I'd like to Cathify Jewelry à la Diane Hyde

The lovely Diane Hyde

I felt pretty miserable over the past weeks for not being able to print laser images... And yesterday my printer, an ink-jet with remarkable fine pixels, died. So I had a quick look at laser printers, but the good ones are far too expensive and not worth buying for the rare occasions I need images for my jewelry. It was a tough decision though, because this really looked like a reach-out of the universe to me, as if to say: 'you wanted one, now is the occasion to get one and make your own buttons for Diamond Weave, and your own cabochon backings and printed material for beautiful necklaces and bracelets, à la Diane Hyde.'

Did I tell you that I love her book "Break the Rules". It is not just about Bead Embroidery!

Diane's Book - a Must

I love it because
- she shines through. One can nearly hear her voice, see her smile and feel like a good friend sitting together with her in her studio et café à volonté.
- she makes me feel confident to use things I like, which I didn't dare to use before, because I feared to (excuse my French) fuck them up. And there are things we don't want to fuck up. Diane has tested it all. Her advice is highly valuable. It takes so many years of tryal and error to find the right glues, varnishes, materials and techniques to use for this type of mixed media jewelry. Her tips are exactly what I needed to make the step.
- she broadens my horizon. She transforms my way of looking at things: everything becomes a potential element to incorporate in jewelry.
- she saves me time. I am busy writing tuts myself, but I really would like to make some mixed media jewelry with those particular things which are close to my heart. I started already, with my Tristan & Isolde Necklace, strongly influenced by her beautiful work, but very hesitating - I didn't have her book at the moment I made it. Now I don't need to search for disseminated information anymore - all the how to and what to use is there, in one publication. The pictures are excellent and the explanations very clear. It really is a toolbox, and we love toolboxes!

Tristan and IsoldeScented bottle necklace

I can't tell you how many times I have renounced making something just because I didn't know which product to use and didn't want to buy the whole store, nor work with  images which wouldn't last. So I had to either buy products made by others, or resign. I generally resigned, because the images I would like to use in my projects are different from those available.
But that's over now.

I will find a solution for printing durable images. Hubby has come up with several good ideas.

Now even if the price of inkjet printers has dropped over the past years, I must say that I still would have preferred spending the money on other things. You sure understand what I mean, don't you? ;)
If you like my work, then feel free to use coupon-code NEWPRINTER in my Etsy - you'll get a 25% discount - valid only until Sunday :)

Thank you so much for your support!