The Beading Gem

Steampunk Inspirations
Part 1 of 2
Steampunk is an increasing popular design trend - not just jewelry, but the whole look - Victorian style clothing with accessories worthy of a Jules Verne or HG Wells movie. That retro technology style is highly distinctive. One master artisan has to be Daniel Proulx, the steampunk designer behind Catherinette Rings on Etsy. When I first stumbled on his rings, my jaw dropped. These are truly art pieces. Shown on the right is his ring with a Swarovski Volcano focal.

Pam had a really productive afternoon at a workshop not too long ago. Her pink themed jewelry set started out as just the necklace. She had spotted this beautiful mother of pearl mosaic pendant and liked it so much she designed the necklace to go with it. I like how she used the pale blue and white beads with some metallic accents to contrast with the pink pendant. She also chose to string the pendant in-line rather than hang it vertically.

Some of you may already have encountered the NYTimes article on how some Etsians are making six figure incomes from their hobbies. (Hat tip to Leslie at the Bei Mondi blog for bringing it to my attention.) The article interviews a couple of Etsians who have been so successful their businesses have taken over their lives and prompting them to enlist help.

On one hand, it seems like a dream come true if you could work at home especially if you have a young family, and be your own boss. But is it really a viable alternative?

2009 has been a long and hard year for many. With the dawn of the new year, we can but hope we will truly see the back end of the Great Recession. However, even the gloomiest of situations served as a muse to one artisan. Sri Lankan born, now London based Kali Arulpragasam created her unique CRA$H jewelry collection for 2010.

Pie charts and dipping graphs highlight her recession inspired necklaces. She regards jewelry as a very powerful medium. She said, "You can use it to speak the truth about the banking bail outs and pensioners losing their life savings."

Today is my 3rd blogging anniversary. It's hard to believe I've written 1222 posts in that time! I couldn't have done it without all of you. So a big THANK YOU for making 2009 especially a terrific blogging year.

The top post last year which generated thousands of hits and dozens of tweets was JewelEye piercing - bling for your cornea (actually the sclera, not cornea) - which is surgically implanted jewelry. The Japanese marital countdown bra stops with an engagement ring post also garnered plenty of attention.

So to celebrate, I am going to share with you some of my favorites from Google Analytics - the search terms people used which brought them to my blog over the past year. Some are funny, some are weird and kinky and some are just plain sad.

I'm a sucker for historical biopics as most of you already suspect. For anglophiles like me, a wonderful treat is at hand - a new historical and romantic biopic, the Young Queen Victoria currently in limited release in North America.

Watch the trailer and see a little of why Debbie (my friend and co-instructor) and I enjoyed the movie - authentic sets including Westminster Abbey, jewelry, period costumes and excellent acting. BTW, the Duchess of York was a producer. Princess Beatrice had a small role as one of the ladies in the coronation procession early in the film.

Paper Jewelry Part 3 of 3
Traditional roll paper beads
The most popular way of making paper beads is by rolling a long triangle strip of paper. However, even though the basic technique is easy, there are many ways to personalize the beads. Check out the tutorials below.

Paper Jewelry
Part 2 of 3
Upcycled. Recycled. Repurposed. Eco. Whatever you choose to call it, environmentally friendly jewelry is not only cool but helps reduce the waste going to landfills especially paper. We were supposed to use less paper in the digital age but the amount we consume has instead quadrupled! So I'd like to pay homage to these amazing paper jewelry artisans who not only do their part in recycling but manage to put the wow back into yesterday's news.