Jewelry Making Outside The Box

Funky Faves, Trends for Spring Apply to Mixed Media Artists

Okay, so I admit, I get a lot of my 'news' on AOL.   But gotta tell ya, a lot of their style reports aren't half bad.  They cut to the chase and give you the scoop with a few pix....and really quick!

Wanna have a look?   I'll share:  http://fashion.about.com/od/springsummer06/ss/springtrends06.htm?nl=1

If any of you guys have watched my YouTube instructional videos  (find them at http://www.youtube.com/user/bsueboutiques)  you know I am extremely fashion-conscious.  

NOT!!!

But as mixed media artists, it's good to pay attention and think---outside the box, since what we do is ART more than high fashion!--how the trends may apply.

The first one on the list was the color PINK!  Everything from blush to fuschia....think Barbie pink!   Well, that would probably be akin to Pantone's color of the year, HONEYSUCKLE.  

See our side bar for a link to Pantone's color site.   This is a site you should FREQUENT, because the trends in color come out literally SEASONS AHEAD.   Color is important in mixed media work, now more than ever.   Not a pink sort of person?  Maybe this year's designs on your worktable should give it an homage, somehow....especially if you are selling your work.

Here's a piece I made with a beautiful vintage Japanese porcelain focal in pink:

I only wish I could get more of that focal....long gone.  

Another big trend was FLORAL DRESSES.  Are you a dress person?   Many artists like pretty, flowy, gyspy-style dresses, smocks and aprons.   If you make your own clothing, keep that trend in mind.  Also longer hemlines are figuring into spring and summer style.  

As to jewelry, you could take the floral trend this way:   flower power jewelry that you enamel yourself and maybe combine tattered and torn fibers or even ripped vintage calico strips as ribbon, necklace cords, or even twisted and tied around chain and focals.

The third trend that interested me was SEVENTIES RETRO.   As I was a teenager late 60's-early 70's---I remember well Vogue magazine Jan 1970---I was in the school library reading it, in the ninth grade!   As a toss back to 70's retro, think India glass beads, long beaded necklaces, hippie chick motifs and styles.  Have you checked out our cool novelty pendants?  Many are made from dies that go back to that time.  Retro and Novelty Pendants

The fourth trend appalled me.  MINIMALISM.  Ugh ugh ugh....do you remember the STERILE looks of the early 90's?  The jewelry business totally tanked outside of sleek, simplistic sterling pieces at that time.   Did it really affect the ART jewelry business?  I hardly think so....but at that time I was selling to gift shops, and as mainstream America got away from wearing jewelry, it DID hurt me. 

To be sure, article mentioned minimalist clothing...but does also seem so strange as it conflicted completely with the other 'hot' trends....such as:

Mixed prints!   Try mixing a print in several sizes or several colors.  The photo there was interesting.  I would probably not wear this as CLOTHING....but as far as ART is concerned, I think it translates PERFECTLY to mixed media work.  Have a look and think about it.

They also mentioned COLOR BLOCKING.  Some suggestions were royal blue/hot pink, black and white.  I would say, throw some of that Honeysuckle in there with the black and white and OOOH LA LA....a Frenchie bandbox look.   Love that graphic. 

They mentioned one bold move might be green and purple.   Hmmm.  Only perhaps with a splash of copper or gold...or both.   Or burnt orange.  Not green and purple alone, I dunno, who has their color wheel out?  Does that really bounce?

Why not try color blocking the Pantone Spring colors such as beeswax, peapod, and lavender.  That sounds so pretty!   So many times with mixed media we tend to go toward grunge, at least in jewelry making.   Why not do that look but with soft, pretty colors?   I myself may have a hard time to moving my ideas that way as I tend to go toward patina and rust.....but, probably a really good experiment!

Review the article for other trends and then contemplate on how they might affect your jewelry art.   It may take you down a new path, and!  increase the sales of the things you make.

Runway Jewelry: Violet Flight

Here's a fabulous showpiece from our friend Betsy Gray-Beckman of Lily-Beau Peep.... and it's very inspiring!  She calls it "Violet Flight".

What's runway jewelry, you say?

Runway jewelry tends to be  rather large, showy, colorful pieces that set off designer clothing....and worn on a fashion runway.   They tend to be pieces you might not wear everyday or even at all;   people tend, actually, to COLLECT them, display them, even use them as sculpture in home decor.  This piece  is definitely ALL of the above.

Okay, you fiber and fabric designer-artists:  tell us what sort of clothing you would pair up with this necklace.  We're waiting for comments! 

Betsy generously explained on her blog regarding her methods of construction.... and even lists the parts she used from the B'sue Boutiques  website.    Would you like to see how she put the necklace together?

Visit her at http://lilybeaupeep.blogspot.com/    Lily-Beau Peep Crafts

And....by the way....this is Betsy's FIRST collage jewelry presentation.   How about a round of applause?   WELL DONE!!!

Kate McKinnon, Jewelry Architect

I will freely admit, I am not into seed beading, complicated techniques or big-opus projects.    Especially seed beading.  Ugh.

Oh....don't get me wrong!  I LOVE looking at it, and happy to wear or own it.  Happy for YOU if YOU enjoy it!

I just don't enjoy it....  I'll take my tedious elsewhere, thanks!  LOL   Seed beads have their place as accents, for me; I always have a nice little stash.   But a whole piece out of seed beads....with me at the helm, the designer, making it?

NO.

Then I found this book at one of my little trips to Barnes and Noble bookstore:

While it has a goodly section on seed beadery---you can tell right there from the cover--I was so intrigued by the TITLE.   Jewelry ARCHITECT?   Hmmmm.....

I knew about Kate McKinnon.  You know that little file you have in your brain that associates a picture with a word, a place, a name?   In that file associated with Kate McKinnon were  images of structural pieces made of PMC.    If I had seen a piece of structural PMC on the cover (although that amazing focal on the bracelet is PMC) I would never have picked this book up.   Again that work is GREAT....it's just not what I am 'into' at this time in my creative journey.

BUT..... I would have been a big loser had I not picked it up. 

I am SO GLAD I picked it up AND bought it!!  because it turns out Kate McKinnon is an awesome teacher with a very unique, valuable philosophy:  build structure and durability into your pieces by  careful care to your connections and joins.  

This volume comes with a DVD; that seems to be the trend now.   Some DVD's that come with books are simply a complimentary overview and rather like a commercial for the book.  This one isn't, and for that I am so grateful.   I just watched it this morning and feel as though I'd taken a mini class.

I really enjoyed the last section on the DVD about wire, because I do like to play with wire and am aware that, for the most part, my skills are pitiful to rudimentary. 

Kate demonstrates how to make a perfectly round eye-pin style wrap and then how to join it to another piece.   That was worth the price of the book RIGHT THERE, for me.

The book gives directions for a number of very interesting projects, most of them a little advanced for me but at the same time, things to which I will aspire.    Even if you are very, very new to jewelry making, between the DVD and the book, you will learn things you SHOULD learn, at the very beginning.  Then, as time goes on, you can plan to work on the rest.

Kate mentions that she used to make jewelry on the 'hundred year plan'....meaning that with care, examination, and constant improvement on technique and methods used, her pieces could last a lifetime.

But over the course of her lifetime thus far, she realized that with constant attention, jewelry making skills could and should  be improved, and that her durable pieces could be made to last 1,000 years.    At least that's the goal!

Let Kate be one of your teachers.   Get the book, read it carefully, and watch the DVD over and over until it is imbedded into your brain.   I learned something about myself and my own creative philosophies by reflecting on hers.   I wish the same for you.

This book gets an A+++++++++++++ five stars across the board from B'sue.   I may check into whether or not I can carry it as a staple at B'sue Boutiques  but until then, here is a link to the listing at Barnes and Noble online:

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/The-Jewelry-Architect/Kate-McKinnon/e/9781596681767/?itm=1&USRI=kate+mckinnon

 

This Bracelet is Such a HOOT!

I so pleased with how nicely this bracelet went together.  So was the lady who bought it from me!

I'm not proprietory about the design; since I am a 'purveyor of parts', I tend to put things together as teaching examples or to provoke artistic thought.   In this case, you can go right ahead and copy and make yourself one of these little owl bracelets, too!

The bracelet base is our 13mm bezel bracelet, the one with seven little bezels all connected in a row, with a fold over clasp.   You'll find them in brass ox right here:

http://www.bsueboutiques.com/shop/index.php?keywords=chn04836brox

It looks like this:

(By the way....in case you were waiting for it, chn0774 just came back in stock in brass ox, this is the same style bracelet but w the 18mm bezels.)

You just glue the little owls to the bezels, on their sides, neatly, all in a row.  I use E6000 glue.

The owls are found here:  http://www.bsueboutiques.com/shop/index.php?keywords=brox03566+         And of course, you will need seven of them.

I glued in  flatback rhinestones for the eyes, just some old vintage ones I had in my workshop.  If you don't have any,  maybe these little pre-set vintage chatons will work out for you:

http://www.bsueboutiques.com/item/Mounted-Simulated-Imitation-Sapphire-AB-Chaton-7103

You could also mix ICE RESIN with a teensy bit of paint and mix color, then drip it oh so carefully into the recess in the eyes and let it dome.   SO COOL!  More info on adding color to ICE Resin in a past blog post, found here:  http://bsueboutiques.typepad.com/bsue_boutiques_jewelry_su/2011/03/adding-color-to-ice-resin.html

Do you like owl jewelry?  We have LOTS of owls as well as other bird stampings at B'sue Boutiques

http://www.bsueboutiques.com/shop/index.php?keywords=owl

 

Out of the Blue and Just For You....I've Never Done This Before

B'sue Boutiques' selling  philosophy has always been to give you the best B'sue could find, for the least she could afford to sell it for.   Always bottom of the market.   Everyone needs to save where they can!

In January, we re-evaluated our shipping policies and finagled a way to give you flat-rate shipping.  You will never pay more than 3.95 to have your order shipped from the B'sue Boutiques website.  If your order is over 100.00 at the B'sue Boutiques website, we ship **free if you are in the US**, and for 10.45 international (unless the order is over 150.00 and Express shipping is necessary.   We even discount that a little, too!)

There is always a large What's On Sale section at B'sue Boutiques.   Sometimes I move deep stock or things we are discontinuing, there.

I was looking through the drawers and thinking, wow, we need to pare some of this down.  Some of these categories are out of hand; some of these items are stocked too deep.  Usually what I'll do in a case like that is take it off the site and put it on Ebay.

BUT I GOT TO THINKING:   Ebay currently gets about 14% of a sale.   Why not just round that up to 15%, LEAVE it on the B'sue Boutiques website, and let YOU put that in YOUR pocket.

SO:  this week only, if your order is 100.00 or more at the B'sue Boutiques website, if you enter BSUE100 into the promotional code box as a coupon, you can have 15% off and free shipping too!

This is good til Saturday night  April 2 at midnight, when it becomes a pumpkin and poof!  goes away. 

This  discount is not combinable with any other discount.  And, it is not combinable with Ebay purchases from the Ebay store.

MUST MENTION:   We have had a little issue with our regular programmed discount of 10 percent off 250.00 and 15 percent off 500.00.  

If your order goes over those magic numbers and you enter BSUE100, the site has been adding the sale discount AND the standard discount.  :-O

WOW, I wish we could do that for you. 

We can't.  ;-(

If your order is over 250.00  and this happens, if you have used a credit card, we'll have to adjust on this end.  

 If  you've used PayPal, we'll go ahead and ship your order but will have to bill you back.   You'll see it broken down on your confirmation---you'll see the two discounts.  You will be getting the biggest one at the bottom.   I'll write you about it, too.

So sorry for any inconvenience on that; please be forgiving!   It's our VERY FIRST SITE WIDE SALE....I'll get with the programmer before I do this again.  It won't be for a long time....so!   load up.  

You can use the code all week long, you can come back and make another cart before Saturday, too!   The order just has to be 100.00 or more and you **MUST** enter the coupon code.  

Again:  it's BSUE100   don't check out without it, if you forget it, contact me through the site, I will be happy to give it to you again.

 

 

New Arrivals at B'sue Boutiques and Restocks, Too

Since Five and Dime Style Round Three begins in about a month, you might like to know about these cute animal findings we have at the site:

Find this guy here:  http://www.bsueboutiques.com/shop/index.php?keywords=brox05463

And how about this fanciful 'animal crackers' style lion:

Find this guy here, only a very short stock!  And I kept one, LOL!  http://www.bsueboutiques.com/item/King-of-the-Jungle-7328

The little bird connectors and charms in matching left and right are back, here's a link to the silverware ones:

http://www.bsueboutiques.com/shop/index.php?keywords=silwar03604

Wings!  in raw brass, great for colorization: http://www.bsueboutiques.com/shop/index.php?keywords=fig52   lots more wings in the Wings section, too:

Wings Section (Steampunk)

JUST ARRIVED:

brox01680  rolled lip 18mm bezel with two connector holes, make bracelets, etc

silwar01629  the most beautiful vintage dragonfly:  http://www.bsueboutiques.com/shop/index.php?keywords=silwar01629

silwar01632  hand drop   Have you seen all our hands?  http://www.bsueboutiques.com/shop/index.php?keywords=silwar01632

silwar03605  silverware little bird charms left and right

brox5023 3x2 inch filigree

brox01735 8 hole dimpled washer cool Steampunk component or connector

pearl 27 18mm white pearl cab

brox01710 demure vintage dragonfly pairs!  http://www.bsueboutiques.com/shop/index.php?keywords=brox01710

brox01586 scotty dogs, while they last! 

mount 52 tiny mount for 10x8mm while they last!

NUNN DESIGN:   elongaged deep altered art bezel, bezel 77 http://www.bsueboutiques.com/shop/index.php?keywords=bezel77

also:  NUNN DESIGN RINGS w Bezel on top:  base01715 and base o1716

BEZEL BRACELETS:  chn01672  18mm in pewter ox, also chn01721 18x13 oval...WHILE THEY LAST

Blanks and Tags just in (some were in the video last weekend)

base01728  raw elongated heart, works in the Cuttlebug nicely

base01628  elongated drilled top rectangle base

base01720 brass ox plated heart, works in the Cuttlebug well

brox01717  33mm round tag, drilled, works well in the Cuttlebug

base01729  flat horse blank

bezel 75, bezel 76 serrated edge 18mm bezels

more restocks:

cam32  Wegwood blue dimensional butterfly cameo

brox00902  cigarband style ring

brox08511  heart and key  (the large pendant size)

brox01307 funky kitsch 60's pop art LOVE heart

Mount 5  lace edge

bezel 39 25mm  who was asking for this?  We got it!

base08134  ex large necklace crescent in brass ox like the one in the video last weekend

base04858   grid, someone wanted me to bring this back in stock...I did!

brox09956  ooky the octopus...btw we have plenty in raw brass and silverware too

brox0383  kissing kids   you asked me to bring them back!

brox01371  A bazillion ways to say I love you from the 50's tooling

brox02603  bookmark w 18mm bezel

brox02969 and brox08315   AMOUR in both 19 and 26mm sizes

brox05021 gigantic four way leaf  I love this piece for colorization

brox07219  floral sprig, this one is a fave

brox0417  24mm brass ox open tea rose

brox04499 Love Me Yes No spinner heart

Lovemeters in English and French....have you seen these yet? http://www.bsueboutiques.com/item/Love-Meter-Pendant-in-English-and-French-1234

brox03313  TV charm w bezel  what are YOU watching?? Show the world!

cap 36  large lacey filigree bead cap

cap38 brass ox acorn style bead cap

cap 80 acorn cap, raw brass

rgp05815   my fave cone cap in Russian Goldplate

brox04168   hand connector

cap 64  Raining Drops bead cap  silverware finish

cap 62  raining drops in brass ox

pearl5   3mm no hole white imitation pearlies

NOTE:   I regret I don't have a great system to let individuals know their faves have come back into stock on a personal level.   Until I can pull that off, I intend to do restocks via blog links and a recap at the end of the week on our newsletter.

If you would like to sign up for the newsletter, just go to the homepage at B'sue Boutiques and put your email in the box and click it through.   Unsubbing is easy, as well.

It is easy to keep up with us here at the blog as I am writing in it every day.   Also, will be putting my featured artists and Guest Teachers here as they benefit more from SEO if I do it that way.  On the newsletter, you get to read about them, but if I put their links here, it goes into the search engines enabling even more people to find them.

 

 

 

 

Have You Wanted to Learn To Solder?

I'm asked nearly every day for a good tutorial on soldering....now we have one!

Thanks to Harry Wood of Oscar Crow we now have the DEFINITIVE tutorial on using a big torch, a smaller butane torch and even a soldering wand.

To find out more about Harry's method and to grab a copy of this tutorial for YOUR workshop, just visit us at B'sue Boutiques    The tutorial will print out.

You'll find Harry's soldering  tutorial under Project Ideas, along with a number of other great archived topics:

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

Do you have a great technique you'd like to share with us,  or a particular project using B'sue Boutiques findings and stampings?

I'd love to hear from you. 

I always have Guest Teacher spots open for any who can tempt me with something I think my customers would like to learn more about or see demonstrated.  

 Guest Teachers are responsible for writing their text as well as taking photos.  For their efforts, they receive a 50.00 gift certificate to B'sue Boutiques as well as have their project permanently archived along with a small bio about them AND their website links, into our well-traveled website.

AND, I do a blog post about their project, which also enters into the internet search engines.

Many thanks again to Harry Wood for all he does for us, and for sharing his bench expertise with many eager new artists!

Tattered, Torn, Just a Little Worn

Yesterday we made a new video:  Start to Finish, Emboss, Drill, Rivet, Alcohol Ink:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_cGK22n_Ik   you can also find all our videos in the side bar link, I have a nifty little widget that shows all of them, just scroll and click and you can watch right here at the blog!

We had a lot of fun making the video, it was a pretty crazy day and there was a lot to fit into our time allotment.   Someone commented today if I'd been drinking.....no.   That's the real me!  That's joy, darlin'!   Joy of making something and sharing it, instead of standing woodenly in front of a video camera, speaking in a monotone.

Which I have done....but will not do again.  ;-)  

Anyway....whilst Rob was tweaking and uploading the video I decided to work with the pieces I made, during it.   This completed piece is the result:

I've decided it would be fun to add more fiber to my work and truly make it mixed media.   The colors in the piece suggested I get into my deep drawerful of ribbon and find that beautiful sari cord I purchased from Linda O'Brien a couple of years ago.

I also pulled in a small pendant I made with text, ICE resin and a little crystal.

Here is a closer look at the focal:

Someone asked me last week about how to wrap the ends of cord so that you can put in a jump or finish a necklace.  This is how I do it:

As you can see,  I just bend it back over itself and wrap with Vintage Bronze wire.   You will find Vintage Bronze wire in a number of gauges at our website:

Vintage Bronze and Lots More Jewelry Wire!

I used our Gypsy Ribbon to wrap the centerpiece, and tie the little bows.  We have a really nice selection of hand dyed ribbon, with a vintage look, and you will find it here:

http://www.bsueboutiques.com/silk_velvet_ribbon.shtml   I used the Gypsy Earth color.

Blanks for embossing, inking, colorizing, even torching?   We have LOTS of them---quite a few went up just yesterday!

This crescent came in as very red brass and is PERFECT because it will really respond to a torch or mark up nicely, the color is already very rich:

http://www.bsueboutiques.com/item/Raw-Red-Brass-Collage-Base-to-Texture-Ink-Colorize-6871

This one is good too---it's at a special price while they last and finished brass ox.   You will have to drill the ends, but as you can see that's easy.  I know for a fact this one WILL go through the Cuttlebug, too!

http://www.bsueboutiques.com/item/Flat-Neck-Base-6455

Here's that heart base I used in the video:

http://www.bsueboutiques.com/item/Curved-Brass-Ox-Heart-Base-7315    this one is in brass ox, but we have raw brass, too!

You know what....you just need to come over and have a look at the Bases and Blanks Section

You won't believe how many new ones went on the site yesterday!  The cuffs are back in nice stock, too....we've got a lot of the raw dimpled cuff and the brass ox indent cuff everyone loves to work with.

Check it out....and share your creations with us at my B'sue Boutiques Facebook Fan Page

A Real Find: Susan Rouleau's Mountain Shadow Studio

 
Here I sit looking at a table FULL of beautiful ceramic/porcelain focals, with my Chocolate Chai tea.....thinking, what exactly will I do with these, and remembering a wonderful time I had ten years ago.

Shelley and I traveled back to the VFCJ Jewelry Convention in 2001.   VFCJ was an club born for the celebration of vintage costume jewelry; but I was coming away from dealing in that; hungry to talk to someone about jewelry design.   A number of our members were designing---Wendy Gell was there!  Susan Rouleau approached my table, picked out some of my vintage components and a lively conversation ensued.   I remember her well.

But I don't believe I heard from her much after that.....til a few weeks ago, when she sent me an order through our website at B'sue Boutiques

She wrote me an email as well..... and asked me to have a look at her current work at Mountain Shadow Studio

All I can say is wow.   It's Hattie Carnegie whimsy coupled with Miriam Haskell beadery...spashes of Wendy Gell kitsch and some awesome freeform porcelain work.

Yesterday I received a package from Susan.  A gift!  The pix below are a mere sampling of what was in that box:

Two pendants with gold-fired edge and beautiful flowers.

A folded, free-form centerpiece and then, one molded from an old stamping (looks like.)

Flower and tussie mussie pockets....these will be really special to fill with beaded or wired flowers!   Be sure to look at Susan's blog where she has made a cluster pin of beaded flowers w tiny ceramic heads!

FACES!  Ohmigoodness....so many possibilities with these!

I hope to work with Susan on some designs for our website, so that we can carry a line of her awesome, lighthearted, pretty focals.  Wouldn't YOU love to work with some of these?  Aren't you nuts about the POCKETS, like I am?  I can't wait to get some serious time to play.

In fact, I am hoping to work with a number of artists.   I want to develop a new section of our website to focus on artisan work, and we will offer select focals for sale, including some that I will make.   I am also planning  to bring in some of  Melanie Brooks'  focals---Melanie does a lot of designing for  magazines.    You will find her work at Earthenwood Studio    Her look is very different from Susan's so I think it will be nice to have two styles represented.

I am also working with paper artist Anna Fearer and we are looking forward to having a selection of her incredible flowers at B'sue Boutiques, soon.    Hilary Frye would also like to create a line of fiber art focals, one of a kinds.   Read more about Hilary at FryeStyle

I'm excited about this new feature of our website!  I love promoting others' work and it will be great to carry these products, but it may be awhile before we can get all the product and get the section going.   If you have any suggestions for artists, I absolutely am still considering adding more....but there are a lot of factors to consider.   Get in touch if you have questions!

Organizing Your Workspace

The comment was recently made that without a bit of organization, creativity can be hampered.

I could NOT agree more!   So many times I have just a bit of time, and it COULD be productive, if only I readily knew where the items I wanted to work with, were.  Pitiful to lose precious time, or become frustrated and quit! because of that silly situation.

Ever watch that show CLEAN HOUSE?   Sheesh, I'd love to have Mark Brunetz come to the Messy Workshop and put it back together with a nifty artsy vibe.   But then...we couldn't call it the Messy Workshop anymore, and Mark would never go for me junking it up again.   Such disrespect!

What about the organized CHAOS system?

My pal and our frequent Guest Teacher, Harry Wood, was working with a layered mess on his worktable.   I must agree with him, yeah...it was BAD!

He took the bull by the horns, straightened it up and built himself a marvelous work station with organized shelving and a jeweler's bench on the bottom!  I'll get that link for you in just a bit....

I do have semblance of organization in my workshop.  For example, I found these great organizer carts at JoAnn's.   I took the wheels off and lined up THREE of them going right down the middle of my large plywood worktable:

What I like about them is that the bottom three drawers have lock down lids, so you can  pack them for a vacation, for a class.....and take with you.  Or even just take with you outside if you want to get some sunshine and bead on your deck or picnic table!

I have a large L-shaped table with electric hook up all along the edge.  My husband used to be an electronics repair person a long time ago and did some work on the side, this used to be his bench.  About 16-17 years ago I appropriated it!   Underneath, I've put the large pull out drawer cupboards that you can get at Walmart.  I've also done that underneath my large central worktable.

and here
is the other side.....you can still see worktable behind it.  That's not my work area....John still has a little space for his home-maintenance projects.    We try not to show that side in our videos.  UGH.  Actually my workshop used to be over there, but where it is now is the driest side of the basement with more air flow.  I have overhead exhaust, as well.   It's very condensed but really lots of room.

I have shelving in the back too, the shelf on the right is mostly covered with books now.  This part needs new shelving, maybe even some of those cool units from Home Depot that have doors on them.

I found a catalog that's given me a lot of ideas, too....Store Supply     They have a lot of neat, adaptable things and decent prices, too.   If you are thinking about ever opening a little store or shop you definitely want to have a look.

I'm thinking about doing some makeover work on that back wall, spring clean up and!  maybe....buy a mannequin for the workshop.  It would be kind of kitschy, and I think I could put a mannequin to really good use for fun and photography as well.

I promised you a link to Harry's workshop makeover....go on over and visit him!

http://oscarcrow.blogspot.com/2011/03/wow-its-been-weekspring-break-was-busy.html#comment-form

While you are there, you can drool over his collection of Frozen Charlottes, and I believe he is selling a few so!  if you don't have any antique ones, you might want to get a few from Harry.   I did!