Onto workshop no. 2 of Artfest 2010…

My second class was with Catherine Witherell making precious metal clay (pmc) pieces and earrings. Catherine is extremely talented and passionate about the precious metal clay process.

Since I am newly again wearing earrings (no more young babes pulling on them), I had to do this class.  It was really fun, but a little harder than I expected.  I had no idea how many steps were in the process of using pmc.

I was able to make 8 pairs of earrings and one pendant out of the teeny 25 grams of clay.  I made sure to use every little bit.  We used stamps to make the impressions onto the clay, cut out shapes, then carefully sanded the edges to make them smooth. The drying time of the clay was quicker than I had imagined and it was a little difficult for me to get an even pressure with the stamps.  Didn’t matter though, since I’ll be the one wearing them and I don’t care!

Because we were running late, we just barely got our pieces out of the kiln before class time was over. So, I wasn’t able to make any earrings out of my pieces.  Fortunately for me, the lovely Tally O. came to  my rescue making me some earring wires with my supplies.  Awesome!

I spent today, finishing up my earrings adding beads and wire and now I have eight lovely new pair plus a little bird pendant that needs a necklace.  I probably won’t go out and buy a kiln (though I’m tempted), but I sure did enjoy the process and truly appreciate those amazing jewelry artists out there.

A quickie post to show you these little zipper brooches that I made about a week ago.  My mother-in-law also gave  me a bag of old zippers.  As I sifted through them, I remembered seeing this video on MSL.  So, I got out my glue gun and just started playing, twisting and twirly the zipper halves every which way to see  what i could make.  This is what I came up with.

The old, dusty and faded look of the zippers give them a kind of vintagey look, I think.  I have no idea what I will do with all of them and have not yet sewn or glued on any brooch pins to the backs. I wish I had though, they are perfect for a quick  fancying-up of a dress or bag.

Check out my two new necklaces!  I love them so much!

This one was made by my friend Deb, from work.  Not only is she a fine artist, but she makes these sweet little necklaces out of silver word charms and silk cording.  She picked the perfect works for me:  mother, organic and handmade.

This dream necklace is from Christyn at Beadup.  I won it in a giveaway she had a while back.  Isn’t it so sweet and dainty?  I alternate between the two necklaces quite often.

The 6 stack ring set that I am wearing are called promise rings.  They are from Tumbleweed Bead Co. and were a gift from me mum a while back.  I just love stack-able rings. When I was in high school, I’m pretty sure I had a ring on at least 7 of my fingers!  Now I wear 11 rings on 4 fingers.

I just wanted to share these awesome pendants I received from artbeads, my favorite bead shop.  They have free shipping.  How can you beat that.

Anyway, check out this beautiful bird pendant.  I have a thing for birds (as some of you might know) and this really caught my eye.  It is made by artisan Tania Hartman out of resin and sterling silver.  It is very dainty and sweet. I plan on adding some beads to that wire.

I also got these great wood pendants and a couple of beads.  I am very smitten by the wood.  I’ve already made a pair of earrings out of these matching pendants.  I would have taken a picture of them, but it was getting late and I was losing daylight very quickly.

Only two more work days and we’re off on our vacation!! We are counting down the hours! Yippee!!!

I had originally wanted to make this flower out of a thrifted 100% wool sweater. One that I bought for fifty cents.  When I tried to felt it, it wouldn’t felt. Two washes with hot water, a bit of soap and nothing.  It’s probably a treated sweater that won’t felt.  Is there anything else that might work?

Anyway, I used fabric and it turned out okay, i guess. Kinda shaggy.  The whole purpose was to show-off these beautiful Toho Glass Seed Beads from Artbeads.  These beads are very pretty, kinda irridescent, so they add a bit of sparkle, which I like.  I also used them on my Valentine hearts.

That second picture above, makes me want to make a beaded headband.  Wouldn’t that be pretty. Maybe on brown or gray fabric.  Hmmm, something to think about.

Anyway, I machine stitched,  beaded and then cut slits and rolled it up into a flower. Added a bit of craft felt on the back to secure it, some leaves and a pin. A bit tedious I know, but sometimes tedious is good.

So let me know about the non-felt-able wool sweater.    Should I give up, do something else with it?  Please give me some ideas.

I think I’m finally coming out of my funk.  I have some things half done and am feeling a crafting frenzy coming on.

I did manage to make these earrings on Sunday.  They are made out of 36g brass metal.  Leftover pieces from making new metal birds.  I cut out the shape I liked, pressed lines into the metal and then heated over a flame to make them rustic.  I like how they turned out and am amazed that I didn’t burn myself as I am very prone to burn accidents.

I also got some new jewelry, not made by me.  The earrings are from jeweledmonkey.  I bought these and these from there too, courtesy of my wonderful mommy.  The pretty bird necklace is from a local shop.  They make me feel a bit more fancy.  Something I feel I have been lacking over the last year.

And today, I went hunting for used jars (school science project) and found this old typewriter for $3!!!   The kids played with it for HOURS!! The tape still works a teeny bit and I’ve found more on line. This could be very helpful for my little guy in learning the rest of those tricky alphabet letters. Q,W,V,M,N, D & P can be so confusing!

The weekend was so nice.  The boys played outside and the hubby worked on his bike, right outside a very close window.  I was able to get some happy crafting time in while watching and listening to the business of my guys. The laughing, tools and toys clinking, yelling, and singing. It all fueling my creative and content mood. Such a nice change from the crazy non-stop schedule we’ve had lately.

I was tooling around with the idea of making a bracelet with skull beads.  Had none, but did have some polymer clay.  Perfect.   Hopped on the internet for some instruction but only found ones using a mold (great one here).  Didn’t have that either and didn’t want to make one.  Decided on just making them as simply and quickly as possible.  Here is what I did.

You need a bit of white polymer clay, a pencil (with broken tip), a large sewing needle, black paint and a very fine paint brush.   The pencil is the most important tool – make special note of broken tip shape.

1. Take a pinch of clay.  2. Roll into a ball.  3. Pinch end to made pear shape.

4-7.  Take handy-dandy broken pencil and press into clay making a big indention for the each eye and a smaller one for the nose.

8-10.   Use the tip of the pencil to create a teethy smile.

11.  Using  a needle, carefully poke hole into head (note evil laugh – a must for making skulls).

12. When all faces are smiling up at you, bake ‘em at 275 degrees for 5 minutes (I tried 9 minutes first and burned the whole batch. 5 minutes worked much better for me, but baking time may vary).  Allow to cool.

13-15.  Carefully paint eyes, nose and mouth with very fine paint brush.  Let dry.

Now, go make something really cool with them.

I’ve been really wanting to make some of these for a while and boy are they fun.  I have a bunch of scrabble tiles from a yard sale and from my mother-in-law, so I bought diamond glaze and Aanraku bails from Sun and Moon Craft Kits. The gal from this shop was so incredibly kind and helpful with my original lost order. She has a great shop with some really fun kits for having friends over and playing.  I highly recommend her shop.

The pendant on the left has a piece of scrapbook paper and the one on the right is also a scrapbook piece of paper but I personalized it with the little bird illustration.  My sister is due to have her baby in 8 weeks so I wanted it to be kinda sweet and motherly.

There are lots of tutorials on how to do this.  Here are a few that I looked at.

Anne Howes Keepsake

All things Littleput

Cinnamon Pink

DIY How to

Don’t forget to comment on my last post to win the Celebration Package.  You have until Friday at midnight.

Remember this button bracelet?  It is made from shank buttons. After finding all of these shimmery shank buttons, a while back, I’ve had a plan to make another one of these bracelets, especially since I am in button and jewelry making mode.

It’s made from a store bought chain bracelet, a whole bunch of jump rings, a whole lot of shank buttons, and needle-nose pliers.

I fastened a button to every link with a jump ring. Here is a nice little video on how to use jump rings. It’s just like making a charm bracelet, but with buttons.

It just seems so gypsy and bohemian to me with all of those unusual and old rustic buttons. The way it jingles and shakes when I wear it makes me want to dance around like a belly dancer. Not really. Okay, maybe just a little.  

I had a sudden urge to bead today.  Maybe it is because I keep looking at earrings on Etsy and wanting all of them.

I also decided it’s time to wear earrings again.  I stopped when I had my little guys in my arms all the time with those little hands ready to yank them off  at any second.  My little guys are bigger now, much, much too heavy for me to carry everywhere.  So much so, that when I tried to heave my little one into his car seat this morning, I hurt my back. Maybe I shouldn’t be heaving him, huh? This is the kind of thing that happens every time daddy goes out of town!  Hmph!!

Any-hoo, I have about as many beads as I do buttons.  I was really into beading when I was in college and now only bead occasionally.  I still have this big bunch of beads I bought over a year ago that I have barely touched.  It’s so nice to sit, quietly concentrating on pretty bead combinations. I must remember that!