Once a Month Promise - February

I know I'm cutting this one right to the line but my (lame) excuse is that February has fewer days!

Anyway, coral has been on my mind lately, as I'm on the hunt for a coral bridesmaid's dress, so I'm suddenly finding myself attracted to a colour I normally shun.

This month's Once a Month Promise item is a perfect example:

Fused Glass Cabochons from Outrageous

I simply couldn't resist that bright, happy colour so I've ordered these fused glass cabochons. I already have something in mind for them, inspired by a piece I saw on the Oscars on Sunday. It should push my skills in a new technique as well so I'm really excited. They're coming from Australia, though, so who knows when they will arrive, fingers crossed it's soon, I can't wait!

What of last month's item?
Well as soon as they arrived I was inspired and knew exactly what to create with them. Unfortunately I've... misplaced the item so I can't photograph it to show you! I'm hoping a proper tidy/sort out in the next few days will reveal it, otherwise I'm going to have to buy another set and make another one (or 2, I really want to keep one for myself!)

Inspiration - Thistle

There is a reason why I haven't posted for 2 weeks: I've been rethinking the posts I write, considering some new ideas and trying to decide which of my posts you actually like to read.

On that note I am changing the format of my inspiration post and I may play with a few ideas before I settle on one. Here is the first of the new style, let me know what you think!

Thistled Tones from Design Seeds

I love the Design Seeds so I'll definitely be keeping them! This week this gorgeous photo caught my eye and those are some of my favourite colours, beautiful for spring.

Given that this blog is about jewelry I want to shift the focus back that way so I'm leaving out the Etsy treasury and featuring jewelry pieces from all over the web.

Earrings from L.A. Glass Studio

Ring from Anne Sportun

Pendant from Aldari Jewelry Designs

Pendant from Surfside Sea Glass

Please let me know if you have any suggestions for these posts. I'm open to ideas for different ways to do the inspiration posts (or if you think I should scrap them altogether) as well as suggestions of posts you'd like to see in the future. All (related) comments welcome!

Inspiration - Sugar

I love sugar, a little too much to be honest! I will happily eat sugar cubes straight out the bowl until someone takes it away from me.

Sugared Brights from Design Seeds

I also love how pretty sugar can look - almost sparkly especially on top of bright colours.

Sugar Treasury on Etsy

Inspiration - Rocks

I usually have an idea for a theme for the inspiration post before I start looking for items and colours online but today I decided I would start by heading over to Design Seeds and seeing what jumped out at me.

Agate Tones from Design Seeds

As it turned out, this was the top post and it definitely jumped out at me! Those are some of my favourite colours and I love the beautiful, dramatic patterns in the rock. Theme chosen!

Rocks Treasury on Etsy

My biggest challenge when putting together this treasury was to make sure it wasn't all gemstone jewelry! It was also the first treasury in a while where I've had to try out different search terms to get appropriate results. I even had to add some items which just fit for the colour.

Anyway, I hope you like it and I hope it inspires you this week. :)

Featured Artist - Michele Grady Designs

The featured artist posts are back! I love sharing awesome jewelry artists with you and I've found a few more great ones :) I've also started a Pinterest board with pictures from all the jewelry artists who have ever been featured on this blog.

This week the artist is Michele Grady Designs. She works in Sterling Silver mostly but also with Copper and gemstones. Her style is very bold, chunky and industrial, featuring lots of texture and patina. Here are a few of my favourite pieces:

Constricted Heart Charm

This one is perfect for the rapidly-approaching Valentines day! I love the colours and the way the patina highlights the wire.

Wrinkled Skin Cuff

Grapevine Cuff

Here are 2 very different Sterling cuffs yet obviously both the same style. The first is accented with Carnelian and Copper, the second with Amber.

Which Michele Grady piece is your favourite?

Once a Month Promise - January

You may have noticed this logo appear in the sidebar of my blog a few weeks back and wondered what it was. Well, wonder no longer, I'm about to explain it to you.

IAMTHELÄB is running the once a month promise so it's best explained in their words:

The 1ÄM Promise is easy: It’s a simple promise to purchase 1 handmade item a month. Whether big or small, each handmade item you purchase helps to keep a artist in motion.

They are looking for 100 bloggers to make the promise, to buy handmade and help spread the word, but you don't have to be a blogger to take the pledge. You don't have to buy once a month either, simply raising awareness of handmade and increasing handmade purchasing is all supporting the handmade community.

Anyway, I have made the promise so I'm going to be buying at least one handmade product every month. To make it easier for me to find something to buy and to make it more fun for you to read I've decided to combine it with a regular giveaway and here's how its going to work:

I will buy a handmade jewelry component, probably beads or findings and make a piece of jewelry with it. The following month I will then offer that item to be given away on my blog. Hopefully this will also encourage me to try out different things with my jewelry. I'll share the details of how to win when I actually have the first giveaway item ready.

Anyway, enough boring details, here is my purchase for January!

Ceramic Beads from Captured Moments

I ordered them yesterday so when they arrive I'll have to work out what to do with them (they're curved so as to be perfect for bracelets but I'm not sure if that is what I'll make). I'll post the giveaway sometime in February, once I've had a chance to make something.

Inspiration - Fire

It never really gets that cold in San Francisco but at the moment we do need the heating on so I imagine most of you are also relying on it to keep you warm. At this time of year nothing warms the heart against the cold, rain, wind and snow outside quite like a lovely crackling fire.

My love of fire stretches towards pyromania and has done for as long as I can remember. My earliest memories of fire are of the one we had in our home - I was desperate to poke it with the poker but was never allowed to even get close enough!

I find fire completely mesmerising and my career choices have both led me to work with flames, first as a Chemistry teacher and now as a jewelry maker. Fire comes in so many shapes and colours, hopefully I can share some of that beauty with you today!

Volcanic Hues from Design Seeds

Volcanoes are natural fire at its most dramatic. Potentially devastating but so intensely beautiful at the same time. I really love this colour palette but most of the items I found fitted with a brighter palette so I had to adapt it slightly.

Fire Treasury on Etsy

I hope this post has inspired you to create something wonderful, please feel free to share if it has!

The Crucible Holiday Gifty

As I mentioned in my previous post - Shop with Embergrass this December - I'm going to be vending at the Crucible in Oakland this weekend, I hope you're planning to stop by and see me :)

Just in case my jewelry isn't enough to drag you down to Oakland I wanted to share a few of the other jewelry vendors who will be there too:

DAC Metals

Mangosteen Jewelry

Rosemary Dudley Designs

Saara Reidsema Jewelry

TK Metal Arts

Jewelry Gift Guide

Featured - Sundrops Dangle Earrings

I'm excited to announce that Storenvy has chosen to feature Embergrass Jewelry in their current Jewelry Gift Guide!



If you are stuck for gift inspiration for jewelry lovers you should totally check out the guide! Here are a couple of my favourites who are also featured in the guide:

Mix Tape Necklace from Deer Heart

Cat Ears Ring from Unexpected Expectancy

SF Etsy Team at Baz Biz

I mentioned Bazaar Bizarre a few days ago and I said there were lots of members of the SF Etsy team vending there. Well there are and I've found a list of (hopefully) most of them so I am going to be able to share some of the awesome, locally made things you will be able to buy if you head down to Baz Biz this weekend.

I'll start with jewelry, since that's what this blog is mostly all about:

Lemonade Handmade

Bug Under Glass

Velvet Otterhound

Jenny Archie

Zelma Rose

Mediums to Masses

Mangosteen Jewelry

That's quite a lot of jewelry artists! And so varied, too! So I'll just add a few of my favourite items from other types of sellers from the team:

Nicole Steward

Geraldine Adams

Recycled Glassworks

Which are your favourite?

Inspiration - Fog

Living in San Francisco I see a lot of fog so this post had to come up eventually! Last night and this morning were particularly foggy and we could hear the foghorns, of the ships traversing the bay, over and over again. Now there is a completely clear sky and a beautiful sunset!

I don't really like fog, its cold, damp and miserable, not to mention cutting out the sunshine but it can create an amazing atmosphere and some really beautiful images. I'm hoping to reverse, or at least reduce, my hatred of it through writing this post.

Misty Tones from Design Seeds

This colour palette is surprisingly... well... colourful! I tend to think of fog as grey and turning everything else grey but sufficiently vibrant colours can still stand out through it.

I am convinced that fog can be beautiful even if I stick to the grey colours, though, so I'm limiting the palette for the treasury.

Fog Treasury on Etsy

I hope you like it! Please share any fog-inspired things you make or find :)

Inspiration - Chocolate

I've been eating a lot of chocolate recently. I always seem to crave it if I'm a little cold and now the weather has turned that's happening a lot more often. I'm also lucky because, at the moment, I have a bar of (friend imported) Dairy Milk in the cupboard *and* I've managed to find imported Cadbury's Chocolate Fingers in Walgreen's!!

Chocolate is the perfect pick-me-up and its so versatile. You can use it for baking, melting, drinking and just straight out eating. You can buy bars of chocolate to munch on or buy really expensive, fancy chocolates to make yourself feel special. I suppose its abundance and variety is due to the popularity of its flavour - hardly anyone doesn't like it but loads of people absolutely love it!

Scooped Tones from Design Seeds

I hope you find some inspiration from these gorgeous items, even it's just to go and eat some chocolate :)

Chocolate Treasury on Etsy

Let me know if you make something inspired by this post.... and if you have any delicious chocolate recipes please post them too!

Pinterest

Are you on Pinterest?

If you haven't heard of Pinterest you are missing out! I have to admit, I ignored it for a long time before a friend of mine finally explained exactly how great it was to me.

If you love collecting things, beautiful pictures or browsing the internet for pretty things this site is for you. If you have a strong sense of personal style which you want to share, or if you prefer to be inspired by others, you will love Pinterest. One warning, though, it can get addictive!

So what, exactly, is it?

It's a website that acts like a virtual pinboard. Any pictures you see on the internet can be pinned with a couple of mouse clicks. You can create different boards for different categories to keep all your inspirations separate and you can browse hundreds and hundreds of things other people have pinned. If you find pins you like from other people you can repin them onto your own boards as well and if you find people who regularly pin things you love, you can follow them.

Sample of a few of my Pinterest boards

If you're interested to see some of the things I love besides jewelry or want a peek at the images and ideas which inspire my jewelry then check out my Pinterest page: pinterest.com/embergrass/.

I'd love to see some of things which inspire you, too, so let me know your Pinterest account (or follow me) so I can follow your boards :)

Featured Artist - A Second Time

I was feeling in the mood for a little sparkle and this week's artist - A Second Time - delivers beautifully (yes those are diamonds!). Sparkle can so often be overdone or completely lacking in innovation but this shop is neither. 

Rough Diamond and Sterling Silver Ring

This ring was the piece that made me decide to feature this shop - it's such a unique design!

Sterling Silver and Genuine Rough Diamond Squiggle Necklace

Here is another simple yet unique design, also featuring a beautiful rough diamond.

Sterling Silver and Cubic Zirconia Anniversary Band

This ring is a little more traditional but has a chunky, raw feel that keeps it simple.

Sterling Silver Lei Bangle

I love the textured pattern on this bangle and it'll be just as nice when it oxidises a little as well.

A Second Time has a wide variety of items, including many steampunk and vintage, and I've only shown you the ones which satisfied my sparkle craving so visit their store to see more.

If you know of a jewelry artist I should feature, please let me know by leaving a comment here or on twitter (@embergrass)

Inspiration - Paper

My day has thus far been spent trying to source paper gift bags to put my jewelry in for people who buy it at craft fairs. With paper on the brain I decided it might be a good topic for today's inspiration post.

Tagged Hues from Design Seeds

It was surprisingly easy to find beautiful and varied things under the search 'paper'. I was expecting to have to include a few items just for the colour but I think every single thing in this treasury is actually made of paper. Who would have thought paper could be so versatile!

Paper Treasury on Etsy

Enjoy! Oh and don't forget to post any items you find or make which are inspired by this post :)

Featured Artist - Eclectic by Taylor Twig

This week's featured artist couldn't be more adorable! Taylor Twigg makes very delicate and colourful jewelry from sterling silver and paper!

My favourite are these forget-me-not earrings; it's such a beautiful shade of blue that goes so perfectly with the silver. There are also rings in the same style!

Forget-me-not Earrings

This necklace captures the movement of a tree blowing in the wind so clearly and has such fresh charm.

Lemon Grove Tree Necklace

And there are earrings in the same style!

Lime Grove Tree Earrings

They aren't all flowers and leaves, there are more abstract pieces like this adorable bubbles necklace.

Bubbles Necklace

I want to leave you with the slightly bolder style of these earrings. The larger sections give a less delicate, but no less beautiful, feel.

Poppy Earrings

Do you know of a unique and beautiful jewelry artist that I should know about? Leave a link in the comments if you do.