March of the Bails (Gawd, Will it Never End?)

Sigh. More pendant bails. This is the downside of experimentation--you kluge it as you go and you can never get it together all at the same time. I never quite know where I'm going with anything, and I change my mind a gazillion times. I imagine that's the way it is with most of us creative types! ("I like to let the jewelry make itself. But when I come back after cocktail hour, it isn't done yet and I end up having to make it myself.")

This one finally came together over the weekend.

Cherry Bomb

For months I would take this rather wildly hued impression jasper pendant out, fiddle with it, work up some goofy bail, take it apart because it was lame, and put it away again. Rinse and repeat! Finally I hit on something I actually liked, and then started sort of adding to it, tweaking this, tweaking that. Took me a whole day (off and on) to decide how to hang it. Chain? Leather? Ribbon? What color? Berry or brown? Other? I had a sneaking suspicion more sections of wrapped copper were the answer but I didn't want to make them (hammering, bending, wrapping, antiquing, tumbling, sealing...bah!) Eventually my compulsivity won out and that's what I did. And of course I couldn't resist adding a few gewgaws (the little fuchsia pearls) to the textured washers (I used a South African coin with a nice crest design to texture the washers).

This is what it's like on:

This one below sat around forever (like since mid-April) with just the main portion on it. I textured it with one of my favorite coins--a 1959 British half crown.

I didn't like the hanging tube I had on it (it was kind of crooked) so I took the tube off and messed with the loop, and kept messing with it until it was functional. Unfortunately by the time it became functional, it was no longer presentable...so I wrapped it with wire (is it ugly? wrap it!!!). I added a couple headpin rosettes because it seemed a little blah the way it was. I also toyed with the idea of making it part of a toggle clasp but I really wanted the length to be easier to adjust. The toggle bar idea stayed with me though....what about a permanent toggle bar, I thought? A big ass one that won't come out, that will just be part of the bail. The idea was kind of exciting so I made one and put it on there, and it seemed to echo the Asian sensibility of the rest of the metal so I built on that. It reminds me a little of dragonfly wings.

I recently bought a pound of coins from Joel Anderson Interesting World Coins and Paper Money (there were some really great ones in there!!) and there were a handful in there that were too worn down to use for textures, and so blackened from age and handling that you couldn't even see what kind of coin it was. So I tried treating them with verdigris patina solution from MissFickleMedia. They came out with some great colors and shading on them! (Way easier than trying to punch discs out of 16 gauge metal sheet). On a couple I decided to add some Ranger opaque patina inks too from Melinda Orr, to bump up the color saturation. I thought one of them might look nice with this red agate so I rigged up something to hang one with (plus my second ever tube rivet--the tubing from Melinda Orr is perfect for this! I didn't have my punch set from Harbor Freight yet so I used one of my tiny doming punches to flare the tube before I tapped it flat. Worked fine. In fact I probably don't even need the punch set now. Which of course arrived today).

I thought maybe a couple bars to echo the donut bail I used for the turquoise-colored coin would be cool so that came next, with some turquoise lampwork spacers by Meital.  After trying like a gazillion different things for the rest of the necklace (beads? ribbon? sari silk? this leather? that leather?) I decided on buttery soft round leather cord in a natural brown from LeatherCordUSA. I slid some of my hand-forged copper tubes on there and squeezed them a little to keep them in place. And then I just had to dangle a little carved carnelian oval off the clasp loop.

Beijing and Sedona Meet

It's really long, about 29"--this seemed right for the size and length of the focal portion.

Finally, is a rectangle of pale sea green impression jasper (I love that stone, obviously!). I had made the fold-over portion without really thinking about how it would work but I loved the way it looked on there so much I was determined to figure out a way to use it. I eventually settled on this:

Asian Rustic

For some unexplained reason I made the curved metal hanging bar enormous, and it just seemed to dwarf everything I tried to hang it on. I thought maybe a crescent-shaped piece of metal sheet would have the right proportions. (It's funny how certain design ideas come about because you screwed up some other part of the design--"Hmm, how can I make this work so I don't have to do that whole thing over again?") I originally thought of wrapping the crescent with wire and trying some patina on it but I chickened out and textured it instead with my favorite 1963 British two shilling coin and brass texture sheets. I cut a little groove in the center with my Dremel cutting disc (WOW, was that slick! definitely going to be using that again) for the loop to sit down in, and then I put a little hammered bar over the top so it wouldn't come out. I like what that little bar added! I curled the ends of the crescent over to hold some connector rings. The boyfriend said leather, and I tended to agree, so leather it was!

On my model, who has seen better days (time to repaint her):

Stay tuned for some interesting things with more beat-up old coins...