As It Turns Out

You know how sometimes you notice that time has passed, and yet you feel there's nothing to show for it?

I was convinced that a few months had passed since my largely content-free last post, that there would be no photos to display, since I'd done absolutely nothing whatsoever. I did read a couple of books that I enjoyed quite a bit, but that's not necessarily worth mentioning. And I did snag some extra shelving thingies for my ever-expanding beading space for an excellently low price, but once again, hardly news-worthy.

Turned out that while there were no grand works, Stuff Got Made After All.

First time ever, I made a pendant, put it in my Etsy shop, and on THE SAME DAY it was put in a treasury.

These are collections of items on Etsy (did you click the link? That's a treasury on the Etsy front page) that anyone can make, but there are a limited number of treasury slots available, so I understand that people sit and wait to snag one as it expires. The thing about them is that Etsy is so huge, with so many gazillion incredible (incredibly gorgeous and incredibly ghastly - see Regretsy) things that it's hard to get other people's eyes on your stuff, so treasuries highlight them and bring traffic to your shop.

Or so I'm told.

Either way, someone paid me a compliment by announcing that they liked something I made, and that's pretty cool.

Speaking of cool, my daughter suggested that I might have enjoyed going with her to Bonnaroo, and that perhaps I should consider it next year. I just might.

I did spend quite a bit of time preparing for the class I taught today, during the course of said preparations making two samples.

It's a fun little piece, a bit unexpected in terms of construction, and although Stefanie yawned the whole time, claiming it was because she was just so relaxed, Amy thought it was a bit intense, but not in a bad way. So did I.

(I was going to put the above in my shop, until the close-up revealed a huge thread loop around one of the drop beads. Whoops! Guess it's mine now).

The reasons the instructions took so long was that I've made the basic Sputnik (I was told it looked like a spaceship) in a few different configurations, so I thought it might be nice to include instructions for all of them.

It was time-consuming though.

I also made a sample for a new kit.

Lately all sorts of shops, both brick-and-mortar as well as online, have been carrying these gorgeous Chinese crystal beads, which are very reasonably priced, and frankly, quite unlike most of the beads from China, in that the quality is impressive.

Unable to resist the lure of shiny things, and particularly shiny things in what is known as a rondelle shape, something shorter along its axis than its lateral diameter, especially if it has any kind of iridescent finish or is otherwise extraordinarily coloured, I have been acquiring them without a clue as to what they're good for.

I lie. I have a clue. At the very least they're good spacer beads between necklaces of beaded beads, and that's what I've done with some of the smaller ones, but the bigger ones have been eyeing me malevolently, knowing I was out of my comfort zone.

Until today.

At which point, I went on a bit of a jag.

Given that a substantial portion of my day has been taken up by either preparing for class or teaching it (and oh yes, changing the belt on my vacuum cleaner. Why don't they have snap-off or screw-off pieces? Why did I have to unscrew and then re-screw so many screws? Not a great UI), not to mention ongoing prep for Puget Sound (I'm doing pretty well in that department. I should be done in time), I don't think that three pairs of earrings is too shabby.

The concept, slightly modified, works well on the smaller rondelles too. You can't tell, but these are what they refer to as "red velvet", which I believe to have an opaque red core with a transparent red overlay, resulting in a really luscious shade with a very rich glow. And I don't usually even like red.