goodies and design trade...part one

years ago, i loved and lived on ebay. i was new on my jewelry junket. i made some(alot of) errors, but i had some great finds too. i was able to sell some very nice pieces to some very nice women. i even have managed to keep up with a few and stay in touch through the joys of facebook. 

over the past years, we have lost many computers and nearly all of my photos went with those hard drives. i have no memory why, but some photos were kept on other servers. Luckily,  a few images of my earlier work.

this one went to a little old lady whose grandchildren went to school with my daughter.

ARIZONA SPRING

this may be my all time favorite...

THE SWEETEST PEA

this one was lucky enough to grace some pages in 

"ALTERED COUTURE"

a Stampington magazine

COY LOVEBIRDS

as time went by, i kept adding to my favorite EBAY stores that i visited often... places i could rely on for pretty and unusual vintage components. one of them was B'sue boutiques. for some of my necklaces, i liked using her filigrees and charms. 

imagine my surprise when i started to look around on facebook and found her again. i always saw her ads in jewelry making magazines. 

 by this time, my jewelry interests had led me to ETSY, where i opened two stores. one was for my jewelry and the other for selling components. i developed a niche for certain components, so i had a lot of stuff that i could use that was already on hand. i no longer needed to buy as much stuff from other sellers. 

BUT...

you never know when you really need something...

something  that you might once have used really successfully. then the head scratching cartoons follow...

 where did i get that from???

it really did the trick... thinking hard ... steam coming from ears...

 hmmm. 

well it was b'sue boutiques more often than not. 

the pieces started to fall back into place. 

over the past couple of years i have followed brenda sue and her wares. she also had followed some of my escapades. she held a "challenge" to have folks post their creations under a "FIVE & DIME STYLE" design. it featured things one might have found in a local five and dime store. 

we had one that was one of my favorite childhood stopping places... i remember it so very well ... so very many years later...

i bet if pressed, i could lay out the store in a legitimate floor plan. 

downstairs was roughly designated for gazillions of little bins, like printers trays on steroids, for the many toys and gew gaws that were sold there. 

comic books... craft supplies... oh heavens, i am getting dizzy thinking of it all. 

upstairs, was where you took your grandparents. it was the center for all the kits and dolls and other more costly delights. you got perfume making or model car kits here. 

this was the serious part of the store. 

back to brenda sue...

now she is hosting the third round, which has the inclusion of an animal in its design.

 there are a ton of very very creative folks that are making extremely interesting pieces  under the umbrella of this constraint.

for the first 5 & 10 grouping, i sent many flowers to her. how could any woman refuse  batches of neck and wrist destined bouquets... 

yes, the wooing of brenda sue had started. i sent some of my best work to try to catch her eye.

  

i sent her some photos of things i had made (quite possibly using her own components from way back).

 she was so very kind to include them in her virtual scrapbooks along with other artisans' pieces. 

anyways, i was looking into participating in her most recent challenge. i kind of had a mini-stroke and thought how much more fun it would be to make something from some of her current components, ala my own style. 

a few very excited notes were exchanged... and we decided to collaborate in a more personal way. brenda sue sent me a huge 8 pound box of findings from her shop and i am going to try to make something for her out of some of these. 

now when i say, that the box was 8 pounds, i know this from the labelling for posting. 

it was a box crammed with metal pieces. plastic fruit. rhinestoned vintage pins. metal she had both colorized (i have no idea how) and then coated with ice resin (again, i have no idea how). some little round doodads filled with pretty girls faces and some protective surface over those. 

i can't realistically list all of the loot in the box, since there was so much of it. so i was careful to take photos of all of it. as i unloaded the things i found in that treasure chest, i had a few ideas for things that might be nice to make with them. 

here is the unveiling of the goodies found within that cardboard  vessel...

raw box shot...and i am filled with anticipation...

everyone needs a trusty assistant. 

considering how many cats live on my street, this was a small miracle that he stayed so calm

peering over the edge to see the contents...

so many small packets of STUFF! 

and i really LIKE 

STUFF!

so many little purple rhinestones... 

and i did not set a single one. 

licking my chops...

some round bezels filled with old fashioned girls and perhaps some of their treasures...

not surprisingly, perhaps my favorite group in the mix. 

some ice resin coated metal flowers, painted flowers,

gilded blossoms with gilder's paste(?).

things with massive potential in my wicked little hands...

 and still my assistant is surveying his street with an unknown calm.

 not everything is on my radar, but the central oval silver thing is to die for. 

just sayin'

 just checking in... is there a walk in this for me?

soon?

these look like candy...

Runts, i am told by in house candy specialists.

well, i have some ideas perking. 

so please check back and see if i have made some progress... 

i think there may be a sun-king influenced necklace ...

perhaps, a nostalgic cabinet photo composition too. 

usually, i like to compose a palette of materials to work with. these take on some structural support system. 

then the game is ON. 

thanks for all of everything... 

goddess of kitch. 

and 

findings. 

who, what, when and all 

will be put into gear very soon. 

in the meantime, this is what 

Brenda sue has put together for her own five and dimer addition. 

i LIKE it very much. 

if you have survived this far, it bears mentioning that brenda sue's website is here:

http://www.bsueboutiques.com/index.shtml

i am not a paid sponsor for this event. i stuck my nose into things and now am getting a chance to play with some stuff that was plucked from the "messy workshop" tables. 

it promises to stretch my chops as a designer... cause that is what i am calling myself these days. do you need an ambulance to get to the ER from laughing so hard?

well in spite of that, i think you are betting that i need some wishes of good luck here. 

i am sure to need as much as you can offer...

as always, thank you for visiting. 

don't be shy about leaving a comment, i really get excited when i see them!

xoxox.

W.