Still Here.....

Yes, I'm still lurking around the 'net.  I'm following the blogs I've got on my stalking list and checking my FB page (with the occasional note) but I've been too busy with the the pup-meister and haven't really been able to create anything.  You try to affix bits and bobs together with a 45lb, 3 1/2 month is old GIANT puppy wanting to play and chewing on everything from your steel wire coil to the pieces that fall off your table so that you have to dive for him, pry his mouth open and remove whatever it is before he swallows it . Which he believes is a game and bounces away the next time you try to grab him causing you to lose your balance and look like a spastic chicken on ice as you work not to fall and nab the little trouble maker at the same time.

I will be back. Eventually. With more creations, I promise. Keep watching.

A Little More Work Last Evening

I was able to sit down for a little while last night, after work, and make a few things. Hope you enjoy:



Fishes & Loaves Asymmetrical Dangles
copper & green seed beads plus the new
way I'm curving in the tails. Seems to work!



Fishes & Loaves Bracelet
Lapis-blue beads (not sure if real or just made to look real)
Copper wire and short bits of necklace chain. I'm going
to play with several designs before I settle on one.



Summer Iris
Again with the earring style learned from
Kristi  Bowman's Aladdin's Lamp earring tute
but using my own little twist. This time I added
a couple beads, top & bottom, as accents and
I used lavender tulle instead of ribbon.

And, for those who want to enter my magazine destash giveaway, go here.

What I Did & Didn't Do This Weekend

You know how you lay plans for your day (or weekend, as the case may be) and have every intention of sticking to that plan? Come High Water or Unexpected Guests!!  Well... there comes a time (or three or a dozen) in every creative persons crafty life when they sit down in their studio and all intentions and plans go right out the window and they end up doing something entirely different.

This weekend was one of those times for me. I had every intent of getting to know my new Jewelers Saw (and probably several blades) over the holiday weekend (which, pause... Thank You, again, to all our Service members, past present and future. I truly, deeply appreciate all of you...) but, when I was sitting, doodling in my notebook a day or so before the weekend, an idea for a bracelet I'd been trying to figure out popped into my head. Along with a necklace. I doodled and played and, yes! the idea would definitely work! So, instead of sawing metal, I was clipping wire.

I started by practicing with my 18g steel wire (because, honestly, that's SO much less expensive than my copper wire!) in order to figure out length for each piece and the size of the loops I would need.  The rough wire practice actually worked, so I pulled out the copper in 12 & 14g and went to work. And here are the results of that work:


The bracelet... recycle sari ribbon, yellow crystal rondelles,
and 18g copper wire to hold the ribbon. It's bangle-style.

 

The "front" of the bangle. This was taken with my iPhone
and Instaframe would not let me put both fish in the picture.
Rest assured, the right side is a mirror image of the left. I
went with bangle instead of cuff or even a catch so that
the wire wouldn't catch on anything.  Curling the tales of
the fish was a epiphany I had while doodling and made it
easy to attach the fish to the bangle but not get in the way.

 

The necklace! OOOOHHH! I about giggled when this idea
doodled itself out. It has the look of an old-fashioned
fishing net (such as would have been used in Bible times)
and just make the necklace really work. 

 

Of course, if you follow my blog, you know I can't make
other jewelry without making earrings. I can always make
earrings and stop, but I can never make anything else and
not make earrings. Never have figured out why. Except that
I'm just weird that way ;)


As you can see from both the bracelet & necklace, curling the fish tails in makes attachment to anything else (or each other) relatively simple. I'm keeping this set but I can now make more. I also think the steel wire might look good as the necklace and may try that next.  I'm really liking this so the poor saw may just have to wait a little longer ;)

Done!

Okay, so I finished the necklace last night and I learned a few things:
1) Just because someone says "use fixative spray to set" does NOT mean it works for everything (or else I just have a very heavy hand and don't know it)
2) I will, from now on, let "permanent" marker ink cure/set for 24 hours, then rub it with Renaissance Wax to "fix" it in place.

Honestly, I followed directions on the can for the fixative. I even let it dry for 20 minutes instead of the 15 required. Then, I do what I always do to be sure, I rubbed my thumb (rather hard) over the surface and the "permanent" marker that had just been "fixed" by the spray came off on my thumb.

~DRAMATIC SIGH~

Out comes the Renaissance Wax and to (careful) work I go. In a short time, not only is the whole thing coated, but none of the marker ink came off during the process or after a few hard rubs of the thumb. Since it has in the past, I attribute this to letting the ink set overnight (NOT the "fixative").  As a test, I inked up four more hammered washers and left them overnight.  I plan to test them by waxing one (carefully) and seeing if the ink stays put. If so, yay. If not, then it's a combo of the "fixative" and the wax. Fun.

Anyway, here's the finished necklace:

Full view - haven't decided on a title, yet.
Free form carnelian pendent & heat treated red aventurine
squares are from ZNetshows.com.  Marble composite circles
are from Michael's, donut focal is a (former) washer from Lowe's
and the clasp is from the button aisle at Joanne's Craft Store.

 

Closer look at the beads

 

Closer look at the focal....

 

...and at the clasp.

I had no real design in mind when I started this. I just hammered away at the washer to start with. When it was done, and I recalled I need to finish some designs for ZNet Shows, I just felt drawn to the ruddy red-ish, orange-ish color in the carnelian and aventurine. It didn't seem like enough, though, so I dug through my stash until I found the marble composite beads. They're a pink-ish white/cream color with the ruddy red-ish, orange-ish color of the ZNet beads.  It was perfect, and their shape echoed the chain and washer.  I'll be sending a photo of the design to Bill Zhang shortly.  I have more designs to work on, but I don't want him to think I'm not working with the gorgeous beads he's sent me.


Now, moving on slightly, I also tried my hand at turning my Fishes & Loaves earring series into a bracelet. It worked, and it didn't. Here's the (mostly) finished product:

I got the five beads on for the loaves, four wired to the bracelet and one as a dangle by the fish's tail but I was only able to get one fish (the clasp).  I need to find a way to add the second fish or it won't be right.  I'm also a little worried that there are "snag" trap areas so I think it requires a bit more tweaking. I plan to wear it a few times with various outfits to see if it does snag.  Any suggestion will be gratefully received and, likely, tested out.  All in all, not completely disappointed in this for a first attempt. Will be checking the tutes I've pinned and bookmarked for bracelet making to see what I can tweak.

And now, off to email Bill.