What is a jewelry maker in Maine to do when mother nature throws freezing temps and a couple big snowstorms your way? You stoke that fire and HOT FORGE! I'm lucky to have a nice little woodstove that sits right behind me in my jewelry making lair. I've been taking advantage of those hot coals to play with some hot forging. I'm not very good at it yet as I've always just cold forged. I haven't come up with anything very interesting yet and certainly nothing you would call jewelry, but I'm having fun getting that metal glowing red hot and then hammering away!

WOW!! Is it true that I have been away from selling my jewelry online for almost 4 years now?!! 

My bath & body products took off so well that that business took over my whole life and my jewelry took a back seat. Turns out, I have to make some changes as I seem to be super sensitive to the fragrances that I use to make my bath & body products so I have to make a major change with that business. I have been a bit depressed about the whole deal, but then I thought....hey, I've missed selling my jewelry online, so maybe I can tone down the bath & body product line a bit and put some focus back in my jewelry. 

I never intended to my bath & body products to take off so fast. It was supposed to be something to fill in the gaps in sales of my jewelry until the Black Horse Designs brand became more well known. It turned out that my Wicked Scentuals brand of products took off like wildfire and the jewelry had to take a back seat and then became virtually non-existent. 

I never stopped making jewelry however. I would still make pieces here and there for myself, friends and family and I could be caught drooling over Etsy jewelry items in any spare time I had (which wasn't much).

I'm heartbroken about the Wicked Scentuals line. It was doing so well that I was just turning into a full fledged business as I was just starting to make a good income from it. I was known for having over 200 scents to pick from in my line and now I have to eliminate all of those and go to only unscented or essential oil scented only. I don't think that will be well received. It's like starting from scratch all over again, trying to build up a good customer base and reputation.

I am really trying to turn this into a positive however....being able to put the focus back into my jewelry designing is so exciting for me! Once again I have all of these design ideas filling my head and I find myself so excited to go to work. 

I just started listing items in my Etsy store and will continue to add more items as I make them, so be watching out for them.

I"M BACK!!!!!  :0)

New Designs listed on Etsy

I've been busy creating soaps and such for my other Etsy store, but I finally found some time to make and list a couple more things...

One of the Necklaces I created with Tammi's Bead

And here is the first Necklace I created with one of Tammi's Lampwork Beads! See how easy it is to make a simple piece from one of her beads? I don't like to add too much to them, feeling it would detract from their beauty and uniqueness.

Tammi's Lampwork Glass Beads

So here they are...Tammi's Lampwork Beads that I purchase from her the other night!! They are lovely and are easy to create with because they can "stand alone" with very little accent beads.

Have a local source for lampwork glass beads!!

I now have a local source for glass lampwork beads!!
My friend has been making glass beads for a while, but did not have a kiln to anneal them, so I was unable to use them in my work, but she just recently purchased a kiln, and has been going nuts, creating like a madwoman!!
We got together for dinner last night and I got to do some private shopping from her collection. I came away with 35 beads and grinning ear to ear!! I couldn't wait to start creating with them, so I made 3 necklaces today from them. I will try to get some pictures together tomorrow of the beads and necklaces.
I am so excited! Her beads are very organic and unique...totally my style!! I will also be listing some of her beads for sale in my Black Horse Supplies Etsy store soon. I need to get her to open an Etsy store...although I'm feeling a bit selfish and want her beads all to myself! LOL!!

OKAY! So I have not blogged for sooooooo long!!! LOL!

I have been busy with a couple new ventures....I opened up another Etsy Store to sell my Bath & Beauty items and Soy Candles! The response to it so far has been very good. You can visit it at http://www.wickedscentuals.etsy.com/ . I am working on an Artfire store.

I have also been teaching a Jewelry-Making Class to Middle School age kids. It is a 6 week afterschool course and we just finished week 2. The Organization that I am doing this for is Five Town Communities That Care. They are an AWESOME organization with tons of support and just wonderful support staff! I can't say enough about them! You can find them on the web at http://www.fivetownctc.org/ . Check them out! I think every community should be so lucky to have an organization like this!

I've left you with a picture of my favorite soap, my Pure Olive Oil Castile Soap...Enjoy!! :0)