Spiral post earrings: more selection than before!

I've been making more of my spiral gemstone earrings in various gemstones and metals. I've also been trying out my new camera for the photos.  I'm starting to get the hang of using it--I think.

Opalescent glass gold filled $15

Red agate gold filled orange $15

Strawberry quatz sterling $13

Tiger eye gold filled $15

Unakite green & coral copper $10

Yellow jade and copper $10

My Studio: packing and shipping

When you work from home sometimes space can be limited. Since we moved from Utah to Florida, I no longer have a large basement studio space so I'm thankful that I have a decent sized office space to work in. I'll show you more photos another time, but I wanted to show you my packaging/shipping/receiving station today.

My Shipping and Receiving station in my home studio

The quilt on the wall is one that my mom made and I hand quilted. The colors look nice in this room.  It is called "Peppermint and Sassafrass." The rug is one my husband purchased while stationed in Turkey. The picture on the wall to the left is one we purchased in South Korea when we lived there and it shows plum blossoms and has a Bible verse (I Thess 5:16-18) written in Korean.

Notice the bed risers that I've used to increase the height of the table

It is such a luxury to have one clear flat surface to pack outgoing orders and to unpack supply orders on. I raised the table up to waist level with inexpensive bed risers. I placed small pieces of non-slip mat in the top of the bed risers to keep them from sliding around. When I do a show I use this table and the bed risers so it does double duty then. It's a 5 ft folding table so it's easy to take with me. On the table I keep a paper cutter to trim down the shipping labels/postage that I print off of my computer to fit on my small jewelry packages. I also have a postage meter, some customs slips for International orders, business cards, packaging tape and a few other supplies. On the metal shelf unit to the right I keep all of my tissue paper, boxes, padded envelopes, jewelry boxes, pouches and everything else I need for shipping.  Inventory fits underneath so it's handy to ship as well as some boxes that are packed with lights, tablecloths and display items for shows.

We tend to move a lot so I've never bothered to invest in permanent office or studio furniture. This will have to do until my husband retires and we stop moving. It is very functional. I hope you enjoyed the mini tour.

Sue

New Items: tiny post earrings

I've been making these teeny, tiny post earrings. They are all made from pearls or gemstone beads that range from 3.5-4.5mm in size and are all wire wrapped by me with either copper, sterling silver or gold filled wire. Tiny earrings are perfect for young girls, ladies who prefer the dainty look in earrings and second piercings. The pearl styles especially are suitable for bridesmaids.  Pictured are a few that I already have listed in my shops and I'm in the process of photographing and listing more.

Featured Artist: Joy of JoyfulHandKnits

Joy and her husband Pat last spring on their 33rd wedding anniversary

I'd like to introduce you to Joy who is a team mate of mine on the Christian Artist Street Team on Etsy. Joy has a great Etsy shop called JoyfulHandKnits and I love to browse her latest handcrafted creations. Joy specializes in handknit cable beanies, ruffled scarves, socks (I can personally vouch for the socks ☺ ), little girl's ponchos and more.

Ruffle Scarf - Mohair Wool Blend - Turquoise Red Green Blue Yellow

Handspun Knitted Cable Beanie Hat -Tuscan Delight

Little Girl's Poncho - Lightweight Cotton in Pistachio Green

 

Hand Knit Socks, Wool Blend - Dusty Aqua

Wool - Soy Knitted Cable Beanie Hat - A Beautiful Pink Rose

Be sure and visit Joy's shop.  She's now taking custom order requests for Christmas and she's even looking into making special Christmas ornaments that are knitted--be sure and check back (if you can get them before I do).

Sue Runyon Designs is featured in Copper in the Arts!

I am happy to announce that I am one of the artists being featured in this month's on-line newsletter for Copper in the Arts.

Copper and amazonite spiral stud earrings

My Craft Fair Booth

Yesterday I participated in my first official craft fair so I thought I'd show you my booth set-up.

We were limited to a 6'x6' space, which is pretty small. I used the 6 ft table they provided plus my own aluminum roll-out camping table and put them up on bed risers to raise the display 7" which is great for viewing jewelry closer to eye level. Next time I hope to have table covers that go all the way to the floor, but I do like the neutral grey of my velvet cloths.


Jewelry just doesn't sell if the light is poor so I invested in these "medusa head" lamps and fitted them with high definition Ott light bulbs for true color. I purchased white wire shelf risers to raise the lights and put my mirrors more at face level. These had the added advantage of providing extra well-lit space underneath the lights.


I was able to purchase second-hand, stacking jewelry trays which made set-up and take down much quicker and provided a nice display.

I used a digital photo frame slide show to display photos of my work on models, in other settings and also for displaying text. I have to say that it worked exactly as planned. The men were enthralled and the women ignored it. It gave the husbands something to do while the wives browsed.

The show was a valuable learning experience. Next time I will know to bring a dolly to help cart my items back and forth from my car, to put larger print on signage and to bring a higher stool instead of a low chair to use behind my raised tables.

My studio is being featured!

Liz of Fray Baby Bibs and More is doing a series of craft room/studio features on her blog this week. Today she is featuring My Studio. I love looking at other artists' and crafters' creative spaces.

Also, take a look at Liz's shop on Etsy. She has great items including reuseable fabric snack bags that are perfect for tucking into lunch boxes!

My Studio

I've been meaning to do this for a while. Seems like people are often interested in seeing the studio spaces of artists and crafts people. So I tidied mine up and took a few shots. Being a military family, we move a lot. Therefore my studio space doesn't have as much style as one might expect from an artist. There just doesn't seem to be enough time in between moves to settle in. Looks like I should at least hang one of my art quilts on the wall.

Above: Even though the storage boxes above aren't particularly convenient, they are the best way for me to separate out my supplies and to not have a huge stack of brown cardboard mystery boxes to sort through whenever we move. The movers will just tape these up and throw them on the truck. No, these aren't all jewelry making supplies. There are several boxes of quilting fabrics, stained glass and basketry supplies, soap making supplies, paper craft, knitting, drawing, painting and tatting supplies and the list goes on. You can just see the closet door. I'm not photographing the inside of that closet! It's mostly full of winter clothes anyway ☺

Above: This is where I create my jewelry. It is also not very exciting. It's usually not this tidy either. On the floor is one of the many carpets my husband got while being stationed in Turkey.

Above: I have a small TV to keep me company here in my second storey studio. I usually watch HGTV while I work. My sewing machine sits under the table in case I get the urge to do some quilting.

Above: My photography area for jewelry. I have a light box set up on a tabletop with my camera tripod. Photography is my least favorite part of my job. I am slowly getting better at it though. On the floor along the wall you can see some of fabric covered backgrounds that I use to set up my shots. To the left is my garment steamer which I love and use all the time (not on jewelry). I've saved a spot next to it for the dress form I hope to get soon to use for jewelry photography. There is an ironing board hanging behind the door (not pictured) that I set up in this space when I need it.

Above: A necklace set ready to photograph. I just moved this set-up over by the window to get more natural light. Maybe my photographs will be better for it. I made my own neutral grey velvet backdrop for the light box.

Above: Props I use for photography. Most of my fabric backgrounds and props have a natural or Asian influence just like my jewelry designs.

Above: The view from my second storey studio window of about half of our small backyard. When we bought the house there was no landscaping and we just finished it this spring doing all the work ourselves. I'm very proud of the flagstone bench that my husband made for me and have been using it as a surface to photograph on lately. It makes a nice backdrop for jewelry. You can see a little of the apricot tree I also use to photograph earrings in the bottom left corner. Since we are in the desert, there is not a lot of green, but the things we planted should be getting established and starting to fill in--about the time we get ready to move again . . .