Thursday, April 7, 2011

Welcome to Charm Swap 8!

Hi my name is Michele Grady and both Victoria Takahashi and I will be hosting/curating the next EtsyMetal Charm Swap. This will be the 8^th charm swap for the group but the first one for me since I only became a member in Jan 2011. I am very excited to be involved with this project and I can’t wait to get started on my charms and to see what the others will be making! For those of you who do not know what this is all about, here is how it works….

We have a sign up list for EtsyMetal members who would like to participate. We limit the number of participants to 20 and each person has to make 22 charms. 20 of those charms are swapped among the other members on the list, with 2 charms left over from each participant (for a total of 40 left overs). 20 of the left over charms are made into a completed charm bracelet and will be available for sale in our EtsyMetal Team Shop along with the 20 extra individual charms. Half of the proceeds collected upon the sale of the bracelet will go towards our EtsyMetal Youth Outreach Program. EtsyMetal will donate 50% to the curator’s choice of a Youth Art Organization (which is still TBA).

Charm Swap 8 starts this month and will continue through September 2011 so please check back periodically as I will be posting about the progress of the charm swap and giving sneak peaks into what is going on in the participants’ studios.

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Charm Swap 7 ~ Progress Report 6

More charms have shipped!

L. Sue. Szabo of LSueSzabo

Kira Ferrer of KiraFerrer

Reagan Hayhurst of ReaganHayhurst

Elizabeth Scott of ESdesigns

Andrea Ring of AmuckDesign

Victoria Takahashi of Experimetal

Michele Grady of MicheleGradyDesigns

Michele is our superstar this round because she jumped in this swap on the very last day of the deadline and was finished in less than a few days, and look what she made!? She made sweet miniatures of her "Constricted Heart" series. THANK YOU Michele!

Lynette Andreasen of Asymmetry

***

Now its time for the rest of the participants to still ship out and then the "catcher" will sort and ship our charms back to us. So there are many more unveiled charms to be seen. Please stay tuned for the "shop" bracelet that will be listed in the EtsyMetal Team Shop. We will post it here on our blog when it is listed.

As always, 50% of proceeds from the sale of the charm bracleet will go to a Youth Arts Program. (tbd)

There also will be one extra charm from each participant sold individually in the shop as well.

Thanks for reading!

How to use a head tweezers

Recently, there was some talk on our forum about making rings. I mentioned that I always use a head tweezers to secure the top of the ring to the shank, like with this orbit ring. This tweezers will work with any ring unless it has a large open area, bigger than the pad on the tweezers, like this ring. In that case, I used a piece of enameling sheet mica and used it as a support for the tweezers' pad and it worked just great. The mica provided a flat base that is simple to shape and heatproof.

I hope this makes your ring fabrication easier!!

Monday, April 4, 2011

EtsyMetal Blog Carnival 4.4.11: Most Coveted Tool

April's Blog Carnival is here!
The topic is:
Most coveted tool. Why? How would you utilize it if you got it?

Make sure to read everyone's posts - I'm sure you'll find out about some amazing tools. And let any of us know if you happen to own one of them!!

2Roses
Elizabeth Scott
Tosca Teran
AdobeSol
Nodeform
wildflowerdesigns
Beth Cyr
Evelyn Markasky
Erin Austin

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Etsymetal Finds - My new short hair

Last week I cut off most of my hair. My new short haircut has me rethinking my accessories. I love scarves and, with such short hair, they look particularly nice. Paired with statement earrings and wonderful, whimsical hair pins I have a bold, chic look.