EJA Mystical Moon Sale

Starting October 9, 2008 and lasting until Monday, Oct. 13th midnight, is your chance to save big on a wide variety of original, quality handcrafted jewelry from EJA members. It's our "Mystical Moon Sales Event"!

I am offering 20% off on all jewelry currently in stock! To receive this offer, include "Mystical Moon" in the note to seller and you'll be issued an updated invoice.
http://deliasdelight.etsy.com

In our team store, we are offering 15% off every item as well as free shipping! To receive this offer, include "Mystical Moon" in the note to seller and you'll be issued an updated invoice.
http://TeamEJA.Etsy.com

But wait, there is more!
We have other members who are also offering sales in their individual stores! From 20% off to bogo-50, it's totally worth visiting all the shops. For a listing of participating members and what their sales offering is, just visit our main website at:
http://EclecticJewelryArtisans.com

The list will be posted on the front page but feel free to visit our member galleries and featured artists page. There's also some great jewelry related and business articles to check out. And don't forget to sign up for our mailing list which enters you into one of our jewelry and gift giveaways! You don't want to miss out on those because each gift bag is worth over $50!!!
If you are interested in joining EJA, please read the About page at our main site before applying.

Thanks and Happy Shopping!

It may be cold outside, but it's HOT Metal inside!

Brrrrr! It is cold outside! I live in Illinois just outside the Wisconsin border and looking out my back window it is a frozen tundra as far as the eye can see! My temperature gauge says -5 degrees but my DH tells me the wind chill is -32 below. I guess I am not going to Costco this morning.

However, the bright side to this is that I get to play in my work studio! I just got some new Kazuri Beads and I have purchased some awesome new gemstones from my local bead shop, Katherine's Bead Boutique. Even better, remember that horrid mess of a work studio I had last year? Well, last week I finally got to tidying up and I can actually find everything, well most everything.

I guess the one advantage to being trapped in your house, especially if you are a crafter or artisan, there is always something to do!

In January, I started this wonderful class at McHenry County College, called Art Jewelry. It is so exciting! It combines metalsmithing techniques with an emphasis on Wearable Art. And our text book is the Tim McCreight bible, The Complete Metalsmith, which strangely enough I have read cover to cover at least four times.

I just finished the focal piece of my first project yesterday. The project involved the use of cold connections and patterns using piercing, stamping and texture. I chose to work on a mini book with a tube rivet hinge. The hard part was actually designing and doing a demo piece so that the front page opened properly. I already had a design in mind as soon as I found out it was all cold connections I just didn't know how it was going to come together. I learned alot about the importance of measuring and what steps need to be accomplished in what sequence. I spent about 30 hours on the focal piece and while it is not perfect, I am happy with how it turned out! Now that the hard part is over, I just need to design a necklace with it! I'm thinking turquoise!