ALSO

Craft fair news!

This Sunday, May 2, I will be set up at the Brandeis Festival of the Arts in Waltham in case you happen to be in the area! It should be a beautiful day and there are all sorts of fun things going on during the day.

AND on May 7 and 8th I will be set up at the Twist Fair in Northampton, MA, which should be loads of fun!! Hope to see you somewhere!

bizzzzeeeeeeee

Things have been WILDLY busy lately. We just got back from a whirlwind trip to NYC last night, during which we went to the MOMA, saw some uncomfortable naked people in an exhibit I'm not sure I'm crazy about, walked around the diamond district pretending to know what I was doing, went to a jewelry supply store and bought an adorable little metal heart stamp to sign jewelry with, went to SOHO, stopped into some stores with jewelry information, got some good leads, had the most expensive drink of my life at the Algonquin, felt fancy, went to Katz's deli, had a root beer and half a ruben, pulled a muscle behind me knee, and more. Not in that order.

I only took a few photos, but here is some evidence of our adventure:

Crazy Katz's Deli, home of the When Harry Met Sally scene.

Exiting Kiosk, the coolest weirdest overpriced little store. The first picture is also from there. I bought a disgusting and awesome box of Icelandic licorice. Thanks to Cup of Joe for recommending it!

Faaaancy

Lookie there! Some fancy gold pieces. The ring has an amazing, bright ruby, set in a gold bezel on a thick hammered frosted band.

The necklace has a diamond set in a bezel with a sparkly black drusy swinging from the bottom.

How do we feel about the first two pieces of the Rachel Pfeffer Line?

New Bow Ring

I've had this crazy wire ring hanging around my workbench for the longest time, and, after a minor jewelry making melt down yesterday, during which I spent 2.5 hours on the most tedious ring ever only to have it melt in front of my tear-filled yes, I finally decided to do something with it so I didn't feel like such a failure. And lo and behold, it turned out pretty nifty. I soldered a thick little bow on top of the wrapped up band, and it looks like the silver wire is just string wrapped around and around your finger and topped up with a bow!

again!

I don't know WHY it's taken me so long, but a while ago I featured a reader's blog and it wasn't actually her blog and I never changed it! SO here is Kira's actual blog, oopsicraftmypants.com. It's great. You should read it. I'm in love with her owl up there.

pssst

I also just listed this blue drusy ring that I had to post! I feel like a queen when I have it on.

crazy town!

things have been just that lately. crazy town. I sent out a billion packages today (more like 5) and feel great, though. I also started making my honey knuckle rings with the bee soldered right on, and I am LOVING IT. I hope everyone has fun weekend plans! I might post about a new ring I made today also, but in case I don't, good night!

Apologies, apologies

I haven't been my gregarious self lately because...drum roll....

I'M ON A JURY!!

That's right folks, I went to jury duty, and yada yada yada, I'm on the jury! It's one part exciting, one part horrible. But it's still interesting nevertheless. I feel so important and grown up.

I've also been busy with a little wholesale order and getting a bunch of orders out by the weekend, which doesn't leave much time to make new things. But hopefully soon there will be all kinds of new drusy delovelies to look at! AND, to top it off, I'm trying to put together a bit of a line sheet/catalog to sprinkle around NYC. I'll probably just get lost and drop them down a sewer or something.

Until then, drool over that owl dress some more. That's what I'll be doing.

(The picture above is Amy's bed! So pretty! So clever!)

The Big City!

Next week Ben and I will be going to new york for a mere night, but I want to make sure I do everything I always want to do but inevitably forget! So far the list consists of:

Kiosk
Opening Ceremony

What else??

I can't get over that absolutely scrumptious owl dress from Opening Ceremony. If anyone has an extra $500 they don't want, I'd be happy to take it off your hands!

I want it.

These lamps, that is, by Monochro.

Awww

A couple weeks ago Ben and I were in Northampton. As we were leaving the parking lot and walking through an alley, I remembered that one of my best friend's hooligan of a boyfriend way back when had tagged the wall with the ever sweet "I love my DJ". And it's still there! He wasn't a keeper, but I still love walking by and checking up on the love note.

Brazilian Amethyst ADVENTURE Ring

This ring makes me want to go on an adventure.

The stone is a beautiful dark purple amethyst from the Brejinho mine in Brazil, and it reminds me of a jolly rancher. Mmmm. I haven't had a grape Jolly Rancher in FOREVER.

Anyway, I was so excited when I thought of turning the beaded wire bezel accent into the band! It looks like a lasso to me. I guess this ring reminds me of lots of things. That's good, right?

Hooray!

I just made my first treasury! It was slightly terrifying. Did I do ok??

Dream Big!

I also finally got around to finishing up this gigantic amethyst geode ring, that spans almost there fingers! I stamped DREAM BIG on one side of the bezel, so its like a secret little pep talk every time you look at your ring.

hot pink!

Just finished up THIS ring, which gave me all kind of grief. But it turned out lookin' great!

Thanks!

Thanks to Ange over at Lushlee for doing a feature on my goods! I'm truly tickled!

I wish I could draw.

So. Badly.

But alas, I can't. My housemate, Adam, however, can draw. I saw these two canvases in the living room and wondered to myself "how did he get that wallpaper pattern on there, some kind of screen printing?"

But no! He HAND DREW IT. WITHOUT A PATTERN. He made tiny tiny grids. I can't stop thinking about it.

They also scare me. A little.

Druzy Alert!

I just got a bundle of beautiful new drusy stones (still can't decide how to spell it.) I'm going to try to make a new ring a day for...as long as I can? Here's the first!

Eyebrow Pains. And new Brass Bikes.

Do you ever rub your eye brow the wrong way and then it hurts and you can get the hairs to lay properly again?

No? Well, it's happening to me right. now. and I HATE IT.

In other news, I finally listed my brass bike pendant! Just like the silver one, but, you guess it, brass! With silver hearts in the wheels! What could be cuter?

Hearts promotion!

Starting TONIGHT, all purchases over $100 will get a FREE pair of brass heart studs, valued at $18.00! What could be better? They have a lovely brushed finish and have sterling silver posts and strong backs. Woweezowee!

Cut out my heart

I was sawing out little brass hearts today on the porch for a bulk necklace order. They were so cute sitting in the sun that I had some fun taking pictures. I even asked my friend Chessy to draw a girl to hold on to the balloons!

Also I can't stop wearing this dress that I got from Anthropologie the other day. It's like a robe! I never want to take it off.

Rachichi and Sun

Thanks to Nel, I think I figured out the name for the aforementioned "fancy jewelry" line (aka gold). She suggested Chichi, which I like a lot, and realized that I can combine it with my name: RaChichi!

Weird? I think i love it. Thanks Nel!

In other news, our day in the sun waiting for the Sedaris show was a success! Exhibit A: (see above). Just hanging out in front of a coffee shop in Newbury St, attempting to look chic. (Or should I say, chichi!)

Exhibit B:

The Boston Commons were a-bustlin'! Everyone was happy, lying on the grass, laughing at the ducks. Such silly ducks.

Fancy Pants?

I do believe that in the near future I'll be "launching" a "luxury line."

(I feel silly saying that without the quotes.)
(Even though I feel silly saying it with the quotes...)

Anyway, more gold, more gems, more fancy things. And I really like the idea of having a name for this line also...like..Fancy Pants. Only not that. Suggestions? Ideas?

Sigh. All I've got is Fancy Pants.

Which is confusing, to say the least.

Anyhoo, what else is exciting in your lives? Tonight Ben and I ended up with front row tickets to see David Sedaris, so I'm excited about that. We are going to head into Boston early to stroll around in the sun for a while.

Mayhaps a margarita?

Play ball!

Last night Ben and I stood in line for about 3.5 hours outside of Fenway, along with a couple hundred other people, for "day of" ticket sales (which means they are cheaper). It was a hot day of almost 90 degrees, which made for some fantastic people watching, so I didn't mind sitting on a curb for a few hours. The way it works is that they start to allow people in at 5, and you have to go into the stadium when you get your ticket. The game didn't start until 7, so we had two hours of sitting in our seats, eating hot dogs, and again, people watching (my favorite part!). It was fun watching the stadium go from light to dark.

Before:

After:

Birds with banners.

Thanks to the magic of blogging, (she left a nice comment on the Nessy post!) , I discovered the work of Pragya, the artist behind ArtOcrat. And BOY do I want one of these prints!! A few of my favs:

They are all in her Etsy shop here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/PragyaK. Go look!! They make me smile! I want a million!!!

Nessy!

And now, what you've all been waiting for!

A lochness monster ring that turns into a necklace!

WOWWOWOWOWOWO.

Sorry, I was just super excited when I made this. Even if Ben thinks his head looks more like the snake from the Robin Hood cartoon movie. Anyway, you can wear him on your fingers (it's surprisingly comfortable), or you can put the two hooks through the eye hole and the tail hole and wear it around your neck. I'm seeing diamond eyes on the next version.

Lochness

I've got the lochness monster on the mind. (in a couple days hopefully you'll see why!)

Some fun buyable treats I found in my researching:

1- http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=38305704
2- http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=42604601
3- http://www.topatoco.com/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=TO&Product_Code=WIGU-LNMAC-TOTE&Category_Code=WIGU
4- http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=18344500

Porch Time

Today was just a beautiful as yesterday was. So nice, in fact, that I decided to stamp some key chains on the porch, on my work bench that has yet to be moved upstairs. I'm flirting with the idea of keeping it on the porch, and just bringing my work and tools inside with me when I'm finished. This stems from a mix of both laziness and awesomeness. A porch studio? I mean, come on. Here's what it looks like now.

I had some tunes playin' on my computer, there was a slight breeze, and it smelled like pizza from the pizza place across the street. What could be better?

(I was also rocking stripes today. Ben had one striped shirt. A waitress at a cafe we had lunch at said she liked our matching stripes.) ((you can't tell in the picture at the top, but my pants are blue and white stripes too! I was totally taken by the whole nautical thing at Forever 21. I'm sorry.)

Music

Last night Ben and I went to the Montague Bookmill (books you don't need in a place you can't find!) for a show. It was a cacophony of smells, including beer, cigarettes, and most notably, b.o. Not that there was anything wrong with that. It was great fun, and we were in this living room like room full of books with all sorts of people, listing to great music. The headlining band is a group called Nohow-on. Now go listen to them.

Sigh.

Nothing smarts more than getting rejected from a craft fair you REALLY thought you had in the bag.

Wow, it feels good to use the word "smarts" like that naturally in a sentence.

But still, it does smart.

On the brighter side, I would someday like to be served tiny little adorable pieces of cheese from a man in smart slacks (i guess i just like the word smart), with flower decorated tooth picks on a slab of tree trunk.

Image via ffffound.

Can you believe the weather??

Ok ok, I know everyone and their uncles probably have posts today about the weather. But come on. How can you not?

Today, after a little family gathering, Ben and I went to one of our fav bars in Turners Falls and sat on the patio drinking margaritas and eating pot stickers and meats and cheeses. There was a dog that was bigger than my bike. He was a cutie. But I think I kept finding his hairs in my drink, which kind of made me hate him.