Blog-o-sphere Think Tank - Favorite season

The month's blog-o-sphere think tank theme is our favorite season.



This is so easy - Spring! I'm not crazy about the cold, course, I'm not super crazy about the extreme heat either. But the feeling of spring coming alive after it's been cold and dead all winter is intoxicating. I love all the beautiful spring flowers and the days getting longer. The spirea is one of the very first flowers that comes out in my yard in the spring time. It says "Spring is coming, spring is coming!" And it makes me happy. Winter makes me want to hibernate, though because of our society, that isn't generally accepted, when you know, things like work have to happen.

Fall/autumn is a close runner up - the change in season after a long hot summer is so welcome and exciting. But it also means that winter is coming, so it isn't an occasion for joy the way spring time is.

make sure to check out the other participants this month to find out which seasons are their favorites!

Andes Cruz: www.andescruz.wordpress.com
Kathryn Cole: www.kathryncolejewelry.blogspot.com
Natsuko Hanks: www.jewelrybynatsuko.blogspot.com
Barbara Donovan: www.barbaradonovan.blogspot.com
Diana Fazio www.metooiguana.blogspot.com
Thomasin Durgin: http://metalriot.blogspot.com
WATTO: http://www.wattoonline.com/news

New Shop Name!!

I am incredibly excited to announce that my original etsy shop - bcyrjewelry - is now just BethCyr! woohooo! When first signing up for etsy back in the day, before I had any cohesive idea of what I was doing, I signed up w/ that name. I've wanted o change it for a long time b/c people seem to never realize that it was supposed to be B. Cyr Jewelry. When to me, it looks like bc yr jewelry or often people would call me "bcy" - what? so, anyway, no more confusion! I also did away w/ the jewelry since I am still selling tshirts and whatever else I feel like. I feel like it is wide open to do with what I want now and it doesn't have the word jewelry attached!! Yayyyyy!!!!!

SALE!

Pearl and Sterling Drop Earrings

It is EtsyMetal's 5th Anniversary and my birthday (it was yesterday), which are both cause for celebration. Going on now in my regular jewelry shop - all ready to ship items are 17% off (b/c my birthday is the 17th) - enter code ETSYMETAL for the discount when checking out. I will be photographing and adding new items throughout the week, so check back! Feel free to ask me to reserve something for you. Sale ends Saturday Oct 22nd so any reserved items would need to be purchased by then to receive the discount.

For my wedding ring shop - US customers can receive free shipping (no international shipping and % no discount) - entering the same ETSYMETAL code.

Also - be sure to check out all the other shops participating in the EtsyMetal anniversary sale:



discomedusa
metalriot
Inbar
markaplan
Juju By Sarah
Maria Goti
wildflowerdegsigns
AdobeSol
Silentgoddess
Shirlee Grund
Lichen and Lychee
Under Distress Jewelry
Hartleystudio
ReaganHayhurst
Panicmama Jewelry
alisa miller
LaJoailliere
Cynthia Del Giudice
L. Sue Szabo
Erin Austin
Jennifer Lawler
Michele Grady Designs
SimplyAdorning
Victoria Takahashi
NRjewellerydesign
Karla Wheeler Design
QuercusSilver
Kathryn Cole
Ashley Akers Jewelry
Iacua
Sarah Hood Jewelry
Howlindoggie
LivelyHood

EtsyMetal Blog Carnival - 10.3.11 - Food!

This month's topic for the EtsyMetal Blog Carnival is Food!

The weather is cooling, Fall cooking season is 'round the corner. Tell us about some of your eating habits, philosophies, favorite foods and share a seasonal recipe!

I thought it might be an easy topic at first... now I'm having way to many ideas! I don't really use recipes, so I can't easily share a favorite. It would turn in to add a little of this and that or if you don't have that, you can use this, etc etc.

An easy thing to start out with is that I'm vegan. I'm not much of a philosophical vegan in that I want to convert anyone or talk about it much. I don't like people questioning how I eat, so I'm not going to tell anyone how they should eat. I can say that I feel incredibly wonderful not eating meat or dairy. I do think that food is medicine and believe that if people were a lot healthier with their diets, there would be far fewer health problems.

Being vegan has also made me so much more creative in the kitchen, which is really fun. Though to be honest, my husband does cook more than I do! We watch a lot of cooking shows and figure out ways of adapting their dishes in to vegan ones. We eat a lot of Indian and Thai (lots of stir fry), Mexican (just started making empanadas), Italian (made some fabulous "meat balls" the other night). Now that it is cooling off too, there are lots of soups I love making. I'm pretty cold-natured, so I love a good hearty soup! Last winter I had posted a "recipe" of one of my favorite's - "chicken" and rice soup.

Another recent fun thing I made - mashed cauliflower. My brother had told me a couple years ago how good it was and I just now got around to trying it. Though I love veggies, it has been lower down on my list of favorites. After trying this, it has definitely moved up. SO easy and far more yummy than I would have imagined. You should try it.

Make sure to check out the other etsymetal members and see what they think about food!

Inbar Bareket - http://www.inbarbareket.info/blog
Cynthia Del Giudice - http://cynthiadelgiudice.blogspot.com
kate jones - http://www.katejonesdesign.blogspot.com
nova of sweden - http://www.nova-designs.blogspot.com/
Nodeform - http://nodeform.blogspot.com/
Rebecca Bogan - http://www.AdobeSol.com/blog
Panicmama Jewelry - http://panicmama.blogspot.com
Evelyn Markasky - http://www.evelynmarkasky.com
2Roses - http://www.jewelrytutorial.blogspot.com
Jenny Baughman (Gecko J) - http://ridgeschool.blogspot.com/

EtsyMetal Blog Carnival - 9.5.11 - Etsy Metal Studio Tour

This month's EtsyMetal Blog Carnival topic is:

A Few Tips On Buying Handmade Jewelry
Share a few of your personal tips when it comes to the purchase of handmade art jewelry.

For a long time I didn't buy any one else's jewelry. Then I started trading and buying my friends' work.

Though it probably isn't necessarily advice on how to buy handmade jewelry, but for me, it is one of my criteria. If I wear something that will get a comment - I like for it to either be a piece I made or a piece a friend made and be able to advertise. It is great for people to know that the most amazing jewelry is handmade by a real person.

Other things I look for:

Uniqueness or trademark piece - sometimes the pieces just really speaks to me, other times I like getting a pieces that is very expressive of that artist's style, particularly when it is something that either I don't know how to do at all, or something I find to be really difficult (or annoying) to make!

Quality - of course! Who doesn't want quality craftsmanship?

Material is something that is important to me - I don't care for anything that is plated or "filled", just my own preference. I'd rather spend extra and great a really great quality piece, than spend less just to buy something I like the look of.

Those are the main things I look - not too complicated! It is a great perk of being part of a fabulous group of metalsmiths.

check out everyone else's tips/advice/buying preferences:

Danielle Miller-Gilliam - http://daniellemillerjewelry.blogspot.com/
Rebecca Bogan - http://www.AdobeSol.com/blog
2Roses - http://www.jewelrytutorial.blogspot.com
Inbar Bareket - http://www.inbarbareket.net/
Cynthia Del Giudice - http://cynthiadelgiudice.blogspot.com
Thomasin Durgin - http://metalriot.blogspot.com/
Nodeform - http://nodeform.blogspot.com/

EtsyMetal Project Runway Challenge Season 9 - 1

scrap pile

Yay! I skipped participating last season and maybe the one before that too! I'm going to do my best to make something each week this time.

The first week's challenge was was to make something from scrap on our workbench. What a fun challenge! I had a piece I cast probably about 2 years ago, maybe more - with a rough green sapphire. It was still attached to the button! I cleaned it up and using only other bits of wire and chain from the same scrap pile - I finished the necklace I meant to make so long ago! Maybe not the most creative, but I'm glad I felt inspired enough to get it done! yay!

August EtsyMetal Blog Carnival: Roots

It's August already! And the topic this month for EtsyMetal's Blog Carnival is "Our Roots" - Where we came from. How our families have influenced us, artists in the family, etc.

I think I was like a lot of kids who loved to draw and color - starting with crayons and markers, and colored pencils. I remember when I was 7, having drawing of a tree I did in the Alabama State fair. It was a crayon resist - yellow crayon and brown water color. There was probably more to it, but I don't remember... I'm not even sure if I ever got it back. No artists in the family, but my mom was always very supportive and really creative. I had a wonderful art teacher in elementary school, Mr. Lyles. I used to stay after school and use the kick wheel - learning how to throw little pots was the first 3d thing I remember learning. There were a couple week long art camps during the summer I went to. One of my grandmothers was really creative to and did a lot of different crafts. I remember painting and decorating fancy easter eggs with her, as well as a lot of other crafty creative things.

Sadly - there was minimal instruction or direction once I got to middle school. There was a fire in my school that damaged the wing the art room was on - my art class was relegated to a small trailer - so the curriculum was a bit lacking...

I had a great and supportive art teacher through part of high school. We even had a dark room where I learned how to develop my own photos and really became passionate about photography. Sadly my wonderful teacher left and was replaced by someone... not so wonderful and I didn't even get to have an art class my last year in high school. The other high school in the county had a dark room and a couple times I got permission to go over there and use theirs after ours was out of commission.

And then I went to college and was surrounded by wonderful art teachers and all the art classes I could ever want!

make sure to check out the other participating etsymetal members:

Erin Austin - http://metalmusing.blogspot.com
Nodeform - http://nodeform.blogspot.com/
Elizabeth Scott - http://esdesignsjewelry.com/blog
Inbar Bareket - http://www.inbarbareket.net/
Cynthia Del Giudice - http://cynthiadelgiudice.blogspot.com
2Roses - http://jewelrytutorial.blogspot.com
Evelyn Markasky - http://markasky.blogspot.com/
Twigs and Heather - http://twigsandheather.blogspot.com
Andrea - http://www.artigianojewelbox.com/category/blog
Danielle Miller-Gilliam - http://daniellemillerjewelry.blogspot.com/

Rising Temperatures, Rising Costs and Rising Prices

Watching the price of gold continue to increase so drastically over the past couple years, I've been a bit like an ostrich - with my head buried in the sand. Occasionally I'd peak out flutter my prices up a bit and think that was good enough and how I felt bad for increasing the price for my customers. Alas, the time has come that I'm having to truly evaluate everything with a fine tooth comb. Part of this occurrence is the fabulous accountant I have. I've become a lot more organized and actually calculate my profit and loss each month. *Gasp* (That's what I do when I see it calculated)

And it is time I quit keeping my head buried, quit being in denial, and realize that my cost of materials has gone up so. much. more. than I have raised my prices. In the past year, gold has gone up about 33%.... in the past TWO years - gold has nearly doubled... While, apparently I've raised my prices less than 10%. So if you know anything about math, I think you can see how the price of gold really affects my income. Instead of getting a raise, I've been demoted... It all goes back to that being in denial and thinking the price of gold will go down and it'll all be okay.

So I've been doing some seriously calculations and changing prices - some quite a bit and some not so much. But I am feeling a bit more secure that I'm not merely buying gold and giving it away.

I'm puttin' on my big girl pants and realizing, that yes, this is what it means to run a business. I love my customers and I want to provide an excellent product at a fair price - fair, for both of us.

Oh and what do raising temperatures have to do with it all? I have no idea, but it is darn hot in my studio. I'm ready for fall - and falling gold prices. One will come in a couple months - the other... well... I don't think I can keep my head in the sand that long.

EtsyMetal Blog Carnival - 7.11.11 - Artist Inspiration/Influence

This month's EtsyMetal topic is:

Artist's Work That Has Influenced My Own

It is a really interesting topic - particularly because I've tried to not be influenced too much by anyone and really prefer to try to find my own way. For a long time I didn't want to look too closely at any other jewelers' or metalsmiths' work. Going through art school - we were often assigned projects where we had to choose another artist and base something off of their work. I generally tried to pick artists far away from metal! For years I did a lot of mini nude female pendants and rings inspired by Gustav Klimt. I loved the flowy nature of their bodies in paintings like Medicine and Philosophy - which are a bit different than the standard you think of when you hear the name Klimt...

medicine

philosophy

You can read more about these paintings - on wikipedia of course!

Though to look at my work now, you probably wouldn't see the influence so much, but I know it is there.

Another artist I love that I think has influenced me on a deeper level is Andy Goldsworthy. If you aren't familiar with his work, you should check it out! His connection with nature is truly incredible as is his way of looking at patterns and attention to details.

Make sure to check out all the other participating EtsyMetal bloggers!

Theresa - http://tkmetalarts.blogspot.com
Kate Jones - http://www.katejonesdesign.blogspot.com
Fluxplay Jewellery (Maria Whetman) - http://www.fluxplay.blogspot.com
2Roses - http://www.jewelrytutorial.blogspot.com
Elizabeth Scott - http://esdesignsjewelry.com/blog
Andrea Ring- http://www.amuckdesign.blogspot.com
Nodeform - http://nodeform.blogspot.com/
Inbar Bareket - http://inbarbareket.net
Cynthia Del Giudice - http://cynthiadelgiudice.blogspot.com
Evelyn Markasky - http://markasky.blogspot.com/
AdobeSol - http://www.AdobeSol.com/blog
Quercus Silver - http://quercussilver.blogspot.com/

Look for photo updates on Facebook Fan Page

Recently I got an iPhone - which I love - including the amazing Hipstamatic app which is really fun for taking interesting photos. I also figured out how to post photos on my fan page really easily and have started updating with progress photos of customers rings! So "Like" my fan page and keep an eye out if you've ordered a ring from me - you may just catch a glimpse of the process!!