Our Offical Grand Opening Reception!

Please join us for an evening of wine and refreshments to celebrate the Grand Opening of our new studio/store in downtown La Conner. That same evening, right out in front of our store, Santa will be visiting to help with the annual town tree lighting. Then I suggest you treat yourself to a nice dinner at one of the many wonderful downtown restaurants. Heck, make a night of it. There are many special places to stay. We’ll have tons of great art beads and jewelry for sale. If you mention this card you will receive 10% off. Scott will be doing live torch demos throughout the night. Hope to see you here!!
Thanks, Monica and Scott Bouwens

Bracelet by Scott and Monica Bouwens

Lampwork Beads by Scott Bouwens, Bracelet by Monica Bouwens - Bearfoot Art

Now Enrolling my Jewelry Classes

Our studio in La Conner, WA is now open and I have completed my class schedule. Click Here to learn more and/or enroll online. I will have you making jewelry in no time.

Our New Studio/Gallery is opening soon!!

I've been too busy to keep up the blog for quite some time, but I look forward to posting again regularly. In the meantime, here are a couple slide shows of the exterior of our new studio/gallery in La Conner, WA. We are sooo excited. I'll show an updated slide show by the end of the week. We hope to open on Monday. I'm so excited to be making jewelry again!




Bearfoot Art Studio and Lampwork Bead Museum - coming soon!




Inside Bearfoot Art Studio in progress

Booth Set-up. Always changing.

I haven't done an outdoor show in about a year now, but I really enjoy them. They are so unpredictable, but I enjoy being out and getting a chance to talk to the other artists and look at great work and eat yummy food. We have had some crazy times at shows. More stories later. I just wanted to show you a few photos of some of the displays we have done for shows. I always wish we could do more, but I always know that we did the best with what we could at the time. We needed more signage and posters, but so be it.

When we first did shows, we were very elaborate with our booth set-up, but over time realized the beauty of simplicity. When the kids are a bit older, I'd like to do the show circuit again and finally have the booth of my dreams. Well thought out, well stocked, great posters and signs, and gorgeous and welcoming. I will make it happen. One of these days.

A new piece!

I'm not sure if I have shown this piece or not, but just wanted to post some eye candy. Thanks for looking. In the future I plan to make this blog more about offering tips for making jewelry and running a jewelry business, but for now I do what I can.

Happy Monday!

Beautiful Packaging

In case you didn't know, all of the jewelry I sell comes in a satin pouch. A little treasure bag that that will keep your piece protected in your jewelry box or drawer. My sister in law plans to make some extra special ones for me to sell when she can. A great touch for a gift to yourself or someone else.

How do I measure my Jewelry?

All lengths are the interior circumference and all earrings are measured from the top of the earwire to the bottom of the earring. I have found these cones to be perfect for this. It is so important, especially when using larger beads, to measure the true interior instead of just the lenth of the piece stretched out against a yard stick or ruler.

Sterling Silver Ball Chain

I just came across this sterling silver ball chain that I bought a while back. I was so excited when I found this because ball chain can just be cut with scissors to the length you want. The down side is that tiny clasp that the ball ends tuck into. Best to look into a mirror when clasping it on. It can be a hair tricky. Worth the custom fit though and the fun look. I just made this necklace yesterday. It shows one of Scott's new Space Gem Lentils with color. The swarovski crystals match the focal better in person. Cool bead Scott!

MO

A Display we did for a Gift Shop a while back.

This is the only display like this that we have done. We prepared it a while back for a gift store. The lines we did for this store were earrings, pendants, and chain. We converted a watch display to suit our unique needs. It made a nice impact in the store. All of the lampwork beads and pendants were made by Scott.

My Jewelry Portfolio Slide Show

Sit back and enjoy some eye candy. Let me know what you think if you have time in the Comments section below.

Mo’s Jewelry Portfolio

Clasps

This photo shows one way that I like to do my clasps. First I make sure the crimp bead has a larger bead next to it so the crimp won't lay against your skin. Sometimes those crimp ends can feel sharp. I also use wirework to ensure that the soft-flex wire won't slip out. I like a lobster clasp as it has a low profile. The chain enables you to wear your piece longer or shorter depending on what shirt or dress you are wearing or just to find the length you prefer. I will be adding a piece of jewelry for sale to our site most likely on Friday. I need to recover from the weekend child tornado that hit our house. If I had a clean house on Monday, it means I didn't play with my kids over the weekend. I choose to stay connected instead of clutter free. However, I do need to stop tripping on things, so I better go clean up now.

MO

Up and Running....

My jewelry store is now officially open on our website. It was a lot of work to get it all up on the web, but from now on I will only need to add a few at at time instead of all of them at once. Scott has taken amazing photos for me that really show the pieces well. I love to create jewelry. It feels like I am not working when I do it. I'm glad to have the site ready so I can now feel free to make a few pieces each week and not have them just sit here. You can subscribe for free to this blog at the top left of this page. If you choose to do this, you will be e-mailed each time I update this blog. That way you will be sure to know when I have added new pieces to the website, if I have a show coming up, or other information I feel is worthy of mention. Thanks for looking and I would love to receive my first comments so I know that I am not just talking to myself.

To my online Jewelry Store.

To my online Jewlery Portfolio.

My first jewelry blog entry

It is late and I am so excited about this that I can't sleep, so I am testing features and loving the possibilities of using this blog.