A fun start to my weekend!

See that huge happy smile on the cute clown? Mine is like that right now. In fact, it may be permanent - or at least for a few days. Sure makes it hard to sip coffee like this.

This morning I woke up to my 2000th sale! Wow! I'm deeply touched and over joyed with how well my shop is doing. Although it keeps me quite busy, to say the least, I truly love what I do with all my heart.

That's not all. I also received a message that I was in a fun and awesome Treasury titled: "I love balls" - you've got to see it! I would post a pic of it, but I've never figured out how to do a screen shot - even though I've been told a million times, it doesn't work for me - doh!

I'm also excited about adding more 14k Gold Filled findings, like my new clasps below that I offer with and without the eye link (I'll have more styles added soon!)

That's all for now as I need to go get a napkin to clean up my coffee dribbles.

Hope you all enjoy the weekend!

Rocki

Thar's gold in them hills

Gold Rush - Wild West Series

I was going to blog about a funny/scary little thing that happened to me the other day, but I'll save that for next one as I need to get into the studio.

As you can see, I've been on a gold streak. I've added several more 14k Gold Filled findings to my shop - and there is more to come soon!

Small Organic Wrapped Hook & Eye Clasp

Wire Wrapped Twisted Bail

I'm now making wire wrapped bails. I have more designs on paper and in my head, but there is only so much time in a day and I'm STILL searching Etsy for a shop that sells TIME!

That's it. Just a short & sweet ... okay, shameless little plug, what can I say?

Happy Wednesday everyone!
Rocki

Caution... curves ahead

While I was on my R&R vacation (gosh I need another one) I was playing around with some new clasps and here they are:

Curvatious

Curl n Swirl


Elfin Petal


Classic Wrapped Clasp

Caution. Curves ahead.

Happy Monday!

Rocki

Awe, go fly a kite!

When I was growing up in California we used to fly kites all the time. Our house was at the top of the street, which sloped downwards, and my brother David & I would tie our kites onto our our bikes (the ones with the cool sounding cards clothe pinned to the spokes) and would zoom down the hill. Too much fun! However, my FAVorite place to go kite flying was the beach! I loved it when we went to the beach and dad would put together our kites.

I haven't flown a kite in years, until now. Well, sort of . While sitting at my bench, I came up with a fun idea for an earwire and these are it. They remind me of kites, so I just had to name them "Go Fly A Kite". Funny, but true, "go fly a kite" was one of my mom's favorite sayings. I can't repeat the other one.

That's it for this morning. Just a shameless plug for one of my new creations. Oh! Wait, one other little tidbit. Even though I'm working this morning (which I need to get into the studio, like now), I worked most of the day yesterday so that I could get into the salon for a cut & color. Long overdue, as always. This go around I want something very different. My hair is already short, but too long for me and out of shape. I want something bold, drastic, different, unique... we shall soon see.

Happy Monday,
Rocki

Did someone say... Brass?

Brass Hammered Baby Elfin Ear Wires above and Small Hoops below.

More to come soon, including Oxidized & Red Brass Ear Wires.

Nighty night all,

Rocki

Beat Still My Heart

If you have not seen Beat Black's shop, you must, I repeat, MUST go and check out her amazing polymer clay creations!

I "met" Sarah via blogging & Etsy and then became friends on MySpace. Who is Sarah? She is the fun creator behind Beat Black. Here's a quote from her profile that I just love: "I'm a 21 year old food junkie with a diploma in fashion design. I live in Toronto with my roommate and cactus whose name seems to change on a monthly basis (the cactus not the roommate)"

We can thank Sarah's mom for her amazing talent as her mom is an artist. Sarah has been creating things longer than she can even remember. In fact, before she knew about polymer clay, she would make little sculptures from her brothers "ball of a browny purple colour (clearly a mix of whatever he stole from school). It always had hair in it...ew". I agree Sarah... EWWWW!

Sarah's inspiration comes from many things, such as "weird colour combinations, the folds in a blanket, strange fairytale-ish movies, music, going through old sketchbooks, dreams, nature..."

When asked what her surroundings are like, this is what she had to say:"Pretty boring actually. I rent so I've never painted or put nails in my walls for artwork. Three of five light bulbs are burnt out in my chandelier. My futon looks like a lumpy monster and there's a microwave in my living room." Sarah my friend, you made this blog post very easy for me to write!

I really love her shop name, Beat Black. Sarah knew she wanted to use a black heart as her logo and after writing down several names, Beat Black stuck in her head. Speaking of heads, make sure you check out her 'brain' creations. Braaaaaaaains (zombie free, of course).

We know that Sarah has a thing for food. In fact, she has a tator fetish. Yes. I said tator, as in potato. Actually, I think my 'tator dude' is what brought Sarah & I together. What? You don't know who 'tator dude' is? Well in order for this to make any sense, you must read my "Weird. That's All I Can Say" post.

On top of her talent, funny humor, creativity & imagination, she opens up her heart and shares many unique fellow Etsian's shops on her fun to read blog: "In The Shadows".

Please visit her shop and blog. Oh, and tell her 'tator dude' says hello ;)

Beat still my heart,
Rocki

Gold n Desert

I'm pretty excited to say that I am now adding Gold Filled wire creations to my shop! You may notice that the handmade earrings above look like my Elfin earwires... yep, that's right! These are a bit smaller than my standard 1" size - these are 3/4" in size.

Funny thing is that I've always loved gold over silver, but ever since I picked up a torch it's been all about the silver. Okay, and MAYbe it's due to the price of gold is WAY too expensive to play with. But not Gold Filled!

I'm also terribly in love with these beads! Gold Plated (also have silver plated) beads that undergo a process of coloring and then firing to make them crack and see the plating underneath. Totally cool! I've titled these creations "Desert Romance" and you can see them in my Etsy shop for more details.

Off and running today - many errands to run before our mini vacation this Friday!! I'll let you know tomorrow where we're going.

Happy Hump Day!!

☼ Rocki

p.s. Gold Filled supplies coming soon!

Joyful Heart

The other day, Jen, a very sweet new buyer who is aware and doesn’t mind that I’m blogging about this and gave the okay to use her name, contacted me to see if I could make her a custom sized pinky ring from one of the rings in my shop, specifically “From My Heart To Yours."

Now I create custom orders all the time and thoroughly enjoy them for a variety of reasons, but mostly because the buyer wants something meaningful to them, needs a specific size, is a gift for someone special, holiday, birthday, etc. In any case, custom orders are very rewarding.

Jen’s request was a challenge (insert “Rocky” theme here), but a challenge that I wanted to take and create her special sized ring. I told her I would most definitely give it my best shot and if I couldn’t, then I would refund her money. She wouldn’t have that and told me that she would spend it on something else in my shop for my time and effort. This, in itself, truly touched my heart and was ever so kind of her. That made me even more determined to make her ring.

So why, you ask, am I blogging about creating this heart ring when I’ve made several custom sized ones already? Because it is the size of the ring - size 1. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not meaning for this to come across as something of an oddity and Jen knows this. Besides, I wear a size 2 pinky ring and have to wear children’s watches. Here, let me explain briefly.

When you make the ring shank (band), you have to make it smaller than the actual size you want. Why? Because you have to hammer it into shape which in turn makes the shank bigger. So in this case, I had to start at the tip of the ring mandrel at 1/8” from the top to hammer it down to a size 1 at ¼” down the mandrel.

I won’t go into all the other details of making this ring, other than the heart itself also had to be made smaller, which I always make by hand with my round nose pliers.

With love in my heart, I shipped the ring out yesterday and am very pleased with how it turned out. It is the tiniest and cutest ring I’ve ever made! I’ll admit that it was hard to part with, but she did pay for it - besides I have the pictures. The best part - it honestly brings such joy to my heart to be able to create that something special for others to enjoy and be happy with.

This is rewarding. This is why I do what I do. My heart is smiling.

Thank you Jen!

Have a happy, safe and enjoyable weekend everyone!

☼ Rocki

Even Squares Love Peace!

Due to being overly busy with family life & dealing with carpal tunnel issues, I haven't been able to keep up with my blog or create much. So, thought I would post one of my newest peace sign creations until later in the week when I hope to have something good to blog about :)

Feel free to visit my shop to find out more about my

"Even Squares Love Peace" creation.

Have a happy day!

☼ Rocki