Alexander's Designs - BESTeam Feature

This week's featured shop is a talented couple who calls their shop Alexander's Designs. Thiw couple's jewelry is a unique blend of Swarovski Crystals, lamp work and glass beads, semi-precious gemstones, sterling silver, fine silver, pewter, and gold. Some pieces are playful, bold with lots of color and some pieces are simple yet very beautiful.
They are a husband and wife team who love to create with their hands. They do everything from construction work to making danty jewelry. They are completely self-employed and are loving every minute of it!

You can wear this line of jewelry with confidence knowing that it is a unique piece of art, well-made and not mass produced. They hope everyone enjoys wearing their creations as much as they have enjoyed creating them."

Now you know what to do, visit, heart, read blog, and/or purchase something.

Pardo Clay

Pardo Clay is the newest clay to the polymer clay family. It has been on the market for about a year now but it is not carried by many craft suppliers. If you are interested in purchasing this clay I would suggested that you do a Yahoo/Google search to find a supplier.
As a member of the New York Polymer Clay Guild I was given a small batch of the Pardo Clay. My assignment is to report back my findings. I have had this batch for several months and I have not motivated myself to play with this new clay. So now I am doing so. I am considering writing a series of short blogs about this new product.
First impression – different marketing strategy from all the polymers in the past, is my first thought. Is there a special reason why the manufacturer packaged this clay as balls instead of blocks? If Pardo really wanted to step in to an existing artistic world, why would they change the way the polymer clay is measured. For years artists have sliced their blocks into fractional pieces for color mixing. (Halves, 1/16 and etc.) So when mixing Pardo to achieve new colors, an individual is going to attempt to cut the balls into 1/16’s and 1/8’s to mix colors. I think not. So with my first impression I would say it may have not been a good idea to market their product as balls of clay. I must say the balls are cute, though.

LotusMira This Week's Feature

Today's artist is a graduate student, earning both a law degree (JD) and a masters (MA). With this heavy academic load, I marvel at the fact that LotusMira is able to find time to be so creative. She has a blog you can visit and some how she finds time to twitter. Most of her current projects involve working with solder. She loves vintage imagery, found items, and ephemera. She also really enjoy the steampunk aesthetic. She thinks there is a lot of value both in the artistic chaos of collage, as well as in the simple beauty of something classic. Well her bracelets and earrings are a true statement of classic design. I really like these shard china earrings. The pink flower bead at the bottom, really draws me to these earrings.

So now that I have introduced you to LotusMira please do visit her shop, leave a heart or two, and consider purchasing her wonderful jewelry.

CK Silver - BESTeam Member Feature

I am pleased to feature a talented jewelry artist this week. The attention to detail is awesome. Just look at the wrap work around these tiny pearls. CK Silver offers handcrafted sterling silver jewelry that is beautiful, timeless, and elegant. Each piece of jewelry is unique, and many are one of a kind. The primary inspiration is the beauty of nature, and the amazing richness of creation that is found all around us. Most pieces incorporate sterling silver, freshwater pearls, semi-precious stones, and swarovski crystal. Custom orders welcome, and all birthstones are available either in the stone itself or in swarovski crystal. CK also has an interesting blog; go check it out and learn more about color trends.

With that said you know what to do... (advice from LoloGlassEtching)
1. Click the links in this blog and make CK Silver a fan, heart her shop and don't forget follow the blog.
2. If you see something you like, buy it.
3. If you like my blog, don't forget to follow me too.
4. See ads that interest you, click through and explore.
5. By all means enjoy, have fun and live life to its fullest because tomorrow isn't promised.