Friday, July 17, 2009

Cosmic Bling Link Earrings


I've been on a earrings kick lately - whipping up earrings as fast as I can. Artbeads is carrying Swarovski Crystallized Cosmic Ovals that pair nicely with my Bling and Glass Links. I chose colors from the Volcano Cosmic Oval, pink, blue, orange, silver. I wanted the oval to hang in an usual way so I wove 26 gauge Artistic Wire in Rose to hold the Silvered Sky Bling Link to the Volcano Cosmic Oval. The weaving was a variation on the technique I used with the Lava and Ivory Links earrings. The gauge was smaller so I wove more wire in order to hold the oval. The pink echoes the color in the oval as does the golden jump ring and sterling silver hand formed ear wire. The lovely colors of the Volcano didn't show through in my photograph so I've borrowed one from Artbeads.com where I got the oval from:



Pretty, huh? I've got a couple other Cosmic Ovals I'm working into another project. The ovals work very well with all of my Bling, Frost and Glass Links. I love them and Artbeads.com!

Oh, and by the way, the white ceramic coffee cup makes a nice canvas don't you think?

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Earrings Rings n Things Style (Free Project!)

I got a little package from Dave of Rings n Things showing off some Swarovski cubes. Ooooo! What kind of quick earrings could I make? Since I'm stuck on gunmetal lately, I used R&T gunmetal findings and leverbacks, paired them with bali silver beadcaps and had a quick pair of pretty summer earrings.



Easy enough but if you'd like to make them yourself, here's the materials list:

Two 8mm Swarovski crystal cubes in any color you love

Two, 1.5 inch gunmetal headpins

Two 3mm or 4mm crystals in accenting color to the cube crystal

Two bali or bali style sterling beadcaps (here are some very similar to mine from ArtBeads.com)

Optional - two 3mm or 4mm crystals in accenting color to the cube and other crystals listed above.



Tools Needed:

round nose pliers

chainnose pliers

flush cutters



Directions:

String onto the headpin in this order, small crystal, beadcap, crystal cube and if you want, another small crystal.

Make loop at top using the round nose pliers (trim length if necessary with flush cutters).

Use chainnose pliers to open the loop you just made and attach to the leverback earring finding.

Done!

I like these quick projects. It uses up my stash and it can add to a summer outfit. Have you made a quick fashion project lately? Something to accent your wardrobe or update your jewelry?

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Yup, I'm a Geek....

Yup, I was one of the millions at the midnight showing of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. The Teen and I have gone to see all the movies and we went to all the midnight releases of all the books. How could I miss it? I'm a geek!



I'm trying to get some extra sleep this morning since the movie ended at 3 am. So, you'll forgive my short post. I admit to being an Alan Rickman, errr Snape fan (what a tortured soul!) He's so over the top evil and campy in the movies - check out the Wizard Rock song, Snape vs Snape by the Ministry of Magic.



That seals it! Are you a geek?

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

The Winner of the Bronze Charm is...

...Erin of TesoriTrovati! Congratulations, Erin! You've the winner of the bronze metal flower charm. Send me an email with your address and I'll send it right out to you!

In keeping with the theme on Art Bead Scene this month and due to the fact that I make alot of beads with this kind of flavor, I'm offering up another set of giveaway beads this week. This week's beads feature two goddess beads. I've complemented the goddesses with my "rice" beads, African beads, furnace glass beads and some pewter accent beads.



You know how to enter - make a comment between now and Friday, July 17. I'll draw a random name and announce the winner on Saturday.

Monday, July 13, 2009

Bronze Metal Clay Journey: Patina, Polish, Black Fingernails and Bronze Charm Giveaway!

I've finally gotten to the patina stage and used the awesome new Patina Gel from Cool Tools. Before using any chemical, I always check to see how to dispose of it. These days, I'm concerned about the impact on the environment. The Patina Gel is "eco-friendly" that is, easy to dispose of. If you leave it on your bench until it become white, it becomes a commonly used fertilizer for your garden! Love it when the chemicals you use in your studio are not harmful to the environment.




Back to the process of patina-ing. Before I could dip the bronze charms into the patina solution, I had to rid them of any oils and fingerprints. So, the biggest pain was cleaning each small piece with a toothbrush. Remember I said these were charms and every piece is pretty small, about 12mm. A baby sized toothbrush is about 25mm so you can get the piece lost in the brush making it difficult to clean. I needed a smaller brush but didn't have one.

After I scrubbed each piece, I strung it on a piece of wire so I could lay the pieces all at once in the patina solution. I followed the directions on how to use the Patina Gel on the Cool Tools website and made just enough solution to cover the charms.

I left them in just long enough to get a chocolate brown patina. Polished each one with a micro mesh sanding pad. I picked up wth micro mesh locally at a woodworkers store. It was the same place I picked up Renaissance Wax. I used Renaissance Wax as a final polish to seal the patina.

I love the way the pendant below came out. The patina on it is really nice - just what I was looking for. This pendant is a "salvaged" piece. When it was in the leather hard stage, the corner broke while sanding. I thought it looked like an old artifact one would find on an archeological dig so I sanded the edges to make it look more worn and went with it. I like how it turned out. Pretty good for a first go.


Here are a couple of the small (12mm) charms. I like this little rose, I think it will make a nice little addition to a bracelet or a pair of earrings or even hanging from the end of a pendant.


I wanted to show you how I worked with the bronze metal clay from beginning to end. The very end - to the final polish. I have to work on improving parts of the process but I'm satisfied how this first complete run went.

Here's an important tip I learned the hard way - Remember to coat your hands with olive oil or Gloves in a Bottle before you start to sand off the patina to highlight the relief in your piece. I have black fingernails and cuticles from forgetting to do it!

So, I'm going to take my black fingernails off the keyboard and go to my studio but before I go for today, tell me how you liked the series on bronze clay and or how you think the pieces turned out.

I'll select a random comment from today's comments to receive one (1) of the bronze rose flower charms. I'll announce the winner tomorrow.

Look forward to your comments. I'm off to try to clean my black fingernails now!

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Sunday Photo


"Kitty Dog" aka Twinkie caught in mid-yawn. He's tired from all that sleeping he does!

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Silly Saturday and Sensational Links!

I forget where I saw this originally but it made me spit out my coffee laughing when I watched it. It mocks Twitter - which I love BTW - I was an early adopter :-) I have to laugh because Steven Colbert can barely take himself seriously most of the time when he's spouting whatever satire he's spouting. Makes me laugh out loud. A nice laugh to take you through the sensational links I'm sharing after it.
The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Jeff Goldblum Will Be Missed
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full EpisodesPolitical HumorJeff Goldblum



A Bead A Day
Lisa’s “Swarovski Summer Picnic” project is progressing. The only thing missing are the crystally butterflies!!

About.com Jewelry Making
School's out for summer, but is it really? Nope, not when you can take one of these free jewelry making e-courses.

Art Bead Scene
Art Bead Scene's monthly challenge painting for July is the Lascaux Cave Paintings. Get your stash of beads out in ivory, red and brown to match the color palette of these ancient drawings.

Beading Arts
Wonderful wonderful wonderful new CopprClay! Cyndi is so excited about this new material that she can't stop playing with it!

Carmi's Art/Life World
Carmi attempts to create a necklace after a resin pouring disaster.

Cindy Gimbrone aka Lampwork Diva
Cindy shows off some new chain and realizes one should never shop for jeans on her lunch hour.

Humblebeads
Check out the 2009 Bead Cruise design contest winners!

Jean Campbell Ink: Eureka!
Jean Campbell finished off her new LeTemps Necklace design which marries bling to grunge. Hurray!

Lorelei's Blog: Inside the Studio
Lorelei has busted out of the studio and into the Museum of Art for a trunk show.

Snap out of it, Jean! There's beading to be done!
Jean reviews a different, colorful, and inspiring book called Glass, by Marlene Blessing and Jamie Hogsett

Strands of Beads
Melissa talks about where to find reliable information on copyrights - the U.S. Copyright Office, of course!

The Writing and Art of Andrew Thornton
Challenging himself with a smaller scale, Andrew tackles doll jewelry. Check out five new designs with dolls in mind!