Updating Jewellery

As I've stated before I love to revamp people's old pieces. A friend asked me to put on some new clasps to a heap of her necklaces a couple of months ago. In with the package was a simple gold tone piece. My friend says, 'Oh that's just a Vinnie find'. So I asked if I could play and make it into something more wearable. With permission granted I made this:

into this:

Personally I love the result. I've wanted to try the geometric peyote shapes for a while so used this as my opportunity. Following the simple instructions from Diane Fitzgerald's "Shaped Beadwork" I made them using 2 colours of delica beads. I took off the discoloured bits of chain, removed the hand made hook clasp and chucked the plain joiners between the filigree sections.

I'll do some more of these geometric shapes. I loved doing them and they work up really quick.

Mandalas

Because I was in a little 'nyah' period last year, I bought myself the book 'Beading - the creative spirit' by Rev. Wendy Ellsworth. The first project she gives is making mandalas. So I set to. I made one with the seed beads I had using size 8 beads. It's actually really fun. Here it is.

Well the idea is to make several 'geometric' mandalas so you have time to get into the zone and play with colours etc etc. And I thought to myself, 'what will I do with all these mandalas?'

Well....

This little pot has been sitting on the coffee table in our house for as long as I have memory. No idea the story or where they come from. A little pot of coasters - wood with cork inside. I almost threw them out when I moved house because they were old and scrappy but at the last minute I kept them. A small thing that has always been in your life you know.

So I thought that I would make the mandalas to replace the corks. I used size 15 beads (for those who like to know these things ) and glued them down a couple of days ago. I'm quite pleased with them.

The set....

The individual coasters.....

The next project in the book is to make a personal mandala. This is going to be a challenge but I have some ideas floating around. Hopefully I'll have it started by the end of the year. I already have a place where I'd like to hang it in my house. Hopefully a story about that will come soon.

I Won!!

One of our enterprising Australian beaders has begun a series of design challenges. These challenges are run through a Facebook page called Australian Beaders. The challenges are run very similar to the Design Quests that I enter except that a focal piece is included that must be used. This first challenge was named 'Bushranger's Bounty'. The focal was a Hummingbird. Here is what I came up with.

Beautiful beads as you can see. The focal began life as silver but I didn't like it at all and set about covering it up. I put a layer of Faux Dichro Liquid Glass and stuck copper/gold foil to it that I had left over from my card making days. I put around three layers of the foil on. It looked messy and bumpy and so I looked through my stash and found some gold coloured dry gouache. I sprinkled that on the top layer Liquid Glass and let it dry again. (The Faux Dichro takes a few hours to dry so I added a new layer every couple of days) When I came back to look the bird was no longer gold but blue! Not quite sure how that happened. Perhaps it reacted with the liquid or maybe somehow the dye in the cutting process had joined into the fun I don't know. Luckily the colour matched beautifully with the other beads. Don't you love it when complete accidents end up helping you out.

As for the design. That came about as my designs often do. I started playing and then decided if I'd keep it or not. I began with the green squares and black seed beads and worked out a simple weave. Underneath that diamond weave I added a frill so that I could use the pearls and swarovski beads. After that I needed a background for the bird and still had some beads left over so I added some fringing.

I like some aspects of the necklace and am not so fussed about others. How cool is it that I won.

Photo Inspirations

Also while away in NZ I took some photos of patterns and colours in nature - bark, flowers, leaves etc. I don't know if I ever will use them but I'd love to incorporate some of this beauty somehow in my jewellery. There's no rush. Here are some of the things I spotted.







Julie from JulieChats also uses photos for inspiration. Last year while stuck for ideas for her scrap booking, Julie photographed details from her garden. Here is one of them; a gorgeous mushroom straight out of a fairy story. The colours and textures are lovely. You can also look at some of the other pictures she took on her post.

Dichroic Glass Pendant Necklaces

Wendy from Guru Creations has been changing her focus and therefore selling off a lot of her work. I have managed to buy quite a bit of stuff that I'm looking forward to using over time. Here are two necklaces I've made recently. Both are simple but still a little different.

This first one is an experiment. The circles of colour needed to be featured but I didn't want them to be over taken. What I decided to do, after attempts at Kumihimo and other braids, was a simple plait. Except that the amount of wires wouldn't fit through the holes of the beads. Hmmmm. So, ever the improviser, I made that a little feature too. I found tigertail in colours that were in the pendant, continued the circles in the round shapes of black glass beads, some faceted, some not, and this is the result. It's actually lovely and light and sits well on the neck.


The second one I attempted began with the black lines on the glass. I've always wanted to achieve a simple spiral rope. Every other time I've tried the thread is too thick, the needle too big, and I haven't been able to pass through the beads enough times to make the spiral. This time it worked. Again, I found some beads in the colours used in the pendant. These are scattered throughout the rope. The main part of the rope is in various types of black seed beads. There are delicas and myuki beads used and several sizes also. After all, making a rope all the one size gets boring! I decided to see what would happen if I increased the number of beads in the outer beads. Once I reached the pendant I changed the size of the inside bead and kept increasing. The asymmetry of the necklace is quite fun, I think and takes a simple piece just that little bit out of the norm.

I'd love to know what you think of these necklaces. Also, I played a little bit more with arranging my photos. What do you think? I'd love to hear your thoughts and ideas in comments.

Pattern and Colour

I have discovered over the years that I simply love pattern and colour. I love scrapbooking paper with all the patterns and different materials. I'm particularly fond of geometric shapes and muted colours.

You can imagine what I thought when I saw all the wonderful materials used by Melanie of Bags by Melanie. Melanie sews beautifully. Her work is simple yet eye catching. My aunt makes bags and is always looking for great material. She'd also love Melanie's taste.

Here are a couple of items she has for sale in her etsy shop.

Using my Kumihimo

A couple of posts ago I showed some of the necklaces that I'd managed to incorporate my braids into. I have also made a couple of bracelets. The first one is incredibly simple but then the braid itself is so pretty it didn't warrant any other detail really. It was with this one that I made the coil that makes for a very simple end that makes the braid very usable and also keeps the attention on the braid rather than the link.


The second braid is not quite so successful. I love the look of it but the wire at the side needs a little adjusting as the plait comes out of it. I love the effect of the button but it is a little heavy for the braid. Looks great though. I also love my picture as, after lots of fussing I finally managed to make it look great and uncluttered.


I really must put more time into the photos so I can get myself some sort of portfolio to show people. That is for another day though.

Wonderful packaging ideas...

Packaging and presentation of your work to buyers is always important but not always thought through. Susy from Earth Expressions has given some very simple and practical ideas on her blog. You can read her suggestions here. Susy makes a whole range of things. Lots of paper is used, vintage findings and wire. Her work ranges from bookmarks to pendants and earring and decorating other objects. I especially love her simple tins. Susy presents her pendants and pendant necklaces in these.

For Friends

I was having dinner with some friends of mine a few weeks ago. One of them asked about my jewellery and how it was going and I ended up with a couple of requests. One friend, Meryl, asked me to string some pearls. "Of course", I said, so I've taught myself to string pearls. I had fun. I bought all the proper silks with the needles attached and made use of my embroidery knotting skills. I started three times and it's not a professional job to my inquisitive eyes, but I'm quite pleased with myself.

The request from my other friend, Aline, was even more fun. She had a necklace of her mother's that was too heavy to wear but that was Venetian Glass Beads from her trip to Venice. Was their anything I could do? Here is what the necklace was originally.


So we decided to make a series of necklaces for her daughters and granddaughters. Eight in total. It took me a while to get going which isn't unusual, but I love what the results were. I made each necklace a different colour and mostly different styles. Because there were nineteen beads and I had to divide them into eight, some necklace have three of the original beads while others have only two.

Lavender
On gold tone fine chain with Swarovski crystals.

Burgandy

Red tigertail with fresh water pearls and Swarovski Crystals.

Blue
Silver tigertail with Swarovski Crystals. Pendant is a chinese cube from a pattern by Valerie Hector. Smaller beaded beads are made using Right Angle Weave.

Teal

Fresh water pearls with Swarovski Crystals and silver tone chain. Pendant is a chinese cube from a pattern by Valerie Hector.

Purple Velvet

Silver tone chain with Swarovski Crystals.

In the next three designs I even incorporated some of my Kumihimo braids. I am so pleased that I can find different ways to incorporate them.

Mint

Kumihimo braid with delica beads and Swarovski Crystals. Beaded beads are made using Right Angle Weave. Can be worn assymetrically or symmetrically.

Amethyst

Kumihimo braid using tigertail, hand made gold tone clasp and Swarovski Crystals. Beaded beads are made using Right Angle Weave.

Light Amethyst

Kumihimo braid using tigertail, hand made gold tone clasp, fresh water pearls and Swarovski Crystals. Beaded beads made using Right Angle Weave.

So there they all are. Aline loves them although I might have to rework the Blue one so it fits the personality of who it's going to better. If I do change it I'll show you what I do. I really enjoyed the challenge of using the same beads in so many different ways.

Braiding - Two

Because I was experimenting with different materials that I had around the house I also tried the braiding with different wire combinations. Some I used wire only and for other braids I combined wire with different widths of satin cords. The picture below shows exactly the same satin chord used with the same wire/cord width and show the different effect that is created. The wire, once braided doesn't stretch or give in anyway and so gives a completely different effect. While I'm not so keen on the gold wire, the textural result is quite fun.

This next picture shows other experiments also. The top 3 use only craft wire. I'd like to do more of these and make some bangles out of them. Once curved they sit really comfortably on the wrist. They work better with the thicker gauge wire, I discovered.

The pale braids are some of my favourites - satin cord with tigertail. I most certainly with be making lots of those to hang my pendants from. And then the black one is stain cord with leather.

Braiding - One

My house is up for sale and it is difficult to sit down and bead and craft. It always makes a mess and I need the house ready at the drop of a hat. What I started just before this though was braiding. Japanese braiding or 'Kumihimo'. I have had tremendous fun using bits and bobs I've had around the place, experimenting with textures and widths.

I have only really tried with two basic patterns. I like ribbons included. Especially if they have metallic thread on the edges as it gives just a little bit of glam. I'm going to have to invest in some more ribbon I think. The thinner ribbon is better. It fits into the weave neater.

When I bought my Kumihimo disc I also bought some micro macrame string and some texture ribbons. I think the textured ribbons give a beautifully soft finish but if used in necklaces I think they might stretch too much.

making Jewellery. My Process Part 3

I still am really happy each time I look at how the turquoise set finally turned out. Here is what I did with the red beads.
This piece took hardly any time at all compared to the turquoise one. Because the original beads were from another necklace/bracelet set, some of the beads had single holes, some double. I wanted to use this in the design. I was able to do this by making the focus of the necklace two pieces of wire and creating a frame.


The frame was given strength by the beads that slipped over both wires and had interest because of the different shapes and placements of the beads. I used the basket wire weave to fill in the gaps.

The earrings have their shape because of the same reason. The bottom two beads have a single hole while the top red bead is a double hole. I love how they hang. I love the cross effect created. I love the colour combination. This pinky red looks so much better without the turquoise.

Again I plaited the strand so that the necklace can be worn long. My friend loves it. I showed her this one in much the same way as before. This time, immediately she saw it she lunged for to grab with and cried out as she moved, 'Oh I love it'.

I tell you, it feels great to have a reaction like that.

Making Jewellery. My Process Part 2

As the beads sat in their bags I mulled over the dilemma. What to do? At the time I was finding out more about wire work and was experimenting with basket weave. I thought I'd give it a go. In the end it worked. It took a lot of fiddling though. At first it sat wrong, the stone kept moving even when taped down. I didn't wrap evenly on the top and bottom. I added the beads at the bottom in a way that didn't work. I found that the frame wires sat a little better once I'd hit them with a hammer. It gradually took shape. It took, I think, 5 goes to get it right. It still wasn't quite centred but with some loops to finish of the wire it looked as though it had all been planned.

Once the pendant was done I had to work out what to do with the other beads. I hung it on tiger tail but it looked funny. The wire is so thin and the pendant so big. I ended up taking 4 wires and plaiting them together. My friend wanted it long so I took it into work and measured it on her.

Then I started on the earrings. At least now I had a design to match. Hopefully these would go easily. It took 4 tries to get the proper design of the frame wires. It is all one wire and it had to allow the bead to be seen while still holding it firmly in place. Finally, success. Cheers all round. Now just one more earring. Well, making it turn out the same size as the first was a challenge in itself. Three tries later and it was close enough.

Thank goodness I was using craft wire not gold!!

I'm so pleased with the way it turned out. It was so different to what my friend was expecting it took a bit of convincing but the lovely ladies at work oohed and aahed so much over it she was eventually convinced.


Here is the finished set. Oh yeah, I had some beads left over so I used them in the bangle. I love how it turned out.