Libra Gear Studio: A Chainmaille Journey

FREE SHIPPING on orders $30 and over

libragear — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 16:37:11 +0000

I am offering free shipping on orders $30 and over in both my Artfire jewelry store and my Etsy store. The items that are over $30 already have their shipping reduced. If you are buying more than one item you can either pay outright and I will refund the shipping or you can wait for an updated invoice. :) Have a great day and happy shopping.

New Pieces and Guild News

libragear — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 15:27:55 +0000

The Artfire Jewelry Design and Jewelry Supply Shops (AJDJSS) Guild is having a spring cleaning sale until May 1st. All participating stores have a section in their shop titled “Spring Cleaning”. For a list of shops participating you can visit the blog here.

In other news I have made a few new pieces lately that I will share with you. I seem to be on a creative jag at the moment. :) I have more bracelets planned, and these ear cuffs that I am making. I have two so far and more on the way. I am stepping up production in prep for Pagan Picnic in June. I want to have many new pieces for sale at this show. I also have plans for new displays, I am very excited. :)

Here are some of the new pieces. As always clicking on the picture will take you to the items listing on ArtFire.

Moroccan Agate Ear Cuff - $15	Pearl Mobius Ear Cuff - $15
Titanium Half Persian Bracelet - $22	Stainless steel flower bracelet - $18
Stainless steel wave bracelet - $18	Clasp for wave bracelet

Crafting With Bi-Polar

libragear — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 04:16:32 +0000

I started crafting for money back in 2002 as a way to earn cash for smokes and food. That was a crazy year. I had lost my job (one in a string of many) and was living on couches or with boyfriends. I did odd jobs and made hemp necklaces. As the year progressed and I became more ill things started to blow up. I move 5 times that year, couldn’t hold a job, and all of it was someone else’s fault. I had no idea that I was behaving differently, and acting weird. When I finally realized what was going on I had hit rock bottom. It was then that I found myself in my friend’s sister’s car. i had only met her a few times, and here she was taking me to the state mental hospital.

During my two week stay I got medicated and learned to make those stupid pony bead key chains. I took it a step further and made necklaces and bracelets. They allowed me to have a set of my own and under supervision I crafted. When I got out the first time I went back to hemp necklaces, and got pretty darn good at making them.

I relapsed later that fall and ended back in the hospital for the second and so far last time. After that it was a homeless shelter and then an independent living situation. And that is where I came back to chainmail. A skill I learned in the 90′s from my friend Lewis, who had long since moved out of my life. I taught myself several new weaves. I researched them at the library on my off time. I then turned to making chainmaille jewelry.

I have been making it ever since. As my bi-polar progresses and I seem to have good spells where I am creative and a jewelry making fool, whether it is chainmaille or other crafts, and then the bad times hit where I am both manic, depressed, and psychotic (non-violent, mostly a condition call hyper-vigilance, seeing stuff, hearing stuff, smelling stuff, and mild paranoia.) all in one go. I face this in cycles. During those times nothing gets done until the upswing happens again. It is an interesting illness to me. When I am feeling good I am feeling REALLY good, when bad, REALLY REALLY bad. When I am in either state I don’t really know I am there. It is not until I return to “normal” that I realize, “oh I was manic, or man It was bad.”

Lately I have been on a bad spell, but it would seem that I am coming out of it as the weather becomes warmer. Crafting is being done again. I hope that this will last a while, I would also like to be able to leave the house and do stuff again, I am taking baby steps though.

I go through times where I wonder if my stuff is good enough, will people like it, I am unsure of everything I do (most of the time). This spills over into daily life and I question the validity of what I feel or don’t feel in some cases.

Creating jewelry has always been my anchor since I started 7 years ago with simple hemp jewelry and wing nuts and washers. As I struggle to keep my head above the water on a daily basis, I know that if I can make something (even if it takes 3 days) then all is ok. It is how I gauge my day. I had a crafty day, or I had a not so crafty day, or I had a bad day. I hope that wherever I wind up in the future I will be able to craft.

More than you wanted to know I am sure, but I feel like rambling this evening. I will have to deal with this the rest of my life. With each med change it gets better, then breakthrough symptoms happen and it gets bad again. It is a journey I suppose, and meds, the people who love me, crafting, the Grateful Dead all see me through.

Giving Etsy Another Try

libragear — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 18:08:17 +0000

I have decided to give Etsy another try instead of letting my store gradually expire. So for now I can also be found at http://libragear.etsy.com. I like both Etsy and Artfire, so I am going to do both. The stores will be identical, same stuff in each. If I run a sale in one I will run it in the other also.

Right now both stores have the Spring Cleaning section, and both have had the Stimulus Pricing applied. I figure it will give buyers both options of where they want to shop. :)

Have a wonderful day, and come buy my stuff! :P

AJDJSS Spring Cleaning Sale

libragear — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 12:43:17 +0000

The Artfire Jewelry Design and Jewelry Supply Shop guild is having a group spring cleaning sale starting on the 17th of April and running until the 1st of May. You can get a list of participating stores here on the guild blog. There is also a treasure hunt along with the sale, more info can be had on the blog also. You can win prizes from some of the artists, there is a slideshow on the blog of the prizes. :) Have a wonderful day and happy shopping.

PS: The participating stores will all have a sale section in their shops starting on the 17th. I have started early by have the sale both in the store as well as the sale section where things are marked down even further. :)

Last Week For Easter Egg Hunt

libragear — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 12:30:22 +0000

We are entering the last week for the Art Fire Easter Egg Hunt. You still have time to collect the letters from the stores participating, enter them, and unscramble the sentence. You can win gift vouchers for the participating stores. This is a great way to get to see some of the wonderful artists on Art Fire, and win a mini shopping spree. :) The info for the hunt is here. Have a wonderful day and happen decoding. :)

Mini Magnolia Necklace

libragear — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 14:11:43 +0000

Yesterday I finished a new piece. I liked the large Magnolia necklace so much that I decided to make a mini version of it. This one uses a captive ring weave known as helm for both the flower and the chain. It is 16 inches long and would best suit someone with a neck no bigger that 15 inches, although I can always make it longer. It is made from stainless steel and has a handmade toggle clasp. As always clicking on the picture will take you to the listing. Have a wonderful day, and happy shopping. :)

Mini Magnolia Necklace - $30	Full shot of necklace
Closeup of Helm chain	Closeup of toggle clasp

Stimulus Pricing

libragear — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 01:59:34 +0000

After much going back and forth between I am my financial adviser (dad) I have come to a new pricing plan. The bottom line is that I want to see my jewelry on people, but I also want to make a little extra cash so I can do things like buy a left handed violin, and stuff. So, in light of this I have decided to slash prices across the board (this is not a sale, this a permanent move). I am happy with the result and I hope you are too. My dreams of bringing chainmaille to the masses will hopefully be realized soon (and I might get my violin after all). So come one and all to the Art Fire store and see what has become of the mutilated prices. :) Spend money so I can. lol Have a great night readers. :)

Libra Gear On Artfire

Busy Day

libragear — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 14:15:36 +0000

Yesterday was a busy day here at Libra Gear Studios. After a dry spell creativity wise I made several new pieces and tried a new chainmaille weave called Jen’s Pind Linkage. All in all I am very happy with the results and am planning on making more earrings today, and perhaps a couple of bracelets, we will see. It has been a long time since I have made either and I think it is about time that I need new ones.

I have a spring cleaning sale section going in my studio on Art Fire. The jewelry in that section is marked down 10 – 20%. The prices are already marked down so there is no need to wait for an updated invoice. One of the key features of Art Fire that made it appealing to me is that you don’t need an account to shop there. You can just check out like normal without signing in.

Here is a look at what I made yesterday, as always clicking on the picture will take you to the items listing.

Jen's Pind Garnet Necklace - $30	Jen's Pind Full Shot
Garnet Mobius Earrings - $5	Steampunk Clockwork Earrings - $8
Steampunk Clockwork Necklace - $35	Steampunk Necklace Full Shot
Bone Flower Earrings - $7	Indian Coin Earrings - $7
Brass Prayer Bead Earrings - $7	Bone Skull Earrings - $7

Art Fire Easter Egg Hunt – Find the Eggs win prizes.

libragear — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 14:07:54 +0000

We are having an Easter egg hunt on Art Fire. here are the rules: (you can visit the Easter Egg blog for more details. The eggs are very colorful and once you find them in a shop you will know. :)

You will find (on the Egg blog) a A list of the participating studios is on the blog as well. It is on the fill in form for this contest. This contains tips to help you navigate Artfire.com and find all the Easter Eggs.

When you find them all you will find that each egg has a letter on it ( or the word “space”) ! (the eggs will be hidden somewhere in the studio. It may be in an item incorporated in a photo, or a photo itself, it may be in the banner of avatar. The fun is in the looking. And also in seeing great things from the participating studios. :)

Use all the letters to make a sentence.

The sentence has to be in exact order to score all points.
Even if you manage to assemble a sentence different from mine ( always a possibility I guess) with all those letters it will not be counted as correct.

When you start assembling the sentence you will see when it is correct :) ….( now that is a seriously big tip )

Fill in the answer form and submit.

You can win prizes also:

highest score : 50$ gift voucher
second highest : 20$ gift voucher
third highest : 10$ gift voucher

When?

The Easter Egg hunt starts on April 1st 2009 and will run for 3 weeks ! You have plenty of time to find the answer.