Challenge entry

I stumbled upon the Art Bead Scene blog not too long ago... i was intrigued by their idea of having a monthly challenge. This month, the challenge was to create a necklace based on Van Gogh's 'Irises'. I have always found this to be a beautiful painting... I decided to enter.

The point of the 'Art Bead Scene' blog seems to be to promote using hand-made beads (they call 'art beads') in jewelry as opposed to using the factory created beads. I do see where they are comming from, but i am glad they are not so hardcore about it that it feels limiting. MANY different mediums for creating the beads (including wood carving as i used in mine) are accepted, glasswork and polymer clay seeming to be the most common. This is my submission to the challenge.





















I was inspired in a variety of ways for this piece. My first point of inspiration here came from the blog of the lovely Daryn Mentock, from one of her lovely curled wire journal pages. I saw it and i just knew i had to make one myself. The idea for the beads with the wrapped wire came from a flickr picture i'd seen while surfing around, but i forgot to write down who it was or a link (too bad, as hers were gorgeous). The ideas for the pendant bead was all my own. I had stumbled upon a super cheap wood carving kit at a local stationairy/art store, and even though i have ZERO experience or training with wood carving i decided I couldn't resist. I had a lot of fun, keeping it simple, carving the 'leaves' into the wood here. I then painted it up with a mix of paint and pearlescent medium.

I finally bought a drill this weekend and, as it was a four day weekend here in Seoul, i have been having so much fun drilling to my hearts content and finally finishing a couple of projects that were just waiting for the drill. More necklace posts to come!

In conclusion, wish me luck having my name drawn from the contest, as i would win a wackload of handmade beads if they pull my name. I am so excited to see what the theme will be next month!

One World One Heart

Well, i'm a week after the official beginning, but i guess people still have close to a month to come visit my blog and comment... I have decided this year to participate in the 'One World One Heart' blogging event.

For those of you who are not familliar with this event, it is where a bunch of bloggers all have giveaways on their blogs. In order to be eligable for this giveaway on my blog, all you need to do is leave a comment on this post. In order to participate in my giveaway, you must have a blog of your own that you keep, but you do not have to do a giveaway of your own. Please make sure to leave some way to contact you if you are the lucky winner! The point of this event is to increase traffic to artist blogs, discover new blogs and to generate more of a 'togetherness' feeling among artist bloggers. If you want more details, please visit the 'One World One Heart' main site here.




For my giveaway, I am offering two things. The first person who wins will get a bracelet i created myself. It uses links and swirls from wire that i wraped myself, and nice green beads that spin around on the swirls.


For a larger picture, you can click here on the picture.

The second winner will get a selection of jewelry supplies such as chain or beads, scrabooking papers, ribbons and other such miscellanious stuff useful to a jewelry artist, or to a mixed media artist.

Good luck everyone! Remember, post a comment on this post (only this post) to be eligible to win. You must post before February 11th, as I will be posting the winner on February 12th.

One World One Heart

Oh no! The One World One Heart contest has started and i don't yet have something to give away!! I knew i wanted to sign up this year. I checked it out last year and looked at a couple blogs. Even if i did not win anything, i enjoyed seeing all the giveaways, and looking at all the new blogs. Give me time, and i will get something up for this soon! I just need to finish off a project to give away. I feel like i have about 3 projects but they aren't done yet.

If you haven't heard of the 'One World One Heart' event yet, you should check out the website here

Of things to come...

A teaser of things to come... all i lack is a drill to finally put all the pieces together. I'll post more details once i finish it.

Would it be bad of me to ask one of the many many construction guys i pass on the way to work if i could borrow their drill?? hhahahahha

Deryn's tutorial!

Did anyone follow the link I posted to Deryn's fabulous tutorial yesterday? You really should. I checked it out, and decided to create the links she showed myself. I really had a lot of fun making these, and i was quite pleased with the results. I also have a couple suggestions if you try this yourself.
























Check out the totally sweet links i made from the tutorial! I find myself quite proud of how they turned out. I made the white ones first, and they are slightly smaller. I used silver wire, musical score paper, yellow transparent beads, and one pearl for this one. For the second one, i used shiny brown/brassy wire, blue scrapbooking paper, thin gold wire and pearls for the beads. I am really quite pleased with how these turned out.

This is a good tutorial to follow, as the pictures are clear and the instructions are sufficiently explicit. I did learn a couple things/change a couple things while doing it myself:

1) Use good quality wire. I have not yet found good wire here in Seoul, and therefor have had to make do with cheap stuff. The hammering and twisting puts a fair amount of strain on the wire. Three of mine that i was making snapped from stress midway through.

2) You can use a variety of things instead of the fabric she used. I used paper on both of mine. For one of the sheet music, i made the triangle as she suggested. However, i find that if you have a pattern on your paper (or music notes) it becomes quite difficult to read after the layering with the triangle. I prefer myself to have more of a long rectangle, and just wrap it straight like that. It doesn't create the pleasing bump as you see in hers, but it does keep the pattern on your paper visible and makes for a tidier look.

3)I was forced to make small modifications as i lacked some of the supplies Deryn had access to. I only had needle nosed and round tipped pliers, with wire cutters built in, I had no bench block or pillow, and i had no sanding block. I found that i worked this out okay, using the pliers on hand, the floor as a bench block and skipping the sanding. I can see how these would all be useful things once we get to have the mad skills Deryn does, but it is still possible for us who lack the supplies to create these links.

All in all, this is a really wonderful tutorial that i would highly recommend checking out :). I don't yet know what exactly I will use them for, but i suspect the brown ones will look very nice in this necklace i've been working on. I've been slowly working my way through Stephanie Lee's Semiprecious Salvage. For those of you who have this great book, I am currently working on the 4th necklace in the book (the one with the doll arm). I think these links will match in nicely.

Fabulous Tutorial

This picture is from one of my favourite blogs. The incredibly talented Deryn Mentock has put up a tutorial on her blog, Something Sublime. The fabulous jewelry she shows on there is beyond sublime, it is absolutely stunning. I adore her style, and the beautiful necklaces she creates. It is often tempting to just go wild and buy out her etsy shop... and i totally would if i had the money to spend (about 200$).

Just today, Deryn has put up a really wonderful tutorial for her 'wrapped beads'. You should really go check this out. Here is the link directly to the tutorial. I will definately be making something for this, and i will show them in a post when i get them finished.

Johan Hangaman, and a request for etsy jewlery suggestions

I've been keeping so busy here with doing some sightseeing around Seoul and shopping for things for my new place, and still buying christmas presents for shipping back home. However, i have had some time for doing other things too.

I have finished off another ATC. The background was created about a year ago, when i was experimenting with newspaper and inks. I really liked how it turned out, but didn't have a use for it at that time. I tucked it away for later use (as i do so many other backgrounds). I then was inspired flipping through an old issue of Cloth Paper Scissors (see 2 paragraphs down) and knew it was time to use that background. I sketched the main body with pencil, and then painted it in with acrylic. I cut a square hole in the torso, and then gel medium'd on a small metal frame i'd found at a dollar store. After, i used a packing tape transfer with a picture of a nest i'd digitally altered to make into blue tones and had upped the contrast.

I love using packing tape transfers because they're interesting to look at, simple and very cost efficient. If you have never tried one, they are the simplest thing. Take a laser printed/photocopied picture and burnish on a piece of tape. Put the picture in warm water for 30 minutes and then rub the paper off the tape. The ink will stay on the tape... you now have a transparant copy of your picture to stick wherever you like! I learned this at a mini-workshop, put on by one of my fellow ATC group people back home.

I was inspired on this one by Johan Hangaman's fabulous sculptures shown in the July/August issue of Cloth Paper Scissors, especially 'Ajar'. You can find her main page here or you can skip right to her fabulous gallery (Ajar is the second one)here. I would highly recomend checking otu johan's studio. Her work is so very beautiful, and i find it speaks very strongly to me. I am fascinated by the varied medias she uses to create her sculptures, including cement, wire, beeswax, fabric, and the list goes on. The very idea of working with all those fabulous media makes me drool, but not so much as the idea of seeing one of these in person! If you're in L.A. (or the area surrounding it), she has a spot in the Los Angeles Art Show. Wish i was closer myself. It is not only the media that i find beautiful, but the stunning simplicity to her lovely, lovely sculptures speaks very strongly to me. This is worth checking out!






I also finished off a bracelet. I've worn it a couple times now, and am wishing i owned a blowtorch to 'draw a bead on the wire' like they talk about in the book (i had to leave mine at home, as i don't think they wanted those on the plane hahaha).

Lastly, i've been poking around etsy for a bit... my book loving boyfriend and i have a deal... for our christmas presents (which are late this year as a result of the move) we are to make a wish list of 5 things online, and then the other will ship one of the five things. I am feeling a little overwhelmed at the etsy site... there is SO MUCH fabulous stuff! Unless you know really the type of thing you are looking for, it is a big thing to pick something special! One helpful way is to have a favorite artist or two on there. I know i want to pick up a necklace... but which one? Do you guys have any favorite jewelry artists on etsy? I like things that have a touch of 'steampunk' to them... something with a hint of lovely rust?