Wire Sculpture & Me

Wire wrapped jewelry pieces consist of the majority of my inventory, probably about 80% of all my pieces.  Creating wire wrapped loops and connected them to one another is a fairly basic technique and fairly easy to master as well.  I am always looking to learn new techniques to increase my expertise as a jewelry designer.  However, I (not so humbly) thought that I was a fairly advanced in my jewelry making abilities for about a year or so.  Then wire sculpturing came along and put me in my place.

For a while, I had kept an eye out for jewelry making classes near Harrisonburg.  Michaels Arts and Craft store only had basic level classes.  I had taken a wire wrapped cuff bracelet class at a fairly large beading store chain called Potomac Beads in Winchester last year.  However, it takes well over an hour to travel there, not making it very convenient to regularly attend classes there.  A few months ago though, I discovered a small independently run small bead store called “Generations Creations” operated in New Market, only twenty minutes away from my apartment.  A woman named Pat held wire sculpturing classes every Saturday ranging from advanced beginner level or advanced level.

Very quickly, Pat taught me the difference between wire wrapped and wire sculpturing.  Wire wrapped jewelry pieces mainly consist of wrapping wire loops together.  Wire sculpturing does contain some wire wrapped techniques.  However, it requires much more precise measuring of the wire, manipulating the wire with both your hands AND pliers, twisting the wire and connecting completely separate pieces of wire together.  It was a bit overwhelming at first, but thankfully Pat, with her 40+ years of wire jewelry experience helped guide me make two pendants in two separate classes.

The first pendant is called a “Julia” pendant.  It involved twisting wire, by using a drill and carefully connecting the two halves of the pendant with thin wire pieces.  I used a lapis lazuli dyed gemstone  as the centerpiece of this pendant, with air blue opal Swarovski crystals to accent it.  At times, I felt like Pat did most of the work, but towards the end of the project, I worked more independently on it.  I was fairly satisfied with the result, but the bottom half is not very tightly wrapped, making it swing out.  Fortunately, you can not tell that error in this photo :)

For the second pendant, I used a polished labradorite cabochon and completely encased it in wire, as cabochons do not have holes drilled in them.  This particular pendant required VERY precise measuring of the wire pieces and where to connect the wire together.  Otherwise the cabochon could fall out of the wire, if not properly wrapped.  For this pendant, I was definitely more confident and able to work more independently than the previous pendant.  (Although I certainly was not going to reject advice and helpful suggestions from Pat!) It turned out splendidly and I was very pleased with the finished product, especially since labradorite is one of my favorite gemstones.

 

 

 

I hope to take more classes in the near future and continue to expand my repertoire!

 

Dayton Autumn Celebration Round Two!

Wow, it’s been over two years since I last posted in this blog!  I’ll do my best to be more consistent but we shall see how life works with that haha.  In any case, much has happened with Sparkling Creations Jewelry in the past two years.  I have start placing my jewelry on consignment in the Skyline Café near Massanutten Resort, a quaint eatery, which showcases the work of over twenty local artists/crafters.  Possibly the biggest change has been that I have joined the Artisans Gallery in downtown Harrisonburg as a Member Artist.  Despite these changes though, I am still participating in local crafts fairs/festivals in the Shenandoah Valley!

 

Last weekend, on October 5^th, I participated in the Dayton Autumn Celebration, possibly one of the biggest fall festivals in the Shenandoah Valley. The small town of Dayton lies around three miles south of the city of Harrisonburg, where I live.  It is a peaceful rural town, with many local business and several small galleries.  However, on the first Saturday of every October, over 350 craft vendors and 75 food vendors descend upon Dayton, setting up their canopies and food trucks in the streets and meeting places there.  Despite the large number of visitors, the vendors and townspeople of Dayton peacefully coexist on this big day.  Some of the townspeople even offer access to their homes to plug in electrical cords or let them park closer to their booth. 2013 marks the second year that I have been accepted to this event and I must say out of the dozen craft venues that I participated in, it has to be my favorite.

 

Although the Dayton Autumn Celebration lasted from 8:30am to 4pm, due to the large number of craft vendors, I had to set up my booth at 6:30am.  Yes 6:30am.  Getting up early doesn’t bother me too much though and my dad woke up early to help me set up my tables and canopy. I had the same booth assignment as last year, which was strategically located near the food vendors!  My vendor “neighbors” also stayed the same-a couple who sold handcrafted wooden lawn signs and a group of families, which had set up sand art activities for children.  Below is my jewelry display layout.  As you can tell, the sun was pretty brutal in the morning, but it definitely helped my jewelry be extra sparkly. :)

 

 

Although I do not know the exact number, tons of people came to this event, crowding the streets as early as 8:00am!  The day was unusually hot for October, but not completely unbearable.  My ever supportive and loving parents sat me for the day and helped out tremulously!  I also saw many friends from my church (Aletheia Church) and several other acquaintances in the area.  I sold a variety of jewelry pieces, but by far the most popular pieces were my copper bracelets.  Below are a few pictures of the bracelets that various people purchased:

 

The festive atmosphere and friendliness of my fellow vendors and booth visitors made the day unfortunately pass by too quickly.  Definitely looking forward to next year’s event!

 

 

 

 

One Year Anniversary of Sparkling Creations! (A Week Late)

I’m so pleased to be celebrating the one year anniversary of Sparkling Creations! Technically, I am one week late, because I received my small business license on December 10, 2010.  However, certain events, such as the last week of school here in Rockingham County and my 29^th birthday, prevented me from really celebrating this important milestone for my business!

The most important lesson I’ve learned this year though has been that patience/perseverance is the key to running a small business. Period.  I have lost count of the many times I have uttered the prayer “Why God have I committed myself to this insanity?” throughout the past year.  I have learned to press on through weeks of not selling a single jewelry piece, spending entire days photographing jewelry and then realizing that in each photo there’s something you can’t photoshop out, having to type in four months of sales/expenses again due to a corrupt file, having a “friendly” chat with the Virginia Department of Taxation over sales tax, etc.  However, despite those trials, I did manage to preserve and continue my commitment to this business.  I read the entire Bible over the past summer and whenever I get frustrated over events such as the ones mentioned, I found this verse:

 “We count those blessed who endured.  You have hear of the endurance of Job and have seen the outcome of the Lord’s dealings, that the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful.”  ~James 5:11

While I have definitely not suffered the trials poor Job had to deal with, this verse has been a great encouragement to me as I’ve dealt with the more unpleasant aspects of running my jewelry business.

God gave me so many amazing opportunities this past year-I’ve done four craft fairs, one jewelry party, sold jewelry online both domestically and internationally (Canada), created almost two hundred pieces of beautiful jewelry, wrote a detailed business plan, the list could go on and on.  The most amazing thing though is that for the 2011 business year, Sparkling Creations Jewelry has made a small net profit!!  If you had told me a year and a half ago, that I would not only be running a small business, but making a small profit off of it, I would have laughed in your face.  Very loudly.

It’s just proof to me that God is full of surprises and uses people (such as myself) to do incredible things.  I’m definitely looking forward to another year of them!

Behind the Scenes: Capturing Lovely Jewelry on Film (Or on a Memory Card)

Photographs have always appealed to me in their ability to forever preserve a beautiful scene, person or object.  For many years, I have enjoyed participating in the field of photography as an amateur. 

Then I started taking pictures of my jewelry for my small business.

I will honestly say that photographing my jewelry is, by far, the most frustrating part of operating my small business.  I cannot even begin to count the times I have resisted the urge to throw my camera against a wall, due to weather conditions, blurry photos, jewelry pieces not staying in position, etc. However, my personal “favorite” has to be the time when my photo lens jammed and the camera wouldn’t take a photo, just after I had positioned a necklace which had finally stayed draped on a vase after ten tries to get it to stay into place.

Fortunately though, technology has been a blessing, in that I can just take another picture, without worries of wasting film.  I have a Canon PowerShot, which has several helpful settings, including macro mode, which allows you to take photos of small objects in great detail. 

For outside shots, I set up a mini studio behind my apartment building.  I spread a white towel over the cellar door and take photos, if the weather decides to cooperate. 

However, I don’t have to depend on nature to take good photos though.  For Christmas, my parents gave me a portable light studio, complete with lights and a tripod.  The thin walls diffuse the light, greatly reducing shadows and really help the photos look more professional.

Despite the headaches of photographing my jewelry, I will say that getting that perfect photo does make the whole tedious process rewarding and is a very effective means of promoting my jewelry!