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Sunday, March 21, 2010

Custom Jewelry Ordered From Our Etsy Store

It takes time to create a presence on the Internet. Lots of work goes in to designing the jewelry. It almost seems like more work goes in to all of the things that it takes to develop the business end of it. That is why it gets so exciting when custom orders start coming in. This is how we measure where we stand and what we need to do next.



All of the jewelry from Handcrafted Jewelry USA is based on a one of a kind piece. What that really means is we do not mass produce our work so that we can sell it on TV in mass quantities. Handcrafted Jewelry USA takes pride in making unique pieces that are far beyond the mass produced items found in most stores, most jewelry parties and in most jewelry catalogs from most companies. The norm is for a designer to create a piece and then send the design to a factory.

The factory then puts the design on the assembly line and pushes the start button. Not exactly but close. C.S. Alexis spent several years learning in one of the largest mass produced jewelry companies on an assembly line. The company bills itself as the oldest and largest jewelry manufacturing company in the world. C.S. learned a lot during her time there. It was a magnificent experience when it came time to learn from some of the best, most skilled jewelry makers in the world.



The thing is most of the jewelry was mass produced and then personalized with engraving, certain adorning applications such as initials and names and maybe some specifically chosen stones. C.S. actually loved the work and the people but most of all she loved the learning. When the time came to design, create and sell her own line of handcrafted jewelry, C.S. was able to turn much of what she learned into practical knowledge that would help.

That being stated, might help others see how important it is for everyone at Adrift Art Studio, and Handcrafted Jewelry USA to offer something more. We want to make each experience with our customers to be "made to order". We value each and every customer and we take pride in providing unusual, handcrafted jewelry that is NOT mass produced but made for the people who want to wear pieces of jewelry that they are not going to see on somebody else.

Pictured here is an example of a piece that was ordered from our Etsy store, Handcrafted Jewelry USA. We offer 100% satisfaction guaranteed. This order was taken from a similar bracelet but the buyer wanted the piece fashioned from a shiny silver colored chain. We offered her this custom made piece that is 7 1/2" in length made from a silver plated figure 8 chain. It rocks!

Friday, March 19, 2010

The First Home Show Was A Success!

I have to admit that I was very nervous about having my first home jewelry show. I have had this type of show before, and they have always proved to be a success but I was nervous anyway. I do not know if it is my age or just the artist within that made my nerves tingle more than usual. One of my friends told me that she believed it was the artist who always seems to harbor fears of sharing their work. This is probably so as the work is held dear to my heart.





Great things happened for Adrift Art Studio and our line of Handcrafted Jewelry USA. We made enough money to allow the art studio to become a member of some of the local art groups. That is good because the memberships will help carry Adrift Art Studio closer to reaching more goals set for the studio. That creates excitement for the future of this studio!




We also made enough money to provide some donations toward a couple of charities that do such great work for their cause. St Jude's Research Hospital and The Avon Walk For Cancer will both be receiving checks from Adrift Art Studio. Some of the jewelry offered for sale was pinpointed to sell in hopes of raising money for these two very worthy organizations. This has been a long time dream for C.S. Alexis to be able to use her artwork to help. This was a great start and all of us at Adrift Art Studio are looking forward and working hard to continue doing positive things to benefit others.




Pictured here are just a few of the pieces of jewelry and artwork that we sold for this first home show for Handcrafted Jewelry USA.

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Missy Nature Got A Face Lift At Adrift Art Studio

All winter it has been cold and dark and the weather has been dreary for someone who loves the outdoors as much as I do. Getting ready for a new showing of my jewelry and I was working on my display. It turned out that I went with an Earthy feel that suggests water and sand. That being the theme I decided to give my Missy Nature a little face lift so I could add her in to the display. She is looking fresh for the spring weather that is just around the next bend!

Friday, March 12, 2010

Pyrographic Signs From Adrift Art Studio

I have a bunch of jewelry made and hope to turn some of it tomorrow. That is what brought me to try doing something a little different for a change of pace. I did not want to make anything else in the jewelry line until after my next show.



That got me to drag out my favorite wood burning tool and go to work on a piece of wood I have been keeping my eye on for the past couple of weeks. Sometimes I like to just fire up the hot pen and go after it without a plan. That makes being creative and casting my emotions into a form so much fun. It does not always turn out the way I like but on this particular day I was very pleased with my finished piece of artwork.



It turned out to be a sign. I suppose it would look nice in a yard. That is where I like to put things that reflect my inner self. This one sure is showing some reflection and it was a lot of fun to make. Pyrographics is a good medium to mix with acrylic paint and for this sign I threw in a little bead work to augment the idea of "little things" in our life.



Sunday, March 7, 2010

Mixed Media Steampunk Jewelry

Just for a bit of fun and flare Sepi ordered up some findings to get me going on a trendy style of jewelry called Steampunk. I like the mixed media in all art forms so it seemed to be something I might get a rush out of trying.

When the shipment came in I have to admit after taking a look at the Steampunk collection I was left feeling sort of empty about it all. It just seemed to be a bunch of stuff that I could not relate to. That is when I decided to do a little digging and see what other Jewelry Designers were doing on this style.

I shopped around quite a bit and then went back to the workbench still feeling a little anxiety about Steampunk jewelry. That was until I actually picked up a few pieces and started arranging them around on the table top. I played with it for a good hour, just checking out the colors, shapes, sizes and how each element played off of another. I started getting excited about the entire idea. Yeah this was starting to be very cool.



Personally I love vintage things and old is mysterious and attracting, magnetic to me. I feel like there is a certain spirit to the pieces that is energy carried over from people in the past who handled and even adorned themselves with these very elements. It stirs something deep in my own spirit, something intangible and distant.



So I have created a few different pieces and I have to admit that as I worked to finish the first piece I was already feeling good about starting another. The energy was flowing and the past was the present and now I would like to display some of that happening here. From C.S. Alexis, @ Adrift Art Studio Steampunk is intetresting to say the least.

Friday, March 5, 2010

Designing A Jewelry Display

Sickness took me by surprise and put me down for a good week. Not what I wanted to happen but I do not always get what I want. I have learned to go with the flow. Life takes it's own route and all I can do is hang on. Not that I am not prone to put up a fight. Sometimes, some things just can not be fought so the best thing to do is suck it in and hunker down. I like to spend the down time day dreaming, planning and creating in my mind.

That is how I came up with a thought for what to do with my jewelry when displaying it to sell. First I thought about packaging and tackled that bear quite a few months back. Then I started getting so much inventory I had to get it all organized. Jill and I both worked on that project for a few days. Things were falling in to place at a good rate when I got sick. So I laid around coughing my head off and thinking about how to display my work.

I looked around at some websites to see what other jewelry designers were doing. I thought about colors, convenience, flow, points of interest and so on as would pertain to a display. I made up my mind to purchase a dark color, probably black, velvet to make the jewelry stand out. Then when I was feeling up to it I headed to a local outlet store to make my material purchase.

I really feel like there was a spiritual intervention between the front door of the store and the sewing department. I was directly attracted to a certain cloth that reminded me of sand.That was it. it was not my intention, not my plan of attack but when I saw it I knew I would have to work with it. Something about it was magical to me.



The next day I headed over to a thrift store to pick out some sort of glass or stoneware that I could use as additional items to give my jewelry display a uniform way to arrange the individual pieces. I had seen a couple designers who had used beans and rocks on plates to show their work. Again I went straight to a pile of saucers that were splattered with the exact colors in my business card. It sure seemed to be one hell of a coincidence.



I picked out a table cloth to match, and there I had the two main colors for my table covering. With the saucers in tow I was headed to the check out line when I saw the finishing touch. There were not too many left so I bought them all. River Rocks that had been polished to a bright finish. I also found a few bags of glass rocks that were made with my same color scheme so I purchased those also.



I will be adding a bit of driftwood to the display and I am good to go. I have the driftwood drying in the late winter sun so it is not quite ready but it won't be long. Some times everything just falls together perfect and all the time spent thinking and considering what to do seems like it was only my mind's way of keeping me idle long enough to recover from a bout with the flu. I am still not feeling 100% but my jewelry display is almost complete. Thank you to God!