Weekend Wishlist – Gilder’s Paste {the homespun life: handmade jewelry}

I know it’s been months since I had anything new to show you guys in the realm of metal clay jewelry. Believe me, I miss it! I’m still working on the massive studio unpack project of 2011, but I can’t wait to get back in there and get some clay under my fingernails!

Meantime, I’m positively itching to try this stuff out:

It’s called Gilder’s Paste, and it looks unbelievably cool! While I absolutely love the intense and unforgiving process of enamel, there are times that I want a quicker result or a more “rustic” look. This stuff looks like it might provide exactly that! I absolutely love the texture and the old-world feel. Check out the products page for some amazing images from artist Lorena Angulo – I can’t get over that gorgeous rose ring!

The endless quest to get my shit together: {the homespun life – small business}

Those of you who know me at all will know that I am constantly fighting a losing battle to get (and keep) my shit together. It will come as no surprise to you, then, that despite having lived in Houston for over 2 full months now I still have yet to get my studio unpacked. Right now it looks like this:

Which, believe it or not, is a huge improvement over yesterday. Hopefully, over the next few weeks it will slowly become usable as various tools and materials emerge from their two-month hibernation. I look forward to dusting off the Fire Arts section of this blog, and maybe even posting some new jewelry items up in the shop.

In a further attempt to get my shit together, I’m attempting to schedule my writing for this blog in such a way that I can get up 5-6 posts a week. Quixotic, you say? Well, probably. But I do have help! I found a gem of an organizational resource the other say while browsing the much-neglected ranks of my google reader feed.

Those of you who found this blog while looking for online hand-embroidery resources probably already know about Wild Olive. (She’s a crafty blogger with a fun, modern style and great business savvy.) She recently posted a free .pdf download of a blog planner that she and Tara of Sew Tara had collaborated to make, and I snatched it up as soon as I saw it.

As I try to amp up this blog into something a bit more serious – you know, like, with regular posts and stuff? – this little planner may be just the ticket! I didn’t print mine in the fun color scheme (trying to save my pennies), but I did throw together a quick personalized cover. I bound the thing myself with my zimmer bind-it-all (that I had to unpack three boxes to find, and that I’m clearly not very good with, but it’ll do!) and I’ve already begun using it. Get your own and let me know much you love it!