GMGA Designs

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2010-04-17T02:17:00.001-04:00

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Migrating the gallery... gah.

2010-04-17T02:04:00.002-04:00

So yes, it's been a while. I feel like I'm always saying that.

Yes, I've been making jewelry. Most of what I've been working on lately are commissions, simpler earrings, things that really don't photograph well, etc.

In other news, I've gotten the Pink Room into some semblance of order (complete with customized U-shaped desk) and hope to get started on some new concepts. I am now the proud owner of two sets of letter stamps, among other things.

I've added a bunch more pics to the new gallery in hopes of making this a true one-stop site for my jewelry. I was really sick of saying, "Well, here's my jewelry site, but the gallery there's not working, so let me send you to this other site instead..." *twitch*

Now that I'm just about done migrating the gallery, it looks like it's time for me to figure out how to migrate the blog. Yes, if you go to http://designs.gmga.net it looks like one smoothly integrated site (well, ideally speaking, anyway) but in reality there's a bit of madness behind the scenes...

...seriously?

2010-02-10T22:24:00.002-05:00

Can it be? An actual update?

(I'll give you a minute for someone to grab some smelling salts and retrieve your fainted body from the floor.)

But apparently stranger things have happened. Thing is, people keep asking about the jewelry and I have to admit sheepishly that I haven't done as much with the ol' website as I'd like. Now I'm finding myself done with school, working not as full time as I'd thought, so why not put in some so-called work on the site?

First order of business: new gallery. Now to get the rest of the shinies moved over...

Open House!

2008-11-24T20:52:00.004-05:00

I can't exactly call it "annual" because I haven't done one in the past couple of years, but I will be hosting a holiday open house on Sunday, December 7 from 12:30 to 5. If you're reading this now, it means you're invited! (That's why they call it an "open house", after all.)

In addition to my existing inventory, I will also be taking orders for custom jewelry at the party. Choose from any beads I have in stock for guaranteed delivery by December 23!

So if you'll be in the area and plan on stopping by, feel free to contact me for directions. Come for the jewelry, stay for free food and great times!

Book Your Party Now!

2008-08-14T11:41:00.003-04:00

Just a quick note to any of you who might have been considering a home party. Don't hesitate to book a party just because I'm going back to classes in the fall! While I will be finishing up nursing school over the next nine months, I won't be starting up another day job until January at the earliest, which will give me plenty of time to make jewelry.

So if you've been thinking about it but held off thinking I might be too busy, now's a great time to schedule your own party. Stop by the party information page for more info, or fill out the contact form so I can answer any of your questions directly.

Taking the (Sparkly) Plunge

2008-08-14T11:29:00.002-04:00

I just received the e-mail confirmation of my latest bead order.

Now ordinarily this wouldn't be a particularly big deal (other than the anticipation of shinies to come) but it's perhaps the biggest little order I've ever made. I just officially ordered my first mini-stash of diamond beads. The diamond beads I've seen in the past seem to fall into two categories: exceedingly high quality beads that are droolworthy and decidedly unrealistic to just have floating around in my base stock; and glittery diamond chips that while pretty, are generally too expensive for me to justify. So this was a big step for me.

Admittedly, some of the mini-stash will be going towards a set of jewelry for myself. My mother's wedding is in October, and I've been asked to be the matron of honor. Obviously I accepted, and now that I have my dress, jewelry is the next logical step.

The diamonds I ordered are by no means high quality in the traditional sense - they're a translucent milky white to silver. From the picture they did seem to have a nice amount of sparkle, though. I'm planning on pairing them up with some mauve pearls, or maybe a bit of pink amethyst.

So we'll see how the experiment goes once the diamonds show up in the mail. In the meantime, I get to look forward to getting something decidedly sparkly in my mailbox!

What Waits Below - Finally Finished!

2008-07-31T08:30:00.002-04:00

At long last I've done something with that ammonite pendant!

It makes me feel like I'm figuring out this new camera - I finally got the purple to show up in some of these pics!

Available for sale in my Etsy store.

Where This All Happens

2008-07-18T18:48:00.003-04:00

For those of you who haven't actually seen my so-called workspace, here's a glimpse:

Wow, lots of bead boxes in a wall-mounted storage unit with an attached light, how utterly neat and tidy!

A closet filled with drawers of perfectly sorted yarns, wow!

Ha.

Below the ever-so-organized custom built bead storage unit is the work table. Visible tops: optional.

And the even-worse desk that made the move from my parents' basement to my "studio". The most frightening part is that comparatively speaking, this is clean.

WIP - ammonite and andalusite

2008-07-17T07:42:00.004-04:00

After a bit of deliberation, I decided to use sterling silver for the bail instead of copper. I got the front part of the spiral done and summarily pounded, but figuring out the rest of the bail was a little interesting. I think I had it in about five different configurations before settling on a smaller spiral for the back. (We'll call it "work hardening" and leave it at that, right?)

Spending all that time staring closely at the front of the ammonite made me notice something intriguing: there are hints of purple at the edges of the opalescent section. From everything I've read on the coloration of ammolite (the resulting gemstone fashioned from the opalescent bits of ammonite that are thick enough) the colors are based on the thickness of the material. Red coloration represents the thickest layers and is most common, while purple is at the end of the spectrum, represents the thinnest layers and is much more rare. Most pieces of ammolite that I've seen include red up through about green, but very little blue or purple. I don't quite know how that corresponds to the coating on my ammonite, but the purple has me encouraged, no matter how impossible it is for me to capture on a camera.

So I pretty much had to go with andalusite on this one for starters. I mean, how could I choose anything else?

I'm still debating what else I'm going to incorporate into this. I mean, pearls are a given. (They always are with me - I'm a sucker for pearls.) I have some red rutilated quartz that might be fun, but the color may be a bit too close to the andalusite for it to be effective. My fossil coral stash would be too much of a contrast, though. Decisions!

An Exercise in Bravery

2008-07-16T16:13:00.004-04:00

Has it really been that long?

As I'm writing this I'm realizing that it's been over six years since I was in Edinburgh. It's amazing how you can arrive somewhere and stay just a few days, but feel absolutely at home there. Every now and then I think about what would have happened if I'd acted on that impulse and hadn't gotten on the train back to London. I know, I know, my daughter wouldn't be here and all that, but the rock shops were just amazing.

That's enough tangent for one post, I suppose.

But it all gets me thinking because that means it's been over six years since I picked this up. Namely, one ammonite, about an inch in diameter. It was a nifty find, if not a perfect specimen. There are small opalescent sections toward the center on either side, and the rest of the outside has almost a leafy pattern to it. The outermost chamber is absolutely covered with tiny druzy crystals which I've since discovered are calcite.

It all makes for one decidedly intriguing piece despite its imperfections (namely, a small missing chunk), and I've been debating for the entire six years exactly how to use it. Wire wrapping would be no good - the metal would cover too much of the ammonite, and I'd probably wear off a lot of the opalescent coating in the process. I had pretty much decided to just stash it away and look at it now and then as a specimen.

Today I got looking at it again, and saw that there was an indentation at the center of the formation. It actually matched up on both sides. What the heck, let's start drilling.

I actually did it the right way with this one and did the drilling wet. Lots of brown muddy gunk to clear out of the way, but it did make the job a lot easier. The clamp cooperated and everything, I was quite impressed.

I have yet to decide exactly how I'll use it, but here's the finished product:

Ammonite, woo!

I'm thinking of designing some sort of very basic wire bail that I can use to cover the little missing chunk. Now then... silver or copper?

The Best Laid Plans

2008-07-13T09:21:00.003-04:00

I had thought I'd never make a pair of these earrings again.

Never mind that I've sold every pair I've ever made, never mind that I just made five pairs for a wedding, never mind any of that. It's too much of a pain, too complicated trying to figure out how to attach the bead cap without detracting from the drops, too much time and frustration for too little in return.

Then I saw these bead caps, fell in love and needed to make another pair.

The thing is, most bead caps are meant to be used as bead caps. I know that sounds strange, just bear with me. For this style of earring, you need to use a bead cap that has a lot of openwork to it. Now in general, the bead caps with all that openwork are designed to be used with large beads. Therefore, when you try to attach them to an earwire, it's difficult to do so in a manner that doesn't reveal whatever dirty trick you used to make the connection. You could rig up something with some smaller beads, but the beads are either so small that they go right through the cap, or they're large enough to be clearly visible underneath the cap.

This has all been quite possibly my largest point of frustration with this design, so when I found bead caps that have a closed loop at one end, I just had to get them. These ones were perfect: just the right amount of detail with holes at the bottom for adding the wire and chain. They'd been sitting around for a month or so until a couple of days ago, when I finally got up the nerve to sift through my beads and select 16 that would be worthy of these earrings.

I added the first and second drops, no problem. I turned the bead cap to start the third drop and discovered an issue: the third and fourth holes had been covered over with silver.

For a metal as soft as silver, you'd think it would be easier to drill. I instead found myself swearing at the clamp because it was bending the cap, swearing at the drill bits that weren't the right diameter or slowed to a crawl as soon as they hit the metal. Once I got an actual hole established, I then had to change out the bits about three times to make the hole the right size. Meanwhile, Jeff's watching all this and insisting that I'm going to break something.

I didn't.

'Rainbow Waterfall' earrings in sterling silver with Tunduru sapphires and white topaz

The End of the Experiment

2008-07-12T16:29:00.003-04:00

I've spent possibly too much time over the past several days working on my one sacrificial larimar, and I've come to a few conclusions.

1. It is certainly possible to remove the matrix with lots of grinding and polishing.

2. When starting with an 8mm bead, the stone that's left in the end is substantially smaller.

3. It's hard to hold an irregular 8mm nugget bead in a clamp.

4. Gah, but this isn't worth it!

Yeah. I'd held out high hopes for improving on this larimar, but it's just not going to happen within my lifetime. I suppose it's time to learn what I've already learned about turquoise: embrace the matrix.

I mean, I see perfect looking turquoise with no matrix and think it looks fake, even when I know it's not. I have a turquoise cabochon that I picked up a few years ago when one of the local jewelry stores was closing and liquidating their entire inventory. This turquoise is really an exceptional one, I can tell, but there's just something about that uniform opaque blue that seems a little unnatural.

So give me my turquoise with some variations in color and a touch of black matrix. Now if I could just think that way about the larimar, I'd be set to go.

What's in a Name?

2008-07-10T08:36:00.002-04:00

...that which we would call a rose by any other name, etc...

From time to time I get that question that probably anyone who has an acronym in their name has been asked at some point: "What does that stand for, anyway?"

Great Minds Get Angry?
Go Make Great Art?
Give Me Good Andalusite? (hey, I like that thought!)

Pleas for andalusite notwithstanding, none of these are quite right. The real answer is "Gray Matter Gone Amok" and although that last one in my hypothetical list really appeals to me, there's a (comparatively) long history behind the actual name.

About 10 years ago (I know, eons in the online world) I was trying to decide on a name for what would be my new personal website. I really wanted to divorce myself from the concept of my previous site, so I spent quite a bit of time thinking about the name. I wanted something that would reflect my content, which included various slightly snarky essays, lots of (admittedly bad) poetry, a growing collection of fractal art and maybe an unfinished novel or two. All that needed something a little more impressive than "Jenn's Website".

The concept of using one's brain was critical, hence the introduction of "gray matter" into the name. But it wasn't about sheer number-crunching brain power, it was about the creative process involved. Said process wasn't exactly "crazy" or "mad". It was more like calculated chaos.

a∙mok
adverb (in phrase run amok)
behave uncontrollably and disruptively:
stone-throwing anarchists running amok
figurative: her feelings seemed to be running amok

What can I say, I liked the word "amok". It actually made sense in the context. And honestly, it's fun to say. Go on, try it - I'll wait.

insert pause for dramatic effect here

So what does all that have to do with jewelry? Well, the obvious answer is that I already had the domain name and couldn't very well let it go to waste. Honestly though, domains are cheap now. Really, the same concepts that are involved in my writing and my artwork go into my jewelry. There's a sense of practicality there: writing that makes a point, art derived from mathematics, jewelry that can be worn in real life rather than just on a runway. But there's also the amok component, the dash of chaos that makes it all interesting.

I suppose it's why I adore baroque pearls, prefer my turquoise heavy on the matrix, and would much rather see a nifty inclusion than endless perfection.

My Latest Experiment

2008-07-08T20:20:00.003-04:00

A few weeks back I found something at my local bead store that I never thought I'd be able to track down for a reasonable price: a full strand of larimar nuggets. These aren't the huge ones; they average about 8mm each. The ones that are good quality are just wonderful, powder blue with swirls of robin's egg blue.

The others, though... you can find that coloration on them, but there's a lot of matrix. However, it looks like the matrix is mostly just on the surface of the stones, so if I can take off a comparatively thin layer, I can theoretically expose more of the good color (and eliminate some of the pitting along the way).

Jeff's suggestion was to grab a rock tumbler and go to town, but I want to preserve as much of the good material as I can in this process. So I've grabbed my sacrificial bead and the Dremel.

I've already found that using the standard polishing bits does next to nothing with this material, so I've broken out the diamond bits for this project. I do seem to be taking off some of the matrix, but it's a time consuming process. At this point, I still haven't quite gotten where I'd hoped to get with my one sacrificial bead, although it does look somewhat improved.

Pictures forthcoming if any of this effort is worth it...

Reclaiming the Dremel

2008-07-07T22:38:00.002-04:00

Note to self: do not use the Dremel in the presence of Jeff, as he will either mock my technique or yell at me for not using a clamp on a 4mm pearl.

That being said, it was nice actually digging out the hammer, bench block and Dremel for the first time in what seemed like forever. So much of my time is spent worrying that I might wake up a napping Erin or a snoring Jeff that I've been stuck using the manual bead reamer, much to my chagrin. But when I decided to make the earrings for this set, I wasn't about to do the reaming by hand. When you're looking to fit a 20 gauge wire through a hole drilled to accommodate maybe a 24 gauge if you're lucky, the hand reamer just doesn't cut it.

Rhodochrosite, black spinel and pearl goodness, available for purchase in my Etsy store.

Now I've Done It

2008-07-07T22:35:00.003-04:00

Yeah, I finally went ahead and created a Facebook page as one more place to show off the shinies. If that's how you got here, it's doing its job! If not, stop by and become a fan! One can never have too many fans...

Sidetracked

2008-07-01T07:13:00.003-04:00

I think I'm finally coming to the end of the mass reorganization.

I hope.

The aforementioned junk box has been cleared of its junk. Entirely. I'm currently storing some empty jars in the box, as a matter of fact.

(Side note: Is there a market for one more person to make votive candles using baby food jars? Because there's a limit to how many I need for storage, and with a small ravenous child in the house... But I just can't bear to throw them away, knowing full well that it would probably cost the same to purchase the same little jars whether they're filled with baby food or not.)

The last thing I need to do is sort out my silver, figuring out what stuff I can realistically reuse and what's going in the scrap pile. But even that's almost done; I picked up a little box yesterday for the teeny silver beads that kept sliding under the dividers in my larger box.

And it goes further than all that. My straight knitting needles are organized in two zippered cases. The circular needles are stashed in a PVC pyramid we constructed out of 1/2" pipe just for that purpose. The yarn is all safely in its drawers in the closet, organized by color and fiber. Even the scrapbooking paper is in a 12" file box now.

Which makes me wonder: can I get back to just making some jewelry now?

The organization thing is a blessing, a curse and a compulsion. Once I get started, it can't stop at just "Oh, I have all the beads in boxes now, that's good." It has to continue until I'm at "OK, I've organized the gemstone beads by shape and size, the pearls are in three separate boxes, and the hematite and mother-of-pearl have their own box because they don't go in the other categories..."

It's kind of like what would happen if Monk was a little less germaphobic and a little more creative. I get this feeling like if I start making anything new, it'll be that much more difficult to maintain this organizational scheme.

Damn. I knew I shouldn't have bought that last bead box.

So Many Shinies, So Little Time

2008-06-26T15:36:00.000-04:00

Perhaps my single largest goal over the summer is to completely organize my studio. Now, over the past couple of weeks I had made at least a small amount of progress; the tops of my work tables are actually visible now, for one thing. There is one thing, though, that has eluded me ever since my studio even came into existence: the junk box.

The junk box is a large hexagonal papier-mache box that I painted metallic purple. I had actually forgotten what was decoupaged to the lid, it's been so long since the box was actually closed. (For the record, it's a fractal print that was done so long ago, it was when the trial version of Ultra Fractal didn't put those annoying watermarks on everything.) This box has been steadily accumulating junk in it since before I moved to my current house.

By "junk", I mean "pieces of jewelry that haven't sold and are worth more broken down into their component parts". It's a "What the heck was I thinking?" box. It's a "Wow, I've come a long way since I made that!" box. It's a "Hey, didn't I have another one of those earrings somewhere?" box. Incidentally, "junk" also encompasses "I took this apart at one point but never bothered to put the beads away".

Now, I'm not saying all of this so I can boast that I finally sorted through the entire junk box, because I haven't. It's still sitting on the table, its contents mocking me. Only now, the contents are somewhat more sparse.

I can finally see the bottom of the box. Which, in my world, is another little bit of progress.

greetings, salutations, etc.

2008-06-26T09:57:00.000-04:00

Welcome to the GMGA Designs blog! You'll find all sorts of fun stuff here:

works in progress

gem and jewelry information

artisan features

sales and upcoming events

and, of course, the occasional bit of irreverence

Please pardon the dust as I get everything set up!