Top 10 List, Week Ending 12/17/16

Without further ado....

1. SILVER
2. FLOWER
3. POLYMER (TIED FOR 3RD)
4. STERLING (TIED FOR 3RD)
5. WHITE (TIED FOR 3RD)
6. BLUE (TIED FOR 3RD)
7. UNIQUE (TIED FOR 7TH)
8. GOLD (TIED FOR 7TH)
9. MALECITE (TIED FOR 7TH)
10. WIRE (TIED FOR 7TH)

... and the weirdest word that I did not include was BOOK.

Now go be inspired to make some UNIQUE!

Top 10 List, Week Ending 12/10/16

Ok, I don't know if anyone noticed or not, but it occurred to me today that I totally forgot to do the Top 10 list yesterday.  So, better late than never I guess, here it is:

1. SILVER
2. BLUE
3. CHARM
4. PEARL (TIED FOR 4TH)
5. GREEN (TIED FOR 4TH)
6. GLASS (TIED FOR 4TH)
7. TURQUOISE (TIED FOR 4TH)
8. GOLD (TIED FOR 4TH)
9. FLOWER (TIED FOR 9TH)
10. WHITE (TIED FOR 9TH)
11. BLACK (TIED FOR 9TH)
12. FROG (TIED FOR 9TH)

Noticeably absent this week is "STERLING" which came in at #13.  The weirdest word that I didn't include was "FOOTBALL", which was tied for 4th with all the others.

Now go make some awesome jewelry!

Disclaimer:  My sample involves tweets pertaining to handmade necklaces, earrings, bracelets and rings.  So if your jewelry does not fit in to one of those categories, it is not included.

Top 10 List, Week Ending 12/3/16

Drum roll please.......

1. SILVER
2. GIFT
3. PEARL
4. GOLD  (TIED FOR 4TH)
5. LEATHER  (TIED FOR 4TH)
6. STERLING  (TIED FOR 6TH)
7. MOSAIC  (TIED FOR 6TH)
8. COFFEE (TIED FOR 8TH)
9. COPPER (TIED FOR 8TH)
10. JADE (TIED FOR 8TH)
11. GREEN (TIED FOR 8TH)
12. BOHO (TIED FOR 8TH)
13. GLASS (TIED FOR 8TH)

Apparently everyone was busy celebrating the Thanksgiving holiday, because there were a lot less tweets, which could be the cause of so many ties.  Bonus:  The weirdest word I came across (in relation to handmade jewelry) was "SOAP", which makes me wonder if the word "coffee" was referring to a color, or to the beverage!

Now go make something!

Top 10 List, Week Ending 11/26/16

Things were so hectic today after traveling out of town for Thanksgiving and getting back late last night, I almost forgot to do the top 10!  Anyway, I remembered just in time (before midnight!)  Here it is:

1. SILVER
2. GEM/GEMSTONE
3. STERLING
4. BLUE
5. NATURAL
6. GLASS
7. FLOWER
8. PINK
9. HEART
10. PEARL

BONUS:  #11 is a tie between CHARM and FROG!  And the weird word that I didn't include was EYE.

Now go make some handmade jewelry!

Top 10 List, Week Ending 11/18/16

Here we go:

1. SILVER
2. GOLD
3. STERLING
4. GLASS
5. BLUE
6. TIED:  ROSE AND CRYSTAL
7. GEM
8. GREEN
9. FLOWER 
10. BLACK

Hope that gives you some inspiration for the week.  

Here's a bonus, maybe I'll do it every week if I have material.  The weirdest word. that I didn't include because I'm not sure it had anything to do with jewelry, was TEA.  Go figure.  Tea bag earrings perhaps?

Next week, instead of ending with Friday, I'm going to end with Saturday.  I have noticed that a lot of handmade jewelry tweets seem to go out on Saturday, so that should make the list slightly more current.

Top 10 List, Week Ending 11/11/16

Drum roll please.....

1. SILVER
2. GLASS
3. BLUE 
4. WHITE
5. MURANO
6. STERLING
7. PEARL
8. FLOWER
9. GOLD
10. GEMSTONE

Now go make some handmade jewelry!

Top 10 List, Week Ending 11/4/16

There were a lot of tweets this week.  Drum roll please......

1. SILVER
2. STERLING
3. GOLD
4. GIFT
5. BLUE
6. PEARL
7. GLASS
8. WHITE
9. PINK
10. ROSE-TURQUOISE-CRYSTAL (3 WAY TIE)

NOW GO BE INSPIRED!

Top 10 List, Week Ending 10/28/16

Here we go:

1. SILVER
2. STERLING
3. GOLD
4. BEAD
5. BLUE
6. FLOWER 
7. COPPER 
8. PEARL
9. MARBLE
10. SENSITIVE

Be inspired!

Top 10 List, Week Ending 10/21/16

Following are the top ten terms used on twitter for last week:

1. SILVER
2. GLASS
3. STERLING
4. BLUE
5. CHARM
6. CHRISTMAS
7. PINK
8. MURANO
9. PURPLE
10. HEART

Hope this gives you some inspiration!

Top 10 List, Week Ending 10/14/16

 Here are the top terms for last week:

1. SILVER
2. BLUE
3. GOLD
4. FLOWER
5. BEAD
6. GIFT
7. GLASS
8. PHOTOGRAPHY
9. WHITE
10. CRYSTAL

Be inspired!

Art on the Green

This last weekend I was down in French Lick, Indiana for the Art on the Green show.  I have been working on my display.  Here are a couple photos of how it looked on Saturday, although it was very windy, so there were certain display pieces that I did not put out.

The highlight of the weekend was that I won 3rd Place in the show:

The part of the weekend I would like to forget was that incident involving my husband and the clown.....

Just kidding!

Top 10, Week Ending 10/7/16

Here we go:

1. SILVER
2. BEAD
3. GOLD
4. GLASS
5. FLOWER
6. GIFT
7. FASHION
8. CRAFTY
9. CHARM
10. COPPER

Hope that gives your some inspiration!  Have fun!

Top 10, Week Ending 9/30/16

Here we go:

1. SILVER
2. ART
3. PHOTOGRAPHY
4. STERLING
5. GOLD
6. BLUE
7. GIFT
8. BEAD
9. PINK
10. BLACK

Hope this inspires you to make some new jewelry!

Top 10, Week Ending 9/23/16

I have to preface this by saying that there seemed to be a lot less tweets this week.  Maybe something was going on elsewhere.  That gave me less data, so it is more likely that something could skew these results.  With that said, here they are:

1. SILVER
2. STEAMPUNK
3. GLASS
4. LEATHER
5. AGATE
6. GREEN
7. HIPPY
8. COPPER
9. HEART
10. BANGLE

Hope this inspires you to make something creative!

Top 10, Week Ending 9/16/16

Oops!  I got distracted yesterday and forgot to post this.  Sorry about that.  Anyway, here it is:

1. SILVER
2. ART
3. PINK
4. BLUE
5. BEAD
6. GOLD
7. GLASS
8. PHOTOGRAPHY
9. WHITE
10. FLOWER

Now go make some inspired jewelry!

Top 10, Week Ending 9/9/16

Well, it's Monday, so here we go.  Top 10 trending words in handmade jewelry on twitter for last week:

1. SILVER
2. QUARTZ
3. ONYX
4. GREEN
5. BLUE
6. BLACK
7. GOLD 
8. TURQUOISE
9. GLASS
10. PINK

As always, this is not scientific.  

Now go, be inspired!

Top 10, Week Ending 9/2/16

You may have been wondering where my top 10 list was on Friday.  I was getting ready for a show, but I also decided it would be a good idea to switch this to Monday.  (Tuesday this week because of the holiday.)  That way when I have info for the week ending on Friday, I can get all of the Friday info included.  
If you have been following these, you know that I am still refining my data collection process.  This week I have greatly expanded the data, and in doing so, I believe I have just the handmade.  Hopefully it will get us more meaningful results.

Here goes:

TOP 10 HANDMADE JEWELRY TERMS ON TWITTER FOR THE WEEK ENDING 9/2/2016

1. SILVER
2. STERLING
3. QUARTZ
4. BLUE
5. GREEN 
6. PINK
7. TURQUOISE
8. JEWEL
9. GOLD
10. BEAD

Here are the usual disclaimers:  This is not scientific, and it is overwhelmingly handmade with a little bit of vintage. Happy creating!  

Top 10, Week Ending 8/26/16

Here are the top 10 trends for handmade and vintage jewelry on Twitter for the week:

1.  Glass
2. Silver
3. Seaside
4. Gemstone
5. Men (Tie)
6. Sterling (Tied with #5)
7. Flower
8. Upcycle
9. Leather
10. Copper

As usual, this is not scientific, and handmade is weighted more heavily than vintage.

Top 10, Week Ending 8/19/16

I'm starting to get this down to a weekly routine.  This week I deleted necklace, earrings, bracelet, ring because they would always take four of the top ten spots.  It's starting to get interesting:

1. BLUE
2. TREE (A THREE-WAY TIE FOR #2)
3. BEAD (TIED FOR #2)
4. STEAMPUNK (TIED FOR #2)
5. MEN  (A FOUR WAY TIE FOR #5)
6. PAPER (TIED FOR #5)
7. LEATHER (TIED FOR #5)
8. MURANO (TIED FOR #5)
9. GEMSTONE
10. SEASIDE

This weights handmade more than vintage, and is not an exact science.  

Top Ten WE 8/12/2016

1. Silver (including Sterling)
2. Earring
3. Pearl
4. Necklace
5. Bracelet
6. Ring (including Wedding Band)
7. Gold (including 14K)
8. Wedding
9. Turquoise
10. White

This is not scientific by any standard!  These are compiled from tweets having to do with handmade and vintage jewelry.  Handmade is weighted much more than vintage.

I'm thinking maybe next week I will leave out earring, bracelet, necklace and ring because they are always in there. Leaving them out may give us some more useful information.  What do you think?

Top Ten WE 8/5/2016

• Necklace
• Bracelet
• Earrings
• Sterling Silver
• Turquoise
• Gemstone
• Beaded
• White
• Crystal
• Flower

These are compiled from tweets having to do with handmade and vintage jewelry.  They are not exactly in order, but the ones at the top of the list were mentioned more than the ones at the bottom of the list, and handmade is weighted more than vintage.

Weekly Jewelry Trends 7/29/16

Today I am going to try something new.  I have picked (according to my calculations) the top ten trends this week for handmade and vintage jewelry on Twitter.  These are based on tweets.  We'll have to wait and see if this is successful, or if I come up with the same thing each week.  Success would be not coming up with the same ten items each week!

Anyway, drum roll please.....    Here they are:

• Bracelet
• Pearl
• Blue
• Necklace
• Sterling Silver
• Gold
• Agate
• Jasper
• Gift Ideas
• Gemstone

These are not necessarily in exact order, although the ones at the top were definitely mentioned more than the ones at the bottom.  It's not an exact science.

I hope these give all the jewelry makers out there some inspiration for the week ahead!  Next week maybe I'll even have a graphic!

Introduction to Precious Metal Clay

The other day I held a metal clay class at the Lakeland Art Gallery.  I thought it might be fun to share what we were working on.

This class was meant for people with no experience, and we were going to make a simple stamped silver pendant (or earrings).  I told them to think about what they wanted to make first.  The clay dries out rather quickly, so you have to have a plan.  That doesn't mean that you can't change your mind in the middle of it, but a plan helps.

Picture by Melodie Koher

Everyone had fun looking at all the stamps and textures I had brought, trying to decide which they wanted to use and how.

Once we got to rolling out the clay, some had a little anxiety, while others really got busy creating.  It is fun to see all the different things people come up with given the same set of instructions.  

Picture by Melodie Koher

In the end, everyone got their pieces dried, sanded and ready to fire.  It was hard for them to imagine that their fragile clay pieces would turn into solid silver.





The next week, after I took the pieces home and fired them in the kiln, everyone got their pieces back.  They had shrunk slightly, and were white, not silver.  A little brushing with soapy water though quickly revealed the silver under the white residue.  Then we got to experiment with a liver of sulfur patina.  We got some great colors, and everyone liked their patina so much, for the most part, they didn't want to remove any of it.  

Here is a look at the finished pieces of my students:

If you are in Northern Indiana and interested in taking a class, subscribe to my Facebook page for notifications on new class offerings.

Moving Pains: Jewelry Tips Blog

The last few months, I have been making a lot of changes.  It became apparent last spring that I would need to find a new home for my online store, which also seemed the perfect time to split it up into multiple stores that had a cohesive group of products.  In addition, my old store had my "jewelry tips" blog, which I admit has been neglected lately.

I initially moved the first jewelry tips blog post here on blogger, but then I decided that it might be hard for people to find just that series of articles.  So you may have noticed that my last entry here disappeared.  It has been moved to my website, where the jewelry tips will have a place all their own.

Jewelry Tips: Eye Pins and Wrapped Loops

In the future, you can find it on my website at www.shanghaitai.com.  You can also sign up to receive notifications of future jewelry tips articles by clicking here.

The new website has links to my new stores (which I will tell you about in the next post), news, a calendar of upcoming events, links to some free tutorials and other videos, in addition to the new jewelry tips blog.  I hope you will check it out and I would welcome your feedback in the comments below.