no stone unstrung

My First Tickle Me Tuesday

2012-01-24T15:49:00.000-06:00

I've been reading some "Tickle Me Tuesday" posts, especially at My Life Under the Bus and Yes Teacher! I decided today I would join in.

First up are these 17 inch highway letters from SalvageNation. I can just see these on the wall or shelf.

And I wouldn't mind a couple of hearts from Menagerie Studio. Valentine jewelry, mmmmmmm.

This one, or maybe this one.

And then there's this gorgeous milagro heart pendant from Lorena Angulo of Pueblofolkart.

I've been lusting after Lorena's beautiful jewelry for some time now and one of these days I'm treating myself.

We had a couple of warm days and I got out and did some walking. I always turn left from the drive and walk to the end of the road. I thought I got away without being spotted but when I turned around there was my entourage.

the entourage-Jazz, Scrappy, and Nikko

Apparently I'm not allowed to walk by myself. Jazz was trotting along pretty well. This is good since she is a hefty kitty and can use the exercise. The boys are more easily distracted.

I turned around and went back. Jazz and Nikko stayed at the house and Scrappy accompanied me to the bridge.

Scrappy heeling

He likes to lean on my leg when he walks with me. Sometimes he even does it without tripping me.

Check out the other Tickle Me Tuesday posts here:

Stamping Fun

2012-01-08T16:02:00.000-06:00

Saturday I went to the Heirloom Productions Stamp Show in Grapevine, Texas. I got off to a late start and ran into a traffic jam and got there just under two hours before they closed.

Less than 15 minutes after arriving I was lucky enough to win one of the door prizes! It was a ten dollar gift certificate to Stamping Up. I used it toward the price of this complete alphabet stamp set. Here's a sampling of the letters.

I use stamps mostly for etching. When I get in etching mode I etch everything that doesn't run away from me. The cats even start looking suspiciously at me.

Someday I'd like to use stamps for other types of art, but I haven't gotten around to doing that yet.

One of the coolest stamps sets I got was one from SAR (Some Assembly Required). It's a little kit of stamps that makes a three dimensional heart put together with slots cut in paper. I plan to use metal. I'll have to experiment a little to see what size slots need to be cut and what gauges of metal work best. Click the link above to see some samples.

I also stopped by Lost Coast Designs booth. They are my favorite stamp makers. I purchased several stamps from them. Some of them I hope to use in some art projects, possibly at Art Unraveled. My favorite is the small Bird Head Woman shown here. I got several of the stamps shown on this page.

I found these cool eyelets at The Stamp Doctor. Flowers and hearts, oh my! Now I really have to start using eyelets in my jewelry. These are a large size but I think I can make them work.

The new job is going well and I'm really proud of the good job our son is doing! I'm slowly getting used to getting up before dawn. And I do seem to be getting a little more done.

Now to get some more etching done....

New Beginnings and Being On the Job

2012-01-01T23:26:00.000-06:00

Last year about this time I did the word resolution thing. My word was discipline and I think I forgot about it about a week after the post. This year I'm going to go back to having an actual list of goals. I never get them all done, but I do get some of them done. I think this will work better for me because when you are smack in the middle of the forest, as I always seem to be, you can only see the trees, not the forest. I need the details (trees) of a list, versus the forest of a word. Plus, I like reviewing the list at the end of the year and realizing that I did get some goals done. I'm working on a list now.

Are you doing a word, goals, or resolutions?

The big thing going on right now is that my son and I are starting a business. It's On the Job Janitorial and we just got our first job, a building in downtown Greenville. We are both really stoked about this. We start on Tuesday the 2nd. It's only a few hours a week. We are responsible for the public areas, not the individual shops. After we get the routine down we hope to add a couple more office cleaning accounts.

Some of you who have read my blog for a long time will know that our son has Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). He is high functioning--what many people call Aspergers. He's 19 now and has not been able to find employment. He's not interested in college, and with his dyslexia he'd have to be really motivated to succeed at a college or university. I've been racking my brain for a job that would be a good fit for him. I finally decided that working at a janitorial service would be good. He doesn't do well around a lot of people, or if he's pressured to work fast. I'm pleased that he likes this idea too, and is very motivated to do this work.

I will have to get up earlier than I like, since most of the work will be done before the shops open in the building. I'm not a morning person. I'm thinking that the upside will be that since I'm up, I will just go work on jewelry after I finish with the janitorial duties. I'm hoping I'll get more done. And of course, the big upside which is employment for us both.

It's odd that it took me this long to think of a janitorial service. That's because I kind of did this before. Years ago I helped a friend find employment cleaning houses and apartments. I booked the jobs and she did the cleaning. After a period of time she learned enough English to get a good job at a hospital in addition to the apartment cleaning.

Now is the perfect time to have thought of it though, because a year ago our son wouldn't have been ready for it, and now he is. It's a blessing.

I hope everyone has had a wonderful holiday season. We had a great Christmas visiting with family. We spent Christmas eve at my parents and had Christmas dinner at my brother's place.

Happy New Year! May 2012 be a great year for us all.

And the Winner Is...

2011-12-28T16:48:00.000-06:00

Therese of Therese's Treasures is the winner of my earrings! Congratulations, Therese. And thanks to all who participated.

Bead Table Wednesday--Hammering Down to the Holidays

2011-12-22T01:05:00.000-06:00

Wow, I can hardly believe that it is almost Christmas! I still have a couple of presents to find and some plans to finalize. And a little shopping...and probably some things I've forgotten about...

The last couple of days I've been working on finishing up another batch of fold formed copper cuffs. I just can't get enough of the fold forming.

Here's a set of pictures illustrating the various courses of hammering. You may remember the first picture from a couple of weeks ago. This was after the first course of hammering.

This is after the second course of forging.

Hammering is finished. The curved cuff has four courses of hammering and the other had three.

I've opened the Rutger fold and done some pickling and filing. There was some interesting color on these after the pickling but it all came off when I cleaned it with steel wool.

The cuffs have been cleaned with steel wool, stamped with my initials, and a final shaping has been done. They'll go in the tumbler tomorrow, get patinaed, and have a finish coat applied.

I've decided to start including more focals by other artists in my designs and have been hitting Etsy pretty hard over the last couple of months. I have these pieces out where they will percolate for a while until I decide what to do.

These are by Martha Eason of Menagerie Studio.

These are by Heather Powers of Humblebeads. Hmmmm...I seem to have a theme going on.

These are by Melanie Brooks of Earthenwood. Maybe I should be careful and not let these get too close to the ones above.

And I got some really cool found objects. These escutcheons are from Nemisis on Etsy.

I'm going to put the long one on the bottom left on a cuff. It looks like it will bend just fine. I have some others I want to put on cuffs, but I'm not sure they'll survive the bending. The three escutcheons in the upper right are nice and thick. I may etch them. Or not.

Check here for a giveaway for my followers. I'll be posting another giveaway open to everyone soon. And don't forget to check out the other bead tables here.

I leave you with this, taken from a letter by Fra Giovanni in 1513.

I am your friend

and my love for you goes deep.

There is nothing I can give you

which you have not got,

but there is much, very much

that while I cannot give it,

you can take.

No heaven can come to us
unless our hearts find rest in today.
Take heaven!
No peace lies in the future
which is not hidden
in this present little instant.
Take peace!

The gloom of the world
is but a shadow.
Behind it,
yet within our reach
is joy.
There is radiance and glory
in the darkness
could we but see -
and to see we have only to look.
I beseech you to look!

Life is so generous a giver,
but we, judging its gifts
by the covering,
cast them away as ugly,
or heavy or hard.
Remove the covering
and you will find beneath it
a living splendor,
woven of love,
by wisdom, with power.

Welcome it, grasp it,
touch the angel's hand
that brings it to you.
Everything we call a trial,
a sorrow, or a duty, believe me,
that angel's hand
is there,
the gift is there, and the wonder
of an overshadowing presence.
Our joys, too, be not
content with them as joys.
They, too, conceal diviner gifts.

Life is so full
of meaning and purpose,
so full of beauty
- beneath its covering -
that you will find earth
but cloaks your heaven.

Courage, then, to claim it,
that is all.
But courage you have,
and the knowledge that
we are all pilgrims together,
wending through
unknown country, home.

And so, at this time,
I greet you.
Not quite as the world
sends greetings,
but with profound esteem
and with the prayer
that for you
now and forever,
the day breaks,
and the shadows flee away.

Fra Giovanni

Celebrating my Followers-A Giveaway

2011-12-20T17:50:00.003-06:00

I've decided to celebrate going over 100 followers with a giveaway. This giveaway is open just to people who are already following me either on Blogger or on Networked Blogs. There will be another giveaway shortly that will be open to everyone.

I'm giving away these earrings:

These have etched copper domes with a Swarovski crystal and hand made sterling silver ear wires. They've been finished with a patina and a jewelry finish so they won't tarnish or need to be polished.

To enter you must be a current follower, and you must comment on the blog. Make sure I can contact you in some way, or leave me your email. Comments will close on next Tuesday the 27th of December at midnight. The winner will be selected with a random number generator. Good luck, and thanks for following.

Bead Table Wednesday-More Cuffs and Delicas

2011-12-07T23:04:00.001-06:00

The holidays are upon us and it's cut heavily into my blogging. Oh well.

I have just a few things on my my bead table. I have some lots of Delica beads that I'm destashing in my Etsy store, Essential Adornment. I have a lot more lots still to list.

And I have the beginnings of four copper fold formed cuffs. They've had the first hammering and are now ready to be annealed again. The black is from the torch and will come off later when I pickle them. I like to anneal outside but it's so cold now I guess I'm going to have to do it inside.

Ralph and I went to a salvage yard for school stuff yesterday where they had some wooden lab tables that would have been perfect for the studio for the metal work table if they hadn't been outside and just been rained on for the last few days. I'm going to keep checking back with them, unless Ralph builds me one first.

I had some disappointing news lately. Adorn Me 2012 was cancelled because not enough people signed up before the 90 day mark. It's a great set of workshops and I was really sad to see it canceled.

Richard Salley, who was scheduled to teach at Adorn Me, put together a three day-two class workshop during the same time period at Spring Beads near Houston so I've signed up for that. His first session in early March booked in two days and when I talked to Spring Beads a few days ago they were booking a second session for the end of February. There's a description on their website. Richard's a great teacher and I love his classes.

What's on your bead table? Be sure to check out the other bead tables at:

Tejas Trade Open House

2011-11-15T20:46:00.001-06:00

When I first started selling jewelry I shared booths with Dell Kirkman and her daughter Leitha Herring. They are my husband's aunt and cousin.

We both got too big for half a booth, but for several years still did many of the same shows. Dell and Leitha named their business Tejas Trade.

This past week I attended the grand opening of Tejas Trade. The store is located in downtown Texarkana, Texas in a cute little red brick building.

They've stocked it with clothing, some of Leitha's original art, and their jewelry.

The store was so packed with people when I got there that I had to wait until things were almost over to take any pictures.

Leitha's son Patrick manned the bar. This table will be their work table during store hours.

Leitha makes these horn cuffs and bangles. I tried on every one of them but I have a small wrist and they were all a little big. I love them.

This is my favorite one. It has turquoise embedded in the fissures.

This building was a wreck when they rented it. They did all the restoration themselves. They did a fantastic job!

And I did do a little Christmas shopping while I was there. Shhhhh--don't tell.

And the Results Are...

2011-11-09T21:40:00.000-06:00

Thanks to everyone who entered the giveaway for Craft Activism. The winner is #2 Martha!

Congratulations, Martha!

Vintage Shopping Fun

2011-11-06T08:00:00.000-06:00

I stopped by the Tipsy Tango in Quinlan, TX a few days ago. It's one of my favorite places for vintage finds. Every time I go in there it looks like a completely different store.

This time it was full of vintage mannequins, wedding gowns and other curiosities.

Here's a cool vanity. I'm kind of fond of shabby chic/cottage style decor.

And a dresser.

I did get this wire folding screen. I think I'm going to use it as part of an earring display. It folds completely flat. I swear I can't get one more thing in my car when I'm traveling to shows unless it will fold up really small. That's Pawlie Newman checking it out. Anyone want some rosemary? I have a very overgrown hedge there in the background that I really need to dig up...someday.

I also got these two lamp shade frames. I like them just how they are--it's kind of an industrial look. I think I'm going to get a metal lamp kit and stick an interesting looking bulb in them and use them just like that in my studio. I found the frames in the shop next door to Tipsy Tango and I have unfortunately forgotten their name.

My studio mannequin--I'm still deciding on a name for her--needed a new hand because all her fingers were broken off when I got her. So I got this one.

I would show a picture of her with her new part but she doesn't have any clothes yet, poor girl. Yes, I know, I'm a bad mannequin mother. You can see she's getting a bit testy about the clothing situation.

Oh, don't forget I have a giveaway going for the new book Craft Activism. Post a comment on the post previous to this one for a chance to win. Good luck!

Bead Table Wednesday and a Giveaway

2011-11-02T23:53:00.002-05:00

I had hoped to give my anvil a good workout today and do some foldforming. Unfortunately I couldn't get to it. Instead, I got this necklace ready to go to the buyer. I had to shorten it slightly and I took this picture for my records.

I call this one "Home is Where the Heart Is." The focal is the creation of Martha Eason, of Menagerie Studio. I love her charms and pendants. I really like how she finishes the back of her pieces, too.

Yesterday I posted a review of the new book Craft Activism. This is a book that needs to be read and I'm hosting a giveaway for it. Leave a comment on this post for a chance to win. Comments will close at noon central time on Wednesday, November 9th. Good luck!

Craft Activism--Review

2011-11-01T23:42:00.000-05:00

The first thought that popped into my head when I read the title Craft Activism was using a craft or art to draw attention to a cause or maybe using part of the proceeds of sales to fund charities or causes.

Craft Activism is so much more than that. The book is divided into five sections organized around the type of activism.

Part I is titled "Crafting a Statement." In this section are five chapters about specific people or groups, such as "Knit Bombing" (The Jaffa Girls), "Quilts With a Message" (Carolyn Mazloomi), "A Knitted Spotlight on Endangered Species" (Ruth Marshall) and others. Most chapters are accompanied by a "DIY" section with tips or guidelines on how to do each activity, and a "Makers Jam" with one paragraph highlights on projects and accomplishments by other crafters. There are also one or more projects in each chapter, for a total of seventeen projects.

Other main sections are:

Part II: "Recrafting the Past" with chapters "Not Your Grandmother's Embroidery," "A New Take On Old Domestic Arts," and "Return of the Granny Square."
Part III: "Crafting for a Cause" with a chapter on "Knitters United."
Part IV: "Crafting to Recycle, Renew, and Reuse" with chapters on "Recycled Chic," "One Word: Plastic," and "Toys Out of Trash."
Part V: "Crafting a Community" with chapters "Get Organized" and "How to Get Crafting."

The book concludes with a resource list and index.

Projects in the book lean heavily toward fiber arts. Nine of the seventeen projects include at least some knitting. The book assumes that you have some knowledge of knitting or whatever skill is being utilized. Other crafts include sewing, crochet and embroidery. There are two projects, one involving crafting an Artist Trading Card (ATC) and one with tin work which I believe could be done by someone with no experience in either.

Craft Activism is not a project book, although there are projects. It is more an overview of activism involving crafts and an inspiration to connect with the world, with like-minded people, and to create a better community. The subtitle of the book says it best: "People, Ideas, and Projects from the New Community of Handmade and How You Can Join In." I found the book very inspiring and the articles about individual crafters intriguing.

Craft Activism is written by Joan Tapper and photography is by Gale Zucker. Check out their blog here. It is published by Potter Craft, New York. I was provided with a copy of the book for review.

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T23:06:00.000-05:00

Our neighbors, Christina and Carlos, invited us to their Halloween party Saturday. We hadn't been to a Halloween party in years and this was a really fun party.

Can you guess what I dressed as? Here are some clues, starting from the top and working down:

Not yet? Here's some more clues:

I wore a little vintage bling and a brass necklace with a sundial pendant. Ralph gave me the sundial pendant years ago during my re-enactor stage. It's a copy of a historical one.

I also wore this awesome Halloween pin by Wendy Leaumont of My Brainchild.

And I had these lace gloves with the mysterious looking ring with Asian script. Naturally I can't remember what it says.

If you haven't guessed (or seen my new Facebook profile pic) this should clear things up:

Yes, that's right. I dressed as a witch. Ralph dressed as a mad scientist. As I told my parents, we went as ourselves.

Christina took this picture of us at the party. That's a slide rule Ralph is holding. It's a vintage one that he actually used back in the day.

Christina and Carlos are so creative. They made a haunted maze in the back yard utilizing the deck and yard. It was complete with scary stuff, a fog machine, laser lights and all sorts of fun. Christina led everyone through one at a time and there was a lot of screaming involved. It was a blast. Some of the children of their extended family and some friends were posted in various locations within the maze, ready to scare whoever happened by. It was impressive and so much fun!

None of the pictures I took of the costumes at the party came out. Christina is supposed to send me some she took and I'll post them when I get them.

I hope everyone had a fun and safe Halloween!

Bead Table Wednesday--It's Here!

2011-10-27T00:13:00.000-05:00

My new anvil arrived today.

Here it is fresh out of the box. It's a 35 pound anvil from Cliff Carroll's Horseshoers Supplies. I think I'm going to be very pleased with it.

I went to BeadFest in Arlington, TX recently and acquired some more hammers and other things, including this very small Fretz hammer. I'm going to use it to do things like the cuffs, only in minature. I have earring sized fold forming projects in mind.

That cuff in between the hammers is the reason why I got the anvil. I had to anneal it about six times and it took forever because my little 4 inch bench block was bouncing around when I hit it. It was fun to make, though, and I'm going to do some more.

I showed at Red River Revel in Shreveport earlier this month. I've done it for several years and it's always a great show. The weather was fantastic this year.

My son, Stefan, came with me this year to help out. It was nice not being by myself. As soon as he saw the camera he started looking everywhere but at me.

Here's a better shot of the cuff from earlier in the post. I believe this is called a Rutger fold. The red is reflected color from the tent we were in.

Here's another cuff I had at the show. I really liked how it turned out. The red on this cuff is from fire scale. It was so pretty I left it on. It was one of the first cuffs to sell at the show.

And here's a pendant in progress that is a mystery. I did finish this pendant and it sold at the show. I didn't put the liver of sulphur patina on it until I got to the hotel in Shreveport though. (Nothing like working until the very last minute.) This is where the mystery comes in. The liver of sulphur made a very brilliant iridescent patina on the brass, and a more muted patina on the copper.

The patina was a lot more colorful in person than this photo shows. I put more LOS on the copper portion to darken it, and removed the brilliant fuchsia and blues from the brass with steel wool. The brilliant colors just didn't go with the stone. I really want to recreate this on some more brass. I have no idea how it happened. If you've used LOS before you know it doesn't do much for brass. I have a few ideas and I'm going to experiment.

I have a book review on a great new book, Craft Activism, coming up shortly with a giveaway. And I'm going to have another giveaway to celebrate reaching 100 followers on the blog. Stay tuned.

As always, check out the other bead tables on Flickr:

Bead Table Wednesday-Various Stages

2011-09-28T17:29:00.000-05:00

I have a lot of pieces in progress on the bead table, some nearing completion and some not so near.

I haven't decided what to rivet onto the etched cuffs at the top yet. Most of the time when I etch the cuffs the background comes out rather matte, like the middle cuff. I don't know how the other two cuffs got shiny. It must be a different metal content since I etched them just like I always do.

The twisty things are brass and copper bails. The "queen" pendant lacks a couple of body parts but has the patina and the finish coat, as do the two spiral pendants beside her. I finished up the last batch of pearls and have some more in progress.

Pawlie Newman is snuggled up in my lap impeding my typing. In a minute he'll tire of the typing and then he'll be on the bead table.

Check out the other bead tables at:

Nature Shots-Bees and Butterfly

2011-09-25T16:45:00.001-05:00

This has not been the best year for insects and butterflies. The drought has been vicious and the heat too high. Now that it's cooled off a little I'm seeing more activity.

Here's a beautiful Swallowtail butterfly feeding on the butterfly bush. It was hard to get a shot because this butterfly moved continuously and the wind was blowing quite stiffly, making the flowers bob around. His/her wings are being curved around the flower by the wind in this shot.

The butterfly reminds me of a stained glass window from this angle.

There were honey bees and these big fellas all over the bush too.

I think these are Eastern Carpenter Bees. Fortunately none of them objected to having their picture taken. I've heard that some people use a telephoto and a tripod to take photos like this but I do handheld up close and personal. If the bees object I run like a girl. These bees are supposed to be fairly mellow. There were honey bees too, but I didn't get any good shots.

Bead Table Wednesday--More Show Prep

2011-09-21T23:07:00.001-05:00

I'm still busy with preparation for my show. Here are my cuffs I've been working on tonight. They're awaiting a final polish and protective coating for the patina.

And here are some of my pearl necklace sets. These are my bread and butter pieces. They are fairly inexpensive and priced right for Christmas presents.

Check out the other bead tables on Flickr:

Bead Table Wednesday-Show Prep

2011-09-14T23:41:00.000-05:00

As usual I'm going Bead Table Wednesday at the very last minute. I'm busy getting ready for a show in October.

The "magic" necklace is about ready to be put together, although once I actually get started with the wire wrapping the design could change. I'm not sure how I will handle the big hole on the coin straps. The wings over on the left are some earrings awaiting their ear wires. In person the crystals actually show up.

I've finally finished the pendant portion. Here is the front and back. The escutcheon is not symmetrical. It's not so obvious from the front, but it shows on the back. I may even up the corner a little.

And here are some cuffs in progress. I've done the etching and the bottom two have an initial tumbling. I'm going to put some decorative rivets on the brass ones, and rivet a charm with some dangles to the copper one. Then there will be more tumbling, patina, hand polishing and sealing.

And these aren't exactly on the bead table, but I'm sure pleased with them. The zucchini have been frustrating me this year. I've had big beautiful plants that I have babied through all the hot dry weather, and not a single zucchini until I harvested these today. The little one was underneath the biggest one, but the flower was falling off so I went ahead and picked it. I guess we'll be having some stir fry veggies this week.

Check out the other bead tables here:

Cabs and Charms

2011-09-10T23:52:00.000-05:00

I feel like I got a few things done today, even though I didn't do much work on the "magic" necklace. The morning started off with an AAUW (American Association of University Women) meeting that was quite productive. We finished it up a little after noon and then my friend Martha, of Menagerie Studio, and I decided to make a quick run into Dallas to the Rock Barrell. I wanted to get some turquoise cabs and she wanted findings.

We hit the interstate and within a few minutes were on a parking lot on a bridge across Lake Ray Hubbard. Traffic was barely moving. We were on the bridge for an hour and a half. At least it gave Martha and I time to catch up with each other.

Martha brought me the charms I had ordered from her.

I love these little charms even more now that I've seen them close up. The hearts with text have the works cherish and child on them with a floral texture on the back. The fleur de lis hearts have a clock texture on the back. These will become earrings. I think I'll keep the top pair for myself!

We exited the interstate at the first exit. There was a sign stating that the freeway was closed ahead. Wish they had posted that sign many miles earlier! We made it to the Rock Barrell 15 minutes before closing! I quickly found these cabs.

These cabs range from 8 to 25 mm. Most are turquoise, but there are two chrysocola, one fancy jasper, and one dyed howlite. Martha found some beads but not the findings she was after.

We drove home a completely different way. Since we were already in Dallas we had to make a few other retail stops.

Once home I worked a little on cleaning up the holes on the iron escutcheon plate I'm using on the "magic" necklace. The holes were jagged and just waiting to catch a drill bit so I ground them instead. I got them big enough for the rivets to go through, but I think they are going to give me trouble when I drill the back plate. That's a job for another day though.

Etching Nickel Silver

2011-09-08T23:22:00.000-05:00

I decided to use some nickel silver I have on hand for the back of the "magic" necklace. I etched it with a cool stamp I have. It will be trimmed so that the eye is the focus. It has a mysterious somewhat occult feel to it that will go well with the theme of magic as illusion.

I also etched a couple of other pieces. The longhorn and the winged heart will probably go on cuffs.

This is the first time I have etched nickel silver. I removed the pieces after only 45 minutes because the StazOn ink was coming off the longhorn. Usually that doesn't happen quite so quickly. The ferric chloride was fresh but the etch wasn't as deep as what I usually get with the copper and brass. I don't know if nickel silver is harder to etch or if there was a problem with the ferric chloride. My last ferric chloride etched very well, but when I opened it up tonight there was a metallic gray/blue crystalline stuff floating on the surface. It was like a very thin sheet of some sort of crystal. This is the first time I've seen that. Later when I have some time I'll pour it through a filter and see if it still etches after the crystalline stuff is removed.

Key Giveaway--The Reveal

2011-08-30T23:57:00.000-05:00

First of all let me apologize for posting this so late. I had a very interesting day and not in a good way. Mostly it involved the water well at my parents place and my car. Probably I will soon have another car, which unfortunately will come with a car payment.

I selected a winner by numbering the comments, with extra numbers added in for those who had more than one entry. Here it is:

The winner is Patty from "My Life Under the Bus." Congratulations Patty! I did post this on Patty's Facebook so some of you have probably already read this.

Patty selected the mauve/lavender key.

The white pearls are big hole pearls so they are excellent for wire wrapping. Also included are some more pearls and some fluorite. The pearls have a funky shape but the color is to die for. There's a lot of color that didn't photograph.

And some Czech glass.

And finally 2+ yards each of my favorite colorfast hand-dyed sari silk ribbon:

After I took all the photos I realized I hadn't photographed the matching copper washers, but they are included.

I have another giveaway, this one a book and metalworking supplies, coming up soon so if you didn't win this time check back.

August Reader's Challenge II

2011-08-29T12:42:00.001-05:00

I'm only partway finished with the wonderful beads and focals from this month's Readers Challenge from Andrew Thornton.

Here's a picture I took of the challenge beads:

The challenge beads include a ceramic magic bead by Diane Hawkey, a floral charm by Marsha Neal, a silvered lampwork bead by Sue Kennedy, a lampwork bead (scarlet sugar bead) by Bernadette Fuentes, a seed bead blend, Swarovski crystals, vintage acrylic, and copper chain (not shown) and the mystery focal--a copper pendant by Andrew Thornton.

As soon as I saw the beads I wanted to split them up into two necklaces. I decided to put the floral charm and the sugar bead in one necklace. The copper pendant has a stylized sun so I decided to go with a nature/flower/sun theme. I made a copper clasp to go with this necklace. For some reason my flash decided not to work so these are a bit dark.

I gave the magic bead a lot of thought. Magic has more than one definition and I decided to work with the theme of magic as illusion. I researched historical female magicians and illusionists and settled on Mercedes Talma. Mercedes performed from 1899 through the 1920's. She was known as the "Queen of Coins" for her skill in manipulating coins and making them appear seemingly from the air. She confounded viewers during performances by wearing an off-the-shoulder gown that lacked sleeves in which to conceal the coins.

Keyholes invoke the idea of mystery and things hidden so I decided to have Mercedes peeking out from a keyhole. This is what I have so far:

The escutcheon plate is iron and had surface rust. I cleaned the rust up but left it dark as much as I could. It's been coated with ProtectaClear to prevent any more rust. The photo is one I found of Mercedes Talma. The escutcheon plate will be backed with an etched brass plate and it will be riveted together. I'll probably darken the brass considerably so it doesn't stand out too much from the silver tones of the necklace. Right now I'm thinking of wire wrapping the beads together with sterling silver, which I will antique. I've had these Asian coins for a while and I thought they would go well with the "Queen of Coins." I'll probably use all the crystals that were in the challenge kit on this necklace, and some sterling spacers.

Here's a list of the other challenge participants. Check out their designs:

Jessica Nelson

Andrew Thornton

Holly Westfall

Alice Peterson

Christine Altmiller

Cilla Watkins

Sally Russick

Beth Emery

Patty Gasparino

Jeannie Dukic

Norma Turvey

Rebecca Anderson

Darby Lohrding, Marian Howarth, and Kari Asbury will all have pieces featured on Andrew Thornton's blog.

I still have a giveaway going until noon (Pacific time) on Monday 8/29. Scroll down to the previous post. I'll notify the winner later on today but the reveal post will be tomorrow.

Bead Table Wednesday--Torch Enameling and a Giveaway

2011-08-24T23:03:00.000-05:00

Yesterday and today I've been playing a little with torch enameling. I haven't gotten much done but I'm having fun.

Here's what I've been working on:

Sorry it's such a poor picture. The steel keys had rust on them and I used the buffer to get that off. The key on the left has been cleaned but not enameled. I used two methods to enamel. I heated the second and third key from the left until red hot and dipped them in the enamel a couple of times, following directions in Barbara Lewis's excellent new book. I did the Robin's egg blue one first. I was pleased with the enameling, although I didn't get it as high up on the key as I would have like. I had some problems with the red one. It threw off sparks or little burning embers when I was heating it. This caused the enamel to pit. I have no idea what caused this but hubby theorized it was bits of carbon flaming up. I haven't cleaned the oxidation from the flame from any of the keys. I rather like the oxidation on the three right hand keys so I may not remove it on those.

The three keys on the right were done by sifting enamel onto one side and torching from below on a tripod. I'm pleased with the way they turned out.

Next I textured some copper washers. I've just begun to enamel them. The half enameled one was done by the dip method and the small one was done by sifting. The small one is textured on the back side and the larger one that I dipped is textured on both sides of the top. The bottom hole filled up with enamel so I'm going to have to rethink that.

I'm so pleased with how the keys came out that I'm going to have a little giveaway. I'm giving away your choice of one of the keys on the right: cobalt, mauve, or bitter green. (The mauve looks lavender to me and the bitter green is a yellow green but those are the enamel names.) I'll also be including enameled copper washers and some other items which will be determined after I go through my stash and find coordinating goodies.

To enter leave a comment on this post. Post on Facebook or follow the blog for extra chances. Just leave me a comment letting me know (if you already follow leave a comment) and be sure I can contact you through your comment or include your email address. I'll cut the comments off at noon on Monday and select a winner sometime later in the day. Good luck!

Great New Metal Working Books--Reviews

2011-08-23T23:46:00.012-05:00

There are a number of really fine new books out for jewelry artists. I'll be reviewing several of these over the next few days, plus a giveaway a little later.

I sometimes get review copies of books from publishers but the two books I'm reviewing today I purchased myself. Both of these are great books.

First up is Kim St. Jean's Mixed Metal Mania. The subtitle is Solder, rivet, hammer, and wire exceptional jewelry.

The book is divided into five sections. The first section is about tools and techniques. My favorite part of this section is "Kim's Unconventional Tools," and "Kim's Tips."

The four project sections are designed to build on the techniques learned in the previous sections. Kim states in her introduction that all the projects have been tested with students and each project is designed to teach and practice a specific skill. I think Kim's extensive experience teaching is well reflected in the projects.

Chapter One includes techniques such as texturing, patina, cold connections, annealing and fold forming. Projects include rings, earrings, scarf pin, collar and pendants.

Chapter Two includes the use of several different techniques in soldering, the rolling mill, forging and wire wrapping. Projects include several pendants, including a three dimensional one, rings, a bangle, a bracelet, a chain, and two pairs of earrings.

Chapter Three makes extensive use of propane or acetylene torches. Techniques include reticulation, soldering, riveting, pine straw casting, making a bail and bezel setting a stone.

Chapter Four has more complex projects involving foldforming, bezel setting, and other techniques.

I especially like the foldformed projects in this book. Kim's writing is clear and the projects and techniques are well illustrated with color photos. It's easy to see how you can take the techniques and skills learned through this book and apply them to your own unique designs.

###

The second book I'm reviewing today is Karen Dougherty's Metal Style. It's subtitled "20 jewelry designs with cold join techniques."

The book begins with two sections on tools and techniques. This is followed by a large section on projects. There are 20 projects from 16 different designers. Designers include well known artists and instructors such as Robert Dancik, Thomas Mann, Janice Berkebile, Connie Fox and others. The projects represent a broad range of style, as you would expect with a number of designers, and in addition to metal include some other materials such as resin, resin clay, faux bone, polymer clay, Lucite and several found objects. A number of the projects are complex, at least in the number of steps, but there are others with fewer steps that would be good for a student who has just learned to rivet and saw from the instructions in the front of the book.

Some of the included projects are a riveted chain by Janice Berkebile, a hinged pendant by Dawn Bergmaier, a found object sandwich adjustable ring by Thomas Mann, and a found object necklace by Kim St. Jean.

Both these book are great addition to your metalworking library.

Bead Table Wednesday--Tools and Beads

2011-08-17T23:52:00.001-05:00

First up, I've got these awesome beads that just arrived today from Heather Powers:

I love these little birds and eggs! Heather also has a new book out--that's it on the front of the card. I was hoping to get a look at it but the bookstore didn't have it yet.

While organizing in the studio I found a set of number stamps that had rusted right in the storage box. Yikes! After a lot of elbow grease with a brass brush on one of them I decided it was time to break out the new buffer/grinders.

Not too long ago I paid my teenager to put this nifty bench from Sears together. I found this plywood at Home Depot and had them cut it into two tops with a piece left over. I used the one on the left with the fiber brush (also on the left) to clean the rust off the stamps. I bought this little grinder just for that brush. I used one like this in Richard Salley's toolmaking class at Adorn Me, and I loved it. One of the stamps got away from me and was spun across the room by the grinder, hit a plastic container and bounced almost all the way back. Of course, I had eye protection on, but I started putting a cardboard box behind the grinder to catch things, and I paid better attention after that.

Then I put some Boeshield T-9 on the stamps and also on the hammer head of my new Fretz Michael Good hammer. Boeshield T-9 is a waterproof lubricant and rust and corrosion protector. You wipe it on then wipe it off. It is petroleum based, but dries to a hard waxy finish. I love it for tools. Here they are drying.

A couple of days after setting up the grinder I set the second one up. It has a cotton type buffing wheel and I used it to buff a pendant I'm working on. The wheel's too small for a lot of things, but it is still handy and I may move this one into the studio later. Right now they're in the garage. I do have a full sized buffer from Sears, but I've got to sit down and read the instructions and get the parts put together before I can use it. It's not as "plug and play" as these little ones are. Both these grinders have flex shafts that attach to one side. I don't plan on ever using them.

And here's what I hope never gets in the garage or on the bead table:

The two on the left are full grown and the three smaller ones on the right belong to one of them. I haven't seen the other one's babies, but she appears to be nursing. The raccoons have been devoring the cat food at an alarming rate. Feeding the cats only in the day doesn't help because the raccoons just come out in daylight. Those mamas are really hungry. After they quit feeding the young I won't see much of them until next breeding season. I found some out-of-date peanut butter last night in the pantry and have been doling it out. They like it so well they have been leaving the cat food alone. According to wikipedia it's probably better for them than cat food.

This is either the bravest, or the least intelligent of the babies. He's was about five feet from me when I took this. He's not super frightened of me like the other two babies are. They see me and go up a tree.

We have a lot of ponds in our area but they must all be dried up because the raccoons empty all three of the water bowls every night. One is quite large and sometimes they lay down in it. I guess raccoons need to bath sometimes.

Check out the other bead tables on flickr.

August Reader's Challenge

2011-08-15T23:59:00.002-05:00

I signed up for the August Reader's Challenge by Andrew Thornton. Read about it here.

Here are the beautiful challenge beads. Don't you just love the artist beads? Two are lampwork, two ceramic, and one copper clay. The beads are much prettier in person. This isn't a very good photo.

Jazz cat seemed to like these beads. She kept trying to sleep on them. I guess little tins aren't as uncomfortable as they look. And look: there's already a cat hair in there. That's a real hazard at my place. The cats take their duty to shed on everything very seriously.

The big reveal is on the 29th of August and they'll be a blog hop among the participants. This is a color I don't work with very often, although I love it. Using a color I don't usually use is part of the attraction. It will be fun!

Hot Connections Jewelry--A Review

2011-08-13T23:38:00.001-05:00

I received a review copy of Hot Connections Jewelry, The Complete Sourcebook of Soldering Techniques by Jennifer Chin.

Chin writes that she "conceived of Hot Connections Jewelry as an easy-to-follow resource for people who have experience making jewelry with beading, wirework, or cold-connection techniques and want to expand their skills to include soldering in their creative repertoires". I think she has achieved her goal and created a great guide to soldering with much more than soldering in it.

The book is profusely illustrated with color photos as well as very detailed sketches.

There are six sections. Each section contains an overview of the subject, lessons, and projects. There are also gallery photos in each section. Each gallery photo includes a short description of how the item was made. I found these descriptions very useful. The jewelry throughout the book is modern in style with clean lines, and graphic shapes.

Section One covers the nitty gritty details on how soldering works, choosing and using torches, metal, and workspace. I really like the annealing color chart that was included in the section on using torches, as well as the review of safety procedures. Lesson One is on annealing sheet metal.

Section Two details basic fabrications techniques such as sawing, shaping, and riveting, among other techniques. There are step-by-step lessons on each technique.

This section also contains the basic soldering overview including solder and flux, soldering tools, soldering methods, and pickle. The solder and flux section has useful charts on solder melting points & uses, and silver solder melting and flow temperatures. Soldering methods covered are chip (pallion) soldering, wire (stick) soldering, pick soldering, and sweat soldering (tinning).

Chin discusses standard pickle but also gives a recipe for the less toxic version of pickle made from vinegar and salt. I was glad to see the vinegar/salt recipe as I feel it is an excellent pickle, less toxic, and much underused.

The first soldering lesson on soldering a seam is in Section Two. The first three projects are also in this section: riveted collar ring, ribbon earrings, and fizzy pendant. If you went no further in the book you could take what is learned in these three projects and create a multitude of projects of your own.

Section Three covers forming metal: scoring & bending, forging and dapping. The three projects in this section are my favorite: domed petal earrings, forged chain necklace, and retro bracelet.

Section Four explains textures, patinas and finishing. I was happy to see embossing with a rolling mill included. I recently purchased a rolling mill and will be using it just as soon as the new workbench is constructed. I know I'll be referring back to this section in the future.

Section Five is on adding stones and beads. Making a bezel and setting it, as well as flush settings are included. One of the projects is a cabochon brooch. This project refers to instructions in lesson 20 later in the book on making a simple spring pin latch.

Section Six is on advanced techniques such as making clasps, hinges, marrying metals, solder inlay, and lamination inlay. After reading this section I really want to started mixing metals using these techniques.

This book is a great reference for someone new to soldering. I really appreciated the inclusion of instruction in pin and hinge making, marrying of metals, as well as use of the rolling mill as these subjects are not often covered. The writing is easy to follow and the book is arranged in a pleasing manner that is attractive and easy to read. The back of the book has the project templates, a ring sizing guide, circle divider, resource list, metric conversion chart and index.

Bead Table Wednesday--Don't Look, Billye!

2011-08-10T21:53:00.000-05:00

I've been working on a birthday present for my friend Billye the last couple of days. I got this cool dimple tool from Richard Salley and it makes little bumps that look just like braille. So I decided to make a pendant for Billye that says bff (best friend forever) on it in braille.

The first one I did I realized was too thin so I backed with brass. It ended up being too big and not what I had in mind. So I started over last night.

Here's what I have so far:

The photo is larger than life. It's about half an inch wide and 1 3/4 inches long. I'm going to put a dangle on the bottom and a pearl or something on the top and hang it on a silver chain. I did the tiniest textured edge with my hammer. I still have to buff out some tiny scratches that were on the metal when I got it and put a patina on it.

The other thing on the bead table is this awesome pendant by my friend Martha Eason of Menagerie Studio.

Martha has a pendant in this month's Stringing magazine. It's shown on page 23 in a necklace by Suzette Bentley.

And I have yet more brass etching that needs to go in a bath to remove the pink. Plus I have lots of earrings and other items that are waiting for their photos so I can list them.

I'm really slow getting things listed.

Check out what's on every one's bead table at:

Bead Table Wednesday--Found Objects and UFO's.

2011-07-20T23:52:00.011-05:00

What's on the bead table today is a former UnFinished Object: a necklace from my muffin tray that I finally got around to finishing.

I have a lot of found objects on the bead table too. Last weekend I went to Buchanan's Vintage/Antique Market in Lewisville. Lewisville is smack up against Dallas, so much so that I can't tell when I leave Dallas and get into Lewisville. I went with my friend Vanessa on Friday and tried to help her set up her booth. She kept shooing me away and telling me to go shop.

These awesome big buttons came from Vanessa's booth.

I can't resist buttons. I'm thinking of using these on bracelets or brooches. Vanessa is on Etsy at Salvage Nation. Check out the cool letters she has. Some of them were originally made for interstate highway signs. I also got some cool brass dog tags and other tags from her.

I spent a lot of time in a booth that had things I'd never seen for sale before. It's Mylissa's Garden from Arkansas City, Kansas. Alas, they are not online.

First I found this...a crown? No, a container.

Inside I put something else I found:

Okay, maybe I'm weird but I think the doll eyeballs are the coolest thing, especially the big ones without lashes. They don't open and close like the others but they do wiggle from side to side.

More finds, vintage cards and scrabble letters.

The small letters are from license plates. The gears and machine parts were in a box labeled typewriter parts. And I got a few odd pieces of jewelry and a couple of keys.

I asked the owner how they cut up the plates and I found that they use a shear and Texas plates damaged their shear. Texas plates are made of steel unlike many other states that use aluminum. I also decided after asking her how she cut the tags up that I'd rather she cut them up than me. I did save my old Texas plate with the space shuttle on it and plan on using my jewelry saw to cut out the shuttle and put it in a piece of personal jewelry. I'm a space fanatic. I blame Andre Norton, Gene Roddenberry, Robert Heinlein and mostly my Dad, who is a NASA fanatic.

In another booth, the Red Barn, I found this beautiful blue suitcase (shown as the background in many of the photos), plus a couple of items for the studio. The block will hold my stamps, and a chicken feeder (not shown) will hold my pliers. I also got this wonderful 50 foot tape from a tape measure. It came wrapped around the book.

Now that I'm amassing a collection of found objects I need to start creating with them.

Take a look at what's on more bead tables:

Bead Table Wednesday--New Hammer

2011-07-07T00:40:00.000-05:00

There isn't much on the bead table today. I do have this new Fretz hammer that I can't wait to use. It's the bigger one on the bottom. It's exactly what I was looking for and is perfect--except for one thing. The hammer head is a little loose. I'm going to call the company I got it from and see if there's something I can do or if I should trade it in.

I found out I needed this hammer when I was doing the foldforming. Remember this pod from a previous Bead Table Wednesday?

In order to make the curve along the folded edged and thus the pod shape the hammer blows have to move the metal. This requires a cross pein shaped hammer head. The little hammer on top was the closest I had, and I have used it quite a bit for texturing the edges of pendants. It does work for texturing folds, but it will not move the metal enough to form the pod shape. It's just too lightweight. I even tried using a lot of force and hit really hard. Mostly this hurt my wrist. I broke out the smaller Fretz hammer in the middle above. It is a raising hammer and has faces like a cross pein, but several times wider. It did move the metal. It tends to smooth the metal at the same time so I didn't get as much texture as I'd hoped for. I used this hammer to finish out the curve.

The new Fretz hammer is the Michael Good cross pein and it has a nice weight. I think it will move the metal without me using any great force. That's pretty much what I want. That's what tools are for--they allow us to do work without using a lot of force.

In addition to Kim St. Jean's excellent DVD on "Metal Fold Forming" I have been studying Charles Lewton-Brain's book "Foldforming." This is a fantastic book metal workers. Charles Lewton-Brain is credited with inventing an entirely new form of metal work when he developed foldforming. Next I want to study the info he has on his site.

I do still have the remaining items in my muffin tin that I didn't get finished for the challenge. I spent four days at my parents over 4th of July weekend after my Dad had a little health scare (he's okay.) And Friday I'm going to Houston for a weekend business meeting for some volunteer work I do. I probably won't be able to touch the bead table until next week.

Check out the other bead tables at:

Vintage Finds and Muffin Tins

2011-06-28T22:56:00.002-05:00

There's been some interest in my muffin tin so I thought I'd supply some info about it. It's a vintage Ecko brand Ovenex Starburst pattern. Hubby bought it for two dollars at a garage sale and I got a second one for a similar price at a flea market. They were both very black. After Hubby used the one he bought to mold homemade lye soap it came out looking much nicer and brighter. I immediately confiscated it. It's the one I used for the challenge.

Saturday I felt the need for retail therapy so I went by a couple of my favorite stores. I found a matching starburst cookie sheet. I thought it would be cool for laying out necklaces until I saw the price--$27.00. Yikes! I like it, but not that much. They also had some commercial pans:

This one would be a tight fit in a standard oven.

This is a loaf pan. No way will it fit in a standard oven. This is what Marcy and I need for our big necklaces! Just kidding, Marcy. It is too big.

Here are a couple of the starburst tins on Etsy: here and here.

I did find some treasures. Here's a hint:

I picked up these two lovely necklaces--so small, just 15 inches.

And these three pair of earrings wanted to go home with me.

There were a few odds and ends:

And I got really excited over this:

It's very dirty, but it works. There's a cover that I didn't show in the photo. It's an Underwood Standard Portable Typewriter. I have to research to find out more. I love antique typewriters.

I don't know yet if the wooden spacer bar is original, or a repair.

Besides being in working condition one of the best things about it is that is weighs almost nothing. This means I can display it just about anywhere. I have a couple of very beautiful full size ones, plus several in not such good shape, and they all are quite heavy. I have to be careful where I put them.

Replacement ribbons are available and I will someday use this to type words for collage. I will probably also have to replace the patten; that's the rubber roller that the paper goes around. They tend to get very hard with age, so hard they can damage the keys.

What are your favorite vintage items?

Best Laid Plans... Things Happen

2011-06-27T23:24:00.002-05:00

Usually I try to keep things upbeat on the blog. I can't always do this though, because sometimes the bumpy parts impact the parts I like to blog about. There were some bumps and potholes in the road of life this week. Things did not go quite as I had planned.

Wednesday I had to have my cat Maizie put to sleep. She went into kidney failure. I knew it was coming but it is still excruciating. I'm glad that she had a good long life--she was seventeen years old. Here's a photo of a younger Maizie checking out the water garden. She was hiding in the bushes by the bank's ATM when I found her 16 years ago. When I drove up she stuck her head out and I knew she was waiting for me. I opened the car door and she jumped in.

Thursday evening my husband helped me load the heavy things in the car. We found this lady hanging out in the garage.

black widow spider

Note the nicely shaped hourglass. She got a web going right away.

black widow spider

This is a variety I had not seen before. On her topside she had a row of red rectangles. If you click the photos you can go to Flickr and see the photos in more detail. She has a little white with the red too.

Since the things we were removing from the garage go into my car we gave everything a complete inspection after we found the spider.

Hubby took her to work and gave her to one of the ~~insane~~ intelligent guys he works with.

A really big pothole was our son had his apartment burglarized on Friday. He has a lot of anxiety around this situation and we didn't feel like we should go out of town right then when he wasn't feeling safe. It took a long while with the police report and getting the window fingerprinted and such. Plus by the time things wound down it was quite late on Friday.

I didn't get to the show I had planned to do on Saturday. I've never skipped a show before so I feel weird about that but I'm glad we stayed home.

The Muffin Tin Challenge

2011-06-26T23:26:00.000-05:00

Heather Powers posted a "Muffin Tin Challenge" at the Art Bead Scene blog and I've been rather taken by it. Usually I bag up projects in snack bags and put them in a shoe box until I get to them. A couple of days ago I found a shoe box that I had forgotten about. I think that's why I like the muffin tin idea--it's out where you can see it and be inspired.

Things did not go quite as I planned over the weekend (that's another post) but I did have a little time to work on the challenge.

Here's my revised muffin tin:

I had way more than 12 projects in it so I trimmed it down and added the findings to it. I still couldn't fit everything in the cups so the stringing wire and wrapping wire isn't shown.

Here are six projects that I've done so far. I did the work on the projects all Sunday afternoon and evening. This was only possible because I had two UFO's that I finished up. I managed to snap a purchased "S" hook in half and ended up making a heavy gauge brass wire one to replace it.

I did the wrapping on the two donuts. The heart focal is a charm from Martha of Menagerie Studio.

I think I'll get something else done before the deadline, but I'm not sure with my Monday schedule if I'll be able to post it so this is it for now.

Bead Table Wednesday--Show Prep

2011-06-22T22:25:00.000-05:00

I was invited to a show at the grand opening of the Whiskey River Harley Davidson in Texarkana this Saturday. My usual venue is arts and crafts shows so I've tried to make some unisex jewelry for this one. My husband's cousin and aunt were also invited to vend their jewelry. We're combining a family visit with a show so it should be fun. (They even "bribed" my husband with Aunt Ethel's famous family cake.)

I'm relieved that it's only supposed to be 93 degrees on Saturday. I was worried it would be 103. After the weather we've been having, 93 is quite comfortable.

Here are some finished cuffs that I learned to do with Kim St. Jean's Metal Fold Forming DVD. They're awaiting a final finish coat to protect the antiquing. The pod will have some beads put in it.

This is a necklace I just finished using a house charm from Martha Eason of Menagerie Studio on Etsy. She does some terrific polymer clay charms and I have several pieces I'm going to be using. I used Czech glass, a couple of vintage fake pearls, apatite roundels and antiqued brass wire.

Here are two of the etched pieces I wrote about in an earlier post. The top one is from text written by Leonardo da Vinci. I plan on putting these on leather cuffs but probably won't get them done in time for the show. The leather neck cords just need a clasp and they'll be ready for a pendant.

Here's my preliminary muffin tin for the Muffin Tin Challenge over at the Art Bead Scene Blog. I am really excited about this challenge, even though I won't be able to finish it in time to enter because of the show. I'm still going to do it even if I finish late. Let me tell you, there is no way I can get everything for most of my necklaces into a single muffin cup, but at least I got a lot of it. I have parts for more than 12 things in here. The planes and accompanying pieces will be earrings. I have a request for this show for cross jewelry, so I have a lot of crosses and hope to get a few more made up. I've got to dig out some turquoise to go with the coral crosses. And I'm not sure about the blue beads with the heart and key. I think I need smaller beads to go with Martha's heart charm.

For a long time I've done a version of this by bagging things for necklaces in snack bags. It's much more exciting to put it in the muffin tin. I think it's inspiring to see it there on the bead table. If you click on the photo I made a few notes on Etsy.

Check out the other Bead Table Wednesday photos and posts.

Vintage Finds--A Truckload of Silver Plate

2011-06-16T08:30:00.000-05:00

Last weekend I went to a little flea market. It's held outside one of my favorite antique places.

There was a lady there with a pile of silver plate silverware. I inquired about the price and she quoted me a price far below the usual per piece for the lot. Then she said the silver plate trays were included (4). I paid her and she bagged my plate up, including the sugar, creamers, baby cup and candle snuffer. I hadn't realized any of that was included.

One of the platters sticks to a magnet so I guess it is plated over iron or something. The sugar and creamer set has a mark, as does the baby cup. The silver ware is marked as well. There are a couple of knives that are stainless steel and have non-serrated blades. I plan on using them to open the folds in my fold formed pieces. There's a lot one design--the pointy ended one with the rose on the right and left--that isn't my favorite design but I think I can do something with it.

I guess I better get busy with my silverware benders since I now have lots of pieces to practice on. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the platters. I'm thinking of cutting them up and using the pieces as backing for copper and brass pendants. Given the price of silver now I think this will sell. The engraving on the platters is quite attractive.

Big Bead Giveaway at Pretty Things

2011-06-16T01:24:00.000-05:00

Lori at Pretty Things has a big giveaway going too. She's just back from Bead and Button. I'd like to go there someday. There are nine winners in her giveaway!

Something Unique by Lana--Huge Giveaway

2011-06-16T01:04:00.000-05:00

Lana at Something Unique by Lana is have a huge giveaway. She has some fantastic beads and findings from many Etsy artisans. There are a lot of art beads included.
Check it out. It's a fantastic collection of goodies.

Bead Table Wednesday--Fold Forming

2011-06-15T19:51:00.001-05:00

If you look at Monday's post you'll see my review of Kim St. Jean's DVD--Metal Fold Forming. Here's my first fold formed cuff made using her tutorial:

After the first dip in the liver of sulphur the cuff came out a mauve-taupe-gray. I stopped there. Usually I go darker but this color matches a lot of clothes I have. I used a 3600 grit sanding sponge to hit the highlights. It will finish up in the tumbler a few more minutes for a little extra polish and hardening, then I'm coating it with ProtectaClear to keep the finish just like it is.

The two etched brass sheets in the background are my other items on the bead table this week. I etched them a while back, along with a third piece, then annealed them. They came out with large pink splotches from the torch. This is because the heat caused the copper in the brass to come to the surface. After a lot of elbow grease and tedious time with steel wool I got one sheet clean. I put the others away until I had more time--and fortitude--to clean them.

Recently I stumbled across a recipe on the net for cleaning the pink off brass. It's 3 parts white vinegar and 2 parts hydrogen peroxide. I used the grocery store versions and it worked like a charm. No more pink and very little elbow grease! If you do this don't go off and leave your metal in the solution. It takes just a few minutes and then you should remove the items. I rinsed them well and put them in a baking soda wash also. It is not safe to store this in a closed container so dispose of it immediately. One report said it could explode. Maybe they were talking about industrial strength versions but I'm not sure.

Here's what the cuff looked like before antiquing:

I like the bright look as well. This is after steel wool and 30 minutes in the tumbler. I will probably do a couple of cuffs and keep them bright as well a some antiqued ones.

This was so much fun. I plan to do some more fold forming. Tonight.

Don't forget to check out the other Bead Table Wednesday photos and blog posts.

Texture Tuesday

2011-06-14T20:32:00.000-05:00

I know I've been doing Presentation Tuesday, but it's going to be moved to another day. Every once in a while I want to do Texture Tuesday with Kim Klassen. I don't know what I'm doing yet, but I figure I'll learn something.

Here's my finished photo:

I used two of Kim's textures, warmsun and yesteryear in Photoshop Elements. I think I want to work some more on it and make the textures a little less subtle. I find that I've forgotten most of what I knew about layers in Elements so I need to read my book again.

Here is the original:

I do have an upcoming Presentation Tuesday. Not sure when I will post it--maybe next Tuesday if not before.

Tutorial Monday--Metal Fold Forming with Kim St. Jean

2011-06-13T20:01:00.000-05:00

Tutorial Monday posts are reviews of tutorials by other people (not me). I haven't done one in a long time but I was so pleased with this tutorial I wanted to spread the news.

I recently purchased a DVD class called Metal Fold Forming with Kim St. Jean. Kim was at Adorn Me this year. I didn't get to take one of her classes, but I heard lots of good things about them.

This DVD class is produced by Beaducation.com. If you haven't been to their site you should check it out. They also offer this tutorial in online format.

I love this tutorial. Kim explains things very well, and the video is up close and well produced. It's 81 minutes long and includes a printable class handout.

The tutorial covers:

the creation of a cuff bracelet using fold forming
bonus instruction in the fabrication of a pod fold pendant
bonus material covering copper surface patina using the butane torch

Kim shows how to do the fold forming and several methods of texturing using the hammer and other tools. I found that the bumpy texture that I've made previously with an antique center punch is what Kim refers to as "frog skin." It's a good name for it.

Here's a very short section of the introduction from You Tube. There's a good picture of the cuff.

I hope to get my first cuff done in time for Bead Table Wednesday. Check back later.

Blogger Problems-The Real Blogger Status

2011-06-10T12:36:00.000-05:00

Having trouble posting comments on blogger? Log on problems?

Check out the solution here on the blog "The Real Blogger Status". (thanks Patty!)

Bead Table Wednesday--Annealing

2011-06-08T23:25:00.003-05:00

Today I annealed some of the sheet that I etched previously.

After annealing I put them in a pickle bath made from vinegar and salt, shown above. Usually I dispose of my pickle before it gets this dark blue, but I've been wanting to use it to copperplate some tins I have so I can solder stuff onto them later. All that blue is copper that is dissolved into the pickle.

These sheets will have cabs set into them for pendants.

I also got a few of my copper disk earrings put together and carded.

Most of the week I've been working on my grandmother's vintage rattan furniture. It's been in storage for a long time and we decided to fix it up for our son. He picked out some fabric for the new cushions and chose a cheery red paint. Granny had painted this furniture light green, yellow, dark green, white and maybe a few more previously. It took all week but I finally got it painted. There are three sections. Next I have to start on the matching end table, coffee table, corner table, and so forth. I have no idea how old this furniture is but I know it is at least 50 years old.

Here's a shot of one section in progress.

Now I've got to get it moved without scratching it up. Luckily the weather has cooperated this week since I've been painting it outside. This furniture reminds me of happy times at Granny's so I've enjoyed painting it, even though it was really hot.

Check out the other Bead Table Wednesday photos:

Friday iPhone Photo Fun - Playing with Fractals

2011-06-03T09:40:00.001-05:00

There's a cute app for the iPhone and iPad called Fast Fractal. I've been having some fun with it. These are digital designs rather than photos.

I think this one looks like something from Dr. Seuss:

I did some additional editing on the contrast on this one:

I'm thinking about using it as an etching pattern. The only downside is the images are small. I'm not sure how they'll print.

Here's a colorful one:

Check out my set on Flickr for more fractal designs.

Bead Table Wednesday--Etching Woes

2011-06-01T23:36:00.003-05:00

I just finished etching some copper. I had been storing my etchant (ferric chloride) for a while and when I opened it up there was some crystalline looking debris floating on the surface of the etchant. I had never encountered that before. I stirred it up and added some fresh etchant. It looked okay.

Whatever that debris was, it floated back to the surface and partially masked the surface of the copper. I did stir the etchant when I checked the copper during the process but that wasn't enough.

Here's the sheet I did with text and some fish. This would have been more than one piece after I cut it up. I think the fish will be okay--the spots look kind of like bubbles, but probably only some of the text will be usable. And it may not be usable at all. I'll have to see what it looks like with LOS on it. The sheets look better in person than they do in the photos, fortunately.

These other two pieces will probably be okay, but only because I was planning on cutting in close to the design, so the odd spots will be cut off.

My husband was nice enough to strain the etchant through a coffee filter and get rid of whatever those particles were.

These are just the first of a big batch I need to do. Hopefully the others will be contamination free.

Check out the other Bead Table Wednesday posts:

Presentation Tuesday - LemonVerbena1

2011-05-31T17:47:00.000-05:00

These Victorian photo album pages came from LemonVerbena1 on Etsy. The packaging was exquisite.

I opened up the box and this is what I saw:

Very simple, yet elegant. Here's the card:

The lovely card and heart were extras.

The reveal:

And the other side:

She included a note referencing The Vintage Moth. The Vintage Moth is a wonderful source of free antique and vintage images for artists.

Since I started getting wonderfully wrapped packages like this I've tried to improve my packaging and presentation. It's so much fun unwrapping "presents."

Presentation Tuesday - Vintage1955

2011-05-24T08:30:00.002-05:00

Presentation Tuesday, for those who missed my first post, deals with the art of presentation and packaging.

I ordered some vintage typewriter keys from Vintage1955 on Etsy. Here's the envelope:

I love the collaged envelope! I don't know if she puts the typewriter on all her envelopes, or if this was coordinated with the keys I ordered. It's a fun piece of mail art.

The keys were nicely wrapped in a handmade sewn envelope:

Note the "thank you" tag complete with bow and brad.

Here are all the items unwrapped. Vintage1955 also added the commercial "L" and "T" letters as a freebie. My initials! How thoughtful.

It's so much fun to get an order wrapped like this.

Friday iPhone Photo Fun #2 Cat Tales

2011-05-20T08:30:00.004-05:00

I've been amusing myself editing photos with the iPhone. There are lots of fun apps. This week I used the Halftone app to give some pictures a comic book look.

Scrappy follows me to the pond when I feed the fish. Everyday he's disappointed that the fish won't come out of the water. He does like the fish food flavored pond water though.

I have a new book case. It has a kind of 50's style, even though I think it's newer than that. Probably I'll paint it someday. Right now the cats are enamored with the new perch.

Bead Table Wednesday--Forging

2011-05-18T23:37:00.001-05:00

There's not much on the bead table today. I have this copper wire which I've annealed prior to texturing and shaping into cuffs and bangles. Some of the thinner wire, which is 8 gauge, will be made into forged wire pendants if all goes to plan. The partially shaped cuff is 2 gauge. Usually I trim the ends before shaping but I was going for a particular size so I shaped first. I had wanted to work some more 2 gauge today to make larger man-sized cuffs but I seem to be out of 2 gauge. The largest wire I can get locally is 4 gauge so I'll have to mail order some.

My son, Stefan, is interested in forging some of the bracelets. We had planned to work on that today but didn't make it. Hopefully tomorrow.

The etched brass is waiting for a bath to remove the pink. Probably it will become back pieces for pendants. I've been playing with some of the drawer handles hardware (shown here) and am trying to figure out how to connect the pieces. I want to frame a photo with the hardware and am thinking about soldering versus cold connections. I've never tried to rivet something so narrow but I'm probably less likely to make a mess riveting than soldering.

Back to work!

Presentation Tuesday

2011-05-17T08:00:00.001-05:00

I've been thinking about doing a series on artful presentation for some time. I've got a little collection of photos of things I've ordered from Etsy and elsewhere that had special little touches, beautiful wrapping, or some other artful presentation. This is the first post.

I received these little brainless frozen Charlottes from RetroStash a couple of days ago. They're "brainless" because the top of the head is missing by design. I have something seriously twisted in "mind" --all puns intended--for them.

The stamped designs on the envelope are a special touch that I appreciate. Even the Fragile stamp has been used artistically by repeating it. I love her return address stamp. I do this sometimes myself by stamping a thank you stamp on the back of the envelope, and room permitting, a large hand stamp on the front. It's a quick and inexpensive way to make your packages stand out. The Charlottes (Charlies?) were each wrapped in rolls of bubble wrap about 2.5 inches in diameter so the envelope was quite fat. They were well protected on their journey to me. RetroStash also used a plaid packing tape on the back (not shown) and inside on the bubble wrap that matched the ink color of the stamp designs. The coordination of color shows that thought went into the packaging.

Getting a package with some artistry or special touches in the packaging is like getting a present. And who doesn't like presents?

I'll post Presentation Tuesday when I have something to post on. I've got a little backlog, so I know I'll have a few more.

Wedding in Mumbai

2011-05-15T01:26:00.000-05:00

Clockwise from top: Angela (the bride), her mother Mary, her sister Sarah, her friend Kellie, and her step-mother Cori.

I love this photo from my niece's wedding in Mumbai, India. I love it partly because the mehndi looks so fun, and the patterns are so interesting. And I love it because it represents a celebration by these women of a cultural custom that none of these women where born into.

Mehndi is the application of henna in elaborate designs on the hands, and in the case of the bride, on the feet. It is commonly done for weddings, but also for childbirth. Some believe the deeper the red color the greater the love in the marriage, and the better the bond between the bride and her mother-in-law. The bride also doesn't have to do housework until the mehndi fades, usually in two or three weeks. Sometimes the groom's name or initials are hidden in the pattern and he is tasked with finding them.

Last year my niece, Angela, and her husband Suhail married in New York. This spring they had a wedding in India. I wasn't able to go but several of my family members went.

Weddings in India take place over several days. Suhail's family hired professionals to apply the mehndi. Here is Angela getting started with her mehndi. The henna is in paste form, and looks very dark until the paste flakes off hours later. Then the patterns are dark red in color.

Left: my sister-in-law Mary, and my niece Sarah on the right

Here is Angela with the finished design. It is very dark because the paste is still on. She's so beautiful. And isn't her jewelry beautiful and interesting? I want to find out more about the history of this jewelry. It resembles in design the jewelry often shown on Kwan Yin. I've been unsuccessful in my quest to find out about Kwan Yin's jewelry.

Suhail and Angela

Here's the bride and groom. You can get a peek at the mehndi on her feet in this photo.

My brother Lee, Angela's father.

My brother Lee and Angela were the only two blue eyed people at the wedding. There was a lot of interest in their eye color. This red dress is the wedding dress. I wish I had a better picture of the skirt. It is very elaborate and gorgeous. My brother is wearing traditional dress here. All the members of my family wore traditional Indian dress during the wedding.

Family members. My sister-in-law, Cori, second from left, took many of these photos.

The happy bride and groom--Suhail and Angela.

Here is the bride and groom on the wedding day. We're so happy to have Suhail in the family.

Friday iPhone Photo Fun

2011-05-06T09:30:00.015-05:00

I like using alliteration in titles, just in case you can't tell.

Recently I read an article in the Autumn issue of Somerset Digital Studio. The article is "Designing Digitally with your iPhone" by Nettie Edwards. I was amazed by her work and inspired to try some collage style editing with my iPhone apps.

The above photo was created by merging two photos using the app Backgroundz. Then I cropped the photo using the Photoshop Express app.

Next I used Pic Grunger to produce the above shot and these:

Here's a second series using the Pic Grunger app:

The flower pictures will make a background for further collage after some more work. I'm pretty happy with the thistle pictures just the way they are. Probably I'll find other things to do with them when I get some more practice and more apps. The framed thistle picture and the first flower picture are my favorites.

The original thistle photo is here. I spent an hour or so one very windy day taking photos of thistles and the bees that were busy harvesting the pollen. The wind was gusting very hard and whipping the flowers back and forth. Many of the plants were taller than I am. It was difficult to get shots. At times I held the stalk with one hand and the camera with the other. The bees were sometimes blown right off the thistles. I've been told that most people take close up and macro pictures of insects like bees with the camera on a tripod using a telephoto lens from a little distance. Not me. I get up close and run like a girl if the bees and wasps get upset.

Cool Tools for Jewelry Makers--Nail Punches

2011-05-02T23:33:00.000-05:00

In my previous post I mentioned a cool tool I'd used to solve a riveting problem. I thought I'd show it to you today.

These are nail punches. I'm not all that sure what they're supposed to be for but they work great with riveting. They can hold the rivet top when it's in a hard place to reach. The end of the tool can be hammered on. This is what I did with my cuff bracelet: I used it on the rivet top while hammering the back of the rivet when the rivet was in a recessed area. One of the best things about them is that the end of the tool is cupped. This keeps the front side of domed rivets from being flattened during the riveting process. There's still a little deformation, but not what you get by putting the rivet head on your bench block.

Nail punches can also be used as a decorative circle stamp.

They come singly or in sets of three, with different sized ends. They are widely available. I think I paid about 10 dollars for for the set of three Kobalts pictured above, but you can get very inexpensive sets like this one I saw at KC Tools.

Yikes! What Now? Or Why I Love Some of My Mistakes

2011-04-30T23:00:00.002-05:00

A friend gave me a bag of old jewelry a while back. In the bag was a copper cuff that was bent out of shape. I had some brass cuffs that I was etching and I decided to etch the copper cuff as well.

First I tried putting it on mandrel and bending it back in shape. It didn't work so I annealed it, straightened it out and etched it.

Unfortunately I didn't have enough etchant in the container and the middle section of the bracelet made contact with the bottom of the container. This section didn't etch well compared to the rest. The bracelet did shape up nicely on the mandrel after the annealing though. The top of the bracelet, the part most visible, had very little etching and what it did have was very shallow. Okay, I decided, this was not a bracelet I could sell.

Then I found a brass butterfly woman stamping. I had previously experimented with bending this stamping with my bracelet bending pliers but hadn't done anything with it. I decided to rivet it to the top of the cuff.

This was tricky. The stamping had an open back and I had to be careful not to crush it. Also, it was difficult to rivet the wings because of the curvature of the cuff and because the rivet heads were somewhat recessed on the front of the wings. I used my smallest hammer and a nail punch that I found at Lowes. I balanced the cuff on the punch with the top of the rivet seated in the hollow of the punch, and very carefully tapped the rivet on the inside of the cuff. It worked. The stamping nicely covered the shallow area of the etching.

I would never have done this if I hadn't made a mistake with the etching. Some of my most creative and satisfying work comes out of a mistake I've made.

I still can't sell it: I like the cuff so well I'm keeping it for myself.

The Jewelry Upcycled Winner Is...

2011-04-29T13:38:00.000-05:00

My friend Martha experimented with getting her bird to draw the winner of her giveaway. I thought that was pretty cute so I decided to see if I could get one of the cats to draw. I used some scrap paper and numbered the slips one through ten for the ten comments. Then I presented the choices to Scrappy.

Nope, Scrappy wasn't interested.

Still not interested. Meanwhile the wind is blowing everything into a pile.

Ater replacing the slips on the sidewalk I had Stefan draw.

He picked:

The second commentor, My Life Under the Bus, is the winner! Check your email!

Why it's sometimes hard to take pictures.

One of the other cats might do a better job next time...

Bead Table Wednesday--Hits and Misses

2011-04-27T23:36:00.001-05:00

I've been busy with spring cleaning and haven't worked on jewelry much this week. I did ball the ends of some more wires in both copper and brass. I made the above clasps out of some of the brass. I'm not real happy with them. I started with too much wire and the clasps are over sized for the necklace, above, that I intended them for. I'll go back and start with shorter wires and maybe 16 gauge instead of 14 gauge.

I also have these. I found the rhinestone brooch at a thrift store today. The hardware and Russian military flight pins are from Etsy. The antique square is from an antique store. I've been looking for a small square in hardware stores but haven't found one that is suitable. I like this antique one better than any of the newer ones I've seen. It fits right in with my small collection of antique measuring devices.

Scroll down and check out the giveaway I have going. I'll be selecting a winner late Thursday evening, probably right before midnight.

Bead Table Wednesday--Work in Progress

2011-04-20T23:30:00.001-05:00

I'm late again on Bead Table Wednesday but there you go. It's been that kind of day. I started this piece a while back, set it aside, then dug it out again.

This is the first piece where I've used this brass wire. It's a little stiffer than the sterling or copper I usually work with, but I like the antique color. Since I'm using a less expensive wire I experimented with some fatter wraps on the links. It's also one of the few pieces I've done that has some asymmetry. I really like asymmetrical necklaces but I never know how to go about doing one. I'm going to try making a clasp for it out of one of the brass wires with the balled ends from last week's Bead Table Wednesday.

Looking at it in this photo the donut looks a little plain. It's a lot better looking in person, happily. I definitely need to stop taking jewelry photos with the cell phone.

Check out the giveaway for Sherri Haab's latest book on the previous post! There's still time to comment or post to your Facebook for chances to win this great book.

Sherri Haab's Jewelry Upcycled! Review and Giveaway

2011-04-19T22:52:00.001-05:00

Sherri Haab, and her daughter, Michelle Haab, are the authors of Jewelry Upcycled!. I own several of Sherri Haab's books and was pleased to receive a review copy of this new book from Potter House (Crown Publishing, Random House.)

There are 20 projects plus many variations covering a wide range of skill levels and media. Most projects can be done by beginners with few tools, while some are for more experienced jewelers or require specialized equipment. All of the projects incorporate new and creative use of items that might otherwise go in the trash bin.

My favorite "beginner" project is the T-shirt rose brooch. The only tools required are scissors and a hot glue gun. These are fun and a good way to recycle that favorite old t-shirt.

In addition to projects designed by Sherri and Michelle Haab, contributing artists include Rachel Haab, Bill Hess, Steven James, Shannon Porter, Jane Salley and Richard Salley. Gallery contributors include many other well known instructors and jewelry artists.

The book has six main chapters plus a resource list and index. The first chapter covers basic jewelry instruction and tools. The following chapters are organized by the type of media and start with specifics of working with that media, followed by the projects, and concluding with an inspirational photo gallery. I really enjoyed having the gallery pictures in each chapter throughout the book rather than at the end of the book. The projects are profusely illustrated with close up photos of each step plus large full page photos of the finished pieces.

The five project chapters are:

metal and wire
plastics
glass and ceramics
fabric and leather
found objects

Metal projects include pendants from tin, a silver spoon, and telephone wire. Plastic projects employ fused bubble wrap, cassette tapes and colorful components cut from shampoo bottles, gift cards and credit cards. Glass and ceramic projects are made from china plates, and old bottles. The fabric and leather projects include t-shirts, felted sweaters, old belts or purses, and jeans labels. The found objects chapter utilizes old toys, old electronics, memorabilia, and vintage snaps.

The glass and ceramic projects use grinders, tumblers, or a kiln, depending on which project you choose. Projects in other chapters need only basic tools that most jewelry artists would already have. One plastics project does require the use of a fume respirator.

Some of the techniques used in the book are cutting and sawing, riveting, use of resin and resin clay, crocheting, molding fused glass, basic wire working and kumihimo weaving.

There's a world of ideas in this book. If you have an interest in using found objects or recycled goods there are good projects here to make and lots of ideas to explore with your own designs.

If you'd like to WIN this great book leave a comment below. Share this post on your Facebook page for another chance to win (leave a second comment telling me you did this.) I'll select a lucky winner sometime on April 28th. Be sure there's a link I can follow to your email address or some way for me to contact you in your comment.

Bead Table Wednesday-Bead Market Finds and a Little Torch Work

2011-04-13T23:03:00.000-05:00

Most of what's on my bead table are the goodies I got at the Dallas Bead Market Sunday. My friend Billye and I went to the show together.

I got these vintage Czech glass beads and found objects from Carol Wille of Jeweled Treasures. I was really happy to find these.

Donna Rasco was there from Unique Creations and I picked up some fleur de lis and these cool retro rocket charms. I'm going to make some earrings for myself from the rockets, but I think I'll get some more and make cuff links. I would like to make some guy stuff but I almost never figure out what to make.

I fired up my Lenk 500 torch today and balled up the ends of this copper and brass wire. This was the first time I had used this torch. It's a little more robust and hotter than my other micro torch. I had some trouble finding the sweet spot in the flame. Even though the air was still outside, the spot seemed to move around. I finally gave up and went inside and turned on the stove vent and did it on the stove. Success!

The top wire is hardware store brass which must be yellow brass. It was a little harder to work with and you can see it didn't have hardly any color from the torch. The second wire is jewelry supply red brass. I'll be using it from now on instead of the hardware store stuff, at least if I need to torch it. The bottom two are copper.

These will be made into clasps. I learned how to do these in Deryn Mentock's Buildzone online class. She just started another round of her online class, "Towers and Turrets." Check it out; there's still time to sign up.

Heather over at HumbleBeads started a Flickr group and blog posting of what's on her beading table every Wednesday. It's a fun and interesting pool of pictures.

Trades and Links

2011-04-10T09:30:00.004-05:00

This should be my final post on Adorn Me 2011.

There wasn't as much trading going on this year as last year, but I did get these awesome trades. Although I tried to keep track of who made what I wasn't completely successful at it. I know the colorful dangles in the center were done by Chuck Young. I may have the enameled copper and PMC charm at the top mixed up though. The card with the dancer and the copper disk is mine.

One attendee made this awesome padded bag for us to store our trades:

I thought this was a very thoughtful trade. It came in very handy when I packed up some of the jewelry I made. If this is your trade let me know and I'll credit you.

I'm going to put the charm trades from this year and last year into a necklace, or maybe a necklace and bracelet. And I'll have the fork tine earring trades to wear with it.

Here are some posts from other bloggers on Adorn Me 2011. I've listed them in no particular order.

Picking Poppies

Lorena Angulo

Something Sublime

Rosa & Josies

Fully Flummoxed

Check them out. I know Don, of Fully Flummoxed, was going to add posts so there may be additions to the list since I last searched.

Whoops! I Went Antiquing Again!

2011-04-09T09:30:00.004-05:00

I can't help it. I visited one of my favorite antique/flea market malls and came away with this lot of items:

The red "Natures Remedy" tin is still in the plastic bag because when I opened it in the store it still had ancient fiber powder in it. Or whatever it is. I'll be dumping it shortly. The necklace on the bottom is amber. I'm going to have to get a magnifying glass out and look at one of the beads because I think I saw an insect. Probably its just a piece of bark though.

I love the rhinestones. I have a thing about bow ties so I just had to get the bow tie necklace. It's a fun piece.

I also found this vintage flaring tool. I'm not sure how well it will work for jewelry since the holes have threads, but it was next to nothing so I'll play with it.

Not too long ago I got a bunch of stuff from this same store. I'll have to stay away for a while--oh wait...Isn't their flea market this Saturday? (4 Generations outside Greenville TX.)

Sunday at the Swap Meet

2011-04-07T09:30:00.001-05:00

My husband and I made a spur of the moment stop at the Greenville Swap Meet. The Swap Meet started around a local antique car show, so most of the things for sale there are old auto parts.

There were many, many fantastic restored autos and we enjoyed looking at them. There were several I wouldn't mind having, only with air conditioning and seat belts!

This orange Bel Air beauty caught my eye:

The weathered patina of age and paint on some of the vehicles that weren't fully restored, like this one, was very attractive and interesting. Can you tell I'm into metal work, or what? It made me wonder how many of the car owners are more interested in the restoration process itself versus owning a restored vehicle. Do they lose interest in a particular car after it is restored and move on to the next project? I think it's the restoration process that most enjoy. There's a certain magic that takes place when you take a piece of aged metal and make it look new again, or use it in a new way that gives it new life. It's also very satisfying to have something you restored with your own hands.

That's my husband, Ralph, leaning in to look at the interior of this Chevy.

My favorite was this 1946 Ford panel truck. Look at the layers of paint (and rust) on it! I always wanted one of these when I was younger and had several business ideas that involved a truck like this. Those ideas never got out of the realm of dreams and wishes, but I still love these old trucks.

There wasn't much in the way of antiques not related to autos, but I did find these items:

The car part is plastic. I'm not sure what I'll do with it but it has a fleur de lis and cost a quarter. I'm sure I'll find a use for it.

Bead Table Wednesday

2011-04-06T23:22:00.000-05:00

Heather over at HumbleBeads started a Flickr group and blog posting of what's on her beading table every Wednesday. Many have joined her. Here's my first Bead Table Wednesday.

It's quite the eclectic group this time. I'm not sure what I'll do with it but the quartz crystals will be wire wrapped or soldered, and the lock plates will become bracelets or pendants.

The United States of Autism--movie trailer

2011-04-06T12:37:00.002-05:00

This is the trailer for a new movie about autism.

There are so many children with autism. What will happen to them when they are grown? As the parent of an "adult" child with autism, I can tell you there are no resources.

Vintage Finds and a War Journal

2011-04-04T18:50:00.001-05:00

Recently we had the "birthday" anniversary meeting for our AAUW branch. We met in Farmersville at the Sugar Hill Restaurant. The restaurant features home style cooking and an array of vintage, new, and antique dish ware, all of which is for sale.

I'm thinking seriously of going back and getting a set of these dishes. Isn't this plate beautiful?

Here's a shot of my buffet selections. I chose a cabbage soup and a selection of salads. Since since hubby and son are not into veggies and salads I consider them a treat.

The Sweet Sensations were there to entertain us--think barbershop quartet, only with women and a larger group. They are really good and very entertaining. The program consisted of patriotic songs in honor of a late member of our group.

After lunch I went antiquing in the stores around the town square. I like to go antiquing but don't always find much. This time I'm pretty pleased with my haul.

In the shop adjoining the restaurant I found this cool vintage bracelet. I believe it is Czech glass.

My favorite find of the day was at Farmersville Antique Store where I found this beautiful and mostly working typewriter. The ribbon is there, but broken, and something is jamming a couple of keys. The carriage still moves though and I think repairs will be possible. I believe this is an Underwood No. 5 but the decals on the bottom of the front frame that usually have the model number are not there. The no. 5 is the most common of the antique typewriters. I plan to use this to type things to use in collage and on collaged pendants when I get it fixed.

This jewelry was calling my name--I swear I heard it. I love the little crystal headpins on the smaller pin and the drusy crystal look on the Marquis shaped crystals on the earrings.

Afterwards I visited a third shop where I found another rhinestone necklace and a Bluejackets Manual from the WWII era.

This was the first Bluejackets Manual I have seen. It's a Navy instruction manual that covers what a sailor needs to know--things like how to organize the locker for inspection, rules and regulations, etc. I got very excited when I found it.

My great uncle, Bill Carter, served in the Navy during WWII. He was a 19 year old sailor on the Utah when Pearl Harbor was attacked. He survived because he just happened to be on deck when the Utah was hit and sank. He served for the duration of the war.

My friend Paul and I have been working on my late Uncle Bill's journal. Mostly Paul is doing the work. He's a historian and has done the notes and things. Luckily my aunt Sarah scanned the journal many years ago so we have good copies to work from. The original is in very delicate condition. My great aunt Helen (Bill's wife) is eager to see it published. Bill did a lot of sketches in his journal of things he saw--ships burning and other things. It's very interesting not just for our family members, but as a historical document.

This brings me back to the Bluejackets manual. Navy personal weren't supposed to be keeping journals. Uncle Bill wrapped his journal up very well in brown paper, wrote a note on it saying "I can't think of a better gift for a bosun mate's wife than a bluejackets manual." Then he tied it up in a lot of string and mailed it. The journal was the same size as a manual and it went through without being opened by the censors.

Book Review: Kumihimo Wire Jewelry

2011-03-19T21:56:00.001-05:00

I was happy to receive a review copy of Kumihimo Wire Jewelry: Essential Techniques + 20 Jewelry Projects for the Japanese Art of Braiding by Giovanna Imperia. I've done a lot of different sorts of weaving and have been looking for ways to incorporate weaving with wire jewelry. When I heard about this book coming out I was eager to see it. There are other kumihimo books, but this is the first kumihimo wire jewelry book.

One of the great things about Kumihimo braiding is that it doesn't require an expensive loom. All of the designs in the book can be done on a Kumihimo disc or plate. These are widely available for under $10.00 with kits including bobbins starting at $12.00. If you do have a Kumihimo stand (loom), you can use it instead.

The projects can be done by novice braiders. There is a great deal of technical material in the book that also makes it attractive to more experienced braiders. Both solid and hollow forms can be made, and braids may be round, flat, square, lacy, or other shapes. They can be made of all fiber, all wire, or a mixture. Beads can be incorporated into the weave. The braids can be used as necklaces to hold pendants, or as the necklace itself. I found the designs done on the square plate to be particularly interesting. Three dimensional and bi-directional designs can be made by rotating the plate 90 degrees and manipulating the weave.

The book is well done and profusely illustrated with both diagrams and color photography.

Day Six at Adorn Me: Carnivale Time Party!

2011-03-15T00:42:00.000-05:00

Sunday evening was the Carnivale Time dinner, desert and entertainment. Attendees were also invited to compete for a 1st prize Visa gift card with an item made in one of the classes.

After dinner and desert the instructors (Lorena Angulo, Thomas Mann, Stephanie Lee, Keith Lo Bue, Kim St. Jean, and Melanie Schow) got together and looked over all the entries. Then Thomas Mann announced that for the first time the instructors had decided that instead of one first place there would be a 1st and 2nd runner up.

2nd runner up was Carol Graves with her beautiful necklace done in Kim St. Jean's Memorabilia Necklace class. Unfortunately my pictures are pretty poor, but the necklace was made of mica sheets encasing seeds, a seed pod, lichen, fibers and other things. I really liked her selection of unusual items, especially the pod and lichen, and the way the seeds were sandwiched in the mica. I loved the way the items fell around Carol's neck when she was wearing it. All the items perfectly balanced and complemented each other in shape and color. Congratulations, Carol!

Next up was the 1st runner up: ME! Here's my finished necklace from Keith Lo Bue's Precious Little class. I named it Urban Tribe.

The first place winner was Lynn Bacon-Trzcinski with her Found Object Ring done in Keith Lo Bue's Precious Little class.

I was happy to see Lynn win. I think her piece was technically the most difficult piece in the competition because of the things she had to work with. Unlike most of the students at Adorn Me Lynn does not have a jewelry background. She is a woodcarver. She showed us some pictures of some of her work which is very detailed. She came to Adorn Me to broaden her artistic horizons.

Lynn had to make her ring from 3 things: the sunflower stalk she found outside, the drawer handles that were discarded by another student, and a bracelet she had brought from home made of small beads strung on elastic. She was a little stymied at first in class when Keith wouldn't let her use glue or wire to hold it together. Instead, she pegged it with bits of wood! The sunflower stalk was very difficult to work with because the center wouldn't hold things stuck into it. Lynn persevered though. She took the drawer pulls apart and nested them. Bits of the hardware from the pulls were utilized elsewhere in the ring. The bracelet was strung around to make the band, and parts of it were worked through the stalk and up into the knobs to hold them on. Bits of stalk or wood were feathered and run through the top of the knobs for an organic flower look. The ring has an overall organic look: the knobs remind me of some fantastical flower or lichen.

Here are a couple of views.

Congratulations, Lynn!

The evening ended with a magical performance by Jamie Salinas. His magic act was superb. And he was very funny. If you ever get a chance to see him in action you are in for a great time.

As you can probably tell I had a great time at Adorn Me and hope to attend next year.

My next post will be a review of a new book, Kumihimo Wire Jewelry by Giovanna Imperia.

Day Five & Six at Adorn Me: Precious Little

2011-03-14T01:18:00.000-05:00

Saturday and Sunday I had Precious Little with Stuffsmith Keith Lo Bue. This was a two day class so I'm covering it in one post. I'm kicking myself now for not taking more photos, especially of the cool things the other students made. It's easy to just get caught up in what's going on in class and forget photography.

Saturday one of the first things that happened was we had to get a plastic bag and go outside and forage for stuff.   None of us were prepared for the cold front and very windy weather that had hit Houston so we ventured out after putting on warmer clothes.

There were a lot more things out there than I thought there would be. Who knew the parking lot was so loaded with nails? Fortunately this was a part of the parking lot that isn't used. The hotel was only built a little over a year or so ago so there was still debris from the construction.

Here's my stuff, minus the things I used later and the section of rebar I found:

Back inside we were instructed to select 3 things from what we had brought to the workshop from home that we didn't think we'd use and discard them on a table. Then we all took turns picking from the discards. I picked three nails discarded by Pedro Quintero from Venezuela, and a grouping of small driftwood from the east coast (okay, I confess, I cannot remember the other student's names), and a sewing machine bobbin.

Then Keith told us to make something wearable (or that could be held up for at least a few seconds like we were wearing it) using only one of the things we found outside, one thing we brought from home, and one thing we took off the table of discards. If one of the three things was wire, for example, we could use other wires because it was all one type of thing.   Oh my...what to do?

I had found two things that looked like nails on steroids. Keith told me they are spacers used in concrete block construction. I started playing with them and the three nails and worked out a pleasing arrangement for a necklace. The thing I used from home was black annealed steel wire. I had no choice in that since I had to have something to "string" the necklace on.

The "nail" spacers were completely covered in rust when I found them. Sandpaper, then various dremel attachments took the rust off. It was a surprisingly good feeling watching the metal reveal itself.

My first thought was to weave the wire into a collar. I did a couple of rows of this but the big spacers wanted to turn in the weave so I took it apart and wire wrapped it. One of the things I had to do was fix the pieces where they wouldn't fall out if the necklace was turned upside down. The two big spacers needed something in front to balance them so I used some rebar wire to make coils.

This is what I ended up with and the end of the day:

At the end of the day we presented our jewelry to the class and discussed our process of making the jewelry.

All of the other students made impressive wearable items and demonstrated considerable creativity. Some made more than one item. Particularly interesting was a ring made by woodcarver Lynn Bacon-Trzcinski. More about her ring in my next post.

I was also very impressed with a brooch made by another student. Once again, I apologize for forgetting names. The brooch was constructed of a couple of bottle caps if I remember correctly. She had chosen a brass dog "id tag"--not the usual kind, but a brass capsule that screwed apart. There was a split ring on the tag.   She constructed the pin for the brooch from the split ring on the dog tag. I would never have been able to do that. If I'd thought about it I'd have dismissed the idea as impossible. She did say the split ring was the very devil to straighten out. This is very creative thinking.

Keith asked me if I would have made the same piece without the restrictions. I think the restrictions actually helped me--I'd have spent too much time deciding what to do and use and wouldn't have learned nearly as much or gotten as close to a finished project as I did. I'm going to use this idea in the future--not all the time--but once in a while to push myself. I have a lot of trouble "coloring outside the lines."   I also have a tendency to procrastinate and over-engineer things. I found that working this way was very satisfying.

Sunday we were given the assignment of working on something that had some aspect of autobiography, or continuing on the project we did on Saturday. We also spent time learning the proper way to drill holes in metal, glass and other items. I now understand why my drill bits would only work for the first two or three holes. I think I'll be using a lot fewer drill bits in the future. I had never drilled glass and I feel that I can do that now. Here Keith demonstrates techniques for coiling the rebar wire, which handles a little different from the usual jewelry wires.

I got a little design work done on my autobiographical piece done, but no construction. It did finish up the necklace I started on Saturday.

Keith Lo Bue is featured in the current issue of Belle Amoire Jewelry and his jewelry is on the cover. It's a geat article. Check it out:

Day Four at Adorn Me Part B: Vendor Night!

2011-03-12T23:02:00.003-06:00

Friday evening was vendor night at Adorn Me. In other words: awesome shopping opportunity! The line at the door started early. Bren and I were among the first in line. As soon as the doors opened we went straight to Richard Salley's booth. It was kind of funny because the people in front of us went straight to Richard's booth too. We were women on a mission. We were all after one of Richard's dimpling tools. I'm not sure what he calls them but I used one to make the dots around the heart in my mixed metal Milagro pendant (previous post). Bren and I got the last two of the tools he had.

Many of the instructors were selling their own jewelry or various other products. There were also other vendors. I purchased several rubber stamps from one of my favorite stamp companies: Lost Coast Designs. Most of them I'll use in etching.

I also got these cool bits and pieces from Nothing Ordinary Antiques & Oddities. My favorite is the bug pin in the middle. She's missing a leg but she's still got it going on. I love the long cut steel beads on her wings.

These cool beads were made by Carmen Anderson of Carmen Anderson Designs. They are polymer clay. The bottom ones will probably be earrings but the birds will go into necklaces.

Bren and I both got some enameling supplies at Spring Beads. I got some "clear for silver" that will let me enamel on brass. I need to order some colors now and get to enameling.

There were 22 door prizes given out during the vendor event and Bren and I both won! Bren won a copy of Susan Lenart Kazmer's Cold Connections and I won this lovely chain mail bracelet. The bracelet was made by Dale of Dale's Jewelry.

Bren was pretty lucky earlier in the week--she won a daily drawing and got to take home a cool tote with plastic storage boxes.

We also enjoyed meeting Stephanie Lee and TheMan (her husband) in person. Bren and I both feel like we already know her after taking her great online metalsmithing classes. Bren had a class with Stephanie later on Saturday.

Day Four at Adorn Me Part A: Mixed Metal Milagros

2011-03-12T19:39:00.000-06:00

Friday I had Mixed Metal Milagros with Richard Salley. Milagros are small religious charms used in many Latin American countries, particularly Mexico and Peru. They are also quite common here in Texas and other parts of the Southwestern United States. Read about them here.

Richard told us he was inspired by Lorena Angulo's beautiful hearts and other jewelry to make his own "Milagros." (Lorena was also teaching at Adorn Me. I hope to take a class from her someday.)

We did some torch enameling in this class in addition to using mixed metals. Here's Richard Salley demonstrating torch enameling.

I had a copy of a gem tintype that I used in my pendant, along with a scrap of etched brass that I sawed into a frame. I used copper and brass. The flaming heart was sawn from copper and enameled. I left the copper showing in the heart with the color from the torch instead of pickling it.

Everything in this piece is riveted or put together with micro-bolts. The young woman looks likes she's waiting and she has an introspective expression on her face. I imagine she is waiting for her beau, who perhaps is off on a trip or gone to war. I call this pendant "Waiting for my Love."

Day Three at Adorn Me Part B: Band Groupie

2011-03-11T13:07:00.001-06:00

Thursday evening was Band Groupie with Melissa Manley. Bren and I were both in this class. Melissa is a great teacher and is so much fun in class. She really sets everyone to ease and explains things well.

Melissa had a handy chart to help us determine how long to cut the ring stock for a particular size. Of course, despite measuring twice and cutting once, I still cut mine one millimeter too short. This represents 1/4 size if I read the chart correctly. Next time I'll cut to the side of the line instead of right on top of it.

We textured our rings, bent them into a "D" shape, and then pick soldered them. I had never pick soldered so I was pleased to get some experience with this. The rings were then shaped, bevels filed and some polishing and antiquing was done. I was able to wear my ring, just not on the finger I had intended! My seam was looking pretty good--not showing at all--until I antiqued the ring. I think a little more polish work will take care of that.

This is Bren's beautiful ring. Below is mine:

I used my hammer to gently texture the edge of my band. Now that I'm home I'll do some more polishing and put it in the tumbler for a while.

Day Three at Adorn Me Part A: Creating Hollow Forms in Color

2011-03-10T19:54:00.000-06:00

Thursday was Creating Hollow Forms in Color with Susan Lenart Kazmer. This was the first time I had done any enameling.

After some instruction from Susan I attempted counter enameling of my copper domes. Counter enameling is the enamel put on the back of the piece. It's intended to strengthen the piece so it doesn't get bent later, causing glass to pop off.

The biggest problem I had with this was dropping the little pieces before I got them to the torch. I did finally get the backs torch enameled.

The line for the torches was long so I switched to the kiln for the fronts. I experimented with various colors and also enameled a key, and the tips of some copper wires. The copper wires were done with the torch. It's a lot of fun seeing the colors pop out after firing. At first everything is dark but when it cools, or after you quench it, the color shows. The color on the enamels can change with each firing. The brown looking piece is supposed to be Victorian Red. The backs of the domes, in particular, would have benifited from additional firings if I'd had more time. Each piece was fired twice, except for the wires which were fired 4 or 5 times each.

Here's my completed piece:

You can see I had a little trouble getting the enamel out to the edges of the copper. I'm definitely going to be ordering some enamels so I can work on the technique.

Bren, meanwhile, was in Keith Lo Bue's Weathering and Distressing class learning how to make things look old. She came back with some boxes with handmade wire clasps on them, distressed down to the wormholes.

Up next: Part B: Band Groupie with Melissa Manley.

Day Two at Adorn Me Part B: Texas Art Asylum

2011-03-10T03:34:00.000-06:00

Road trip! Wednesday after class Bren and I made a little road trip to Texas Art Asylum. I read about it about a week before Adorn Me and was excited about checking it out.

The Texas Art Asylum is a creative reuse center. If you aren't familiar with what that is (I wasn't) it's basically a recycling center that recycles things for people to make art with. Isn't that an awesome idea?

It's an incredible place. There was a whole wall of cigar boxes, some of which I'm now wishing I had brought home with me. There were lots of baby dolls and baby doll parts, old jewelry, mysterious parts, tiles, etc., etc., etc.

I was so busy shopping I pretty much completely forgot to take any pictures until we were leaving. I snapped this shot of some incredible artwork by David Pilgrim.

It lights up and the center cone shaped part rotates when you pull the chain. Pilgrim teaches some classes at the Texas Art Asylum.

Just to give you an idea of what's there here are our finds.

This is Bren's haul. That's a great crystal necklace and a pearl strand with a lot of vintage crystal roundels, among other things.

Here's my loot. I managed to leave my center punch at home so I used this antique one in classes.

These finds add to my vintage and antique photo collection.

We had a great time at the Asylum and I hope to get back there. Check them out HERE on Facebook.

Day Two at Adorn Me Part A: Repousse without Pitch

2011-03-08T23:56:00.001-06:00

Wednesday was Repousse Without Pitch, taught by Richard Salley. I found that I really liked doing this. The tools that I made on Tuesday worked well, although I see that I need to make a few more. I did a bird in flight for my pendant.

Instead of pitch we used a non-hardening clay. Above is the pendant piece taped to my bench block for some more work on the outlining. The black is from annealing the metal with a torch.

Basically the design is outlined on the front, then turned over and placed on the clay where punches and other tools are used to move the metal into a relief. The backside is shown above.

Here I've finished the repousse and have patinaed the piece. I didn't have time to complete the pendant. In the corners you can see where I messed up the first stamp I tried and stamped over it. Probably I will cut all that off. It's a little big as is anyway. I did use one commercially made stamp to do the stippling in the background, and a small liner that Bren made. All the rest of the work was done using the tools I made in the tool making class.

Here I am doing some lining.

Bren is doing some lining. Bren did two pieces and colored them with the torch. She got some amazing color on them. I wish I had a picture of her work.