Reflections, growth and moving on...

Well it's been a while since I've last posted. I've been very busy. I've been revamping and preparing new products for summer, fall and winter collections. I've also been doing some preparations for promotional work and press releases.

I believe that I am now at a crossroad with Shannon Cintron Jewelry. I feel that I am ready to take it to the next level. I'm working on designing my own website now and I think that once my items expire at Etsy I will no longer be selling there as a jewelry artist. I really like selling at Etsy. Etsy has provided me with a platform to test my market for what I want to sell but right now I want to expand my visibility and make my mark in the world of artistic high end jewelry.

I've been practicing new techniques and have been streamlining my product line. I've tried my hand at soldering for the first time and must say that it is much easier than I'd anticipated. I probably will not create any metal smith work for sale until next year because this technique is very new to me and I want to truly "perfect" my skills. I've also brushed up on some of my bead weaving and knotting techniques. I've reviewed a lot of my past selling items and have sketched revisions to make them "new" again.

Right now things are a bit at a stand still as I wait for more supplies. With the supplies that I did have around , I was able to come up with a new type of earring that I named Topek that I may consider adding to my product line once my own website is set up(which should be by late summer, hopefully). I have a version of these earrings already listed at Etsy. I used oxidized sterling silver beads and a basic stitch pattern to create the triangular shapes. I attached these to closed sterling silver jump rings and hand formed the ear wires to resemble claws. I wanted these to hang the way that a hoop earring would. They came out really nice! I wore a smaller version of these all weekend and I got a few inquiries about where I got them from and those who didn't ask, looked at them in curiosity-so I'm pretty sure I'm on the right track with these.

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