Last year, around Labor Day 2009, I took extra days of vacation from the day job, and spent a week creating pieces for a proposed article in Belle Armoire Jewelry magazine.
The current Summer 2010 issue has the article published! Thanks to all of you who have noticed and seen the article and let me know - I didn't get my complimentary copy so I must go find a copy so I can see it myself.
The pieces of jewelry have just come back from the photographer, it's been almost a year since I last saw them.
The fun thing is that I still like them, just as much as I did when I first created them.
I was experimenting with making a kind of faux amber.
I love real amber, the warmth, translucency and color of it. It's hard to reproduce that look well, but I thought that using resin for its transparent quality might get close. I wanted it to look more interesting than just a solid color, so I embedded antique photographs and some words inside.
First I created all the focal pieces. There were more than just the ones pictured in the article. Then I pulled out all my charms and extra goodies, to see if I could tell a story with the pewter and faux amber pieces.
This one has the words "TRUE STORY" inside, it's a brooch pin, but it also has loops so a necklace chain could be attached - multi-purpose. I had the deck of cards charm from a flea market find, and the image of the cowboy with those words seemed to tell a tall tale, of a lucky win at the card table.
I'm going to start listing these faux amber pieces in the Etsy shop, in case some of you have a particular favorite you'd like to have for yourself.
They are DEFINITELY one of a kind, and they are the actual pieces from the Belle Armoire Jewelry issue, if you've seen one that you fell in love with.
Later on, I'll post about the chains that I created for them - made by hand - and the step-by-step photos that I don't think were used in the publication. I need to get a copy of the magazine and see if they're included or not.
It's interesting to see these pieces again. In some ways I see changes and improvements in how I'm using the cast pewter. And yet, I still like them just as much as I did when I first made them.
I've been meaning to re-make this urn shape for some time. I finally got one made.
I put a little place for a black heart to be set at the bottom.
Like a little gem, not too obvious. Something simple.
It has a sort of dark, gothic look to me. Very romantic.
I can see it with black faceted glass beads, or some very dark pearls.
Maybe a double strand, attached at the top and on each side.
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I'm enjoying attaching these faux gemstones to the pewter, for a little color and some bling. I think to myself that they will find their new home quickly, and sometimes they do.
I hope this one does. I like it, I'd like someone to make something stunning with it.
I like images with advertising art, they always seem nostalgic to me. So I created this oval resin piece with a hotel advertising label in it, bright red, and set it in an oval ornate pewter frame.
I guess I have travel on my mind, it's almost time to start packing for Artfest. I can't wait!
This red oval has the words "PALACE HOTEL LONDON" and "Central to Everywhere" in it, it's translucent so light shines through when you hold it up to a light.
The attached key reminds me of some of the hotels and B&B I stayed in during the trip to Scotland.
It looks so ancient!
I have to admit, I'm susceptible to shiny, glitzty bling.
I like things that look old and have some shiny stones or faceted beads.
So I took a couple of the pewter pieces and checked on my stash of shiny, glittery things. To see if anything would fit.
And guess what?
These two pretty little round faux gems were just the right size.
I really like the way they combine with the pewter. I think they'd be beautiful as earrings. Maybe with a pearl at the top, or a faceted glass bead.
Because you can never have too much glitz.
I have to dig deeper in my stash of bling, and see what else I've got in there. Maybe some more colors, wouldn't a light blue faux gem be pretty. Umm hmmm, love that shiny, pretty.
I had a flash yesterday. I really don't know where it came from. But I'm happy the idea department of the cosmos dropped something off yesterday.
I've been playing again with polymer clay, and was thinking about how to combine it with the pewter and other things I've been creating lately.
In fiddling with some clay, I made a hole offcenter in a rectangular piece I'd been messing with, and I finished it all the way off with sanding and buffing and adding a patina, but with no real idea of what I'd use it for. The clay had a floral and leaves pattern in it, and a dark mahogany looking patina on it, buffed and polished to a translucent sheen finish.
Then yesterday I put it between two thin pieces of glass, with some images of a clock face and part of some vintage paper labels. And created a matchbox looking shadowbox.
I wish I could say I had this plan in mind all along, I was going to make this bezel this way, but it really was just making something with my hands with no real final destination for it.
And I just love how it turned out.
It's lightweight, and can be turned any direction and it still works. Horizontally, vertically. The artwork on the back side has directionality, but it's on the back, right?
And at the end I held it up to a light and realized that - it's translucent. The clock face opening lights up from the rear when held to a window or light.
I love this part about it. It just flowed through my fingers and practically made itself.
If you've been reading the blog for a while, you might remember last winter right after the holidays, when a water pipe broke in the ceiling of the basement where the studio is located, and water saturated the floor.
It took a while to get it cleaned up, dried and the walls and ceiling repainted. Changes were made in the plumbing to make sure it didn't freeze again.
Well, guess what?
On Friday night it happened again. Fortunately my hubby was on top of it right away and turned the water off, so it wasn't as bad as last time. But the indoor-outdoor carpet is wet again.
Apparently even with the plumbing changes, it was still too cold for that particular pipe junction and it froze.
We've been keeping an eye on it, and we have the cabinet doors open and the oil-filled heater in the garage, keeping the temperature up in there.
What a mess! But again I was lucky, the kiln was okay, and the other equipment unfazed.
So I've been very busy casting and finishing pewter, to fill orders and try to keep things moving forward.
I didn't get any glass cut for the kiln, I had to relocate it so the carpet water remover could work.
Maybe on Monday I can set it back up again and fuse some more glass.
It's always something, isn't it? The cold has been steady all day, but I managed to keep the studio around 50 degree F so it wasn't too bad.
I've got on so many layers, I look like a marshmellow with arms!
These pewter pieces are about to be packaged up and shipped out. I couldn't resist taking a photo with all of them together, before they go their separate ways.
Another friend sent me a parcel of collected items - right out of the blue, I didn't know it was coming.
This past weekend, in spite of the snow and the cold, I made up some molds and took casts off some of the pieces, and I really like how they turned out.
I gave them a dark polished patina so they look worn and ancient.
And it's funny how they go together so well with some of the pieces I had already taken casts from, they would look lovely together. Even with some of the charms I've been making for a while now, like the fleur de lys charm, they seem to go together.
Makes my fingers itch to make them up into some jewelry.
With lovely pearls and lots of faceted glass beads, or dark onyx round beads, put together with a rosary wrap wire connection.
Getting these surprise packages is fun! I don't mind that at all and hope I can do the loaned pieces justice.
Like these two little tassels. Wouldn't they be fun as earrings?
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Well, it's back to the day job today, for a few days. A drive through the snowy streets, bundled up in a hooded coat with leather gloves and snow boots.
New Year's holiday is coming. Do you have special plans for the end of the year?
I'm still creating molds and doing test casts of the treasure trove of french antiques I received as a loan. I love these two medals I made on the weekend.
It was hard to take the imagery off the original as it was hinged and intact. It even had the original stitched ribbon on it. I really loved seeing it. But I needed to be careful of the original, and I didn't want to take it apart. How to get a nice clear image? I thought about it a few days, pondering.
So I decided to leave the hinge pins showing. And so far I've only created the front side of it. But it has a lot of detail, and the date 1870 on it.
I'm trying to think what might have been going on in french history in 1870 that would cause a medal to commemorate it. Is that Napoleonic times? I need to do some research, I feel awful that I don't know this.
It's way before WWI, so it has to be very old history. The hinge pins look like it would open, but it doesn't, it's a solid piece. It makes me think about how to create those hinges, though. Always thinking of new things to try.
The profile is worn and hard to capture. I may carve an original to enhance it more, keeping the feeling of the laurel leaves around the border.
I wish it was a celebration of peace. When I find more details, I'll definitely share. And if your history knowledge is better than mine, please fill me in, too!
Do you remember the post where I showed the beautiful filigree piece that Andrew Thornton made using one of the resin word charms?
Well, I really wanted to play with that idea.
And I mentioned that I had drilled some of the resin charms from side to side, so it was like a bead.
I started playing with the oval filigree that I have, and found out that serendipity is alive and well!
The holes in the ends of the filigree matched perfectly with the holes I drilled in the resin. I didn't measure, or do it intentionally. It just worked out!
I probably should say that I thought it up, carefully measured and adjusted, but it really didn't happen that way. Somehow that makes it even more fun, it makes me smile even thinking about it.
So I threaded a wire through and made wire wraps, and next I want to put some pearls and crystals onto headpins and add around the word charm, attached to the filigree.
Very cool! Next time, I'll have to do it on purpose, instead of accidently!
Thanks again, Andrew. You started the wheels turning, for sure!
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The insommnia is back with a vengence, I'm getting up after only 4 or 5 hours of sleep. You'd think I'd be dragging my tailfeathers the next day, but I don't seem to feel more tired than usual.
I'm still off caffeine, so maybe I just need to do something to wear myself out. I know! I could decorate the Christmas Tree (no, I still haven't done that) - maybe on Christmas EVE!
I learned something useful this weekend.
Usually, when I'm drilling through the resin or pewter, I hold the item in my hand and use the rotary tool with the drill bit in it.
It's sort of scary having a rapidly turning drill bit close to your hands and fingers.
And as clumsy as I've been lately, I know I better watch myself so I don't get hurt. The burns are healing, but a hole in my hand might take longer, don't you think.
But I learned that I can use the skinny nose vise grips to hold the pewter.
Like this teensy pewter button with four holes in it.
It's really tiny. I got too nervous to hold it in my fingers gripping it while I drilled the holes. So I used the vise grips.
It worked really well. And nobody got hurt!
I've been making these pewter locks, keys and face plates for locks. And small key wire headpins, to add to beads or wire wrapping.
It doesn't help keep my hands clean, but it does keep them free of holes, which I'm in favor of, definitely.
I have things timely on my mind.
You know how I always say I don't like to take apart antiques, and that includes watches. Even when they don't run anymore.
Just something I don't like to do, but I do like the way the insides look. All the metal and gears, springs and wheels. Facinating.
So I decided to compromise, and create my own faux watchworks. So I won't feel guilty about tearing up an old watch.
I created the gears and wheels, the ornate decorative parts, then I put them together. It probably bears no resemblance to a real watch insides. But I'm not a watchmaker, it's just my idea of what it should look like based on photographs.
Then I made a cast of my made-up watch interior, and made it in dark pewter metal.
I like it a lot, and plan to make more. This one is a treasure keeper, with a large loop at the bottom for dangles and special additions. It looks very old, and has recesses of dark and open areas.
Then for some reason I took an old schematic drawing of gears, clock faces, wheels and such and added the word "TIME" in resin and made this focal bead, with its ornate frame around it.
They would look incredible together, maybe on one special piece of jewelry. Or in a collage shadowbox. But for now, they are separate.
I guess I'm concentrating on the passage of time.
I've said many times that I'm intrigued by watchworks and wings.
But I don't like to take apart an antique pocketwatch.
So I decided to create my own, made up version that I can use without guilt.
This one has wings, so I'm thinking it's a symbol of how "TIME FLIES" or "TEMPUS FUGIT" that you see etched into old watchworks.
I got started making the dangle, using all my own cast pewter pieces, and before I knew it I had a finished necklace.
I took some of my special, hand dyed cotton and wire wrapped it, to use as part of the necklace.
It gives it a funny, worn and very vintage look.
The metal piece in the front, with the watchwords and wings, came from a dream I had the other night. I was dreaming about time, clocks and the passage of time. And I saw these watchwork pieces, with the wings on the side. The central focal piece, the winged watchworks, is all one piece, like a curved amulet shape.
Then I made the tiny little charms for the dangle, including a coppery-round gear looking piece, and a leaf scroll that reminds me of a pendulum.
I used mixed metals in the necklace, with copper, pewter, brass and dark patina bronze, there's a little hand charm (for the "HANDS OF TIME") holding a brass prayer box. And a bronze antiqued bird charm (for "TIME FLIES" with a long brass chain and dangle.
The necklace has a large handmade brass hook that lets the necklace length be adjusted, to shorten for a choker or lengthen if the neckline is lower.
I really like the way it turned out. It has a very vintage fantastical look, like in my dream.
I hope someone likes it as much as I do, and finds it for a special gift - it's very unique and one of a kind.
I know the watchworks inside aren't truly real like a clock, but how many clockworks with wings do you see? Other than the ones I see in my dreams, of course...
I'm reading some new mystery stories from the public library, they're set in Britain on a Devon farm. There's a lot of background information about running the dairy farm, sheep herding.
It's always interesting to me to learn about other cultures, other ways of living. The idea of milking dairy cows twice a day, and shearing the sheep for the wool, is romantic to think about but I'll bet it's a lot of work. Long hours, tiring.
The weather this weekend was lovely and mild. I had the windows and patio door open, it won't be long before it's too cold to do that.
I made a bunch of pewter this weekend. Some things look very old and worn, I can picture how I'd use them to make jewelry myself. But I went ahead and put them into the Etsy shop, in case someone is working on a holiday gift project.
The little spoon top charms remind me of a ring given to me by an aunt and uncle, years ago. Like the ornate tops of silver sugar spoons, but with a loop to make earrings. I put a hole at the bottom for a dangle, maybe a pearl or a faceted crystal bead. Something pretty and feminine.
I've also been watching the TV show called "BONES" lately, when I can catch it. It's more of a challenge without the TiVO that got sparked during the lightning strike, but I can sometimes find a re-run of a show I haven't seen before.
Maybe that's the source of the pewter skulls. I think they look very interesting. Like the catacombs beneath a cathedral. Memento mori, remember life...
