bwh Design Notes

I’ve been making jewelry since 2001 and have been trying to sell it since 2003. I put a lot into it, but for the past few years I have been concentrating on making a success of my web design business – bwh Web Designs. And now it seems that the jewelry business is actually costing me money – mostly due to having to file taxes on it. So I have decided to clean house. I’m selling most of my beads as well as the following items:

• Caravan Canopy – Includes 4 side walls and roller bag AND custom created weight set – Currently Retails for $449.99. Asking $ 175. – SOLD
• Cloud Dome – Includes: Cloud Dome, digital camera bracket, 35 mm camera bracket, 7inch straight collar extension, angled collar, foil reflector (two-sided: gold and silver), and Cloud Dome bag. Currently Retails for $319. Asking $ 200. – SOLD
• Olympus Digital Camera – Asking $ 200.
• Books, display lights, displays
• Jewelry
• Beads, Beads, Beads!

If you see something you want and can’t make the sale, contact me via this web site or call 210 383 5842.

Sale is Saturday, August 8, 2009 from Noon to 5:00 pm

Please email via this site or call 210 383 5842 for location information. (Prefer not to publish my home address on the web.)

Hope to see you there!

This Saturday, And The Bead Goes On is sponsoring Meet The Artist. Meet The Artist is a gathering of jewelry artists. They will be giving demos & selling their artwork. You’ll be able to see demos of lampworking, beading, free form wire and more.

The event is scheduled for Saturday, June 28th from 11:00 AM til 5:30 PM. I’ll be there with my jewelry.

Dress cool, though. The predicted high 98! (I believe that’s Fahrenheit? Hope so, anyway!)

Hope to see you there!

Have you seen it yet? I just today uploaded the brand new, redesigned bwh Designs! Check it out. For the next two weeks, everything is on sale, too! Let us know what you think!

You’ll notice some new things too. We have several new categories: Bridal Jewelry, Crystal Rings, $20 Bracelets. And you can look for more new categories in the coming months.

I’ve been working for a while on redesigning bwhDesigns.com. And it’s almost ready. Look for it within the next week.

What will be new? The colors for starters. And the overall presentation. I’ll have more flexibility in categories which should help people find things. I even have planned a category for bracelets under $20! Plus the WonderDome Rings will go on sale finally.

Look for the change real soon. I’ll post an announcement on the blog as well.

The San Antonio Bead & Ornament Society’s annual Bead Bazaar was this past weekend. I went and bought some yummy polymer clay beads from Heather Powers of Humble Beads fame. These beads are from her Van Gogh Starry Night collection:

I have big plans for those beads!

And this is one of her new polymer clay birds:

Isn’t he precious? Stay tuned – soon I’ll post pics of what I make with these!

Recently, I learned how to make these rings. And I found them to be quite addictive. I can make one in just about an hour. I learned to do this from a friend of mine – Sue. Visit her website to see her Wonderdome and other Crystal wonders.

These 2 rings are the first two that I made. I’ve made about 9 so far and keep coming up with new ideas.

I love butterflies. So I bought this lovely Hill Tribe Silver Butterfly from Adriana’s Beads. Then I use Italian Wire Mesh from Jeweled Treasures. I had the three colors – silver, mint green and purple and decided to braid them. I finished it off with Sterling Silver findings.

(Be sure to click on the image to see a larger version.)

And The Bead Goes On, a local bead shop, is promoting custom jewelry for brides and bridal parties. They will be taking orders based on the designs of local jewelry artists. I’ve submitted a couple of items.

First is a necklace made with Swarovski Crystal Pearls and Swarovski Crystals. Below are two views – front and back. Click on either one for a larger version:

I loved the drape of the chain with pearls on the end so much that I included it on the back as well.

Next are slightly long, drapy earrings to match:

I also made a shorter earring:

The Swarovski Crystal Pearls and Swarovski Crystals both come in a variety of colors to match bridal party dresses.

I’ve been a member of SABOS – The San Antonio Bead & Ornament Society – for over 5 years. At our November meeting, we were honored to have Larkin Jean Van Horn as our guest speaker. Larkin is extremely talented and very personable and down to earth. Larkin works with beads on fabric, something I’d never before been interested in. But, Larkin showed us more about the possibilities for beads on fabric. In fact, I was so inspired that I bought her book Beading On Fabric. It’s written just like she talks – which is good. It’s as if she were in the room talking with you. And it is full of information.

I’ve played w/ beads for years. And I’ve also, occasionally played w/ embroidery. But this is something different. And fun. And before I knew it, I accidentally had my first project. Well, not accidentally, but definitely sooner than I originally planned.

My first mission was to adorn a necktie w/ beads. This was for a lady at a restaurant we frequent. All the waitstaff is required to wear black shirts and ties. So I decided to add a little pizazz to her wardrobe. Since this was my first beading on fabric project, I decided that I just might benefit from a bit of practice.

My DH suggested that I put the letter “L” on the tie as that is the first letter of her first name. While practicing, I discovered this might not have been the best first project, but I pursued it anyway. Below is a picture of the practice “L”.

Not too bad, I thought. You just have to ignore all my chalk marks. Plus there’s those stray beads above the “L” where I was trying other techniques. It was, after all, practice.

I had 2 ties planned. One was a Christmas tie, being that they were delivered on December 22nd. I decided to work on that one next, just to get warmed up. (OK, and to make the mistakes on the tie that wasn’t likely to get worn quite as often.) For this one, I just decided to add some embellishments to an existing Christmas tie. Here’s a picture up close:

And a picture of the entire area:

Finally, I was ready to do the tie with the initial. I also added a circle of Sterling Silver Bali beads with Swarovski crystals on top – just for fun. Here’s a close up:

And another view:

The ties were delivered when we went to dinner Saturday night and were well received. “L” whipped off the tie she had been wearing and asked which one she should wear. I suggested the Christmas tie since it had such a short season in which it could be worn. I took great delight in seeing her show it off to other customers that night.

(On a side note, the “L” on that tie had, to me, a disturbing resemblance to the “L” on the sweater of Laverne on that old show “Laverne & Shirley”. I think that, blessedly, “L” may actually be too young to have ever seen that show.)

I already have more beading on fabric projects planned! Any suggestions?

This is my first entry for this blog!

I’ve been designing jewelry for over 6 years. This website will be 4 years old in January, 2008. I’ve decided to create a blog to add some interest.

I’ll be announcing new items as they are added. I’ll also feature pieces and talk a bit more about them.

Being that I am very much a ‘process’ person, I’ll also be talking some about what goes into a piece and how it was put together. I’ll include lots of pictures along the way. So, be sure to set a bookmark to here because I’ll be posting much more!

Oh, yeah. There’s also a rumor that I may be teaching jewelry classes soon. I’ll be announcing them here first!

And for starters, I’ll post a photo of one of my favorite pieces:

In case you’re curious: The background is the lid to a wooden box. The box is shaped like Texas. The lid is upside down so that Texas appears backwards.