Cathy Brown Designs

Time for Penrod!

2011-09-09T20:45:00.002-04:00

I hope to see everyone at Penrod tomorrow, Saturday 9/10/11, 9am-5pm.
I'll be in the green area, booth#50. I've been really busy getting new pieces ready for Penrod. I entered some of my beads in the Indiana State Fair last month and will have those on display tomorrow too. I was totally shocked at the awards I won in the State Fair exhibit!! Stop by my booth to check it out. Here's a preview.

A couple new beads

2011-04-29T16:23:00.003-04:00

These 2 beads are wired up on my handmade bails.
I think I'm going to make necklaces out of these, so they're not up on my website yet.
The first bail is made with pattern wire, and the second one is made out of silver tubing.
As I stated in my previous post, I've been learning how to do some basic soldering and these 2 bails are the result of my efforts. Hope you like them!

Spring Art Fairs - coming up!

2011-04-29T11:32:00.003-04:00

I feel like I'm in a last minute rush to get ready for the Brick St. Market in May and Talbot St. in June. I had kiln trouble in March and ended up buying a new one (which I LOVE!). But that had me out of commission for way longer than expected. Now I'm playing catch-up! While I was without a kiln, I taught myself how to solder silver. I'm going to use this new skill to make some of my own bails and toggle clasps. This will make my jewelry even more unique and creative. I'm still focusing on "the bead" in my pieces, but it's so much fun now to think about designing my own silver findings. I have to admit, too, that this will help just a little bit with the cost of silver. It's fast approaching $50/oz nowadays! It was around $8-$9/oz when I started out making jewelry. That's also why I'm doing more and more copper pieces. I just can't afford the inventory! Don't even THINK about asking for gold!

I'll be getting a few pictures up on my website pretty soon with some of my handmade bails. Basically I used patterned silver wire, coiled it into a loop, soldered it closed, and then soldered a tiny loop where I'll attach the bead. Pretty basic stuff, but I'm learning quickly! I'll get the pics here on my blog as well.

Please stop by my booth (#411) in Zionsville on May 14th! I'll be displaying my jewelry with Carol Watson, so you'll get to see her beautiful jewelry as well!

Some good news and some bad news

2011-03-04T21:11:00.002-05:00

Let's start with the good news. I'm happy to say that I made it into the Talbot Street Art Fair this year! This show is June 11 & 12 in Indianapolis. For more info, visit their website www.talbotstreet.org.

OK, the bad news is that I didn't get accepted to the Krasl Art Fair in St. Joe Michigan. Stiff competition for this one! I was told there were over 850 applicants for only 100 or so spots. I'd be willing to bet that of those 100 spots, maybe a tenth were for jewelry artists. I have to admit that I'm not totally bummed to miss this one. I might have been biting off more than I can chew since I have a full-time job in addition to my jewelry business.

I haven't made anything new yet since the Indiana Art Fair. I'm still finishing up a few custom orders and CLEANING my studio!!! I've got my jewelry room finished, now I need to tackle my bead making workbench. It's never been such a mess. It's going to feel SO good to have it all cleaned up. I always say I'm going to keep it clean as I go.....so much for THAT thought!

Indiana Art Fair

2011-02-23T09:32:00.005-05:00

I'd like to thank everyone who stopped by my booth at the Indiana Art Fair at the Indiana State Museum this past weekend. It was an incredible show that surpassed all my expectations! I met a lot of new people and was thrilled to see so many of my previous customers stop by. I also want to thank Joanna Hahn and her staff at the museum for putting on a first class art fair. It was a very well run event with helpful and courteous staff members. I will definitely be back next year!

My next stop is at the Brick Street Market in Zionsville on May 14. I'll be sharing a booth with Carol Watson, the best bead buddy a girl could ask for! I'm still waiting on the jury process to complete for Talbot, Krasl & Penrod. I'm crossing my fingers and holding my breath that I'm accepted to these shows! Keep an eye on the shows link on my website to know where I'll be!

Another captured floral and some adorable little snowmen

2010-12-03T14:57:00.004-05:00

Here's another pendant bead with a captured floral, again using the technique I learned in my marble class.

And here are the adorable little snowmen (and snowladies). These are so darned cute! I'm donating these beads to the Beads of Courage program. Click on this link http://www.beadsofcourage.net to read about this program and how beads make a difference for these children.

Taking it to the next level

2010-11-28T15:57:00.002-05:00

Ok, so I've taken what I learned in my marble class and now I'm applying it to my own beads. I made a flower marble, so to speak, and then elongated it so I could fit it inside one of my pendant beads. Still needs more work but I'm pretty happy with my first couple tries. Here they are!

New Class

2010-11-16T22:06:00.006-05:00

I took a marble making class with Dan Grumbling a couple weekends ago. I don't really want to make marbles, but I want to learn how to make the stuff inside the marble! Dan is a fantastic teacher and I made these 2 marbles in class. I was really excited to see these come out of the kiln. They turned out better than I could have imagined!

The next day after class I practiced at home and made these "half" marbles. I didn't even have to use a marble mold, just heat and gravity rounded these out pretty nicely. I have a million ideas for setting these in PMC silver and fusing onto a lampwork pendant bead. Can't wait to play some more with this!

Thanks!

2010-05-17T15:43:00.003-04:00

Thanks to everyone who stopped by our booth at the Brick St. Market this Saturday! It was a beautiful day, and was nice to see so many familiar faces. I'll be busy getting ready for the Talbot St. Art Fair coming up on June 12 & 13. Mark your calendars and I'll see you there!

2010-05-07T17:51:00.005-04:00

I keep improving with each bead I make. I like the shape of the wings on this one. And the head and body are melted in just a bit more. Used a different color glass on the wings this time too. I like it a lot but no better than the blue glass.

2010-05-02T14:25:00.003-04:00

Similar dragonfly bead, but no color on the dragonfly.
I love this bead!

2010-04-30T19:14:00.004-04:00

I'm making some Kerri Fuhr style dragonfly beads. I took her class over a year ago and just now got around to practicing this bead style. This is my favorite one so far. Click the image to see both sides.

New pendants

2010-03-27T15:45:00.003-04:00

I wired up my "tree" beads into pendants.
These are really pretty worn on a silver neck wire.

Tree beads

2010-03-20T18:04:00.003-04:00

A member of my bead group makes these beautiful "tree" beads and demo'd the process at our last meeting. Here are my tree beads. I really like making these!

Pretty good day at the torch

2010-02-07T12:29:00.000-05:00

It's been a good weekend at the torch!
Here are my latest beads.

Whew!

2010-01-31T14:14:00.000-05:00

I was a little nervous opening my kiln this morning. I was so happy with the beads I made yesterday, that I was really hoping they'd come out of the kiln just as good as when they went in! What relief. I L-O-V-E these beads!

Can't wait till tomorrow!

2010-01-30T17:42:00.001-05:00

I just finished making 2 beads today that I think are going to be two of my best! I'm just itching to open that kiln tomorrow morning.

Some more new beads

2010-01-27T20:58:00.000-05:00

Still working on beads for my February show.
Here's my latest!

Brrrrrr!!!!!

2010-01-03T10:31:00.001-05:00

Wow is it cold in my garage! I managed to get a couple new beads made before my toes froze up! I'm not too thrilled with these however. Trapped too many tiny air bubbles for my taste, and I don't like the blue glass I used to trap in the large air bubbles on the second bead. The first bead is actually pretty good considering it broke loose from the bead release. I would have added more clear around the outside edges, but there's not much you can do with a bead once it breaks loose. I bought a new space heater for my garage yesterday. I think it's going to work out great and allow me more torch time in these cold temps!

New Beads

2009-12-26T12:25:00.000-05:00

Here are a few new beads I cooked up recently.
I'll be taking these beads to my art show in February.
Hope to make more this weekend.

A Christmas Set

2009-12-11T15:23:00.000-05:00

I've had a hard time finding time to torch with all the work I've been doing sprucing up my home. Not only did I totally revamp my jewelry studio, I re-organized my lampworking area, painted my kitchen 3 times (long story) and painted the bonus room over the garage. Whew! Glad that's all done now. When my favorite customer asked me to make some Christmas jewelry, I couldn't turn her down. So, here's what I made for her. I debated on doing a fun, whimsical set or a more classic, pretty design. I chose the latter as it's something I haven't done yet, and it incorporates the scroll work that I just love doing! If you click on the pic, you'll get a larger image. Let me know what you think! I'll be spending my time from now until February making beads for my art show at the Indiana State Museum. I better get busy, it'll be here before I know it!

Voila!

2009-11-09T08:19:00.000-05:00

It's done!!!! I'm really, really happy with how this turned out.
I ended up not going with the track lights. I bought one, couldn't get it to work, and thought why not just use all the table and clamp lamps I have and save some money and aggravation. I have 4 of them plugged into one power strip, so I just flip a switch and they all go on...easy! So, I have good lighting, great storage, and a place for everything! Here are some more pics.

This is where I make my jewelry.
This cubical storage unit by Closetmaid is fantastic.
Thanks, Carol, for giving me this idea!

To the right of my jewelry table, is my pmc work area.

I've doubled the space for pmc work.
That way, I can do my dry sanding and finishing
away from the wet clay work area.
Further to the right, I can set up a laptop or my sewing machine.

Photography area. Hidden away behind the skirt,
is all my packaging material for shipping product.
Under the table to the left, is where I store most
of my art fair supplies.

Most of this table is for my silver & copper metal working.
I also use this area for tumbling and polishing my pieces.
Stored below is my glass cutter, grinder and some fusible
glass for making pendants & earrings.

The right side of my room is still
being used for general storage.

Storage

And more storage

Remember that ugly orange chair in the before pictures?!!
I've had this fabric sitting around for about 15 years!
It finally got put to use.

Jewelry studio - I love it!

2009-11-02T01:01:00.000-05:00

I finished painting and laying down the new floor in my jewelry studio, and I absolutely love it! My husband actually laid the floor for me, I did all the tile cutting around the perimeter of the room. What a HUGE help that was, I can't thank him enough!! That's the part I was most nervous about and he just zipped through it in no time flat. My shelves and trim work are a nice soft off-white and the wall color is called coffee. The vinyl tiles are a nice stone look called "river bottom" with shades of ivory, tan and taupe/grey. I'm making a skirt that will hide all the storage space beneath the work table you see. Now it's time to move all my junk back in! But the plan is to be more organized. I'll have more work tables and better storage so it's not so cluttered. Once I get my work spaces set up, I'll look into getting some track lighting. This project will not only give me a more enjoyable space to work in, but I'm sure it will increase the value of our home. I'm so excited to move my "stuff" back in and get organized. I'll post more pictures after that.

More work on the jewelry studio

2009-10-29T08:14:00.001-04:00

I finished texturing the ceiling and primed the walls, baseboard & shelves. Basically anything that couldn't move got a coat of primer on it! My husband cleaned up and sanded the floor for me so we can lay the new tile. That was a HUGE help! Last night I put a coat of off-white semi-gloss on all the baseboards and shelves. I'm really disappointed that it's going to take 2 coats. I thought for sure one would do it. So, I guess I'll be repeating what I did last night, tonight! My goal is to be ready to paint the walls on Friday since I have the day off. Here are a few pics. Not too exciting, everything's white.lol!

Indiana State Museum Art Fair

2009-10-25T08:14:00.000-04:00

My friend Carol, of Carol Watson Art Glass, and I have been accepted to the Indiana Art Fair at the Indiana State Museum! We're SO excited! We've decided to apply for finer art fairs in 2010 and eliminate some of the 'crafty' fairs that we've done in the past. This was the first one we applied for and we're so happy to be chosen as a participant. The Indiana Art Fair runs February 20 & 21, 2010.

Revamping my jewelry studio

2009-10-23T10:23:00.000-04:00

My jewelry studio is a great little attic space that my husband built for me several years ago. It's 1/2 storage space and 1/2 workshop. It was originally designed for me to do my stained glass. At that time I had NO idea I would stop doing stained glass! I'd say you're crazy if you told me that. lol! As my love for lampworking and jewelry making grew, I sort of crammed all the stained glass stuff on one side of the room and started creating workspace for my jewelry. It started out terribly unorganized and got worse over time! On top of that, we never finished out the room with any kind of decor, just plain white drywall, remnant linoleum, and poor lighting. I'm getting ready to change all of that, and I'll keep you up-to-date with my progress. I have some "before" pictures of my studio. These pictures were taken after I sold all my stained glass, and cleared out 1/2 of the room. So, just imagine, it was a whole lot messier and unorganized than what you see here!

This is where I make my jewelry.
To the right, is my pmc work area.

Storage.
Several shelves are empty after selling my stained glass supplies.

That table on the left was completely devoted to stained glass.
Over time, I started moving my glass away and used this area for
silversmithing and photography. It was a mess!
That's my riveter on the table for making silver-core beads.

Ugly floor! Outdated design in blue, white & tan. Yuck!
That corner was completely filled up with sheet glass.

Another shot of my jewelry & pmc area.

Doesn't show very well in the pic, but the ceiling and
walls are just taped drywall. No texture, no paint...boring!

So, right now the room is completely emptied out. I'm about 3/4 finished texturing my ceiling. Never textured a ceiling before. I read a little about it on the internet and talked to some people at Lowes (they're getting to know me real well at Lowes!). It didn't seem like it would be too hard to do. My other option was to spackle, sand, prime & paint the ceiling....seemed like texturing would be a lot easier & quicker. And so far it's not too bad. My neck is a little sore, but aside from that the hardest part was opening up the bucket of drywall texturing compound! I thought I was going to break my fingers. lol! I should finish up the ceiling tomorrow, then it's on to patching and painting the walls.

New Bracelets

2009-08-12T22:11:00.000-04:00

I made a couple new bracelets. The first one has more of the tapestry scroll work I learned from Kerri Fuhr. The second is a new silver glass that I've been playing with. This might be my favorite silver glass yet! So many colors appear when you use a reduction flame with this glass. And the iridescent shine is just gorgeous under the clear encasement! The camera doesn't do it justice.

New Heart Beads

2009-07-10T16:09:00.000-04:00

Here are a couple new heart beads I made using the "chaos" technique I learned from Sherry Bellamy. I'll be wiring these up into pendants soon. Haven't done much of anything else lately. DH & I are spending more time up in New Buffalo. It's our home away from home, and we just love it up there! Tiffany, I'll be finishing up your bracelet very soon!

Time to take a break!

2009-06-25T19:27:00.000-04:00

The Bloomington art fair was a success! The weather was great (although it could have been about 5 degrees cooler!) and people were everywhere! As usual, Carol & I had a blast. Carol made some awesome beaded salad servers and bottle openers and had no problem selling them. They were soooo cool! Not a big day for bracelets for me, only sold one. But necklaces & pendants were in demand. But the really big seller for the day was our "orphan" beads. Wow! were people going crazy over the orphans! It would be fun to see what people make with the beads they buy.

So, now it's time to relax. My next show isn't until September 12. That'll give me time to come up with some new designs, get more pieces out in my Etsy store, and maybe see if I can get some jewelry in some local shops. I'll keep you posted on my progress!

What a great fair...on to Bloomington!

2009-05-29T09:50:00.000-04:00

The Zionsville Country Market was our BEST FAIR EVER! We didn't have a spare moment to take a break or eat lunch! The weather held out for us and only rained for a brief period. I think the article in the Star brought a lot of visitors to our booth, and we enjoyed seeing past customers who stopped by to say Hi. Now our sites are set on our next art fair, which is in Bloomington, IN. It's called the "Arts Fair on the Square", and is held on Saturday, June 20. Here's a description of the show:
Arts Fair on the Square is a project of the Bloomington Area Arts Council. The BAAC serves as the foundation for the arts in the community and six counties by delivering high quality arts programming and services and operating the Waldron Arts Center. Arts Fair on the Square is celebrating 29 years of bringing visual artists and craftspeople together with the local and regional buying community. Arts Fair on the Square is held on the picturesque ground surrounding the Monroe County Courthouse in downtown Bloomington, IN. Arts Fair on the Square runs in conjunction with the Taste of Bloomington, which offers sampling opportunities from over 35 local and regional restaurants, special music, and children's activities. Together Arts Fair on the Square and Taste of Bloomington draw thousands of visitors to downtown Bloomington to experience the finest the visual arts has to offer while sharing a little of that Hoosier hospitality that makes Arts Fair on the Square a favorite among artists and art patrons alike.
What a fun day this will be! If I wasn't in the art fair, I'd definitely plan to spend the day in Bloomington with all the food and activities going on!

Here it is!

2009-05-15T09:40:00.000-04:00

Here's a link to the newspaper article about me & Carol.
It came out yesterday morning.

I made a really cool bead last night, at least I think it's cool!
I'll wire this up to make another necklace for the art fair tomorrow.
I recently learned this technique from Kerri Fuhr. I love this style!

We're going to be in the newspaper!

2009-05-12T07:55:00.000-04:00

My friend, Carol Watson, & I will be featured in the Zionsville|Indianapolis Star this week!!! They're doing an article on the Zionsville Country Market art fair and chose us to feature as one of the vendors. We're really excited about this and can't wait to see the paper. I think it will publish in Thursday's paper, but I'm not completely sure about that. Anyway, I'll post a link to the online article once it's available.

I'm still rushing around trying to get some last minute pieces of jewelry put together. I plan to get back on the torch this week too to make some more beads for pendants. Here are a few more items ready for the show:

New Necklaces

2009-05-07T08:38:00.002-04:00

I put a few necklaces together this weekend.
I'll be taking these to my art fair on May 16.
Click on each picture to get a larger view.

I got the pictures...

2009-05-05T08:21:00.000-04:00

Ok, here are some of the beads I made this weekend.

Getting ready for my art fair

2009-05-04T18:24:00.000-04:00

I had a marathon torching session this weekend trying to get some last minute beads made for my upcoming art fair. As soon as I can get to my camera, I'll post pictures here. The art fair is called the Zionsville Country Market and is held in Zionsville, IN on Sat May 16. If you're nearby, I hope to see you there! I've been participating in this art fair with my good friend, Carol Watson (In the Woods Designs), for the past 5 years. Carol & I have also been accepted to an art fair in Bloomington, IN on Sat June 20. We've never done this show, so we're very excited to participate this year! We've never had 2 shows so close together either. We're a bit anxious about making enough jewelry for both. Anyway, check back for more bead pics. I hope to have them here soon!

And more beads!

2009-04-24T11:14:00.000-04:00

I had a chance to get back on the torch last night. I'm having fun with the silver & copper mesh inclusions. Here are some black & silvered ivory beads with fine silver mesh. And one ivory bead with copper mesh.

Fresh from the kiln!

2009-04-23T12:38:00.000-04:00

I made a couple more Kerri Fuhr style tapestry beads. I'm very happy with how these turned out! For the first bead, I made a stringer out of Terra frit, and applied it to a base of ivory. I love the reddish tan color in this batch of Terra glass. Unfortunately, they don't make it anymore, so once my little bag of frit is gone...it's gone for good! I'm working on a bracelet to match, but need a couple more beads to finish it off before I post it here. The second bead is black scroll work over a base of clear, wrapped in fine silver foil, and encased in transparent tan. This is one of those beads that looks even better in person. It's hard to capture the crackle & shimmer of the encased silver foil in a picture.

The next 2 beads incorporate a technique developed by Sherry Bellamy that she calls the 'Chaos technique'. These beads are so cool! I love the technique, which involves squeezing glass through copper wire mesh. I spent nearly 2 hours on each of these beads! I have more ideas in mind, so you'll be seeing more of these.

I've also been working on some smaller beads with encased fine silver mesh and copper mesh. These are much easier than the chaos beads! I'll be making plenty of these for bracelets for my upcoming art fair in May.

Lampworking class with Kerri Fuhr

2009-04-03T15:14:00.000-04:00

On March 14 & 15 I took a class with Kerri Fuhr and Stephanie Ann Dieleman. The class was on Kerri's tapestry style beads and her dragonfly bead. Stephanie was the teacher's assistant, but showed us some techniques she uses in her seascape beads. Check out Kerri's website at www.kerrifuhr.com and Stephanie's website at www.stephaniebeads.com. Kerri & Stephanie just started teaching, and did a fabulous job! If you ever get a chance to take a class with them, I have no doubt you'll enjoy every minute of it!

I LOVE Kerri's tapestry style beads. If you look at Kerri's beads, and then look at mine, you'll see that I have a long way to go! Her dragonfly is awesome, but I think I'll use the techniques we learned to make a dragonfly and apply it to something else. I'm thinking about trying to do butterflies or maybe a hummingbird. That's what was so great about Kerri's class...we learned techniques that can be applied to so many different bead styles.

Here are a few pics of my practice beads. The 2 dragonfly beads I made in class, the tapestry beads were made at home the following week.

My first blog!!!

2009-03-20T18:28:00.000-04:00

Hello everyone! Well, this is totally new for me. I've never blogged before! I'll try to post what I've been up to in the glass & jewelry world. I'll do my best to keep this up, but I'll warn you not to expect too much from me! There's just not enough time in the day....or week for that matter.
I need to tell you about the lampworking class I took last weekend. I'll get to that in my next post. Right now it's time to fix dinner. Please check back!
Oh, and don't forget to check out my items for sale on Etsy. They're listed right here on the right side of my blog. Just click on it, and it'll take you straight to my Etsy store: cathybrowndesigns.