The MUUUUUUSE!

Woo Hoo! My muse came out of hiding for awhile, today, and my 109 lb "fur-baby" let me do some work. I played with Relique Ice Resins today. I made some sample tabs to see what they would do & look like, then I made a pair of earrings. (squeeeeee! I made some jewelry!!)
Anyway, here's some pics. Enjoy!

Top left; Chartreuse, German Silver, Turquoise. Top right; Raspberry, Ivory, Gold. Bottom; Amethyst, Pewter, Ruby.

Used Chartreuse as companion in all but one mix set. Top; C & Raspberry, C. & Turquoise, C. & Amethyst. Right; C. & Pewter, C. & German Silver. Bottom; clockwise from top of pic, Carnelian, C. & Carnelian, C. & Ruby, Carnelian-Turquoise-Ruby.

Earrings; Turquoise, Carnelian, Ruby (hard to see the difference in the red & orange in this pic). Set my colors & ran a toothpick thru them while still in a melted state. I call them "Molten" because I feel compelled to name my stuff. What can I say, I'm weird. :)

After Being Gibbs-Slapped By My Alter Ego....

In my previous post (here) I showed pictures of several pairs of earrings and asked what you thought about which should be worn by my Alter Ego, Zarqa Habiba, to the So-Cal Renaissance Faire.  This is the necklace that she was going to be wearing:

Full view: ended up wearing it without the carnelian
pendent there. It was too long for my neckline and
I'm of a fairly modest persuasion. Still, love the look.
Yellow rondelles are rough, yellow fire agates. Awesome!

 

A detail look.
Beads from ZnetShows.com, dangles and coins from
my stash. Bells were reused from a pair of Middle
Eastern chiming anklets.

 

Another detail shot.


 I was still contemplating which set of aforementioned earrings would work with this necklace when Zarqa gave me a disgusted look and Gibbs-slapped me!  Of COURSE!  Earrings should always match the necklace. DUH! (sigh)  So, I made these (and Zarqa was pleased):

They, and the necklace, chimed sweetly at the Faire and many people liked them.  And, since I was in an earring making mood, I threw in one more pair Because I Could!


Not sure what type, but the stone is agate (I think)
The metal was bought from Michael's pre-stamped
and I just cut out the shape. Bronze 1/2 circles and
copper wire. Warm, dangling goodness.

There will be another post later this week for ZnetShows and the beady goodness they've been letting me play with.  Check back, I'll have pics and links for you to check out. They've got AWEsome stuff!

Working Toward The Faire

I attend the Southern California Renaissance Faire with Friends every year and it's a blast! What makes it even more fun is to come up with what I call an "alter ego" and dress as that character for the day. I've mentioned mine before, Zarqa Habiba (Persian for Blue Eyed Friend) and you can see her here.  Whelp! I've been going over her outfit and re-working it a little bit for this year (still wearing the tats!) and some of that re-work has been her jewelry.  I've been working on a necklace with beads I received from Bill at ZnetShows.com.  It's not done, yet, but it's close (which, it better be since we're going this Saturday!) so here are some pics for you to enjoy.

Beginnings... we all have to start somewhere!



Closer to finished: stamped and colored the metal.
The yellow/green-y rondells are (I'm told by Bill at
Znet) Fire Agate! Who knew they came in yellow/green!?
I always thought they were carnelian/red and white!
Awesome!

Detail shot: the Christian fish symbol, swirls and twirls
I also dangled tiny bells like those worn by Middle
Eastern dancers. A lovely chime-y sound :)

Now we get to the hard part.  The earrings.  I've made a number over the last week and Zarqa is beside herself to choose a new pair for Saturday.  They're all fairly long (juuuuuuust shy of brushing her shoulders, but she doesn't have a long, swan-like neck, either) but they have that tribal feel she's loving.  Take a look and give her your vote?

So, that's it for today. Photos from the Faire Day will make their way on here eventually so you can see which earrings Zarqa finally settled on.

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.

Playing Around - Mixed Metals

So, I mentioned (either in a previous post or an update on FB... I don't remember.... I'm getting old.... what?)

So, I mentioned (hehe) that I had pounded the b'jabbers out of a washer over the weekend. Very therapeutic.  But, I think I may invest in some of those ear plugs swimmers use. In a small space like my craft room (which also echos amazingly) pounding on metal can bother the ears. I think I actually felt my eardrums twitching! 0_o*  Anyway, after annealing, hammering and drilling holes, I colored the whole darn thing with black permanent marker and sanded off the hi-lights. I really do like it!  See?

See? SEE!?  Doesn't that look AWESOME!?

I have plans to spray fixitive over it, but I couldn't the other night because it was windy like I was about to visit Oz!  Not really a time when you want to go outside and spray anything!  So, I'll take it out in the next day or two and spray the surface to set the color then finish the necklace.  Which will look something like this:


Using beads from ZNet shows, again. I actually was invited
to join "Level (round?) 2"... shoot, I didn't know there was
more than one level/round! I was thrilled! And I got to pick
more beads to play with! Woo HOO!

Little more of a peek. The
marbled beads were already
in my stash and I'm mixing
them in with the ZNet beads

And this is the clasp.  This is actually something I bought at
Joanne's in the sewing section. I thought it would make an
excellent clasp for a necklace! I'm not wrong :)

But, you know me, I couldn't make the necklace and not make earrings.  These actually lean a little to the "tribal" side of things because I already had the moonstone-looking dangles and the little bells on the ends. I just thought they would go so great together and, again, I wasn't wrong ;)


Heat Treated Aventurine pillow squares from ZNet; dangles from
my stash. I even used 22g steel wire and managed NOT to
stab myself in the thumb! SO proud! (heee)

I have plans to expand slightly on this earring design for my Ren-Faire alter ego. I really do like them and Zarqa wants a pair of her own. She likes the gentle chime from the bells.

So, I have more ZNet beads to put together (have another "tribal" style necklace in the works but I'm keeping that one under wraps for the moment as Zarqa is also drooling to add it to her collection... it involves beaten coins as well as ZNet beads)

What have you managed to turn out recently?