Brandy

I won a couple of eBay auctions a while ago.  I paid an average of about $3 for each auction, which featured 300 pieces of genuine swarovski crystals ranging from 3mm to 15 mm in size.  The colors were completely random.  It was a mystery bag.

A lot of people would say that a mystery bag is a bad investment, that you'll only get small beads or even that you'll only get ugly colors... but some of my best pieces have come out of mystery piles and destashes.  If you've ever bought swarovski for a project before, you KNOW how easily you can end up spending $1 per bead.   $3 for a swarovski mystery mix is NOTHING.  You can pull a definitely pull some decent pieces from grab bags.

You don't believe me?  Well, look at this commission I made from mostly items I got from my grab bags.

BAM!

It's a full 20 inch necklace.  Not a half-beads, half chain number either.  Here it is from a less flattering angle.

I was even able to squeeze a bracelet out of it.  The bracelet looks pretty durn good too, if I might say so myself.

Oh.  And I got some earrings out of it as well.  Grab bags are only a bad investment if you don't know how to wield your powers as a designer.   Put your creativity to work.  Think outside the box and remember that even if you get 'ugly' colors, you can make them spectacular with the right additions.

La Fée Verte

I love emerald greens. They have always exuded an aura of vibrance and nobility.  I always picture rich, well-nourished foliage, copious wildlife and a regal appreciation for all things that walk and crawl.  Also, elves and fairies. 

I swear this is not another Lord of the Rings or Hobbit fan art piece.  I happen to be highly inspired by the Prohibition Era and the green fairy (absinthe).  Consuming absinthe is a ritual.  You start with a fine 'dose' peridot to emerald green liquid in a beautiful, yet simple crystal glass.

Courtesy of the Wormwood Society

Delicately place an elegantly perforated spoon and a sugar cube atop it and drip ice water.

Courtesy of the Wormwood Society

The sugar water falls into the glass, creating swirling opalescent patterns in a sea of verdant alcohol.

Courtesy of the Wormwood Society

That's classy.
You can't help but to be inspired by such a carefully crafted ritual to enjoy a beverage with a lot of tradition, history, mystery and misconceptions.  It was just that sort of feeling that inspired the following design.   La Fée Verte.

Look at that color!

I often pair green with gold.  They aren't complimentary colors, but they do bring out each other's good sides.  I inherited the green glass point from a destash buy from Etsy.  Initially, I had no idea what to do with it.  That's distressingly common with a lot of my pendants.  The little twinge of uncertainty excites me and make me more likely to do something unexpected.

I tend to stay away from side drilled points because they have a nasty habit of shattering the instant you thread something through them or clink a bead against the place where they hole is drilled.  Bails are necessary.  I HATE bails.  They often don't work with beaded chain and force you to stick with stringing techniques.  Also, they tend to have a very large opening that is hard to hide AND balance. 

I hate bails.  Still, I looked at this green point and I said, "I have to do something with you.  Now."  I actually found a solution to the common problems with points through something I noticed about Amy Labbe's line of Art-i-cake findings in Michael's craft stores.  You see it? 

Get Closer.

That sparkling little rhinestone and tendril of silver is part of the rig holding the point to a bail I McGuyver'd out of a bit of filigree leftover from a project.  The filigree actually did not take well to bending into a bail.  I used that to my advantage to ensure that when I wrapped the pendant with wire and a rhinestone, the pressure wouldn't shatter the point.  The filigree pushes away and the wire pulls it back  Tension, baby.  That's PHYSICS!

Courtesy of Funny Junk.

None of the parts directly touching the bead are putting pressure on it.  The key to working with points is indirect pressure.  They have to be cradled, not gripped, like butterflies... or maybe captured fairies.

Sahara

I've been rather inspired by a lot of golden colors recently.  Maybe it's because I'm longing for the warmth of spring and summer.  Perhaps it's because the snow has blanketed my home and given me aches in my joints that I would sooner forget... Or maybe it's because I have a ton of golden, topaz, and bronze colored beads laying around.  Hmm...

Unrelated, I've been watching National Geographic and they've been hitting all my favorites.  Big cats, deserts, Predators of the Serengeti, The World's Deadliest (Also known as 'everything in or around Africa and Australia').  Couple all that with rediscovering Indiana Jones and you've got a recipe for simple, but magical looking baubles.

That's how we got Sahara.  Once again, findings and pendant rescued from the piles of treasure I've hoarded over the years and put into a useful form.

The majority of the focus for this piece is on that bedazzled pendant.

The aged findings and beads give it a rich, classic feel

I really like this piece.

 I think it would fabulously dress up a rustic, outdoorsy casual outfit. 

The Crystal Kingdom

Another set of beads hiding in my stash with no clear purpose was a collection of iridescent crystal beads.  It can be really hard to pair shimmery, color-changing beads with something.  Anything you put with them can either dull their luster and effect or place too much emphasis on one color from the broad spectrum of colors they reflect.  This creates a terrible problem for me because I find it difficult to place limitations on the possibilities of a particular design...

Of course, it's also pretty stupid to play the part of Smaug and sit around hoarding a pile of pretty beads.

So...I suck at drawing dragons.

I opted to make an effort and give this project the old college try.  Drawing on creative visual elements in some of my favorite childhood movies (The Dark Crystal, Labyrinth, and The Neverending Story), this is what I came up with.  The necklace is a mix of iridescent beads with purple or taupe undertones.  I added a tiny bit of teal and bronze to help pick up some of the less obvious colors in the crystals' iridescent sheen.  It worked out fairly well.

This necklace forms an elegant V that falls a few inches from the collarbone.

The elegant, looping shapes in the main focal creates an optical illusion to help you see continued swirls in the shine of the beads.

You can see more of the beads' colors clearly when placed against a dark background. 

This one was fun to make and it used up one of the focals and some of the beads that I didn't show off in a previous post.  If you'd like to learn more about this necklace, or you'd like to adopt it into your personal collection, feel free to message me or leave a comment.  Also, check my Etsy to see what goodies are there!

Hat: A Bit of the Meadow

This is my second hat attempt.  My creative juices were beginning to gain steam as I started to disassociate the little ready made hats with 'completeness'.  Looking at them more like broken watch parts to be assembled into something for my own designs helped me to determine how their shape and size could lend itself to something cute and whimsical. 

The hats are small, only about 5 inches tall.  There's a limited amount of pomp and circumstance you can toss on them before they become ridiculous and topple off your head in a burst of over-balanced glory.  Still, I wanted to try something more fantastical. 

YAY BUTTERFLIES!

I brought forth this little baby.  I bet you can't guess what the butterflies came from or what they're made of.  They're actually scrap-booking supplies.  Glittery, glacee butterflies to be exact.  For those of you who don't know, glacee is a weird semi-flexible polymer. They commonly use it to make synthetic leather. 

I was afraid that the glitter and rhinestones would fall off, so I gave the butterflies a liberal application of air-dry resin, followed by some clear nail lacquer.  Those are the only things I know that will protect a glittering object from shedding without dulling its sparkle.  Very important since these babies are attached to a hat and one expects them to be bobbling around on your head as you skip and sway at your fancy tea parties.

It's like you took a tiny piece of a faerie meadow and plopped it on a hat!

This hat was fun to make.  I set aside my internal filters and decided to just have fun with it.  In the end, the decorations that I thought would be 'too much' ended up being cute and tasteful when paired with small flowers and a simply black felt hat.  Take some design cues from that. 

I want to make something like this again- or perhaps, something much grander.  We'll see. 

Miniature Top Hat: Keeping it simple

Now that you've seen my tutorial for making a fancy little hat fascinator (If you haven't, Here You Go), I felt that I needed to put my own instructions into action and give you a little snippet of what I've done with this handy, dandy bit of knowledge.  Be aware, there aren't many pictures of this first attempt because well, it's the first try.  The first try either blows all normal conventions out of the water or is a simplistic precursor to the fantastic.

I made this hat using the 'Purchase and Decorate' method and I'll be honest, it was hard to get it started.  I'm not sure if it's just me, but when I get something ready made, it takes my brain a moment to make the leap to Creativity Land.

Courtesy of Pacroid.blogspot.com

Setting a design is always the hardest part.  It's even harder when your brain forgets that this little hat is NOT complete and needs some pizzazz.  Mine chose the moment that I needed it to create things to go on a vacation, so I borrowed mom's.  Her brain was stuck on netting and tulle.  The fluffier the better.   

It's not fluffy enough.

I wasn't so sure about this idea, even after she regaled me with photos of fancy hats decked out in fluffy stuff.  As a rule, I only like fluffy skirts, kittens and cupcake frosting.  I became a little afraid when she declared, "More tulle!  MORE!  Use the whole roll!"  But I did as she suggested.  I pleated the tulle on one side to form little lumps that remind you of one of those 1940s hairstyles and tied it into a big fluffy bow in the back of the hat, secured it with a few drops of glue.

Like this but with less film star attached to it.

I needed to tulle it up.  The hat would have been pitiful without it.  After we tweaked and poked at the hat, we both determined that it still needed something...  I decided that it needed something shiny to balance all the matte textures.  The end result was this.

Big tulle bow worn in the front. 

Big tulle bow worn on the side

The good thing is that the tulle bow feature looks great.  The bad thing is that the rest of the hat looks a little plain by comparison.  In the near future, I may add more to it...I need to go craft shopping first. 

Pay It Forward

Pay it Forward was a trend that I was curious about, but didn't understand.  I'd seen the words pop up on Etsy, Deviantart, and a few other craft and art hubs.  Sadly, with increased laziness and humanity's increasing inability to articulate itself (despite most entertainment and social networking leaning towards text-based formats), the best explanation of what 'Pay It Forward' was and meant was something like this, "Well, you know.  Pay it forward.  Like you pay it forward."

I asked several different people who were running 'Pay It Forward' advertisements and promotions on their blogs, art hubs, and Etsy stores.  The answer was always something like, "Well, you know.  Pay it forward."  That's not an explanation!  That's a tease.  You've disappointed me again, humanity.  Why do I keep trusting you to do better?? 

So, I sort of shoved that curiosity to the side and focused on other things.  Since no one knew what Pay It Forward was, perhaps it was not important for me to know either.  That is, until one fine literary lady posted a Pay It Forward comment on her Facebook.  My reaction: Another chance to ask what the HECK this means!  Yes!
So, I asked Ann what does 'Pay It Forward' mean.  Being a former English teacher, she was happy to tell me.  It's like a chain letter, but instead of forcing people to repost some annoying message in their status for fear of non-existent reprisal, you substitute the gloom and doom for a good deed.  The theory is, that if it's handled CORRECTLY there's a recurring wave of good deeds and wonderful surprises that eventually works its way around the world.  Ann's Pay It Forward was geared towards crafting.  Golly Gee Willikers Batman!  That sounds great! 

OMG!  For real?

I joined in on her pay it forward...and immediately ran into problems.  Apparently, some people equate 'Pay it Forward' with 'Freebies' and are opportunistic scavengers who will not only assert, insist, and berate you until they get their free thing, but they will also belittle it and refuse to 'pay it forward' themselves.  You know who you are. 

What I learned from this whole thing was heartwarming (I think that was the point of it, actually).  By sticking yourself out there and becoming someone's beautiful surprise, you not only enable them to be someone else's surprise, but you boost their self-esteem and motivate them to try and learn something new themselves.  I have not delivered all of my Pay It Forward gifts, but the few that I have sent off to their new homes were met with glee and almost immediately a chain began to form.

My gift of yarn became mittens for someone who's always losing theirs, and the money that would have been spent on mittens was spent on supplies to make greeting cards, one those greeting cards was written in and given to an old woman, that old woman got up and made someone some cookies, those cookies were eaten at someone's craft party, the craft party spawned all manner of creations and it continues from there.  One, long, heartwarming chain of good deeds.  I hope that it continues beyond what I can trace and maybe, it will get to someone who really, REALLY needs an unexpected gift. 

Broaching topics

The Tyrants Brooch Trio: Bathory, Vlad, Ivan

What can I say about brooches, broaches, and pins?  They are the blouse fasteners, hat pins, purse clasps and conversation pieces of the world.  But what does that have to do with me?  I make necklaces, bracelets, hair clips and earrings!  ...Well, now I do brooches too.

At first, like with many things, I was afraid of making brooches.  There was always some internal monologue holding me back from even trying.  One day, around Christmas, my friend C-note (that's what i call her because...that's what I call her), asked me to make a brooch for her to give to one of her college friends for Santa Day.  I told her 'I dunno C-note.  I've never made brooches before'.  She looked so disappointed at the news that I had to try.  You see, C-note doesn't ask for much, but she gives A LOT.  I told her that I'd do some research and call her if I could figure it out. 
I've repaired brooches, but only to the extent of getting jeweler's glue and resetting stones.  But that didn't mean I could MAKE a brooch.  I needed research.  I decided, 'What the heck!  I wanna make me some history and help out a friend while I'm at it!' and started reading about how brooches are constructed in the modern world. 

Elegante Brooch (commission)

Since I don't know how to work with leather, sewing machines, or do molten metal, I had  to go for the more mundane method of construction.  Glue.  Not that cute white glue from grade-school.  Nah.  I needed extra strength, industrial style glue.  At first I tried krazy glue.  That turned out to be a mistake.  You see, they tell you how great krazy glue is at sticking to stuff, but they don't tell you how good it is at NOT sticking to stuff.

While giving the simple brooch I made first a test drive, the whole darn thing fell apart.  Piece by piece it broke off until there was nothing but a pin back.  It was all because krazy glue dries brittle.  Something as vigorous as dropping a krazy glued jewelry item can cause the glue bonds to break. 
So, I went for my tried and true E-6000 glue!!!  It held beautifully.  Why?  Because it's literally liquid rubber.  First of all, it's sticky.  Secondly, it seeps into the pores of things contracts around them as it dries.  Thirdly, it's stretchy.  So, wiggling will not dislodge it once it has fully set. The only thing that will remove it is a knife and pliers, but ...only after an atomic explosion to loosen it up. 

Once I had got it in my head that making a brooch with the E-6000 glue isn't different from making a pendant the same way, I finished C-note's request so fast, that I made mistakes.  I had to tear it apart...and in doing so, destroyed the brooch completely.  Actually, the glue did that because it wouldn't let go.  Still, I finished the brooch.  Once it was finished, I was so excited to show her that I forgot to photograph it.  Ha! 

No worries though.  Of all the jewelry items I've learned to make, brooches are by far the easiest ones to make once you've got the design all drawn up. I'll be churning out more as I gather more materials and create new designs. 

Rosemary Brooch: Gift to Mother

The Makings of Elegance: A Reflection

Since I've been busy crafting a lot of these epicly beautiful and utterly timeless pieces, the nerd in me fixated on the phrases most often uttered when such things are displayed.  "That's so elegant!"

My inner linguist takes out her spectacles and asks "Why these words in particular?"  What is it that makes one bracelet or necklace elegant and beautiful while the others are just beautiful?  So, I set out to answer this question by inquiring amongst my fellows, peers, and elders about the attributes of various things they deem elegant.  Here are some of the adjectives I uncovered.

Sparkly                                         Classic                                    Regal                              Sleek
Stands-out                                    Abstract                                  Simple                            Dark

You may not think it's very interesting, but I did.  The majority of the these words don't necessarily apply to something 'elegant'.  For example, a brooch of a 6-inch tall gorilla cast in gunmetal and covered in sparkling rhinestones is dark, somewhat abstract, sparkly and it most certainly stands out, but it's far from elegant.  Really, only 2 of the adjectives I've presented aren't words that could just as easily be applied to something that isn't elegant.  Regal, Classic.  Hmmm.

Typically, something regal is something exuding a kingly bearing.  A kingly bearing?  How do we see kings?  Usually in a positive light...possessing the best and finest things, graceful, polite and well-cultured.  So, a regal piece of jewelry is something of the best and finest materials, a graceful form and possessing a non-intrusive, yest still very noticeable air. 
The other word, classic, refers to something iconic, easily recognized and generally well-liked.  So, a classic piece of jewelry is something easily recognized and usually well-liked.  It's most likely something traditional.  These words have intrinsic qualities that always align with the notion of elegance.

From this, it's safe to assume that the true aspects that make elegance are how classic and regal a piece is.  It has to be something incredibly beautiful, but capable of standing up to time and changing fads, something timeless and genuine.  To that, I'd like to add the word 'unique'.  Elegance is not something mass produced, but something truly beautiful in its rarity.  The diamond solitaire necklace at the very beginning of its use was deemed elegant, but since then, it's been mass-produced, imitated to death and its reputation destroyed.  Everyone has one now.  It's become easy to overlook.  It's elegance has been reduced to an expensive fade-into-the-background accessory.

So, now, I'll take off my nerd hat and bring this topic to... what was it again?  Oh yeah, this blog's about jewelry and each post is supposed to give you an interesting take away!  Here's some of that take away.  Elegance is a quality you want to be applied to yourself and your craft.  So, be genuine, unique, classic and stand out from the crowd. 
My personal take away is that while having a brand name with a catchy acronym or bright colors seems 'cool', the style and quality of the jewelry I make doesn't fit with that.  Long, pretentious names don't work either because my style hops and jumps here and there.  Everything I do is limited edition and one of a kind.  Everything I do is Nonpareil Joolry.