Time to Move: Find my blog at Dalewayne.com

 I have consolidated my 2 websites and blog to one spot with the help of Tera Kenney, my web designer for life. Tera, are you my webmommy? The site will be getting better and better and I will be blogging there from now on.  So until further notice, bye bye blogger. It was good while it lasted. You were my first....
dalewayne.com

Indie Bride Feature!

I forgot the nice folks at IndieBride.com were featuring my work on their site. Here's the link to their gorgeous page if you want to take a peak: http://www.theindiebride.com/vendor-showcase/dale-wayne-recycled-plastic-art/

Coin earrings

How cute are these?  I am having fun trying to continually change things up a bit.  I'm hoping my new site will be up any day, but I have been hoping that for months now.  I am clapping my hands like Tinkerbell that we can get the bank gateway for the shopping cart to work. Clap if you believe, please....

Coining a New Necklace

A customer in Sarasota asked me if I would make a design based on coins.  Though not traditional by any means I am very happy with how it turned out, complete with glass coins with edges rolled in iridescent powder and raku glass, hand-made copper coins from my own molds, and a killer golden glass ring.

Her Master's Voice

We took James to college yesterday.  We were moving him in less than an hour in stark contrast to his older sisters move in marathons.  While we were gone Natalie took this picture of Charlotte, James' dog, who stared into his empty room for a solid hour.  It's my turn today...

Good-bye Santa Fe Dawn

A little hummingbird buzzed in a loop right next to me as I leaned out the window to take this photo.  John's mom loved hummingbirds and when I see one I figure she is looking out for us from above.

I am featured on Beading Arts Site

Extra, extra, read all about it:  My Precious Metal Clay work is featured on Beading-Arts.com. 

Santa Fe

This is the sunset out my window. I am at the Glen Workshop sponsored by Image : Journal of the Arts & Religion.  It has been so fun being around so many creative people and hearing from professional writers and artists. I am taking a drawing from life class and final drew something decent today. I want to live in Santa Fe!  Wednesday was my 31st anniversary. I went to chapel in the evening and the first hymn was Praise to the Lord the Almighty.  I went down the aisle to that hymn 31 years ago.
Praise to the Lord , the Almighty the King of creation!
Oh my soul , Praise Him for He is thy health and salvation!
All you who hear, Now to His temple draw near;
Praise Him with glad adoration.

Praise to the Lord, who o'er all things so wondrously reigneth,
Shelters thee under His wings , yea so gently sustaineth!
Hast thou not seen How thy desires e're have been
Granted in what He ordaineth?

Praise to the Lord, who doth prosper thy work and defend thee;
Surely His goodness and mercy here daily attend thee.
Ponder anew what the Almighty can do,
If with His love He befriend thee.

Praise to the Lord, O let all that is in me adore Him!
All that hath life and breath , come now with praises before Him.
Let the Amen Sound from His people again,
Gladly for aye, we adore Him.

Auction Necklace

I am leaving tomorrow for Santa Fe to attend an artist and writer's conference. They are having a scholarship auction so I made this necklace especially for the event. Now I want to keep it. I boxed it up nicely so I won't be tempted.  I am taking solace in the fact that I took pictures of it.  I think I will make another necklace similar to this one.

Copper Time!

I finished up working in silver and needed some copper pieces for my new web-site. It was like coming home, which is what working with silver felt like when I had been working in copper for a while. This one is so yummy.

Bead Drawings

I have been busy getting my new web-site pulled together. In the process my daughter Danielle reminded me of a series of drawings I started a couple of years ago. I would love to make stationary out of the images some day. 

Coral is hot for Fall and Winter

From what I have read about fashion trends look for lots of gray, corals and oranges. Purple and green are in the running for fall too.  What has been fun is to learn that I am right on target with my layered looks, use of recycled materials and eclectic combinations.  Here's a piece I made that I think is delicious and warm in an icy kind of way.

Summer Blues

I am so pooped trying to get my winter collection in the works.  Here is a sneak peek.  I spent most of my day yesterday trying to get the blues right. There is a range of periwinkle, lavender, and aqua and my little camera couldn't seem to understand the nuances. Have you seen the Dior jewelry site?  Very fun to poke around in. Each collection has its own story.

logo, logas, logum, logatis, logamus, logam

I am obviously losing my mind trying to zero in on a photo for a logo, or a photograph for a logograph.  Opinions anyone?

What's New!

I had such a fun and successful last minute trunk show at my mom's home in Sarasota.  Everyone loves the new line so I am encouraged. Now I am working on a press release about my winter collection. I love the irony of mixing plastic with my beads, semi-precious stones, and silver.

Barbie Brings Bling

I couldn't resist including this ivory Barbie shoe in a necklace from my new collection.

Barbie Girl Steps Out

Thank goodness Susie's daughter saved all her Barbie shoes so we could make this necklace!  Apparently she used to play "Barbie Shoe Store." There is a clear crystal in the middle and it is on a chain of teeny tiny seed pearls.

Plastic is the New Pink

The Susies came over today and played with plastic.  I played bowerbird again and made this necklace complete with vintage shell bead, key, coffee pot, and branch coral to compliment a recycled plastic and crystal flower.

New Beach Inspired Beads

It is so good to be home for the summer and have time to work on my glass again. I am experimenting with shell-like forms and using a pipe tube to blow shells.  Don't inhale!

Pearls, Crystal, and Plastic

All you need is the little black dress. My friend Susan came over to play in my studio and we came up with this recycled plastic necklace. Natalie snagged it as soon as she saw it.

This second one turned out so well we are going to have to start drinking more Propel.

Plastic Bottle Chandelier

This is the chandelier we made for our school auction.   It now brightens a gloomy corner of my porch. I connected two wire hanging-basket planters for the structure. Now I just need to figure out how to light it, not on fire... illumine it.

Mold Making! Easy Peezy Lemon Squeezy...

 When we were at the beach I collected broken shells to make molds out of so that I could turn them into PMC silver charms.  Ooops, they got lost in transit, so I took these 'new' vintage shell beads and one of my clear glass 'Marilyn Monroe Skirt' beads and am making molds out of them.  It will be fun to see how they turn out. I also found some cool conch beads. Since I was born in Key West and therefore am a 'conch' I am eager to incorporate them into my jewelry collection. 

Fun fact from urbandictionary.com regarding Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy : It comes from a 1970's british TV commercial for Lemon Squeezy detergent. They were with a little girl who points out dirty greasy dishes to an adult (mom or relative) and then this adult produces Lemon Squeezy and they clean the dishes quickly. At the end of the commercial the girl says "Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy".

What washed up!

but no message in it!  How do  you like my new colored recycled glass bottles?  Genie- ous.

At the Beach Experimenting with Photo Shoot

I am meeting with my fabulous web-designer Tera Kenney on Wednesday to redesign my site and add a shopping cart among other things.  Nina Fareed is going to do some PR for me so I need to get it up to speed for the onslaught of new orders (hope and pray  hope and pray.) Seriously, I want to get my site more shopper friendly and update it with more current pieces. Here is a shot I took of Nat at the beach with one of my pieces on.  I am wondering if it would help shoppers to see the pieces on a model since they can't try them on in cyberspace.  How can we make the site feel like they are handling the jewelry?  I wish I had brought more pieces with me.  I like how these turned out.

Chandelier Anyone?

How cool is this chandelier? I saw it on designsponge . You can make it yourself and I am totally going to. I may add some plastic bottles, but the sleek industrial look is so appealing I may have to leave it alone.  I want this over my granite counter top/bar in my kitchen.

The Favor of Your Reply Requested / Show Stopper

I gave my friend Becky one of the wine stoppers in the new glass bottles I ordered and seconds after she opened it a lady from across the restaurant excused herself for interrupting but 'had to know what that beautiful thing is.'   It seems like everywhere I take them they draw a crowd.  Jean Patteson posted my stoppers on her  blog.  I would love it if you would post a comment!

Something borrowed something blue...

My friend Melanie was wearing a glass heart necklace on a very long chain. I was admiring it and she had a great idea to make long pearl bridal necklaces for brides who with edgier taste. I played around with it and this is what I have come up with so far.  Blue quartz chain with or without pearls, a mother-of-pearl pendant with a key a dove, transparent glass with a  dichroic center, and a piece of branch coral. You can wear it long (it hangs close to waist length) or you could wrap the chain in layers to your preferred length. I was contemplating a name for funky bridal jewelry and Natalie came up with 'Bowerbride.' What do you think?

Looking at the World Through Colored Glass II

I was so inspired by the colorful glasses at  Suzi's party I decided to make a party out of glass on my dining room table.  Now my dining room table mirrors the painting I did of a mantle in Monet's house that hangs above it.

Making Molds for Copper Clay

I have been playing with 2 part silicon to make molds of old jewelry. Then, I press metal clay into the mold and make charms. Here are two of my favorites made out of copper clay, an old cameo that belonged to John's godmother and a Welsh fisherman's ring that was in my family.  The texture on the ring represents the buttons on the fisherman's coat and was worn by his betrothed.

Branch Coral Bliss

Don't you love branch coral? I bought a graduated strand and I was worried, since the branches were tiny, that wouldn't add much and it wouldn't go very far, but a little is all you need to add a delicious

   organic 'pop' to a jewelry design.  I am still playing with my new camera and I confess, I ordered another one to try out before I commit. It reminds me when I was on a Zappos bender, and  I must have had 10 or 12 pairs of shoes in the running. I came home one day and my husband had created a  giant pyramid of shoe boxes in the foyer to greet me.  Everyone that sees my cute little Elph wants it and I have to say it is fun to use. I am trying to get more things up onto my etsy shop  so I need to keep clicking away. I bought this nifty light box a couple of years ago off of eBay. I like that the lighting is consistent since I am not much of a photographer and the light is soft so the silver doesn't shoot off blinding reflections, but I need to experiment with natural light . Thanks Kellie, for showing me some features on the camera I didn't know I had. 

    

I was a teenage Bowerbird

I love bowerbirds. They are those nest interior designers that tweak their abodes to attract the ladies. They collect flowers (that they refresh when they wilt), bottle caps, scraps of ribbon, berries... anything to make their bower an adequate expression of who they are. When a potential mate comes along they dance like banshees.

I am not much of a dancer, but one day I had my jewelry findings, glass bead remnants, and odds and ends spread out before me. I left my unhealthy production mode and entered the bowerbird worldview picking and weaving bits and pieces to make a necklace just how I wanted it. It was a little nutty but fun and I love my new necklace.