Punk Chic Jewelry

For the last many months I have had the incredible pleasure to work on a new project with the talented Erin Siegel. Punk Chic Jewelry is the first in what I hope will be many new ebooks from Ornamentea. 

Erin first approached me with the idea of collaborating on a book last year. We knew it needed to be something different, something that wasn't just a rehash of the same projects or ideas we'd seen before. Erin's previous project, Bohemian Inspired Jewelry with Lorelei Eurto, was very popular, but Erin wanted to move in a new direction. I knew I wanted the book to have a fashion-magazine feel, with model shots that made you really feel the energy of the projects. After lots of talking (can we actually do a book ourselves? should we?do we know how to do this?) we decided to take the plunge. 

The first, and toughest, decision was which platform to publish on. While there are a zillion (I think that may be the actual number) e-publishing platforms, my research kept coming back to Amazon. While I'm not a fan of Amazon - I have long regarded it as a local-bookstore-killer, in this case it seemed to be our best choice. We wanted the book to be available anywhere in the world, and to be available on all e-readers, desktop computers, phones and tablet computers. Amazon was the winner. I carefully, carefully read and reread the protocols for prepping a book to publish on the KDP Publishing platform (that's the official name) and I struggled to decipher the royalty splits and payment options. Caitlin and I looked at the 'How to prep your files' information and it seemed super easy to understand. 

Erin was in a punk-rock mood, and the designs she kept coming up with for the book had such a hard (and not-at-all boho!) feel to them. In the meantime, fashion designer (and Ornamentea-alumni!) Hannah Goff was sharing pictures from a collection shoot she did with a 'preppy punk' look that I thought worked perfectly with Erin's jewelry. Suddenly, the full concept was hatched! As Erin designed jewelry, Caitlin and I worked on the title, the fonts, the images. Hannah sent us fashion images we loved, including the one shot of model Anastasia Tsyrulnyk that featured a direct stare we adored. That shot was destined to end up on the cover. We obsessed about font colors and layout angles. Long chats about exact font placement, shades of pink and layered images, happened every afternoon. 

As the projects arrived at the shop, we realized what a talent Erin posesses. Her projects came to use carefully wrapped, in bi-weekly batches, the images and directions so beautifully prepared that my editing hand grew bored. Each box opened here at Ornamentea generated high-pitched, excited voices. The jewelry projects seemed like a perfect mesh with the amazing fashion photos we had from Hannah Goff and photographer, JC Cerilla. 

We wanted the projects to have kits available, but decided right away that they would be limited edition kits. We also decided to release them in two groups. This keeps us sane. We wanted the book to be about crazy punk style, not make us into crazy punks. 

Of course, every project, especially a 'first' project like this book, has to hit some bumps. After many, many hours of work designing a graphic-intense book, Caitlin realized that our book files didn't play well with the Kindle publishing platform. Yes, we had gleefully ignored the message from KDP to 'keep layered graphics to a minimum.' Uh-oh. Many punk elements were removed-you could say the book was graphically tamed-to create something readable on all e-readers and tablets. At first, Caitlin and I were a bit crushed, but the newer, cleaner version is actually more user-friendly. Projects and images are lined up and easy to follow. Since most of the people buying the book will probably want to make the projects, I think that's a good thing! 

Today we finally hit the 'publish' button and waited...and waited...and waited for Amazon to show us our book. When it finally happened Caitlin, Kristen, Erin and I were so relieved. Whew. 

I wonder what's next?

These are two of the projects from the book...click here to have a peek inside (thanks, Amazon!)

Queen Anne's Lace Class on Thursday night

I'm teaching this class at Ornamentea on Thursday night. I have a nice box of paints to do patinas with and I am looking forward to playing around with them. This is one of my favorite necklaces from the book; it was originally a design that I made for my jewelry line wa-a-a-y back in the 90's. I still love the double chain and front clasp that allows you to wear it long or short.

Call 919-834-6260 to sign up. Read the class details here. This class is open to all skill levels.

For more class fun check out Melinda Barta's Antique Connections or Custom Collage Resin Charms classes at BeadFest in Philly. Wish I could be there!

Earring Class on Saturday...

I am teaching a class this Saturday with a project from my book. This project is one of my favorites. I did a pair of earrings for the book because we needed more earrings, but I think that I will make a necklace during the class. Imagine seven of these blossoms linked together in a dramatic necklace...mmm, pretty. Come join me for class at Ornamentea and you can make your own earrings or necklace.


(Yes, when you write a beaded jewelry book the editors make sure you have a nice balance between earrings and necklaces and bracelets. Oh, and they don't call pins 'pins' but 'brooches' which makes me feel very swank and kind of like I am putting on airs when I say it. Much like 'davenport' or 'pocketbook' or 'dressing gown.' )

Candie Cooper

Ok, I am going to get all those blog posts off my 'to do' list! Up first, the photos from the fun day with Candie Cooper. I wish, oh-how-I-wish, that these photos had sound. Candie is funny, with wisecracks and slightly off-color* humor delivered in a Midwestern, Pee-Wee Herman accent. No one was offended, all had a great time.

(*in the Midwest, 'off-color' means words like bosoms and rear-end. I am from Ohio, the word fart makes me feel bad!)

We played with wool roving and made bead caps out of old cookie tins. I had a huge time and wanted to stay until the wee hours but was worn out by about eight p.m. We wet felted, needle felted, embroidered felt beads, talked, gossiped and played with tools.

Here Candie is showing off her cutting skills on an ugly tin lid that will become really lovely beadcaps...



Here is Christopher working on her own ugly tin lid...what you cannot see are her teeny-weeny, ultra precise wet felted beads.



This is me being schooled in how to sign a book by Candie. This inscription makes me feel so fab. I will read it when I am having a bad day. Candie really knows how to do the Author thing. Sorry, this makes me so sad for the three-word book signings I did. What can I say, I didn't know? Marcia, if you read this send me your book and I will do you proud!



That hole punch works on ugly tin lids! SOOOOO much easier than a Dremel!



This is Stacy, she was obsessed with making matching sets of felt beads and darn it if she didn't succeed. Since I don't ever try to match ANYTHING I was in awe.



This is Candie's wet felting sheet demo that would, apparently, be better if she had a big, shelf-like bosom. We all loved the demo even with less zaftig props. Orla and Nicola were highly attentive although you can see from the photo they were practically felting along with the instructor. Hands in your laps, ladies, and put on your listening ears!



A last shot before we went out the door...there I am with Candie...I am gonna have to buy that girl a drink next time I see her. And teach her to curse.

Teaching from the book...

Last week I taught a class of 'adventurous beginners' how to make the Paisley Necklace featured on the front of my book. The really great part about teaching this project was seeing how different all the necklaces turned out. The project features a piece of wrapping paper under a beveled glass square set into a piece of filigree. All the women who took the class chose different images or papers and one even chose a different bit of filigree. A very talented crafty gal made a piece of marbled polymer clay and matching beads (and she had just signed up that very morning!) It was really great to see the project in all the different color combinations.

It's a Mad Mad World

So, I don't watch much television. Chalk it up to the different tastes of my husband and me, or the fact that my studio space is tv-less, or the fact that I can't be sure I will tune in each week on a specific night, but whatever it is I don't keep up with the media world. Sex and the City? Saw it about four times. Seinfeld? Mmm, yeah, I am pretty sure I missed your favorite episode. I am not a tv snob, I don't not watch because I think it rots the brain. I am just busy or distracted or I forget.

But last year I saw a few episodes of Mad Men. Yeah, I know everyone is jumping on the band wagon for this show. The costumes are fabulous, the acting is great and the soap-opera story line is addictive. I saw the first episode (accidentally) and saw a few of the subsequent ones in bits and pieces. Now, post season 2, I am re-watching (or watching for the first time) season 1 courtesy of my husband and his downloading ways. He placed the entire season on my laptop and while I am working on book projects in the studio (really, Terry, I am working on the book!) I am watching Mad Men.

This show does not make me want to dress like a 50s secretary or house wife, as many of the writers at Vogue magazine would have you think. It does not make me long for a pre-feminism, Mom-in-the-kitchen lifestyle. It doesn't even make me want a great old IBM Selectric typewriter. I watch it and, frankly, I want to start drinking heavily*. Not drinking in a post-yoga and Whole Foods kinda way ("oh, I can really taste the terroire in that wine" and "is this organic sugar in the Mojito?") but drinking in the pour-me-another-it's-only-4:00 sort of way. I also have a desire to see my husband in a suit. Something tells me I can get my hair to do that swirly headband flip before the G man is going to give up his Adidas and jeans and wear a suit daily*. The drinking, I guess I could actually manage that. Would my business change if I got a sleek, moderne sofa and a bar in my office and started pouring drinks around noon? Why does no one on the show look like a puffy, smelly alcoholic? Is it the cigarettes? Is it the suits? The girdles and curlers? I am going to work on this problem as I work on the book and maybe, just maybe, I will have an answer for both at the same time.


*relax, folks. The fact that I have a rag-tag collection of actual alcohol in my house prevents me from acting on this urge at 2:00 a.m. We have some cheap-but-interesting wine and Ouzo, Goldschlager, Vodka and Cranberry Liquor. Oh, and a lot of hipster beers. Thank goodness the North Carolina legislature in their infinite wisdom decided to make ABC stores NOT 24 hour operations. Can you imagine if I could get a hold of a fifth of whiskey at this hour? The jewelry would go way downhill.

* #2 G used to work for IBM and when he started it was still a suit-and-tie daily kinda place. We bought a week's worth of white starched shirts and dark wool suits when he got the job and then, two months into the work, they decided to go all Casual Friday, all week. No dice, I said, you have the nice stuff, you will wear the nice stuff. To this day he is pretty sure that is why he did so well there. His co-workers at IBM immediately decided to start wearing wrinkled khakis and old golf shirts and since his wardrobe was either suits and ties or concert tee-shirts and ripped jeans he kept the ties on. I think it was the right choice.

New class, with a project from the book!

I am teaching this class at Ornamentea on November 20th...mmm, Paisley!

Book Release Party

Book Release Party
Friday, August 29th, 6:00-8:30
Ornamentea, Raleigh

If you are in the area please come to my book release party this Friday night. There will be yummy noshes and I would love to see you. We'll have many of the samples from the book available to see and touch, you can look over the book and I'll even sign it if you want me to. I guess that's what authors do, right, sign their books? I have no idea what I will write. My husband has offered up "I hope you'll fil-agree this is a great book" but, uh, well, he is an engineer and not a writer.

Even if you don't want me to write anything in your book, come to the party. You can see some of the projects in person and register to win a Filigree Surprise package with loads of my private stock of filigree lovelies.

What will I wear? I may see my friend Cheryl at Galatea for a dress, what do you think of this one? It has big rusty dots and I think I'd wear it for years, plus it's super-packable rayon so I will be ready for my multi-city book tour. That's a joke. Unless I do a signing at my brother's in Ohio I think my only 'tour date' will be here in Raleigh. The dress would still look good for my regular life of beading and grocery shopping and glamorous play dates with Nora and Cleo.

The book is here...

well, it's actually on the way here, in boxes on a truck. A very alert person told me last night that the folks at Amazon had it ready to ship already, ditto for Barnes and Noble. I looked it up and did a few minutes of late-night pj dancing. Wahoo. That's my book! Then I thought, WAIT, why don't I have any of them? I have heard complaints before from small book sellers about the 'big guys' getting books before the small folks but until just now I always thought, so what. NOW I am annoyed, this is MY book! How can they have it before I do??? Well, the secret according to my sources at the publisher is that the big book stores have their stock diverted before the book even reaches the U.S. When the books are packed up in Singapore they pack so many boxes for Amazon, so many for Barnes and Noble, etc. The rest go to the publisher's warehouse and THEN to the small book sellers.

So, moral of this story? Be patient with your local small book seller or craft store if they don't have the book you want the day it comes out. They are trying as hard as they can to compete with giant book-nabbing gorillas.

Second moral of the story? MY BOOK IS ON AMAZON! Wow. That is just crazy. Crazy. But don't order it there, please. Get it from your local bead store or non-chain book store or from ME. Still, it's pretty cool to see my book there...

And now I have a book release party to plan!

Am I crazy?

Well, maybe. If you remember, last summer was filled with loads of work on my book (Beading With Filigree, see the button, top left!) coming out this month from Lark Books. The book will be out soon, and as soon as we have an actual date we'll schedule a party. If you are in the area and you ordered the book with the free kit, you can come pick it up at the party. There will be a drawing for a filigree fantasy kit and more great items that you can enter...

It is good that this book is almost here. I have started work on book #2. Yes, that is the 'crazy' part. What am I thinking? Last time I was up until the wee hours way too much. I lost a whole season in my garden, didn't read the paper for months and even gave up most other forms of 'craft' for the book projects. Somehow, though, it was fun. The next book will be about ways to incorporate words into your jewelry. I love to add special words and phrases to my work, either for the simple poetry of the specific word or because of a special meaning the word or words hold for me. This book will be all about the ways you can do just that. I am also going to get to work with a few of my favorite artists on this project as I talked the folks at Lark into letting me add some other talented designers.

So I am crazy, but maybe it's a good crazy.

Beading with Filigree now available for pre-order!

You can order my book today and reserve your kit to make the lovely Trillium Earring. If you are in Raleigh, please order this on-line and just indicate your store of choice for the shipping option. The book comes out in August.

Don't forget to enter our Beading with Filigree Book Contest. You can win an autographed book and a fabulous filigree kit including many of the pieces used in the book, beads, chain and more...details coming in June!

Weekly Project - Filigree Bracelet

We have added some new filigree pieces to the site in anticipation of my book. I was all prepped to write about these new pieces of filigree plus tell you how to make this bracelet and what comes in today from the UPS driver but the final proof of the book. Beading With Filigree. It's real and kinda crazy. There is my name, big and bold on the title page. All the photos look great. I can hardly believe that I made all this jewelry. How did that happen?

So, anyway, back to our regularly scheduled project of the week:

To make this linked filigree bracelet you will need
12 glass beads, 6 mm (we used fire polished Czech glass)
5 antique copper filigree dapped squares
2 antique copper two-strand end bars
2 antique copper jump rings, 9 mm
4 antique copper jump rings, 7 mm
1 antique copper S-hook closure, 19 mm size
12 inches copper craft wire, 20 gauge

You will also need wire cutters, two pairs of chain nose pliers and a pair of round nose pliers.

With your round nose pliers loop all of the glass beads. Set aside.

With your chain nose pliers gently open one of the 9 mm jump rings. Thread it through the single loop on one of the endbars. Feed the hook onto this jump ring and close securely. Attach remaining 9 mm jump ring to the remaining endbar.

Use your chain nose pliers to gently open the loop on the end of one of the glass beads. Thread the loop through the side of one of the pieces of filigree. Close securely. Repeat to attach all five pieces of filigree to one another in a line as shown.

Use your chain nose pliers to open a 7 mm jump ring. Thread it through a looped bead at the end of the lined up filigree pieces. Attach to one of the endbars. Close securely and repeat with remaining jump rings to attach the other endbar.

You could easily turn this into a choker by adding more squares.

This project is not in the book. There are 30+ more, though. We'll be adding new styles of filigree to the website and the stores all this spring so that you can make all the projects. We have so many more findings in the stores than we do on the website, that is going to be a big bit of work. Like the endbars used in this bracelet, they are in the stores but not up yet on the site. It is really a full time plus job to add new items to the site and Sandy works her tail off as it is. I sorta-kinda-almost understand how to do all that HTML stuff but not enough to be useful in any way at all. It is really interesting to me but I just don't have the time to really learn it right now especially when I have several folks who really know what they are doing and so can do it 1,000 times faster than I could.

What I do have to do, what I have to make time for right now, is to look over those final proofs. The last set had two pieces of jewelry photographed backwards so this bit of checking is important. Sadly, this is not a strong suit of mine AT ALL. Spell checking, fact checking, my brain freezes up when I try to concentrate on those things. In second grade when I kept messing up on my spelling tests I actually told the teacher that I didn't need to learn how to spell because one day when I was a grown up I would have a secretary to spell things for me. The funny part of that is that I was a second grader in 1975. Little girls in 1975 didn't grow up to have secretaries, they grew up to be secretaries. Now we all have Microsoft Word so even administrative assistants don't have to know how to spell. I still am not the best at noticing printing errors. I may need to go get a cup of fancy coffee.

the book is DONE

It is finally final. I have a copy in my hands of the 'lasers' of the book. They are laser printed pages that show the book as it will be. Well, as it will be after a few changes. I have the pages so that I can look over them and let the editors know if anything is dramatically wrong. Like jewelry photographed backwards or the wrong picture with the directions, etc.

When I opened the package, I think I hyperventilated. I couldn't tell if I was going to cry or pass out or just pass out, crying. Luckily, I had a couple of lifeguards there to steady me.

So I read and noted the revisions (one piece photoed backwards, other than that it was just me being picky) and got to enjoy the how-to diagrams (which are very nice, the fine work of J'Aimee Allene) and even got to have a weird, out-of-body moment when I realized that I had done all this work. I still don't know which project will appear on the cover. I am voting for the colorful and complex Helen but it may be the enigmatic Golden Shimmer or the sweet Coral Blossom.

As a final bit of work, I had to have my author photograph taken. Generally, I don't mind my photo being taken but that is because I am usually holding Nora or Cleo when that happens and I look pretty relaxed and happy. For some reason I got all freaky about this photo, you know, it's going in a book. I should look sorta professional. That the final photo at the bottom of this post. Thank you to Kurt who showed up at my house on New Year's Eve with about a million pounds of equipment and turned my living room into a studio. The girls ate snack while he got it all set up. He took at least 50 shots until I finally stopped obsessing about my hair and my collection of striped tee shirts and was able to smile. He was in and out of our house in about 60 minutes, I swear, and I look pretty good if I do say so myself. I don't know how he did it. Oh, that's the Barcelona necklace in the shot, but you didn't hear it from me.






















See more of Kurt's work at his flickr page or his website.

Betz's Acorn Fun

It's a certified heat wave fall here on the East Coast. It was eighty-something today, October 9th. Huh? Betz is really suffering, she just recently relocated to our warmer area from the icey upper Midwest. Sorry, Betz. It's hard to get used to. I am still trying.

So Betz made these lovely little wooly acorns. Nice. I made a whole bunch of them. My daughter was thrilled to pick up the caps for me and I pretended it was cool outside. I may just try to make some soup tomorrow. Can I serve chili with ice in it?

Visit Betz's site for a million other great ideas. She has a book coming out soon that I am very eager to see. Oh, and obviously this photo is stolen from her site, that's her lovely vase, not mine. She also has great taste in shoes.

tiny people alert!

Ok, run, do not walk, to Askew Taylor on Glenwood Avenue and get yourself some tiny people. They are available in several styles - men, women, walking, groups - and they are fabulous. I know, you are saying 'Gee, Cynthia, what the h*ll will I do with these tiny people?' Well, dear friend, I will tell you. You can embed them in or Amazing Glaze or even EnviroTex. Those resins will make a tiny home for your tiny people. I have these five fab business ladies...I am thinking of making them a tiny microphone and having them be a girl group miniature. Or maybe I will paint teeny red suits on them! Oh, I am excited. As soon as I get the final stuff back to the editors this week I will play with my new, tiny friends. They were photographed on a sheet from my Rhodia pad and so you can see that they are all less than an inch tall. This is the package -my new entourage cost me under $9. That's less than two lattes. What a deal. If you haven't been to Askew Taylor, well, go. It's the world's most cluttered art supply store so you are constantly finding items such as this. Well, actually I found these because my friend, Mary, pointed them out, but you'd find them because you were just looking for a glue stick or something. They have paint, paper, canvas, brushes, model airplanes,balsa wood, boat varnish, teeny tiny people, you name it.

Oh, I am sorry that the last pic is turned on it's side. I tried and tried to get it to stay rotated but even though I would rotate it in iphoto it didn't stay rotated. I know, I could just ask my husband and I.T. guy but then he'd just poke around and figure it out. I will figure it out later, myself. That way I won't interrupt The Daily Show and someday when he has this problem I will say, oh, yeah, this is how you fix that. I like to impress him every once in a while and it's kinda hard to do so this is my big chance. For some reason, he won't be impressed by a pendant with a teeny tiny girl group in it.

book projects getting finalized...

The saga of the book continues. The projects are almost all completed and I have to admit, they look pretty good. I made many new designs and updated many 'old' designs from my Bedizen Ornaments days. It was getting confusing as we had a few different names for several of the projects and I couldn't tell if I had 52 or 29 projects (are earrings and a necklace one project or two?) So finally I made a spreadsheet to get all the projects for the book organized. I am not really a spreadsheet type, but sometimes it is helpful to get it all typed out. Plus an excel file is way more impressive to an editor than a sheet from your Rhodia pad, no matter how many different colors of pen you use to write on the graph paper.

This is a detail of one of the projects. We will have this filigree in the stores really soon, it's one of my favorite shapes and very versatile. I will be up late tonight finishing up a project that is new to the book; copper with a verdigris finish on the metal. It is rainy and I am anticipating a bit of late night crafting on the porch, listening to the rain. Nice.

free class went well

Ahh, so I taught a free class on Friday night. We have a free class once a month and I used to teach it all the time but this is the first one I have taught since Nora was born. It was fun, I taught a project from the book and used the directions. The folks that signed up were brave, they had no idea what the project was as I can't show photos of the book projects yet...Everyone's project looked pretty good. It was a bracelet with dapped filigree and a cabochon set into the filigree. I went home and made a few changes to the directions based on the input from Nancy and Elizabeth and other folks in the class.
If you have your own store, I recommend teaching a free class every now and then. I get a different group in the class than our usual registrants. Some take it 'cause it's free, some like the idea of a 'surprise' class (we don't announce the free classes with much lead time at all so you have to register QUICK!) and some folks will come out just because I call them and talk them into it. Not matter what, it's a fun way to spend a Friday night.
These pics are of Nora offering me some assistance today on the book. As you can see, she is already eager to bead.

shh, it's a secret!

This is a detail of a project that may make it into the book. It doesn't fit, visually, probably, maybe. But I do love it. I have worn it and may even make an extra to enjoy while the original languishes in my editor's office. I hope the necklace doesn't take it personally if it doesn't make the cut.

I am teaching a class on Friday with a project that will most likely be in the book. I am going to use the poor folks in the class as guinea pigs. They will hopefully have fun. I will be serving them wine and snacks, too, to help make up for the inevitable mistakes. Although I am generally pretty confident as a teacher, I get kinda weirded out when I write down the directions. I should confess that I generally NEVER read directions. I do look a pictures and diagrams. I will carefully study a piece of jewelry to replicate it if I am interested. But I don't read the directions. Somehow they make my brain shut down. Oops. I hope Valerie from Lark isn't reading this. Valerie, if you are reading this please note that while my brain shuts down READING directions, it doesn't totally shut down while WRITING them. Really.

busy week

Not a lot of posts lately. It's been busy here. We had a bead show this last weekend (Jane's Mercantile) and other than the lady who yells "TIME TO GO" at the end of the day it was a good show. We got set up quickly on Friday, we had a good crowd on Saturday and on Sunday I got to walk around the show and look at all the pretties.

I have also been focusing, or trying to focus, on the book. I am in the writing up all the directions and making all the samples part of the book-writing-process. It's time consuming and frankly, not as much fun as the making up all the projects part of the process. I am really going to hit it hard this week and next, staying up late every night to get the stuff made and the photos taken and the directions written. I need to get it done. I have to concentrate on my other job, the stores. If I worked for me, I would fire me right now. Lucky for me, I don't.

Heh heh.

New Beads

Ok, I know I am supposed to be only thinking of the book and filigree projects right now but I am really excited about these new heart connectors from Elaine. I am making a pair of earrings with them using some little brass weights and lots of square jumprings...mmm, new beads!