One of my druzy necklaces has been featured in Kelly Caroline’s Henna Art Blog:
http://www.kellycaroline.com/2012/05/druzy-jewelry/
Check it out! :)
New Stuff up on Etsy!
http://www.etsy.com/shop/littlemetalmerchant?ref=si_shop
Now I offer gold fill, sterling silver, silver fill and coming soon argentium jewelry!
If there’s anything you’d like to see or have any comments or suggestions, I’m always happy to hear from you! :)
It’s that time of year again!
Okay yeah Valentine’s Day…woot…but also Wicked Faire is right around the corner!
A timeline of what’s happening with Little Metal Merchant in February:
Feb 7—-Deadline for any purchases to be shipped out in time for Valentine’s. For International Orders, I can’t guarantee it’ll make it to you by then.
Feb 15th at midnight—-Little Metal will be closed until Feb 19th at least since I shall be packing up my stuff for Wicked. I also ship Mon, Wed and Fridays so any orders before Wednesday the 15th will go out on time.
Feb 17—-Little Metal Merchant will be at Wicked Faire for the weekend—-come visit us at the Doubletree Hotel in Somerset, NJ. They’ll be plenty of chainmail goodies to pick from. :) More info: http://wickedfaire.com/
A sneak peak at what I’ll be selling at Wicked Faire next month. Also coming soon: Heart Titanium Druzies in time for Valentine’s Day! More info coming soon on Wicked or check my Facebook/Twitter for Updates.
New Stuff up on Etsy (click on image)!This is the final batch for 2011. :)
I call this one “Malice in Wonderland”. I had picked up this druzy around the time I had ordered rabbit charms and I figured I was either going to do a corrupt alice in wonder land type theme or something post apocalyptic. The druzy has mostly brownish tones but then just in that left side there, it’s green. One of a kind due to the fact I’ll probably never find a druzy that looks like this again.
Final News Update before we head into 2012
I have three things to mention in this entry:
1-International Shipping
2-What you’ll see more of (by observation of customer browsing)
3-what you’ll see more of (exploring vintage inspired designs with chainmail)
+International Shipping+
Earlier this month I decided to expand my shipping options beyond the US and Canada and now ship to Australia, Germany, The UK, and The Netherlands. All are shipped First Class International unless otherwise requested. For more expensive purchases($70.00 and above), I will upgrade to Registered Mail for no additional charge.
Christmas 2011 Gift Designs I made for friends
Every year, I make jewelry for my friends using a design I haven’t yet previously used. I almost never use the exact same look again in jewelry that’s made after my christmas gift batch. Here’s a look at what I made them this year. The themes are made in accordance to what my friends like and colors/metals/styles they’ve worn in recent months.
The first one was done as a pirate theme. These and all my other earrings made for this batch were asymmetrical style.
A post about Niobium: The forgotten metal
Unless you’ve worked/visited a jewelry/craft supply store that specializes in metals or studied the Periodic Table of Elements, you may or may not have heard of Niobium.
What is Niobium? It’s a natural hypo-allergenic metal and probably one of the few allergy friendly base metals out there. (The most common base metals are nickel, brass and copper. The most common allergy prone metal being nickel.)
Who is Niobium ideal for? Because it’s just about impossible to be allergic to Niobium, anyone with even the worst metal allergies should be fine with Niobium. Even some of the more allergy friendly metals can be an issue for some. Sterling Silver is only 92.5% silver with the remaining 7.5% being usually copper. Gold Fill and Silver Fill contain brass. Vermeil is gold with sterling underneath. Ideal for those who can wear sterling but high in cost due to the rising prices of both gold and silver. German Silver is a mix of base metals, including nickel. Most people are able to wear solid gold but the current market price for gold is high so I do not plan to carry them.
Earring Cards <3 I already had all the materials at home: cardstock, photoshop, tacks, printer and scissors.
The set of three necklaces are inverted round ‘captive’ silver fill chainmail with Swarovski inside. The drops below them are semi-precious gemstones: Olive Quartz, Mystic Pink Quartz and Blue Topaz.
The two small pendants are small European 4-1 niobium chainmail with Olive Quartz and Ice Quartz.
The third necklace is a test design I made Friday night. This one will not go up for sale but more will be made most likely. I like to test some of my pieces for durability and comfort before making them for others. This is made using the Rhinos Snorting Drano weave(almost nearly the same weave as Barrel) and uses crystal quartz shards and tarnish resistant matte coral-esque beads.
Mind over Metal: A contemplation about Black Friday
When I was a kid, I had no concept of Black Friday. I knew the Daily News had a huge catalog from Toys R Us every year and I checked for it Sundays religiously so I could make a Channukah list for Santawitz. Little did I know people were killing each other at department stores the night after Thanksgiving. In fact I’ve gone once to Black Friday at Best Buy just to say I did it. Never ever again. And just to ask with the violence that follows this epic sale…why is it always Walmart? Like 80% of what I’ve read online today was all Walmart this and that…although I have to admit pepper spray is a new one.
Cyber Mondays were unheard of…actually come to think of it, I’ve only heard of it maybe the last few years? And now they have Small Business Saturday, which was today.
New earrings!
Materials: bright aluminum, red brass, niobium, london blue topaz, moss amethyst
Weaves: Barrel for Amethyst, Barrel..ish for the London Blue Topaz pair.
Both are available for sale at my table next month on Dec 10th.
Welcomings and Explanations
Welcome to the new Little Metal Merchant site! For what it’s worth, I loved using Wix and for those who did get to see the site for the last year and 3/4, I did do the entire layout from scratch. Little Metal Merchant will be open 2 years in January 2012 and has gone through many different features and changes all with the same goals of wanting to provide my customers with unique jewelry and a simple but great shopping experience. I will continue these goals into the upcoming year and beyond but I want to go over some of the changes, what’s stayed the same and why…:
