Silk, Stone and Silver

Several long experiments in progress... Finished

Goth Garnet, a crocheted silver rope, adorned with dark faceted garnets.

I've had the rope partially crocheted for years, but tucked away in a drawer. I decided to pull it out and finish it in the evenings. Once it was complete, I was having a hard time deciding on the final finish. I'd used two different batches of fine silver wire, manufactured many years apart. There was just a slight color different in the white tones of the silver- hard to believe but true. I decided to oxidize the entire silver rope and then tumble it to burnish up the highlights. That resulted in a beautiful dark mysterious glow from the inside of the rope with the garnets and the exterior burnished silver picking up the light. Can dark glow? I'm not sure, but it seems to in this necklace.


Shifting to a different sort of rock...
I've had this flattish oblong black rock for ages.  Or maybe my son had it and I claimed it.  Anyway... I've also had an obsession with the idea of drilling my favorite rocks.  Here's a tutorial for how to drill your own rocks http://www.jewelryartistmagazine.com/stepbystep/mar04.cfm .  I got my budget priced diamond drill bits and budget diamond burrs and drilled this stone.  Then I sat there and looked at it, trying to decide how to use it.  You can follow my thought and experiment process in the photo collection below.  (If you want to see the individual photos, full size, follow the text links under the overall photo mosaic.)

1. silk and stone fail (1), 2. silk and stone fail (2), 3. silk and stone fail (3), 4. silk and stone fail (4), 5. still experimenting (5), 6. still experimenting (6), 7. still experimenting (7), 8. Silk and Stone detail, 9. Silk and Stone, 10. Silk and Stone back view     Created with fd's Flickr Toys

The final result, a simple but lush combination of silk ribbon, silk thread, and stone.


The adjustable button clasp on the back uses another black stone, and a little coral bead that I had rolling around in my bead bag.


A archaeologist jeweler friend pointed out how the stone in the necklace reminded him of archaic period gorget artifacts.   He's right.  Their purpose is unknown, although researchers suspect they may have been used for a variety of purposes, not just ornament. 

Now I can hardly wait for a warm day, so I can walk the banks of the Wabash to look for other interesting water-tumbled rocks. 

Ornate Glam Fey Vamp

I've been on a roll, using my long acanthus or ivy style leaves.  I'm in the mode to finish things, so I am finishing my various creative themes up, one idea at a time.

the earrings
 

Pendants
  

Long and Lovely Necklaces, with a sparkly chunk of faceted rock crystal
 

The value comes from the form, the fantasy, the mystique and all the dreams you attach to them.

Studio Update- a belt buckle I like

I finished a belt buckle that I like!  This is almost a collage-style using copper and brass sheet metal.  At the overlap of the copper and brass, the brass sheet folds back, making an edge that looks like an abstract stem for the rose.




During my non-metalshop time, I finished up a crocheted silver rope necklace with citrine beads.  I used to do a lot more metal crochet back in the early nineties, when I was still in grad school.  I still get the urge to make sparkly fiberart jewelry, sometimes all in metal, sometimes incorporating other natural fibers.




Please click on the photos to be linked to the full details for each piece.

Social Crafting

A friend of mine came over on Saturday so we could wire wrap briolette beads together.  She hasn't done any wire wrapping.  I haven't done a lot, though I do obviously have the metalworking experience.  She brought lots of different ear wires, briolettes and wire supplies.  I supplied the pliers, a touch more wire, and the supplies for my own project- the silver wire and the ruby briolettes.

I enjoy social crafting- a few people getting together to do some sort of creative activity.  It could be knitting, crochet, scrapbooking- anything casual and suitable for a small group with mixed experience.  I don't want to join a club, pay dues, or do any fundraising.  I just want to get together for casual arting/crafting every now and then. 

It's hard to get schedules to work when most women are juggling work, studies, family and household duties.  This time, two of us got together, Mona (of White Pup Vintage on etsy) and myself.  Mona, with her vintage stash, had all sorts of goodies to work with.      






Mona brought extra supplies, memory wire and colorful beads, that my daughter could work with at the same time. My daughter took most of the pictures for the blog, and made a few memory wire bracelets too.




By the end of our afternoon, Mona finished up several pairs of earrings, including this great dangly pair for me


I focused on getting some ruby briolettes wrapped.  They have tiny irregular holes, so I used 26 gauge silver wire.  I doubled the wire at the hanging point, for strength.  I have them pictured here with some turquoise chip beads. They seem perfect together, though I don't yet have any plans firmed up for them. 


Mona brought the white pup, but the white pup was bored. 


If you want to have your own wire wrapping social gathering, take a look at Contrariwise's blog entry on wire-wrapping briolettes.  You should also be able to find other tutorials in crafting books at a local library.  It would be a good idea to have one person in the group who has done some wire wrapping.  I forgot how confusing pliers and wire can be when you first start out. 

If you participate in some form of social crafting and blog about it, please post links back to those entries in the comments here.  I'd love to see them.

Pizzelle- a yummy diversion

Snow day here in Southeastern Illinois, with approximately six inches of snow.  I worked on my tax preparation while my husband made Pizzelle, an Italian waffle cookie using a Mario Batali recipe. 



They are gorgeous and they taste yummy too.  He used anise seeds instead of fennel seeds, smaller with perhaps a more delicate taste.

Google Reader or Google Friend Connect?

See that widget at the bottom of my left hand side pane? It's a mosaic block of people who follow my blog using Google Friend Connect. You'll see them on a lot of the blogs you follow. I like being able to put up a widget that acknowledges my readers.

For my own blog reading, I use Google Reader. With Google Reader, I can separate the blogs I read into categories, like "etsy", "business tips", or "inspiring artists." Google Reader even gives me several ways to share the blogs I read, right here on my blog. Again in the left hand sidebar, you can see a long rectangle showing ten recently updated blogs from my Inspiring Artists list. The widget automatically updates with the ten most recent blogs. I put in blogs that I personally enjoy and that I think my readers might enjoy. These people do often show and sell a creative product, but they don't limit their blog to sales. They blog about their own creativity, or about topics useful to other artists. I especially like that the list is always changing and that you can see the topic title, to determine whether you're interested in the topic or not.

If you use Google Reader and want to use a widget on your own blog, to share a category , starred entries, or shared entries...

• Go to your Google Reader main page.
• In the upper right hand corner, use the settings drop down menu to choose Reader Settings.
• Select the Folders and Tags tab.

• Look at your sharing options. You can decide which items you want to be public or private. I've chosen to make my Inspiring Artists category, Starred Items and Shared Items public. The rest are private.
• On your Public items, look to the right. You should have an option to add a clip to your site or add a blogroll to your site. Click on each. See what it looks like. Decide what options are best for your readers, and add it to your blog. I chose a clip for "Inspiring Artists" so that I could show the blog titles and choose the number of entries to display.

The problem with blog rolls.....I know as a blog reader that I rarely click on links from a super long blog roll. So I personally prefer a shorter list that includes the recent entry title. This helps me to make better decisions on what to browse.

As I said before, I do try to choose blogs with creative insight, information that goes beyond what items are for sale. My Inspiring Artist list is made up of predominantly visual artists in the craft realms, along with 2 creative cooks. Take a look at the titles and enjoy browsing. Please let me know if you think there are some other artistic, creative blogs that I would enjoy reading.

flops and fun

At my age and level of skill, everything I do should be perfect.  I shouldn't make mistakes or ugly designs.
But NOOOOOO, I still do....

This was an experimental belt buckle.  I used too much solder, made it too heavy, and mis-placed the buckle on the back. It has some interesting qualities, but is overall a BIG Flop.  I hate making flops, but I do need to remember; play and experimentation are key to creative growth.

For more in-progress views, here are some brass roses in progress.  I may play and experiment with these as well.  I'm thinking of crochet, fiber, embroidery, something colorful and wearable.

I hope my rose fiberart play doesn't turn out ugly.

Here are some sweeter images from life
lovely ladies in the parlor


and
my rockin new mud/rain/snow shoveling boots

Look at me! Me!

I got another skirt from Secretlentil yesterday and of course I'm wearing it today.  It doesn't matter that I don't have any tops to match.  It's just an awesome sculptural skirt and I'm going to wear it no matter what.



In the studio, I finished up another batch of maple leaf brooches, this time with a bit of the blue patina.  I'm stocking up for shows.

Acorn Jewelry

Look at this gorgeous one of a kind set

Sterling silver acorn and oak leaf earrings with a matching oak leaf necklace

  


and a dramatic maple leaf brooch in bronze.

I managed to finish a knitted hat that I've been working on for, oh, a year or so.  I prefer crocheting to knitting, so I didn't work on it very often.

Studio Update

I've been building up stock for future art show/sales, a lot of leafy pieces for those. 

Grape leaf earrings with an antique-blue patina


and a matching pendant.

I indulge in a chasing or two, every time I feel like I've accomplished enough limited production work. 

My Get Lucky belt buckle, just in time for St. Patrick's Day.  The silver clover pendants were popular last year.  Maybe I will try to fit in a few more this month.