Rose of Sharon Jewelry

Spent most of Sunday practicing a new wire wrapping technique in preparation for creating a dramatic wedding necklace perfect for a strapless gown. Discovered one of my pliers is out of alignment so I was struggling too much to achieve the perfect twist. Hmm - time to invest in a new pair. Lusting after a beautiful German-steel pair with ergonomic handles. I have small hands so these pliers will also help combat jewelry-makers hand cramps. Okay - so I've convinced myself to get out the Gold AmEx and charge it!

Nice quiet Saturday sorting jumprings and headpins. I'm getting my massive stash of beads and findings reorganized and ready for Sandra to come in mid-December. Most of the time I create alone so spending time with my ROSJ partners is creative bliss. We inspire each other, play with beads and share new techniques and trends. Have some elegant new components and gemstones that should stretch our imaginations and give our customers some great new choices. Just finished a new 3-piece set featuring a silver filigree floral bud and teal glass beads. Still thinking of a name....

With the price of gold still beyond the moon, a variety of alternatives have gained in popularity. Got a shipment of antiqued gold-plate over brass components today and look forward to creating some romantic pieces. The ornate connectors really remind me of the feminine period necklaces of the late 1800s. And I got some charms for a fun wine-theme charm bracelet complete with merlot-colored garnets.

Buying jewelry making supplies means lots of tiny little bags with tiny little beads, thousands of jumprings and lots of time. It takes hours to carefully check in a wholesale order with all the wonderful loot. Probably doesn't help that I get sidetracked with ideas on how to add this piece with that piece and so forth. Finally got my latest order compared to the huge multi-page invoice with 13 digit part numbers this morning at 3 a.m. Am missing 2 charms and have one piece to return because of a flaw. Checking over every bead and finding makes my eyes glaze over but it also keeps our quality level high and our customers happy. Tonight, I'm setting up the photo studio in the dining room. Hoping to capture some nice winter sunshine tomorrow. Have over 30 new jewelry pieces ready to shoot. The store is getting nice and full. Readers, let me know your thoughts on our jewelry photography. Am working hard to make certain the colors are as accurate as possible. Who wants to guess what color a bead is? Not me.

The web site has been working under a "soft" grand opening since Black Friday. Friends and relatives are playing around and we are quickly learning how we need to tweak things for a better shopping experience. Still working on improving the jewelry photography. Mom was my trusted assistant during the last go around but still am not satisfied with the results. Such beautiful work deserves beautiful photography! Back to the books to figure out how to improve white balance. Bead colors seem to be pretty accurate - just the backgrounds and overall greyness that is not right.