Bramble - #64-68: the doll parts set

More time than usual has passed since my last item blog due in part to having a slight case of burnout last week.  I think I know the reasons for the burnout and have gotten over it but the necklace in the set was sort of a catalyst and represented the piece I wasn't able to figure out, complete, and move on from. Yesterday was the breakthrough day though and I think this completed set is now one of my favorites.

I started by removing the face of a barbie doll which was slightly difficult, not based on materials or technique, but because it was my first time doing so and it gave me the heebie jeebies. I hate dolls and never keep them in the house but picked up some at the thrift store for repurposed jewelry. Soon after, it became easier to focus on cutting through the plastic with an xacto knife to remove the facial features.

The main material in the pendant I was trying to make was a round bezel which I planned to attach to a square bezel. The face was slightly difficult to insert into the round bezel without it looking rat-like, so I went with an alternative method and only inserted a certain portion of the features. I like how that turned out better, appearance-wise. The plastic was secured with my usual decoupage medium that I pretty much use on every project, Mod Podge (matte).

And that was pretty much where I left it for a week until yesterday. I knew I wanted to make an accessories set with common elements and had just picked up a bag of little cloth roses and some various plastic pearls that seemed like they would help make those elements. The eye pins in the picture were just used to for the mock up and the bead placement planning. The actual attachments were all done using the ice-pink wire, which was a great color and worked well to bring the other colors together.

Results:

The bracelet was made using a blank metal cuff. I first attached a frame of small plastic pearl beads followed by using more adhesive to secure a plastic doll shoe. The roses were attached by winding some of the pink wire through the backs and wrapping under the round bezel.

The earrings began with using adhesive to attach a key and a keyhole charm to a pair of barbie hands. From there, I made a small bead strand using the pink wire and it consisted of two mini pearls and bead caps framing a gray bead. Fish hooks were attached and the earrings were completed by winding some pink wire through the backs of the roses, making an eye loop, and wrapping the rose to the hand.

This is the first time I have done a ring and have recently found a nice stash of adjustable metal rings with blank bezel space. I continued the barbie / rose / pearl theme by attaching the face bit not used in the necklace bezel plus the other common elements.

The square bezel barrettes don't have any barbie bits but were just a continuation of the elements of the set.

I really like how the necklace, which had previously had me frustrated, ended up developing. Instead of maintaining a chain necklace as I have done in the past, I broke up the chain by adding bead and bead caps which I looped using the pink wire. Six of the plastic pearls have a light rose cast and the two closest to the bezel are light taupe. The rose was attached with looped wire and hanging from the bottom of the pendant is a pair of handcuffs which have pearls attached with wire.