Does My Husband Get a Portion of the Profit

My hubby is always encouraging and motivating me in my jewelry business. I love when he visits me in my studio and talks to me about what I am working on. Today, he came in for a visit and drew a sketch while he was there. His design fit right in with the collection I have been working on so I decided to bring it to life.

My first step was to saw different sized tubes...

Once I had collected lots of tubes I started setting them out until I liked the layout. Next was soldering the tubes together. At this point, I decided to add some 18k gold as well.After I finished soldering, I moved onto making the ear posts. In the picture below, I am drilling into this piece of 18k gold so that I can solder an ear post into the hole. I attached the ear post to the earring and then it was time to polish.What beautiful earrings! Thanks honey for your sketch!! I guess I'll pay you later :)

The Business Side of Things

You know I have a HUGE passion for jewelry making. I find myself designing pieces in my head when I'm in bed at night or cooking dinner or driving to the grocery store. It just comes naturally to me!

But having a jewelry business isn't just about making the jewelry. You've gotta make the "business" too. Marketing, advertising, bookkeeping, inventory, and a handful of other aspects go into the business side of things. And making the Business is exactly what I am doing!

One of my New Year's Resolutions was not only to get back in business but also go full steam! Since my blog post on the first of this year I have:
* Set up a business facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/alanasbling)
* Written a few more blogs
* Designed a collection
* Made and sold jewelry
* And I am currently working on my new ETSY page.

I read a lot about Etsy before I decided to join. Etsy ryhmes with Betsy, according to their website, and is a place for artisans and crafters alike to showcase and sell their handmade items. After a few quick searches, I was amazed by the array of items available... everything from baby clothes, stationary, furniture, purses, and of course JeWeLrY!! I am excited for my customers to shop for ALANA'S BLING online therefore I am giving it a shot!!

Sooooo, back to my studio I go to get after some more designs. I look forward to adding more beautiful pieces to my ETSY store very soon!! Until next time...

Whats New for 2011

I've been busy in my studio, creating my first jewelry collection!! I want to give you a sneak peak at four fabricated pairs of earrings hot off my bench pin. (Rings, pendants/necklaces and bracelets will "round" out this collection.)
Im looking for the perfect name for my premier collection, got any ideas?!?!

Please leave a comment. I would love to hear from you!!

"It Was Worth The Wait"

My dad is pretty much a "superman" in my eyes. He's a smart, funny, caring, intelligent man who has many talents... ESPECIALLY when it comes to carpentry. Last year, he gave me the best gift when he built a jewelry studio for me. It was absolute perfection... Perfection that unfortunately had to wait.

But finally, after an extremely difficult pregnancy, my baby is here, my health is restored, and the the wait is over!! I started back in my studio on January 1st. My very first goal was to design and hand fabricate my dad a ring. A couple of years ago, my dad had casually said he wanted me to make him a ring. He didn't have a design in mind but he knew he wanted the sign of the fish on it. I decided to secretly go ahead and make the ring to give to him as a surprise "thank you for building my studio" gift. Yesterday, I had the opportunity to give it to him in person and his reaction was priceless ~ disbelief, huge smiles, a small tear or two and him saying "It was worth the wait... It was worth the wait."

The ring is sterling silver and the Ichthus is 18K gold. The outside ring is textured and oxidized and the inside ring has a high polish. Enjoy the pictures:

So "Thank You" dad for building my studio...
IT WAS WORTH THE WAIT for me too!!

Bezel Wire Earrings

I was commissioned to design some Sterling Silver earrings which I ended up loving so much that I secretly want to steal them!! :)

First I sketched out several options and this is the sketch that I liked the most:

Then I had to decide what materials to use in order to simulate the look of the sketch. Bezel wire is flat and flexible and is usually used to wrap around stones and hold them in place once the wire is soldered to a base. But here I decided it was the perfect material to use for these earrings because of its thin walls and flexibility. I created several different sized loops and soldered all of them individually. Then came the really fun part... I manipulated the shape of each one and played around with them to get the final layout.
Once I had the overall layout, I soldered all the pieces together and Voilà!! ....still wishing they were mine to keep!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Well its been a LONG LONG time... But I am BACK!! I have incredibly missed making jewelry

and am so glad to be back in the studio. And what better way to get back into business than to

start on January 1st!! This is going to be an amazing year and I can not wait to share my work

with YOU.

A lot of wonderful things happened in 2010:

- My studio was built (January)

- Found out we were expecting our second child (February)

- Despite having a very difficult pregnancy, the sono showed a very healthy baby boy! (May)

- Replaced my 12 year old car with a New SUV that will help transport my jewelry to and from shows (June)

- Welcomed our beautiful son into this world (October)

- My incredible dad installed an AC/Heat unit in my studio... which is currently keeping me very toasty! (December)

So now it is a brand new year, a brand new start, and I can not wait to get going.....