Firebrand - #84-96: the steampunk dump

I am very excited to have been invited to sell my work at an event hosted by Alaska Premier Closets during their First Friday event in September (see: FIRST FRIDAY NOTICE).

The topic of steampunk jewelry was briefly mentioned and I gathered that it would be good to have a selection of items that fall into that category.  I have a limited amount of time to increase my stock of jewelry so I will be trying to produce more, as I can.  If this event goes well, it is more likely that I will branch out into other upcoming art and craft fairs.

So that said, here are 9 new pairs of earrings, 2 new rings, 1 new brooch, and 1 new necklace, all with what I would consider to be elements of steampunk style.

glued together gear bits, bird, and key with white lace ribbon and fish hook clasps

glued together propeller and gear charms with butterfly charm attached with chains

mirror charms glued to post studs plus attached long bead

three gear bits and zipper head glued together plus attached chain

belt buckle charms attached to metal roses plus red ribbon

green beads attached to filigree metal cone

metal charm glued to keyhole charm and gear bits

bead springs glued to zipper heads, glued to post, with attached bone feather charms

round clock charms with attached chains

large pewter metallic flower charm glued to metal ring band

medium copper metallic flower charm glued to metal ring band

large butterfly charm and small owl charm glued to thick gear bit with brooch pin attached

shabby chic charm necklace on red ribbon

Most everything I post here will still be up for sale at my Etsy shop, at least until the event on 09/05/14.  At that time, I will deactivate the listings for the items I intend to bring with me and will repost what has not been sold.

FIRST FRIDAY NOTICE

I will be hosted by Alaska Premier Closets during the First Friday events in September and will join other local artists in selling my work.

Here is more information about the event:

Tickets can be purchased here.

Please consider checking out this event and supporting local artists, businesses, and non-profits.  Thanks!

Cohesive - #81-83: the bezels and resin

I am becoming somewhat obsessed with resins and bezels.  I want to pour the stuff on everything and have it harden into an unexpected adornment. For this round, I decided to make two necklaces and a pair of earrings and again used ice resin by SLK.  The earrings were filled with crushed shells while the necklaces were filled with paper, origami for the smaller one and stock paper for the large one, as well as charms and beads.

Creating a doming effect with the resin is a multi-step process.  There must first be the initial application of resin which will need to harden thoroughly if not completely.  Once the first layer has solidified, another layer of resin is added VERY slowly and drop by drop.  I made the mistake of adding too quickly and had an awful resin mess with these pieces before I was able to recover and successfully get the dome shape.  Here are the pendants and earrings hardening after the second application.

I combined and added more embellishments than I feel I normally do, particularly for the necklaces.  I have a lot of beads and I want to start using more of them on strands with various methods.  With the larger necklace (which I had a hard time convincing myself to put up for sale), the beads are stacked on a black leather thong with thin bead separators and some ribbon lace and metal charms were used to embellish.

For the smaller necklace, I revisited head pins to make each bead its own loops.  I had forgotten how much I like head pins.  Purple o-rings added nice bits of contrasting color to the chain and beads.

The earrings were embellished with a bit of white cord and blue o-rings.

Abyss - #79-80: the sea urchin backbone set

One of my favorite local jewelry supply stores caries a drool-worthy amount of beads made out of bone, antler, glass, and other of my favorite materials.  They also carry sea urchin backbones and I have seen some lovely jewelry made from this.  I wanted to incorporate them into a necklace and earring set while paying homage to the sea.  I did so by also adding fossilized shark teeth, plastic pearls, and by using a sea green wire, ribbon, and o-rings for accents.

The backbones and shark teeth were bought already drilled.  The square and round bead charms are amazonite and riverstone. 

SIDE NOTE --

I have redesigned #47 and #48.

Mod - #74-78: the Beatles set

It was suggested to me that I should consider making some Beatles themed pieces in honor of this being their 50th anniversary year.  So I shopped around town one afternoon and found a decent book of old Beatles photographs as a source book and also a few cute British-themed charms.

I have really been wanting to try out inserting things into bezels and then filling them with hardening resin. There are really convenient and cheap ways to do the resin now and I was able to find something like that in the Susan Lenart Kazmer (I am a fan) line of products called ice resin. I decided to do a Beatles-themed bezel charm bracelet this way.

It really couldn't have been easier. The resin and hardener are pushed out in equal amounts and must be stirred and rest for a few minutes and then dripped into the bezels containing the paper.  It hardens completely over a few days.  The bezels and other charms were then added to chain with the addition of a toggle closure.

  

Next up were two bracelets that were bought already made but then modified with decoupaged pictures of beetles and the Beatles, one with color and the other black and white.

  

 

Finally, there were two sets of earrings done which included charms from a British-themed collection.

 

Avia - #73: the custom cranes

This was a requested custom wall hang inspired in part by #56.  The main design element was to be the presence of 6 cranes.  Materials included a 12" long wood piece, stock paper, a photograph of Shell Falls in Wyoming, metal frame bits, eye screws, and a length of chain.  New techniques used for this wall hang included splicing background stock paper with the waterfall photograph, painting with chalk paint, plus a combination of sealing, sanding, and waxing / wiping with multiple colors of creme wax.  The eye screws were inserted into the sides for the hanging chain.