Cleaning Up and Moving

We were woken this morning by the sound of the big truck that came to pick up all the flood-damaged stuff. Although we really didn't have a lot of damage, we decided to get rid of the shelving units that had soaked up water. Initially we thought we'd have to burn them, but the village provided pickup service for all the big stuff people lost in the flooding (it wasn't just us!). So yesterday was spent hauling the massive pile of broken up shelves to the end of the driveway. Thank goodness for the riding lawnmower and the lawn cart!

Now it's time to focus on moving. It sure doesn't seem like we're close to being ready, but we'll make it somehow. I've been packing boxes and setting things aside that will be donated or sold. It's amazing just how much stuff we've amassed in the years we've lived in this house.

I mentioned in an earlier blog post that I was discontinuing all the stationery listings from my Etsy shop. I'm happy to report that they're all gone now. Allison Cecil, who already has one Etsy shop called monkeysalwayslook, has opened a second shop and started stocking it with Alice in Wonderland and the Captioned Critters. I know she has LOTS of things to list, and although she'll be using some of the designs I had already put together, I also know she plans to put her own spin on things. Her new shop is called papervictory. Stop by and say hello!

I haven't managed to completely focus my Etsy shop on beadweaving yet, but it's in the works. I'm also going to be opening a second shop that will be for destashing and vintage stuff. It'll be nice to have it separated, I think, even though it'll mean checking another email account. Maybe I can figure out some way to have the second email account forward new messages to my primary email account... hmmm.

There are a few new things to show off, of course. I haven't had a whole lot of time for beadweaving, but I'm one of those people who always seems to have a little pile of things that are finished or almost finished, just waiting for one last touch or (more often than not) waiting to be photographed.

The newest piece, which I just finished a couple of days ago, is called Moirae. It's actually FOUR separate pieces, so it's one of the most versatile of my creations to date. There are three ndebele ropes and a little connector band made to hold them all together. The ropes can be worn separately, paired, or worn all together. And because there are three of them, they can even be braided! Initially created to show off two of the Natasha beads I received from Dee Wilder (aka malodora), I'm so pleased with the way this piece evolved! This picture shows three different ways it can be worn.


Another recent listing was this funky leather (yes, leather!) bead I made. I decided to take this lovely salmon-colored piece of leather and turn it into a giant bead, similar to those paper beads we all made when we were children. Just for fun, I added a little peyote strip around the middle, and then I strung it on an ndebele rope made using the same salmon and pearly white colors from the leather. It's called Striped Salmon. Cool, eh? :-)


Most of my recent creations have been custom orders (yay!). I love it when customers request special colors or designs. Don't get me wrong - it's great fun thinking up new designs and color combinations, but it's also fun to take someone else's ideas and turn them into reality.

Here are some pictures of the custom pieces which have gone to their new homes in the past week or so:

Basic Black Lariat
(bead crochet, with lava rock, bone, and wood beads)

Maelstrom in Aqua and Chocolate
(a special, extra wide, extra long version that will be worn as an armband - above the elbow!)

In Stitches
(20+ shades of pink against a gold background, with silver "stitches")

Purple and Silver Swirls
(a purple, lavender, and silver version of my Modern Metals design)

Little Black Necklace
(simple bead crochet necklace, 20" long, with loop and toggle closure)

And now it's time for latte!
:-)