Quartz and Metal Leather Bracelets by Dry Gulch

Hi all!  This is Catherine here from Dry Gulch Beads & Jewelry!  In between moving our store to our new warehouse, we filled out a custom-order too!  Our client, the fabulous Allisson, an instructor at our favorite yoga place in Bentonville, Arkansas (Yoga Story!) commissioned us to make 20 stamped disc and long leather bracelets that say "Namaste."  After a few trial runs, I started stamping and photographed the creative process.  Enjoy!

I started with thick copper and nickel metal, using our disc-cutter I cut circles and then little circles out of the big circles.  After that came the letter stamps for Namaste.

Next up was the leather wraps.  I used a dark brown soft suede strap, 36 inches long, double looped onto the ring.  This length makes it so these pieces can be worn as multi-wrapped bracelets and anklets, or long necklaces.  I also drilled a hole into the top of the rings so I could hang a crystal.

Now comes the sparkly part!  These rock crystals are hand-faceted quartz drops!  These lovely dangles add the perfect amount of flair and organicness to these bracelets.  Quartz is said to have numerous metaphysical properties.  In ancient Japan, it was believed quartz was formed from the breath of white dragons, the stone thus gave its wearer great power and clarity.  The word Namaste is a traditional greeting/goodbye used in yoga, and means "I honor you" or "I honor myself".  So, while the quartz may bring confidence and positive energy to the wearer, also Namaste can bring humbleness and friendliness.

The finished bracelets!  Above shows them as they could be worn long, and below what they look like on a wrist.

These bracelets were definitely a blast to make!  I loved putting all of the elements together, and especially adding the quartz crystals.  These bracelets are custom, and can be made on request!  They are $15.  Thank you for reading, and namaste!

Exciting Changes for Dry Gulch

Exciting Changes for Dry Gulch

We have very exciting news and wonderful plans ahead for expanding Dry Gulch Beads & Jewelry!  They include live online classes, video demonstrations, bead-retreat-days at our Dry Gulch Ranch located in SW Missouri, participation in bead and jewelry shows throughout the Midwest, and so very much more.

Since the upcoming expansion plans for Dry Gulch Beads & Jewelry will be occupying every waking hour for us girls who own and operate Dry Gulch, we will be leaving our Northpark Mall storefront in Joplin, MO at the end of February, this month.  For our online customers, the only change will be even more new beads and findings!

We have been here in SW Missouri for over 20 years and we have formed warm bonds and many lasting friendships with all of our customers who have shopped in our stores, attended our in-store jewelry classes and who have purchased through our website at www.drygulch.com from all over the world.  We thank each and every one of you for your loyalty, friendship and support and we look forward to seeing all of you in our expansion of Dry Gulch Beads & Jewelry.

For all of our customers, you will continue to be able to shop all of our items online, attend our in-store jewelry classes with our fun instructors, enter the Dry Gulch monthly Color Challenges, take our online classes, and still get all of the specialized and personal customer service that you have always received:

on our website:

www.drygulch.com

on our Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/DryGulchBeadsandJewelry

on Ebay:

http://stores.ebay.com/Dry-Gulch-Beads-and-Jewelry

on our Etsy Findings site:

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

on our Etsy Jewelry site:

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

on Pinterest:

https://www.pinterest.com/DryGulchJewelry/

on our Blog page:

http://www.drygulchbeadsandjewelry.blogspot.com/

As always, you will still be able to contact us through email or speak directly with us by phone and you will be able to find our current schedule and events on our website.

We are looking forward to seeing all of you at our currently scheduled classes still being held in our store at the Mall through the end of February!

The Dry Gulch February Color Challenge

Design with color and inspire your creativity!

Welcome to the

Dry Gulch Color Design Challenge!

Every month Dry Gulch Beads and Jewelry will be hosting a challenge for creative artisans everywhere.  Be inspired and unleash your creative talents!  What will you create?


{ pink scooped }

Use our colors to inspire your creativity!  Post your project using the color palette above.  Your design will be eligible to win either a $50 gift certificate or a $25 gift certificate to Dry Gulch Beads.
 
Anything can be created for this challenge, including;  finished jewelry pieces, headbands, wearable pendants/pins, handmade cards, lampwork beads, seed-bead art, sewing design, metal-smithing/art, paper crafting, clothing/fiber art, leather work, painting, even your favorite culinary delights (like cupcakes), etc.  Your project must be created newly and specifically for our current monthly challenge.  The sky is the limit!  Show us how creative you are with our color palette.
 
For this challenge, Dry Gulch is offering a $50 gift certificate to the Winner and a $25 gift certificate prize to the Runner-up.  The judges will be looking for adherence to the color palette, creativity of the project’s design and effort.  You may purchase and use Dry Gulch components in your project, but that is not a requirement to win.
 
Your judges will be the 3 generations of women who create at Dry Gulch Beads and Jewelry.  The judges may create and post their own visions of the monthly color palette also, but for inspiration and presentation only.We’ll publish each created work on Facebook and here on this challenge page.  Add your photo in the comments on our Color Design Challenge Facebook Event or email us your photo to custserv@drygulch.com.  When uploading, you may add a description of your work.  If also Facebooking and/or blogging your Dry Gulch Color Design project, please add a link to the Challenge on your page.
 
Entries for the Dry Gulch Color Design Challenge may be turned in from now until midnight CST, Saturday, February 28, 2015.

Just a Little Steampunk by Cat

This is Catherine from Dry Gulch on the blog today, I just have to share one of my latest creations!  This necklace is a custom order, and my criteria for it was something that wasn't too layered or big.  The customer wanted a more subtle kind of steampunk that could go with her dress that she's wearing to a convention.  She had picked out some fabulous little pin-and-cog earrings made by Grandma (Deborah), so I took those home and started playing!  First thing first was making the pendants, and I finally settled on three kinds.  Two have been ICE-resined with real gears and cogs from my stash of torn-apart watches, and one features filigrees and charms with Swarovski flatback crystals on top. 

 

 



After the pendant components had finished their two-day setting time, I then went to work trying to see which ones would go together.  As much as I loved the filled circular pendant, I just knew I could get the pin and filigree to be very fun.  After that came the long part of the necklace, and that was remedied with antique brass chain, pins, big-hole spacers similar to gears, solid copper gear cutouts and just a dash of Swarovskis. 

 

Voila!  The finished necklace.  I don't often get the time to create steampunk-styled projects like this, so this necklace was a blast to make.  I particularly liked the challenge in making a less "gooped up" kind of steampunk necklace.  I feel like this necklace could be worn either casually, formally or even to a masquerade party.  Thank you all for reading, and enjoy!

 

 

 

The 2015 Bead Peeps Swap N' Hop!

Welcome to Part 1 of a series of blogs made specifically for the 2015 Bead Peeps Swap N' Hop!  We joined this fabulous event very recently, and would like to start off showing y'all what we do in Dry Gulch Beads and Jewelry.  In this blog, we'll be talking a little bit about us and how we got started, and then we'll showcase some of the jewelry we create.  Sit back and enjoy the ride!

1. Why or how did you get started making jewelry?

Dry Gulch Beads and Jewelry is a family-owned business having three generations of women designing and creating beautiful jewelry to be worn casually, professionally and formally. We are Deborah (Grandma), Jennifer (Mama), Catherine and Gianna (Cat and Bean - Granddaughters). Not only have we had a “brick & mortar” store located in Joplin, MO. for the past 10 years, but we also have a retail/wholesale website with clients and customers from around the world. We carry a large selection of crystals, beads, findings, chain and tools etc. and our finished jewelry is also sold in several boutiques. We also create torch-fired lampwork beads, hand-cut and stamped metal, painted and enameled components and many other custom pieces. We have a love of “vintage” and often incorporate that into much of our jewelry. We are a “work in progress”.

(left to top to right to bottom) Gianna, Jennifer, Dave, Deborah, Catherine

2. What style(s) of jewelry do you like to make?

Because there are four of us, our jewelry has a really big range of styles!  We create earrings, necklaces and bracelets, and occasional odds and ends like bookmarks and key-chains.  We love vintage and antique styles and often reuse vintage jewelry components in our works.  We also love mixed media, and incorporate leather, wire, metalsmithing, paper, paint/enamel and fibers in our work.  Deborah's works tend to be bohemian in style, Jennifer loves to break down and re-imagine vintage jewelry, Gianna creates intricate Victorian-inspired works and I (Cat) enjoy metalsmithing and playing with leather. 

Mixed media Faith Bird Trio necklace by Deborah

3. What materials do you prefer to use (and which ones do you avoid)?

We don't really shy away from odd materials!  The older the materials the better, and hand-fabricating from start to finish like in metal-smithing is a challenge we love tackling.

Seed bead earrings by Gianna

4. What techniques do you prefer (and are there any you don't like)?

We love all techniques!  We enjoy metalsmithing, leather working, lampworking, crocheting, and seed beading.  One of the things we really haven't tried is polymer clay, but we will remedy that soon!

Mixed media necklace by Jennifer

5. What colors do you use most, and which do you run screaming from?

Also the same answer as #4, we don't shy away from any color in particular.  While we tend towards the vintage styles, which includes colors like pastels and neutrals, we also love to break out of the box and create with colorful and bright palettes too!

Leather message bracelets by Catherine and Deborah