Mistake turned to a new design

This pair of earrings was born out of a mistake. I made some hoop earrings, but didn't make the top part even between the two, so I cut it up and remodelled it so that it became a mini-hoop, which I like maybe even better than the original. I'll keep this pair as a 'prototype' and do more with different stone, see how they turn out.

Green herringbone set

Since I've sold the other set to my dear colleague, I used the green cats-eyes beads I bought today to make another set. Strange how the same, yet so different the two sets look, due to the color. I am not sure which I like best, I think I like both.

Today we spent the day with hubby outside, I went to the local gemshop and spent a fortune there, then we went to the new Ikea (which didn't impress us much), and then we went to eat souvlaki. We got home after 3.30. It was a nice day, it's so seldom that we get to spend some quality time during weekends together, I really enjoyed this outing.


And since I was working on herringbone, here is one I made for myself. Well, unless someone is begging me to sell it *grins*. I only need to add another clasp on it, most probably I will make one tomorrow as the small clasp I put on it takes all my energy on trying to close the darn bracelet. I am not even sure why I actually purchased these tiny little things. Bleah,waste of money and silver.

My first sale on Etsy!

Woohoo, I've just sold my first pair of earrings on Etsy! I'm so excited! I woke up this morning, checked out my mail and there was my first order and paid too!
It was from one of the promotional games I was playing, but was not the cheapest items, like they usually buy, so it did give me a boost of confidence.
So just had to brag about it a bit :)

SOLD - Herringbone silver earrings and bracelet set

A colleague at work just bought this set from me. She told me a while ago that she wanted them when she had money, and now she went for them, yayy!
Now if only my Etsy sales picked up...
I love this herringbone set, I think I will make another similar one with different stones.

My earrings featured on an Etsy treasury!

The orange pair second in the second row, woohoo!!

Roses are red...with a dash of white

I made this silver and swarovski pendant today, it looks really cool. Project taken from the very new Easywire magazine.

I've decided to keep and update also my Etsy shop. It's amazing how chatty the forum there is, nothing like Dawanda,where you're happy if you get 3 posts within a day.

So if you're in the US and want to shop from me without having to convert Euros to $ and back, check me out here: http://marikajewelry.etsy.com

Reasons to buy handmade

I've read on a forum a post by an artisan about various reasons to buy handmade, specially with the holidays season coming up, and I thought to post them here as well.

1. Handmade products are unique. Do you really want the same scarf, mug, or other item that 20,000 other people have? Of course not! Handmade items are always unique, even if they are the same type of product because they are not made by machines they are crafted by human beings so each piece will have its’ own unique characteristics.

2. Handmade items have personality. Life is not about being blah. Life is about expressing yourself and to do that your things need to have as much personality as you do. If you are happy with buying mass produced items that have no personality off a shelf at Wal Mart or Aldi think about what that says about you. Don’t you want to express some personality?

3. Handmade items are special. When you get a gift don’t you feel a little bit more loved when someone gives you a handmade gift? Everyone loves getting handmade gifts or wearing something that was made just for them.

4. Handmade goods are high quality. If you are a person who values craftsmanship then you already know that handmade items are far superior to mass produced items. When quality matters, go handmade!

5. When you buy handmade you are supporting traditional arts and crafts that have passed down through generations. In today’s high tech world the old arts and crafts traditions are being replaced by mass production but when you buy handmade you are saying that you prefer your items to be high quality pieces of art instead of mass produced trinkets.

Keep these things in mind the next time you see a scarf, a bracelet, some great handmade soap or other item and think,” I could get that for half price at Wal Mart/Aldi.”!

Buying handmade also means that you can spend the same amount you were planning on spending, and you can get unique gifts for everyone on your list. Please, shop handmade this holiday season!

Unakite cluster earrings

I just got the winter edition of the Step by Step wire magazine and it has a lot of great projects. One of them is the cluster earrings that I made this afternoon. Took me quite a while to finish, but it was fun. I'll try it out with other types and colors of stones as well, for a different look.
I've used unakite pearls and the little cubes at the bottom are yellow orange jade. Sterling silver all around.

African mask carnelian silver pendant

I love my new baby, this cute pendant I made the other day. It strongly reminds me of an African mask, due to the shape of the gorgeous 6cm long Carnelian stone. So I worked it up with silver wire and silver beads to an actual mask. In making this piece I used my newly aquired skills in making the 'beach pendant' (a few posts back), and then I've expanded upon it.

Autumn Jasper Pearl Set - SOLD

I made this set custom for a colleague at work and she liked it. Autumn jasper pendant with tiny white pearl dangling from it, and pearl silver earrings.

I had a depressing day at work, nothing specific, just sometimes it hits me that I'm still working in an environment that I don't like, and I'd so rather be doing what I like to do best: jewelry, working for myself. I'm just wondering, does it happen to others as well that when you're so down and depressed you actually start to feel physically ill?
When I calm down, however, and look into myself, I know that I won't be spending all my life here. So much has already happened in my life, that this is just a relatively short stage and there is so much more to explore in the future. This is what gives me hope and keeps me sane when I'm at my lowest point.

What a gorgeous stone!

I just love this white onyx! When you turn it towards the light it shimmers like the scales of an expensive fish. Totally gorgeous! And here is the pendant that I made with it. I trapped on it a small calcite puff bead, really cute :)

And another pendant - SOLD!

I saw a pendant somewhere online whereby a smaller bead was hooked onto the bigger one with one two wrapping twists, so I started one in a similar fashion, but by the time I finished it, the resemblance was all gone. I managed to trap a small shell bead on a gorgeous large bronzite pendant using the mosaic technique. This idea I think has a lot of potential. Haven't really seen anything quite similar until now.



And it sold within a few hours of me posting it on Dawanda to somebody in the UK.

So far I have sold jewelry on Dawanda to:
- Austria
- France
- Denmark
- UK

New wrapping style

I've just learned today a new way of wrapping a stone and I must admit I quite like it. I've seen it before but didn't know how to do it, until I opened the latest Wire Jewelry magazine (Fall 2007) and saw the instructions. Here are my first attempts with some beautiful beach stones.

New week - things are looking up

So starting of a new week...and at least in non-work related matters things start to look up...
I just got payment for the Ebay lot of parchment books! It turned out that it was indeed an email issue from the buyer's side.
Plus last night Remy contacted me regarding the tutorial, and she sent me a link to download, so now I can safely close two pending issues! We both have no idea what happened with the automatic email, but once I sent her a message through the Creative Wire Jewelry forum, we got in contact ok.
Also on the Wetcanvas forum I got a link on buying online leather cord, so I'll check it out today. I can't find some good leather cords around in Nicosia...

Other news, I joined a very interesting forum, called The Switchboard, - Connecting Creative Women in Business. It is a forum about women trying - and even succeeding - in starting their own business, be it in jewelry or other artistic and creative venues. Wonderful posts and tips given there, if you have some time to browse, check it out at http://www.theswitchboards.com/forum/.

Alex made me do it!

Alex just said that I should do more pendants, so there, I made one more. Green aventurine heart. The previous two I made (one in beige and one in real heart colors) sold very fast at work. Let's see how the green will fare...

Weekend - hopefully a closure

In a way I'm glad this week is over. I haven't been able to bring some project - any project to a satisfactory end, be that related to jewelry or other things. I've sold on Ebay a huge bunch of Pergamano books (since I no longer am interested in making parchment cards, and these books are very sought after all around) to somebody who already bought from me over GBP 50 the week before. Now the total amount was GBP 250 (yeah, weight was about 6 kg), and for a week now I'm waiting for the money to come in. Contacted her several times with no luck. I'm wondering what's going on - is it my email, is it hers, is it the connection between the two? I will file tomorrow a nonpaying 'complaint', so maybe the automatic email from Ebay will go through...I almost believe my email has some problems because of...see below...grrr
About 3-4 days ago I bought a rather expensive jewelry tutorial, for which there is an 'instant' download that comes through an email. The email never came since. I contacted the seller through different means, no luck. Strange, as I've already bought from her before tutorials, and there were never problems - until now. Is my email really working? LOL!

Today I ripped apart 2 projects I was working one (or finished already) as I didn't like them - and they're still in the tray, waiting for this or that - one project for some heavier gauge soft flex wire as the iolite beads cut through the wire, and the other project waiting for comments from a possible buyer who showed interest in it if I ever re-did the necklace.
A third project - a pendant for an ex-coworker of mine, would be ready, except for having to buy from somewhere black leather cord. Having no car, I can't really move around, so this project also have to wait. Oh and of course, no car. Still. After almost a month, grrr.

So giving up on anything getting really sorted out right now, I decided to just 'play' with wire, learn new techniques, not trying to finish up anything.
I was curious about wire sculpture and although I don't have square wire, I tried my hands at it with round wire. Interesting idea, I will have to work at it, to shape the wire nicer around the bead as right now it looks quite funny.
And something that I finally like!, a pair of hoop earrings. So far I love them! For the next pair I'll have to shape the wire better, to be nice round, but otherwise they're a hoot! Based on a tutorial from Beading times.

Using up your scrap wire and orphan beads

Here is a tip to use up some of your silver wire scraps and also make something nice in the process.
With silver being so expensive, I got quite depressed seeing how much wire I've thrown away (in my scrap box) while learning to make jewelry (and even now, when I make something and I don't like it and pull it off afterwards). I've read on Dawanda forums a thread about people showing their Christmas offering, so I thought why not?
I took some of the 5-6 cm wire pieces from the box and made headpins for earrings, and also fished out some Czech glass beads that I had at home for ages and were just getting dusty and forgotten (bought them a few years ago during one of my trips to Czech Republic) and put them together in 5 pairs of Christmas earrings. I left them quite cheap, only 5 Euros a piece, and I think these are perfect gifts to give to friends, coworkers, neighbours or even distant relatives that don't need expensive gifts to be showered with.

If you want to buy the lot and save yourself some Christmas rush and stress headache, they are in my Dawanda shop.

DaWanda Colour Competition - Vote and Win!

12 DaWanda sellers (I am also one of them) organised a friendly competition - trying to come up with the most attractive pinboard on a given theme.
This month: Red and Green.
We are actually so friendly that anyone voting on this may win the prize of their choice, picked among creations by three of these oh-so-friendly and creative sellers.
In order to vote, look up our pinboards, entitled Farben von DaWanda / Colours of DaWanda / Morceaux Choisis, and leave a message here, under this post, stating which pinboard you give your vote to and which prize you would like to get.
Voting stops on November 22nd.
Favourite pinboard and winning voter to be proclaimed on November 25th.The Pinboards to vote on:
Birdlandcreations - http://en.dawanda.com/list/Birdlandcreations/8463-Colours-of-Dawanda
Chicoumi - http://fr.dawanda.com/list/chicoumi/8635-mOrceauX-ChOiSis
ContasKoeln - http://de.dawanda.com/list/ContasKoeln/8476-Die-Farben-von-DaWanda-
Glamasaurus - http://en.dawanda.com/list/glamasaurus/8480-Colors-of-Dawanda
Glassprimitif - http://en.dawanda.com/list/Glassprimitif/8509-Colours-of-Dawanda
Le Bar du Vent - http://fr.dawanda.com/list/meherio68/8472-Morceaux-Choisis
Lunaitalia - http://fr.dawanda.com/list/lunaitaliana/8553-morceaux-choisis
Maginette - http://fr.dawanda.com/list/maginette/8503-morceaux-choisis
MarikaJewelry - http://en.dawanda.com/list/MarikaJewelry/8477-Colors-of-Dawanda-com
Paranoire - http://de.dawanda.com/list/ParaNoire/8500-Colors-of-Dawanda

Saras Texture Crafts - http://en.dawanda.com/list/SarasTextureCrafts/8395-Colours-of-DaWan

Tarzanne - http://fr.dawanda.com/list/Tarzanne/8516-MORCEAUX-CHOISIS-COLOURS-O

And the prizes to chose from:
http://fr.dawanda.com/list/meherio68/8458-Cadeaux-Prizes

So if you are a Dawandian (hm, new name Dawandian...), come and vote! My earrings are one of the three prizes to chose from!