On Photography

As stated, now that I have completed my lovely new website, this blog is going to include more info about my design process, etc.

One of the things I'm working on right now is coming up with new and interesting ways to photograph my pieces.  I don't have a light box, so lighting is always a challenge when trying new things, so for now I'm keeping it fairly simple.

As you may have noticed, I recently found some charming heart-shaped clasps.  I decided to try echoing that for a photo of one of my harlequin necklace and bracelet sets:

I think it worked out pretty well.

In an effort to make things seasonal, I also decided to try photographing some pieces with a paper snowflake I had cut out.  The piece itself ends up being a smaller portion of the photo, but I hope the symmetry of the snowflake pulls the eye to the center.

Here's a snowflake with an iris seed bead and dark grey glass pearl bracelet with a heart clasp:

And here it is with my candy cane coil earrings:

I think the lighting on the earrings worked out better, though the bracelet looks a bit sharper.

I also tried a few other variations with the candy cane coils.

The first is the earrings within a heart made from candy canes:
 

I think next year I will try and get some red and white candy canes (no green) and maybe a bit shorter, but I think it's a cute idea.

I did have one small red and white candy cane, so I tried to lay it next to the earrings on their card:

It works to get the idea of candy cane colours on the earrings across, but I like the candy cane heart better.

Finally, I tried hanging them on the scarf of a cute snowman I bought at a local craft fair.

It's cute, but I think maybe they get a bit lost.

Overall, my favourite of the fun photos is the snowflake one.  Which do you like best?

All of these items are available at my Etsy, along with several others including a lovely donut wrap with a beaded chain($59):

And for those of you in the Victoria area, if you don't want to shop online at Etsy, the Coast Collective's annual Gifts and Wishes show is on until December 23rd this year, and I still have several pieces available there.

If I don't post again before the new year, I hope everyone has a warm and wonderful holiday season and a very happy New Year!

It's finally here!

I am absolutely thrilled to finally be able to announce the launch of my new website at www.whisperedreams.com!  I've worked really hard on it, and I hope you will find it just as beautiful a showcase of my work as I do.

To celebrate the launch of my new website, and to help you out with your Christmas shopping season, I'm doing a celebration event in my Etsy shop!  I'll be posting 10 items over the next 10 days, and the whole store is 10% off!  To take advantage of this celebration event, simply enter the coupon code WEBB10 on your selected items and receive 10% off of your purchase.  If you want your items to arrive in time for Christmas, please buy them soon.

The first item for my 10 day event is this lovely sea glass pendant!  It's $25 (but you can get it for 10% off with WEBB10!) and features tarnish-resistant brass wire over white Vancouver Island sea glass and a cute sea shell charm:

My shop also has a few other pieces available, also for 10% off, of course.

A seed bead and glass pearl necklace for an original price $39:

A seed bead and glass pearl bracelet for and original price of $20

Some beautiful donut wrap earrings featuring tarnish-resistant silver-plated copper wire, Swarovski crystal bicones, freshwater pearls, and shell donuts for an original price of $39

A lovely deep green sea glass pendant wrapped in tarnish-resistant silver-plated copper wire for an original price of $20

And a warm and earthy necklace in rich brown seed beads and caramel glass pearls for an original price of $39

As I said earlier, these are all 10% off with the coupon code WEBB10, and I will be posting 9 more items over the next 9 days, (for a total of 10 over 10) so check back frequently for new pieces!

I'll try to keep you posted here, but the first place to check will be the Etsy shop.  You can also follow me as whisperedreams on instagram or facebook.  The links are all at my new website of www.whisperedreams.com along with many more pictures of my work, info about events and venues, a new artist's bio, FAQ, and much more, so please check it out.

As a result, this blog will soon start behaving less as an informational hub (my website will be the core of that) and more as a place where I post progress and design thoughts, as well as info about events.  So you can look forward to more informal insights into my process.

I hope you're all as excited about this as I am! 

Good Gracious Gifts in Vernon

I should have posted about this much sooner, but this time of the year is crazy for craftspeople, so I did not.  Sorry, devoted Vernon readers! (Hi Mom!)

I am very pleased to announce that since October I have pieces for sale at Good Gracious Gifts in downtown Vernon.  Assuming they haven't all sold already.  But you should all go check it out anyway, because it is an absolutely beautiful store.

Without further ado, here is the collection I dropped off at Good Gracious:

Remember that you can click to enlarge.  That being said, fear not, there are closeups of each section.

First up a shot of the various glass pearl and seed bead necklaces and bracelets:

It's a collection of my best-loved colours from the cool tones of silver and white, dove and iris, and classic harlequin to the warmer tones of cream and dark gold, and brown and caramel.  There's also the sultry and sophisticated design with crimson pearls and hematite-tone beads, and in bracelets for those who want a splash more colour there's icy blue and white, copper and navy, and gold-core green with violet.

There's also a wide selection of freeform coil earrings that go beautifully with these pearl necklaces and bracelets.  Many of them are in familiar colours, including the greyscale ombre one depicted here:

For people who want earrings that are a bit more delicate, I also dropped off three pairs of my drop earring design.  The first two feature genuine freshwater pearls.

These ones have golden brass wire and beautiful drop-shaped freshwater pearls in a delicate rose.  I completely love this particular combo and made myself some to keep.

The next pair features silver-plated wire and oval-shaped white freshwater pearls for a cool and wintry elegance:

The last pair is a bit different.  It features faceted tiger's eye gemstones on silver plate:

I also dropped off a nice selection of sea glass pieces at Good Gracious.  I won't post pictures of all of them, but I will put up shots of some of my favourites.  All of the pendants I dropped off come with a black cotton cord with a clasp in matching metal so they are ready to wear.

I'll start with the silver-plated ones.  The first one features sweeping smooth lines on a piece of white sea glass:

The next is on a piece of deep brown sea glass and features pairs of crimped lines pinning down paired spirals.  It's pretty different from many of my other designs, and I'm rather fond of it.

The next piece features a cute little clam shell charm in a simple framing wrap on a diamond-shaped piece of sea glass:

I also dropped off some brass pieces.  The first one features a fun curlicue design with four spirals for a more elaborate aesthetic than the previous pieces:

The next features one of those beautiful large starfish charms on a rippling freeform wrap in brass wire on white sea glass:

The final stand-alone sea glass pendant I'll feature here is sweeping lines of copper on white sea glass:

I say stand-alone, because I also dropped off three sets of sea glass pendant and earring combos.

I'll show you the silver-plate on white first.  It also features white freshwater pearls:

The brass set is something new for me because the pendant features a drop with Swarovski crystal bicone and freswater pearl dangling from the bottom just like the earrings:

The copper set is in a more familiar design, featuring indigo freshwater pearls:

Eagle-eyed readers with excellent memories will have noticed and recalled there was also a donut wrap in this collection.  It features gunmetal brass, Swarovski crystal bicones, and glass beads, and is also ready to wear on a black cotton cord:

That's it for jewellery for this post, but I feel I should give a photographic shout-out to my faithful assistant while I finished off these pieces during my visit at my parents' house: Jackie the craft-cat.  There she is helping out by keeping my spot warm:

And here she is helpfully lying down on my supplies and inventory sheet, and keeping a paw ready on my pliers:

Craft Cat is much better than Grumpycat in my opinion.  Shall we make her into an internet sensation?  She certainly deserves some recognition after wanting to bat at my wire and being sternly told that she would have to bat at cotton cord instead since the wire might hurt her.  (Seriously, she was crazy keen on hunting down that wire.  I had to be really careful.)

That's it for today, folks.  I'll post again soon about my final venue for the season.

Gifts and Wishes at the Coast Collective

Hello everyone!  As promised, I have info about my second Christmas show of the year.  It's out at the Coast Collective, where I also did a couple summer shows and have items in the gift shop.  Unlike the summer shows, Gifts and Wishes is a multi-week show in the main gallery.  It runs from November 26 to December 21st, with the grand opening tomorrow (Saturday the 29th). 

I'll be popping in briefly for the grand opening, and I will be there from noon until 5:00 on Sunday November 30th if you want to chat with me personally, but my pieces will be there for the whole show.  There's also free tea and cookies, with all sorts of extra special goodies for the opening, so you should check that out.  (I will be bringing two types of home-baked cookies over the two days.)

I have a bunch of my sea glass in the show (pendants and earrings) and some of my beaded pearl necklaces and bracelets.  I also have a bunch of the freeform coil earrings I made for this holiday season (though they are beautiful to wear all year long).  I think these earrings go really nicely with the beaded pearl jewellery I make.

The first are made with silver-plated copper wire and white glass pearls.  They are cool and classic with a modern twist.  $20

 The next also use silver-plated copper wire, but they feature glass pearls in white, pale grey, and dark grey for an ombre effect.  They would go very nicely with my harlequin pearl necklace and bracelet combo (necklace now on etsy).  Earrings are $20.

For people who are more keen on gold tones than silver, I also have some freeform coil earrings made with non-tarnish brass wire and glass pearls.  This pair with the classic combination of gold and white pearls is classy, timeless, and sophisticated.  $20

I also have a pair with brass wire and white and caramel glass pearls for a bit of added flair.  The combination is honey-warm and glamorous. $20

And for anyone who would like a bit of colour instead of neutral metal tones, I have a pair made with silver-plated copper wire and icy blue miracle beads.  These beads are hard to capture in photos -- they seem to have an aura around an interior bead, or the shadow of a second bead inside the first.  The earrings are lovely and cool and catch the light beautifully.  $20

For anyone who can't make it out to the Coast Collective but who would like some earrings like these, I have the supplies to make up more pairs like them (except for the ones with miracle beads -- I'd have to go shopping for more beads like that) and post them on my Etsy.  Just send me an email or a comment and I can make them for you.  (Or in any other colour combo you'd care to dream up.)

I also have a pair of donut wrap earrings out at the Coast Collective show.  You've seen them before, but I have a new photo, so here it is.  These are $35.

I made a new donut wrap pendant as well.  This one is fun because instead of doing the wrap and bail separately, I worked them into one asymmetrical design.  It features brass wire on a pale green stone, with E-beads, Swarovski crystal bicones (turquoise and violet), and glass bicones (orange).  This pendant is $35.

 

 

Hope to see some of you at the show!

Gifts for Myself and Others 2014 was Lovely

Hello to anyone I may have seen at Gifts for Myself and Others 2014 last weekend.  It was a completely beautiful show with so many talented artists and so many lovely visitors.  It was delightful to speak to all of you.

I thought I might post a few pictures for those of you who missed the show.  As I mentioned in my last post, I shared a booth with Deb Thurlbeck and her wonderful, whimsical fabric art and photography.  Below are a few pictures of our booth.  I apologize about the quality, but my camera didn't do super well in the low light.

First up a nice side view of the booth in its entirety:

 

You can see several of Deb's beautiful masks, a couple of her sea horse giraffes, and a few of my pieces, including my Treasures of the Deep necklace (closeup of that at the bottom of this post).

Next up is a snot of one of my sections of the table, with my beaded bangles, donut wraps, and some of my fancier pearl necklace pieces:

I'm considering discontinuing the beaded bangles, so they are getting pretty sparse.

The final table shot I have for you is mostly of my sea glass pendants.  I'm rather proud of the little beach I manage to set up for them, with the oceany scarf and drift wood and shells:

A little overexposed, but hopefully you get the idea.

I also figured I'd include some photos of some new earrings I had available at the show.  Neither pair has sold, so they are still available.

The first is a pair I made a couple years ago.  They are delightfully extravagant, with a base made from silver-plated copper wire donut wraps on shell loops, and three dangles featuring freshwater pearls and Swarovski bicones.

The wrap on the donut features various types of beads.  This pair of earrings is $50.

The next set are also silver-plated copper wire donut wraps on shell, but they feature central obsidian beads and a square crystal dangle.  They're in multiple shades of blue, silver, and black, not quite as extravagant as the previous pair, but still quite funky.

The central obsidian beads can rotate freely to show multiple sides.  These earrings are $40.

And that's it for today, but please look forward to my next post with info about my final show of the year and photos of a bunch of new pieces.

Only a few days left on Etsy Grand Opening Sale!

Hello all,

There are only a few days left to use the WDGRANDOPEN coupon and save 10% on items in my Etsy shop.  It's only available until October 24th.

I will be adding more items to the shop soon, but for now, here are some pictures of the pieces I currently have up for sale:

Reversible brass wire wrapped sea glass pendant. $20

Reversible copper wire wrapped sea glass pendant.  $20

 

Silver-plated copper wire wrapped sea glass pendant.  $20

 

Silver-plated copper wire wrapped sea glass pendant.  $20

Brass wire wrapped sea glass pendant with shell charm.  $25

Silver-plated copper wire wrapped sea glass earrings with Swarovski crystal bicones and freshwater pearls.  $39

 

Silver seed bead and white glass pearl necklace with toggle clasp.  $39

Icy blue seed bead and white glass pearl necklace with lobster claw clasp.  $39

 

Hematite-finish black seed beads with crimson glass pearl necklace with lobster claw clasp.  $39

Copper core transparent black seed bead with caramel glass pearl necklace with lobster claw clasp.  $39

Silver-plated copper wire donut wrap on rose quartz with glass pearls, Swarovski crystal bicone, and E beads on an iris seed bead and rose-white glass pearl chain with lobster claw clasp.  $59

Are there more pieces from my blog you'd like to see in my Etsy shop?  Just let me know in a comment or shoot me an email.