My new owl pieces originated when a friend started asking about owl jewelry.  A couple of days after she had asked me, I saw two great horned owls in our blackberry patch.  It was an amazing sight to see and then I was inspired to make owl jewelry.  Lately this has turned into an owl drawing obsession, so I will probably post pictures of them eventually!

Silver Owl Pendant

Copper Owl Pendant

I had spent my summer trying to think up a way to make reversible earrings and I finally came around to a very simple solution!  I have been making reversible tree pendants over the summer and I kept thinking that my customers would love to have reversible earrings to go with their reversible pendants.

If you have a pair of my earrings that would look nice reversed, ask me about an upgrade to reversible ear wires.

Here are some of my new reversible earrings.

Reversible Small Leafy Silver Tree Earrings

To reverse the tree on the earring, you just un-thread the tree over the ear wire, flip it over then thread it back on.

Reversible Leafy Silver Tree Earrings

Reversible Small Silver Blizzard Tree Earrings

]]> http://bethmillner.wordpress.com/2009/11/22/new-owl-jewelry-and-reversible-earrings/feed/ 0 Beth Millner Small Silver Owl Earrings Small Silver Owl Necklace Silver Owl Pendant Copper Owl Pendant Reversible Small Leafy Silver Tree Earrings Reversible Leafy Silver Tree Earrings Reversible Small Silver Blizzard Tree Earrings http://bethmillner.wordpress.com/2009/11/08/marquette-arts-and-culture-center-holiday-art-sale/ http://bethmillner.wordpress.com/2009/11/08/marquette-arts-and-culture-center-holiday-art-sale/#comments Sun, 08 Nov 2009 17:07:17 +0000 bethmillner http://bethmillner.wordpress.com/?p=731 ]]>

I will be selling my handcrafted sterling silver, copper and brass jewelry at the 9th Annual MACC holiday Art Sale! Please come visit me and take a look for some precius handmade items for Christmas Gifts!  The Show is this Saturday November 14th 2009 from 10am-5pm.  The Marquette Arts and Culture Center is located in the lower level of the Peter White Public Library.

I have a new series of Owl pieces that will be debuting at this show!  Here is a sneak peek of what I have been working on!

Owl Sketches

Owl jewelry in progress

Trunk Show

Come to Bella Bella November 19th 2009 to see my handcrafted jewelry, sign up for a Silversmithing Class and get some Christmas Goodies!  Bella Beads is located at 325 W. Washington and the Trunk Show will go from 4-8pm!  Let us know that you saw this on my Blog and receive 10% off of any of my handmade jewelry!  Also, sign up for a chance to win $100 off of any Silversmithing Class or some free pieces of my jewelry!

I am offering many Silversmithing classes at Bella Beads throughout the fall and winter, please take a look at the classes available at Bella Beads by clicking on any of the images below.

Introduction to Silversmithing: Hammered Sterling Silver and Copper Earrings

Introduction to Silversmithing II: Soldering

Introduction to Silversmithing III: Soldering Rings

Intermediate Silversmithing: Bezel Setting

Forming, Rolling and Twisting

Well I have had a very busy summer, I just finished my last two shows of the season and now I am taking a bit of a break, or at least slowing down.  I had 5 best shows over the summer meaning that 5 shows beat my top show of last summer.

My sales have more than doubled compared to 2008 and my business has seen some staggering growth! My body is also responding to all of the work and I had to make a chiropractor appointment… I think my shoulders are out of whack from being at my bench so much this summer. I have been still keeping up with orders, but generally slowing down my production for a few weeks.

Mike and I are going to be moving to town in the next month or so. We have loved living in our little cabin, but space and time are getting the best of us and we have found that it is time to move back into Marquette. I am very excited to have a whole room for a studio space rather than a one room house to do everything in. We have lived in two different one room houses since 2007, neither was bigger than 18X18 ft square. We are pretty confident we are going to rent a larger house close to downtown, walking distance from Bella Beads and most of the places I go in town.

I will be teaching many Silversmithing classes this month, please take a look at Bella Beads for more information.

Fall has started very abruptly in the last few days. We had our first fall frost on Thursday night and the entire garden had to be picked. We probably got 20lbs of tomatoes this year!

I have listed many new items in my Etsy Shop please take a look for any of your Christmas shopping needs!

Come visit me at Wheatland Music Festival this weekend!  September 11-13 2009.  Here are some of the newer pieces I will be displaying!

Have a custom piece of jewelry made and designed for Christmas, I work in sterling silver, copper, brass, gold and white gold.

See my items in person and place a wholesale order for you storefront!

I have been incredibly busy lately!  My sales are almost double what they were last year!  This is one of the most interesting feelings I have ever had.  I can barely keep any inventory while making about forty pieces each week.  I am not complaining, it is more of a feeling of jaw dropping and a smile all rolled into one.  I am so incredibly grateful that my business is taking off so quickly (est. 2007)!

Shopping and Can’t Find the Matching _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ???

I have many NEW pieces that I have designed over the summer, but I have not had the chance to list them all in my Etsy Shop.  If you are trying to find an item and it is not in my Etsy Shop, please take a look around in my recent Flickr Photos (most recent items) and see if you can find the item there.  You can easily send me an email with the title of the piece and any pertinant information and I will list the item(s) for you in my Etsy Store. bethmillner@gmail.com

Website

My sister is now keeping my website updated!  It has been really great because I have not been able to pay as much attention to it as it was needing!  Please take a look at all of the gallery pages she has made!  There is also new custom work pictured as well.  www.bethmillner.com

Thank you so much to all of my new and repeat customers in the Keweenaw!  I had two awesome shows despite some rainy weather.  Many people seemed to be Christmas shopping for family members.

I am hoping to get many of the items that I have displayed in my booth listed in my online store hosted on Etsy.  Please feel free to browse the gallery at bethmillner.com to view images of pieces.  If you are looking to buy one of the items that is not yet listed in my online store, please email me with the title of the piece and I can make a custom listing for you.

I have had a crazy busy summer, I have had 3 record breaking shows in a row and my silversmithing classes are filling up fast!  I will be teaching the introductory class this Wednesday and there are going to be 9 people.  Bella Beads has remodeled their basement in order to have larger classes!

I am super grateful that my handcrafted jewelry business has taken off so swiftly in the 3rd year of being in operation.  I owe a huge thank you to all of the people who have been following my blog along the way and all of the help and pointers from the many other handmade business bloggers out there on the web.  I am proud to announce 100,000 views on my blog!

I will be drawing a name at the beginning of September for the winner of a free Reversible Leafy Silver Tree Pendant as a thank you to anyone who leaves a message in the comments below.  The pendant is about 1 inch tall and will come on a sterling silver box chain.  I handsaw the tree silhouette from the sterling silver sheet and then stamp the little leaves on one side of the pendant.  I even make the leaf stamps by shaping the end of a nail with metal files into a tiny little leaf.  This pendant is reversible one side a summer tree and the other a winter tree (without leaves).  Make sure to have a valid email address filled in when you comment for your chance to win this pendant!

Reversible Leafy Silver Tree Pendant

I am in the Keweenaw for 10 days!

Come visit me in Eagle Harbor Art in the Park (Aug 8th-9th)

Visiting artist with demos on the deck at Studio 41 in Copper Harbor (Aug 13th-14th)

Copper Harbor Art in the Park (Aug 15th-16th)!

Tell me that you saw my “Keweenaw Blog Special” and recieve 10% off of my jewelry in Eagle Harbor or Copper Harbor!

I just had my best show ever!  Thank you so so so much to all of my new and repeat customers!  I appreciate your business immensely!

I have many, many custom wedding rings to make which is going to keep me really busy in the next two weeks and then 5 more shows still this summer!  I hope to add more photos in the future, but I have slow movin’ internet and it takes a while to upload.