Charming Necklace

Fleur de Lis Necklace

Made this one for a friend of mine for Christmas. It's made of brass and copper with vintage looking charms based on old school tattoo art.

Time in a Pendant

The time pendant was made by dumping some watch parts in a brass bezel and then pouring Judi Kins Amazing Glaze over it. I baked it in the oven until the glaze melted and now there's a smooth as glass finish on it.

I think the embossing powder is a great idea for sealing these bezel pendants. It works much faster than 2 part epoxy resins and the one part gloss sealers. I didn't have to worry about dust and ripples on the surface because there was no waiting time for anything to dry.

Before: Jewelry display

Yikes, what a mess and this is just a small detail of the room that is my supposed studio. It's such an ordeal to get something off these displays that I mostly don't even bother to wear any jewelry. I'm having a lull in my creative mind, so it's probably time to revamp my room and organize my stuff. I dare not show photos of all the storage boxes and bags of stuff on the floor that came home from the stores and never made it into a drawer or on to a shelf. More before and after pictures will come... maybe.

For inspiring ways to store and/or display your stuff at home, Jennifer Perkins has 4 blog posts on this exact topic. How Ya Hangin'?
Part I
Part II
Part III
Part IV

Another Completed Bag

Isn't it odd that I made jewelry and bags and I don't wear bags or jewelry?
What is up with that?

I fell in love with this Birdie Sling by Amy Butler pattern and ordered it despite my dwindling funds. I had the very textural fabrics in my stash. It's kind of weird that it's November 23rd and the temp is below freezing and I made such a summery bag. Guess I'll be all set to shop on aa tropical vacation this winter. I wish. It has 2 roomy pockets which didn't photograph well because of the wild tie died/quilted fabric I used in the lining. So you won't be seeing those pics.






I'm trying very hard not to buy fabric and to use up what I have. Anyway, I think I'll vacuum the dining room floor today and put away the sewing stuff for now and take out the polymer clay since receiving these 2 books in the past 2 weeks: Polymer Clay and Mixed Media, Together at Last by Christi Friesen and The Art of Polymer Clay Millefiori Techniques by Donna Kato. I have taken classes from both of these amazing ladies and can't wait to dig into some new projects.

Favorite Necklace

This is my favorite necklace. It features some charms from Green Girl Studios, silver beads, fire agate, coral and turquoise along with some shell disks. It looks fabulous on black, brown and denim. Actually it looks fabulous on anything. (click for larger version.)

Eye pendant

After my mom passed away and I had the fun job of cleaning out the house in order to sell it, I came across a set of match boxes that had lenticular eyes and lips on them. I cut out an eye and glued it in this brass pendant. It's really quite eery when it winks at you.

Thinking about what to do with the lips. It'll come to me.

copper and brass pendant

Some of this pendant was made in a class on Saturday. I cut out the copper and put rivets in it.
It features some brass and copper doodads I had kicking around in my stash.

Silver Wire Bracelet Class

This morning I attended a class where we made these charming but terribly easy to make silver bracelets with sliders, pearls and crystals. It was a lot of fun and very rewarding considering we were finished in an hour.

La Vida Pendant

I took a class with my favorite teacher, Linda Twohill at Beads N Stitches in Hicksville, NY yesterday where we played with brass and copper. We drilled, etched, riveted, domed, stamped, cut and made several pieces. My favorite part of any class with Linda is using her awesome tools. This was my favorite piece. There is a little cup for holding a magic crystal or something interesting. It's about the size of a quarter. It's also pretty obvious that I am not well practiced in stamping on metal, but I kind of liked the funky way it came out nevertheless.

As much as I enjoy using the torch, cold connections are a lot of fun. I still need a lot more practice using rivets and grommets/eyelets on metal.