Flowers and Chains

This week I was busy working on necklaces. I re-vamped my Concerto necklace to make it a bit more versatile. The toggle clasp can now be adjusted by fitting into any of the round links. I love how it looks with some of the chain just hanging long, like in the first picture. I think it would look great with the end hanging down the back with a backless dress.

I also debuted my Eva necklace this week, which features these delicate little flowers I've created out of sterling silver and copper.

I love layering necklaces, and I think these two look great together!

Concerto Necklace

Eva Necklace

Felt Pillows

I finally got some sample pillows made in preparation for my soon-to-be-launched line of felted pillows. I'm really happy with how they turned out.

My felt pillows are made using the wet felting technique. You can read about how this is done here.

Chain Earrings

I really enjoy making chains, and I've been having fun coming up with some new earring designs involving them. These will be available in my shop this week.

Balere Earrings

Eleanor Earrings

Centralia, PA

Durelle and I visited Centralia, PA yesterday. It's an old mining town in PA that has been, for the most part, abandoned due to an underground fire that has been burning since the 60's. You can read more about it on wikipedia... it's really quite interesting.

Here is a bench welcoming you into town... it sits across the street from one of very few houses that remains:

Here is a street that was once lined with houses and buildings:

There is a section of PA Route 61 that has been cut off and re-routed due to the road caving in. You can't see it in the pictures, but there is smoke coming out of the large crack in the road:

You can see more photos on my Flickr page. Definitely a cool place to visit if you live nearby or are driving through the area.

Rings!

I've been pretty busy the past couple of weeks working on some new designs. I'm excited to be bringing 2 new elements to my shop: rings and resin! My first of these items will be the combination of both... rich, opaque colors of resin set in a uniquely designed sterling silver ring. These will be available in my Etsy shop soon.

Flowers

Perhaps it's all of the springtime blossoms popping up, but I noticed today that I've been incorporating lots of flowers into my designs lately. I'm especially excited about the Tiny Blossom earrings. They are small and delicate, yet have lots of detail that make them special. I'm one who tends to just stick with one piece of bold jewelry at a time... either focusing on earrings or a necklace. While these are interesting enough to be worn on their own, I think they are a perfect match for a bolder necklace.

I really like the way the flower turned out on this pendant. It has a funky look that will go great with breeze summer dresses.

Cherry Blossoms

On Sunday I went to Washington, DC to check out the Cherry Blossoms. It was really cold, damp, and muddy. They were pretty, but I'm not sure I'd need to go back to see them again. Perhaps I'd feel differently if the weather was nicer.

I did have fun taking pictures, though...

Reinvention

I am excited to announce that I have a brand new name! I am now Esma Studios! I've been wanting to come up with a name that I could use that would work for both my jewelry and home decor that would be unique, yet short and easy to remember. My real name is so common, and I felt like it didn't stand out enough. I decided on Esma because it is a loose derivative of Amy and it means "emerald" in Spanish, which is my favorite gemstone and one of my favorite colors.

I've already posted a few brand new pieces in my Esma shop, and over the next few weeks, I'll be moving in the items from my Amy's Jewelry shop. I'm hoping to open my home decor shop in the next few weeks, as well, so stay tuned for more info on that.

Berry Earrings

Modern Cross Stitch

I decided I needed a new sitting-around hobby now that spring has sprung. It just doesn't feel right to knit a scarf in the warmer months, especially since I can't wear it right away. I thought cross stitch might be a good choice, but I hadn't done it since elementary school, and that was the kind with the printed on pattern. I thought that since the arts and crafts movement has hit the younger, hipper crowd, a modern-looking pattern would be easy to find. Well, I realized that my search was going to be a little harder than I thought as I leafed through pattern after pattern of cats, dated flower arrangements, and home-sweet-homes. Then I came across a book called Parisian Panache by Jenna Lynne that had cute French-themed patterns. (Ok, actually my boyfriend found it as I was getting ready to give up due to my growing frustration at not finding anything I liked). I'm planning to decorate my studio with some fashion illustrations that I have, and I think some of the patterns in this book will go nicely with those.

If anyone knows of any other sources for modern patterns, let me know. Otherwise, I think I may just design my own, which I think could be quite fun!

Dress Form

I'm so excited about this new dress form I got! I've been wanting one to take pictures of my necklaces and to use as a display stand, but I really didn't want to spend 100+ dollars on one. I was so happy when I found one on PB teen's website for under $100. Initially I wanted a traditional ivory fabric one, but I really love the look of the black wire. The proportions aren't exact, but I don't think that's too important since I'm not actually using it to make clothing.

Front Page

I was so excited last night when I saw my linked bangle bracelets on the front page of Etsy! Strangely, it seems that every time one of my items is on the front page (which hasn't been that often), it's in the middle of the night. I was still excited, though, and I figured it's day time somewhere. After it was up for a while, I decided I should get a screen shot of it, but I couldn't figure out how to get the full page. Then, as soon as I found a website that can create full page screen shots, my front page went away :( It figures. I was still able to get a full screen shot of the treasury from which the front page was taken, so I got some satisfaction with that. So, if anyone needs to know how to get a full screen shot, just go to Thumbalizr.com

Front page, woohoo:

Treasury - I was honored to be included with all of these gorgeous pieces:

Cuff Links

I finally got around to taking some pictures of the cuff links that I made for my boyfriend for Valentine's Day. I plan to eventually make some to sell, but right now there are other things with a higher priority. I would, however, be open to doing custom orders should anyone be interested.

Alpacas

I made a trip to the local Alpaca farm this past weekend. They are so adorable, I just had to share some pictures of them. Enjoy!

Saucy

I really love pasta, so I was happy that I had some extra time today to make some sauce. I can't wait to have some with fresh mozzarella, parmesan, and prosciutto. Yum.

Tomatoes roasted in the oven with olive oil and fresh ground pepper:

Fresh oregano and basil:

Mmmmm!

coffee, chemistry, and cookies

Well, I still haven't had a chance to do much in the studio lately, but as soon as this chemistry class is over, I plan to go full force into creating new pieces.

I decided to help myself make my studying a little more pleasant by making some chocolate chip cookies, and what do ya know, it did help. And, of course, they're always better when they're half-baked :)

Linked

For Valentine's Day, I made my boyfriend a pair of sterling silver cuff links. Unfortunately, I was in such a rush to finish them up before meeting him for dinner that I didn't get a chance to take pictures of them. I intended to get some pictures of them this weekend, but I forgot, so hopefully I will remember sometime so I can post them.

Anyway, for Valentine's day we went to Bricco in Harrisburg. The whole meal was delicious, but I'd have to say the beginning and ending were my favorites. They offer a variety of cheeses, which was exciting to us because we are big fans of cheese. We followed the waiter's suggestions on our selection of 3 cheeses, and it was truly a unique experience. I would never have thought to pair fresh honeycomb with blue cheese, but they were really amazing together! Then, to finish our meal, we got a chocolate cake with 7 layers of various kinds of chocolate. Need I say more. We also each received a complimentary chocolate covered strawberry, which was delicious! I would definitely go back, even just for the cheese and dessert!

Then, as if that wasn't enough, he got me a huge box of Godiva chocolates. I told him I always buy myself a box for Valentine's day in hopes of winning the prize they give away, so he got me some so I didn't have to. Of course, I didn't win. He also got me some handmade soap and feather earrings that I had on my favorites list on Etsy. Oh, and he also sent me roses earlier in the day, which was a nice surprise!

Even though I didn't get a picture of the cuff links, I did get some pictures of him wearing them, so that sort of counts, right? He was able to get some wear out of them this weekend while playing music in a wedding and while directing the orchestra for his school's winter concert (he is a music teacher). It was a busy weekend, but it was fun.

Celeste

I've been really behind with getting new items made thanks to organic chemistry. It definitely is not a class I was really eager to take... in fact, I've put it off as long as possible. I'm just trying to convince myself that I'm really interested in it with the hope that I will do better with that line of thinking. I'm not sure that it's working, but I guess it can't hurt.

Anyway, I did manage to get some photos taken of a new pair of earrings I made last week. I was going for a geometric look, but after I finished them, they reminded me of a crescent moon in an abstract sort of way.

Celeste Earrings

Frothy

The randomly sized circles on this pendant reminds me of bubbles. Bubbles are fun, so naturally wearing this necklace will lead to fun times :)

Here is a long chain I'm working on. I love long necklaces because of their versatility. They can be worn long or doubled up, and they also look great layered with other necklaces.

My First Successful Hat

After a few failed attempts at knitting a hat, I finally succeeded in making one that a.) fits and b.) I would actually wear. For Christmas, my boyfriend got me this really cool colorful hand spun yarn from Marajane on Etsy. I'm really happy with how it turned out... and I'm glad that I can now make more than just scarves.

I had this cool idea to make wrap around scarf-things hanging down from the sides... but some ideas look a lot better in my head than in reality. They may come in handy if I'm going to be outside in a snowstorm, but until then, I think I'll just leave them off :)

Little posts

I finally got around to listing some of my new post earrings in my Etsy shop. I really love these as casual everyday earrings. I made myself a pair of the Trellis earrings, and I've been finding myself wearing them a lot. They are especially great on cold days when I'm all bundled up in my scarf or big turtle neck and don't want dangly earrings hanging down and getting in the way. I've had a lot of fun making these, because even though they are small and simple, there are so many possibilies for different designs.

Pebble Earrings

Trellis Earrings

Jane Earrings