Pantone Spring 2012

And the winner is... Tangerine Tango! Read all about it at the link.

Here's a preview of what you can expect in jewelry trends. These colors really make me smile, and they're a joy to work with on a cold January day.

And here's what designers like Gaultier, Missoni and McCartney are putting in the shops RIGHT NOW. Be sure to check the color cards on the left hand column of these links, and see how closely they line up with the Pantone forecast.

Now, I don't know about you, but I look TERRIBLE in orange! Don't let that scare you off. Think coral, salmon and persimmon, and keep the really hot shades for small accessories and accents. Pair it with turquoise, and you have an instant classic. With pale melon green, it calms down and becomes a citrus splash of refreshing coolness. With an unexpected accent of pale lavender blue, it brings to mind a field of wild flowers, yarrow and cornflower nodding in the summer heat.

Here's part of what my current bead stash looks like. I pulled these out of my stock to see how well the colors "play together".

I highly recommend you go through your wardrobe, yarn pile, fabric stacks, etc., and see what you can come up with in the Pantone palette. It's a great exercise!

Rose (pink) gold is emerging as the HOT new metal of the day, after decades of being considered terribly old fashioned, and only fit for Victorian watch fobs. If you follow trend sites like HauteLook or Fab.com, you already know what I'm talking about. It's everywhere!

For those of us mere mortals on a budget, there's rose gold vermeil over Karen Hill Tribe silver, 14k rose gold plating over both brass and alloy, and even bright polished copper for a darker rosy look. Rose gold compliments every skin tone, whether you are a "warm, cool or neutral". Darker skin tones can really rock the bright copper look like no one else!

Be sure to check out B'Sue's Boutique for delicious jewelry supplies custom plated in her proprietary Rose Gold finish. Sure, you can find something less expensive, but once you get your hands on her pieces, you'll never go back. Rich,warm and absolutely gorgeous, with a plating so thick you won't believe it's "costume quality". Her items come in relatively small batches, so if you see something you like, grab it quick!

Less is more, so look for high quality materials and key pieces to highlight minimalist designs. "Effortless chic" is the phrase of the day, and it's harder to accomplish than you'd think. For many years now, I've been operating on the theory that if a bunch of beads is good, then a whole bunch more is even better! Now, it's a matter of finding that perfect bead, with just the right chain, and a charm that's not too big or too small. Scale and balance are everything. Even if you get all the colors right, if it doesn't "feel right" to the eye, it won't sell.

Pre-Fall 2012 will be more of the same, but with the colors more muted, softer and dustier looking. The turquoise blue will be replaced with slate blue, and sand beige will play a much more prominent role as an anchor to coral and carnelian tones. You'll be seeing more oxidized copper in earthy Tibetan style beads.

Bronze ox and brass ox will always be fashionable for Victorian romantic styles - and of course for the steampunks. You'll have to pry that oxidized brass out of their cold, dead, gear enhanced armature! The goths, in their unholy graves, will never give up their silver and gunmetal hematite. Be that as it may, if you want to be on trend for the next few seasons, do the Tangerine Tango and think PINK for your metals.

Happy creating!

What type of glue do you use?

Oh man, I wish I had a dime for every time I’ve been asked that. After many, many years of experimenting I’m finally ready to reveal some of my trials and errors.

I’m sure that many of you are familiar with the website This to That, and it is very useful at times, but still, YMMV. Before I get into what I do use, I’d like to discuss what I don’t use, and why.

There is a lot of snobbery in the jewelry world from the people who do hot connections towards the people who do cold connections. Sure, it’s hip to risk burning yourself for the sake of art, but it’s not always necessary, either. Soldering is a very tricky business, and can either give you a flawless professional finish, or it can ruin your work irreparably.

Metals have very different melting points, and when you’re trying to join a tiny brass gear to a large steel pocket watch case, the differences in materials is going to give you a heck of a time. Even if you do get the seam or join you want, then you have to deal with things like fire scale, pickling, polishing, etc. Total PITA if you ask me.

Another popular way to assemble metals is to use a rivet set. You can get some really awesome industrial looks with riveting, and I’d really like to learn how to do it some day. You can use a wide variety of metals, and you don’t risk burning the house down. You do, however, have to buy a set of punches, a bench block, the right types of hammers, and keep a stock of all different sizes of rivets in different metals, as well as a drill to make your holes. Now try riveting that 4mm gear. Not as easy as you thought, eh? Not to mention the fact that if your hammer or pin slips, you’ve just smashed up your work, your fingers, or both. There may be much swearing involved, and this could be a problem if there are impressionable children around.

This to That recommends JB Weld 2 part metal bearing epoxy for metal assembly. While this stuff may be just the ticket for repairing your radiator, I’ve found it to be less impressive for detail work. If you get the mix exactly 50/50 and get everything set up and clamped in plenty of time for it to cure properly, then it will be bulletproof. If you get the mixture even a teeny bit off, or if you’ve delayed a bit and it’s started to cure already, then you will get a very brittle and unpredictable bond that will look stable, but could fall apart on you at any time. The fact that it’s a really ugly, lumpy looking pile of gray ooze on the back of your jewelry is another major drawback in my book.

Two part 2 Ton Epoxy is another adhesive that gets a lot of mention, but I’m not a fan of it either. It has all of the problems that JB Weld has, except that it dries clear. It’s still unpredictable, and even MORE fussy to work with. It stinks, it’s horribly toxic, and it is sticky as all get out. I tried to like it, I really did. I tried 2 minute set, 5 minute set, 30 and 90 minute set times. All of them were so hit and miss that it drove me crazy, and I spent a lot of time fixing bad connections.

So, you still with me? Yay, you get a cookie!

Here’s what I like to use. E6000 http://www.dickblick.com/products/e6000-jewelry-adhesive/
I buy it by the case.

There’s a trick to using E6000, but it’s pretty common sense, really. First of all, you have to prep, prep, prep your surfaces. This is a great thing to do if you are bored or feeling uninspired. No creativity? No problem, get in there and prep your supplies.

The first step is to get a Dremel, or some other type of flex shaft with a grinding wheel. You’ll want a really coarse grit for this. Scuff up every surface that you want to adhere, and scuff it good. Then degrease all of the parts with acetone or rubbing alcohol, and let dry. Next time the muse hits you, you’ll be able to just grab a part that’s ready to go, and you will thank me, oh yes you will.

Now, apply a THIN layer of E6000. The strength is NOT in the volume, that’s a major mistake that most people make. If there is a bit of ooze, wipe it off with a Q-tip or a wooden popsicle stick, OR you can do your cleanup later.

PAY ATTENTION, THIS IS THE SECRET!

Clamp every single part that you are gluing. Clamp it like you’re afraid it’s going jump off your bench and run away. Clamp like you’ve never clamped before. THIS is what makes the adhesive really cure hard. Leave it for 24 hours, and you will have a very, very secure join. When it starts to set up you can clean up any oozing with a scalpel or extremely sharp craft knife, by trimming around your components and then gently teasing away the excess. You can only do this in the first 12 to 24 hours, after that it’s nearly impossible.

The bad news is, if you didn’t clamp the parts straight, then once the glue is set you will end up with a crooked assembly. I’ve had pieces where I’ve taken a knife blade and tried to wiggle them apart, and then I tried to pry them apart like shucking an oyster. No go. They were stuck, and stuck good, so make sure that you’re positioning is perfect.

The next day, give your work the “yank test” to make sure that everything is holding tight. Sometimes, rarely, when there’s too much humidity, Mercury is retrograde, and there’s a bad moon risin’, things will come loose and you’ll have to do it over. Better to find out now, rather than later.

Extra tip: If you are working in layers, start at the bottom and work your way to the top. Glue and clamp the pin to the brooch base, and let set overnight. If that’s holding well, the next day you can add some more elements, glue and clamp, and check. Then you can add the stones, finishing touches, whatever. It can take a week or more to make a really detailed piece, but it will be worth it knowing that you’ve done your very best every step of the way.

Now go make something cool!

Introducing LolliShops.com!

This is a juried site, and I've been accepted! I'm so excited and honored to be included. As much as I love my edgy, retro-futuristic steampunk work, there's still a soft, romantic, girly side that wants to come out and play. Now I have a venue that specializes in sweet, sparkly and whimsical adornments for both men and women (but mostly women). I'm going to start listing some of my button jewelry and cabochon jewelry that just seems to be getting lost in my Etsy shops.

The site will open to the public in the fall, and until then you can follow along in Sadie Lou's blog.

*cue Cyndi Lauper* Oh girls just wanna have fuuuuuuuun!

The Web Host of My Dreams

I love Volusion so much, I want to have their internet babies. Their customer service is so good, it's stunning. There are much cheaper eCommerce sites out there, and if you are not planning on growing a large company then a smaller site will be a better option for you. If you are planning to ever have any employees, do wholesale, dropship, manage a warehouse (or multiple warehouses!) offer LiveChat support, or any other bells and whistles, then Volusion is the only place to look.

I searched for months to find the right web hosting solution for me. In my case, I make several different lines of products, so I needed to be able to sort by an infinite number of reducing categories. Most websites did not allow more than one sub category per main group. Volusion is infinitely expandable, so no matter how big my company gets, I will never have to leave for a company that will be more capable of meeting my needs. This is very important, because I HATE moving!

Volusion offers over a dozen different shopping cart companies, with several different levels of processing. They have stock templates (a bit too spendy for my taste), in house designers if you want them, and in house consultants. They also offer SEO (search engine optimization) services when you are ready to get your name out on the web in a bigger way.

I checked different companies that review eCommerce sites, and Volusion always came in at the top of the list. I was actually getting worried that they were too good to be true, and that somehow this was a scam. "Nobody is that perfect!" I thought.

Here's what really closed the deal for me. I am NOT a computer person, by any stretch of the imagination. I use an ancient iMac because it took me forever to learn it, and I don't want to have to learn a new machine. Computers frighten and confuse me, and generally make me say bad words. Volusion offers step by step video tutorials as well as written tutorials for every single aspect of the site. The tutorials can be paused and backed up as many times as you need to figure something out.

They offer 24 /7/365 "live human being who speaks English as a first language" tech support. You can choose between phone, LiveChat or email as communication. I chose email because nothing I was working on was time sensitive, and the longest I have ever had to wait for an answer was four and half hours - in the middle of the night on a weekend! During business hours my emails are answered in about a half an hour, tops.

I explained that I was not a computer person, and they used very simple straightforward language with me, explained things clearly (speaking sloooowly and using little words!). Then, they checked back to make sure that things were working for me, THEN they asked if there was anything else they could do for me! I think I nearly fainted. This was not a fluke. Every single time I've had a question my experience has been the same. Everyone is pleasant, professional and helpful.

I also want to give a shout out to Jess Bryant (jessica-bryant@uiowa.edu) who did all of my web design and countless little revisions. She's fast, friendly and fabulous. Do yourself a favor - before you spend money on an expensive template, or spend all of your valuable time trying to do it yourself when you'd rather be crafting - let Jess give you a bid at least. Tell her Grace at Rivkasmom sent you! (I don't get a penny, I just really like her.)

Edited to fix typos. Why do I keep wanting to call them Volution? It's Volusion, with an "S"!