Flower and shell earrings

Anybody else LOVING project runway? I know I do! Ever since that season, a couple ago, with Seth Aaron (my FAVORITE designer yet), i'm totally hooked.

I also love watching it because every week, Etsy Metal does a challenge related to the episode! Usually I sort of lurk, but this week i decided to get into the spirit! The challenge: Make something from the materials on your bench!

So, to start with, I wandered over and took a picture of my desk! I'd done a big clean the day before so there wasn't oodles of stuff there, very little 'creative clutter' (really! this is what it looked like that day! it's highly out of the ordinary for it to be so clean. how unfortunate for the challenge!)

Here's my desk last friday:



at the back, you may see an overflowing green bin... this bin is 'pieces to use'. Experimental bits and bobs that have been created but not yet put into one creation... including some pieces of copper i'd etched. Grabbed the etched copper, grabbed a little pot of shell beads, the pot of chains, some brass wire, and another piece of sheet copper. The only thing not currently on my desk there was the plain sheet copper (the bail) and the brass wire (the rivet). Here's what came out of it!



If you want to see what other people made, go over to the etsy metal website: http://etsymetal.blogspot.com/

Searching Necklace

Recently, Objects and Elements website posted a tutorial about riveting domed metal to a flat surface. How serendipitous, I was just starting up a piece where I'd be doing this! Here is my submission to this challenge. The larger found metal piece was somewhat domes already. I used the method discussed to refine the curve, and riveted using a wire rivet strengthened by a brass tube.

This piece, 'Searching' was made with lots of found metal pieces. I think the top one is from some kind of audio equipment? No idea what the bottom once was... any ideas out there? Other found pieces include a round piece, and also a lens from a friend's broken camera. It works pretty cool as both a necklace and a mini magnifying lens.

Sundries and Plunder Guest Giveaway

Sundries and Plunder Guest Giveaway


These animal masks are so lovely, absolutely gorgeous stuff.

Webtangle Earings

A couple posts ago, I gave a teaser showing bits of jewelry i'd photographed, and also a pair of earings nestled in my hands. Here is a closer shot of these little pretties, that I call my Webtangle earings. This is one of the projects from Stephanie Lee's lovely book, Semi-precioius salvage, that i've slowly been working my way through, project by project :).



Teaser shot again, of more things to come...

Lapis neck piece

A couple months ago, I was browsing flickr and came accross a piece by Cindiesmithdesigns. I was totally inspired by the lovely, lovely shapes created the necklace, and knew I wanted to make something similar in some ways (with my own flare of course!). See inspiration point here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cyndiesmithdesigns/3076304372/in/faves-meisterdalediane/


And here's the finished product! I added many design points of my own, including the entire pendant area and the rivets along the copper.

Here's the back part of the necklace. After rolling over the copper, I hooked in a link and linked it to some chunky chain. It then has a nice toggle closure.

This is the best photo for seeing the pendant. You can see the huge lapis lazuli cab i used on the copper. You can also see the rivet i did to close the filigree together (i later glued a small blue crystal on top, as this rivet was a little messy). You can also see the work i did linking together many jump rings to connect the pendant to the necklace.

Speaking of lapis, I really like the piece I picked up for this project. As you can see in the photo, it has lovely shine and sparkle to it... I can even kinda see my shadow on the surface! I got a pretty good deal on it (i think) from my favorite jewelry salesman. Only 3000 won! (about 3$). I didn't really get into buying stones until after I came here to Korea, but i think the prices are significantly lower here. Anyone else know about how much a 2 inch diameter cab of lapis lazuli would cost elsewhere?

Final photo! This total piece photo shows the work I did on the copper (all cut, filed, and textured by me). You can also see the rivets I put into the copper.

In all, this does not make a 'run out to the grocery store' necklace, but it does make an interesting statement piece. Nice with my little black dress, where it can really gobble up all the attention :)

Wordless post: a look at jewelry to be posted

Ticket to Ride

Have you tried the board game 'Ticket to Ride'? I absolutely love the game, and have wasted WAY too many hours playing this game online.

This necklace i call my 'Ticket to Ride' necklace. When i saw this train picture in an old encyclopedia available for clippings, it immediately reminded me of the game. I knew I needed to use it for something.

After time, i had these large bezels mailed to me, a collection of purple ribbons and beads, a metal corner shape, and this train picture. They all came together with some wire, chain, and resin to make this fab necklace.