Upcycling :: Fall Inpsired

A few months back, Hope Smitherman who works with ZnetShows ask a few of us if we'd be interested in doing some Fall designs for the new Fall issue of Creative Spark. The themes were 'inspired by Fall' or using 'upcycled materials' in our pieces.

Well, I knew immediately that the upcycled one was for me. I had in mind that I was going to use an old key that I found up in our camp in the Adirondacks. I was thinking about leather and grey pearls for a dress-up Boho look. 

Now I know a few of you (Christine in particular) who are going to laugh at this next bit of information. I saw the grey pearls and thought perfect! .... um yeah, and when they arrived they were not just large, they were huge. Well at least based on what was in my mind. Yep, didn't pay any attention to the diameter size ... because that is what I do. 

So plan B was in order. I did actually like these grey pearls, but they needed a more substantial idea that made them the star. But now I needed something else upcycled for my theme. I remembered that I had some old basting tape I scavenged from one of the drawers in my mom's desk sewing machine. I liked this option as it was more rustic looking than pulling out the expected silk ribbon. I created a chain between the pearls and hammered out a piece of silver for the focal. I was finally happy with this one.

On to the next. One of the items I got from Znet Shows was some leaf chain. I really love this stuff. It is fun, a bit whimsical and very Fall. Nice combo in my opinion. I had been holding on to some acorns for about a year. The Bead Girl (aka Anne, my apprentice) started collecting these last Fall. Every few days she'd come home and pull out a few from her pocket. We stuffed them in can as she collected them, and forgot about them. I pulled them out last August to find a fine film of mildew on them .... oh gees, these are real and I should have dried them. Note to self. So we buffed off the mold and laid them out for about 2 weeks. Worked perfectly. I made a little copper loop and a coil bead cap. Then glued it right on top of the acorn. And now I had acorn beads! My kids tease me all the time saying that I think everything is a bead. Well maybe not eeeeverything, but lots of things.

This post is feeling like a list of true confessions today. So one of the other things I ordered from Znet Shows was some jasper polished stones. And guess what happened? Yep the opposite of the pearls. When they arrived they were much smaller than I thought and I could not get my cording through them. Seriously, I need to pay attention to the bead sizes. I had in mind that I was going to use them with these pretty copper filigree charms. I decided to just make some simple earrings using a pretty champaign quartz briolettes. So I have some jasper stones I need to get to work on and think of a more delicate design with my stones. I am hopeless when it comes to bead sizes.

Rolling Blog Hop :: Squash Blossoms

I know I said I'd be back in a week, but Christine's Rolling Blog Hop is, well... hopp'n! I posted two of my spools 2 weeks ago, and I was waiting for a lull to post my third spool reveal. But looks like I'm going to need to squeeze back in.

The posts are just roll'n in, and we've seen some fantastic designs! I have all the links to everyone's reveals so far at the end of this post so you can check them all out.    

For my third design, I was working with this large, more irregular shaped spool. I did struggle just a bit with it trying to figure out what direction I wanted the design of the spool to be until I remembered an image I saw of a young Native American girl. She had beautiful dark hair tied up on either side in what is called a "Squash Blossom" style. The hairstyle is a Hopi custom which represents the sign of a girl's marriageability. The young girl will twist her hair in the shape of squash blossoms, which is the sign of fertility for an unmarried girl in the tribe. 

I wanted natural colors and fibers in this piece, so I used a linen colored silk from Darn Good Yarn, a mix of seed beads, Czech beads and howlite. I am loving this howlite stone with native designs. It has subtle tan-cream veining throughout the stone, which gives it a natural look. I also stained the spool so it had a deep color. The focal is long (6 inches!) and has a good weight to it. I envision it being worn waist length.

Ok, I know this is an irreverent move on my part, but once I started putting this blog post together I simply could not get an image out of my head. Is it just me? or do those squash blossom twists remind you of Princess Leia in Star Wars... I always thought of her hair as more of a Danish pastry swirl, but maybe that is just the recollection from the Ross and Rachel scene in Friends. Once I started googling images, both the Native American girl and Princess Leia kept coming up together. It was all over for me; the image stuck. The one I can't get out of my head is Nicolas Cage dressed like Princess Leia ... that is one that cannot be unseen... Gah!

We're almost through the rolling blog hop! Check out all the links and projects already revealed. Our host: Christine (Christine's post), and all the rest of the rolling bloggers: 
Janet (Janet's post), Hope (Hope's post), Bobbie (Bobbie's post), Tanya (Tanya's post), Maryanne (Maryanne's post), Cynthia (my first post), Liz (Liz's post), Lisa (Lisa's post), Kim (Kim's post), and the bloggers still to post: Therese (Therese's post), Karin (Karin's post) and Erin (Erin's post)

Rolling Blog Hop :: Vintage Wooden Spools

Christine is hosting a 'rolling' blog hop. And she means that in more ways than one! The participants are revealing their spool projects one by one through the month of November. I am the sixth blogger to show you my reveal. We've already seen beautiful pieces from Janet, Hope, Tanya, Maryanne and Bobbie (click the links at the end of the post to see their creations). 

I started with sanding off the paper labels of my spools, then staining them with furniture stain. If you're interesting in giving this a try just remember that it will dry somewhat tacky to the feel. Just grab a cloth and buff it as a finishing touch.

I've been wanting to try beadwork that literally 'rolled' around an object; much like the kind of work you'd see in tribal Native American ceremonial pieces. The only problem with that is once I really dug in to explore how you stitch something like this I realized that you really need to sew it into a hide or fabric. The stitch is typically called a gourd stitch, sometimes Comanche brick, or even Native American Church (the origin of peyote stitch). The stitch is typically at a slant and beaded around a solid object like a fan handle, drum stick or gourd rattle. 

Ok, well I don't give up that easily. I knew I could still give this a go. I decided peyote was going to work. I have been wanting to do a chevron pattern, and I was so excited when my stitches lined up exactly to the pattern count! Wow! That never happens for me. Serendipity indeed. 

Now for a little research on the meaning behind the chevron pattern. I was expecting it to be Egyptian (yeah, I've seen Stargate one too many times). I found that the word itself is French, 'huh, who knew?' It means rafter, or the supporting beam running along the ridge of the roof. The visual signifies a roof-peak on a house, and means protection. It does go back to the Middle Ages where knights would put the symbol on their shields to protect them in battle. I'll have to call this piece "The Protector."

For my second spool I just let the beads flow like a continuing story. I wanted to go for a subtle tone, on tone look. I used irregular, off-white seed beads and a new bead I just discovered (thank you Janet!) from Jimenas Treasures. They are fiber beads around copper coils, and are heavier than they look. They were the perfect add to this necklace with every element in a clean, simple coil pattern. I do actually have one more spool to show you, but this post is long enough for today! Stop back by next week and I'll show you my third piece.

Christine is one of the first people I remember meeting on my bloggy journey. The first blog hop I ever joined was for the 7000 Bracelets for Hope that she was co-hosting. I somehow managed to figure out how to pre-schedule my post while away on vacation. Anyone who knows the two of us knows what a ridiculous conversation it was for Christine and I to have any sort of advance technology discussion! However when it comes to beading we seem to be so in sync that I think it surprises even us. While I've only known her for 2 short years, I feel like we've been friends forever. I doubt seriously that I could summarize our friendship in one paragraph, but that is the beauty of it. I know that there is a long story still unwritten ahead of us. Yes, a continuing story that comes together thread, by thread. Thank you my friend for creating such an adventurous blog hop! I totally enjoyed this one!

Our host: Christine (Christine's post), and all the rest of the rolling bloggers: Janet (Janet's post), Cynthia (that's me), Kim (Kim's post), Therese (Therese's post), Tanya (Tanya's post), Bobbie (Bobbie's post), Liz (Liz's post), Maryanne (Maryanne's post), Karin (Karin's post), Lisa (Lisa's post), Hope (Hope's post) and Erin (Erin's post)

Upcycling :: Pottery Shard

Christine sent me a very interesting piece to play with a few weeks back. She had a great idea to create her own pottery shards. She found pottery where she liked the pattern, and then had a little fun smashing and sanding the edges! What a great idea! She is always full of surprises.

I absolutely love the green in this piece, but interesting how it uses touches of yellow-gold as well. Somehow it reminded me of nature and even just a bit like tapestry. Ok, now there is an idea. I put together a mood board with some medieval images (as you all knew that I would!). I got lost pulling from two of my favorite boards: antiquities / medieval. I love Pinterest for this reason; it's great to get the creative juices flowing! My mood board may not exactly match my piece, but you can see what was running through my head as I created.

Upcycling :: Spanish Galleon

This was a fun project for so many reasons. First, as you all know I'm nuts about history and the origins of artifacts. But I was thrilled when a friend handed me a bubble wrapped mystery and asked if I might be able to do something with it. As I unwrapped it, I got very excited. Yah, I know I'm a geek that way. But I saw these shards and realized that they had to be from a recent trip to Thailand. 

Our friend was explaining that he'd been snorkeling off a small island in the Philippines called Isla Verde, a popular dive site where a Spanish Galleon ship went down in 1620 after returning from a trip to China. It was full of items; including Chinese pottery, when it went down. Those pottery shards are now washing up on the shore of the small island. 

The island is located right in the center of a strait in the Philippines and known for it's pristine clear waters with a great view of the wreck. Not much is left to salvage from the wreckage except for shards of porcelain and a few larger pieces of terracotta jars. It is a pretty unique place where you can enjoy amazing scuba diving, and above the water you can walk the beach to discover pieces of porcelain from the shipwreck centuries before. 

Our friend asked if I might be able to take the shards and create a pair of earrings for his girlfriend. I tried to be as minimalistic as possible (or in other words, I did not not want to bezel these). I wanted to leave as much of the edges as I could so you could still see the wear on the porcelain from the sea. I decided that I would cold forged some 16 gauge silver to create a partial bezel and glue it to the porcelain. Because the porcelain is porous it worked quite well for this technique. These are a secret gift, but no worries as I don't believe she reads my blog. I hope she likes them!

Mudlarking :: The Ultimate in Upcycling

Many years back, my parent's cleared out the house I grew up in. There were all kinds of things in the house that reminded me of my childhood. Things that were sentimental to me, but not likely valuable. Doesn't matter, as I cherish them. 

The oil lamp shown here is something my parents displayed in one of the cabinets, but I really never knew much about it. They would pull it out and use it when we lost power. I had forgotten about the lamp until my husband and I were home helping my parents clean out the house, and making keep or toss piles. I tucked it into my pile of 'keepers.' 

When my family first moved to Astoria Oregon, the town I grew up in, we lived in an old Victorian place on the river. What I remember most about living by the river was the fog that would bring the bridges or the old pier pilings in and out of focus.

Astoria is the oldest settlement west of the Mississippi; at the end of the Lewis and Clark trail. So there are lots of relics from various periods of western history. My early memories of our house on the river were of the 4th floor with windows all the way around the upper floor (probably to watch the ships), and below the windows were small apothecary drawers where I hid all my treasures.

The oil lamp stayed in boxes for many, many years. Traveling from our San Francisco home to our Connecticut one. I pulled it out this year after being intrigued by a few of the British bloggers who do something called mudlarking. But what exactly is it? I had not heard this term until a few months ago. A mudlark is someone who scavenges in river mud for items of value. A term used especially to describe Londoners who scavenged along the banks of the Thames during low tide in the late 18th-19th centuries. Then I remembered the lamp I had been carrying around with me from coast to coast. My father had told me that this lamp had been found in the mud along the Columbia River. Ha ... My Dad the mudlarker!

So I set out on a mission to figure out what, and where this lamp might have come from. After researching it online I discovered that is was likely an Aladin lamp popular during the turn of the century. Further research told me that it was an Amethyst Lincoln Drape with a crowfoot base likely manufactured between 1941-1953. Ok, so maybe not as old as I thought it was, but still pretty cool. I'm a total geek for history.

I'm one of those people who loves the Antique Road Show. And the stories I love most are the ones where someone finds a priceless antique that they cleaned up with pledge. It just cracks me up. One lady found a museum piece... a Milanese helmet worth at least $250,000. The appraiser looked at her (after she confessed to use of pledge) and told her "this really should be in a museum." Man, that one had me rolling.

I would encourage you all to check out two of my favorite bloggers who mudlark. The first, Tania of Moonflygirl, makes the most beautiful jewelry from her finds. Look at these triple drop earrings she's done from pottery with what's called a Willow Pattern. I am always so amazed by how she sees just the right shard to work with. The other blog is simply called Mudlarking. In this second one Julia focuses on the history behind the pieces she finds. The one I am showing here is recent find that she's matched to the head dress Anne Boleyn likely wore. How cool is that? Ok, so my little town doesn't have the rich history that these two UK ladies have available along the Thames, but still it is fun to get out there and find a piece of history.

Shop Talk: Working with Beach Glass

My brother and his family recently spent a few days on the coast of Maine relaxing, swimming in the ocean and beach combing. When they arrived at our place I was handed a hat-full of beach glass they found along the Atlantic Ocean. Literally in a hat. 

Some of the more interesting pieces are full bottoms to bottles, which help identify where the glass came from. However it is far to heavy for me to use for jewelry even as a pendant for a necklace. So I was focused to the smaller shards in the bottom of the hat. 

I had a chat with several shops to try to figure out how to use the beach glass. I explored the option of drilling the glass, but decided that it sounded like quite an operation to set up a drill station. I was told I'd need to do the drilling with flowing water. There just isn't any place in my house where I could set that up; not without taking over a bathroom.

A bead store suggested I try a specialized glue (E-6000; industrial strength craft adhesive). I also picked up a silver leaf pendant loop, which are designed specifically for gluing as they have a grid pattern on the back to hold the glue in place. After one day the glue is set. 

Lastly, I polished the glass. Some people prefer the rough look of the tumbled beach glass, but I had a tip that if I used just a dab of mineral oil it would give the glass a bit of luster. You can see above 2 pieces of the same glass: one with mineral oil (the finished pendant) and one without. Also in the 3 necklaces; the center aqua blue glass is not polished. I think I'm going to do this one as well ... once the glue sets. I took the picture while it was still drying, but you can see it is very sturdy glue. So how do you prefer to work with beach glass? Wire wrapping or gluing? Polished or rough and tumbled?

Do Overs: Upcycling Old Projects

Just finished reading a fun post from Crafty Hope on digging up some of those old projects. Got me thinking. 

Its been about 5 years now since I took a wire wrap class on a whim. I had never done anything other then simple bead strings. But my sister-in-law was visiting (along with my Brother) for Christmas and I decided it would be fun to take a class while she was here. She is a classically trained artist who specializes in encaustic painting, an ancient Egyptian technique, and so I knew I had to up the game a bit and pick a class that might challenge her.

Funny thing is, that class jump-started my beading after many, many years. I used to bead when I was a kid. Could not get enough of it, but I wouldn't go as far as to say I was any good. Just your simple bead strings. I lost interest when I hit my teen years and tucked the box of beads away in the attic. I did keep a few of the necklaces, and gave them to my girls without much of a thought. Only one survived all the dress up outfits and tea parties. A tad worse for wear, but I managed to save the beads. I keep it in a bead tube as the last artifact of my early work. This one I think I'll leave just as it is.

There is something soothing to me to just sit and string beads. I have a lot of people ask me why I make jewelry, and so much of it. I always answer "because I don't knit."

Do Overs: So What is Upcycling?

I have come across the term upcycling a number of times from my Etsy crowd. I see shops that sell upcycled products and blogs that talk about the things they make from upcycled materials.



So what exactly is upcycling? I set out to see how a product qualifies as being upcycled.



The concept was first talked about in 1994 by Reiner Pilz, a German who was upset that local demolition teams were not using reclaimed materials, but were instead smashing them for someone else to use in recycled products. He called recycling 'downcycling' because the materials are reprocessed, use a lot of energy to create and add to pollution. He noted that we should be 'upcycling' which reclaims existing materials in their current form - no manufacturing or process needed.



I went back through my items to see what I might classify as 'upcycling,' and found that I was upcycling some of my pieces.  I save earrings when I've lost one of the pair, I reuse charms from other pieces and I've recently starting including sea glass in settings.  One of my best tools is a silver polishing cloth.  Mine is black from use, but I have 'reclaimed' many a silver chain and pile of charms with this handy cloth.
Materials
1. Reclaimed silver chain, reclaimed silver cross in heart charm
2. Sea Glass with silver wire wrap on reclaimed silver chain
3. Reclaimed cat's eye earring, filigree, silver chain and clasp