New Blog!

I was invited to be a regular contributor of a new blog hosted by Heather Powers of Humblebeads & Art Bead Scene.  It's called Earrings Everday and features handcrafted earrings Monday through Friday. On the weekends you'll find great posts about earring display, earring cards, etc etc.  It really is a fantastic idea for a blog and a great place to show off our earrings that are available for sale.  Come on over and read about all of the other contributors in today's post! Meet the Team! Wednesday will be my first earring post!

OK wait!
Before you go, watch this - one of my favorite scenes in my new favorite movie, Bridesmaids. That Kristen Wiig, she's HilAriOuS!

Coming This Week!

Jade Scott, that talented lass, is sending me several of her enameled flowers for a new challenge. Check back in later this week and I will be doing a random giveaway of about 6 or 7 flowers to have a small blog hop challenge.  I made this ring today,  with a flower I had on hand.... just to whet your appetite and get your creative wheels turning!

ARTisan Interview: Introducing FlameCrazy

I discovered Cherine Perrin's Etsy shop FlameCrazy the other day while I was perusing the Lampworked glass section. I was blown away by her overall shop appearance, great photos and eye-catching glass beads. She has been so kind as to answer a few questions for my new series, ARTisan Interviews.  I hope you enjoy getting to know Cherine a bit better, and I do hope you take some time to check out her store. She is offering 10% off orders with coupon code: Lorelei10

1) Describe yourself in 3 words.

Oh man just 3 ... Compassionate ~ Quirky ~ Curious

2) How would you describe your craft and style?
I make lampwork beads. Lampworking is a process of melting glass rods in a torch and forming it around a mandrel that is removed later after they come out of the kiln. It is called Lampworking because in ancient times glass was melted in oil filled "lamps". It is also called Flamework or Torchwork.
My style is all about color and simplicity. When I am at the torch I am always mindfull of the wearability factor. Although I don't make jewelry myself, I know that my beads will be made into a wearable piece of jewelry and that drives my work.

3) What inspires you?
I am inspired by the glass itself. Those colorful glass rods laying on my workbench just begging to be melted and transformed into little wearable gems. This time of year I am also inspired by natureI find myself drawn to the browns, reds and oranges to mimic the beautiful changing colors of the leaves.

4) How long have you been creating?
My very first class was in 1999. I was hooked ever since.

5) Is this a job or a hobby?
That's a tough one. I wish there was an in-between word. I guess I will say it is a hobby since my mortgage doesn't depend on it. I guess it is that it doesn't feel like a job because it is so damn fun!

6) How do you see your work evolving?
I see my work evolving as I keep trying new techniques and working hard to master the others. I am desperately working on my sculptural skills right now. For me it is one of the harder techniques as there is a fine line between keeping a piece warm enough to not crack and cool enough to not become molten. Especially when you are working at a 2000 degree torch.

7) I find that I have a love/hate relationship with Etsy....
What is your favorite and least favorite thing about selling on Etsy?
My favorite thing about Etsy is the sense of community. I love getting feedback from customers and return customers are the highest form of flattery to me. My least favorite thing would be that I don't have a listing fairy. Someone to just handle the computer stuff for me so I can spend more time in the studio.

8) Do you have any advice for other Etsy artisans?
My advice would be to seek out like-minded artisans and form relationships centered around mutual creativity.
Also, I found it is helpful to list items often. It helps you stay within the first few search pages, which is key.


Thank you so much Cherine! What a pleasure! I am excited to do a little shopping for some beads too!

Frosty Morning

Very cool frosty patterns on my car this morning. It was definitely the first hard frost we've had. Unfortunately it killed my pretty potted plants on the front porch but I knew it would happen eventually. Cannot believe that Halloween is only 3 days away.  Where did October go? and Sept? Aug?! and July!?! Where did the Summer go? Geesh.

I had fun capturing some of my plants this morning, sporting a nice icy covering.

Trip to the gym went well. Felt a little bit like a hamster but I figure that will go away eventually. I used the elliptical machine.  Have no idea how to spell it OR use it for that matter. I'm sure I looked like a lunatic on it.  But it worked up quite the sweat so I figure I probably was doing it right.
I have ambitious plans to go to Zumba tomorrow morning.  We'll see.

Facebook Friends

Are we Facebook friends? If not, we should be! Because today I join the gym. and to celebrate, I am offering a coupon code to my Facebook friends only. Come over to my FB Wall to see what the coupon is. Enjoy!

Friend Me!

LeAnn's beads in Full Force

I really love LeAnn's bronze and ceramic beads. (Both are available in her etsy shop, SummerStudiosEtc. Just got these yesterday in the mail and could not wait to play around with them. As soon as I saw them, I knew I had to use them all together in one piece.

The texture on these coin beads is amazing. The colors are very Autumn inspired. I paired them with wood rounds and some Czech glass flowers that are wire wrapped on copper ball headpins from Ornamentea.

Diane Hawkey's IMAGINE bead worked perfect with the matte teal glaze on LeAnn's beads so I added that in for some whimsy.

I love it! The copper clasp is from Patricia Healey and I got it from Limabeads.com.

Hoping your all having a good week so far!

Monday

Let me first entice you with some pretties- These beads were ordered this morning over coffee.

Delicious!! Flat slabs of labradorite and this new stone on the bottom is called

Mexican Obicular Jasper! Just the name is sexy alone, I can't wait to see the beads in person!

These are both from Beadsonsale.com.

 

Okay, so.  Let's catch you up on some other randoms.
Remember the other day I posted about the whole Etsy name change? Well I went ahead and did it. My new shop name URL is: http://www.loreleieurtojewelry.etsy.com/
It's got a nice ring to it eh? Tis a bit long to type out but it does the trick.  Hopefully all goes well, so far so good.

In 2 more days (waiting for payday)  I will be a proud new member of Planet Fitness. Unfortunately because gyms in my area suck ass, I can't just get everything I want from one gym, but instead will have to use the machines at P.F. and then go to Studio 55 to take classes like Zumba, Yoga, Pilates and the like.  Planet Fitness doesn't offer any classes.  This will be the first time ever that I have belonged to a gym. That's crazy. I'm kind of excited. And I do love to people watch so I'm sure it will be entertaining when I go there. Plus I have 3 friends (including my husband) who have memberships there so there is bound to always be someone to work out with. Right?? I am trying hard to justify it all in my head. 

This new development in my lifestyle is going to cause problems in another important area of my life. My jewelry business.  Because I spend every waking moment glued to my freakin computer. Things are going to have to change once I start attending the gym and dancing to all this Zumba nonsense.  So let me run this by you.  I think I have decided to do scheduled shop updates like 1-2 times a week instead of listing new items every day.  I know there is a big risk with this. One, my head my explode if I change my whole routine. And two, customers might get mad, or possibly new shoppers on Etsy won't see me as much as maybe they do now? I don't know. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe it's more about all the tags and relevancy that gets a shop seen these days. Frankly, I don't understand the science of it all.  My next challenge, is to actually pick which
day(s). As you all know, listing is a process and if I am working full time, when do I pick a day to list a million things. Because you know what will happen. With all of this other free time, I'll be making twice what I normally make and then will have like a bajillion items to list in one sitting and it would take me a day just to list them all. ok, I may be exaggerating.  a tad.

In other news, I have been asked to write something for someone's really important something and I am super scared and excited and wish I could say more but it's not for me to say this early. I promise I'll tell you sometime soon, but wow. It's pretty amazing. I am terrible at secrets but will have to keep this one a while longer.

happy monday!

Building a Stockpile

For all the newbies

I know I shared this on Facebook but I forgot to share with you all here at the ol' blog! Tammy Powley who is the author at the About.com Jewelry Making blog, did an interview with yours truly. So for all of you who don't really know anything about where Lorelei Eurto and the jewelry came from, here's some light reading material for ya. Enjoy!

For Lorelei Eurto, it all started with a copy of Stringing magazine. She fell instantly in love with bead stringing, and with the help of this same magazine, Lorelei taught herself all the basic....Continue

Jade Scott Update

Come on by Jade Scott's shop for an update today at 2pm (3pm est)!

Light Tent

Update:
The doctor's appt yesterday was fine. A bit humiliating. I won't get into all the gory details. But overall, there wasn't anything abnormal. The stress test didn't trigger any palpitations. Heart looks strong. Gotta go back in February for a check up.

The light stand situation was rectified and the seller is shipping me another light stand! YAY!

Today was a great opportunity to try it out since it's gloomy and rainy. So I just attached the light head to the tripod and had a light on each side of the tent.
Now. This is like a whole new beast for me. Its clearly going to take some practice. It's like I have to learn to take pictures all over again.

If you use a light tent and have tips, please feel free to leave comments! I understand these are pretty shitty. So you don't have to comment about that.

This one came out pretty cool. I like this shot because you can see the bird really well. The lights pop.  But there are still some shadows.

Here is one on slate instead. I like it but don't like the glare. Maybe a more matte slate would be better.

This one came out pretty good- I like it on the slate better than on the white.

This bracelet was just a test piece for me. I like the bracelet but hate the pictures. It's hard to photograph a cuff in my opinion.

Took a wide buttery soft piece of leather, and slid on one of Nancy's Round Rabbit buckles. I layered a beautiful Shell button that I got in Madrid, on top of it with some magenta hemp cording.

The best part is the closure. I used 2 brass findings from Diver - attached them to one end of the leather by threading the leather through the half circles and securing it with hemp cording. It's a bit messy. Yea, really crude. I should figure out how to do eyelets but that's another blog post.

So then the strap is adjustable.

The brass findings are cool, like a half circle shape. Here's a link to them at Diver.

Here's the last one. Nice on the slate, still some glare. The white is pretty cool, but for some reason it's grainy. I am still having some trouble with my camera. Once I focus the picture the picture on the viewer goes from perfect light, to very dark and ends up taking a dark picture. Nancy thought it was the light meter in the camera. I just don't know how to fix it and keep forgetting to take it into a shop to see if they can help me.

Wednesday Wrap Up

Here's what's happening my neck of the woods:

yesterday I got this:

But it only came with one of the light stands. I got the lamp part but not the stand. WTF? So I have been emailing Amazon to rectify the situation. It was a third party seller so Amazon can only give me a partial refund which would be fantastic if Amazon sold just 1 light stand without the lamp. But they don't. So then emails were written to the seller. Next, the manufacturer. I would like to use this as soon as possible because it's way too dark in the morning now to photograph jewelry. So hopefully it will all work out soon.

Today at 11:00 I am going into the Cardiologist for a Stress Test. Apparently they don't believe me when I tell them my A-Fib heart palpitations have never sprouted up due to physical activity but instead they come out of nowhere when I am the most calm. Like right out of bed. But Doctors being Doctors, they want to try the Stress test to see if they can trigger the A-Fib to happen. If that happens, I don't know what to expect. Probably a visit to the hospital again. Will try to keep you posted.


I got a big pile of these to play with:

Ruby Jade from Limabeads.com.   I'm not sure what happened here. Clearly I lost my mind and ordered enough so that I wouldn't have to order again in a decade, OR I thought they were possibly never going to sell them again.  Either way, I have a shitload.
I made some earrings with 4 beads this morning in some earrings. Only 5700 more to go!

Oh yea.
one more thing.
Yesterday I found some pictures taken of my at a work event recently. I must say, it was the straw that broke this camel's back. There is no reason that I should look like that- I have clearly put on some serious weight. It's funny. I actually thought I looked good that night. Clearly, I was mistaken.
So, a new topic that you will have to read about on the blog is my new journey forward. I am joining the gym. That's right. You've heard it here first! I will be joining the gym, and will be trying to change my diet so I can get healthy. It has been on my mind for some time. There will be no crazy dieting because that just ain't my thang. But I will be trying to make better eating decisions. And the fact that I am typing it here, will make me do it because now I've bibled it. (that's a Kardashian term in case you've never heard it)  So, sadly, no more pinterest. Because yesterday alone I repinned several  very bad for you recipes on a new board I created. And I just can't "go there".
So don't tempt me!

Hedgehog in a Landscape

Hedgehog in a Landscape, by Giovanna Garzoni  is this month's Art Bead Scene monthly challenge painting! I am submitting a necklace to the challenge. I ordered a sweet Ojime carved wood Hedgehog bead from AsianArtMall.com. I got him in the mail yesterday!

Here is the necklace that I assembled last night.

 

I was shocked when I started looking at the painting and then started rooting around in my stash. I found a copper acorn (Ezel Findings), the Pewter oak leaf and pewter Snail (Green Girl Studios), a new Ivory with frit lampwork lentil from KelleysBeads.  and drilled beach stones (StoneStudiosToo)! All perfect components to accompany my little Ojime Hedgie.

I decided on a simple strung necklace with some carved bone, buri seeds, wood rounds, and oval stones. Keeping the color palette consistent with the painting was hard. I found I don't have a lot of light colored or cream beads.

I really love how it turned out. This is definitely a wearable piece. I love the pale colors and the asymmetrical design. I finished the piece with a hammered ring clasp from Vintaj Brass Co.

Check out the Flickr group to see the other entries submitted this month!

YAY!! The Cover!

Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!

Our book cover is now up on Amazon! It's no longer a MYSTERY! And it IS available for pre-order!

It's all in a name

Hey Etsy sellers....
Did you get that emailed announcement from Etsy a few days ago? Apparently they are finally allowing sellers to change their etsy shop names come Oct. 18th. So for the past few days I have been contemplating whether or not I want to change my shop name. In the beginning of Etsy, before it was SO CLEAR that your Etsy account name would ACTUALLY be your shop name, I typed in Lorelei1141.

And immediately regretted the decision as soon as I realized what happened. Can't think of a more ridiculous name for a shop, really.  But I was stuck. Until NOW.
What should one do when they have had the same etsy shop name for the past 4 years? Do you think people find me because my shop is in their Favorites, or because they know to look for
lorelei1141?  or do they search for my full name which is now available for the search engine, lorelei eurto?

If I was to change it, I would change  it just to my full name, Lorelei Eurto. Or should I change it to LoreleiEurtoJewelry. that might be better.

I don't know what to do!

Help!

Gotta Love Pinterest

Pinterest: the most awesome place to find inspiration of all kinds.

example:

 

this outfit above, inspired this necklace below:

Not sure how Pinterest works?  Basically, you're familiar with favoriting items on Etsy right? Well Pinterest allows you to favorite any item on the internet, and pin them to your own custom made design boards. THAT is stinkin' brilliant. I'm totally addicted. Like I don't have ENOUGH time sucking things in my life right now.

Harder than it looks

I saw a few designs in yesterday's hop that incorporated wire wrapped around Sari silk. Let me tell you. It's a lot harder than it looks. I was inspired by the Sari designs and last night, put together this necklace where I used some gunmetal wire wrapped around a delicious green sari ribbon. I added some pale green seed beads onto the wire. I fought and fought with it. I'm not sure if I would do it again. But the necklace is pretty cool. I used a new pendant from the Adorned Life line by Rebecca Nunn (at michaels) It took me awhile but I figured out that it opens and so I replaced the images that were inside with some cool paper that I bought from talented artist Valentina of ValentinaDesign. It's two sided, with similar color palettes on both sides.

Simple chain up the back and a Tierra Cast toggle finishes the piece off. One thing I need to get is some more antiqued silver clasps. I am always at a shortage for these. Got plenty of copper and brass. Never enough silver.

Looking forward to a solid day and a half of beading, as Joe is out of town at a conference all weekend. It's just me 'n the beads. Hope you all have a good weekend!