Every week I want to do a 'Thank you Thursday' blog about those who have helped me - whether influenced a thought or state of mind, inspired an idea, a person I greatly admire or someone who has supported me, whether well known publicly or only known by myself and also a supplier, whether it's an actual physical shop in my local high street or someone I know online who supplies top quality items which I use in my business.
For the first ever 'Thank you Thursday' I am going to start with my first ever suppliers for my beginnings of my photography jewellery - I still use them and count them as the best - Jasmin Studio Crafts.
When I had the idea to put Larry on a pendant for my own personal use, I never realised I could make this into a business - profitable or not, that comes with hard work - and it was only until I typed in 'Pendant Blanks' did I stumble upon Jasmin Studio Crafts. Lots from ebay and the like too... but the name 'Jasmin' stood out as it's one of my favourite scents (Jasmine). So I clicked... and the magic began... Plus they came from Streatham in London, my grandmother lived there for 15 years and I knew Streatham highroad like the back of my hand! They were all good signs!
Oh the ideas... My head began to run away from my brain which had decided to explode in inspiration...
LOOK:
Pendant Blanks - have you ever seen anything quite as exciting as this page? I mean, I'm never going to be a silversmith, I'll never be able to make my own pendant trays and even if I did, the price goes up tenfold, for me AND the buyer! Every shape and every size....
Wooden Tiles and Scrabble Tiles - What the??? Really? Scrabble tiles? And other wood blanks - you mean... Wow, really? As I love to 'paint' on wood, as wood is absorbable and I paint mainly with water based mediums, this was too good to be true!
Then it came to the crunch - ok, so I have my pendant blank, how am I going to protect the image? I've read about glass tiles, but what glue would I use for this? Then I found these:
Epoxy Stickers - the name made me giggle 'poxy'?! Different shapes, different sizes... But how am I going to cut the shape to size? My cutting skills are virtually non existent, I'm left handed (the best ones usually are!) and have adapted to cut with my right hand, but never in a straight line, nor a perfect circle (can anyone though?)
Ahhh, look at this...
Under Tools and Materials - Craft Punches - Ok, so this narrowed it down, I settled on 25mm (1") and it's still my best selling line (ironically!).
So, what now? Oh, chain! Looking at my own jewellery collection (it's vast - well, of course it is), I had found the best in my collection, as in the longest lasting, were the silver snake chains and the ribbons... and I never doubted it...
Snake Chain and Ribbon (Voile)
So I was set up... Of course glue was always going to be a problem, it still is in many respects, I haven't really found a good glue that will keep my images STUCK down forever, if anyone has any advice on that, please let me know, although I have been using Vitalbond - possibly the stickiest superglue ever, but it's messy and if you get it stuck to you or to something else you don't really want glue over, you're in bad trouble!
I think my first order was rather large... I'm not sure what Jasmin Studio thought of me - some nutter from no-where buying so much so quickly, first time - usually people start small - I am not your usual person! But I've continued like that when ordering from Jasmin Studio, as not only do they have the best flat shipping rate no matter how much you order (£2.50 for UK residents) but they also post first class and only once in the entire 2 years and a bit ordering from them before mid-day or sometimes as late as 3 (sorry) they've arrived the very next day! Perfection and I can't thank them all enough!
So my first order was delivered... I had just about taught myself how to shrink my images down to size on Photoshop, another huge self taught learning curve, but it wasn't satisfactory! I needed to find templates (I did of course! I found StefNeffStudio on Etsy, yet, another thank you!)
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| Larry Robin Pendant Using Wooden Tile (Scrabble) Jasmin Wooden Tiles |
So above was my first ever 'attempt' at a Larry Robin pendant - a robin - ALL YEAR ROUND - not just for Christmas and again ironically he became one of my best sellers in this format! (I must bring it back!)
It was all down to Jasmin Studio - and the items in her shop - read her A Little Intro on her blog post she wrote way back in February 2011.
Just to give you other examples of my earlier creations using items from Jasmin's shop, here's some photographs:
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| Larryware Robin Earrings 16mm silver plated circle (my photographs were so arty back then!) Jasmin Earring Blanks |
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| Larryware baby Larry on yellow painted 25mm wooden tile Jasmin Round Wooden Tile |
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| Larryware small silver plated pendant trays Jasmin Small Pendant Trays |
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| Larryware Larry Robin Christmas Decoration Jasmin Domed Version |
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| Larryware Larry Robin Bottle Cap Magnets Jasmin Bottle Caps |
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| Larryware Original Photography Daisy Pendant in Silver Jasmin Round 25mm Silver Pendant Trays |
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| Larryware Original Photography Daisy Pendant in Bronze Jasmin Round 25mm Bronze Pendant Trays |
Larryware Original Photography Cornflower Rectangle Pendant in Bronze
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| Larryware Original Painting Ring in Bronze Jasmin Ring 16mm Round Blanks |
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| Larryware Original Painting 25mm Square Wooden Pendant Jasmin Wooden Square 25mm Tile |
So there you have it - Jasmin led the way for my inspiration and she still does... although she's my best supplier for epoxy stickers (still chuckle over that name) and I think I've caused her 'out of stock' status on various round sizes...! ;)
In November Jasmin opened a shop in Streatham (I would love to go, but I think Devon is a little far for an afternoon trip! One day!) Read her blog post about it here - A Momentous Week - I am so so happy for her and her team to know that business is booming, I always send my fellow jewellery crafters Jasmin's way, as I know they'll be able to find exactly what they need!
There are a lot of items in Jasmin's shop I haven't tried - my New Year's Resolution is to try her own resin and, yes, it is in fact called Jasmin Studio Crafts Resin Kit - I'm a little wary of resin, as I know it has a mind of its own and if I make a mess with normal glues and glazes, then heaven knows what kind of mess I'm going to make with resin! But we shall see - I might even blog about it (watch this space!)
So just to recap and conclude - Jasmin Studio Crafts is the place to be seen, whether online or in her fabulous shop (I know it's fabulous even though I haven't been) and I really hope this blog post of mine is seen, read and enjoyed and hopefully create sales for Jasmin and her team!
Thank you Jasmin :) x
Ok, so can't end there.... as Larry Robin always has the last word...
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