Gálago

After spending a wonderful 3 days in Montreal with my husband, visiting galleries and taking in the sights, sounds and smells, I have returned renewed and inspired (and also with a terrible cold :o()!
This fabulous artist ~ Gálago ~from Madrid, has also inspired me. Her whimsical brooches and miniature eatery are so clean, well done and beautifully presented.

Check out her Flickr

                       Blog

                 and Illustrations

Favorites: Daoine

Pendientes donuts. P063, originally uploaded by Daoine.

Simple, clean design from Daoine. Love her work!

Inspiration

In the wee hours of the morning I was up making some stripey canes. I was so inspired by the technique and colour palettes of  Dummer and Nichols team from the new Polymer Clay Daily's post yesterday. Although the technique is not the same (I was really half-asleep and just playing), I am still pleased with the results.

I took some old kaleidoscope canes that I had lying around and flattened them and combined them into these. I do love the colours.
Thanks for the inspiration! I am going to keep working on this until I get it right.

Craft Biz

I stumbled upon this great article from the Biz Box Blog that has excellent information for crafters wanting to break into the retail market with their handmade goods and are not sure where to begin. Great advice, terriffic blog.

I have always thought the biggest obstacle is yourself when trying to penetrate the retail market. Being afraid of getting turned down and not having enough confidence in your product or yourself seem to be the greatest hurdles when I talk to other artists/craftspeople about selling retail or wholesale. What I did was make sure that I had a flawless product, took a deep breath and pretend that I've done it a hundred times before. It seemed to work :-)

Also here is another well-written article from a Posie Gets Cozy . Excellent advice and how-to!

New Stuff!

I was up very late sanding and buffing last night so that I could add some new things in my shop. These confetti beads sparkle like crazy. I used my dremel to polish them (which I usually don't) but it suits them and makes the silver leaf really PoP!

Inspiration

My backyard tonight.

Let's Play!

I've never played around with alcohol inks and gold and silver leaf quite like this before and I've got to tell you, it is so much fun! I've done mokume gane with leaf before but for some reason hesitated to go any further...until now. Here are some examples of some (still tacky) pendants that I made last night using gold leaf, alcohol inks, sanded and then a generous topping of resin to give it that glass-like finish and voila!

I have made some blue and green with silver leaf and some hot pink and orange ones that are awaiting resin. I am so happy I gave myself permission and time to try new techniques.

Craft Gossip

Check out this nice write-up about my work on Craft Gossip!

http://jewelrymaking.craftgossip.com/inspiration-rebecca-geoffrey/2009/09/09/

Thanks Kate!

Tag Finder Tool

Take a look at this cool app from Craftweasel.com. Very cooollll.

http://www.craftweasel.com/TagToolQuery.do

Why?

Why is it that the day you feel most inspired is the day that your house needs cleaning?

New Items in my Shop!!

I spent yesterday making new pendants and beads and half of today taking pictures, editing, witing descriptions and uploading ~ Whew! I'm wore out!
I hope you think it was worth it :o)

Feedback

It is always nice to receive positive feedback and I am always happy when someone leaves me a picture of what they made with the beads they purchased as did Claire of Island Inspiration on Etsy. Very nice work and thank-you very much!

Polymer Clay Daily

I'm blogging a bit late but I just wanted to say that I was featured today on Cynthia Tinapple's wonderful blog - Polymer Clay Daily today. I have been a faithful reader since its' inception and was most humbled by seeing my work presented and narrated so wonderfully. Thank-you so much Cynthia!

New Stuff!!

Just adding some new items in my Etsy and Artfire shop today. Have a peek!