Heidi Bundy Designs

A custom wedding band and a SHATTERED Aquamarine

heidi — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 15:43:00 +0000

I had the absolute honor of meeting a gal that needed a wedding band to fit around her engagement ring. Since I have issues with saying no to challenges and a complete disregard for the fact that I’m still moving my shop into place, I accepted and promised a simple band with a slight curve on the face to fit around her 3 carat oval cut aquamarine.

I had the wedding band rolled, curved, soldered and polished in no time. Well, really, it was 3 days, but I am running a shop, too, you know. Then came the request to size the engagement ring down slightly which was totally not a problem.

Do you ever have those days where you just blatantly tell your inner voice to shove off? Well, that was the day that I decided to resize her ring. Rather than remove the center stone like a good little bench jeweler, I left it in and tried a new heat sink process to protect the stone. I was getting frustrated at the time it was taking for the solder to flow so I removed the ring from the heat sink for a couple seconds and focused the flame on the joint.

The sound that a 3 carat aquamarine makes when it shatters is gut-wrenching. BOO. So I stressed for 2 days about how I was going to tell the Bride when she came in and she suprised me a day early. Murphy, right? So I told her. Flat out. Honesty IS the best policy, right? And I was prepared for her to go crazy on me – afterall, I did just completely destroy the main stone in her engagement ring. Did I mention her wedding was 4 days away?

BUT – she was a complete doll. “Things happen,” she said. I wanted to hug her. I promised to make it good before the wedding and if we had to just do something to get her through the ceremony, I would figure out something right after.

Lucky me with my awesome gemstone contacts, I had a BEAUTIFUL aquamarine (a nicer one than the original even) in my hands the day before her wedding. So here’s the product of my stress – I just had to share the adventure with you. Enjoy!

Spreading the Silvery HBD Love

heidi — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 13:44:55 +0000

I was contacted by the owner of a studio in downtown Roanoke a while back about some of my pieces. I was fortunate enough to have found her on Facebook and that she loved a handful of my pieces. Enough so, actually, that she has decided to carry them in her own studio! I couldn’t be more honored and excited and am still looking forward, at this point, to finally getting downtown to check out her studio. The reason I wanted to share this with you is that there are quite a few of MY favorite pieces, that while no longer available on my website, may still be available at Shirley’s studio. If you’d like to contact her or shop some of the other goodies in her studio, you can check them out with the following links:

http://www.thirdstonestudios.com/

http://www.facebook.com/ThirdStoneRoanoke

The pieces of mine that she is now carrying are here:

Feathers – They’re Everywhere!

heidi — Fri, 13 May 2011 15:59:53 +0000

This post is inspired by the new Mama that lives outside our door. These little guys showed their beaks on Mother’s Day and they’re so cute! We’ve watched Mama build the nest over the last couple weeks and even seen her feed them once or twice. These aren’t the best pictures, but thought you might appreciate them.

So I’ve been doing the feather extensions since Christmas of 2010 and those are pretty big right now. They’re temporary, which I love, and they don’t do any damage to your hair, which I also love. But that’s not the only place you’re seeing feathers. They’re in EVERYTHING these days! The earrings have been my favorite venture with them so far since the hair extensions and I thought I’d share a few pictures of the latest creations. Take a look and shop away!

Display Case Progress

heidi — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 18:30:21 +0000

If you follow our Facebook page, then you might have noticed that you can now find some of our pieces at Olde Salem Mercantile in Virginia. You might also have noticed that the display was a little aesthetically-challenged. Well, we’re trying to fix that.

A month or so ago I found this awesome piece of furniture on Craigslist. It’s old. Really old. Which fits in with my “not buying anything new” resolution of 2011. So I picked it up for about $70, I think. It’s solid wood and the glass is so old that it’s got waves in it from where the glass is settling (glass is really a liquid, you know).

I spent yesterday cleaning up the doors on it and removing all the glass. It was a mess. Just look at the before and after shots! So today I went to the home improvement store and picked up the necessities to put the glass back in and seal it off, as well as some materials to give the unit some legs. By the time I’m done, she’s gonna be too pretty to sit on the floor! I’ll share pictures again once it’s all done.

Lady Power!

heidi — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 02:49:55 +0000

Being a female, I have to admit that I LOVE ladies with the power! I’m not a die-hard or a crazed feminist . . . I just love gals that are strong enough to go after what they want and can portray a naivety that makes you think there was never any doubt.

Can you imagine how excited I was when I saw that Uppercase Living was doing a promotion with one of my favorite quotes EVER? Available in 50 different colors and being sold for only $7.95, what woman WOULDN’T want this posted everywhere?

This item is only 4″x5″ and it’s size makes it suitable for laptops, lockers, office décor, wall-applications and framing. And of course the timing is perfect for Mother’s Day – order by April 25th for delivery before that big day. Take a little look at this announcement flyer and the following pictures of projects already completed.

The best part of all this? You can still enjoy the 20% discount through the remainder of the month by using code SPRINGFEVER in the promo field during checkout. Get your girls together and make it a project night. Don’t forget to share pictures of your projects – we’d love to see them! Click here to get started.

Spring Cleaning – HBD Style!

heidi — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 18:46:29 +0000

Most folks think of Spring Cleaning and think about open windows, cleaning out drawers, changing the closet contents from Winter to Summer wardrobes, dusting behind nick-nacks . . . .

Not us! Well . . . I mean . . . I do clean. Kinda. But this kind of spring cleaning is for your benefit, too! We have 15 years of beads collected and we’re running out of place to store it all. You don’t just throw that kind of stuff away . . . that would be blasphemous! What’s the best way to unload it then – without actually just giving it all away? How about paying it forward to all you other designers out there? You like that idea? I hope so – because that’s what we’re doing!

Check out our Etsy shop (http://www.etsy.com/shop/heidibundy) - it’s full of beads and accessories that we’ve decided to get rid of for some reason or another. All of it is quality and it’s all being sold for what we paid for it years ago – if not less! It’s listed under our “PIF” or “PayItForward” section of the shop and there is nothing priced higher than $3, every item is shipped free AND if you buy more than 1 item before the end of April, use code “MULTI05″ for an additional 5% off your total!

Happy Etsy’ing!

Raising Capital (Harder than Raising Children)?

heidi — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 22:28:34 +0000

So an opportunity has presented itself that I’m finding nearly impossible to turn down. But to make it work, I need to raise some capital. About $75K. Maybe the word “some” wasn’t quite strong enough . . . but I digress.

So to raise the capital, normal people would go to a bank. I’m not a big fan of banks. Just because of paperwork and waiting and blah blah blah. So here’s my question: would YOU invest in an opportunity if you had a guarantee of getting your money back AND a little bonus that you could use for 6 months to a year?

Here’s what I’m thinking . . . you give me your money (haha, but seriously . . . keep reading), I give you a contract saying that you get all of it back within a certain amount of time plus a little interest, and for making it all come together, you also get a VIP card of sorts to use for 10% off any and all purchases for 6 – 12 months.

I don’t know details . . .I’m typing as I think here . . . but what do you think? Honestly? I have no idea what the $ point would be to guarantee a “VIP Card” or what the details would be, but that’s what I’ve got so far. AND, you’d have the satisfaction of being a founding “investor” in a new business . . . with all the props and credit you could ever hope for.

Thoughts? Is it too crazy to work?

It’s all about the feathers!

heidi — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 03:43:57 +0000

My newest obsession has been with feathers for some reason. The soft texture is a stunning contrast to the cold hardness of Sterling and the colors are never-ending. There are a couple pair of earrings available so far (the first pair is here) with a lot more planned. But why stop at earrings? If you haven’t yet heard, feather hair extensions are all the rave for 2011. They’re a natural fiber so you can brush, blow-dry and style your hair just like normal with the extensions. They don’t damage your hair and no glue is used to hold them in. So to get the party started, for the next week (thru February 18th) I’m offering one extension for just $5. It’s a great way to keep your style subtle but still show off some of that attitude we love you for!

Thanks to Melissa for allowing me to post her pictures. Hopefully we’ll have lots more to share soon and if you’re near us (in Roanoke, VA) and want to try this look for yourself, just send me a note! It only takes a minute to put them in, so what are you waiting for??

Project: Re-Design Final

heidi — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 03:08:22 +0000

Well, here is the final project! The ring was polished and sent out to the customer last week, in time for Valentine’s Day! You know all the details about it already, so there’s really not much left to tell you. Hope you enjoyed following along with the re-design!

Project: Re-design (Part 4)

heidi — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 16:49:05 +0000

All the stones are out and finally cleaned! I don’t have an ultrasonic at my disposal just yet, so cleaning these little beauties was a tad time-consuming. And I’ll admit, they could be cleaner. But re-read the the first half of the 2nd sentence.

So after getting them cleaned and dried the next step was to measure them. I knew we were working with at least a couple different sizes and I want to make sure that setting them in the band isn’t a random job. I want the sizes to gently decrease, know what I mean? So as it turns out, we’re working with 3 different size diamonds: 2, 2.25 and 2.75 mm. Here’s a picture of them cleaned and sorted by size:

Next up is sizing the proper size burs to use for drilling the settings in the new ring. Stay tuned – I need to get these beauties set today so my gal can wear her ring on Feb 5^th!