JAC Blog Hop – Mother’s Day 2013

Each month, some of artisans of the Jewelry Artisans Community post on the same topic.  This month’s theme is Mother’s Day.

Last summer I was invited to a wedding and I needed a new dress.  Because I’ve gained a fair amount of weight in the last couple of years (due, no doubt, to stress), I didn’t want to invest a lot of money in the dress – or a lot of time.  I bought this dress at Kohl’s.

The wedding was to start at 2pm, so we headed out around 1:15, only to find a big traffic jam on the Capital Beltway. Judging by the flags on many of the cars, it was the day of the West Virginia-Maryland game. We made it on time, but many people were late, including some of the bridesmaids and the ring bearer, so the wedding was late.

As we drove away, I caught a glimpse of someone wearing what looked like the same dress as me. I had time to change, but really didn’t have anything else to wear, and my husband assured me it wasn’t the same dress.

So wrong. At the cocktail reception, I ran right into the lady, and it was the same dress. Someone commented on it, so I made up a story about how we were the original bridesmaids but got caught in traffic. My husband threw in that it was a good thing the bride was able to find all those girls in blue dresses to take our places.

This story made the rounds of the wedding, so much so that the photographer came to take our pictures together. The bride thought it was funny when she heard it and regretted that she hadn’t thought to put us in the bridesmaid pictures. As she said, orange goes with blue!

Now, I know you are wondering what this has to do with Mother’s Day. Here it is: when my daughter saw the dress, she told me she had the perfect pair of earrings to go with it, and loaned me these:

She was right, they do go with the dress. Only one problem: these are MY earrings, which I do not even remember lending her. So that’s my Mother’s Day commentary: Mom – the woman whose closet you raid whenever you feel like it!

Read what the other members of the JAC have to say here:

http://www.catswire.blogspot.de/2013/04/mothers-day.html

http://ponderthecat.blogspot.de/2013/04/mothers-day.html

http://www.artfire.com/ext/shop/blog_post/JewelryArtByDawn/12835/mother_s_day_-_april_blog_carnival

http://j3jewelry.wordpress.com/2013/04/29/april-blog-carnival/

JAC Blog Carnival – Plans for the year

Each month, some of the members of the Jewelry Artisans Community post on the same topic. This month we’re talking about our plans for the year.

Over the past year and a half, I’ve been watching Kate McKinnon put together her book entitled Contemporary Geometric Beadwork. It’s been an exciting process as Kate shared teaser pictures and wrote about her aha! moments, struggles and decisions, along with tidbits about her collaborators. The book has been arriving all over the world for the last week (I got mine last Thursday), and it has inspired me to revisit the world of off-loom weaving.

I am not going to try to describe the book. I encourage you to take a look at its Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/ContemporaryGeometricBeadwork.

As part of the process, Kate sold kits to go along with the projects in the books. I determined to purchase all of them, and here is a picture of much of the resulting loot:

Between the kits and the book swag, as Kate calls it, I have everything I need to start working up geometric shapes, and I’m looking forward to it.

For the rest, I will be working on setting up my jewelry business on line. The store I used to sell through closed, and I like the idea of having more control over the business. As part of that process, I’m looking at everything from developing new lines, to coming up with a logo and marketing materials. I have a few personal things to take care of that I hope will be done by the end of April, and then it’s full speed ahead.

Read what other members have to say:

http://nvalentine.blogspot.ca/2013/03/a-new-year.html

http://www.artfire.com/ext/shop/blog_post/JewelryArtByDawn/12382/march_blog_carnival_-_goals_for_2013

http://www.catswire.blogspot.de/2013/03/saturday-night-ramblings-or-plans.html

http://ponderthecat.blogspot.de/2013/03/plans-for-new-year.html

Painting With Fire Giveaway

http://www.paintingwithfireartwear.blogspot.com/

Good luck!

 

Jewelry Artist Community – December 2012

Each month, some of the artists at Jewelry Artisans Community post on the same topic.  This month’s theme is “Holidays”.

 

This year has been very chaotic for me.  We’re in the process of moving out of our home of 17 years, and it has been a far from smooth transition.  In a burst of optimism, I rashly agreed to host my sorority alumnae holiday party early in December.  The only requirement is that the house has to be decorated, as the executive committee does all of the cooking.  They asked in August; I figured, of course I’d be ready.  Ha!

 

My evil plan was to rope my college-age daughter and her roommate into helping decorate the weekend after Thanksgiving.  Hubby was detailed to bring the decorations down from our old home, and he and my son hauled in a dozen boxes plus the tree box Friday morning.  I talked my son into setting up the tree while I sorted out the decorations.

 

To my dismay, none of the boxes contained either of the sets of decorations that we own.  Most of the boxes were half-empty and contained random ornaments, lights and supplies, but not enough of anything to decorate a wreath, much less a tree.  Bill swore he’d brought everything he could find.

 

With fear of party failure acting as a spur, I started my brain working on what the heck I was going to do, bearing in mind that I currently have a rather limited budget.  Okay.  Since I collect Christmas decorations, I always have some boxes of plain colored balls around, which I haven’t been able to use for years due to the fact that our cats either a) think they make great toys or b) knock them off when they try to climb the tree.  Mr. Climb the Tree is no longer with us, so I thought I could take a chance and use some of those.  I had several boxes of dark green balls that go with one set of the missing ornaments, as well as some gold ones, so I scooted to the store and bought a few more in various shades of green, including lime green.  Don’t know why, but I just love lime green.

shades of green

 

 

I found that I had two miniature trees that I use in connection with a set of Advent calendar boxes that I made, plus all of the sets of ornaments that go with them.  My teen-aged son informed me loftily that he no longer cared about the Advent boxes, although he allowed as how I could just give him a bag of the chocolate that I used to fill them.  Dream on, buster!  But I took the trees, and created a couple of vignettes with them and some of the pieces from our Nativity set (of which I could only find a few).

 

Meanwhile, our large wreaths were a total wreck.  Bill hung one on the front door, but when I got a look at it, my heart sank.  I could not have people walking up to the door and seeing that.  Back to my ornament stash.  In a plastic shoebox, I found a set of orange and smoky blue pieces that I had bought one year, just because I liked them.  Probably I planned to make a small wreath but didn’t get around to it.  If I could find some co-ordinating balls, I could flesh it out enough to make a large one.

smoky blue bird

 

So back to Michael’s I scurried, box of small balls in hand, hoping to find a match.  Mind you, most crafters make their holiday supply purchases months in advance.  At the end of December, all you find is the dregs.  On the plus side, everything is on sale.  Anyway, I got lucky, and found a few lone picks in orange and blue that would work, along with a really cool spiky orange ornament.  Whoo-hoo wreath!

spiky orange ornament

While there, I also picked up a package of neon pink balls, because my stand-in color scheme of greens and gold, while pretty, kind of faded into the tree, so it didn’t look very lively.  I will have my 18-month old niece here for Christmas, so there are standards.  Of course, I just happened to have in my ornament stash, some lime green and neon pink ornaments which I used to decorate my studio one year.  Don’t judge me, I already admitted I like lime green.

And here’s a picture of the finished wreath, which I hot-glued together in less than an hour.  It’s like riding a bicycle.

the finished wreath

I got it all done in time to lounge on the front porch with the President (of the alumnae group) for an hour before everyone showed up.  Although it wasn’t as elaborate as the decorations at my old home, it was fine and a good time was had by all.

Gail Crosman Moore class

Allegory Gallery’s Andrew Thornton asked for help spreading the word about a class being held at his place in a couple of weeks.  I highly recommend Gail as a teacher.  I’ve taken two classes from her and enjoyed them both.  Here are the details:

Here are the details:  Allegory Gallery welcomes award-winning artist and jewelry-maker, Gail Crosman Moore for a Weekend Intensive in the picturesque town of Ligonier!  With the backdrop of the Laurel Highlands in Southwestern Pennsylvania, this talented craftsperson and art educator will teach four classes in subjects like enameling, riveting, mold-making and paper-casting, and collage!  The Weekend Intensive will take place September 8th and 9th.  For more information and to sign up, click on the link below.

http://blog.allegorygallery.com/2012/08/weekend-intensive-with-gail-crosman.html#!/2012/08/weekend-intensive-with-gail-crosman.html

My Stash – Jewelry Artisans Community Blog Carnival August 2012

Each month, some of the members of the Jewelry Artisans Community blog on the same topic.  This month we are blogging (or bragging) about our “stash”.

I will apologize right off because I don’t have any pictures.  This is because my laptop has decided to blow up (thanks so much, Windows with your 17 updates), and all of my pictures are on it.  So I’ll just have to describe it instead. [Updated to add some quick pix using my other computer.]

I have a lot of bead stuff.  A lot.  I worked for a number of years part-time at a bead store, and we were able to purchase things at a very nice discount, which allowed me to add things I would not otherwise have bought (maybe).  But when I think of my stash, my mind turns to the one thing I love the most, and that is Czech glass.  I have two Craftsman tool chests filled with lovely glass, organized by color.

The green drawer is stuffed full.  I have all shapes and sizes, leaves, faceted, large, small – I’ve got it all.  Most of it is in the olive-to-lime color family.  I have a bit of emerald green, and some darker, forest green, but not that much.

greens

Next up is the blue drawer.  That’s mostly aqua and turquoise.  I’ve got some lovely beads with gold mixed in.

turquoises and blues

Purple used to be the color I had the most of, but it has become difficult to find the deep, true purples I love.  I’m told that is because gold (the precious metal) is needed to make that color, and of course gold has become very expensive.  I’m willing to pay!

purples

The next drawer is red, lots of pink, and a little bit of peach.  The pinks are not the sweetish candy pink, they are more sophisticated.

pinks

Orange and yellow share the last drawer in the first chest.  These are colors that I probably would not have bought if I had to pay full price, but I have to admit they have grown on me.  Mandarin Mango, anyone?

oranges and yellows

The second chest contains my neutrals.  There is a full drawer of clear, frosted and white beads, one drawer devoted to black and a few gemstones, and a third given over to copper/bronze colored glass.

clear, white and silvers

I hope and pray that my laptop revives, because the last thing I want to do right now is buy a new one.  Fortunately, most of what is on it is backed up, but then I’d have to figure out how to restore from the backup.

Read what the other JAC members have to say here:

http://www.islandgirlsinsights.blogspot…..g-carnival.html

www.nvalentine.blogspot.com

http://violetmoonnl.blogspot.nl/2012/08/….your-stash.html

http://www.catswire.blogspot.de/2012/08/my-stash.html

http://www.artfire.com/ext/shop/blog/JewelryArtByDawn

Jewelry Artisans Community July 2012 Blog Carnival

Each month some of the members of the Jewelry Artisans Community blog on the same topic.  This month’s topic, Movement, came about because while organizing last month’s blog carnival (which I totally failed to participate in), it transpired that several of us were engaged in a moving project of some sort, mostly involving aged parental units.

Including movement in a piece adds interest to it and can help make it seem cohesive.  But I can’t just be normal, so I’m going to show you the process of making a piece that wanted to move against my will.

This is a piece that I dreamed up to donate to an art lottery to support our local community college alumni scholarship fund.  The last piece I donated was well-received, so I felt some pressure to live up to it this time around, but I was completely devoid of ideas for months, largely due to the stress of the aforementioned move.  But at last (like, two weeks before the deadline) I came up with a plan.

From a post on Rena Klingenberg’s site, I had got the idea to purchase a pancake die, which I used to cut out these copper pieces.

After texturing, I planned to rivet them together, one on top of the other.  Unfortunately, the holes that I punched were bigger than any of the copper wire I had handy.  Still don’t know how that happened.  16 gauge wire worked before.  Anyhoo, I had to come up with an alternate plan, seeing as how with less than a week to go, I didn’t have time to acquire the proper size wire.  So I decided I would lash the pieces together with the wire I did have.  This required the punching of additional holes, because by now I had decided I would include a gemstone donut.  This is what I had in mind.

  The wire in this picture was just to hold it steady while I punched the other holes.  Notice the extra hole in the middle of the top blank – that’s where I punched by mistake because I wasn’t paying attention. No time to redo, as by now I was down to a couple of days to go.

Meanwhile, I whipped up a batch of ball-ended headpins (‘nother story) and made up some dangles to hang from the chain that I hadn’t yet decided on using.  Have I mentioned that because I have an extensive craft background, I have a tendency to believe that I can do any new thing I turn my mind to?  Without ever having attempted it before?  I haven’t?  Well, it’s a fact.  Not one necessarily supported by the evidence, but a fact nonetheless.

So back to the pendant.  Here it is after I had wrapped the copper shapes to the donut.

Okay, so this was looking like a plan, except for one thing. Notice how the copper piece is hanging under the donut?  Well, I wanted it to be up much higher, on the side of the donut. But the weight of the copper component made it slide down aroung the donut to the bottom.  See that?  Unwanted movement. How to fix, how to fix?  Well, one option was to redo the wire wrapping.  Clearly it wasn’t tight enough.  On the other hand, the reason it wasn’t tight enough was the difficulty I had getting in between the copper and the donut.  So I didn’t think I was necessarily going to be able to get it any tighter.

Of course, my original plan had me wrapping the wire through the top hole on the copper piece.  Well, I still had the hole.  Then inspiration (born of the desperation of the deadline looming) struck.  I would use that top hole and wrap the copper part directly to the chain, alongside the donut, instead of hanging the whole thing by the donut.

Great!  Now it was hanging the way I intended.  So I proceeded to put the finishing touches on the pendant and added the dangles I had prepared.  To finish, I hammered out a couple of neck bars and a clasp, also out of copper, and called it a day.  Here’s the finished necklace:

I did end up turning it in a week late, but only because other artists whose donations I was collecting, couldn’t get theirs to me until then.  I admit I totally took advantage of the extra time to procrastinate some more so that I finished the piece the day before I took everything in to be juried.

I enjoyed the challenge of figuring out how to make this work, and I love the end result.  I will be buying a ticket to the lottery, and if no one else chooses it first, I just might select it for myself.  Because even though I could, if not duplicate it exactly, make something very similar, I’m not sure I would.

See what other JAC members have to say at the links below.

www.nvalentine.blogspot.com

http://www.islandgirlsinsights.blogspot.com/

http://www.catswire.blogspot.de/2012/07/movement.html

http://violetmoonnl.blogspot.nl/2012/07/juli-2012-jac-theme-movement.html

http://j3jeannesjemsjewels.blogspot.com/2012/07/july-blog-carnival-movement.html