Hello

Still here! I've recently updated my Etsy shop with new additions and took pics the other day of even more pieces. Mostly, I've been focusing on earrings but I do have a few necklaces to post. I find it more difficult to photograph them in an appealing way than earrings, I guess because it's hard to find appealing ways to pose the chain that represent the necklace.

I made my first sale at the new Etsy address! This cute vintage pear necklace was hard to part with, but I knew it would get good wear in its new home. As promised, I also gave my first buyer a pair of the Vintage Blue Berkley Button Earrings as a gift.

They're still available in the shop if you're looking to snag a pair as well.

Just for fun, here's a recent listing:



Also, I just started reading Becoming Vegan by Brenda Davis and Vesanto Melina. Among other helpful topics, it contains specific information about nutrition, which is exactly what I'm trying to brush up on. Okay... by "brush up" I mean I really am not a science or math person and things like cups, grams, kilo-whatevers fully elude me-- so it's not like I have an extremely well-versed knowledge based to start with. I've basically done things backwards-- immersed myself in a vegan diet with some knowledge of how best to get my vitamins/minerals-- but now I want to ensure myself a solid enough foundation so that I can be a healthier vegan. I truly think that vegan diets are healthy and more than nutritionally sufficient. I just know that as a person in general I have to be less lazy about feeding myself.

Here's the thing: I've been a vegan now for almost three-ish years. (I never really had an exact start date, although I've been a vegetarian since I was about 5 years old). It was more of a transition for me. Even so, I don't cook often. I like to cook; I just don't like all the dishes or the fact that I'd rather spend my time relaxing after work than prepping to eat. I like to bake even more, but again-- I lack ambition. Anyhow, the point of this tangent is that I bought this book in the hopes of improving my ability to take care of myself in a nutritionally healthy way.

So that's my deal! I'll let you know how the book goes.

New Jewelry Ventures

I've been fascinated by metalsmithing and wirework lately, and I decided to take tentative steps into these techniques over the past week. Eni Oken's work is particularly inspiring, and she even offers tutorials for purchase on her site so that others can learn from her techniques.

Although Oken primarily uses sterling silver or gold-filled components in her work and I usually don't believe in "drafts" in the writing world (that's why keyboards have "delete" buttons, eh?), I figured I should use some base metal wire for practice.

Here's my end result after many hours of wire wrapping, one full mess up, and equal amounts of experimentation:





This vintage glass cabochon is from my Cali trip in June. It reminds me of a sunset with its mix of lollipop red, Jolly Rancher orange and lemonade yellow colors.



Other jewelry designers with styles similar to Oken are Magdalena Borejko and Iza Malczyk.

Although I had fun creating the pendant this week, I'm just not sure I have the patience to do this particular type of craft on a regular basis. It's definitely exciting to try, and I love the end results.

In other news, I have been updating the shop with new items, some of which I made today. (I'm so going to miss having the extra four hours I've been getting on Fridays in the summer thanks to half days at work...)

Exhibit a:



I've never had a promotion before, but today I decided the first customer to make a purchase at the new domain name will receive a pair of these:



Anyways, that's all for now! Goodnight.

The latest

So I haven't been updating the blog or even my Etsy shop much lately as I've been working with some new brick-and-mortar shops and creating new pieces for the fall.

I also opened up a new Etsy shop at Adorned by Morgan to reflect my business name and switched my original Etsy shop, LiteratAvian, to a supplies-only site.

Love Brigade also now officially carries Adorned by Morgan designs and has already placed another order for:



And just for fun here's a few previews of soon-to-be-listed on Etsy:







And this one I'm not sure I can part with yet:



It has vintage pressed glass cabs from our trip to Berkley, vintage filigree from the city, and vintage brass cones repurposed from a necklace I bought in Astoria. The red quartz are from an Etsy purchase. I love the fact that this pair has components from so many different places, and so it's not going anywhere just yet!