Saturday, July 18, 2009

Burried treasure collaboration

*** This post is my submission for the 'Buried Treasure' collaborative project posted by Seth at The Altered Page. I am sorry that it is a day late :s. The object of this is to look back and re:post one of your favourite old entries. I really liked this one because not only did I show pictures of projects i was working on, i discussed two books i had been reading as well. Hope everyone has a fantastic day!***

Books! (the title of the post)

For Christmas, my boyfriend and I each picked out out own presents off amazon. He himself is quite the bibliophile, and I really wanted a couple of books. I got myself Mary Hettmansperger's book 'Wrap, Stitch, Fold & Rivet' and Susan Lenart Kazmer's 'Making Connections: A Handbook of Cold Joins for Jewlers and Mixed-Media Artists'.

























I would highly recomend either one of these books, as I am immensely enjoying the both of them. I am loving the ideas and style of Susan's book. It is very found-object focused with STUNNING pictures of projects she has created. Turning bottle caps into bezels, how to create funky trapezes to dangle objects from, pictures of mini-lightbulbs with little paper messages inside... what's not to love? I just wish I had been able to take my 'found object' art supplies with me here to Seoul. I have a whole bunch of stuff sitting in Canada that would be great for this kind of thing but i had to leave my stash behind (but safely tucked away in storage!).

I also am loving the project based aproach in Mary's book. There are many techniques discussed at the beginning of the book and then it turns to project creation. I unfortunately lack many of the tools needed for both books. I sadly still don't have an anvil, a dapping block, or a torch :(. Give me time... and a good hardware store... Mary seems to have a strong following for her book, as I have seen many of these projects being discussed on blogs and such. I am looking forward to getting started, but am still in the material and idea gathering phase for her first project of a 'spinner necklace'.

However, I have created a couple necklaces that use ideas discussed in the technique sections. Mary's book discusses how to create these swirls and pound them flat. Lacking an anvil, i am ashamed to admit i have been using a hard ruler and a towel.... sigh. However, the wire was fairly soft and it worked fairly well for this! This necklace was created while practicing how to make these fun swirls discussed in her book.

Saturday, July 11, 2009

ATCs for trading!









I've been working, and created a couple atcs for trading. I have a trade for a couple of them pending, but if anyone else wants to trade these are some that are available right now. Just leave me a quick comment saying which you'd be interested in, or that you're looking to trade :)

Tuesday, July 07, 2009

Gathering ideas...

I say to my honey... "I say ethereal, you say..." He answers "Elves". Hunh. I guess it should be expected when i ask someone who plays D & D?

I'm thinking about a weekly fun challenge i am entereing with the theme word of 'ethereal'. Deciding on some ideas of what to do for this. I don't think I will go the 'elves' direction, as it is not quite what i'm looking for. More of a 'moonlight', selene style i think. Thin looping chain and white stone? We will see.

What do you think of when you think of ethereal?