On the Mend

Well, I finally feel like I probably don't have swine flu. Sore throat finally went away, and the party has now moved to my Eustachian tubes. What's that you say? What? What?? WHAT???? THEY SHOULD START MAKING SOUNDPROOF ROOMS OUT OF SNOT BECAUSE IT HAS AMAZING DAMPENING PROPERTIES! LIKE, I CAN'T HEAR YOU AT ALL!!! WHAT?? I'M WHAT??? SELLING??? HECK YEAH!!! WHAT--OH, YELLING???

fine i'll whisper. here's what i made today. don't worry, i made it inside one of those biohazard safety cabinets--you know, it looks like an incubator and you stick your hands into these built-in gloves and there's negative air pressure and all that. sort of looks exactly like this.



really hard to pick up head pins with the gloves on. i was a little frustrated. i used up the rest of the "barbed wire" earring hoops i had made. a looonng time ago i had said something about pink ones--well here they are.


and grass green ones, in honor of the first day of spring, which was yesterday. apparently. somewhere.


and lastly, moody "black diamond" ones, for the goth in all of us.


well, as soon as i can hear again i'll have to unload the biological safety cabinet on ebay so i can buy a dremel and a house. i think it would be great as a diaper changing station.

Quicksilver

I needed to indulge my hardware fixation, just a little. Hardware like from the hardware store. I have a brilliant collection of assorted steel and bronze washers, and some really killer machine bushings. I don't know what machine bushings are. Some of them are charcoal gray and the ultimate in urban industrial chic. Or so I say. I'm really hooked on this gunmetal/dark silver palette, and I keep returning to it again and again. Maybe because it's been sunny lately, I needed a dose of neutral monochrome.

The pendant below includes steel washers in two different sizes, lightly hammered, freshwater pearls, silver accent beads and spacers, and some fabulous antique silver-plated rolo chain from Ornamentea.



I made the chain ultra long--I felt the pendant and coin pearls were substantial enough for it to be worn at a generous Druid-priestess length, about 28". Perfect with your [urban neo-Druid] priestess garb, or your favorite vinyl Matrix outfit. (Everybody has one of those, right? Good Lord, could they be any squeakier? They must have edited out the squeaks in the movie.) The silver pearls have an oil slick effect, glowing alternately pink, blue and purple depending on the angle at which they're viewed.



I have just the outfit to wear this with, but unfortunately it would involve tights and heels and that's just not going to happen. It's going to have to wait for the right neo-Druid urban priestess.

All the Charm of Barbed Wire, But Without the Pointy Parts

I saw a nifty pendant somewhere (can't remember who did it, or I'd give her credit) where the artist had made some simple ring-shaped connectors out of wire. Looked sort of messy, like a bird's nest with an unfortunate big hole in the middle. I wanted to do earrings with them, so yesterday on my lunch hour I set about figuring it out. I couldn't get that same messy look, although I was able to make a ring shape. So to bump up the messy factor (judging by my house and my car and my hair you'd think I'd be really good at messy wire work) I sort of wrapped the end of the wire around in an irregular fashion. Well I'll be darned if that doesn't look like barbed wire, I said. Hmm, not quite the nature-inspired look I was thinking of. More a self-mutilation-inspired look. But people are into that, right?

I had been wanting to combine some vivid teal green/blue colors with the steel, so this is my first pair. Going to do it again with fuschia, and white and amber, and green, and...

Look Ma! No Symmetry!

This is my first attempt at an asymmetrical necklace. (Sorry, no buttons yet.) It is essentially monochrome (tone on tone)--I couldn't do multicolor AND asymmetry in one piece. Maybe later.





It features matte finish (which I guess is the natural finish) Crazy Horse Stone roundels, garnets, and big fossil agate rounds. The lead-free pewter pendant is from Happy Mango Beads. Hand forged, oxidized chain and S-clasp. The round silver beads are a gift from a customer--she sends me the most amazing stuff for my stash! Available in my Etsy and ArtFire shops.

Alas I could only do one asymmetrical piece. That's all I have in me right now. The First Bank of Asymmetry is empty. Come back later. I was able to do this, though, with a big steel washer I've been carting around forever, and my new favorite stone, apple green howlite. Well, Co-Favorite with red sponge coral. I really like this necklace. The wire is all annealed steel, hand polished; little sterling daisy spacers add a little sparkle. The stones are apple green howlite and serpentine.





The necklace includes a 9" removable, hand-formed steel extender chain which matches the chain on the necklace. With the extender chain attached, the necklace can be worn as long as 28". The extender chain is adjustable. Without the extender chain the necklace measures about 19" and is also adjustable. The necklace can be worn at virtually any length between 16" and 28".

I coated all the steel with Future acrylic floor polish. Inhibits rust and adds some shine. Smells good too.

P.S., Harbor Freight shipped my doming block set early! It's on its way! Yay!! And I have my copper and brass sheet and my other tools, so hopefully handmade bead caps by moi are right around the corner. Decided to go with a pin vise drill with itty bitty drill bits for making the center holes (but of course I also got a Fiskars hand drill just in case), we'll see how that goes. A bientot!

My First Etsy Treasury!

I've been featured in my first Etsy treasury, entitled "My Cranberry Crush" by Esty seller Fifth Quadrant (check her out, she has some really fun vintage stuff):



My item is the Crazy Horse stone earrings at the bottom. Don't you love the felted scarf? Going to have to get myself one for Christmas.

More stuff to share soon! Just trying to get my sh!t together. It's a big job.

Call Me Crazy

Crazy Horse Stone with annealed steel and garnets. Made 'em myself. CLICK HERE for more info or to purchase.

Keep Doing the Same Thing Until It Isn't Cute Anymore

I made a bracelet a few months ago with bronze and steel lock washers from the hardware store, coin pearls and steel wire. People really seemed to like it. I eventually sold it to my boyfriend's sister who now wears it proudly in North Carolina. I've been meaning to make another one, along with a pendant and earrings, but have been putting it off. Wrapping the washers and polishing the steel was a bit of a chore. But I did it this weekend and it wasn't so bad. After I finished the pieces, I took a tiny paint brush and painted the steel wire with acrylic floor wax (formerly known as Future here in the US) to protect it from moisture. Read this tip on the Internet--can't say how protective it is, but it does go on nicely and once dry gives a nice shiny finish that doesn't rub off.

Here is the pendant:




And the bracelet:


And the earrings:

I really like how these turned out.

If somebody buys these I'll make them again. And again. Until nobody likes them anymore. Actually I'll probably keep making them beyond that, because you don't know that nobody likes them anymore until you make the last one that doesn't get any love. And then I'll wear that one myself. Or send it to one of you guys.

Handy, and pretty too

FINALLY put together my first two hardware experiments. Hit the wall the other night and napped instead of producing. But last night I drank a bottled Starbucks Frapuccino and sequestered myself with the mini vise and a handful of delightfully hammered bronze lock washers. And some steel wire. And this bracelet is what I came up with:


I'm pleased with the way it turned out. Really does a lot for the pearls. I especially like the steel wire, the matte-ish texture really sets off the bronze and the pearls.

I made this the other night but hadn't had the energy to photograph it until last night:

The pendant is made from a hammered bronze lock washer with one of my hammered brass wire flowers hanging from it. That particular flower (made in the car) was oxidized with the ammonia fumes method. I put the item in a little open plastic container inside a ziplock back with a rag soaked in household ammonia, and seal it up. (Don't get any ammonia on the items, and try to keep moisture out of there or it will get black or green spots). Go about your business and come back in a couple/few hours and the brass will have turned a nice reddish shade of brown.

Barring another energy crash tonight I will try and make some more. I have some other washers in a different hue (I guess from being treated somehow), but I don't know if they're soft enough to hammer. Might do that tonight too.