Mad Scientists Exposed!

Well, sort of, lol! The team is currently being featured in one of VickiDianeDesigns' "Artists of Etsy Exposed" treasuries - check it out at http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=41570 Currently the treasury is at the top of the 'hot' list with over 1000 clicks and almost 300 views! Pretty cool!

Seeing as treasuries expire (this one will early Thursday) here's a pic of some of the fab team members - And yes that's me hiding behind the fossilized coral :)

Chaos at work...

So due to a busy schedule at the moment I'm somewhat on hiatus - mostly need to take the time to do a LOT of reorganizing both for my store and studio area, as well as for school. My work area is a disaster, and I decided not to make anything until it's cleaned up and organized - at the rate I'm going I might make something in time for christmas! lol



Chaos reigned supreme in Jurassic Park, and has hit me as well!


I'm gearing up for my final year as a graduate student. My thesis idea is finally focused and plan to study the impact crater structure located in Middlesboro, KY, which is one of only 2 cities in the US that is built completly within an impact crater! Very fun and exciting stuff! I'm also working out an internship and some committee issues, and there's always the adminsitrative stuff to deal with like paperwork and financial aid - very time consuming and NOT fun, lol


Middlesboro, KY - built inside an impact crater!


And in between I'm trying to help get the Mad Scientists of Etsy team to a new level, with the start of a team blog, website, and advertising! Be sure to check out our new blog at http://madscientistsofetsy.com/ and say hello!


So hence taking a break from a lot of the online stuff and refocus on getting things in order - not long, just the next week or two probably. I'm still planning to do the Friday Favorites (though I'm skipping this week), and the next Stone of the Week article will be the much anticipated one about turquoise which I hope you'll find very helpful and interesting!

Fun with Organic Chemistry

So I took on the Mad Scientists of Etsy Team challenge of Organic Chemistry for May, and it was a challenge let me tell you! Organic chemistry is the study of chemical compounds containing carbon and hydrogen. Chemists often use a sort of 'short-hand' to represent how chemicals look. Carbon for instance can form a ring, often with hydrogen attached - when there are six of these carbons they are usually represented by a simple hexagon. Hence the inspriration for my item!


This pendant is about 2.5" long, and has a very cool looking Bronzite stone bead in the middle that moves!

I created a pendant out of 16 ga copper wire that I shaped, then wire wrapped a very fine gauge wire around it. Suspended in the middle is a hexagonal cut Bronzite stone bead. What I love about this pendant is that the Bronzite bead moves from side to side or even spins! My fingers have never been so sore - not even after a day long rock hunt! Wire wrappers I think you definitely don't have to worry about me - I can't see me doing it that often, lol The pendant can be found in my Etsy store here.

A length of soft brown sude cord really compliments the pendant and works well with the color scheme.

The team had quite the response to this challenge! So many that we ended up with not one but two treasuries on Etsy!

The first of two treasuries which can be found here.

The team's second treasury, featuring challenge items as well as a few other fun items from the team as we didn't have quite enough for the second treasury. Check it out here!

A feature, treasuries, updates, and more!

Woo-hoo, I finished another semester of grad school and am that much closer to being done! This was probably my hardest to date (I still don't think I understand stats, lol) but I did finish the last of my required core classes (said stats class) - those seem to be the hardest for some reason. Now I'm hoping to do an internship to finish off the rest of my hours I have to do, then on to my thesis! Which in itself is still evolving - who knows what I'll finally end up doing!

Now that the semester is over, I have many plans for my business and online presense. As you've probably seen I haven't been able to plan the weekly 'stone of the week' articles for awhile due to being swamped (they do take a bit of planning and research to do!), and I'm pleased to say that a brand NEW article will be up this weekend! Want to know what it is? You'll have to come back to find out! :D I'm also planning to do some more 'Adventures in Geology' articles, as well as a couple other additions, so stay tuned!

The Mad Scientists of Etsy team finished up their first team challenge not too long ago, the theme of which was 'Science as Art'. We had many great entries! For this challenge I made a beaded ACEO of the solar system (yes, without Pluto), as astronomy was my first love of science. I really love the bead I used for the Sun - the colors and pattern are marvelous (I even ended up using one for a cell phone charm for my phone!) The listing for it can be found here.

ACEO of our solar sytem with the Sun (vibrant lampwork bead), Mercury (silver crystal), Venus (tan glass), Earth and Moon (african 'turquoise' and seed bead), Mars (garnet), Jupiter (red adventurine), Saturn (lepoardskin jasper and glass beads for the rings!), Uranus (dyed jasper), and Neptune (frosted blue glass). These are fastened onto soft foam with pretty 'stars' and backed with felt. Measures 2.5" x 3.5" Great for framing! (ACEO = Art Card Editions and Originals - they're like collectible works of art on a small scale!)

Yart was a great success! I got to spend the day hanging out with fellow artists and sharing my art with many customers! It was great getting to hang out with my friends who I haven't seen in awhile since I moved to KY for grad school. I also did a drawing for a gift certificate for one lucky person - as you can see I even got my rabbit JD involved and let him pick the winner!

Holly from Etsy was so kind to feature me on her blog this week! She did a great job, and has a very fun blog. Check out her blog http://winklepots.blogspot.com/ and her store for some wonderful items for the little ones http://winklepots.etsy.com/

Last week I was also featured on Etsy treasuries by loosewirestudio and evanrhett - both were beautifully done, and one of the items recently sold!

That's it for now! Be sure to check back for new articles!

Sales, Teams, Treasuries, Updates, and More!

So today is the last day of my week-long sales event at Bijoutery. Tonight is the Saturday Night Specials at http://bijoutery.etsy.com/ with a Buy More Save More Sale!

♥Purchase 1 item get 15% off!
♥Purchase 2 items get 20% off!
♥Purchase 3 or more items, get 25% off!

The Mad Scientists of Etsy Team is now Official! Check out our team profile at http://team.etsy.com/viewteam.php?id=265 or you can still visit the thread in the Etsy forums at http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=5521620

To find team items, search for our team tag 'msoe team' in the Etsy search engine. We're also gearing up for our first challenge this month,'Science as Art' which will be featured!

I also nabbed us a treasury, but since it ends soon here's a pic of some great items!

Speaking of treasuries, I found some great items made with the stone Jasper, and created a treasury earlier in the week. I will be posting a 'stone of the week' feature on Jasper tomorrow, and that treasury will be featured along with it!

As school is coming to a close here in the next month, I've been kept super busy, so hence the delays in the 'stone of the week' articles. I will still do my best to get them out about once a week, as long as time permits. Look for the feature on turquoise soon!