wandering spirit designs

Shop Update for Apr. 1st and 2nd

New work going up shortly in the shop:Surely I’m not the only one who loves the colors together in this trio? *slurp* These will be slightly discounted since the two smaller ones were chipped due to my aggressive cleaning..d’oh! Doesn’t affect the bead, just makes them less than perfect. Oh, oh- love the bead caps on this one and the crackling is superb. Had a hard time letting go of these capped and cored hollows, so luscious but hard to capture on camera.

Shop Update for Mar. 28/29th

Are you still there? Have I scared you away due to my poor, neglected shop never being open? If not, great! I’ll be adding new work over these next few days by editing in batches the hundreds of pictures of beads that have been languishing in wait for me to get the shop re-opened. Here is a quick review of this set that will be listing tonight and into tomorrow, time permitting:

Cruising for a Bike

This week was supposed to be dedicated to the re-opening of my Etsy shop…spring fever must have hit and now I’m madly searching for a worthy bike. It’s been more than a decade since I’ve owned one and the bike world has definitely changed.

The internet is a treasure trove of sites where you can find reviews, blogs, pictures- which has made my decision on picking one all the more difficult. I’ve managed to narrow it down to a few, but it all depends how I like them in person at one of the local bike shops. Perhaps some of you have a bike you love that you’d recommend?

I’m gaga over the dutch style bikes and interested in the upright comfort make.
Let’s not even start on the child seats..apparently your bike has to have certain holes/screws in certain places for certain bike seats to fit. argh! Why don’t they all just make one fitting fits all? Let’s not get me started on all our wasted cell phone chargers laying around the house.

My favorite is the top- a KHS Green 3 speed. Alas, no local dealers w/ in an hour drive. Bummer.

The second is the Raleigh Circa i3 in Champagne. So classy, but my local bike shop doesn’t have one in stock to ride.
The third is an ‘Amsterdam style’ bike. Electra Bikes make models similar to this to mimic the iconic dutch style bikes. Pretty pricey, but you get what you pay for.
The fourth is one I’m reserving judgment on until I see it in the store. It’s a Specialized Crossroads step-thru style w/ 21 speeds. Nice but a little clunkier looking than my first two. It’s still in the running since it has so many speeds and front shocks for any potholes, etc. I’d want to add fenders and a basket to cute it up 🙂
So there you have it- this is what has sucked up my time for the past week when I was supposed to be getting the shop open! Once my choice has been made, things should fall into place on the bead front, too.

And Another

pic by my wonderful Sis-in-Law:I’m not sure how everyone else who sells online does it- when you take pics do you also think of how the layout will look on business cards, postcards, etc? Since Etsy uses square images for the products, that is the way my pics usually end up cropped. Or maybe you take one or two pics that is a little more..artsy? The plan is to try and take a couple different layout shots for the sets/focals that really set my heart aflutter and save them for business cards..after all, who doesn’t like options?

Translation from Mind to Making..

My mind is a sometimes dizzy place, with way too many thoughts bouncing around and then going off on tangents..which then forces me to work backwards towards my original thought similar to that guy in Memoir.

This idea of ‘leveling up’ (Scott Pilgrim reference, sorry lol) has been on my mind and using raking w/ stringers has been something on the back burner for a while now.

I finally decided, “what can it hurt?”, and just jumped in w/ no planning. Turns out, for me at least, that every d’oh! moment eventually leads to improving my technique. The first d’oh! happened when I dropped one of my brass micro shapers on the concrete, and wouldn’t you know it, it was the supa sharp pointy tip that hit the concrete and caused a slight kink on the end. Which worked great at raking the stringers today!

The next time was when I blew a hole out on a hollow big hole bead and I was determined not to chuck it since I’d already spent 20 min. making it. Once I patched the hole, it had an interesting raked edge that my squirrely brain stored as an idea for later on. There’s been a few other instances but I don’t want to bore you or me listing them all.
While the execution of the idea is still a little rough, perseverance will now be my friend until I’m satisfied.
I’ll try and get pics tomorrow after they’re done tumbling.

Press Play

Between playing with the Straight Sided Lentil Slim Lg. + press and trying to figure out if hubby’s camera is better than the one I’ve been using reminds me of the saying: PPP (practicepracticepractice). I rediscovered Picnik– the pic above is a before and after using that feature, it did improve it a little, there is a lot to explore and I just haven’t had the time recently. Definitely something to put on my to-do list.

This shows my progression using the new press, the second and third beads are the only ones not on a white base. Seashell Swirl and then Yellow Ice over a core of clear are the 2nd and 3rd bead’s base colors. The Yellow Ice reacted badly w/ the Dk. Raku powder which is that black color you see on the bead..live and learn.