Search results (tags) for: "glass jewelry"

Etsy Finds: The New Old School

2009-06-23T12:00:00-05:00

There are many things in life that you can teach yourself: sewing a hem, making delicious hummus, and playing the harmonica are some accomplished examples. The do-it-yourself ethos runs deep and strong here on Etsy, but there's another facet to this creative treasure trove. Today's Etsy Finds are devoted to the traditional craftsmanship of yore, as viewed through a modern lens. These trades have traditionally been passed down through guilds and apprenticeships, keeping the handicraft skill sets alive and well to this day.

Ceramics and Pottery

Whether it's thrown, molded or cast, ceramics and pottery are a delight to observe (and carefully touch!). To learn more about this often utilitarian art form, check out our recent Facts and Fancies series on the subject.

Swiss Lamp in White

By jillrosenwald, $775.

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Blue Teapot

By lawatson, $175.

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Lace Bottle

By holepot, $1000.

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White Porcelain Fruit Bowl with Holes

By isabelleabramson, $350.

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Glass

Glass is one of the most ancient and time honored crafting traditions. Blown, stained or mosaic, glass making is a complex art form. Learn more about how glass is blown here.

Aqueous Stars

By leibenaller, $1250.

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Vivid Orange Blown Glass Vase

By corporanglass, $375.

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Damselfly

By TobyUptonGlass, $425.

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Biodiversity Sculpture

By AustinArtGlass, $575.

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Woodworking

Is there a more noble profession that that of the woodworker? The range of creations that can be hewn from a single tree is staggering. Furniture and musical instruments are but the tip of the iceberg.

Mahogany Butcher table

By attiladesign, $3200.

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Bamboo Electric Guitar

By liceaguitars, $1750.

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Large Flickering Lone Star Oak Table

By woodmosaics, $8500.

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Roll Top Desk - Available for commission

By janiesmash, $8600.

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Jewelry

These one of a kind pieces are sure to wow. Goldsmithing is a craft I wouldn't mind learning, if only for the decorative advantages (ahem, new rings weekly!).

Holding Hands Necklace

By margauxlange, $495.

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Papallona

By masaoms, $180.

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Large Spheres Knots Necklace

By SNoU, $625.

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Perelandrian Ring

By nanopod, $350.

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Leatherworking

Leather is such a malleable, yet durable, material. These pieces are sure to last a lifetime.

Grape Leaves and Tendrils Deluxe Cuff

By sunnyrising, $119.

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Leather in Antique Brown and Brass

By moxieandoliver, $750.

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Custom Red Retro Platform Pumps

By zerkahloostrah, $500.

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Nenjuu Leather Bag

By JMBCanada, $450.

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Fine Art

Etsy's Art Category holds countless aesthetic wonders. These gallery-worthy pieces are just a sampling.

Grace.

By jdmphotographs, $200.

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Original Oil - Made of the night

By thisisalliknow, $1600.

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Further West Metal Sculpture

By NoClassic, $285.

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How Is One.....

By olivamoon, $475.

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Fiber Art and Textiles

This collection encompasses the worlds of crochet, needlecraft, quilting, with some mixed media fiber art thrown in for good measure. The intricacy and attention to detail is awe-inspiring.

Beret21

By dadaya, $128.

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Moist Mother Earth

By TheFaerieMarket, $8000.

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Textile necklace nO.395

By kjoo, $280.

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Fallow Fields - Rag Quilt, Reversible

By wiccked, $599.

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You need not look very far to see all of the quality craftsmanship on Etsy! What's your favorite medium?

Looking for more Etsy Finds? Try these links:

Gift Guides | Facts and Fancies Series | Trends | Gift Ideas

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The Art and Meditation of Drilling Sea Glass

2009-05-20T17:08:00-05:00

ZZZZzz…….zzzzzZZZZZZZZZ...Zzz.......ZZZZZZZzzz….Z.

Oh, the sound of drilling sea glass. Do you hear it?

That's actually the sound of me tearing my hair out the first few times I tried to drill sea glass. Before I launch into this story, I must give you some background on how I came to this point in my life (of meditative drilling, I mean).

At work one day a few months ago, a colleague showed me a beautiful sea glass bracelet she had made for herself. I immediately fell in love with the frosty gems. Shortly thereafter, I had some kind of epiphany of wanting to start my own jewelry line, and GhostShip was immediately born.

I found my first piece of gem quality sea glass while walking the beach one morning with my dog, wearing my down parka and trudging in the sand in my winter ski boots. What a thrill it was to carry my precious ziplock bag of treasures home, to sort them by color and shape, and then to finally sit down and try drilling into these weathered, reclaimed beauties.

Of course, like all good and eager novice drillers, my drill speed was too high, I didn't use enough lubricant, I wore out many good tips very fast, and broke many precious pieces from pressing too hard. I finally got the hang of it, but thought to myself, "This is torture! WHEN is this going to be over so I can get on to the fun part of putting the jewelry design together?"

I would dread the times when I needed to drill a batch of glass for my designs that week — it was so tedious and boring. I wondered why any sane person would want to spend any amount of time hearing what, at the time, reminded me of sitting in the dentist's chair. That unforgettable, spine-rattling drill noise twanged on my nerves like a very out of tune violin. Fun stuff indeed.

It was at that time when my lovely and snuffly bulldog, Bodhi, reminded me of life's very important lesson. I needed to slow down and smell the roses (or in his case, eat the roses…as we had just come back from a very slow and long walk with many unscheduled stops to chomp on grass, flowers, tree bark…but I digress).

After thoroughly wiping down his wrinkly dog suit, I sat down for dreaded drilling session. But this time, it was different.

I picked up the piece of sea glass in front of me, and lovingly felt its frosty smooth surface, its cooling touch. As I started to bite into it, I felt the calming, massaging buzz of the drill in my hand. I noticed the milky white liquid well up from inside the drill hole. I dipped my drill tip and stone into the cool ice-cube filled cups I had placed in front of me and watched the milky dust swirl away in the water. I became aware of every movement, every detail of what I was doing, and soon fell into a trance of drilling, dipping, swishing. Drilling, dipping, swishing. My mind started to clear and before I knew it, I was lost in this meditative world.

Who knew it could be this relaxing? Was I losing my mind? Actually I was training my mind.

In Buddhism, it's all about training your mind to become free from the cycle of suffering so that you can be a more compassionate and loving person. It's all about letting go. I had to let go of the frustration and impatience I was feeling whenever I drilled. Needless to say, I also discovered new and helpful techniques during this "transition" period.

For instance, I always drilled from one side, and would jump out of my chair as the drill bit finally pierced the other side of the glass, scaring me out of my skin (and Bodhi's) every time! I'm telling you, it's very difficult to put a dog suit back on a bulldog…have you ever tried?

Well, I learned to drill a little from each end, flipping the stone over and over, and finally meeting in the middle for a very calm and, well, civilized breakthrough. Also, I went down at least a couple of speeds on my drill, realizing that having the drill go faster was not going to drill my hole any faster. In fact, it was just the opposite. I also didn’t get so much buildup and heat on my point, which made my diamond points last so much longer.

In the end, I realized that something I'd thought was a nuisance and a chore, actually turned out to be one of the most enjoyable, relaxing things to do in the whole process of making jewelry.

The middle path: Who would have guessed? After all, it's really mind over matter, eh?

Browse Jewelry Tagged "Seaglass" on Etsy | Find Seaglass Supplies | Visit the Glass Category

Watch Artists in Their Studios — Process Video Series

Process: Fused Dichroic Glass Rings by zulasurfing

2008-10-17T14:06:00-05:00

MP4 | Youtube | Blip.tv | Subscribe in iTunes

This month, to continue the Storque's jewelry theme, we bring you this video featuring Gil, a former owner of a demolition company who now grinds and fuses glass. zulasurfing is comprised of husband and wife duo, Gil and Irena, based in New York. Gil is originally from Israel and Irena was born in Russia. They fashion a variety of brilliant jewelry pieces in their small, but well equipped studio in the Bronx. We focused in on the difficult and time intensive process of making a dichroic glass ring; zulasurfing's results are absolutely stunning.

Dichroic glass is manufactured by vaporizing various layers of metal oxides in a vacuum using an electron beam. The vapor then crystallizes on the surface in a way that translates different wavelengths of light, producing a colorful sparkle. Gil uses this type of glass to his advantage by fusing it in layers with other pieces of colored glass and clear glass — unique designs appear embedded in the finished product. Gil and Irena work together to determine which colors, which type of dichroic glass, and which shape the overall ring will take.

We are happy to be able to share some of the finished rings themselves in the video because it is difficult to communicate their magnificence with photography alone, but even the videos don't do the rings themselves justice. They are truly majestic when beheld

Irene also does metalsmithing and glass etching and Gil makes some small sculptural glass pieces, so make sure to check out zulasurfing's other designs in their shop.

[etched glass pendants]

[casts of fused glass bricks]

[jewelry made from amethyst geodes]

Process is a new Etsy video series that features the intimate relationship formed between Etsy sellers and the handmade items that they create and make available to the world through their online shops. Process is not to be confused with a How-To video, as each video is intended to show each seller's unique artistic voice through the process by which their items come to be.

Jewelry tagged Dichroic Glass | More Process Videos on the Storque | Jewelry Lover's Gift Guide

Trends: Last Gasps of Summer, Sea Glass

2008-08-19T13:23:00-05:00

Sea glass is such an inspiring material. Beach combers clean up debris and make shards into something new. Jewelry can be vibrant or mellow, soft or angular, depending on the piece of beach glass — and all these jewel-like nubbins conjure the sounds of the waves and the feeling of sand (hopefully not sharp glass) between the toes. This summer, we've noticed a lot of fantastic jewelry (and other items) made with beach glass — so here's a trend you can bring with you throughout the seasons.

Even if you're not by the seaside, landlocked jewelry-makers might find some "desert glass," like glassjunkie. Gorgeous! Or check out the sea glass bits for sale in the Supplies section.

See more Trends posts.

Virtual Labs Schedule: July 21st to July 25th, 2008

2008-07-20T09:28:00-05:00

The Virtual Labs are Etsy's interactive classrooms, a place to hang out, throw paper airplanes and share skills. This week we're starting Show and Tell Your Purchases. Come on by and show us what you've bought on Etsy this week! It's also week 3 of How-To Month. Hope to see ya around the Labs!

Want to host your own workshop or meeting in the Virtual Labs? Fill out an application here!

The following schedule covers Monday, July 21st to Friday, July 25th, 2008 (all Eastern Daylight Time). The schedule posted in the Virtual Labs is magically in *your* time. So if you are confused, just click here to see what's coming up in your real time.

Monday

Special appearance with Abby Pecoriello, author of Crafty Mama in the Library Room — 12pm EDT, details here.
Craft Night! — 5pm to 8pm in the Treehouse. Come by and make stencils with us! Click here for a list of supplies to have on hand.

Tuesday

Newbie Chat with Danielle and Julie — 4:15pm in the Treehouse. Newbies! Get your questions answered here! Julie and Danielle can help get your shop started on the right foot!

How-To: Incredible Shrinking Plastic with Iheartmoustaches — 5pm in the Treehouse.

*UPDATE!* No Shop Critiques with Michelle this week — she's on vacation!

Wednesday

Show and Tell For Sellers — 4pm in the Lounge. Come share what you are working on! Everyone will get their own time to talk about a project they are working on and get feedback. Come with links to pictures of your work in progress or if you have a webcam, you can show us live!

How-To: Setting up your jewelry torch with Danielle — 5pm in the Treehouse.

Thursday

Weekly Teams Meeting with Sara and Danielle — 12pm in the Teams Room.

Office Hours: Vanessa, Alison, Tara and Bre (Storque Admin) — 1pm in the Storque Room.

Show and Tell For Buyers — 4pm in the Lounge. Come share what you have purchased on Etsy! Come with links to your purchases in their new home or directly to the items you have collected this week!

Office Hours: Mary (Etsy Community Advocate) — 7pm in the Treehouse.

Friday

On-The-Fly Critiques with the EtsyLabs ladies — 3pm in the Treehouse. Pop in for a mini-critique with some experienced sellers and Etsy admin.

Office Hours: RobWhite (Forum Admin) — 7pm in the Lounge.

How-To: Glass Etching with MissBatch — 4pm in the Treehouse.

Learn more about the Virtual Labs here! Apply to hold your own meetings or online workshops in the Virtual Labs here! Or send me a convo. You can also check out the Events Calendar in the Storque!

Etsy Finds: Kristin Perkins Glass Jewelry

2007-09-23T07:38:00-05:00

I met Kristin at a little zine and craft show in Ann Arbor, Michigan over a year ago. I was selling jewelry and she was selling jewelry. She came over and said she loved my stuff. I went to her booth and was immediately attracted to her work. Very clean and modern and colorful, just my style! We traded pieces and talked metalsmithing. I told her she NEEDED to get on Etsy but she was a little hesitant. A few months ago I found her work while browsing the jewelry catagory. I saw one of her pieces and recognized her immediately! (Thats the mark of a great craftswoman!) I'm so excited I now work at Etsy and I can share her beautiful jewelry with you. It's all interactive - moving glass pieces mixed with well crafted sterling silver. This is one seller to keep your eye on, I can see her working her way to becoming a very successful seller in no time due to her great photography and a unique style.