Monthly Archives: February 2010

Birthday Indulgence

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I spent the weekend out of town, visiting family in Calgary. It was nice to take the long weekend off and do random, sociable things. We went to the zoo, tried out Mom’s new hot tub and shopped while we were in civilization. While the rest of North America does Valentine’s, I call it my birthday :p

Birthday Clay Birthday Wire
Birthday Beads Birthday Camera

I grabbed the clay for myself since I lucked out and found it on sale at the same time I was near a craft store. Mom, my enabler, bought me beads. I picked up a few spools of sterling silver wire to try my hand at. And last, but definitely not least, is my new camera.

The cat is already starting to slink away when I pick up the camera. I’ll have to find other guinea pigs.

Featuring ASecondTime

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In my wanderings on Etsy I’ve lucked out in meeting up with some really neat people. Joan, of ASecondTime, is another member of the Alberta Etsy Team. She’s based in Calgary,  so I’ve even had the good fortune to meet her in person!

asecondtime steampunk necklace

Her work has a lot of elements of steampunk style – a mix of intricate Victorian detailing and industrial components such as gears and watch movements – mixed and matched with beautiful glass, stone and, yes, even a few of my own beads.

neo victorian necklace

Here’s one of her recent pieces with one of my own sea garden lentils. Joan also has a variety of other, more contemporary, pieces in sterling. She also has a sweet sculpture in her Treasure section:

inukshuk soapstone asecondtime

Making

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I’d been hurting for a little inspiration and motivation at the end of 2009 so I took the advice of the experts and took that first step: I started making things. Sometimes all you need is a little motion to get you going in the right direction. I’m still lacking the solution to some projects but I have a growing pile of ‘productive procrastination’ projects. Here’s a few:

Citrus Cane Roses Winterflowers Lentil Bracelet
Swirly Blues Autumn Swirl Lentil bracelet

A customer challenged me to make them bright roses in the colour of my citrus canes. So I did. Some of these canes are in my Rainbow of Roses listing. The bracelets are basically wrist candy to get myself using my own beads, especially the swirlies. How else do you sell the things if you can’t convince people they should be essential parts of their art?