Featured Artist: BlueHighways

Good Morning,

Today I have the pleasure of introducing you all to BlueHighways hand bound Journals, from the site Handmade Artists.

Ever wonder what is on that road less traveled?  Perhaps you travel those little blue lines on a map to someplace different, unique and off the beaten track.  That is what Blue Highways has to offer, different, unique and original hand bound books that are not your average Barnes and Noble aisle find.

Beautiful fabric covers and pages of lined or drawing paper complete the books. I have included five of my favorites below (and it was hard to choose).  Great for sketching, a day at the beach or jotting down your journey in a journal!  This is how people used to blog!

What Blue Highways says about her shop:

Old road maps used to have the back roads printed in blue, they're 
the roads less traveled...those are the ones I prefer. 
Welcome, and travel some Blue Highways with me!
All books, art & writing journals, sketchbooks & albums are made 
with nice thick durable fabric covered covers, they are 
beautifully handbound and have generous page counts.I have a 3 
book maximum on any one fabric design then it will be retired, 
even then each of the 3 will either have different paper or binding 
or both.
An encouragement to buyers; if you don't see something already 
made that you like please contact me so that together we may 
collaborate to make a custom book or journal that is absolutely 
perfect for your tastes and needs. Page counts, fabrics, paper colors, 
binding technique...all up to you.

 Deeply Entwined

Chucktown Ballet

Description: Maybe I can explain the odd title on this handbound book (though many are odd I must admit). I was in Charleston, SC not long ago to visit a sweet friend, we went to the aquarium... there were sea turtles with amazing grace swimming right before our eyes...and that's the rest of the story!

Twittering on The Edge

Soundscape

 

Internal Storm

I hope that some of these have inspired you or perhaps caught your attention that you might click through and check out her Shop.

Thank you for stopping by and having a read.

The Alchemists Vessel would like to wish you a pleasant day.

What's New In The Shop?

This morning we have a couple of new items to show you and a rather neat announcement.  Sterling Silver Charm earrings and a new Chain Maille pattern in different colors of wire.

These are very cute.  Sterling Silver Flower Charm earrings with Malachite and Azurite or Lapiz Lazuli beads.  Only two pair available!

We also have Sterling Silver Feathers, here they are shown with a very pretty green stone, Chrysocolla.

One of my favorite animals is the turtle.  This adorable little charm is attached to Malachite and Azurite beads, these resemble the Earth, according to my friend's daughter Bri.  In some cultural myths, a Turtle carries the world on his back.

These items will be listed in the store by this afternoon.

Available February 1, 2012, are these fascinating Chain Maille Parures.  But Alix, what's a Par... a Paru... it's OK, I can't say it either.  A Parure consists of various matching pieces of Jewelry, earrings and a necklace or bracelet, in some cases a ring.  In actual terms it is an entire wardrobe or suite of jewelry.  Women wore them to denote their stations.  No woman would be caught without a complete jewelry ensemble to match their clothing wardrobe.

These earrings are created from Hypo-Allergenic jump rings and purple glass beads, in a "closed" European weave.  They have a matching necklace, but I do not have a photo.

This is the same pattern created in Gold tone metal jump rings with gold glass beads.

I hope to take pictures of their matching necklaces today and have them all listed by tomorrow.  There is one more set in this collection, but I am leaving that as a surprise!

SHOP ANNOUNCEMENT:

In an effort to keep things consolidated, I will be closing several of the pages around the web in favor of a website, alchemistsvessel.net.  Still have some of the kinks to iron out, but we hope to have the new site up by mid-February.

In My Studio

As I am always on the look out for new weaves and techniques, I thought it would also be fun to show off a simple weave in different metals.  As size of the jump rings matter during a project so does the color or tone of the metal, even though the pattern is the same.

European 4 in 1 weave in Sterling Silver Plated copper 3 mm jump rings

Here it is done in 3mm Copper

and once again in 8mm "Gunmetal" wire

Currently working on the additions to the silver chain and the gunmetal chain will be a bracelet. 

Not just limited to chain maille at the Vessel, work is also progressing on some cute new items for  Valentine's Day.  Adorable heart charms and nature charms have arrived and design mode is enabled.  Here is a look at one or two new items soon to be available from The Alchemists Vessel.

Sterling Silver Heart Charms and Garnet beads.

Sterling Silver Turtles with Malachite with Azurite beads

The studio is in full swing.  New patterns to learn, new materials to sort through and listing to post.  It is good to be busy.  Stop by the shop and see what else is on the virtual rack.

Thank you for dropping in and having a look.