Alilsumptinsumptin In Your Stocking This Season

Blue Rondo La Turk

Double Strand Turquoise and Lampwork Heart Bracelet; includes artisan lampwork heart focal by Janet Crosby, top quality Grade A Blue Chinese Turquoise wheels, and an assortment of all sterling silver components.

Over the past 9 months Eva Espiritu has raised a total $1085.00 through her Paws For A Good Cause campaign with 100% of proceeds of selected pieces donated to the Humane Society of the United States. The artist offers the added benefit of free US shipping to all who purchase these items. While you give a gift to someone you love, you also give a gift to needy and homeless animals with your purchase.

Her jewelry is made from high-quality, kiln annealed lampwork beads created by glass artists Janet Crosby, Kathrin Kneidl-Levi, Julia Lund, Dawn White, Becky Mason, (and Etsy’s own) Marcy Lamberson combined with sterling and Hill Tribes Silver (which is at least 97% pure), and sometimes also genuine gemstones. Her color choices and scale are usually big and bold; showing vitality and decisiveness that like her last name suggests spirit and spunk.

Eva’s designs range from the whimsical and funny, with names such as K-9 Cubed, Give The Dog A Bone, B-B-B-Bad To The Bone, and Bow 2 The Wow Wow, to the more serious cornucopia-like Cha-Cha style charm bracelets bursting with abundance, like the Southern California orange groves of her home. My personal favorites are the bracelets bursting with beads. Her layering of color and texture, often incorporating lampwork from several different artists in the same piece, creates exquisite and visually fulfilling designs. These are pieces you could look at for hours, and like a Where is Waldo picture, see something new among the numerous dangles every time.

Alilsumptinsumptin is a member of the following jewelry-trade-related groups:
ART JEWELRY COLLECTIVE (AJC)

etsyBEAD

ETSY FOR ANIMALS (EFA)

She is SRAJD #0983 (Self Representing Jewelry Artist), a mark of reliability in the trade. You can be assured you will be dealing directly with the artist herself; not merely an agent.

If you love animals, flowers, charm bracelets, silver, or lovely artisan lampwork with bright colors, be sure to put Alilsumptinsumptin on your list of places to buy your Holiday gifts this year!

Etsy Store:http://alilsumptinsumptin.etsy.com/
Blog:http://www.alilsumptinsumptin.com/

The Elements of Style

Dawn Brandt of ElementsbyDawn has been selling her jewelry on Etsy since August 7, 2006, and loves geometric shapes with texture and pattern in them. Looking at her work one can tell that she incorporates circles into a lot of what she does, from Chainmaille to hammered textured cuffs and sterling, copper, and fine silver disks, to using round beads and chain. Experts have said that the round form is a shape humans are naturally drawn to, so if this is any indicator Dawn’s future will be bright.

When asked what techniques she would like to learn she said, “I’d like to be able to add more color, and thus some more dimension to my designs. Enameling, resin, and Prismacolor colored pencil are a few of the materials I’d like to incorporate into my designs. I’ve dabbled with Prismacolor, but haven’t perfected the technique yet.” Dawn describes it as a technique that blends the traditional methods of painting on canvas and coloring/drawing on metal. There are two ways to accomplish the results. One involves sandblasting the metal to give it "tooth" (which is not the method she does), and the other uses gesso; the method she uses. Then to prevent the surface from weathering over time and the color from coming off she uses an acrylic sealer.

Dawn is currently working on a collection due for release in the Summer of 2008. It will feature colorful vintage glass, vintage Swarovski crystal, and vintage Lucite.

Among the trade magazines she subscribes to are The Crafts Report, Art Jewelry, and Art Calendar. The Crafts Report has many useful articles on the business of crafting, Art Jewelry Magazine helps keep her abreast on new techniques and emerging artists, and Art Calendar keeps informed on national and local arts and craft shows.

For anyone just starting out in the jewelry crafting business or even just thinking about transforming a hobby into a bona fide business, she recommends the book Marketing and Selling Your Handmade Jewelry by Viki Lareau. This easy to read book covers many of the basic aspects of starting out in the crafting business.

If metalsmithing is your interest, The Complete Metalsmith – Pro Version by Tim McCreight is invaluable!

The book Dawn is currently reading is, How to Photograph Absolutely Everything by Tom Ang. “I am hoping to improve my photography skills, as product photography can really help or hinder your success in an online environment.”

Dawn belongs to The Art Jewelry Collective, WIST (a local Wisconsin street team), and will be exhibiting at the ART vs CRAFT show on December 8th in Milwaukee.

This artist accepts Checks, Money Orders, and accepts credit cards through both PayPal and ProPay. She also sends out a quarterly newsletter for those customers who would like to be notified when new pieces are available for sale.

Be sure to check out her whole collection at http://elementsbydawn.etsy.com/