Tuesday, November 10, 2009

At Whit's End makes a comeback!

As you may have noticed, I haven't been blogging or really doing much with my online shop on Etsy. Well that is no more! I am back, have a little free time, and ready to make this blog and my Etsy shop better than ever! I have new photos of my jewelry, new designs and new beads! I also have a business page on Facebook which you can become a fan of (check the fan box to the right ~>). I'm working on updating things on Etsy so you can consider it "under construction" meaning it will have some of the old pics and info for a little while until I get it all switched over. Please spread the word to people you think may be interested for themselves or for handmade Christmas gifts! If you are interested in purchasing any of the necklaces you see, you can either contact me on this blog, facebook, Etsy or email me!

Esty shop: www.atwhitsend.etsy.com
Email: wsmith4186@gmail.com

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Collections?

So I've been spending quite a bit of time on Etsy either chatting and promoting my shop or getting great advice and ideas. One thing I think is very cool is to have some sort of theme to the items you create. I'm toying around with the idea of making jewelry collections, each with their own theme. Al the names, colors, and styles would go with the certain theme. Things like food or nature or those stripped hearts I use or gothy or steampunk....just kind of make different collections reflecting different things I like :) What do you think?

Thursday, August 6, 2009

At Whits End!

Finally! My Etsy shop is up and running! I currently only have 10 items for sale but expect more to come. I'm also planning on taking my stuff to some festivals in the next year. *Crosses fingers for sales* So go take a look...tell some friends...maybe even buy something! The address is atwhitsend.etsy.com Right now it's all jewelry but I may be adding other things too. We shall see! I'll keep you all updated on what is going on with the shop as well as festival and my other projects! Thanks to everyone for their support!

Saturday, July 4, 2009

Old watches and lots of tinkering!

Happy forth of July everyone! I just returned from a nice morning at the flea market and boy did I make out like a bandit! I now have 19 watches, all quite old, and mostly falling apart. Now what would I want old broken watches for? Steampunk fun! Back at the Maker Faire that I was lucky enough to go to, I was fascinated by the steampunk culture and especially their accessories. I loved the fusion of something old and something new and decided that I'd love to give it a try for myself. While I've never made anything steampunk worthy in the past, I figured I might as well try something that interested me so much. I don't see myself living that lifestyle (not really a part of any particular "lifestyle"anyway haha) but I think branching out into that area in terms of creating things would be great. Afterall, I do love to tinker with stuff and I love my jewelry making so why not? So yeah...expect to see a few pieces involving cogs and gears and all sorts of watch parts coming soon!

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Business Life Here I Come!

Hello! First off...I am officially out of my non creative rut. I had been getting quite discouraged and couldn't think of new ideas and I was just unhappy with things overall. Lucky for me, my wonderful boyfriend took me to an amazing fair to get inspiration and reminded me of my dreams and goals with words of encouragement. Thank you mucho Shadow!!! Well I'm back and in full force! I have made several new necklaces and earrings and even have some ready to sell! I've also started making little knitted pouches to sell. They are good for credit cards, business cards, small cell phones or even an item of jewelry from me that you can give to a friend :) Anyway...I will be setting up and account on Etsy.com (awesome website) and selling my stuff there. The only issue I'm having now is what to name my "store"...any ideas? Once it is up and running I'll post it here so people can go check it out! The following pics are what I have so far for sale. Of course there will be a ton more as the days go on. Let me know if you are interested in any pieces before I post them on the site! Prices are yet to be determined but I'm sure we could work something out. Also, it has been brought to my attention that it isn't easy to post comments/questions unless you have certain accounts so feel free to send me an email at wsmith4186@gmail.com with any questions or comments. Enjoy!

Thursday, May 21, 2009

A new necklace!

Here is the newest addition to my collection of necklaces! It's made out of black and purple beads and the diamond shaped beads are amethyst.

Much news!

Hello again! It has been a little while since my last post but I have an excuse for it...I've been really busy and when I do have the time to post, I've been lazy haha. So a few things have happened since I last posted and here they are!

~I got a pretty good sized shipment of beads in. They were from a website I had never tried out before but I took a risk and they were great! The beads are beautiful and exactly what I needed. They came really fast too! Shipping wasn't too bad and in my opinion was worth it.

~I also got in a hefty amount of earring hooks. This means I have been working on some new earrings but right now I'm mainly just getting a feel for how different things look. I'll probably have more done soon and then I can put some pics up. I had some of the current ones but they are really blurry so I'm hoping to take better ones.

~I now have a few pewter pendants and black cord necklaces thanks to Dolly and Susan (You guys are amazing and do too much for me). They are perfect for the charms I already have and the necklaces that are awaiting pendants. They are awesome!

~I am working on a new necklace that contains some real amethyst beads in it. I am really starting to like it. It's all black and purple. I'm not sure if it will have a pendant or not but we shall see! (pics to come!)

~I picked up a jar of polished stones from the flea market and decided to try my hand at wrapping them with wire to make them into pendants. I tried out one last night and was really surprised at how it turned out. I actually like it a lot for a first try. I will definitely be doing more! Below is a picture of the rose quartz that I wrapped...what do you think?

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Another new one!

I just got some really nice new beads the other day from a great store. My wonderful boyfriend happened to have found a really pretty glass bead. It was a blue and black stripped heart and I immediately fell in love with it. I knew it had to be put in something special. I decided on a necklace made from black and blue glass beads (all from the same store). I am really happy with how it turned out. It is very much my favorite so far!

Friday, April 24, 2009

Holy wrapped beads Batman!

I decided to try out a new technique. I tried my hand at wrapping beads and I think they turned out pretty well. They are little charms that can be worn by themselves or used as a part of a necklace, bracelet or earrings. Expect a few things with these type of charms included!

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

2 More Necklaces!



Here are two more necklaces I've just finished. It may be a little bit hard to see but the first is blue and the second is light and dark purple.

Jewelry Update!

Just a quick update...I have finished 2 new necklaces and pictures will be up soon!

Monday, April 20, 2009

Wow it is hot!

As the title says....it's hot! The bay area is apparently breaking records for this time of year and I'm hoping it doesn't get any hotter. Anyway...I'm back from Las Vegas (where it was surprisingly cool) and I have a whole load of new ideas. I'm going to continue working hard on more jewelry designs and maybe, if I get enough together, try to sell some this summer. With that in mind...does anyone know of a place in SF or San Jose/ South bay area that sells beads at really good prices and maybe in bulk? I know of some places that have decent prices but I thought I'd see if anyone knew of any others. Well I'm going to keep this short so I can continue working on things and tring to keep cool!

Monday, April 6, 2009

One last post before Las Vegas...

So I'm about to head out to Las Vegas tomorrow (4/7) for about a week and I'm really excited! My plans for my art stuff will most likely be put on hold for now until I get back unless I happen to take some particularly good pics. The plan when I return is to finish up my half done paintings, do some that I've had in my head for a while and work on some new jewelry. I have also been toying with the idea of having some little group art activities sometime. Basically it would be me, whoever wanted to come, and art supplies. I'd have a painting session and a jewelry making session (so far) and it would cost a certain amount per class for supplies. We would meet in a public place like a park to discuss and be creative. The jewelry making would have more of a class sort of feel than the painting. The jewelry stuff would include learning different techniques as well as making stuff and the painting would be more of a time to just express oneself using the supplies at hand. That's just a rough outline of my idea so far. I've been wanting to do something like this for a while but never really knew how to start or if anyone would be interested. If you know anyone who might be interested or if you are or if you just have some good comments or advise please let me know!

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Happy April Fools Day!

Happy April Fools day to you all! Since it is also my birthday (hehe) I am going to go to work and then out to party but before then, I thought I'd leave you with a picture. I took this one at the Conservatory of Flowers in SF. This little orchid is about the size of the tip of my pinky finger. It was TINY! Enjoy and have a great day!

Monday, March 23, 2009

Dark Dragonflies

Hello all! It has been a little while since I last posted and in that time, I have managed to hurt my knee and get sick. I haven't really been able to work on much so I decided to ask your opinion on something from the past. Here is an older piece I did on a small canvas panel. I have been debating whether or not to put it on a larger canvas as a part of my collection (see previous paintings post). What do you think? As for other things, I think I'll try to make some time to work on my book a little bit more. Maybe I'll even post a snippet of it here!

Monday, March 16, 2009

I left my heart in SF


Hello everyone! I am back in the city (I know I never said anything about leaving but whatever) after a busy weekend in the south bay, I thought I'd add a new picture. So here is a picture that represents the city I love.

Friday, March 13, 2009

When zombies Attack!

So SFSU decided to stage a zombie attack today on campus. Of course this meant my roomie and I had to go. While the acting could have been better (except one guy who was amazing), it was a fun morning and I even got a new book idea out of the mix. I really wish I could have joined but, unfortunately, I have work and little time to clean up fake blood. This may not be my own personal work of art but I thought it deserved a spot on my blog. I guess you could say it's someone's work of art. Zombies...yet another reason why I love living in San Francisco!

Thursday, March 12, 2009

With this I bid you goodnight...


Here is a picture I took a few years ago. That flower is actually on my knee and was no bigger than a half of an inch across. Goodnight!


p.s. please remember not to use any of the photos on this site without my permission.

Spatter and drips and more...oh my!


As promised, here are 4 of the paintings that I have finished in the past few months. They are a part of the kind of morbid collection that I mentioned earlier. I'm liking the "blood" spatter and dripping lately. It actually started with that light colored painting. One day I was painting with my watercolors and made a pretty rainbow look on the canvas. I decided that it needed a drastic contrast (which I love) of some sort. My roommate jokingly said that I could cut myself and bleed all over it. I got that little sparkle in my eye and said it was a good idea...except with fake blood...also known as various paints mixed together to look like blood haha. So yeah...thanks to my roomie Heather for giving me a great idea and starting my blood spatter madness. Anyway...there are the paintings thus far. I have 2 more that are half done but I'm not sure what direction I want to take with them yet so it may be a while before those are ready. On a separate note, I have several photography pictures I took over the past 4 years or so. There are about 17 which is a lot for this little blog but I plan on adding a couple now and then. I also have some paintings from the past that I may throw on here just because I like them. Well...that is all for now. There's more to come so keep checking back!

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Quickie...

Quick note...I now have pictures of some of the paintings in my sort of morbid collection. Those will most likely be posted tomorrow. Have a good night!

New Necklaces!



Hello again faithful readers (all 2 of you...if that). Here are pictures of the two necklaces I have finished recently. I did the designing, wire work and putting together of both. In case it's hard to tell in the pictures, the first had red and black beads and the second has light blue, black, silvery, and blue shell beads. I've made necklaces and bracelets before by threading beads onto a wire or type of string but this is my first time doing the wire work myself. I think they turned out pretty well for my first attempt with pliers and wire. I think they look better in person but in my experience, most things like this do. Thanks MUCHO to Dolly and Susan for the tools and supplies and helping me in general with a great new hobby!

Black and Blue Hands


I found a (sorta crummy) picture! Yay for me! Anyway...Here is a picture of a painting that was kind of an accident. I got bored while painting something else and decided to paint my hand and make a hand print on a piece of paper. Then I did the other one because I thought it might look cool. Well as it turns out, I thought the whole thing looked pretty neat so I painted a border and framed the whole thing. You can't see it too well in the picture but it you look closely at the real thing, you can make out some pretty creepy faces in the prints. My "artistic" interpretation is that the hands represent someone protecting himself/herself from some sort of abuse (hence the black and blue) and that the faces are the demons that they are having to face as well as the ones they have inside of them. Kind of a weird piece but that's what I see when I look at it. You can decide what you see...

The very first post!

Hello and welcome to my new blog! On this blog, I will be posting about my paintings, jewelry, books, photography and whatever other artsy thing I happen to be working on. Please feel free to give me feedback on anything I post. As of right now, I don't have any pictures to post but I'm hoping to change that in the next couple of days. I'm currently working on a collection of 8-10 paintings that are abstract and a bit morbid. I have finished 2 necklaces so far (kind of a new hobby for me) and have several more ideas for new ones. I have about 100 pages of the book I'm working on done and I'm slowly (very slowly) adding to it. I'm hoping to eventually publish my book and show/sell some of my paintings and jewelry so we shall see how that goes. Anyway, that is where I am right now with everything. I'll try to update this weekly if not more so keep checking back for new blogs!