Busy, Busier, Busiest

I have actually gotten into the Craft Room to play with creating earrings. I love earrings, I believe that's a well established fact by now. So, preferences aside, here are some pics of what's been happening lately. (as you can see, I was having some serious fun ~snork!~) (I believe it's also been established I love Halloween!?)

 

Creative Spark E-Zine & Spring Challenge

A few weeks ago, I mentioned there was a surprise coming up. I may have mentioned beads and Znet Shows (I don't remember at this point) but there were (obviously) beads involved and they were from Znet as a part of a blind Spring Challenge (blind, as in I didn't know what beads I'd be working with until I opened the box they sent). Boy, what a box! It was crammed! It was packed! I got the box and giggled for at least twenty minutes.



A beautiful mix of Spring colors to work with



More....



More....



There were actually a lot more beads than this, and I made a whole bunch'a earrings, but only so many could be entered in the challenge. You see, they were going to be published in their E-Zine, Creative Spark. YES! ME! WOO HOO!! First time I've ever been published for my hobby. I love beads and I love getting free beads to create with. Znet Shows has some awesome beads to play/work with. Please, take a moment to go here to check out their 'zine (I'm featured starting on page 83) and feel free to enjoy the beautiful work of my teammate designers.

10 Minutes A Day... For Now!





Clockwise from top: amethyst & tanzenite colored,
faceted rondelles, citrine and citrine colored,
faceted rondelles, garnets & emerald colored, faceted
rondelles, moonstone and clear, faceted rondelles.

 I was able to get into my craft room last night for about 10-15 minutes (maybe a little more) and create these four pairs of earrings.  I saw a similar style in one of my jewelry magazines and made my own, slight twist on it. Z didn't let me play for too long (because it wasn't with him!) but at least I appeased the Muse enough that I think she'll return for my next session (which I hope is tonight... I have some ideas I want to get brave and pull out my poly-clay for!)

Black & White Challenge Blog Hop

Sally over at The Studio Sublime challenged us to a hop wherein we made jewelry using only the colors of black and white (not counting wire). Y'know, I've got black beads and white beads all over but I've never (except once) sat down with the express purpose of putting them together. So, here's my contribution to her unique (to me, at least) hop challenge:

had some black chiffon that worked beautifully
I'm really getting more into mixing in ribbon or
fabric into my jewelry. Love it.

going for the asymetrical style with this pair

It was really difficult not to add in red. I

wanted to SO badly!

                                           top to bottom: grayish crystals, milky grey/white

pearls trapped in a cage-like finding (Michael's)

and black faceted crystal dangles.

                                              Going for simple with these: the longer pair,

I used some cream/white glass pearls from

ZnetShows.com, the wire is copper that I

heated to ball up and dumped in cold water

to cause that rosy pink coloring. (hope it

still falls within the rules!) I did two pair

because I just wanted simple as well as

simple with a touch more elegance.

                                                 these are major shoulder sweepers! again,

I used material for the lower part, black and

white batik/African style print from a fan

that broke so I salvaged the cloth. It went

perfect with the round black and white beads.

again, top to bottom: cream/white glass pearls

from ZnetShows, white(ish) man-made blister

pearls, cones from Michaels and inside are a

small black bead, white pearl and larger black bead

(to keep things from pulling up too far into the cone)

                                           recycled white glass/sea glass from ZnetShows

strung with a silver finding and black seed bead.

                                          top to bottom: black bead, end caps from a small

set of vials I decided not to use, white glass beads

white man-made "shell" rounds (Michael's again)

So, that's my contribution to this challenge. Thanks, Sally, for the kick in the pants to get the ol' Muse thinking and creating again.  Please visit the other participants to see what they've done!
 

Sally Russick  (HOSTESS)

Monique Urquhart

Patti Vanderbloemen

Veralynne Malone

Duane Clark

D Lynne Bowland

Michelle Buettner

Pam Sears  (**YOU ARE HERE**)

Therese Frank

Dawn Doucette

Nicole Rennell

Cynthia Machata

Alice Peterson

Carolyn Lawson

Evelyn Shelby

Ailsa Cordner

Michelle Escano

Mischelle Fanucchi

Jess Green

Adrienne Berry

Lynsey Brooks

Kashmira Patel

Ann Schroeder

Marlene Cupo

Susan F.

Susan Kennedy

Kathy Lindemer

Paula Kramer

Lisa Johnson

Sandi Volpe

Donna Bradley

Karin Slaton

Jasvanti Patel

Stefanie Teufel

Liz Engriser

Christine Altmiller

Copper, Copper, LOVING My Copper!

So, this weekend (starting with Friday afternoon) I got out more of my copper and played with it.  If you want to see the post I did about my first-ever headpins, go here.  If you want to see the post I did for pickle (for cleaning fire-scale from your pins), go here.  I had previously gone to Target and found the cutest little 2qt crock pot for $11.00 and bought it for making my pickle.  Just like you need a dedicated oven with Poly-clay, you need a dedicated pot for your metal pickle.  You never want to use something you would ever consider using at a later date for food.  Always keep these tools separate. 

isn't it just adorbs!?

I also have a pair of long, flat-nosed pliers that I use specifically for firing my copper. 

Look close at the tips, near the arrow, you can see the
fire-scale on the tips. Kobalt is an excellent brand for
working with jewelry. I have two pairs of these pliers,
one for fire work and one for wire work. Available at Lowe's.

I used the 1:1 ratio (1 cup vinegar to 1 tbsp salt, I used Kosher... no reason, just chose it) and heated the crock pot on "High" until it was warmed up then turned it to "Low."  Be aware, this is a sharp smell whenever you open the lid! Once I had balled up several pins and dropped them in the water to cool off, I popped 'em in the pickle for about 15 mintues.  Here's what I got back:

Nice, almost completely clean copper.  What little fire-scale
is left came off easily with my sponge file (which you can
get from you local beauty supply store)

I also got brave and made a few double-ended headpins:

awesome!

then I heated up some bits of copper I had plans to use in making earrings:

The fire-scale is almost completely gone! Only a little elbow
grease with my sponge file and they were ready to be turned
into earring components! by the way, you can look at the blue
arrow in the upper right and see the pickle solution being
absorbed by the paper towel.  It's been used a few times and
is already changing color.  Cool!

My next problem was to turn the rectangles into some sort of earring component. I am determined to make more of my own components. After cleaning the remaining fire-scale, I pounded the rectangles randomly with the peen end of my hammer, with another instrument that I don't remember what it's called but it can be used to make small, round marks/divots in metal and with a .22 shell casing.

Next, I covered over both sides with black permanent marker and, once it dried, sanded it off so only the marks left in the metal were darkened.  Then I punched four holes in them, one at the top and three at the bottom and hung beads and headpins.  Here's the final results:

SQUEE!  I plan to keep these as they're
my first ever pair! aweSOME!

Here are several others I made this weekend, too:

Fishes & Loaves in rustic red:
this pair is just under 2" in length

less rustic & in white: also just about
2" in length... going to make more
pairs on this smaller scale as well as
the 2 1/2-3" length earrings

all together, now.....

snow crystals

ruby zoisite ~ rough

So... that's been my weekend. What about yours?

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!?!?!

EARRING MADNESS!

Well, I went back to Pier 1 Imports last night and bought out all the daisy wine glass tags I could find. THEN, sadly, I found some cute little butterfly tags.  I say "sadly" because there were only two sets so, six pairs of butterfly earrings.  I also found some great lampwork flowers that I'm turning into earrings, too, and I have plans to go back and buy up the glass bead tags as well.  On the negative side, it cost me a little over $80 to buy all those (about 14 boxes of tags).  On the plus side, almost all of them were on sale so it only cost me a little over $80 to buy all of them.  On the plus-plus side, half of the ones on sale were on a better sale than the red tag led me to believe!  I just LOVE saving money! (if I only don't go broke saving it ~HA!~)
Anyway, here are three more pairs I made from last nights' haul, but they're not daisies this time.
Enjoy! (and, as always, feel free to share this link with anyone! *wink*)

Blue Swirl

Flowering Hope
~for my Spina Bifida line~

Hope Floats
~also for my SB line~

To paraphrase my Etsy description, those with SB aren't really that different from the rest of us.  They're no less fun-loving or any more serious than we are.  I want some of my SB line to reflect more than "serious" jewelry, I want fun and funky as well.  Hope Floats and Flowering Hope start that portion of my line.  Enjoy them, too. There will be more!