Charity Flash Sale for Point of Pride!

Hello, everybody!

Today is the last day of my weekend long flash sale raising money for Point of Pride, an incredible organization that provides direct aide to trans and non-binary folks trying to access gender-affirming care. In honor of the Trans Day of Visibility on Friday, I have put everything in my shop on an automatic 25% off and every penny that I make is getting donated.

Click the photo to shop the sale!

Or, if you’d rather your donation not get filtered through Etsy, feel free to donate to Point of Pride directly and then send me a screenshot of your donation receipt and I will gift you that amount’s worth of beadweaving patterns from my shop. I have like 40 to choose from now!

I love the trans and non-binary folks in my life and want them and people like them to have all the support they need. Increased visibility has come with a lot of violence and fear-mongering, so I feel drawn to help in direct ways like this that will provide individual people with care that they otherwise couldn’t afford. If you also feel drawn to help and would like some jewelry or beadweaving patterns, this is a great way for you to both help out and get a little treat. Have a great weekend! :)

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Black Friday Sale!

Guess who forgot to announce on here that I started my Black Friday sale?

Twas me. I am a fool.

But in my defense, I do work at an online bead retail site that is ALSO having a huge Black Friday sale and my only coworker is out of town, so it has been such a crazy week for me that I’m lucky I didn’t forget to go to Thanksgiving entirely, haha.

Anyway, if you haven’t picked up my newest pattern yet or just want to see what I have available, now is a great time to do it! I won’t have another big whole-inventory sale like this for the rest of the year.

Click here to shop the sale! Hope y’all have a lovely weekend!

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New Design – Quintadrop Flower Earrings!

Long time, no see, everyone! I finally published a new pattern and wanted to share it here. I think these little funky flowers are really cute and particularly like how the stem looks on a long kidney wire earring.

You can get the pattern here!

You need two-hole cabochon beads, 12mm bugles, Miyuki or Toho 11/0’s and either 3mm pearls or 3x4mm crystal rondelles. I think I’m definitely going to make a lot of these when I have cabochon leftovers after making a Demoiselle bracelet.

They’re pretty quick little flowers and I wouldn’t be surprised if I reach for this design for last minute Christmas gifts in about a month, haha.

This pattern does include the info on which colors I used and while it does include a bunch of photos, the instructions are written in clear diagrams that I drew myself, as always.

Hope everyone had a lovely autumn!

-Sam

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Hey, y’all

Just a heads up that I am going to start donating to my local abortion fund every month using a portion of my Etsy profits, starting July 1st. Reproductive freedom is extremely important to me and I want to start putting my money where my mouth is, especially in light of the recent strikedown of Roe vs Wade.

If you’re cool with that, great! Happy to have you here. I have decided if I’m going to do a set amount or a percentage of sales yet, so don’t feel pressured to buy more things in my shop. Just want you to know my goals and values. I’m glad that yours are similar.

If you are decidedly not cool with that, that is your prerogative. Don’t buy jewelry or patterns from me anymore if you absolutely do not want your money contributing to helping people obtain abortions. I’ve decided that this is important enough to me that I am willing to lose customers, money, and your approval. Thank you for your past patronage. You do not need to contact me to announce that you won’t support me further. I will not respond.

Thanks, everybody. I’m hoping to get back to posting jewelry again soon. I haven’t been beading much lately, but hopefully a little quiet time with my beads is my future. My 30th birthday is on July 4th, in four days. This is part of my gift to myself. Another gift to myself is not allowing comments on this post. Have a good day.

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A Sale and a Strike

So, how about the good news first?

As of right now, everything in my Etsy shop is 20% off. This includes finished jewelry and patterns and you don’t need a coupon code for it at all – the discount will be automatically applied. Please enjoy!

The sale will end on April 11th because I will be participating in the Etsy Seller’s Strike. My shop will be closed from April 11th until the 18th in solidarity with the strike. My patterns and finished jewelry will not be available during that week.

So, why the strike?

Mostly, because I ain’t no scab.

But seriously, if you want a more eloquent explanation, Mashable has a pretty good article here that ends with a bunch of testimonials from Etsy sellers and this petition has a fantastic breakdown of changes that sellers would like to see. It’s specific and accurately reflects my feelings and I would love if you would sign it.

For me personally, my exasperation with Etsy has been steadily building over the last few years, but the recent straw that broke the camel’s back was an announcement that they were going to hike our transaction fee from 5% to 6.5% in the same email that they bragged about their record breaking profits. In 2020, they more than doubled their gross marketplace sales. In 2021, they kept those pandemic sales gains and broke their 2020 record by $3.2 billion dollars. To then turn around and raise our fees by 30% when they are already making us offer free shipping and paying for mandatory offsite ads is honestly insulting.

I really want to believe in Etsy as a marketplace. I’ve made over 15,000 sales since I opened my shop in 2013 and my experiences have largely been good. But the fees are getting ridiculous (.20 per listing plus 6.5% transaction fee plus %12 advertising fee that I can’t opt out of). I don’t like being punished for not being Amazon with a timer counting down when a customer messages me or being punished for four star reviews. I want to be able to reach out to Etsy and talk to a human representative, not an AI chat robot that runs me in circles. I want the resellers and non-handmade items actually policed and removed from the marketplace. I want the choice to opt out of Etsy’s offsite ad program. Basically, I want Etsy the way it was five years ago before it went public and started putting lining shareholder’s pockets above creating the space for small creators and artists it claims to care about.

I really don’t want to move off of Etsy like so many of my friends have. Pattern sales in particular flourish in a marketplace setup. But I’m tired of feeling powerless and bullied by a mega-corporation that claims to be supporting me. So I will be participating in the strike and when it ends on the 18th and nothing changes, I will probably be raising my prices. Between that and my expectiation that Etsy will surpress my listings after being in vacation mode for a week, I am suspecting that this is going to be a bit of a lean month. So, please, enjoy the sale while it’s going! And if you can, avoid shopping on Etsy from April 11th to 18th. We really want them to see that their marketplace is nothing without the creators and artists who have been making them money this entire time.

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Winter Blue-Grays

Hey, y’all!

I’ve been on a wintery color scheme kick with lots of grays and white and blues. I found this silver-splashed white GemDuo beads at work and really fell in love with them and wanted to make an Odessa bracelet with them.

I had a lot of fun with the bright silvers and pearl and went all out with an Elegant Elements clasp.

With the same GemDuo beads, I decided to do a small length of Tiptoe Chain to make earrings! I couldn’t decide on which length I liked better and the polls I posted on Instagram ended up being close to 50/50, so I just make a few of both.

I think the daggers on the end are just PERFECT.

I also had a few slightly older pieces that I thought fit this color palette. One was just some simple peyote stitch with Montana Picasso 8/0’s with silver scattered throughout.

The other was a Toying with Tiles bracelet in some silvered ivory tiles with, surprise, blue and gray!

We got a lot of snow and freezing rain at the very beginning of February, which ended up with me being trapped in my house for a surprise four-day weekend when my driveway got coated in 1.5 inches of solid ice. While trapped inside, I finally used a Humblebeads art bead that I have been saving for years. I used my Joystone bezel for the top and made a little tassel out of Tubelet beads.

 

And finally, I made a pair of Snowball fringe earrings! The drop is are adorable lampwork sugar beads from Elizabeth Girod over at Artistic Elements (formerly Fire and Fibers).

I know it seems like I’ve been busy lately, but this is also the first time I’ve posted since my Black Friday post, so this has been a nice long color obsession spanning several months. I think I’ve gotten this gray/blue obsession out of my system, but I guess we’ll see! What colors are you into right now?

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Black Friday 2021 Sale

Hi, friends! I have just set up my sale for the weekend!

20% off Patterns – 25% off Jewelry

Thursday the 25th through Monday the 29th, no coupon needed!

https://www.etsy.com/shop/wescottjewelry

Happy shopping! <3

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New Design – Holly Drops! Quick Festive Earrings and Necklace Tutorial

I’m baaaaaaaack!

I had a sudden burst of inspiration this week and using a combination of self-imposed deadlines and social shaming (I posted about the design on Instagram and Facebook so that I knew people would hold me accountable), I actually managed to get the pattern done in less than a week!

Introducing – my Holly Drops!

I just can’t handle it. I think they are so cute. You can get the pattern by clicking on the above photo or right here.

One of the reasons I was able to get the pattern out so quickly is that it’s a fairly simple design. But that’s part of what I like about them so much – they’re simple, but delicate and very Christmas-y. And they’re really quick to make! I can make one of the holly drops on ten to fifteen minutes, so they’re great for last minute gifts.

You only need a few supplies – GemDuos, 4mm Rounds, and Miyuki Seed Beads (yes, they have to be Miyuki. Tohos will not work in this project.) And then either chain or a necklace cord or whatever findings you want to use. The pattern includes the step by step bead weaving instructions and assembly instructions for making earrings, a pendant, or a necklace.

The pattern also includes the specific color names and codes for both color schemes that you see in this post. I’m really glad I managed to get a warm-toned and a cool-toned option so that you can pair up the colors with your preferred metal finishes.

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Honestly, I’m really proud of myself for this sudden little burst of activity and it was so fun to have a design I was really excited about this week. I hope you guys enjoy the pattern and I would love it if you tag me in your social media if you post your finished projects. <3

Have a holly jolly one, my dear friends!

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Birthday Sale!

Good morning, everyone! It’s my birthday! I am turning 29 today and wanted to celebrate with an impromptu Etsy sale. For today and tomorrow (July 4th and 5th, 2021) all of my patterns are 20% off and all my finished jewelry is 25% off. All the jewelry will ship out when the Post Office reopens on Tuesday, but the patterns will be available as an instant download, as always.

I think this is one of the longest gaps in my blog since I first started posting on it. Honestly, early May was the two-week mark after my second Pfizer shot, so I’ve been really enjoying getting to hang out with family and friends and being social again after a year and change of isolation and just working everyday. And time socializing is usually not beading time (although some of the ladies from Beaded Bliss have started meeting up and I’ve finally been able to join them, which has been so much fun).

I did finally get to go to my first bead show since before the pandemic! It was actually a Gem & Mineral Show, so I mostly bought finished jewelry. I got an amber ring and earrings for myself, plus some black onyx earrings for my mom and a unakite “jade” roller, just for fun. But I did get these gorgeous matched cabochons. They’re Petrified Wood Opalite and I am absolutely in love with them and so intimidated by the idea of actually doing anything with them.

So, even though I haven’t been posting much, I might be able to get back into the swing of things after the euphoria of vaccinated life settles down a bit. Finding a new normal is going to be a slow process, I think. But it’s a much better situation than this time last year.

If you want to see more of me, I’m definitely posting on Instagram quite a bit these days. You can find my Wescott Jewelry Instagram here. I’ve also taken over the Beads Direct USA Instagram account and have been having a good time trying to learn to make reels, haha.

So, I am hoping to post more soon – I have a new pattern in my head that needs writing up and bead nights with the ladies should help keep me focuses, I think. In the meantime, Happy Birthday to Me and enjoy the discounts! I love you guys. Have a great holiday weekend!

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Spring Collection 2021

Hi, everybody!

So, I wanted to try something different and do a big themed collection drop of the jewelry I’ve been making lately. I was inspired by these beads that we sell at BeadsDirectUSA.com. It’s a mix that we make in house using the PermaFinish Toho 11/0’s to make this lovely metallic rainbow. I think it’s currently out of stock, but when we do have it available, you can find it at BeadsDirectUSA.com by typing “TR-11-PFMIX01” into the search bar.

I loved the bright, happy colors and was really inspired to combine it with white to make a bunch of coordinated pieces. And I ended up making A LOT.

I’m going to be dropping all of these pieces at once in my Etsy shop at 7pm EDT tonight and you’ll be able to find them in their own little section called the Spring Collection.

Shall we take a closer look at some of the pieces?

First, earrings! I have four styles of earrings in this drop. The first are my beaded fan hoops, which use brick stitch directly on a hoop with a white round edging. They flare out from the ears when worn and I’m in love with this shape. I also have tubular peyote hoops for those who want all that color, but a slimmer profile hoop. Then I used more brick stitch on large gold rings to make beaded round circle earrings and a combination of brick stitch and long fringe to make long curtain fringe earrings with a rainbow splatter effect.

For necklaces, I have one beaded flower pendant with an aqua rivoli center and rainbow petals on a dainty gold chain and a long beaded lariat based on a Kelly Weise pattern in her book, Beaded Allure.

I also have a matching bracelet and necklace design available based on delicate beaded tubes and gold links. The bracelet uses a slinky gold chain extension that makes in very adjustable and has cute dangles.

And you know I have a bit of a bracelet obsession, so there’s a lot on offer here. There are two russian spirals (one with a single white stripe, and one with a double), a spiral stitch bracelet, and flat herringbone ribbon bracelet, a St Petersburg stitch bracelet, a Stash Worm bracelet, and a Ruched Tila bracelet, oh my!

All in all, I think it was really helpful for my creativity to limit my color palette to something so narrow and really go wild with it. I had to get creative a few times and was often challenged by the nature of the Toho beads (I usually use Miyuki rounds, which are far more regular, and the Toho PermaFinish in particular tend to have blocked holes). But I had a lot of fun with this challenge and am hoping the collection is as pleasing to you all as it has been for me!

All these pieces will be added to my Etsy shop on April 9th 2021 at 7pm EDT. Hope to see you there!

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