Firsts - Attempts & Trips

So, I made my first attempt at forging a copper bracelet. I took some 6g copper wire, annealed it (as much as you can with a hand-held butane torch) and hammered the snot out of it (annealing as needed). I then hammered one area slightly wider than the rest so I could stamp words on it. Once that was complete, I worked and worked to bend a bracelet. I learned several things in this 1st attempt:
1) 6g wire is a bear to work with when it starts to harden. Anneal, anneal, anneal!
2) Having some sort of mandrel to curve &/or hammer your bracelet into shape is a must, you just end up with a fairly rough looking bangle otherwise (still, not too horrible, I wear it proudly!).
3) Use block letters to stamp when you want a long word or a sentence. Cutsie letters are fine for single or simple words, but not so much for a whole sentences.
4) It's gonna take time and effort to get what you're after so don't give up. It can be done, just not (usually) on the 1st try.

Here are a few photos of my first attempt:

As you can see, the lettering is hard to read as cutsie swirls. My next attempt will be block letters and I have a few ideas for getting them set where I want instead of just "eyeballing" it.  You can also see how rough the (non-)circle of the bangle is.

Another angle to show the wording and the rough look. I don't mind some "roughness" to my work but I want it to be deliberate, not because I haven't done a good enough job.
HOWEVER!!! In the second pic you'll notice an arrow pointing to a small, soldered area? YES!! I FINALLY WORKED UP THE NERVE TO DO MY FIRST SOLDER JOB!! WOO HOO! You should'a seen me doing the giggly version of the Happy Hamster Dance. Ooooorrrr, maybe not (HA!). ANYwho! I found some no-flux-needed copper solder at Lowe's (in a handy-dandy little syringe-type dispenser) and this is what I used. Obviously it doesn't look copper, but it's apparently for use with copper. I don't care. IT'S MY FIRST JOB! I'll admit, it's a bit rough looking, too, but I STILL DID IT! (giggles ensuing again)  I worked those two ends over until they were fairly smooth in bumping against each other, then I applied the paste and then the flame. This is a low-temp solder so my little butane torch was more than adequate. It did take me a couple of tries or so because I didn't let it heat enough to set (I got nervous) but it's solid, now. I've even tried pulling and tugging that area. Nope! Not coming apart.
So, being of a mind to continue in this vein, I have ordered my 1st mandrel from Amazon and I also ordered a pair of black, bending pliers. Supposedly they are good for shaping heavier metals for rings and bracelets. (yes, I'm afraid I'm a bit tool-mad at times!) If you'd like to see them, follow this link. They looked like a good idea to me so I'll give you a review on them once I've gotten them and tested them out.

Now, about the "& Trips"  part of my title. Saner Sister and I took The Toad on his first road trip over to the coast. We found out the Avila/Pismo area of California is quite pet friendly and, in some cases, beyond welcoming to your furry, four legged friend. The Toad had a ball. Saw his first hotel (Sea Crest in Pismo, for any interested parties, is one of the top places to stay in my opinion), then saw the ocean for the 1st time (wasn't sure what to think of that!) and met several other pooches out enjoying the surf. Wore. Him. OUT!  We also enjoyed eating at The Custom House in Avila. They have a patio area where we were able to sit with The Toad and they even have a PET MENU you can order from for your dog! Saner Sister & I laughed, then stopped laughing and ordered The Toad some hotdog (called "Who Let The Dogs Out") which sent him to Toad Dog Heaven. He was quite spoiled on that trip but he had a blast. Here's a few pics of his time over there:



Not sure what to think of it all. Top left, loved sniffing the kelp!
Center right, his first encounter with a wavelet. He was having
NONE of it! Meeting friends, of course.  Bottom right, watching
crazy humans on surf boards from the pier. Wasn't too crazy
about the pier walk. Wanted off that thing, now!

  

Top left, 1st glimpse of the ocean. Bottom row, having fun
chasing things (birds, waves, other dogs). Middle left,
the look he gave me the day I told him we were getting ready
to go home. Guess he liked getting spoiled being w/Momma
and Saner Sister all day, every day.

(Saner Sister tho't we'd better get in at least one pic w/the Toad, hence the selfie)  So, everyone had fun, The Toad and I got dunked at least once (a wave was higher than we tho't it was going to be) and everyone went home exhausted and happy. Now, back to the routine of the Evil Day Job, walking the Toad (and working on manners, he forgot those with his vacation!), and getting back into the craft room.

Fun.

Weekend Bangles

This weekend I spent only a short time in the craft room (still have a puppy to take care of!) but I managed to make these memory wire bracelets. I'm not usually a bracelet person so I was a bit surprised at (and pleased with) myself.

moonstone chips, pink & white square beads, one
murani style glass bead (just peaking from under
the moonstone in the center, there) and sea blue
glass beads as accents. I like this one. I'm actually
wearing this right now. 

 

made with crystal pearls from ZnetShows.com, silver
spacers from Michael's and a faceted black rondelle
as an accent. Like this one, too, but I let Saner Sister
have it, along with the one below.



black beads, square silver spacers, and one black swirl
glass focal bead. Really, I'm going to have to do this
again.... do I have enough beads? Hmm....

rose quartz chips, pink round beads, hot pink pressed
glass beads and a few glass moonstone beads as
accents (the glass moonstone are also from Znet)


And, suddenly, PUPPY!!


at 12 weeks... He's a Weimaraner (or Weim if you
want to shorten it) Also called the Gray Ghost
because of their coloring and style of hunting
(they're sight hunters)

1st visit to his new vet. He did SO well!

Waiting to see the vet... who came out and said,
"Oh! I see you have a pair of ears with a puppy attached!"
(snork) Yes, Weims usually have huge water absorbers
on either side of their heads.

 

exhausted from a hard afternoon chewing end tables



Learning that sleeping with Crazier Sister does not mean
IN THE SAME BED as me. Crazy, maybe, but not
insane! He's gonna be over 100lbs one day!!! Train 'em
now in the way you mean to go on! (13 weeks, 36.5 lbs)


And now you know what's keeping me busy!
What about you?

PICMONKEY.COM ~ It's A Love/Hate Relationship

Yes, it really is.  The "love" part of the relationship is because it's so FUN to play with all the effects they have available to take your photos to another dimension entirely.

The "hate" part of the relationship is because, like with any new "toy," I lose myself in playing and comPLETEly forget the time.  I can get caught up after midnight playing around!

Anyway, I have a few pics I've played with over the last few days so you can see a little bit of what you can do at PicMonkey with yours.



Soft white effect around edges
Also added a little color saturation
to bring out the yellows without
going crazy




The Cinerama effect (doll, isn't she?)




This one I slightly over-saturated the color then used
the Lomo effect




This one I used the pixel (reverse) focus to do a little
editing, 1st, then went to the newest effects and added
the Paint/Red effect and used the "Add" under the
Blend Mode. The pic was already black & white so
this kept it from getting too "heavy" and dark. I, personally,
think the "blood runs" look cool with this "dangerous" (HA!) group.




Old Time Circuit Riding Preacher
or
Someone's very handsome father?
Used the Daguerrotype under the framing
section. You can change the the film effect
to "recolor" it, too.



The 3 Amigas!  Are they beauties from the past? Only the
photographer knows for sure! (love that daguerrotype!)

Well, sorry no jewelry-related eye-candy, but it's fun seeing what PicMonkey will let you do. Have a go!

WE HAVE A WINNAH!

Well, okay, we have three winners.  Since I only had three lovely ladies interested in my March Madness Contest, ALL THREE will receive some lovely wine tabs to play with and attempt to mix into jewelry in some creative way:
Therese of Therese's Treasures
Pine Ridge Treasures
Sarah from String A Song of Sixpence (LOVE that name! of course, now I'm thinking of the nursery rhyme!)

Ladies, if you'll contact me with your mailing addresses, I'll get the prizes out to you in the next day or two, here (depending on how fast you reply! ~hee~)

Enjoy!

Oh, How Beauti-mous!

I showed you a few posts back that a beading buddy of mine was making me a bracelet.  Said beading buddy works with seed beads and does beautiful work.  Well, same-said buddy sent me the bracelet a couple of days ago and I'm almost afraid to wear it, it's that gorgeous.  I showed my dad and he says the same thing. It's a work of art!  Here are a few shots I took with my iPhone. Yes, sorry, that is my wrist in there.  Yes, I have freckles. It's what happens when you're a fair-skinned (used-to-be) red head.  Anyway, enjoy the pics of her gorgeous art work:



Love the Plume Agate: can't really tell from
this shot, but that "warp" to the right? Yeah,
those have faint blue inclusions in them.
I loved that when she let me pick the stone.



She picked the Blue Lace Agate to compliment
the blue in the Plume Agate. Love it! :)

Didn't I tell you? Art work! This is even
prettier in real life. The work is so delicate
looking yet the stones and size give it
enough weight to not look silly on my wrist.

Seed Bead Phobia

I have a friend at work who also makes jewelry, but she uses the seed beads where I use the larger glass or stone beads (or, soon I hope, made-em-myself polymer clay beads).  She has made numerous creations in the last few years that I've known her and I just feel my jaw unhinge every time she shares a photo of what she's working on or has entered in this fair or that contest.  Dorothy is just so creative. And WAY more patient than I am. I just don't believe I have it in me to sit down and work with those teeeeeny tiiiiiiny seed beads the way she does (and can). I just know myself well enough to know I'd get frustrated in a short amount of time and I'm not sure where the seed beads would end up, but it wouldn't be my table or a design (lol).

Anyway!  Dorothy is in the process of making me a bracelet and I tho't I'd share it with all of you and brag on her abilities just a little bit.

She tells me the main focal stone is plume agate and the side
stones are blue lace agate. Isn't this just GORgeous!?!?!

Don't Forget ... Personal March Madness! :)

Don't forget, folks, I have a contest going on for the month of March. You only have two weeks left to participate then I'm drawing the winners.  Go here to join in and be entered in the drawing!

Click on the above link to see what this might be...... :)

Spring Challenge by Michelle Mach

To Enter My March Contest, go HERE:

Well, I joined Michelle's challenge again. Maybe it's because I suddenly like blue. Or maybe I just can't resist the shiny (I've mentioned my ADOS before).  Whatever the reason, I bought the bracelet she dared us to remake.  As always, I forgot to take the before picture, so I went back to her site and stole the original pic from her:

I had no real trouble using the crystals but, for some reason, couldn't come up with a way to use the silver spacers so they're tucked into my stash to await the perfect reworked job.  Until then, here are my two contributions to the challenge:

I started with a lanyard (instead of a regular necklace)
It's titled "Hot Spring" and is for sale in my Etsy store

I used the yellow dyed agate for Spina Bifida Awareness
and the cross to remind us to have faith in God's plans for our lives

Red glass beads, red & yellow millifiore glass rectangles and
black lampwork with white and purple dots accent the blue
crystal rondelles from Michelle's challenge.

This one I used gunmetal links and wire as well as yellow
fritted lampwork beads and green dyed agate that reminded
me of a Japanese painting whose colors ran together.

Yellow dyed agate finishes the bracelet
at either end. This piece isn't titled, yet,
but will be in my shop soon also under
the Spina Bifida line.

And here are the others participating in the hop.  Don't forget to check out what they've done, too!
Michelle - Beads & Books [Hostess]

Andrew - The Writing & Art of Andrew Thornton

Christa - Adventures of One Beady Woman

Dita - Alankarshilpa

Donetta - Simply Gorgeous

Erin - Erin Siegel Jewelry

Heather - As I Bead It

Jean - Snap Out of It Jean - There's Beading to Be Done!

Karen - Over the Moon Design

Kate - We Can Make That At Home

Kay - Palm Coast Art

Kim - CianciBlue

Kristina - Wild Roses and Blackberries

Linda - Lindy's Designs

Lisa - Pine Ridge Treasures

Marlene - Amazing Designs by Marlene

Michelle - Reverie & Revival

Pam - The Crazy Creative Corner  ~ you are here

Pamela - Someday Beads
Renetha - Lamplight Crafts

Sharyl - Catchenthesun

Terry - Pink Chapeau Vintage Jewelry

Therese - Therese's Treasures

Playing In Mom's Back Yard

(to enter my March Contest go HERE:)

I love my new camera (the one mentioned right after Christmas?).  I took it when we went with our school to the Ronald Reagan Library and, while you can take pics in the Library, you can't use flash.  I have a setting for this on my new Canon Tsi Rebel.  It gathers whatever ambient light there is and enhances it. Take a short peek:

In the hallway outside the reproduction of the Oval Office
I loved ol' Reagan. (very, very dim light.)

A sobering reminder (even tho' it was after Regan)
Never, ever forget.

Guess what this portrait is made from?
Hint: Reagan *loved* them!
That's right, 10,000 Jelly Bellys!

And now, some pics from my mother's back yard: (I used the bigger lens from the patio):

Lemon Tree Birdhouse

Rustic Pedestal

only glad this rooster doesn't crow!

So, that's it for today.  I'll be back later with my pics for Michelle Mach's Blog Hop this Tuesday. She challenged us to reuse a bead bracelet of beautiful teal crystal rondelles and crystal spacers.  I managed to use the rondelles but not the spacers. I'll be saving those for something else.

Have a great rest of the weekend.

Oh, p.s., go here to read Cindy of Sweet Bead Studio's blog about a new pic-editing web-site called PicMonkey (heee... monkeys!)  Anyway, I loved it.  Between it and Windows Live Photo Editing I'm going to have a lot of fun with my pictures.

POCKET SALES or How To Have A Mini-Show

I was wanting to find a way to advertise the lanyards I'm working on and a friend of mine is selling at her office for me and I didn't want it to be something bulky or space consuming.  What to do, what to do?

Then the Idea Fairy bashed me over the head with her stick waved her wand over my head and the light dawned!  Digital Photo Frames!!  I could get one, load an SD card with pics of my wares (even my necklaces & earrings!) and Witchie-Poo (the friend I mentioned) could set it on her desk for their viewing pleasure (and, hopefully, buying pleasure!). 

Then I tho't (swiftly ducking that stick wand as it swung at me a 2nd time) it would be a grand idea to be able to carry my wares wherever I go.  Except, that's a lot bulky!  Even carrying a Digital Photo Frame is bulky (and you tend to get strange looks from passersby).  So I went on Amazon.com and plugged in "Digital Photo Frames" (pun fully intended!) and up came all sorts of great answers.  Below are pics of the two answers I bought.  The first one, by Coby, holds more pics (160) than the 2nd one by Micca (60-70) so I'm going to be doing a swap after I edit a few more pics.

Now, you may have to do some cropping, these screens are only 2.4" each so it only fits so much of the shot in.  Group your items and don't go too macro on them or you'll be cropping out a lot of what you're trying to show. And make sure that grouping includes any text you add to the picture (like the price and title of the piece).  But, these puppies fit great in a purse or pocket and you can whip them out to show someone if you're discussing your jewelry making and they mention they'd like to see what you do.  I mean, a business card with your web addy is fine, but how often do they get dropped in a purse and forgotten or even lost?  Give 'em the card, by all means, but this is a great little advertising tool we could all adapt for those "What kind of jewelry do you make?" moments where it's easier to show than tell. 

And it will make a much more lasting impression.

The Coby Digital 2.4" Photo Album

Has a stand to rest on, side, back, or upright

Easy to use, pics can go vertical or horizontal

Micca 2.4" screen Digital Album

Only holds 60 or so pics but they're very clear

Vertical or Horizontal direction -
more of a wallet style than a desktop model

LITTLE BIT BUSY WEEKEND

So, I finally got my hands into my poly-clay!  I'm a little bit of a nervous nelly so I started off with the box of "starter" clays Saner Sister bought for my B-day back in January (yes, I know... don't ask how long the other clays have been sitting around, waiting for me to open them!)  ANYway, I opened these little packets of clay about 3"x2" and, taking a deep breath, cut a small portion from three; red, olive green (both visible in saran wrap) and a sparkly gold (not in view). These were either a little old or not from good stock so I had to put a few drops of clay softener on them but, after that, and a few (okay, LOT) of runs thru the pasta machine, they came out usable.  I made 5 beads that were a mix of the red, green and gold with the red dominating (I forgot to take pics after baking and before making a necklace).  I also made several petal shaped cut outs of marbled pink and black. That mix was an accident but a happy one! (no pics of that one, yet). 

Anyway, here's the necklace and earrings I made from the beads.  The flower is from another necklace I bought recently but couldn't wear (I love repurposing!) and the green rounds are from Michael's.  The earrings are hanging from the necklace to your right.  I decided to go for a slightly Oriental look with this design, hence the chain dangles below the earrings and the bead under the flower. I wish the shot showed the colors better in the larger red beads, but the earrings show the gold pretty well. The green and gold turned into accents after several turns thru the pasta machine.  I showed Saner Sister, because I was so tickled by what I'd done, and she said how it would go SO well with the outfit she was wearing for church on Sunday. (sigh) Well, I haven't made her any jewelry in awhile, so I let her have it.

Now, about the wineglass tabs I mentioned in my last post, here's a few shots:

octopi at the bottom right, bowl shapes in the center
word tabs, bead flowers

the word tabs.. I call them "flirts" (heee)

The octopus gang! Only have one of each of
these so they'll likely end up as charms.

flower beads

Glass bowls

My use of the blue glass bowls as shown in a previous post

So, here's the contest... give me YOUR ideas of how you would use these in jewelry.  You have until the last day of March to enter and then (depending on the how many people reply) I'll put the names into a hat and draw two winners who will be sent a bead soup of these items to use, whether in the design you mentioned or in another way. 

 Get designing!