As I mentioned a while back, I’ve been making a lot more jewelry lately and I’m getting ready to launch my Etsy shop soon. I’ve been making jewelry in various forms for a long time, first with macaroni string necklaces and other questionable media as a kid, progressing to Fimo beads in high school, followed by oh-so-trendy hemp necklaces in college. (What? I went to Berkeley!) I finally fancied up my technique and materials when I was just out of college and co-teaching with a pro beader and living with an amateur beader. These days I would say I do more constructing than beading, but I did just teach myself how to pearl knot so, who knows, I may become a bead-fiend again soon.*
My recent foray into becoming an Etsy seller has been fun; I get to do two crafts at once – making jewelry AND working on my photography! Check out some of what I’ve been making:
I love this antiqued brass swallow and the little turquoise glass beads I found to accent the chain. Obviously, I haven’t perfected my product photography yet, but I’m working on it. With all the fine details of the jewelry, though, I’m wishing I had a macro lens. Not to mention a good lighting set up for when natural light isn’t as readily available.
I’ve also made some semi-precious pieces, like this rose quartz pendant with freshwater pearl accents on a sterling silver chain. It’s hard to get an idea of scale, but the pendant is itty-bitty and delicate, perfect for the feminine tones of the materials.
Next up is taking more product shots, including some to show the scale of the respective pieces, as well as enlisting some models. Stay tuned for my Etsy shop launch!
*There are a number of great resources on pearl knotting online, including videos on how to use the easy knotting tools, awls, nails, tweezers, etc. I just ended up using my fingernails for the most part, but all of the videos I found were helpful, regardless of their specific technique.
