By Jenny on May 16, 2012
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Confession time. I do some wire work here and there and have been for several years. In a book titled The Absolute Beginners Guide: Making Wire Jewelry
, I honestly did not think I would learn anything new.
I was wrong.
Martine has some very interesting tips that I wish I had thought of years ago.
However, let’s go back to the beginning. The premise of this book is a person with absolutely zero wire working skills can pick up a few basic tools, some wire, a few beads, plus this book, and make wire jewelry. I read this book cover to cover and can honestly say that yes, this is true. The photos are some of the best I’ve seen when it comes to showing the process of wire working. The instructions are concise. The projects ordered from super basic to what Callaghan calls a “Masterpiece Charm Bracelet” in which you make charms using the all techniques you have learned in the book.
There are helpful descriptions and photos of tools needed and tools that are optional, an explanation of wire types, beads and findings. Did you know that the word “findings” in the jewelry world came from the practice of goldsmiths making them from the scraps of metal found on their workbench at the end of the day? I didn’t! I always wondered why they were called that as it seemed a strange word for them.
The book contains 25 main projects each with alternative ideas and tips sprinkled throughout. After the masterpiece charm bracelet, there are 3 more projects (for a total of 28) that feel like “bonus” projects since they are small and come after the masterpiece charm bracelet.
If you work through the book from beginning to end, there is no reason you couldn’t be making wonderful wire jewelry by the end of the book. But it’s set up so you can create a successful piece of jewelry even if you don’t get past the 1st project.
If you are an experienced wireworker, this book is probably not for you. If you are interested in it, you might want to visit your local bookstore or maybe see if they will get it at your library so you can preview it before spending money on it.
Are you a wannabe wire worker? Or a novice wire worker? Leave a comment by May 18th answering why you would like to own this book and I will send my review copy (provided by Kalmbach) to a random winner. I will announce the winner on May 19th.
Posted in book review, giveaway | Tagged book review, diy jewelry, giveaway, handmade, martine callaghan, metal, wire jewelry |
By Jenny on May 4, 2012
Those of you who live in the area (or want to plan a trip to the area) can now buy my jewelry at the Fort Wayne Museum of Art.
Not only is the gallery shop beautiful and filled with local artists’ work, but the entire art museum went through a huge renovation a couple years ago, which is just beautiful. However, if looking at art isn’t your thing, you can certainly shop without paying admission 
Currently the Paradigm Gallery is carrying 4 of my lines of jewelry including Lampwork Lollipop necklaces:
Vintage Modern Hoops:
Chinese Lantern Earrings:
Autumn Harvest Earrings:
Sometime after Bead and Button is over, I will be adding loose focal beads and one of a kind pieces at the Paradigm Gallery, in time for the Three Rivers Festival.
Posted in shop local | Tagged art jewelry, fort wayne museum of art, glass addictions, handmade jewelry, jennifer cameron, local artists, paradigm gallery, shop local |
By Jenny on May 2, 2012
You can find all these listed on my Etsy shop. Yes, I need to build inventory for Bead and Button. Yes, it’s crazy to list these. However, I have adopted a different attitude about my business. And it starts with the sentence “I am the CEO of my company”.
I will explain further another day. Today I have too much work and a desperately needed massage for the knots in my neck and between my shoulder blades (from lampworking and jewelry making).
Posted in lampwork beads | Tagged art beads, glass, glass addictions, handmade lampwork beads, jennifer cameron, jewelry design |
By Jenny on May 1, 2012
May 1st? What happened to April? Ugh.
My show last Friday was pretty good. It was definitely a different mindset crowd compared to the Indiana Artisan crowd a month ago. The last time I did Tapestry was 3 years ago and I have evolved since then (thank goodness! I would hate to stay the same forever). The price increase was not popular. However, a few shoppers did appreciate the time, materials, design, and expertise it takes to create what I do.
Interestingly, those who complained about the pricing ignored my pieces that had a lower price point. (by the way, I will be writing about handling customer criticisms gracefully on the AJE blog and will let you know when that’s posted).
I actually remembered to get a pic of my booth this time. I wanted to take it when there were no customers. The only time I didn’t have customers was during keynote speakers. They turned the overhead lights down to nothing. It was eerie. I was definitely glad I paid to have electrical (the lighting in that room isn’t great anyway).
This next pic is a couple corner unit bakers rack type shelves and a mannequin I picked up at Hobby Lobby.
I also had this mannequin to the front left opening of my booth, but being black and without lighting, it looked like a black hole in the photo
If you have “liked” my Facebook page, you might have read that I stayed up most of the night before the show trying to finish up some in progress pieces. I sold one of those (which I didn’t get a photo of). Here are 3 of my favorites from that night. All of them are listed on etsy.
My absolute favorite bracelet ever. At least, for now. And it doesn’t use a speck of glass. The one section is a dragon scale chainmaille weave with niobium rings, flanked by Egyptian coils in sterling silver, and an amethyst box clasp.
The next two necklace designs are the same except one is in copper (with a little silver), the other in silver (with some brass and copper)
Posted in art show, booth set up, tapestry: a day for women | Tagged art jewelry, art show, booth set up, craft show, glass addictions, handmade jewelry, jennifer cameron |
By Jenny on April 30, 2012
Today is Inspiration Monday at Art Jewelry Elements where people share what inspires them and how it inspires them.
I created a bead based on this photo by my friend Carol Dean Sharpe:
Here’s the bead:
And here it is when not backlit:
Join the blog hop by visiting AJE and linking your inspired by post to AJE.
Posted in inspiration, lampwork bead | Tagged art jewelry elements blog hop, glass addictions, inspiration, jen cameron designs, jennifer cameron, lampwork bead |
By Jenny on April 26, 2012
Exactly 4 weeks ago to the day, I was setting up for my first show of the year. In fact, it was the first show I had done in about 3 years. Amazingly, this afternoon will be spent setting up for my 2nd show of the year at an event called “Tapestry: a day for you.” The “you” being women because this is not really for men.
Anyway, it’s a fun show to do because it doesn’t get any more low key. I will be there on Friday from about 7am til about 5 pm. There are set shopping times where I will be very busy, but then the conference goers go to their breakout sessions and I can sit and catch my breath for a minute, straighten up the booth, do some viking knitting, etc.
You would think with only a few hours to shop, it wouldn’t be profitable for the vendors. However, I have always done very well for the few hours of work and low booth fee.
Here’s a piece using a Jade Scott pendant, one of my lampwork beads, and some swarovski chain I will have with me tomorrow that I have never shared with my online friends:
Posted in art show | Tagged art jewelry, art show, craft show, glass addictions, handmade jewelry, jade scott, jennifer cameron, tapestry |
By Jenny on April 25, 2012
As many of you know, I don’t really “do” men’s jewelry. The men in my life tolerate their wedding rings and sometimes even a watch. That’s about it. However, last fall, the Iowa chapter of the March of Dimes asked me to please make something for their male ambassadors. This resulted in a leather wrap bracelet customized with their kids’ names hand stamped on sterling silver pieces.
The wife of one of the men who received this gift from the March of Dimes emailed me about how much her husband loves it and could I make something similar for her friends.
Without going into too much detail, her friends have a very sick little boy. He spent months in the NICU. After years spent in and out of several hospitals, multiple surgeries, and all the horrors involved with that, he has been sent home on hospice care because there is nothing else they can do for him.
Of course this story just broke my heart and I wanted her gift to her friends to be perfect.
For Kyle’s dad, she wanted a wrap style bracelet like her husband’s with all the kids names on it.
She also wanted something for Kyle’s mom. However, she already has a necklace with all the kids names. So she requested a bracelet with just Kyle’s name and somehow incorporating orange, which is his favorite color.
I saw pictures of mom, and she is teeny tiny and I learned that a bracelet she regularly wears is 6.3″ and huge on her.
I wanted to make sure the bracelet I made for her was to scale with her tiny size and also adjustable since I didn’t have her actual wrist size. I also had to scale back on my grand plans of adding a bunch of frills to it because it was just too much.
I think I took this apart and redid it a few times trying to get the scale right, but found this chain hiding in a corner and fell in love instantly. The key was to keep it simple. This is how the back looks:
Posted in custom jewelry, handstamping | Tagged custom jewelry, dad bracelet, glass addictions, hand stamped jewelry, jen cameron designs, jennifer cameron, mom bracelet |
By Jenny on April 21, 2012
When I heard about the wrapped, stacked & layered bracelet challenge and blog hop being hosted by Tracy Statler, I just had to join. Whenever I wear more than a single bracelet, or one that is wide, it stresses me out. Do I look like I’m trying to wear my entire jewelry box out in public? Am I trying to prove I never made it out of my “dress like Madonna” 80′s phase (ok, I only sort of did that…my parents required modesty in clothing choices and cost of clothing choices”.
However, this style of wearing lots o bracelets is kinda in right now.
My life has been insane crazy lately and while I have several in progress bracelets on my workbench, I didn’t have time to complete them. So I shopped my jewelry box. Here’s what I found:
Left to Right:
#1-Made by me: a wrapped bracelet made using a tutorial. I wish I remember which website it was, but there are about a billion tuts on this bracelet. I used a Lisa Peters button as the closure plus some labradorite, faceted pearls, and sterling silver. I didn’t have thread, so I used fireline. I don’t really recommend it for this application…
#2-Made by me: European 4-1 chainmaille sterling silver bracelet with a lampwork disc wired on.
#3-Made by Andrea Guarino-Slemmons: sterling silver bracelet. All those little cup thingys move. I love it.
#4-Made by Irish artisans: I rarely buy things when we go on vacation. My usual souvenir is just a Christmas ornament or something we can make into a Christmas ornament that will remind of us our vacation every year when we put up the tree. However, when we went to Ireland last July, I bought this awesome bangle. There is a dragon head at each end, each holding a garnet bead in its mouth. I got the matching ring too.
#5-Made by me: Dragonscale chainmaille weave bracelet.
#6-Made by me: I got the tutorial from Beaducation.com. I think it was called a Shabangle…but I don’t see it there now. Anyway, I made it way too big to wear comfortably. However, it was perfect for this stack.
And look! I did a bonus stack because one stack isn’t enough.
One quick side note…with all these bracelets on, I told my kid (who turns 14 in about 2 weeks. boohoo!) that I felt like I should be a superhero with super powers. He said I am super jeweler. haha! What a kid.
Left to Right:
#1-Made by my friend Carol Dean Sharpe of Sand Fibers. She used a Lisa Peters button as the closure.
#2-Made by me: This is one of the 1st pieces of jewelry I ever made and it was in a class. Those are some of my first beads and definitely the first time I ever stamped metal. There are a total of 3 “tags” each with a single word and the phrase is Plays With Fire.
#3-Made as a gift for me by Carol Dean Sharpe. It doubles as a choker.
#4-Made by me for the last Bead Soup Blog Party. That gorgeous polymer clay toggle is made by Tania of Moobie Grace Designs.
I had hubs take these pics for me because it’s kind of difficult to photograph your own wrist and arm full of bracelets. He says “you look like Madonna.” HA! Think I’ll put all but one of these back in the jewelry box.
Time to go visit the other wrapped, stacked & layered players.
Posted in blog hop, Bracelet | Tagged art beads, art jewelry, blog hop, chainmaille, challenge, glass addictions, handmade jewelry, jen cameron, jennifer cameron, lampwork beads, layered, stacked, wrapped |
By Jenny on April 19, 2012
First of all, I want to tell you…I got into Bead and Button as an exhibitor! WhooHOOO! I am super excited. When I got the news a couple weeks ago, she mentioned I had been on the wait list for 5 years. Wow. I cannot even believe it’s been 5 years…
Anyway, PLEASE let me know if you are going to be in Milwaukee for B&B, and make sure you stop by to say hi at booth #1210.
2nd Announcement: I just started up a new collaborative blog this week with an awesome team of creative women who hand make jewelry components to be used in art jewelry. It’s called Art Jewelry Elements and while it may overlap a tiny little bit with my Glass Addictions blog, it will mainly be completely different content written by several different people. The focus is on entertainment, education, and building a community of people who love handmade components to use in their jewelry creations.
As of the publishing time of this post, there are 2 entries on the blog. One introduces you to the team and tells you a bit about us. The 2nd one is a book review and giveaway. Please stop by, say hi, take a look around (and pardon the dust as I am still working on the various bits of the blog).
Posted in bead and button, bead shopping, blogging | Tagged art jewelry elements, bead and button show, collaborative blogging |
By Jenny on April 16, 2012
My hang tag tutorial was a little popular…getting over 500 hits a day for several days…which was super exciting for me. I had no idea it would be so popular and I’m glad some of you found it useful.
One of the questions I was asked was how I was able to display my jewelry effectively with such large hang tags. The answer is: it depends.
For necklaces on busts or mannequins, it’s a no brainer. The tag goes behind where it can’t be seen. I tie them onto the necklace so that it stays in place, but doesn’t interfere with trying it on.
A few pieces (mostly bracelets) were laid out straight on cloth covered trays with the tags continuing the line of the piece. Not ideal, but it worked. These did require lots of straightening, but it still looked fine.
My favorite method for display were these wire structures…maybe called a cloche? I found clearanced in the garden section of Meijer. I simply attached the hangtags using clothespins.
You cannot fit a ton of pieces on a single cloche, but I am of the school of thought that less is more in a booth display. I have found most customers get overwhelmed when faced with too many choices and then walk out with nothing. If they ask for more choices, or want a specific color, then I get out more inventory for them to look through.
Anyway, anything you can either clip the tags to or add a nail into to hang the tags from (pre-punched holes!) is fair game. Be creative.
Posted in art show, artisan jewelry, branding, Craft Show | Tagged art show display ideas, glass addictions by jen cameron, handmade art jewelry, jennifer cameron, jewelry display ideas |
