Daxter

Unfortunately, I had to draw my friend KJ's picture first because it was a Christmas present for her daughter-in-law of her horse. So even though I promised Nita's pictures first, I ended up finishing KJ's before Nita's. And even that was pretty late, as I got really busy with my last semester of college (!!!). I have to say, drawing this horse was MUCH easier than Nita's horses, as in this picture, he wasn't wearing a saddle with all the damn straps going everywhere. This was a pretty quick draw and both KJ and her daughter-in-law were happy with it :)

KJ's daughter's horse, Daxter, done in graphite

Rock Lee

I did a little experiment. I drew an anime picture of Rock Lee from Naruto, but tried to make it look real. It turned out looking great, but it's still obviously anime so I guess technically it's a failed experiment. I like it though! :) I took a picture of my little brother in this position and when I get a chance, I'm going to use that picture as a model and try again to make it look realistic. When I get a chance!

Rock Lee from Naruto. This was done purely in graphite

Drawings

I've got some awesome friends at school! I drew another picture of Briar, which turned out awesome:

Yet another picture of my puppy Briar. This one was done in graphite and a little bit of carbon.

And I was showing it off to some of my friends and one of them commissioned me to draw a picture of her two horses. I finished this one:

My friend's horse. Also graphite and carbon

And I still have one more to do. But when news got around that I was drawing my friend's horse for her, I started getting a bunch of requests. On top of horse #2, I have 4 more pictures to do: two of dogs, one of a horse, and one of a person. And those are just my friends - my horsey friend said she's been showing off her picture to her other horsey friends and a whole bunch of them want me to do their horses too. So I gave her a stack of my business cards and maybe I'll be getting a few more requests soon. Also, another friend wants me to make her daughter a piece of jewelry for her birthday. I still have a bit of time to do that so I haven't started, but I did finish a necklace for another friend (I didn't take any pictures of it though). I gave that to her today and she's been showing it off to anybody who will listen, lol. I've already got one more (tentative) request for another piece. So as far as selling goes, I'm doing same as always (nada at Wildflower Village or Etsy), but as far as requests go and making and selling those, I'm doing great! I've never had so much work before, makes me really happy :)

Busybusybusy!

I don't have any new pictures to post, since I've been busy with final exams coming up, but once those are over, I'll be able to draw and make jewelry ALL SUMMER!! -^.^- I have made a couple of things though, just haven't taken pictures. Because my friend Erica is treasurer of the UNR Rock Hounds club and they had a big mineral sale a couple weeks ago to clean out the rooms, I got in on the deal! I got really excited when she said they had raw opals and she saved them all especially for me! So I got first choice and though they were really cheap (and a few were even cut!), I ended up blowing $100 just on those, not to mention the rest of the stones I got. I plan to go all out on these pendants! -^.^- I've already done one, but I'm not putting a picture up since it's for my mom for mother's day, but once she gets it in the mail, I'll put the picture up for you guys to Ooh and Ahh. It's pretty, I hope she likes it :) I've also wire-wrapped a couple of more blown-glass beads. Again, I'll put those pictures up when I get a chance.

As far as selling goes, I've been doing pretty good! I've sold 4 items at Wildflower Village, a little store that I have a consignment with, and 3 more to a friend via Etsy. I made business cards and have been handing them out like crazy (and seemingly at random). So far, it hasn't seemed to help in sales except for my friend Susan. It turns out, she works for a tv producing company that sells jewelry on tv!! Of course, it's really high-end stuff and there's no way I'm going to ever be able to put my stuff up for sale like that, but she knows some pretty cool people and since she bought a few of my pieces, she says she'll wear them around and hand out business cards for me! Thank you Susan, you rock! :D  She also said that my pieces were waay underpriced and she sells stuff at work that looks like mine but for hundreds! I decided to raise my prices since it's probably the economy and lack of advertising that's not getting me sales, not my prices. And when I do make a sale, I might as well get some money out of it, right? :)  But you, my followers, luck out because although my prices have risen, I made a coupon code for you guys. Put in JIBUNWOSHINJITE at checkout and I'll give you 40% off! You don't have to tell me I rock, I know it :)

Denise and Baby Leia

I think these pictures keep getting better :)  It's fun to watch myself progress, especially when it's progressing picture by picture! It's fun to see how terrible my first drawing was and then compare it to my most recent drawing, which is like drawing No. 4 or something. I've put jewelry on the back burner for now and brought drawing up to the front of my stove -- I mean mind. But I just found some really cheap raw opals thanks to a good friend and I have a feeling jewelry-making is making a quick comeback :)  Anyway, this drawing was done mostly with graphite with some charcoal. I'm still not satisfied with Leia's eyes, it's just so hard to capture the emotion and pure joy in her eyes. But other than that, this is a picture I can be proud of  :)

New Works

I've done a few of new pieces in the past few days, a couple of drawings and a couple of pendants, so without further ado, here they are! -^.^-

 I call this one Yin and Yang. It's got two blown-glass heart-shaped beads, one black and gold and the other white and gold wire-wrapped in copper wire with a heart-shaped motif.

This pendant was mostly an experiment. It didn't turn out as well as I woulda liked, but I may just add to it later :) It's a sakura (cherry blossom) made from coins I brought home from Japan (they're about a nickle each) beaded together with pale pink seed beads. The Japanese adore cherry blossoms, it's even the country's national flower.

 This is a drawing I did of my best friend's sister holding my best friend's baby daughter (so the older girl is the younger girl's aunt). I think baby Leia turned out terrible, but in drawing this, I learned a lot about drawing faces and about shading, so Angy turned out much better (even though she looks much older than she actually is, lol) I drew this mostly with graphite but with charcoal for the really dark parts.

 I call this picture Baby Feet -^.^- It's another picture of baby Leia, this time held by her mother and my best friend Denise. I think Denise's thumb doesn't pop out as much as it should, but over all, I'm pretty proud of this picture, especially since I don't have much experience drawing real life. I think it turned out beautiful! -^.^-  This one is also done with graphite pencils

My attempts at selling

I've been trying to sell my jewelry for a while now using various methods. I have my jewelry in an art store where if I sell anything, they take part of my profits. Although this is the best method I've tried so far, it's not working very well. The store I found the lowest pay cut is a bit out of the way and no many people visit (as far as I know) and out of the people that do visit, my stuff is usually overlooked. People just aren't buying jewelry right now :/ So I put up an Etsy. I've had it for almost a year now and I haven't sold a thing. I even advertised on the main Etsy page and Facebook and I've gotten quite a few views, but not one purchase (and advertising on Facebook is expensive!!)
I found a store that sells local artists' jewelry, and the cool thing about this place is that they will buy it outright, not put it up and give you most of the money if it's sold. But I guess the lady that runs it didn't like my jewelry. She said it was too expensive (it's not like I can lower the price any more, gold and silver prices are really high right now!) and she didn't even try to haggle with me on price, so I'm thinking she just didn't like my work. I saw Dee again and showed her some of my stuff and she loved it! She said if anything, it's underpriced, so I know it's not the price that's causing people not to buy, it's exposure. Either that, or people just don't like my work. I'm a bit discouraged, but I'm not giving up. Jibun wo shinjiru, zutto!!
And another thing you might want to know is that I'm a bit of a tomboy. I love making jewelry, but very rarely wear it until I realized it's free advertising. So I'm wearing a piece right now, my Cold-Hearted Pendant actually, and I've noticed a couple of things about it I'm going to have to fix, things I never would've realized unless I'd worn it for a day. Like, it has a tendency to flip over and show the back instead of the front, and that the two wires I left hanging out for decoration keep catching my shirt. So when I get home (I'm at school right now. I know, fun right? :/ ) I'm going to fix those. And then tomorrow I'll wear a different piece and see how it hangs and fix anything I notice on that. I've just discovered a way to perfect my jewelry and it's been staring at me in the face the whole time! ..well, if you want to get technical, it's only staring me in the face now because I'm looking down at it, but you get my meaning :)
 I've also made some business cards that I'm going to print out later today and hand out to people who comment on the stuff I wear. Also, I'm going to give away a few pieces to friends as long as they pass out business cards to people who ask about it. I think Erica's first on my list since she got one for Christmas, and I'm sure she'll help me out if I ask. I've also asked another friend and she said she'd do it, so I think I'm on to something here :) When I talked to Dee last, she mentioned sitting on the lawn or by the river and doing my stuff with maybe a few finished pieces with me to show off to anyone who seems interested in what I'm doing. I don't know if I need a license for that, but I've got a friend who happens to be a lawyer, so I'll ask him. Dee said I don't need a license, but I wanna be sure. Don't wanna get in trouble!
My mom also recommended craft fairs. The only problem with that is that I need a lot of work to show off, not just one or two pieces. So I'm going to have to get to work! But I've found an awesome site that lists all the upcoming craft fairs in Reno, has links to the vendor registration forms, and even has profiles of the local artists' and links to their pages! As soon as I get home, I'm going to register for that.
Again, a bit discouraged. I've been at this for a while and I can count the number of pieces I've sold on the fingers of my left elbow. But I won't give up. Ever :)

My First Wire-wrapped Pendant :D

I first got into wire-wrapping in December where I took a class from an awesome lady named Dee. I made it for one of my best friends for Christmas and I just saw her wear it the other day, so I took a picture of it! She's a college student majoring in geological engineering, so I had her pick out a stone she liked, which happens to be her favorite color, and I wrapped it in sterling silver wire and decorated the top into a bail and then the wires come down into a heart-shape. I think it turned out really well for my first try, but then again I had awesome help. Thanks Dee! :D

Again, a bit blury, I only had my phone on me and it doesn't take the best quality pictures. But you can see it and I think it turned out beautiful!! I'm glad she likes it :)

Past Drawings

So as I said before, I just switched my drawing focus to real life and portraits after years of drawing anime. And I mean 'just switched' as in a week ago. So most of these pictures are anime and the two pictures I've done of real life suck (or at least they suck more than my anime drawings). Douzo!

A bit blurry (that's why I'm an artist and not a photographer), but you can tell what it is. This is one of my uber favorite pictures from one of my uber favorite animes. That's right, I said uber. Shaoran (the main guy character) and Sakura (the main girl character) from Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles! Yay! -^.^-

The other main characters from Tsubasa, Fai (on the right) and Kurogane (on the left). I love these guys, they're so funny together. Kurogane is always in a bad mood and Fai is always in a good playful mood (like me!) and Fai is always teasing Kurogane and Kurogane is always threatening Fai. They make a good pair, lol

This one is Yuuko from xxxHOLiC, a crossover anime from Tsubasa. I love drawing Yuuko, all of her pictures are so beautiful and mysterious at the same time. This picture took freaking FOREVER to draw because of all the freaking inverted butterflies. That's right, I said freaking.

 This picture I did more recently, it's Rika-chama from another really good anime, Higurashi no Naku Koro ni (When the Cicadas Cry, or as the English dub calls it, When They Cry). I like this picture, although I thought I coulda done a bit better on the moon..

This is my puppy Briar. This is also the first real-life picture I've done since high school, and I only did one of those because my siblings and I all turned out looking like yeti. But that was quite a few years ago and I like to think I've improved since then, so I got a wild hair up my butt and decided to draw my puppy. And it turned out really good!  (If I do say so myself. I really am modest, promise!) In fact, it turned out so well I got another, bigger wild hair up my butt and decided to draw.....

....my little sister and our cat Fox. And these two DID turn out looking like yeti. I spent a long time on this picture and mostly I just got criticized for it ,ó.ò, It's no wonder why I'm a perfectionist, whenever I do something less-than-perfect, instead of 'Wow, that doesn't look half bad!' I get "Well, that only looks HALF bad..." Of course, my sister's a talented artist herself, so she could probably do better, but I tried. And I will keep trying because jibun wo shinjiru! (I believe in myself!) I won't give up from one little picture, it just means I need more practice and I intend on practicing a lot!

Btw, all of the anime pictures were done in regular pencil (usually during class when I shoulda been paying attention.... ^.^" ) except the Shaoran and Sakura one, which I did in pencil first and then colored with colored pencils and the Rika-chama one, which I did using various water color pencil techniques. When I decided to start real-life, I went out and bought some graphite pencils of different hardnesses and used those for the shading. I also used a little bit of charcoal, but mostly graphite. Tsuzukitte ganbarimasuyo! (I'll keep going and do my best!)

Past works

These are some of my past works so you can get a feel for what I'm all about. And all of the jewelry items are currently up for sale, unless otherwise mentioned. If you're interested, email me and we'll set something up :)  (note that these are on Ebay and Etsy as well, so they'll go fast!) Also, these are all original. If something you want says Sold, ask me about it and I'll just make you another one! The pictures and drawings are either for myself or gifts, but you can still enjoy them :) We'll start with the jewelry, since that's the coolest. Note that most of my jewelry has clasps and ALL of my jewelry has a 'weak link' that won't fall apart on it's own, but is the part that will give if, say, you catch your bracelet on something and would rather have it break than have your arm ripped off. It's not a major part of the design, so if you do happen to break it, the pattern won't be ruined and you can easily put the jumpring back on. And although I really like intricate, dainty-looking jewelry, it's all a lot stronger than it looks! Now, onto the jewelry....

Copper Byzantine $20
I love Byzantine, especially with teeny tiny jumprings. It just looks so delicate, even though it's a lot stronger than you'd think - just like me! -^.^- This bracelet was made from 5mm copper jumprings and took a looong time to make. It looks difficult, but actually isn't all that hard once you get the pattern down, but like all chainmail, you have to be careful not to misshape or mar the jumprings. If you google Byzantine chainmail, you'll come up with all sorts of sites that will teach you, it's one of the most common, popular, and one of my favorite weaves :)

Copper Roses $25
Another Byzantine, this one's a variation with alternating 5mm copper jumpring byzantine pieces and then 8mm copper jumprings with clear-and-red glass seed beads. Again, took quite a while, especially when the holes on the beads were too small and I had to make them bigger with a diamond file (very carefully so as to not crack the beads) One of my personal favorites, I think the dark red beads go really well with the copper :)

Silver Mirrors $25
This bracelet is an Eliptical weave with round sterling silver dangles added for extra *pikapika* (= "sparkle") The bracelet itself was made with sterling silver and copper 8mm jumprings. This is a cute bracelet and is long enough to be worn as an anklelet as well and would be very cute worn on a formal outing or a relaxing day at the beach.

Copper, Silver, and Gold-weave bracelet $30
Copper, sterling silver, and gold-filled wire inextricably woven to create a delicate bangle. I recently got into wire-wrapping and wire-weaving and it's a lot of fun! You can get so many different kinds of designs - it's a lot of fun to see what you can come up with!


Fire Heart Pendant $25
This red-and-gold heart-shaped blown-glass bead is wrapped in copper, red-colored copper, and gold-filled wire, tied and decorated at the top to make a pendant. I love the color scheme in this one! The copper and gold contrast and the red just adds to both of the colors. Plus the bead itself is a masterpiece (I bought it though, didn't make it. I'm still hoping my sister will teach me how to glass-blow in the future, then I can make my own masterpieces! :D  )

Striped Heart Pendant $25
Another heart-shaped blown-glass bead, this one silver with red and blue stripes wrapped in sterling silver wire and tied and decorated at the top to make a pendant. This one is very pretty too! It goes well with both blue and red and would look lovely with a professional outfit with all the silver in it.

Cold-Hearted Pendant $25
This crystal-blue heart-shaped blown-glass bead is wrapped in sterling silver wire and tied and decorated to make a pendant. This one was a lot harder to make because unlike the other's, this one is not flat. So I had to do a more rounded wrapping, similar to a delicate cage instead of the traditional flat wrapping. This is my first cage-wrapping and it turned out beautiful, despite the amount of time it took getting it perfect.

 Cold-Hearted Earrings $10
I made these earrings before I got into wire wrapping for real, so it's a completely different style. Put on a sterling silver headpin with sterling silver wire twirled loosely around it, these crystal-blue heart-shaped blown-glass earrings go beautifully with the Cold-Hearted Pendant or can make a statement standing alone.


Yellow XOXO Bracelet $20
Called so by the crisscrossing tube pattern, this is a variation of tubular peyote stitch. Made with yellow Swarvoski crystals and alternating yellow, pale purple, and dark purple Japanese seed beads, this playful bracelet has a sterling silver lobster clasp holding it on.


XOXO Purple Bangle $20
The same design and color scheme as XOXO Yellow, this crisscrossing tubular peyote variation is darker, made with yellow Swarvoski crystals and alternating light and dark purple Japanese seed beads. Bolder than it's sister, this bangle will certainly make a statement!

White Night Earrings $15
These were an experiment that turned out wonderfully. Stars painted on to a shiny white shell bead with a 14kt gold leafing pen, these earrings are coupled with the white freshwater pearls and hypoallergenic gold-plated headpins and earrings. These earrings were such a success that I made a series of them, in colors such as white, abalone-black, coral red, and turquoise with stars, butterflies, and leaves and flowers painted on in both gold and silver. If you want a particular design, ask and you shall receive! Plastic earring backs available free of charge if requested.

White Butterfly Earrings $15
These are similar to the White Night Earrings, but with 14kt gold butterflies painted on the white shell beads and gray freshwater pearls hanging on gold-plated headpins and earrings. More designs to be posted soon! Plastic earring backs available free of charge if requested.

Since I love beading so much, about October or so, I start decorating Christmas ornaments to put up for sale around Christmas time. Here are some of my past works:

Icicles Ornament - Sold
A blue glass Christmas ornament decorated with pale crystal-blue beads in an icicle ball design.


Victorian Ornament - Sold
This was my first ornament, an experiment. I think it turned out nicely, with the red Christmas ornament decorated in beaded diamonds of gold, silver, purple, and red Japanese seed beads and plastic pearls. Look - you can even see my reflection in the pikapika-ness! -^.^-


Christmas Wreath Ornament - Sold
This red-matte Christmas ornament turned out beautiful with red, gold, and green loops surrounding a green cat's-eye Christmas wreath. Hoho-holy hole in the doughnut!! (wreath, I mean)


Jingle Bells Christmas ornament - Sold
Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way...... with this funky Christmas star ornament! Made with a red Christmas ornament and decorated with beaded stars of gold, red, and green Japanese seed beads, this ornament will surely put you in the carol-singing spirit. (Note: Reflection of me not included. Nor is the computer in the backround.)


Snowflakes ornament - Sold
Snowflakes keep falling on my head... do do do do do... This lovey snowflake ornament was made with a matte-blue Christmas ornament and decorated with crystal clear, light blue, and dark blue beaded snowflakes, designed with ultra shimmering in mind! -^.^-


Elegant Golden Ornament - Sold
A gold/beige-matte ornament decorated with crystal gold and silver Japanese seed beads in a diamondy, dangly, ultra-dandy design! This design turned out pure gold

Blog!! -^.^-

My name is Laura and you've reached my blog, please leave a message at the tone..... beep!

...I'm jk. My name is Laura (aka SSJ3Maron) and you've reached my blog! Here I will write about my creations, my 'Work of heArt' if you will. Mostly on here I will be writing about making jewelry and accessories, although I also love to draw and will be putting pictures I've done up as well. Another thing you might want to know is that I speak Japanese, love Japan, and watch (and draw!) lots of Japanese anime. So if you care to learn, there will be random Japanese words and phrases in here. Jibun wo shinjite, the URL of this blog, is Japanese for 'believe in yourself!' I'm a firm believer in personal power and I know that anybody can do anything they set their mind to. Also, I've got a strange sense of humor. I'm going to make jokes, mostly lame ones, that I find funny and you'll probably find 'Wtf??' Fair warning -^.^- Now, back to the art.....

As far as jewelry goes, I like beading, chainmail, wire-working and -wrapping, and a little bit of metal-working. I mostly dabble in various arts, but that's my main focus in jewelry. As far as drawing goes, I like to draw (No! Really?), especially in black and white usually using graphite but sometimes charcoal as well. I like to color with color pencils, water color pencils (does that count as drawing or painting...?) and occasionally pastels. I just switched my focus to real life and portraits after years of doing cartoons and anime, so my most recent drawing are really going to suck. Just fyi (I'm really modest too, you'll never find anyone as modest as me). And to start, I'm going to put up a few past works, so enjoy and thanks for checking me out!  ...I mean checking my blog out.... or both if you like ~.^