Goodness, I haven't run my mouth on here in 11 days. I've been giving myself permission, daily, to do nothing terribly productive. Spent the weekend on Flathead Lake (our usual summer haunt) camping on picturesque islands with friends, rafting up with a slew of buddies on their boats, and watching large men catch fish. Forgot my camera. You'll just have to take my word for it. The water is still 58 degrees which is below my swimming threshold (by about 17 degrees), but lovely to look at. Unearthly vivid blues and greens, like chrysocolla...OK, I'll stop taunting you. Not really fair without photos. I'll take my camera next time.
I
did do this the other day though. I quite like how it turned out.
I used my new pewter crimp ends from Fusion Beads--LOVE them! So easy and has a nice finished look.
I am so into this turquoise/brown/cream thing! Fortunately I acquired a surreal amount of stuff in those colors so I should be churning out this palette for quite some time. This one features a huge roundel of turquoise (not magnesite, this is the real deal), coupla big wood wheels, coupla burnt horn rounds, and some glossy bone rounds too. Nickel beadcaps made by moi. And more of that fabulous cocoa deerskin lacing from
Magpie Gemstones. Horn and wood from
Beads and Pieces, bone beads from
Happy Mango Beads.
I also
did this, with my new strand of rainbow soochow jade and my second order of pink jasper nuggets. Love this with the dark brown brass.
I did these
little earrings to go with them. I belatedly noticed, as I was uploading the photos to Etsy, that they look like little pink boobies. Hope nobody notices.
Well, that's all for now. I do have to tell you that I just now (literally, like 20 seconds ago) remembered the brass beadcaps I had steeping in ammonia fumes. I went and got them out and they are JET BLACK and glossy! Wow!! Not what I was going for but how cool is that? You're probably going to see a bunch of goth stuff on here now. Just in time for the 4th of July.
The turquoise-cream combination is really yummy.
ReplyDeleteSo, you have been spending your weekends roughing it and "...watching large men catch fish". I notice you politely do not mention the size of the fish! LOL
The lake sounds wonderful, nothing better than spending it with good friends.
ReplyDeleteI love the necklaces...one of my favorite color palettes too.
Love, love, love the new designs! They are gorgeous! I'm glad you got your new cord ends, but I have to say - with the kind of wire you use and your metal beadcaps and overall style - I actually like it when you wire wrap the ends of your cords. It adds such a nice design element. So, I hope you won't give it up entirely ;-) Also, I put a package in the mail to you on Saturday...any sign of it yet?
ReplyDeleteglad you gave yourself permission to just be... that is so important... and see? we are here, ready for you, when you were ready to return... the work is gorgeous - that palette is divine... have been meaning to try the ammonia brass thing - i did it one night, rushing, and probably incorrectly... got frustrated and didn't return to the process... have to try it again...
ReplyDeletei forget to use timers... then have 'oh, crap' moments... like when i am etching at night... note to self:: nighttime is a bad time to do anything that involves chemicals... i can work the torch because i have to pay attention - that is a good thing!
Thanks everybody! Thanks KJ! I do like the way my homemade crimp ends look, they're just such a pain! I'm getting a little better at it, that soft leather is just so hard to work with. MJ, you can leave that ammonia and forget it! I never time it. I always forget it's in there (even overnight)! And it's always OK. The key is 1) make sure your brass and the inner container it is in is bone dry (moisture will turn it green--make sure it stays at a constant temp to prevent condensation) and 2) don't let the ammonia liquid touch the brass. I use a small shallow container inside a bigger, deeper lidded container. I put crumpled packing paper soaked with ammonia in the bottom of the big container, and the small container with my items on top of that, and put the lid on. Always use fresh ammonia, doesn't seem to work well reusing it. Then you can polish later however much you want.
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