Get Teased! -- March's Triskaidekaphobian Tease!

Convo or email me with the correct answer to this question and get 13% off any one item in my shop for the remainder of the month! :) My shop is pretty sparse at the moment, since I just got picked up for consignment locally, but I will be restocking soon -- check back for updates!

In the meantime, here is your Tease:

The Mad Hatter and the March hare go hand in hand... well, teacup in teacup, anyway! March is widely thought of as a tempestuous and unpredictable month.

So your question is this: What Shakespearean character's name lies between that stormy March weather, and the Mad Hatter's trade? Hint: The name also begins with "M".

Good luck!

Fire = The Solution To Everything

I am having a distinctly gloomy tigger week and have been largely unproductive in the shop (despite having a potential real life consignment opportunity this Saturday); I have decided to cheer myself up by melting the living daylights out of some metal and replenishing my shibuichi alloy stock.

Catharsis, thy name is Little Torch. :)

The underpants gnomes had it right...

Step 1: Make jewellery
Step 2: Open jewellery shop
Step 3: ????
Step 4: PROFIT!

Am currently at Step 3, also know as "Well, WTF do I do now?". ;)

PMC, you are a cruel mistress. I slagged about twenty bucks' and four hours' worth of the stuff in the kiln the other day... literally five minutes too long and BLOOOOP. Good thing I'm the optimistic sort. Yay! I now have lots of fine silver, uh, casting grain.

I am at a bit of a creative standstill at the moment as I decide where to go next. With no (full price) sales to speak of, I'm at a loss as to which direction I should head in, as I don't know yet what will sell.

So, with that in mind, I am making pieces that will eventually be enamelled. Do I have any enamels at the moment? No, of course not! That would make too much sense. I am going to spend time on pieces that may not see the light of day for months... but are really fun to make. :D Now I just need to look up the copyright rules for the Rider-Waite Tarot deck...

*jingles the bell over the door*

Open at last! :D

Big thanks to everyone who has inspired me and helped me get to this point.

Now I am going to have a celebratory beer and resist the urge to neurotically keep hitting refresh on my shop page to see how many views my pieces have. ;)

Quicklink: Check me out on Etsy! :D

Advance screening!

I open officially in two days... until then, here's a taste of things to come. :D



Cocktails at the Neptune Lounge, Sterling.

February 2009 Triskaidekaphobian Tease!

My shop opens very soon, so here's this month's Triskaidekaphobian Tease!

Before we knew it as St. Valentine's Day, the ancient Romans celebrated a fertility and protection festival around this time of year involving sacrifices and (usually playful) public floggings. What was it called?

Convo me with the correct answer and I will give you 13% off any one item purchased this month. :)

Jett Sett, how do I love thee?

Stonesetting has always been a bit of a bete noire for me. Oh, I'm as capable as the next intermediate jeweller -- but it tends to stress me out beyond all reason because I am terrified of scratching the stones.

Yesterday, whilst setting a pair of amber cabochons, I tried a new product and am now kicking myself for not having used it all along: Jett Sett. It's a thermoplastic which you melt down, attach to a handle (like a pitch pot), push the piece into and let harden again to hold the piece secure so you can set it more easily.

All this time I've been fiddling around with holding tiny awkward pieces in one hand while setting with my other. It is simply miles easier when all I have to hold is the fixture handle!

Jett Sett is available through Rio, and my trusty handy bear made me the fixture from dowelling, a salsa lid, a screw and a washer. We are very low tech here at Arcadian Dreams. ;)

The other handy tip I figured out when setting the cabs was, during the final burnish, all I need to do to protect the stone is... drumroll please... cover the stone with my fingernail. No more fussing with tape to protect the stone! Natural weaponry is, as usual, superior.

I'm waiting on a lovely pink star sapphire cabochon to arrive so I can start on Spring's crown -- I intend to make a new crown, one of a kind, every season as a collectible for all the faery princesses out there. The trouble, of course, will be forcing myself to sell them and not keep them all for myself... a girl can never have too many crowns, or red shoes.