I wanted to really play up on the richness of the orange sea glass from ZnetShows and decided to pull our some charms that I got when we were traveling in Spain a few years ago. I picked these up in Toledo. They are a technique called Damascene where they score metals and oxidize the unmarked areas. I blogged about our trip to Spain awhile back.
I wanted the charms to lay flat on the sea glass, but to do that I had to make my own kidney wires. Typically the wires only have room for a single charm. But with the thickness of the glass I needed to make a larger loop. Making wires are actually not difficult at all to make. One more thing I ask myself why I buy them if I can make them so easily? Hmmmm, note to self.
For this second pair (same glass shape) I used a pale yellow, etched glass leaf. The earwires are copper from Melinda of ORRTEC. The copper gives it a little more rustic look, which I really love. With these earwires I also had to re-shape them to widen the loop to fit both pieces, but that was easy enough. These are a sweet little pair and I just love the simplicity of them.
I keep hearing about Polyvore, and I decided that I needed to figure out what this was all about. So I played around with the site, loaded up some images of my jewelry, sifting through various outfits and 'clipped' a Hobo clutch for my first collage. The earrings are ones that I made in reverse colors. The first is with white amethyst and pearls, and the second is onyx. Both use a marcasite connector.
Clearly I'm going to need some practice before they start looking like some of the amazing ones I've seen on people's blogs. And obviously I'll have to change my jewelry photography to a white background. But this could be kinda fun. Any tips for a newbie to Polyvore? Let me know ....
There are always those things you buy while on vacation that look amazing in the moment, but should have never made it through customs. Easter in Madrid is full of such things. The city is festive. There are parades, street shows -- especially in Plaza Mayor, there are priests in full get up holding services that have been booked well in advance, street cafes are packed, the parks are full of people strolling in the sun, and souvenirs everywhere you look.
Walking along the Gran Via (main street) in Madrid, my daughters and I stopped short at a window. We stood stunned by this dress (left) of feathers for several moments wondering exactly what occasion you would pull this out of the closet and say "perfect! exactly what I was looking for?"
We did, however manage to pack plenty of other unnecessary souvenirs into the suitcases ... two traditional fans, a few Madrid pens, a key chain and the obligatory snow globes (thankfully security will no longer allow them as carry on - and no one in their right mind would stuff them in a suitcase ... only to open it on the other end with a burst of glitter everywhere). I picked up a shoulder bag with Mardrid written all over it because nothing says 'world traveler' better then one of these. Yes I did buy it, and yes I'm as geeky as everyone else when I travel.
I did manage to dissuade my daughters from the puppets they wanted to buy. We saw a popular and wonderful puppet show in the Parque del Retiro (Madrid's central park). The girls were mesmerized and had to stay for several of the shows. Afterwards (when I could pursued them to step away from the puppets) they kept asking for one of their own. I could just picture myself with these over-sized puppets in my carry on. Thankfully, their attention span is fairly short, and this dire need for a puppet lasted only 30 minutes.
So what should you bring back from Madrid? Well for me, of course, I was looking for the local flare in jewelry. That I found on a side excursion to Toledo. A gorgeous old city on a hill side that sits as a majestic castle. It's known for its steel making (swords, knives and other armor). But also for a style called Damascene, which is the art of inlaying steel with gold or silver metals. This stuff was everywhere, and I could not get enough of it!
The procedure includes covering the surface of an object with fine grooves by using sharp cutting tools. Patterns are drawn on the scored surfaces, and gold wires are pressed into these grooves with a steel punch and hammer. At that point the whole item is blued to produce a black background by a total oxidation of the surfaces which are not damasked. Finally a delicate process of chipping gives a sheen to the object. The process dates back to the middle ages and became popular in 15th century Europe. Toledo, Spain is the largest producer of Damascene today.
I bought several pieces of Damascene including several pairs of earrings, a bracelet and a beautiful little pill box. As always with the things I pick up, I take them apart once I'm home. The pair (left) I re-set on a slender earwire so the hoop has a nice little swing to them when you wear them.
I could have left most of the souvenirs behind, except for the Damascene. I am so glad these pieces ended up in my carry on.
I'm in love with this stone -- it's called African Opal. I saw it for the first time just before Christmas and it's been love ever since. I used it in several bracelets: one with goldstone, which bring out the rusty color veining. And one with hematite, which pulls out the cool blues. I also made a necklace 'straight up' with no accent beads because it is just such an interesting stone! Clearly, I'm in love. The funny thing is, I was looking for replacement beads for a necklace that I had re-strung for a friend at work. As is typical with most of my projects for friends ... it all starts with a ziplock bag.
In this case a very large one with extra-strength reinforcement. The beads she handed me were the heaviest 'suckers' I've EVER worked with. They were some sort of recreation of a lava bead (below left), but could not be real as the paint on the beads kept flaking off in my hands as I re-strung them. The color looked like poop ... somewhere north of brown, somewhere south of green. Why on God's green earth someone thought a multi-strand necklace with these beads was a good idea is beyond me.
A bit of background. My friend found the necklace while traveling through Spain and thought it was amazing (her words, not mine) and was so upset when the necklace collapsed in her lap in the back of speeding NY taxi. Clearly the necklace had sentimental value as nothing else could explain why she would want someone to repair it. Thus, the beads were loose in the bag when she handed it to me. And so, to add a little excitement to the project I had to try to figure out what the original pattern looked like.
It seemed simple enough .... 2 strands, graduated, large bead connector ... bada bing, bada boom and that should do it. I began stringing it the following Saturday morning, and was still at it late Sunday. The f'ing beads kept pulling down on the wire and pulling apart the necklace. I don't usually swear, but these beads were a real pain in the behind.
The beads have crevices which catch the wire and before you know it you've got gaps in the pattern. (insert swear word) I strung the necklace at least 4 times before I could get the right wire gauge as it kept snapping from the weight of the beads. I finally doubled up the wire and then used clamps to hold the pattern in place so I could try to add the clasp. The beads shifted and I ended up with bare wire the width of about 3 fingers. (insert swear word)
Sometimes design goes wrong, horribly wrong. You know what I mean. We've all had that idea for a project that was going to be big, bold and such a statement. Yet the statement it makes is OMG take that off! It looks like Phyllis Diller dressed you. Raise your hand fellow design friends. I know it’s happened. It's happens to all of us at least once.
We started to call it the "Bam-Bam" necklace. Due to its general boulder-like appearance, color and well... you could just see Bam-Bam from the Flintstones pounding it on the floor and swinging it from side to side. I'm not usually so dramatic, but I've never worked with heavier beads, and then the fact that this was a multi-strand necklace - just kill me now!
So what happened next is the most baffling part of this story. I finally finished the necklace. Hauled it into the office (insert swear word) and handed it back to my friend. She was thrilled (clearly sentimental). She set the bag on the floor next to her purse, and I thought that was the end of it. The next morning she popped up right next to my desk with a 'deer in the headlights' look. She asked "you didn't take back the necklace did you? to do a little more work on it?" ... God no (was what I was thinking), but said "um no, why?" Apparently someone had stolen it. Are you f'ing kidding me?! The worlds ugliest necklace goes missing? I can't tell you how many projects I've brought into the office. This is the ONLY one that has been stolen.
So perhaps you're asking what happened to the beautiful African Opal I was talking about? Well I did feel bad. She did really like that necklace. I decided to surprise her by stringing a new necklace, but this time I was in charge of the beads.
This is when I discovered the African Opal. I might have walked right past it because large beads are not really my style. But I needed to find something that was similar (at least in size) to the stolen necklace. I was looking for large beads (her's were the size of gumballs) and I wanted natural looking stones (preferably not the color of poop). I settled on the opals and I'm so glad I did as I have found this to be a beautiful stone and changes depending on what you pair with it. The final design of this necklace is simple, and one that has grown on me.
When I saw the African opal stone I knew I had found the replacement beads. I brought it in to her and she just kept saying how beautiful it was. I asked her to please tuck it in a safe drawer! I ended up loving the African opal so much, that I made a bracelet for myself and another one for my sister-in-law. One with sandstone (above right) for her, and one with hematite for me. They are quite different, but I love them both. And I pray I never see 'Bam Bam' stones again in my lifetime.
For this second pair (same glass shape) I used a pale yellow, etched glass leaf. The earwires are copper from Melinda of ORRTEC. The copper gives it a little more rustic look, which I really love. With these earwires I also had to re-shape them to widen the loop to fit both pieces, but that was easy enough. These are a sweet little pair and I just love the simplicity of them.
