Bead Table Wednesday-3/28/12

I've been taking photos  of some of my jewelry so today I've been working with these three cuffs.





I think etching and foldforming are two jewelry techniques that I have the most fun with.





Here are the bails I worked on earlier.  They've been pickled and tumbled and are waiting for their patina.  


Check out the other bead tables at:

 

Tickle Me Tuesday-3/27/12

I stopped by Hobby Lobby today.  There are always a lot of things to tickle my fancy there.  Like this:

In store, $139

I was shopping for some art supplies so I managed to resist.  I had a really hard time resisting this:

I love this little chest of drawers.  I have the feeling I'm going to regret not getting this later.  It's about 24 x 24 inches or so.  If I knew I had a place to put it and what to put in it I would have gotten it.  I'd probably accent the numbers with a color paint, and sand most of it off. This week it is half-off so it's about $40. 

I couldn't find one thing I was looking for so I went to Michael's. 

Michael's is having some great sales.  The mounted, clear, and cling stamps are all 40% off.  Industrial Chic is 30% off in the store.  I really like these charms.  I did get some Industrial Chic metal fibers  and journals. 

These tags were by the checkout for thirty cents a pack!  I got a bunch to use for gifts and earring tags.  I think these were in the $1.00 bins originally.  

And finally I found this gem at Home Depot:

These are vintage style lamp bulbs. I got one of the 60 watt ones.  I have some industrial style wire shades that I want to use to make light fixtures. 

Check out Yes, Teacher Crafts to see the other Tickle Me Tuesday posts. 

Spring Photo Journal 2012

Spring seemed to come early this year.  Of course, we could have a year like last year, where it snowed in March.





The flowers are blooming.

rain lily

The bees are buzzing.

bee on rosemary

The cats are courting.

Is Jazz in?

The fish are feeding.

Fish begging.

There are garage sales galore.





PS: Jazz is fixed but the boy cats don't seem to get it.

Bails and Ribbon-Bead Table Wednesday

I did just a little work today on some wire bails. They are still black from the torch. 

For reference the top one is about an inch and a half and the bottom ones are about 2.75 inches. The top one was six inches of wire, the next two used 8 inches, followed by one using 10 inches. The bottom three were done with 12 inches of wire.  They can be adjusted somewhat by squeezing or pulling the coils so they are closer or farther apart. These need to be pickled, tumbled and patinaed. They are all 16 gauge copper, except for the second from the top which is 14 gauge brass.  I used a standard pencil for a mandrel.  Some of these may go on the pendants I was working on recently. 


Today some sari ribbon yarn arrived from YarnAndFiber on Etsy.  





This color is called Vintage Lace and I'm excited about it because it will look awesome with some of the pendants I got from Martha of Menagerie Studio. 


Be sure to check out the other bead tables here:

Antiquing in Huntsville--Tickle Me Tuesday

I want to change the lighting in our house and I've been keeping an eye out for chandeliers.  Here's a couple on Etsy that have been tickling my fancy.  This one is from PurpleFlowerFairy. 

PurpleFlowerFairy

This one is from GraceandPlenty.

GraceandPlenty

I stopped off in Huntsville on my way home  from Richard Salley's workshop in Spring. I really like the antique stores in downtown Huntsville.  



My first stop was River Country Antiques where I spotted these spoons and these shoe buckles.

Next stop was A Nitsch in Time. 








 I found these cool little tobacco tags.  

I also found this draftsman's chair sitting outside the door.  Twelve bucks!  It may not be pretty but it's in good shape and it went home with me.  I'm putting it in the studio next to my tall table. It needs a good cleaning.  
  



Next door at Bluebonnet Square I found this ribbon and these buttons:

The ribbons were in the organizer in front of this fun display.












I made  a pit stop for a hamburger at Cafe Texan. 




Cafe Texan has an old bar complete with red bar stools and a separate dining room lined with large vintage photos of historical interest. When my Dad worked in Huntsville he drank coffee here with some other "old-timers."


I finished my tour at Sam Houston Antiques. These three vintage makeup bags were irresistible.  Two are leather Budd purses and the other is Celebrity.  I like to use these to store delicate items.




The first time I went in this store I thought I was Alice and had fallen down the rabbit hole.  The store looks small from the outside, but it connects to the adjoining building, and has three stories and plus a basement.  When you are inside it's like it goes on forever. I kept checking the time because I was a little worried I'd be locked up inside. 




See what's tickling every one's fancy over at Yes, Teacher Crafts.

Finishing Up

Today was the last day of the workshop. We learned to solder a bezel, solder a back plate to the bezel, and solder the bezel onto one of the locket doors, use micro bolts, and many other things.


I got my cuff finished enough for photos, but there's still some file work and some work on the bezel that I need to do. 






I used one of my favorite photos of my son in the locket. Stefan put Pawlie Newman under his shirt and Pawlie stuck his head out the neck opening.  They did this frequently and if Stefan had his head tilted one way, Pawlie had his head tilted the same way.  





The band has some texture on the edges and I randomly stamped some designs and some larger dimples on it.


I enjoyed  this workshop very much. Learning how to do the hinges opens up a lot of new design possibilities. 


Richard Salley and Martina Stein are tentatively planning more classes at Spring Beads.   Contact Spring Beads and get on their notification list for more information. 


Tomorrow I'll head back home.  I plan on taking a pit stop in downtown Huntsville.  There are some  great antique stores there. 

Behind Closed Doors--the Locket Cuff

Today was day two of the workshop with  Richard Salley (assisted by Martina Stein.) Click on the names for info about the workshop, including photos of the projects. 


Today we started day one of the Behind Closed Doors--the Locket-Cuff.  This was a little harder because I had to saw and solder--two things I don't do much of. I was glad to get the opportunity to learn how to do a hinge.  


I etched my metal for the locket and then cut out the frame and locket sections.  While the door section was etching I worked on a practice piece.  I had a lot of trouble and part of the tube didn't solder well.  The practice helped though because the soldering went better on the actual piece. 


Here are some photos of where I was at the end of the day.

Locket in progress

I think I did more filing than I've ever done.  When I finally got my hinges together the two doors overlapped.  I filed and filed and finally got them to meet.  There is still more filing for tomorrow.






My photo is a little small for the inside of the frame so I altered the frame so the opening is smaller than the template.  You can see my soldering was messy.  The center panel will be covered up in the finished piece, fortunately.




  



Part of this class was making some small hammers and bezel pushers.  I don't have any pictures of mine because I barely got started with them.  We also learned a couple of different ways to transfer the images for etching. 


During lunch a couple of us took a little walk and visited a couple of antique stores.  






This house--a bridal shop--had a lot of gingerbread and romantic touches.




Tomorrow we set a stone in a bezel on the locket and make and attach a cuff.

Jewelry Workshop with Richard Salley

I'm currently taking a three-day jewelry workshop with Richard Salley in Spring, TX. I'm really having a good time and enjoying learning some new things, as well as having fun just working on jewelry all day.


Today was the first day and the class is entitled "Lasting Impressions." Here's what I did today:






The two etched copper squares at the top are etchings I did in class to make the stamps.  I still have to rivet the handle onto the back of the head.  


The things I had the most trouble with was setting the stones in the bezel.  I'm having some difficulty getting the bezel cup to bend over the way it is supposed to.  On the plus side, I did solder those bezel cups on well because I've been using a lot of force on them and they are stuck on well. I'll go back to the bezels later. The earrings are the same length.  I don't know why one looks shorter in the photo.


The nautilus shell will probably be riveted to the swirly etched brass and will have a larger cabochon on it.  


We used PNP to transfer the designs for etching and I like it a lot.  


Here's Richard demonstrating soldering the bezel. 






Day Two and Three will be "Behind Closed Doors--the Locket-Cuff.  We will also make some tools. 


The workshop is at Spring Beads in the Old Town part of Spring, Texas.  The neighborhood is full of quaint shops, studios, and galleries.  Plus Spring Beads is full of beads, and supplies for metalworking, enameling, etc. It's the perfect place for a jewelry workshop. 


 Here are some pictures I took while I walked down the street.






The sidewalks are brick or stone.






The shopping possibilities are intriguing.









This building caught my attention:








Here's a close-up.  Apparently you drink wine while doing art. 





Sounds like fun!