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!?)

 

Of Earrings & Puppy Dogs

Yes, I managed to get back into my Craft Studio for a wee while this weekend. Not long, mind. Three & 1/2 month old puppies don't like being ignored. And when it's time to play (they think) then they'll do whatever it takes to get your attention. Including teething on the roll of 16g steel wire you have on the floor beneath your work table.

So, I managed to get a few pairs of earrings made before Zack-attack decided he'd been ignored enough.  Here they are:


I used red glass "bamboo" and round
black crystals for the body and olive
bicone crystals for the dangles. Took
the shot with my Galaxy S3 phone.



Saw these daisy-like crystal units in
Michael's and they reminded me so
much of my Mimi (maternal g-ma) that
I bought two sets of them and made these
earrings for Saner Sister, Mom, & myself.
Mimi loved the color red and loved this
style of jewelry. I can remember playing
with her costume jewelry whenever we'd
go up to her place to visit.



Got on a red kick, what can I say? But, these beads
also remind me of Mimi. Again, the glass beads are
in a style she would have loved.



These are made from two sets of silver spacers,
some cross-stitch threads, and some double
headed copper pins I made. The larger spacers
just called to mind Japanese lanterns so I
made these earrings. I'm thinking of making more
and tweaking them juuuuust a bit.

  And, because I can't leave without an update on mein liebchen: at his last vet visit (last Monday) he was three and 1/2 months old and weighed in at 39 & a bit pounds. I'm sure he's over 40 lbs by now! It can be hard to remember, as big as he is, that he's still only a baby. When he wants to play, he wants to play! Not to mention... did any of you dog lovers out there know that dogs can back talk? Well, Weimer's can. Believe it!

Our Little Toad after a hard day of making everyone play
with him.  (for you non-German speakers, "mein Liebchen"
does not mean "little toad", that's just one of Zackery's
nicknames. "Mein Liebchen" is "my darling"... which
he is. You can't not love a puppy who loves you first!



What a face, huh? Seriously, how could you
not love this face!



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?

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

Znet Shows Beachy Challenge

Well... I know I work best under the wire but,,, sheesh!  Anyway, I once again am part of the design team for Znetshows.com and this time they paired us up. My Beachy Beady Partner is Suzette over at Ellie's Bijoux.  What we were supposed to do was choose beads for our partners! Wow! Talk about mixing it up. I loved what Suzette sent me:  Here's a peek at the scrumptious pile of goodies I received:

Aren't they just awesome?  Gotta tell ya, though, I had an interesting time figuring out how I was going to use those lovely pearls!  BUT!  Here's what I came up with, enjoy:

Chinese Crystal Bling Ball in Olive
BDS1912 (BDS1912-22)

I wasn't sure, at first, how to use those "bling balls" but I remembered I had some cupped glass in my stash that I'd been hording saving and they worked wonderfully. I think they look a lot like artichokes (I'm sorry, I see things a weeeee bit differently) so these are Artichoke Heart earrings.

                                                     1) Cultured Sea Glass center-drilled
                                                       bottle lip-style P28 (P28-B30)
                                                     2) Sponge Coral twig beads
                                                         CB158 (CD158-05)
                                                     3) Glass Pearls BDS1617
                                                          (BDS1617-39FIVE)
                                                     4) Synthetic Calsilica Donut
                                                          BDS1746 (BDS1746-03)

I call these Boat & Buoys. Can you see why?  And I added the sponge coral twigs and glass pearls because they just seemed to work. (that's how I roll!)

                                             1) Base Metal alloy Bead - Twisted Vine
                                                 Wreath Charm M0111 (M0022-AB)
                                             2) Syntheti Calsilica Donuts BDS1746
                                                 (BDS1746-03)
                                             3) Chinese Turquoise Barrel Beads - bamboo
                                                  shape w/rondelle spacers TQS24 (TQS24-04)

This is Turquoise Skies.  The only part that doesn't come from ZnetShows are the washers in back, there. I hammered the bejabbers out of a couple washers, dabbed them with "Stream" alchol inks and buffed them with Ren-Wax to seal.  I like how these turned out. I am having a hard time not keeping them.  Of course, I have more of these components so I could always make myself a pair!

                                                    used the aforementioned sponge coral
                                                    twigs and Chinese glass pearls for this

Those of you who follow me know I can make earrings all day long and no problem.  But I can never make a necklace and leave it at that. The necklace MUST be accompanied by a pair of earrings.  So, here's a set I call Silver Beaches using the sponge coral and glass pearls.  I wire wrapped the pearls to the coral and hung it and some gorgeous recycled sari ribbon from a washer I hammered. I'd actually worked on the washer for another project but had set it aside. The hammering on it just made me think of a sandy beach (don't ask why.... did I mention I'm not really a beachy person?  I am much more a mountains and forest person... Saner Sister is the beachy person)  Anyway, paired with the ribbon it just all seemed to go well together.  The necklace is approximately 18" long and the earrings not quite 2" long. I also added a blue glass bead from the sea glass to the earrings so it had that touch of blue in the necklace.

And there you have it.  I still have plenty of beads and glass left so I'm sure there will be more stuff coming.  I also finally bought my ferric acid and have plans to try some etching soon (for why I've been absent, check out my previous post here).  To see what my partner in crime, Suzette, did go here and be prepared to ooh and ahh over her jewels!   Also be sure to check out the ZnetShows Blog as they are having a give away! With all the yummy stuff they have available, you'll want to be sure to hop on over and enter as well as see what other pairs have come up with in their challenges.

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.