Lasuz Creations

Valentine's Day is Coming!

2011-01-29T08:46:00.000-08:00

Valentine's Day will be here before you know it, are you ready? Have you picked up something special for your sweetheart? How about a piece of jewellery, sure to put a smile on the face of your loved one :-)

New Year's Sale This Week Only

2011-01-02T08:14:00.001-08:00

10% off everything at my ArtFire ship this week only! Don't miss out on the sale!

www.lasuzcreations.artfire.com

2011 is almost here!

2010-12-31T08:18:00.000-08:00

Wow, this year just flew by. Lots happened, some happy, some not so happy. One of my cats was diagnosed with cancer so I know that 2011 will bring some sadness into my life when I eventually have to say goodbye to my darling girl.

I did have the opportunity to be in Vancouver for three weeks for work during the Vancouver Olympics, such an amazing, yet very tiring, experience. Who said Canadians aren't patriotic? If you'd been in Vancouver you'd have been amazed.

I had a fabulous, relaxing week in Antigua. Sun, sad and quiet, just what my friend and I needed after Vancouver. Nice to be at a resort where music wasn't pumping all day long, the quiet was so relaxing!

I thank each and every one of the people who shopped at Lasuz Creations this year and hope that you return in 2011!

All the best to everyone in the coming year :-)

Less Than Two Weeks Till Christmas!

2010-12-13T09:29:00.001-08:00

Can't believe that Christmas is now so close. Am I ready, heck no! Hope everyone else is doing better than I am about getting ready.
At least it now looks like the Christmas season with a bit of snow on the ground here in Toronto :)

Don't remember that jewellery makes an excellent gift ;-)

New Feature Added!

2010-12-07T19:57:00.000-08:00

To make it easier for you to buy any items you see I've added Rapid Cart, just click on the item you like, click the picture and it will take you to my Artfire Store where you can continue the purchase. Hoping you find this useful!

Also available is Pocket Shop which shows you items from my Etsy store, click and it takes you directly to my Etsy store!

26 Days Till Christmas!

2010-11-29T13:18:00.001-08:00

Well, the days are racing past so quickly that Christmas will be here before you know it. Must get cards out to my overseas friends and relatives or they'll turn into New Years cards!

Have added a couple of new items to my shops, the previously shown Green Amethyst bracelet:

and a Purple Amethyst and Lampwork pair of earrings.

Hopefully I'll have a successful Christmas season!

Busy, Busy, Busy

2010-11-21T13:25:00.000-08:00

Well the Christmas season is almost upon us which means I'm very busy trying to get new jewellery items completed.

I've finally used the Green Amethyst that I purchased ages ago. I absolutely love the colour of this stone. It reminds me of the colour of the Indian ocean off the coast of Kenya. When I was on holiday there I tried and tried to capture the true colour of the ocean in a photograph without any success. Green Amethyst (also known as prasiolite) matches it perfectly. Will be making some items of jewellery with this stone for myself, just to remind me of the lovely, restful time I had in my cottage by the beach.

Inspiration Strikes By Unexpected Source

2010-11-06T16:57:00.000-07:00

Had a message from Twitter today telling me that I had a new follower. Couldn't believe who it was, the Doobie Brothers! Wow!

Have always loved their song "Black Water" and was inspired to create a bracelet with that name.

Uploaded a photo onto Facebook of the finished bracelet, hadn't uploaded to my Etsy or Artfire shops yet and it's already been sold to one of my friends!

Thanks Doobie Brothers!!

Earrings, Earrings, Earrings

2010-10-27T19:47:00.001-07:00

Been busy with earrings these past few days. Did up two pairs of copper plated earrings and one amber with sterling. Love them!

Also a custom order for a friend, love when friends come and ask you to create something for them :-)

Coiling and Cutting Rings

2010-10-23T12:49:00.001-07:00

Have been making sterling silver rings so I can create a few Celtic Star pendants. I'd show a picture but don't have one yet. They are a pretty popular pendant. The first one I made is one that I wear quite often and always get good comments about it.
There is a variation of the pendant that doesn't use the outer small rings, it's then called a Tudor Rose as it looks quite similar.

Great Weekend!

2010-10-10T17:21:00.000-07:00

It was Thanksgiving weekend in Canada this weekend and I had a great one. Dinner at my Dad's which my uncle, visiting from England, attended. Nice to catch up with the family.

Then I woke up this morning, checked my Blackberry to discover two items sold. Truly something to be thankful for :-)

Let's hope this trend continues!

Are We Thinking Christmas Yet?

2010-10-07T09:09:00.000-07:00

It's that time of year when we all start thinking towards Christmas. What to buy for that picky sister or aunt? How about that nephew who's into Goth. Well, chainmaille items are unique and will fit all sorts of personalities, from sweet and innocent to funky and mainstream.

Why not check out Etsy

or

Artfire

to pick up some interesting presents this year!

Copper, Copper and More Copper!

2010-05-30T08:53:00.000-07:00

Gorgeous shiny copper rings were the focus of my Saturday afternoon. Managed to come up with a couple of pairs of earrings and a bracelet.

The bracelet is the Double Spiral pattern, just love the feel of this rope pattern as it rolls between your fingers.

The earrings are in the patterns Barrels and Byzantine, with the Byzantine ones given a twist by adding a Swarovski Crystal Butterfly on the end of each.

New Earrings

2010-05-10T10:27:00.000-07:00

Have just added a few new pairs of earrings to my Etsy and Artfire shops.
These earrings were all created using antique copper finish findings and I matched them with turquoise, amazonite and amber beads.

Custom Bracelet

2010-05-08T12:23:00.000-07:00

I've been working on a custom bracelet which a friend of mine has requested. She's a lover of amber and I've put together a bracelet incorporating 14mm and 10mm brown amber beads with bali silver beads and spacers. A large bali bead which was purchased at the Toronto Jewellery, Gem and Mineral show is the focal point. It's easy to get carried away when creating a design, using lots of materials, but you have to be careful with it as sometimes the price point can become too prohibitive for the client. This is what I've got so far, am waiting for the exact size of her wrist to finish it.

Snagged A Treasury!

2010-05-01T10:52:00.000-07:00

Well my patience paid off and I managed to snag a Treasury on Etsy. It's all chainmaille with crystals incorporated from various members of the Etsy Chainmaillers Team :-)

Here's the link to the Treasury, it only lasts a couple of days.

Etsy Treasury

2010-04-29T14:06:00.001-07:00

I'm now sat at my computer waiting for a Treasury to open up on the Etsy site. A treasury is a member picked selection of items which are available for purchase on Etsy. However, it's tough to snag one as there are only so many available. I've got my selection picked out just waiting for a Treasury spot to open up. I'm trying to feature chainmaille items which incorporate crystals (mostly Swarovski) as I love to use them myself.
Now wish me luck that I can snag a Treasury!

To Antique or Not to Antique

2010-04-01T15:16:00.000-07:00

Having a bit of a conundrum, I love the shiny new copper rings which I just purchased but I also love the antiqued look of copper. Do I do more items in the shiny or the antique? A bit of both? Decisions, decisions. Hopefully will make a few of each and decide from there.

Copper is Coming!

2010-03-13T13:39:00.000-08:00

Have decided to branch out into the realm of copper. Lots of new supplies have been ordered from some Etsy sellers and I can't wait to use the creative juices that are flowing to design some new jewellery.

Spread the Love

2009-11-08T07:23:00.001-08:00

The wonderful folks at the Handmade Artists Forum have been involved in a campaign called "Spread the Love." Basically we're trying to get attention for all the artists who are on the site by blogging and tweeting and anything else you can think of.

Today's artist is a fellow chainmailler! Monique is based in California and has some beautiful items in her shop: ToraJewelry You can check out her blog as well :)

Busy Before Holiday

2009-09-09T09:39:00.000-07:00

Lots of things to get done before I head to Las Vegas on the 16th. Will be seeing Cheap Trick perform the Beatles Sgt Pepper album and am very much looking forward to it. Am seeing two performances! Yeah, I love Cheap Trick ;-)

More items added to Artfire and Etsy, several new earrings, Jens Pind and Byzantine combinations.

New business cards have been shipped and I'm looking forward to their arrival. Hopefully will arrive before I fly off to Vegas!

Busy Summer

2009-09-06T08:55:00.000-07:00

Well, summer has been and gone, what little we had of it here in Toronto. It's now Labour Day weekend and wouldn't you know, the weather is gorgeous. Could have used this weather a lot more in the past two months!
Have been creating items for my two shops, Etsy and Artfire.
Have uploaded new items to Artfire and will upload to Etsy over the week.
My favourite new items are a pair of earrings made with the chainmaille pattern Jens Pind which have Lt Amethyst Swarovski crystals dangling on the end. I think they are just so pretty and might have to make them up with a few more Swarovski colours. The other item which is gorgeous is a sterling silver bracelet made with 19g wire and woven in the Full Persian pattern. It's full name is Full Persian 6 in 1 but it's also known as Foxtail because of the appearance of the weave.

More items are available in my shops!

It's the Way of the World

2009-07-14T12:03:00.001-07:00

Someday you start out thinking you're going to make one thing and what you end up with is not quite what you imagine.
I thought I'd try the Rings of Saturn pattern but I didn't like how the rings were laying after I followed the instructions. So I started tinkering with it and ended up with looks like a combination of Rings of Saturn and Helm Weave, at least to my eyes.
I'm calling them Way of the World earrings as I was singing my favourite Cheap Trick song as I was creating them :)

New Items!

2009-07-06T08:57:00.000-07:00

Been busy with learning some weaves. Finally had the right size rings to try the Double Spiral Weave, I love the feel of it. Can't wait to make a full bracelet as it's so supple and slinky. Earrings are done so bracelet will be next.

The other weave I've mastered is Barrels which I've done in both bracelet and necklace.

Etsy and Tags

2009-06-16T07:15:00.000-07:00

Well it seems like there is a huge kerfuffle going on at the Etsy site right now as the admins at Etsy have decided to highjack the titles that we use to list our items and put their tags in front for Google searches. Which means people aren't finding our own stores on Etsy because Etsy tags Handmade by Etsy instead of my tags, ie. Sterling Silver Japanese Flower are coming up instead. People are outraged and rightly so. Artfire puts their tags at the end of our titles and Etsy should do the same.
Why should I bother to continue to list on Etsy if nobody is going to be able to find my items in Google searches? This issue is being talked about all over the web so hopefully Etsy will listen and fix the issue pronto!

Japanese Flower

2009-05-24T13:21:00.000-07:00

Have finally taught myself the Japanese Flower chainmaille weave. It's such a pretty weave and perfect for earrings. Will be making a pair of these for myself. Can see them paired with a lovely summer dress and the sun will make them sparkle :-)

Google Analytics

2009-05-06T10:19:00.000-07:00

Have just found a great tutorial for adding Google Analytics to your Etsy shop. Was slightly confused about the process until I watched the video on Timothy Adam's page. Very easy to follow along to set up Google Analytics for your shop so you can track the views on your items :-)

New Inspirations!

2009-04-26T08:01:00.000-07:00

On Friday I found out that the Toronto Jewellery Gem and Mineral Show was going to be held just 10 minutes walk from where I live. Heaven! Went in Saturday and fell for some gorgeous glass, lampwork beads that one designer was selling. One set was cranberry glass and the other was a purple/green lampwork, slightly floral looking. Immediately thought the purple/green beads would look fabulous with some dark amethyst beads. Went home and starting creating!
Two bracelets were created from the cranberry glass beads, both with sterling silver. One is a byzantine weave and the other I matched the beads with tiny stamped barrel beads, and I mean tiny!
The other bracelet was the purple/green lampwork beads which did indeed look amazing with amethyst beads, added a bit of sterling silver for some accent and voila, bling!

New Items

2009-04-19T12:59:00.000-07:00

I've added two new items to my store, well, one to Etsy and one to Artfire, have to spread the wealth ;-)

They are both sterling silver earrings done in chainmaille weaves. The one at Etsy was created in the Full Persian weave and I've added a Swarovski pearl to dangle from the end.

The earrings at Artfire were created using the Boxchain or Queens maille pattern. Boxchain does describe the look of the earrings but Queens maille just sound so much nicer.

New Items!

2009-04-11T10:27:00.000-07:00

I've just added my first items to my new shop at Artfire.com

My shop located here and I've added a pair of sterling silver earrings done using the Mobius Flower pattern of chainmaille. The other item is a sterling silver bracelet with a Swarovski Cosmic Ring Crystal. The chainmaille pattern for the bracelet is Wiggly Chain.

Check them out!

Twitter

2009-04-10T20:07:00.000-07:00

Well, I've just joined Twitter but not sure what the heck I'm doing! My good friend Ioan, one half of the fabulous UK based photography business Celynnen Photography, has persuaded me to sign up. Though I'm not sure why people actually Twitter, it's all new to me. I'm sure he'll tell me!

I can be found at twitter@lasuzcreations

It's Been Too Long

2009-04-03T15:29:00.000-07:00

I can't believe how many months have passed since I last posted. I was busy planning and working out for a climb up Mt Kilimanjaro in Tanzania which I did in February. That plus a safari took up most of February and coming back to work, the one that pays the bills, found us in a new part of the building and with a new schedule. I'm only now coming to grips with the schedule which consists of mostly evening shifts. Finding it hard to get myself out of bed in the morning in order to create jewelry!

But here I am, with the tumbler running in the kitchen, back blogging. I've just coiled some new rings, sterling silver and gold-filled, and they are being work hardened as I write so that I can cut them later on. Three sizes of rings so I can create lots of different items with different patterns.

I did create a new bracelet using the chainmaille Wiggly Chain pattern. It's a pretty easy pattern once you've learned it and I combined a Swarovski Cosmic Ring in the pattern for a bit of sparkle.

Stay tuned for more creations!

Newest Creations

2008-11-21T07:35:00.000-08:00

Well, I finally managed to get two new pairs of earrings done. I've a third pair waiting to be put in the tumbler this weekend so that they are nice and shiny.

One pair is in a pattern called Wiggly Chain, almost like Mobius Flower joined one to another but only using two rings for each section.

The other pair is the beautiful Byzantine pattern. This time I used tiny rings made from 20g sterling wire and they were a bit more difficult to to put together. Look fantastic though! I added a Swarovski pearl on the end and am quite happy with them.

Both can be found at my shop http://www.lasuzcreations.etsy.com/

Back At It

2008-11-15T15:14:00.001-08:00

Well, it's been a while since I've posted on my blog. Had a stint in the hospital which drained every ounce of energy from me and I'm only now back at (almost) full strength. Which gave me the motivation to start making jumprings again. :-)

Finally hauled out the dremel and jumpring cutter which I purchased a few months ago. Have a new supply of sterling silver wire so I made up some coils and tried out the cutter. Wow! That is sooooo much faster than sawing through the rings. Takes seconds! I've got two sets of jumprings in the tumbler right now getting all nice and shiny. I plan on making up some earrings using one design I've done before and a new one that looks really fun. Will see how fun it actually is ;-) Both are chainmaille designs.

With Christmas coming up really quick I must get some new jewelry into my shop.

I did sell some necklaces and earrings in the past few weeks so have to increase the inventory again. Anybody need some lovely jewelry (jewellery) gifts for Christmas?!

Great Etsy Seller

2008-10-03T18:33:00.000-07:00

Have you visited www.Etsy.com yet? I've just made a purchase from a great seller located here in Toronto. ShannonsIrishBliss sells handmade soaps, lip balms, bath items and a few other things. I can't wait to receive the products I've ordered as they sound so yummy! Have found out she's a cat lover like me, so she has to be great ;-)

Successful First Craft Show

2008-09-14T16:54:00.000-07:00

Well, I survived my first craft show. Saturday was pretty slow but things picked up on Sunday when a lot more people were around. Sold a few items and was happy to hear the comments about my jewelry. One lady in particular said my jewelry was clean and elegant. Can't get much better than that!

Thanks Jose for thinking of me, though a little more notice wouldn't hurt next time ;-)
Thanks also to Stone Church for hosting the event, I met a lot of really nice people.

My First Arts and Crafts Sale

2008-09-08T07:37:00.000-07:00

Well, this coming weekend, Sept 13-14, 2008, I will be selling my jewelry at my first event. Am I nervous? Oh you bet!

Have you heard of Art of Stone? This event will have an arts gallery, live music & theatre, a digital photography workshop, children's programs and an arts cafe. A friend of mine has roped me in to sell this weekend. Now I'm frantically trying to gather supplies for my table and designing more jewelry so I'll have lots to sell. Plus do my regular full-time job. Whew! Going to be a busy week!

http://www.theartofstone.org/

Need Wedding Photos?

2008-08-28T16:24:00.000-07:00

Are you located in the UK? Then give a thought to hiring Celynnen Photography. They're based in North Wales but can work all over. My friends Ioan and Nicki have a wonderful photography business and their photographs are incredible. They do all kinds of work, special photos for a birthday? A graduation? If you want professional photos then these are the people to call. This special team will make sure that you are thrilled with your photographs.

http://www.celynnenphotography.co.uk/

Global Anchor Anne-Marie Mediwake

2008-08-26T17:35:00.001-07:00

Well, Anne-Marie Mediwake of Global TV Ontario wore the necklace that I designed today. Was happy to see that it looked really good on air. Here's a couple of pictures to show you how she looked wearing it. Had to get co-anchor Leslie Roberts in one of the pictures :-)

Busy Weekend

2008-08-24T19:57:00.000-07:00

Well, I was busy, busy, busy this weekend. Headed out to one of my favourite bead shops on Queen St. West in Toronto. It's called Arton Beads. They've got a great selection of stones and are quite friendly. Also picked up a set of transfer punches to use as mandrels for making jumprings. Much cheaper than buying mandrels marketed to jewelry designers and they do the same job.

Went home and started coming up with some new pieces. My first was made with tourmaline beads, a necklace and earrings set. Tourmaline are great beads, such varied colours so they'll go with almost anything in your wardrobe.

I managed to make up three new necklaces and six pairs of earrings. Need to get more done to add to the stock at my store www.lasuzcreations.etsy.com

So much to do, so little time....

Trial and Tribulations of Jumprings

2008-08-17T20:40:00.000-07:00

Well, I had my first attempt at making jumprings using a saw. I think that it is not the way to go for me as my hand started cramping up, and it was only a coil a few inches long. Will probably go a more automated route in making the jumprings and use a cutter.

I did tumble the jumprings that did make the grade, and didn't have excess saw cuts on them. They came up nice and shiny :-) Am so happy I purchased the tumbler, it makes such a difference to the look of your sterling silver. Made up a few earwires while I was at it and tumbled them too. Also managed to make up four new pairs of earrings and hope to post those soon. The unfortunate thing is my good camera has gone on the blink :-( Not sure what the problem is but I will have to take it in and have it looked at. I really don't want to be purchasing a new camera just yet.

Sold a rose and clear quartz necklace to the other day. She's a co-anchor on Global TV's Newshour at 6 pm. She's promised to let me take a photo of her on the anchor desk when she's wearing it so I can post it on here.

Have just ordered business cards so hope to have those in a few weeks to hand out.

Shaggy Loops

2008-08-09T16:36:00.001-07:00

I just added some new items to my Etsy store http://www.lasuzcreations.etsy.com/ and a couple were made with the chainmaille style called Shaggy Loops.

It's a cute, fun style and I jazzed up one of the pairs of earrings that I created with Swarovski crystal Cosmic squares. I'm such a big fun of the Cosmic line, have used the squares and circles in a few items and I have more ideas up my sleeve.

Stay tuned!

I rule my domain!

2008-08-05T09:30:00.000-07:00

Well, after reading a forum posting about purchasing your domain names in case you want them for future use, and to stop others purchasing them, I now have http://www.lasuzcreations.com/ and http://www.lasuzcreations.ca/ I have redirected both to my shop on http://www.etsy.com/ which is http://www.lasuzcreations.etsy.com/

Maybe at some point my sales will be high enough that I'll be able to start selling from one or both of those sites. I really hope so :-)

Tumbling, Sawing and Polishing

2008-08-03T08:19:00.000-07:00

Well, I've decided that instead of spending so much money buying the sterling silver jump rings that I've been using in creating chainmaille jewelry, that I should bite the bullet, buy the equipment needed and make my own.

The wonderful people on the community forum at http://www.etsy.com/ were great in helping answer some of the questions that I had about saws and blades. I've now purchased the saw, blades and tumbler. The tumbler is what you use to polish up your jewelry after you've made it. It also gives a lovely shine and makes it look great!

The only problem with making chainmaille jewelry is that it requires math! Yuck, thought I'd managed to leave math equations behind me so many years ago in high school. I am very thankful that so many people have posted advice about the aspect ration of jumprings so that I have an idea what of what to. One of the contributors on the etsy forum, Karen Hung, actually pointed me to an article in Step By Step Wire Jewelry, a magazine, that she had written and that spells out, in fairly simple terms, how to determine aspect ration. Basically, in order to create certain chainmaille designs you have to have the right sized ring or they just won't be strong enough to hold the jewelry together. You need to know the interior diameter (ID) and the width of the wire you are using (WD) to find AR. A variation of those will help you find what you need if you already have a pattern in mind. Of course, I keep running into problems when the pattern is in metric and I know linear or vice versa. Some patterns suggest ID of 1/4 and my measurement is in mm. The conversion is a right pain in the butt! And to throw more confusion into the mix, the United States and Canada use different wire gauges for wire, AWG and SWG. I could go on and on about the insaneness of it all but I'll restrain myself.

The only other thing I still need to purchase are more mandrels for making different sized jump rings as I only have even numbered ones at the moment. The expenses continue!

Seriously Impressed

2008-07-30T08:53:00.000-07:00

Well, I have to say, I am really impressed with the jewelry supplier Rio Grande, http://www.riogrande.com/. I ordered some items yesterday afternoon, decided to ship UPS as it was cheaper than regular post (go figure) and the parcel showed up this morning!! Wasn't even delayed at the border! I hadn't even had time to go out and buy the vice that I need to use with my new supplies.
Soon I'll, hopefully, be making my own jumprings instead of having to purchase so many. Should save myself some money. Now, if I can just manage to wrap my head around the Aspect Ratio problem :-(

Aahhh, I Forgot Someone!

2008-07-29T08:06:00.000-07:00

I'd realized after I'd finished my first post that I totally forgot to thank Beatrice Politi, also a reporter at Global News. She purchased a couple of pairs of earrings from me at Christmas time and wears one of them on the air. Her short hair shows them off to perfection :-)

I've realized since opening the online store that I'm really going to have to make more items to sell. The quality is really important as I don't want somebody to return an item of jewelry as they aren't happy with it.

The chainmaille items are becoming a favourite of mine, however time consuming they may be. Have had to purchase a tumbler to make sure they are nice and shiny once I've finished using my tools on them.

My First Post!

2008-07-28T13:04:00.000-07:00

Well, I've finally joined the community of bloggers with the encouragement of my friend Ioan who persuaded me that it will help to bring exposure to my new jewelry business.

I started making jewelry in 2006 after my lovely friend Diane showed me the ins and outs of designing and creating jewelry. She took me to my first bead show and I was hooked from that point.

I started my business in 2007 after my first designs were tested on friends and relatives as gifts for Christmas 2006. Their reactions pushed me to open Lasuz Creations. In case you're wondering, Lasuz is a combination of my first two names, Laura Suzanne.

I have been lucky enough, so far, to sell my creations at my full-time job at Global TV in Toronto. Several colleagues have purchased items and I really have to thank Susan Hay, Christina Stevens and Allison Vuchnich for purchasing and even wearing my designs on-air.

I have recently started selling my jewelry online at a fantastic website which is for business which focus on handmade items of all kinds, http://www.etsy.com/ My store is located at www.lasuzcreations.etsy.com

The picture is one of my creations and are Byzantine Rose earrings which are made using the chainmaille design called.......Byzantine Rose ;-) Chainmaille designs consist of jump rings which are individually opened and closed together in various different designs. It can be quite time-consuming but the final results are always worth it.

Well, that's my first post, will update periodically.

Cheers,

Laura