Old to new

How do I wish I could do the "Old to new" thing with myself. A new ankle, a new shoulder ... I'm even going so far to nag my "alien" friend about new parts, but she keeps telling me there's a long line for that on her planet ;-)

So I have to stick to fields where I don't need alien help. It was not the first time I told myself to take new pictures for some pieces, but this time I'm doing better although I am far from done. What I also do is take one or the other piece that I'm not so sure about anymore and change it to make it better.
Today I worked on two pieces that have been waiting for their turn quite a long time, and as always when doing something like that, I am feeling so relieved afterwards. You keep looking at something, and it suddenly doesn't talk to you anymore or all it says is "Help me" ... ;-)

Both of these pendants had been made after a little summer trip to the Blautopf where I got the rocks. I had shown you pictures of the Blautopf before, but it's so beautiful, one more picture won't do any harm.

For this orthoceras - an extinct nautiloid cephalopod - I had crocheted a simple bezel from fine silver. That was not the problem, but I really wasn't happy with the bail. It looked as if I had stuck it on instead of integrating it into the design.
Today I added two rows of crochet to make sure the orthoceras really wouldn't escape, then I cut the bail off and put a new one on it which is partly hidden in the back, so it won't take attention off the stone.
Sometimes it's a bit difficult with slightly irregular shaped rocks. You never want to cover too much, and you think the setting is absolutely safe and maybe it is, but then you feel as if that one side pushes a bit too much. Better safe than sorry, right?

Orthoceras in fine silver wire

So that's what I did for the tourmalinated quartz, too. I added two rows of crochet in the back and cut the bail off which in this case looked a bit too messy for my taste.
I had more in mind for this rock, though. I figured a tree would look nice on the matte grey and black background. What do you think, did it work?

Pearl tree pendant

Both pendants are in my Zibbet shop, if you want to see more pictures, just click the links!

Time for a makeover

This month's subject for the JAC blog carnival is "Improve your shop".

Of course my first thought went to my pictures. Quite a while ago I had pulled a few, erm, several, erm, many items from my shop to "eventually re-do the pictures". Taking and editing pictures is not something that's done that quickly, however, and so I kept looking at the tab "Unlisted items" with a feeling of guilt and doing what I am best at, procrastinating.

Even now that this theme choice finally gave me a kick I'm still not done, but I have been working on it step for step, and not only is it a good feeling, but it gives my shop are more consistent look because I don't go all wild with backgrounds anymore.
Also I took the chance to
- rip up old pieces that don't fit in anymore ... a little sad, but also kind of a relief
- check pieces for possible mistakes that escaped my eye earlier, no matter how long I worked on something
- change pieces ... sometimes you need to clear your mind for a while, and when you have another look then, you suddenly realize that this would be a much better bail or that an extra dangle would be just the right twist

It takes time, yes, but it's worth it.

When I browsed through my shop like that, something else suddenly caught my eye. For several reasons I haven't worked in clay in a long time, and for several other reasons I don't see myself changing that in the near future. Instead the bead looming took over a big part of my creative ventures.
And that meant that my banner was wrong because it still said

Hm. Take the clay out and put bead loomed in? Wouldn't that imply bead loomed sculptures as well, though? Finally I decided that it was best to stick with just the name.
The name is another thing. Change it to Cat's Wire and Loom? On the other hand I started to do a bit of off loom beading, who knows where this will take me? Cat's Wire and Loom and Beads and Fabric?
No, my name stays.
You can see the new banner here on my blog. Just my playful kitty and a name.


I'm sure there is more that can improve my shop, but I can't and won't do it all at once. Usually these things end badly, in confusion, chaos and anarchy! ;-)

Please also visit these blogs to see what my fellow JAC members have to say on the matter.

Jewelry Art by Dawn 
Bead Sophisticate 
Ponder the Cat

P.S. I chose one example of an old picture and a new picture. I sure hope you'll see the difference!