About Our Guild

Guild Description:
Our guild represents a wide variety of jewelry artists with unique talents and techniques, as well as the suppliers of beads and beading supplies.
Guild Mission:
To gather together Jewelry Design and Jewelry Supply Studios for the purpose of sharing information, ideas, techniques, and strategies for promoting our Artfire Studios.

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Featured: Ajdjss Guild Great Gifts for Mother's Day

" A man's work is from sun to sun, but a mother's work is never done." - Author Unknown



In honor of Mother's Day the Ajdjss Guild shares some of the
famous words of mothers everywhere.


Am I talking to a brick wall?
Are you deaf or something?
As long as you live under my roof, you'll do as I say.
Call me when you get there, just so I know you're okay.
Did you brush your teeth?
Do you think your socks are going to pick themselves up?
Don't go out with a wet head, you'll catch cold.
Don't make me get up!
Don't sit too close to the television, it'll ruin your eyes.
Eat your vegetables, they're good for you.
Going to a party? Who's going to be there?
I didn't ask who put it there, I said "Pick it up!"
I hope someday you have children just like you.
I'm doing this for your own good.
I'm going to skin you alive!
I'm not your cleaning lady!
Look at me when I'm talking to you.
Money does NOT grow on trees.
No child of MINE would do something like that.
Nobody asked you.
No child of MINE would do something like that.
Put that down! You don't know where it's been!
Someone is going to end up crying.
There's enough dirt in those ears to grow potatoes!
Watch your mouth!
What did I say the FIRST time?
What part of NO don't you understand?
When I was a little girl...
When I was young we had respect for our elders, now look at the world!
When I was your age, I had to walk ten miles through the snow, uphill, by myself, to go to school.
Who died and left you boss?
Who taught you THAT? You didn't learn that in this house!
You can't find it? Well, if you'd put things where they belonged, you wouldn't have this problem.
You won't be happy until you break that, will you?
Your father is going to hear about this when HE gets home!
You should have that phone surgically implanted in your ear.
Some day you will thank me for this. SMACK!!!
If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all
How can you have nothing to wear? Your closet is FULL of clothes!
Don't use that tone with me!



The Ajdjss Guild also shares some wonderful gift ideas from our studios for that special mother in your life:








WhimOriginals








ExquisiteStudios










Glass and Wire Gems









LibertyDoll













Catinalife







LaBellaLuna







Jewelled Trellis








Almondtree









Beadlady5



Sunday, April 18, 2010

Featured Studio: "GlassandWireGems"

Our featured studio this week is "Glass and Wire Gems" aka Donna. "Glass and Wire Gems" is the perfect name for this Artfire Studio. It is filled with wonderful handcrafted lampwork and dichroic glass and also wire wrapped pieces.
Donna has been creating with glass for quite a number of years.
Originally she dabbled with making stain glass. However, in 2007 a friend "introduced" her to the process of fused art glass and wire wrapping and she was hooked. Donna finds great joy in cutting and shaping glass pieces and then placing them in her kiln. She gets a real "kick" out of the beautiful results. Sometimes she likes to embellish her pieces by wire wrapping.
At first Donna made pieces for family and friends as gifts. But she was strongly encouraged to actually sell her work to others.
So, now she has her handcrafted pieces on consignment in local shops and she opened "Glass and Wire Gems" on Artfire.
It is said that a true jewelry artisan is one that actually makes the pieces used for the creation of jewelry---So, Donna is a true Jewelry Artisan.

Now let's get a taste of some of the wonderful items showcased in "Glass and Wire Gems":




Art Glass and Wire Wrapped Pendants---




Jewelry: Necklaces, Bracelets, Earrings, and Rings---



Men's Cufflinks---


Accessories: Keychains, Bookmarks, and Bottle Stoppers---

"Glass and Wire Gems" is certainly a studio with a great variety of lovely handcrafted things.
Kudos to you Donna on your artisan skills and creativity. It is a visual delight to look upon all the pieces you have created.
I must also include a special thank you to Donna for being so supportive to our members on the artfire forums. And, along with being supportive you have been kind, helpful, and quite pleasant. You are definitely an asset to our guild.
You are invited to visit "Glass and Wire Gems" to see with your own eyes a visual pleasure.
You are also invited to make a comment in support of Donna at the end of this feature.
Have any questions for Donna? Please contact her through her studio: http://glassandwiregems.artfire.com/

Sunday, April 11, 2010

Featured Studio: AllEarringsandSupplies

This week the Ajdjss guild is featuring "AllEarringsandSupplies" aka Toni.
This is quite a unique studio filled with all sorts of beads from glass, crystals, semi precious stones, shells, lucite, fresh water pearls and more. There are cameos here as well, and some cabochons plus, all sorts of jewelry findings made of silver, copper, and brass. Now that's alot of stuff to offer for sale BUT that's not all. This fully stocked fabulous studio also showcases wire, chain, and those great roped chords for dangling pendants off of and there's a section with pendants too.

And last, but certainly not least, "AllEarringsandSupplies" has 9 full pages of Toni's wonderful handcrafted jewelry. You will find earrings, necklaces, bracelets, and more that are created by Toni using a number of different jewelry techniques.
There seems to be no end to the "eye candy" showcased in this unique studio.

Here are some of the great beads and supplies you will find in "allearringsandsupplies":










And here are some of the wonderful handmade jewelry that Toni has showcased in "allearringsandsupplies":













"AllEarringsandSupplies" is a totally awesome studio with a totally awesome selection of beads and supplies not too mention totally awesome jewelry.

Here's a little personal stuff about Toni. She lives with her husband in Maine on top of a mountain. Toni says the seasons are quite beautiful there however, the winter's a bit harsh. It was during one of those harsh winters that Toni's crafting interests turned to jewelry design and creation. She was hooked with this and began purchasing a phenomenol amount of supplies. Well, with all these supplies she was able to make lots of pieces. After awhile she realized that she had made an awfully big supply of jewelry and she had accumulated enough supplies for a few life times. Her husband suggested that she try to sell some of her pieces and that led to selling some of her accumulated jewelry supply stock too. Surprisingly enough her little business took off and she found her way to us. How lucky are we???

You are invited to stop by "allearringsandsupplies" to drool over all the great supplies and lovely jewelry showcased in this studio.
You are also invited to leave a comment for Toni here and on the artfire chatterbox thread:

You can contact Toni through her studio if you have any questions for her.


Monday, April 5, 2010

The Ajdjss Guild Features the Sparkle and Shine of Swarovski Crystal Beads and Accessories

Swarovski Crytals are sparkly, beautiful, and probably one of the most lovely creations of man. Each crystal bead or component is made in a factory with the same basic formula that was perfected by Daniel Swarovski, an expert at glass cutting, in the beginning of the 20th century.
Swarovski Crystal is referred to as "silver" crystal, however, there is no silver used in it's creation. The crystal got this name from a Swarovski craftsman in Austria, who held up a finished piece of crystal to the light for inspections and was awed by the silvery glow created by the object's spectral brilliance. Since then, all pieces in the collection have been called Swarovksi Silver Crystal.




So, what is Swarovski Silver Crystal made of?
Swarovski Crystal is fired using a combination of natural minerals and quartz sand, and then cooled slowly to avoid stress and inclusions.


Why is Crystal more expensive than glass?
Crystal quality is dependent on the production method and the processing of the raw material . Both factors play a major role in determining its brilliance and the measure of its value.

What distinguishes Swarovski products from imitations and those made by other manufacturers?
The factor that sets Swarovski crystal products apart is -and always has been the superior quality of the cutting and polishing. In recent years, crucial role has also been played by exceptionally creative in - house and freelance designers.
No matter what, Swarovski crystals certainly add so much life to a jewelry creation whether it is a piece created with only crystals or as a fabulous accent to a piece.

So, once again, without further ado the Ajdjss Guild celebrates Swarovski crystals and
the lovely jewelry pieces created with them.





SWdesigns









AllEarringsandSupplies










CreativelyJewelled









RubyMtnBeads










GlassandWireGems











SupplyCloset








JewelledTrellis










Julies_Jewels









MinorDetails








KittyBallistic









Beadlady5


You are invited to leave a comment here and visit our guild studios for more of the sparkle and beauty of Swarovski Silver Crystals.
Please join us in celebration of these fabulous crystals by engaging in "shameless promotion" of your Swarovski crytal beads and creations here: