Humble Bee Cottage

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Humble Bee Cottage

Welcome to my shop. All of the jewelry you see is handmade by me from metal clay, wire, gemstone beads and cabochons, vintage jewelry, and recycled items.

09/09/2015

I am very happy to now be sharing a booth in Redding at TRENDS VINTAGE MARKETPLACE with Rhonda Edwards. Most of my jewelry is now on display there, along with Rhonda's painted furniture and our handmade holiday displays and crafts.

09/09/2015

This has been a very busy and exciting year for me as an artist. Early this year I took several classes at Mendocino Art Center on jewelry making in metal clay and in metalsmithing. The classes were very informative and hands-on. I came away with many new techniques and tips to further my skills in jewelry design. Since then I have been practicing those new skills, and I am quite happy with my new designs.

16/10/2014

FROM OOPS TO WOW
In the creative process, that old adage "When life hands you lemons make lemonade" is all too true. My years of experience as an artist, particularly a watercolorist, taught me that it was unrealistic to expect every painting to be a masterpiece. I often found the paintings I deemed "lemons" to later become my most successful ones. Because they were no longer precious to me, I was free to rework the paintings without any preconceived ideas. Lemons to lemonade.
That adage holds true in my jewelry making pursuits as well. I have a drawer full of "lemons", pieces of metal clay that did not fire properly, or simply did not come together as expected. Sometimes as I redirect my focus to a new project, one of these "lemons" will catch my attention and a new solution will pop into my head. The old lemon turned into a successful new piece. Such was the case with a pair of textured steel lentil beads that had originally been designed to be a pair of earrings. When a firing mishap caused the bead holes to close, I had no way to attach the beads to the earwires and consequently the beads were thrown into the "lemon" drawer. But sometimes the lemonade has a life of its own, just evolving out of the lemon, and so it was in this case. Wrapping the bead in silver bezel wire enabled me to attach a wire bail, framing the textured bead in silver, and resulting in a pendant that was better than the original intent. So here's to lemonade! Bottoms up!

08/10/2014

TWO FOR THE PRICE OF ONE

Lee: Below is a selfie of my dear friend Cleo and me at one of our
"Tea Conferences". We are looking pretty frazzled after several hours of chatting, and planning.
Cleo: Hi! My name is Cleo and I am writing Lee's facebook blog. "That's strange," you say. But you wouldn't say that if you knew us! We have been close friends for over 30 years. You know, sharing little secrets, discussing the operations of our place of employment, telling funny family stories, lifting each other up when we are down. Because of our friendship Lee and I have a mutal admiration society. She thinks I have talents that she doesn't have (it's true, she does...Lee) but I'm not sure of that. I see in her a lot of creativity and artistic talent (probably more credit than I deserve...Lee) she draws, she paints, she landscapes, and now she is making absolutely delicious jewelry! (absolutely guaranteed to be calorie free for those of you like us who are on diets!...LOL, Lee) Okay, I know! That still doesn't explain why I am writing her blog. Here goes! Lee is deeply immersed in her jewelry making, inundated by visions, designs, and new techniques, so much so that she rarely finds time to keep up on writing. That's where I enter the picture. When Lee needs a break, we meet over a cup of tea and she tells me what she wants to communicate, and I take notes. I write them up for her approval, correct any misinformation, and there y' go! ISo you see its not so strange; its just a matter of friendship. From now on I will be in the shadows behind the words, but all that is written will be straight from the horse's mouth - that is from Lee. See Lee's jewelry on ETSY (www.etsy.com/humblebeecottage) and give us a response, or just say "Hello"! We plan to post every Wednesday so watch for us, we'd love to hear from you.

24/02/2014

MIX & MATCH!
A fashion concept advocating careful selections of new clothing items to coordinate with those already in your closet. It'a a great way to add versatility and freshness to your wardrobe.

The same principle holds true when purchasing jewelry. Look for pieces that will coordinate with your old standbys. That way you can have fun layering your new jewelry with the old favorites, whether it's necklaces or bracelets, and at the same time give a fresh accent to an old outfit.

In the process of designing my most recent pieces, I have kept this mix & match concept in mind, and I hve displayed a few possibilities on my Etsy site. Layering jewelry using the mix & match principle is fun and easy...just remember there are no hard and fast rules. Your jewelry does not have to match your outfit and you can layer as many pieces as you feel comfortable wearing.

Have fun, be bold, and feel good!

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+15305274725

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http://www.etsy.com/people/humblebeecottage

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