Merry Christmas

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas. I know there are a few people who read this! LOL. May you enjoy a day filled with love.





My neighbor, a lovely old Italian lady brought over this cake for us. We're so blessed. This little ditty boasts some Jack Daniels. Whee. It's very good stuff!

Ask Stacie

Customers and friends regularly ask me questions about their jewelry. I thought I"d try blogging about it because many of the questions are the same. One day I suppose it would be a good idea to get an FAQ onto the website, but this really isn't the time of year to be planning new pages. Know what I mean! So here's the first question:

Which dip should I use to clean copper jewelry?


Whoa. Please don't ever dip your jewelry into any chemical. Some clean by stripping away the dirt, which also strips away bits of metal. And chemicals aren't good for stones of any kind, especially soft ones. And since you may not be aware of which are softest....stay away from it. Now- what you can do is this....put down your drink & swallow you coffee- I don't want anyone laughing & spewing their beverage onto the screen! Ketchup. Yup- you read that right- ketchup. Squirt a bit into your hands, rub it onto your piece (not on stones), rinse & buff with a soft cotton cloth. Voila- clean. Lemon juice works too but it's sticky. So there's your tip for today. ;-)

While I have your attention I would like to show you a beautiful treasury that I was honored to have a piece included:




This beauty was curated by TwoSilverMoons. Thanks so much for including an Azoho piece!

That's all for now....till next time!

Name your price sale!

Last sale before the holidays folks! I'm calling this one the "Name Your Price" sale. Here's how it works-
Purchase any item from either my Etsy or Artfire shop and you can name your price on a pair of tiny dots. Use the dots as a gift for someone else or a gift for yourself. You can name any price you'd like! $13, $10, $5, $2 or even FREE! Name your price in the notes to sender & I'll send off a revised invoice if it's necessary. So go on....take advantage of me as much as you'd like until Midnight Eastern time on Sunday December 13, 2009.





These are the tiny dots- wonderful versatile little things that they are- great for a 2nd or 3rd hole. Or even for a young person. So what are you waiting for??? Click away! And thanks for supporting an Indie Artist. ;-)

Special note: There's an Artfire Kiosk on my Azoho Fanpage so you can shop directly from there- without ever having to leave facebook or sign up for an Artfire account!

Can you believe it's December?

Where in the world is time flying to? This is crazy and it seems to be going at the speed of light. I'm not really prepared for the holidays. So what else is new? LOL. I's like to show you a piece that I'm proud of-



I cut the stone myself, then set it & ended up with this beautiful lariat. The stone is Sonora Sunrise, a few posts back I posted a photo of the rock. Earthy and organic looking with a "signature" bloom. One of my friends pointed that out to me recently....that the bloom has become my "signature". I have fun making them. Earlier today I listed the lariat HERE. I'm so very tired and in need of a good night's sleep, so that's what I'm going to do! Till next time.


S

Back in the groove baby!

I got back to my torch a couple of weeks ago. Felt good. I've got a few pieces that I'm working on that are angels with bezel set stones. And a lariat with a bezel set Sonora Sunrise. Beautiful!
I've got a sweet little ring with a green aventurine stone. Pretty. This one is in the shop already. I've fallen a bit behind in photographing it seems.



That all aside....this is what's on my mind today. I belong to a wonderful street team on etsy. The Starving Artists Team. A talented bunch who I've gotten to know better this past year. This month we're doing shop critiques. Today is my critique day. My teammates will be telling me how to improve Azoho on Etsy. I'm looking forward to it but am a bit nervous too. LOL.
Well I've got to get to the bench...I've got some filing to do!

Rest in Peace Daddy...

Last week, on October 1, I lost my Daddy. He spent the week in the ICU where they tried to stabilize him, but he was too far gone. He was a Husband, Father, Grandfather, Brother and Friend. Him & Mom were married for 51 years. I think it goes without saying that I'll miss him. Although strong when he was younger, the last few years had left him fragile. I will always remember him as a gentle soul. I'm like him in many ways except that I'm waaaaay feistier. And I'm not sure that anyone who knows me would ever use the word gentle to describe me.

Altimeter, Belt, Control, Cable, Canopy. He taught me this when I was about 9 years old. It's the things that you check before you take off in a glider. He loved to fly. Now why I still remember this, but can't remember to call my eye doctor to get a copy of my prescription- I don't know. ;-)

He wanted to be cremated and spend his eternity with his girls, down here in Florida where he spent over half his life. But well intentioned relatives started the process to bury his remains up north, in a place where his "girls" won't get to visit him. We (My sister & I) don't get to travel much & Mom's not going to be able to travel much either. So this really is goodbye. I am comforted by memories and can smile through my tears.

Please pardon this sad post....needed to get it out into the universe.

Cutting Rocks

When I was a little girl (I know, this statement brings on yawns & rolling eyes!) I used to collect rocks. They've always fascinated me. Fast forward to now. (I know- a really quick trip down memory lane) I'm a little obsessed with metalsmithing. And I'm loving my classes, although sometimes experiments can be costly- LOL. Anyway, I wasn't finding stones that I liked, in shapes & sizes that I wanted to work with. So...this semester I'm taking a cabbing class in addition to the metal fabrication class. There's plenty of new equipment & tools for me to learn how to use and I'm enjoying sourcing out rocks to cut. Last week I learned how to properly use the 12" oil saw. My hands were stinky with a foul smelling oil- but I cut a rock into slices (called slabs). Before class started I got some rocks to cut & cab- here's a pic of one:





This one is called Sonora Sunrise, a newish find from Mexico. (And from what I heard- "all the rage" at Tucson this year) It's Chrysocolla, so it's got lovely blues and Cuprite, so it's got earthy reds. With some black mixed in (Tenorite)

New Earrings Listed

Finally got a decent photo of these Bloom Earrings. Very rustic, organic. I just love them. The texture is fantastic. I have a pair too & they are very comfortable.

Gotta post & run....I'm off to class! Yay!

Included in a Beautiful Treasury

Jen K of TheBlueDress selected a pair of my earrings for this gorgeous treasury. She made mention that the old green of the 70's is coming back as the new green. I love green & happen to be in a sort of "green phase" right now. But do this: check out Jen's shop! She is so talented with metals it just blows me away. I always look forward to her posting new work. We are on the SATeam together & I've got to say.....she rocks! Thanks Jen!

Independence

A friend of mine sent me an email. She always forwards funny things but this one was different. It said that there is a rock in Iowa on HWY 25 that kids have painted for years. Graffiti, names, stuff that kids would do. Always changing as the next kid makes his mark. But a teenager painted over it months ago & nobody has touched it. I thought it was perfect to share with you today. The artist's name is Ray "Bubba" Sorenson II & I understand that he's a teenager. Check this out:












We need more teens like this one! Happy 4th & thank you to all the men & women that made & keep us independent.

Etsy Gift Guide & Free US Shipping

Who knew that even a "not so great" photo can be picked for a gift guide? LOL. This weekend there is a Free Shipping promo going on at Etsy. My shop, Azoho, is participating in the promotion. Etsy put up the gift guide/ limited time promotions & I was happy to see that my Bloom ring is in the guide. Sure wish I had a better photo to put into that listing. ;-)





I wanted to share this with you. Last Sunday I woke up with a nasty sore throat, still sore so I'm going to go have some nice warm liquid. Stop by the store & take advantage of the free shipping promotion!

Bloom...The Ring

I know I'm just dropping quick photos & running....life's been that way. But I wanted to post a pic of a new ring. I haven't been able to get a great photo to post it in Azoho yet, but I'm close. It's a "bloom" ring. I love it. Wearing it on my pinky right now. Earrings are close to finished. And a ring with a little bezel set stone is finished except for some patina & polishing (& setting the stone). Hopefully some time in the metals studio tomorrow morning & I'll get it all done. Then photographs. The last part is still the tricky part for me.
The kids are almost finished with school for the year. At this point I'm usually thinking that I'll have more time....but this year I'm not kidding myself. My time will have to be stolen moments here & there. Unless I can work out some sort of schedule. Hmmm....will have to give that a try!

Class Ring

I wanted to show you a photo of a ring I made in my fabrication class.




I like it because it's rustic & organic. I picked a stone that has a higher profile on one side- almost looks like it cracked while it was being cabbed & they went ahead & polished it anyway. It's got character! For my metal head friends...The tricky part was the braid. It's 24g twisted wire that I had to solder before it was soldered on next to the bezel. The challenge was NOT to melt it- heating it up twice with a #3 tip on the torch. Anyway...I love this ring & wanted to share it with you.

Need a name

These are cute little studs. I was going to add them to the shop tonite, but then realized that I can't seem to think of a proper name for them. LOL. Any ideas? They are smaller than the nuggets. And I've got some in colors also. A bit of air dry enamel on the end adds a little splash of color. So....if you can think of a name for these- I'd appreciate your comments or tweets! And I thank you in advance!

Choices....

A couple pairs of hoops, larger than the ones currently in the shop.

What goes around....

I snagged another treasury this weekend. This time I featured the fantastic talents of the SATeam. Here's a snapshot:






It seems that everything I was working on this week had some sort of circle in it, so with circles on the brain I just went with it. But they're nice circles aren't they?

Was going to post a link but the treasury expires tomorrow. So instead- I'll just post a link to a team search instead! Almost 5000 items of handmade goodness. Nice.

PS- Happy Mother's Day to all of the Mamas out there!

Mother's Day Sale

The Starving Jewelry Artists Street Team is having a Mother's Day sale this weekend on Etsy. This is a wonderfully talented bunch. If you search "sateam" you'll find a plethora of gorgeous goodies for any special woman. Mom, Grandma, Aunts- anyone who is special to you who deserves a special gift for Mother's Day.

Don't wait to the last minute to pick up a gift. That's the Motherly advice that I get- so I'd thought I'd share that!

Sale ends Sunday (4-26-09) at midnight and started a few minutes ago!

Tiny Bubbles

Every so often I have some frustrating torch time. Where it seems I melt things constantly. Never wanting to look a gift horse in the mouth- I save it. Afterall- who knows what it could become one fine day! Some of these were supposed to be head pins which ended up too short for what I needed them for. So on a better torch day I balled up the other end too. They happened to be on my bench next to a lonely pair of rectangle hoops that just needed something else before they felt done. You know the feeling right? So they were lovingly wrapped around the hoops to finish up this pair of earrings. I like them but have been undecided about whether they need a patina. Any thoughts or opinions? If so- tweet me. Otherwise, these will be listed on 1000 Markets soon.

BTW- you can find me on twitter @StacieWilliams


edited to add: Thanks for the tweets! They're in the store now

Azoho

Azoho is coming........soon

Accepted to a new venue

Last weekend I was accepted into the juried site 1000 Markets. It took a couple of weeks to set it up and to get the nerve to apply- LOL, but I did. I've been doing a happy dance all week working on some pieces to list. Let me tell you a bit about it.....

First- since it's a juried site, the quality is outstanding. The site design is beautiful and user friendly. It uses Amazon payments for processing your orders. Don't we all have an Amazon account already? LOL. I know I did. In addition to the stores, there are markets. A combination of various shops with some sort of theme. Like being in a city and heading to their market to see what their locals have to offer. It's an exciting place to be and an exciting time to be there. Still in "sneak peek" mode. I really love it there and was moved by there beliefs. Check it out & spread the word, it's a great place to shop for quality handmade items.

(The logo isn't a link but there are links in the post- seems I'm forgetting my HTML right now!)

A pair of rustic hoops that will be for sale shortly. Getting ready to launch a hoop-cessories line. Most women I know have their favorite pair of hoop earrings. Hoop-cessories are add ons to hoops to dress them up or add a splash of color. Like changeable little charms for your hoops. Still photographing some items, but they'll be available soon.

Happy New Year!

It's hard to believe that another year has zoomed by with a fresh new year just waiting to unfold. I tend to be very reflective this time of year. From Christmas till almost mid January (my b-day), reflecting on the year past and planning for the year ahead. And that's the mode I'm in now.

Wishing you a very happy new year filled with creativity and an abundance of all things good!