Sunday, while my computer was down with a virus and waiting on the local computer guru I set up the camera in the studio and tried again to get better photos. By the time I got to these bracelets the sun was in and out of clouds and only this one (crooked) set up had enough light. I used the automatic correction in photoshop and got this funny blue which made a nice contrast to the pink stones. I am thinking I need one of those diffuser cubes for photographing small objects. I think Marianne has the set up. I tried to email her and the message came back, so I am still on my own.

Honestly I have tried to stop making these, but I love them so much that I find my mind devising new options so I can keep making them. Lacking big balls in colors other than the blue, green and aqua of recycled glass I raided my cache of polyclay beads and found this pair.

This is my other attempt with making a big bead for the top. I scrunched up copper wire, wound it on a drinking straw, scrunched it some more and used it as a bead. I think I explained all this previously (the computer virus seems to have wiped my brain cells clean also!) but I am hoping this is a better photo and these copper wire beads are better made than the other example.

After wearing one of the necklaces in this design, it was easy to let myself go back to making more. I really like these! I am a crowd of one, but I have enough confidence in the worth of this idea to stick with it! So I made a couple more, and even though I still have plenty of the big beads made in Ghana from recycled glass, I got bored with using them. Also I needed a pinkish warm bead. Not willing to wait for a new order of beads I got the idea of 'making a bead.'

At first I thought of wire wrapping a wooden bead but I could not find the big wooden beads. I know they are around here somewhere. . . Ah! just while typing this I remembered I had put them together for a beading kit for Jasper. I think I know where they are now.

Anyhow, lacking the wooden bead I tried various methods of weaving and crocheting the copper wire to make a bead and I all made such a mess of everything I just wadded up the failure. Voila! a bead.

I put some beads on the wire for the next one and I really like the feeling of seeing the beads 'floating' inside the wire bead. Am eager to do more of these.

Am still trying to get a good photo of these bracelets, but both scans and camera shots do not do them justice. They remind me of tennis bracelets on steroids. I should not make fun of them because I enjoy making them so much. I can get three bracelets from one strand of cathedral beads.

Another attempt to show these off.

And a family picture with the idea that if one bracelet does not illustrate the idea, maybe all fo them will! Here you are seeing the bracelet from the side and you can see how eager they are to curve around a wrist!

When I put away my big order from Fire Mountain - most seed beads - I realized my storage system needed overhauling. I had beads in tubes, in plastic boxes and bags. Each color was in a possible three different places. So I made 'trays' by cutting the 11 x 14 priority boxes in half. They are not pretty but now all the yellows are together and the 6s, 8s, delicas, and 15 each have their own tray instead of a deep basket. Now I need something with shallow drawers, like a cabinet for drawings. They run about $300 - 400 or a cardboard paper holder for $25. In the meantime I simply stack the trays and hope my biceps bulk up from the lifting. The system is certainly not ideal, but I am now better able to find the best blue beads for a project.

Got my second item up on Etsy. Am feeling a bit more comfortable with the process but after a long phone call with Rhoda (rotaroter.etsy.com) I see I have a lot more to do!

Made more of the crystal on right-hand weave links last night and tried to get a better photograph than the scan by displaying one on a wine glass, but it did not work either! The camera focused on the clasp instead of the crystals. So hard to photograph bling! Will try again this afternoon.

Rhoda also suggested I get one of these photo boxes for jewelry that gives diffused light. Will go look for that.

Got tired of making the daisy chain bracelets (I think there are now 7 of them) so I tried messing around with the beads left on my tray. I do not like the crystals in the middle of the pearls (to the right) but the left one, difficult to see, is an embellished right-hand weave that has real possibilities for me to use up a bunch of cathedral crystals I had ordered for Christmas trees but never used.

Am off to Vicki's to pick up my latest order. And all I really want to do is to stay home and bead. . .

Am still working on photos for the work for Etsy. Have decided to focus on the lizard collection at first. Finally am able to get the camera to see what I want to show. It is so hard to compose a photo in a square. It is against all my ideas and training in composition, but I see how Etsy chops the photos automatically into squares even if it means losing vital information. Now to get the rest of the information right and up on the site. Wish it was as easy and (and not etsy) and as much fun as doing these blogs!

Had to get back to beading in the evening and started doing these bracelets. In March Ling-Yen is having a "Flower Power" show at the old Point Arena Arts Gallery and (I think) all the items have to have something to do with flowers. I have lots of necklaces done in the daisy stitch so thought I would add some bracelets to the mix. Had gotten these toggle clasps at Oriental Trading Co. Other years I had ordered many of them and then recently re-ordered them. To my surprise, and against all tradition, the newer clasps are much more solidly made with far better craftsmanship but I think the price was the same. This really excites me - a person who made the design saw later where it was lacking and redid it. This feels like the way I would work.

Yesterday Ling-Yen of Ling-Yen Designs.com stopped by on her walk between showers. She was good enough to come in to look at the new things I was working on and of all the pearl people earrings, she liked this set the best. So I am putting these aside with the thought of maybe entering them into another contest. I feel, after looking over the winners in the Swarovski contest that winners are picked, not always by the innovative design, but by the number of products used in the piece. At least everything in this work came from FM.

I do not know if it was a reaction to finding out about my win in the Fire Mountain contest or the fact that I was photographing pieces for the Etsy thing, but yesterday was my day to see little examples of bad workmanship. Instead of skimming over them, or just planning to sell them for less, I sat down and redid each one. That is the good thing about beads. A snip of the scissors or wire cuter and you get a second chance at doing something right.

I spent a long time on Etsy, loved watched the newest posted items! trying to figure out the best way to photograph my stuff to make it look interesting. This was yesterday's slightly out of focus attempt. I had the big Sony set on a tripod and when I got frustrated with it, I grabbed up the new point-and-shoot Canon and got the best photo of all. If the sun comes out I now see what I can do to improve this.
I have moments when I wonder if I will every get anything posted on Etsy. Ling-Yen was very encouraging but she gives her work over to a professional photographer!