Finished Farthing in an Oil Slick Bracelet - COM Update

Last week I posted about my Art Jewelry Elements Component of the Month for July, but I ran into some complications!  I had to redo my bezel, and just didn't get finished.  Well, I had hope to work on it over the weekend, but that didn't come into fruition, so I picked it back up this week.

All the components...copper bezel, connector rings, farthing clasp by Niky Sayers, and gorgeous lampwork by Sue Kennedy.

Fast forward, I not only ruined the 1st bezel attempt, while trying to solder on the connector rings on this one, totally melted the silver bezel again! Note to self...attach copper connector rings first, since they need much more heat than the fragile fine silver bezel! Duh!

Anyway, I finally got it done and am really pleased with it!  I textured the backplate and ditched the little silver balls...too fussy, I think.

I love Niky's farthing clasp right next to Sue's big flower cab!

You can really see the iridescence of Sue's beads in this light!

I curved the connectors slightly so it would lay on the wrist better!

This beauty is already listed in my shop!  Hey, did you know I was offering 30% off everything in my shop?  We have had a hard summer financially...healthcare costs and just blew our rear wheel cylinder on our main vehicle and had to spend money out the wazoo to fix!  Now, school is about to start and those back-to-school supplies are killer!  Use coupon code BRAKES30 at checkout for a limited time. I am going through and listing other inventory that has never seen the light of day, so keep checking back!

Thanks for stopping by!

AJE Component of the Month Challenge for July - Farthing Edition

Hello all!  Long time, no see!  It is time for the July 2015 installment of Art Jewelry Element's Component of the Month Challenge.  For new readers, or those who need to be reminded, every few months, one of the AJE team members offers one of their handmade components to the rest of the design team, plus does a giveaway to lucky readers who leave a comment!  On the last day of the month, we reveal what we created with said lovely component!

Farthing coin components by Niky Sayers...beads and clasps!

This month, Niky Sayers presented us with amazing components created from English farthing coins!  Mine was cleverly turned into a clasp!  I love it!

The clasp I received from Niky! So sweet!

I decided to use some artisan lampwork beads from the sweet and talented Sue Kennedy of SueBeads.  I love this glass...it has a sheen that reminds me of an oil slick!

Gorgeous beads by Sue Kennedy!

My intent was to bezel-set the cab and create a bracelet using Niky's sweet clasp.  I thought, "I got this", then proceeded to procrastinate, then get bogged down with the silly, simple soldered bezel, then my brakes went out on my car last night after work, then......well, you know the rest.

This is how far I got!

The rings will be soldered to the back for connectors, the little balls are meant for bezel embellishment, and the lopsided dapped copper circles will be bead caps (maybe).  That is as far as I got! I intend to complete it this weekend, so stay tuned!

Here are the other participants. Go see the pretties!!!

Guest bloggers
Rebecca Anderson

Nan Smith

Jess Green

AJE Team
Sue Kennedy
Kristen Stevens
Jenny Davies-Reazor
Lindsay Starr
Caroline Dewison
Lesley Watt
Linda Landig
Rebekah Payne
Niky Sayers

May 2015 AJE Component of the Month

May's component of the month features Sue Kennedy of SueBeads.  She is one of all time favorite lampwork artists and I have many of her lovely beads, but this month she went in a different direction and offered us her gorgeous beaded beads!

A gorgeous pile of beaded beads!

The ones I got!  Love those colors :)

I was going to not do earrings just because she sent a pair, but I had technical difficulties while working on the necklace design I had in mind, so at the last minute, I said why fight it!

I paired these beauties with another pair of beauties by Sue...her flower stamped beads!  I love these beads and I have gotten several colors in the round and her chicklet style.

I added some golden yellow Czech glass lentil and flowers to bring out those colors in the beaded beads.

This shows how the little lentil beads will hang when worn.

Another view in outside light!

These are long, not quite shoulder sweepers, but they definitely make a statement and I think would be perfect for summer!  I will put them in my shop later today!

Thanks for stopping by...I hope you go visit the rest of this month's design team!

Guests

Elisabeth Auld

Mischelle Andrade

Karen Martinez

AJE Team

Susan Kennedy

Jennifer Cameron

Diana Ptaszynski

Kristen Stevens

Jenny Davies-Reazor

Lesley Watt

Melissa Meman

Linda Landig

Caroline Dewison

Lindsay Starr

Niky Sayers

Art Jewelry Elements Component of the Month, for November 2014

I am happy to be back on the last day of the month to share my design for the AJE COM featuring cute beaded ring components by our own Kristen Stevens!

Because Kristen is just so cool, she sent me a green set AND an indigo blue set!  These are made from twins, meaning they have 2 holes and they have a very cool iridescence which is very hard to capture in photos.

As per my standard MO, I waited until the last minute and created a pair of earrings with my indigo pair yesterday!

I wanted to make the beaded rings part of something else, so I found some copper washers that were the perfect size, after some hammering!  I decided I wanted to attach the beaded rings to the washers, so I got everything ready by texturing, punching some holes for the wire and added interest, patina'ed everything with LOS, then tumbled.  These are always important steps to remember to do BEFORE attaching fragile components like these that you don't want to expose to chemicals, or water!

I used very thin gauged copper wire and wrapped the rings onto the washters.  I used absolutely gorgeous lampwork headpins from Sue Kennedy of SueBeads.  These are my most favorite color combination she does!

I added my own hand fabricated sterling ear wires, embellished with tiny glass beads and copper wire for the finished pair.  I think a tiny touch of red to bring out the red in Sue's lampwork would have been great, but I couldn't find anything tiny enough and just the right color red for the jov.  These worked in a pinch!

There you go!  Thanks for stopping by.  Here are the participating Team Members and Guests for the month.  Go take a peek at all the gorgeousness!

Guest Designers

Cindy Martin Shaw

Shai Williams

Karen Martinez

AJE Team

Susan Kennedy

Linda Landig

LesleyWatt 

MelissaMeman

Caroline Dewison

Francesca Watson

Jenny Davies-Reazor

Lindsay Starr

Jennifer Cameron

Thanks again, Kristen!

AJE Component of the Month for May 2014

The gorgeous components this month are created by the talented Sue Kennedy of SueBeads.  She gave us the choice of one of her amazing pressed glass cabochons and several of her new pressed bead design...chiclet beads!  It was a really hard choice, but I chose a cabochon and received a gorgeous purple one!

I first thought that I would practice my soldered bezel setting skills, but kept trying to think of something different.  I settled on creating a woven wire "lace" bezel against a copper flower back plate.

I wanted to keep the necklace simple, but wanted to incorporate some different color than the copper and purple of the cab.  I remembered these sweet little Czech glass "twin" beads I bought a while back.  Not sure what I was thinking...am not a seed beader!  I devised a way to wire-wrap them into a chain though and they work perfectly with the purple cab.  I added a second strand of copper "hammered bar" chain I had in my chain stash.

Wanted to add a dangle beneath the flower, but couldn't figure out what.  I remembered some Czech glass teardrops I had bought and they really complemented the purple cab and the Czech glass in the chain. I oxidized everything with LOS and let it tumble for an hour or so.

This was such a fun piece to make and you all know by now that I am a sucker for Sue's lampwork!  In fact, I purchased one of the 1st pairs of chiclet beads she posted, and just last week, swooped in for 2 more pairs!

Thanks for stopping by!  Go show some love to our guest designers and the AJE team!

Guests

Shai Williams

Erin Prais-Hintz

Kari Asbury

Carolyn Lawson

Merja Sundstrom

AJE Members

Susan Kennedy

Diana Ptaszynski

Linda Landig

Lesley Watt

Caroline Dewison

Francesca Watson

Jenny Davies-Reazor

Rebekah Payne

Keirsten Giles

Kristen Stevens

Creating with Cabochons Challenge/Blog Hop

Sally Russick, the talented, sweet, and generous artist behind The Studio Sublime is hosting another wonderful challenge/blog hop, Creating with Cabochons!  This one hit home with me, as it has been my goal to practice and work on my soldered bezel-setting skills.

I set out by choosing a few tasty cabs (short for cabochon, in jewelry-speak) and had the dream of trying a few different settings.  I had an idea for 3 different pendant settings, and at least 2 rings!  I have been collecting favorite stone cabs for a while in various shapes and sizes, so I pulled a few out and started playing.

Then, as things tend to happen, I saw one of Sue Kennedy's glass frit cabochons at BeadFest last month, and my mind started racing in a different direction.  Still soldered, bezel-set, but a totally different look from the designs with stones I had in my mind.

Copper and sterling, embellished with a 4mm turquoise cab...this was a bugger!  I melted the first one while trying to get the silver balls to stay on, and I must have used way too much solder, since even though I checked it about 20 times, once I was ready to set it, I had to tap and push and stretch to get it to fit.  As it is, I am scared it might pop out!   Overall, I am pretty proud of it, however!  I may go back and do copper chain and 86 the flowers!

Oh, by the way, all the other pieces I had high hopes of completing and amazing everyone with?  They obviously didn't come to fruition. Although, I did get one about 88% complete with great results (for me), but I must have gotten too cocky, as I botched it at the end.  It was going to be an asymetrical setting with 2 stones.  Luckily, I was able to salvage the larger setting, so I will continue on with a new design in the near future.  Here it is in mid-salvage with the stone just there...sorry, I forgot what the stone is.  I think I am going to create a new back plate with room for something for embellishment, and just solder this to it.  I am purposely hiding the top where I cut off the ruined piece which was a smaller round bezel for a 10mm carnelian :(

About 2 days after I signed up for the challenge, I remembered a honkin' big labrodorite cab I had that I cut out of a mass-produced pendant I bought ages ago.  The setting was really ugly and the cab has a big fault in it, but it really has amazing flash.  I started wrapping it with a needle-lace technique I learned a few years ago, but I put it aside, unfinished.  I decided to finish the initial bezel, but didn't get a chance to completely finish it.  My idea is to add some tiny faceted labradorite I have around the edges, and create sort of a lacy bail.  More on that later...

Thanks, Sally, for kicking my pants to get me to actually work on something that I have been wanting to but putting off!  Practice, practice, practice!  But hey, this is a Blog Hop...there are lots of other artists that joined in and have been working on amazing things, with lots of different techniques.  Who knew there were so many ways to incorporate cabochons into your designs.  Bead-woven bezels, wire-wrapped bezels, tab-set bezels...the list goes on and on!  Go and check out the awesome-ness!

Your Host:  Sally Russick

D Lynne  Bowland

Alicia Marinache           

Lynn  Jobber           

Jenny Davies-Reazor           

 

Jo-Ann  Woolverton           

Marde Lowe           

Dawn Doucette           

Mary K McGraw           

Gloria Allen           

Cheri  Reed           

Sonya Stille           

Elizabeth Owens Dwy           

Veralynne   Malone           

Tania Hagen           

Lynsey  Brooks           

Christina Miles           

Holly  Westfall           

Kathy  Lindemer           

Patti Vanderbloemen           

Therese Frank           

Adrienne Berry           

Liz   E  

Tanty  Sri Hartanti           

Ginger Bishop

Renetha Stanziano           

Marlene  Cupo           

Sandi Volpe           

Sharyl McMillian-Nelson           

Niky  Sayers

Mischelle Fanucchi           

Tracy  Stillman           

Skylar Bre'z           

Ann Schroeder           

Paula Kramer

Jess Green           

Susan Kennedy           

Stacie  Florer           

Cathie  Carroll           

Susan F.   

Michelle Caballero       

Sabine Dittrich           

Kristina Johansson           

Kimberly Sturrup-Roberts           

Melissa  Meman           

Cheryl McCloud         

Michelle  Timms           

Cindy  Pack                 

Lynda  Carson

Cynthia  Machata           

Julia  Harris           

Karin  Slaton

Ingrid  Anderson           

Karin Grosset Grange

Jasvanti Patel 

Inge  von Roos

Molly Alexander

Toltec Jewels  

 

Playing Catch-up with the AJE Earring Challenge...Reveal 17

I am so behind on this challenge, I have decided to do double duty.  Hopefully, if I create an extra pair every 2 weeks I will be able to!

Here are 3 pair I created during the last couple of weeks:

Torch-fired enamel on copper, Czech glass and sterling silver

Some of my most favorite lampwork by Sue Kennedy, torch-fired enamel caps, Czech glass, copper and sterling.

Repurposed brass leaves, torch-fire enameled by me, Czech glass leaves, flowers and berrries; copper and sterling.

Go on over to the AJE Blog for the reveal to see a few I featured today, and be sure to click on the links of everyone else that participated!

AJE Earring Challenge - 1st Reveal...

but I hope not a dollar short!  What is the AJE Earring Challenge?  Over at Art Jewelry Elements, the gauntlet has been thrown down!  Make 52 pairs of earrings...seems like a lot, but it is only 1 a week...easy, right! Unless you are a procrastinator, like me ;)  The catch is that they must contain an art bead or component and you must credit the artist, even if it is yourself!

I started out on Week 1 with sterling paddles and lampwork glass disks from the amazing Sue Kennedy of SueBeads...my favorite part of these, aside from the obvious lovely lampwork, are my hand wrought molten silver drops I learned to make from Stacie Florer at the last ArtBliss workshop!

For week 2, I created a pair from pretty, floral blue and green ceramic charms from the lovely and talented LeAnn Weih of Summers Studio...she is such a sweetheart!  I have had these in my stash for a while because I wanted to do them justice...what do you think?  I added Czech glass flowers and some sweet Thai Hill Tribe silver flowers as well as my hand wrought earwires.

You can visit other bloggers who are participating in the challenge by going here...or find all the beautiful earrings in one place on Pinterest!

Fun With Lampwork Disks

A  week or so ago, friend, colleague, and fellow AJE contributor, Sue Kennedy posted a few pairs of lampwork disks on her blog.  These weren't your basic disks, these had frit around the edges...they reminded me of candy sprinkles!  After clicking on her Etsy site and not finding them there, I left her a comment saying "Where are they? I want!".  Sue emailed me and sent me photos of what I could choose from.  Uh, oh!  I want them all!

Here is the photo I took after I received them...

As I am in production mode for a couple of upcoming Holiday shows in the next 2 weeks, I  totally justified getting them to create earrings for my inventory. At least, I figured I would be making earrings from all of them, after all, they are pairs, but once I starting working with them a few other ideas filled my head.

I thought it would be fun to blog about the designs I came up with, and after getting checking in with Sue, here we go!

 This is a group shot of all my works in progress...nothing is finished yet, but wanted to show you some of the possibilities of these gorgeous beads.

This quirky pair has mixed metals and will eventually have dangles on the bottom as well.  I plan to hammer the silver and add patina.

These have been connected to texturized copper disks and embellished with Czech glass leaves.  You can barely tell where the lampork ends and the copper begins!

Embossed copper squares hung on the diagonal - pardon the firescale!

More texturized copper...these have sterling disks and headpins.

More sterling...these reminded me of sea glass, so I decided they needed pearls as well!

Not quite so far along on these, but I know the green Czech glass leaves will be dangled underneath!

This is another unfinished project...with the addition of a few disks I had hoarded from Karen Leonardo, I decided these are going to be a charm bracelet...haven't decided if it will be one with just disks, or 2 with some Czech glass added.

I hope these have given you a few ideas about how to use these yummy colorful wheels.  This was just a drop in the bucket!  I think singles would make great button-style clasps. 

What about you?  Do you have any innovative or unique ways to use these gorgeous beads?  We would love to hear about them!