unwilling to lower my price for this bracelet for a customer.  (See earlier post on Custom versus Costume Jewelry).  But I saw a picture in a magazine of a bracelet that appeared to be made with just one needle, so last night when it was quiet at the gift shop I work in, I started fiddling with this new technique.  Voila… it worked. Its a bit of different look, but I like it.  Let me know what you think? I will photograph it tomorrow with my now working lens.

Challenge #3)  I joined the Bead Soup Blog Hop Party for the first time this year.  There are more than 300 beaders who are part of Lori Anderson’s http://lorianderson-beadsoupblogparty.blogspot.com/2011/08/september-2011-list-of-bead-soup-blog.html annual event.  My first challenge was connecting with my partner.  She lives in Oklahoma and I live in Florida.  Check out her blog page http://mamasgottodoodle.blogspot.com/.  We haven’t really formally connected but I am sending her a surprise and she is sending me one;  I will give you a hint on what I am sending her.  What does Florida have that Oklahoma doesn’t?   Lori introduced us to the coolest photo editting site  Picnik which will help us hide our pictures.  I started playing with it tonight.  How cool?

Looks quite professional doesn't it?

 That’s all for now.  Hope you got through all my verbage.

Fast forward five years to 2011–for the past month now I have been struggling with a form of bead crochet that kept eluding me.  Finally, a few nights ago, while working on this technique, it clicked. I got it and I did it without a teacher explaining it to me or even my neice drawing it out.  So maybe, an old dog can learn new tricks. Learning new things, perfecting a technique takes practice, practice and more practice.  Tearing apart a failed piece or even discovering a mistake actually looks good is part of this process.  One of my earlier efforts at the bead crochet necklace I was working on actually might work as an earring.  So I have one earring.  Now if I can only figure out what I did wrong again, so I can make a second earring. Lol. Tomorrow I promise to take pictures and add it to this post.