SuzeBlogz

I've NEVER braided before

I never had long hair as a child so my mom never braided my hair and there was no reason for her to teach me how to do it to anyone else.

So, tonight I got my first braiding lesson....only with WIRE!

at Ja Dey Beads that opened about a year ago down the street from my house.

The object of the class was to take 20 gauge wire cut into 9 strips, each about 36" long, tape them down perfectly straight at the top of some painters tape to keep them all straight and then clamp that section down.

 

once everything is tightly down you begin by taking three strands of wire from one end, three in the middle and three on the other end and braid

I thought I'd brought enough silver Artistic Wire with me but I hadn't, so I decided to add a second color in....copper. Interestingly....The 20 gauge copper and the 20 gauge silver came from different manufacturers and the silver was considerably more sturdy and weighty. That's why I am a fan of Artistic Wire!

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Anyway...moving right along....our teacher Debbie showed us how to make everything tightly pulled and professional looking....which is, of course, not the way anyones actually came out !!

At least not the frst time you try it !

we all kinda struggled but walked away very happy anyway.

I could easily spot the flaws...but that was so unimportant in the big scheme of things...I learned the technique and I'm super excited. One day it's gonna come in handy on something I'll make and I'll be so glad I learned it.

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Jackie, the store owner is a wondeful gal

she busied herself making things with left over wire

I brought my braid home and will give much thought to how and what I want to do with the end strands.

 

 

Happy Holiday Events

The last few days have been filled with wonderful events & wonderful friends.

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One of them,  Laura McHugh was displaying/selling her fun and funky jewelry at the Holiday Boutique at the Oceanic Library in Rumson (NJ)...and I stopped by to see her and check it out !

It was a lovely venue...food...

artists

selling clothes, jewelry

 and some very interesting...and different... products from artist Doreen Catena

 Doreen takes leftover highway billboards and makes furniture coverings from them. They were brilliant...they were durable and...they don't stretch!

 

All her works are hand-made in New Jersey from 100% recycled billboards.  Billboards are made from woven nylon that is coated in vinyl.  Her choice of patterns is very cool !

 

lovely venue

 

 

another artist whose work I thought was also BRILLIANT was Nancy McCarron-Lubisco

she has an ETSY shop...just click HERE.

 

Nancy specializes in CUSTOM bronze guitar picks

 

 

I LOVED THEM !!!

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and LAST NIGHT...I took part in a Holiday Venue at the Riverbank Antique Center in Red Bank (NJ) run by Cheryl Figliola...along with Carla Gizzi, who has the shop right next door and carries phenomenal jewelry and many other artsy objects !

 

 

 

 

this event brought a whole bunch of friends together

 

 

Joan and Lisa Kettell, Laura McHugh, Marlene Haveron, & Beverly Hanapole

and everyone had such wonderful things to sell..

 

Lisas' tree ornaments were a huge hit ! She handmade every single one of them!

 

 

and she had other fun stuff too

Her CUFFS...her one of a kind cuffs... that she is famous for..

 

and trinket necklaces...

 

 

Leslie Marsh, talent extraordinaire, was there with her handmade books that just took your breath away

 

Joan Kettell had her handmade steampunk jewelry for sale...gorgeous !

 

Laura McHugh has the most wonderful whimsical jewelry that just makes you smile.

 

 

Susan Fairgrieve had her beautiful sepia photography for sale

 

and, of course, food was everywhere !!! Wine too !!

and good friends showed up to lend support....and buy!!

Artists Linda Hahola (l) and Patti Behan (r)

Colleen Colquhoun...who owns The Artsy Soul in Manahawkin and gives amazing classes in mixed media art...in her very F-A-B-U-L-O-U-S mixed media store !!!!

and I was very pleased that I sold a LOT of pieces that I made (these were just a few)

 

so. if you live in the general area be sure to make some time to visit Carla Gizzi, The Artsy Soul and Riverbank Antiques for your holiday shopping. They'll have everything you could possibly need !

 

Not the Usual

The other night The Lenster and I went into NYC to see Billy Crystals "700 Sundays" at the Imperial Theater. It was remarkable! A one man show all about the 700 Sundays he spent with his dad who died at a young age. You can read the terrific review of it HERE and see a glimpse. I'd see it again, in a heartbeat!

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Before the show I had to make a stop at camera mecca...B&H Camera on 39th & 9th avenue. The worlds largest and most complete store for anything related to audio/visual.

my faithful DSLR was running extremely slow and I thought it needed an overhaul...but, guess what I learned...it all had to do with my memory card. I wasn't using a Class 10 card...I was in the dark ages with a Class 6. Now the camera is fast and happy again! WHO KNEW, Did You?

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Usually I post the typical NYC pictures but this time I decided to give you a little bit of a different glimpse...midtown Manhattan for real..

 

 

 

 

 

 

Like I said....Not the usual...! Hope you enjoyed!


 

Come On Down

Today was a fun kind-a-day.

I've NEVER ever done a retail booth at a juried show but I said okay to the yearly Jewels of New Jersey show at the Monroe Township Public Library.

They had a decent crowd of people....now, did they want to spend money on anything...not so much!!!

All the vendors were kinda complaining (to each other) that their sales weren't all that great...but...sometimes thats not the most important thing...we all made new friends !

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Got to hang with the totally adorable and so very talented Laura McHugh of vintage2glam

Lauras jewelry is wonderful

and...you can also find her on ETSY.

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Then I saw friends from long ago CHA days when they worked for EK Success....

(l) Sueann Capela and (r) Dale Nicholson

Red Carousel Lion (find them on FB)

and I got to meet a lovely young man, John McAllister who owns Mud Flower Jewelry . He does the most interesting things with metal

I told him he needs to be on social media...website, FB, twitter..hope he listens !!

John and Laura are good friends!

here's what the rest of the show looked like

you always seem to come away with ideas for better ways to display..dontcha??

These gorgeous pieces (below) are all Viking knit wire done by both Cindy and Mark Slotnick

SO...whats next...

well...save the date

November 22

well, both Laura and I (and our other friends Lisa Kettell, Leslie Marsh & Susan Fairgrieve) will be participating in a terrific show called ANTIQUING AFTER DARK run by our friends Carla Gizzi and Cheryl Figliola

Be there or be square...it's gonna be A-M-A-Z-I-N-G !!