Fantasy Flower Brooches, a Few More Pictures

I feel like this blog is turning into a non-stop promotion of my openwork technique.  To dilute it a bit, here are a few more pictures from my latest tutorial, Fantasy Flower Brooches.

How an Artist's Mind Works

During our last trip to Florida, I gathered a bunch of coral pieces on the beach.  I thought I would use them as texture plates and make a necklace similar to one of my Faux Metal Necklaces.  I even came up with a name for this future necklace: Fort Lauderdale.

Here are a few pieces from my newly acquired collection:

Somehow in my design I progressed  towards Openwork (again!), and this is what I finally made based on those coral pieces:

And here is my question.  Would anybody ever suspect any connection between these two pictures if I did not point it out?

Packing and Shipping Supplies

Every so often I get questions about my jewelry boxes and other packing and shipping supplies.

No secrets!  I am happy to share my three favorite on-line companies for these kind of things:

uline.com
papermart.com
packagingsupplies.com

All three of them have a wide variety of packing and shipping supplies and all of them offer good prices.  The quality of the products is about the same in all three companies.  My advice is to compare the products and prices on all three web sites before buying.  Depending on what you are looking for, one of these companies may be able to offer you a better deal.