MissMelsWell Posted March 24, 2013 #1 Share Posted March 24, 2013 (edited) I'm not a poet, unless you find something poetic about a well written technical manual. I can draw, but don't do it too much, as I don't derive a ton of joy from it. What can I do? I'm a needle worker. I make jewelry, sewing and weaving little tiny glass beads togeher to make wearable works of art. I like to think I'm very good at it. All the patterns and designs are my own, The pieces below are 4 necklaces and one bracelet. The bracelet is completely embroidered. The necklaces are a combination of embroidery and a technique called vertical netting, or Mexican vertical netting. The materials I've used range from genuine garnets, genuine lavendar jade, rose quartz, adventurine, magnasite, Swarovski crystal, and Czech firepolish and press glass. The embroidered pieces are backed in leather to ensure long lasting wear and durability. These pieces will be gifts for my girlfriends and one piece will be donated to a charity auction. I rarely sell anything... if only because I can't get out of them what I put into them. haha. When a piece takes 25-30 hours to complete, it's hard to sell it for its real value. So I just do this for the love of doing it. Clicking the picture below will bring up a more detailed and larger view. Edited March 24, 2013 by MissMelsWell 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Q-C Posted March 24, 2013 #2 Share Posted March 24, 2013 (edited) *LOVE* *LOVE* *LOVE* Those are beautiful! If you sold them I'd buy them, so would a lot of other people. I'd like to learn your art! I inherited tremors from my dad's side so doing intricate work can be frustrating for me. GORGEOUS! PS what is your avatar? Edited March 24, 2013 by QuiteContrary 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SHaYap Posted March 24, 2013 #3 Share Posted March 24, 2013 ~snip The pieces below are 4 necklaces and one bracelet. The bracelet is completely embroidered. The necklaces are a combination of embroidery and a technique called vertical netting, or Mexican vertical netting. The materials I've used range from genuine garnets, genuine lavendar jade, rose quartz, adventurine, magnasite, Swarovski crystal, and Czech firepolish and press glass. The embroidered pieces are backed in leather to ensure long lasting wear and durability. These pieces will be gifts for my girlfriends and one piece will be donated to a charity auction. I rarely sell anything... if only because I can't get out of them what I put into them. haha. When a piece takes 25-30 hours to complete, it's hard to sell it for its real value. So I just do this for the love of doing it. ~snip image Not sure about the accuracy of the colors from pic but I think if you adjust your color palette you might get more success sales. The designs would go well with sun dresses or halters but the colors needs more of the impact of primaries, big solids bands, or gold and silver bonded in black you should aim for the 30s and above market ... your material leaves very little variability for the teens designs wonderful details ... I love what you did with the turquoise piece Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MissMelsWell Posted March 24, 2013 Author #4 Share Posted March 24, 2013 Thank you Quite Contrary! My mother taught me traditional embroidery when I was a very little girl, I think she did it because I was a terribly hyperactive kid, but had the ability to focus on repetitive tasks for a long time. It was for her own sanity to keep me pinned to one place for longer than 45 seconds haha. If I was a kid today, I'd be one of those countless kids on ritalin I think. LOL. Since I didn't have much use for traditional floss embroidery, I picked up bead embroidery and weaving in my 20s. I make jewelry, christmas ornaments and I'm embarking on a project to create embellishments for flip-flop sandals. It would definitely be a hard craft to learn if you have constant tremors... threading the needles and picking up the beads which are about a milimeter in size (with even smaller holes) is hard for someone with steady hands (you also need stellar eyesight, I compensate by wearing 3x reading glasses OVER my multi-focus contact lenses! haha). But, there are other types of this kind of work that don't require the worlds steadiest hands. In order fo rme to make a marginal profit on one of those necklaces, I'd have to charge about $325 for one. hahaha. I have sold a few for around that price tag, but doing so is still probably low-balling myself... that means I'd be paying myself about $10 an hour the rest would go toward materials. Not a very profitable endeavor. haha. But enjoyable none-the-less! Every 2 or 3 years, I'll gather up anything I didn't give away and sell them at bargin basement prices or donate them to charity auctions. Mostly I like giving them to auctions. If I could find a way to make a living doing this, I would, but I haven't worked that out yet. haha. At best, it can only be supplimental income. Rats! haha. My avatar is the same one I've had since I registered at UM... it's a computer Fractal image I made in roughly 1995. I've always liked the colors and shape. Nothing special, other than a reminant of another hobby I used to have but haven't dabbled in for quite some time. LOL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MissMelsWell Posted March 24, 2013 Author #5 Share Posted March 24, 2013 (edited) Not sure about the accuracy of the colors from pic but I think if you adjust your color palette you might get more success sales. The designs would go well with sun dresses or halters but the colors needs more of the impact of primaries, big solids bands, or gold and silver bonded in black you should aim for the 30s and above market ... your material leaves very little variability for the teens designs wonderful details ... I love what you did with the turquoise piece Mostly it's my camera... and the incandessant light over it. It yellows and the picture is washed out. They'd pop a lot more if I took them over by the window in natural light, but I didn't want to fight my dog for HER spot. She's pretty adament about that. haha. I actually find that some folks under 30 like these netted pieces a lot. They're kind of big with the hippster and goth crowd actually. haha. Unfortunately, most of them don't have the income to buy them. And honestly, I work full time at a job, I can't create enough pieces to fill the demand, and even if I quit my job, I couldn't make enough of a profit to live on. It is what it is. And I'm ok with it. Edited March 24, 2013 by MissMelsWell 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashotep Posted March 24, 2013 #6 Share Posted March 24, 2013 Those are beautiful, very artistic. Bet you did spend a lot of time on them. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Princess Serenity Posted March 24, 2013 #7 Share Posted March 24, 2013 Oooooo. I love the bottom one the most! Great job! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_Only Posted March 24, 2013 #8 Share Posted March 24, 2013 I was going to ask if you can make me a beaded Sun necklace, but I can't afford it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpiritWriter Posted March 25, 2013 #9 Share Posted March 25, 2013 I'm not a poet, unless you find something poetic about a well written technical manual. I can draw, but don't do it too much, as I don't derive a ton of joy from it. What can I do? I'm a needle worker. I make jewelry, sewing and weaving little tiny glass beads togeher to make wearable works of art. I like to think I'm very good at it. All the patterns and designs are my own, The pieces below are 4 necklaces and one bracelet. The bracelet is completely embroidered. The necklaces are a combination of embroidery and a technique called vertical netting, or Mexican vertical netting. The materials I've used range from genuine garnets, genuine lavendar jade, rose quartz, adventurine, magnasite, Swarovski crystal, and Czech firepolish and press glass. The embroidered pieces are backed in leather to ensure long lasting wear and durability. These pieces will be gifts for my girlfriends and one piece will be donated to a charity auction. I rarely sell anything... if only because I can't get out of them what I put into them. haha. When a piece takes 25-30 hours to complete, it's hard to sell it for its real value. So I just do this for the love of doing it. Clicking the picture below will bring up a more detailed and larger view. Very great miss! ))) wonderful Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Q-C Posted March 25, 2013 #10 Share Posted March 25, 2013 In order fo rme to make a marginal profit on one of those necklaces, I'd have to charge about $325 for one. hahaha. I have sold a few for around that price tag, but doing so is still probably low-balling myself... that means I'd be paying myself about $10 an hour the rest would go toward materials. Not a very profitable endeavor. haha. That is beautiful intricate work that takes time. Maybe you should be charging high end prices and selling to higher end clients. Nothing wrong with that! I don't know anything about marketing, but try some high end boutique or online. Don't limit yourself. And yeah, it would be too frustrating for me to attempt with my hands. I used to do macrame but your work makes what I've done look like tying my shoes! Anyway, beautiful! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Queen in the North Posted March 25, 2013 #11 Share Posted March 25, 2013 Your work is absolutely beautiful, you can see the time and love put into each piece. Have you posted pictures of your work before? I swear I knew you made jewellery and had seen a couple of pics before now (wow just realised I sound like a stalker! ) I also love that you donate to charity auctions and the like. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MissMelsWell Posted March 25, 2013 Author #12 Share Posted March 25, 2013 I used to post some of my work in the Blog section, but I haven't done anything in a while. I was going to be selling my house and had all my supplies packed up, but selling the house had to be put off due to some surgery I had to have So I've been sewing while I'm recovering. I forgot how much I miss it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Queen in the North Posted March 25, 2013 #13 Share Posted March 25, 2013 That rings a bell, I'm thinking it must have been quite a while ago when I saw it! There is something quite therapeutic in sewing, crafts in general I find knitting relaxing, even though I can only make dishcloths Hope you're back on your feet soon! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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