Return of the 8 Legged Freaks

You know, they say that if you kill a spider, all their little leggy buddies come after you.

My boss pokes fun at me because we get these giant wolf spiders in the office and I always scoop them up in a cup and carry them outside (I don't want to kill you, but I don't want to share a cubicle with you either, ok?)....

He killed one this week and he's been finding them all over his desk ever since.

Spiders: 1

Fred: 0

FFW

While I'm here and wasting some time, let's fast forward to Spring 2010. This year so far I've done a handful of new charms designs... but nothing like last year. I spent the last few months doing a huge custom order for a punk shop in Germany called OldSkullPeople, which is partially responsible for my lack of new charm designs. It's possible that in the future I may discontinue them entirely. All the cutting destroys my hands, and the fumes from the acrylic sealant can't be very healthy for you. Yeah yeah, you're supposed to spray outdoors or in well ventilated areas.... I know I know. But here in the Lehigh Valley we have some brutally cold winters and pollen runs amuck in the Spring and Summer. Do you guys mind if your jewelry has pollen permanently encrusted in it? Might make for a great bad luck charm for an enemy with allergies ay? So anyways, here's what's new in charms...

More flippin' birds...

As mentioned in blogs past, I get really sick of looking at all the birds I do, but you guys seem to love 'em. So I'm constantly trying to update them and change the look to keep myself from going madd. My customers give me such guff if I discontinue old designs, so I usually keep the old and the new. These are the newest bird designs, which as always, come in a variety of colors.

More charms...

Pendant necklaces GALORE.

2010 so far has been all about these awesome pendant necklaces. My customers have always responded really well to anything nautical, and have just been eating up the anchors I have, as well as the acrylic cabs. And how about these lock and key toggle clasps... aren't they awesome?

I tried a small run of sea creature pendants,

because I love me some sea creatures.

Major fail. You guys hated them. Womp womp.

Clover necklace, photo by Amilie Turner,

Dommino Inc. Photography

You guys love these octopus necklaces.

more birds? why not.

Things that go flap in the night.

I'm a bat nut. I can't hide it... they're tattooed all over me. So here's some more batty goodness.

I now offer the stampings in copper, silver, AND gunmetal. Whoopie!

It's been a while hasn't it?

Lots of catching up to do I guess. Let's start with a highlight of some of my favorite pieces of 2009. When I first started my shop in the summer of 2008, I expected a quick and heavy run for a while... and a fizzle out soon after. I spent the tail end of 2008 making skelly accessories and experimenting with charm necklaces... spending countless hours on new techniques and processes to make my products better. In 2009 I was still in shock that my work actually sold and went crazy generating new pieces for the shop to keep things fresh.

Almost 2 years and 850 sales later... and here I still am in full swing... still amazed that people enjoy my work. So here are some highlights of my favorite pieces from 2009. You'll have to excuse some of the bad photography. Taking pictures with artificial light, indoors, in the winter, with a less -than-great camera... is a daunting task. Anywho, I bring you the best of Horribell Originals 2009: