Wednesday, February 26, 2014

A Little Irish Luck!

I'm not Irish. I've got lots of English and a little Scottish, and maybe some Welsh in my blood, but no Irish. But, St Patrick's Day is coming up fast, and I am Irish one day of the year. I gotta get some of that Irish Luck, not to mention the green beer.
In honor of the occasion, I made some Irish inspired designs!

This first necklace is not really irish, just green. The button I used for the focal is new (but it looks old, doesn't it?) - from fabric.com. I wrapped it in a Vintaj Dahlia filigree and wire wrapped a chain with these yummy faceted stones. I found the green stones in my stash, with no note, so I do not know what they are, but I would guess green chalcedony, or something very similar. They are so delicious looking in person.
 A closer look at the button focal.
 
 I recently picked up this shamrock pendant at B'Sue's etsy shop. This finish is called "rusty black". I buffed the high areas with my Vintaj metal reliefing block, to bring out the intricate design. I recently bought the mother of pearl pointy oval beads on sale at JoAnn's (why am I buying more beads?? - my hoard is too big already!)

 
 The horseshoe and clover glass cabochon is from Artthrob Supplies on etsy. Artthrob sells all kinds of cool vintage jewelry supplies. I think I got the clover blanks (used below) for enameling from Artthrob too. I wrapped a Vintaj Violet filigree around the cab. The black beads with the gold designs on them (2 shapes) are from beadshop.com, from years and years ago. They are made out of plastic, believe it or not, but they are very well made. The faceted round beads are chinese crystal.
 
 This is the same glass cabochon as above, but I glued it into a Vintaj bezel. There is a superstition that horseshoes should be pointed up, so "the luck doesn't run out". Rather than tempt fate twice (above necklace has it pointing down!), I turned this one around. No need to take too many chances! I do have a black cat that zig-zags in front of me all the time! Vintaj chain and bead caps, black chinese crystal.
 
I love this clover shape (from Artthrob, see above), but it's really only good for making clovers (it won't pass as a "flower"). But it's perfect for St Patrick's Day jewelry! I mixed in some yellow and orange for contrast and fun. I enameled the clover and the filigree beads, and the little yellow bead caps. The orange spacers are rubber o-rings. They allow me to do my wire wraps nice and tight, without cracking the enamel on the beads.
 A closer shot of the enameled clover.

 Another clover, in a bluer green. I followed my own lead, and paired it with blue, and an even bluer green. I enameled the clover and filigree beads, just like the previous necklace. The flower chain, from Primitive Earth, is perfect! I also used rubber o-rings as spacers on this necklace too.
 Another angle...
 
Happy St Patrick's Day everyone!! Have fun and be safe!

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Znetshows Spring Surprise goodies!

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I guess I've been in a bit of a slump. Sort of. I did make some jewelry for the gallery, related to "books", but in all honesty, I'm not 100% thrilled with them. They are fine, just not something I'm excited about. And, I was in a rush, so I did not get any pictures taken.
I also made some St Patrick's Day/ Luck O' the Irish themed necklaces, but I haven't gotten them photographed yet either. The "photography studio" is covered with snow, snow and more snow. That, and a lack of actual sunlight. Regardless, I need to get the necklaces into the shop before March 17th!! We are having a bit of a warm up this week, so hopefully the snow will melt enough to take some pictures this weekend.

As I have said already, I am a member of the Znetshows design team. The Spring "challenge" is called "Spring Surprises". The main surprise is that we did not know what beads we would receive for the challenge. Well, surprise, my beads arrived yesterday!! I snapped some quick photos in my kitchen last night (see photo studio situation above). In no particular order, here is the fabulousness that I received!!!

Here's the quart size bag - full of colorful Springy beads! Squee!

Here are the beads dumped out of the bag - OMG!! So. Many. Beads! More squee!
 
These are Nuggety square crystals - I love this cool shape


These are oval faceted crystals. The dark ones are hematite colored, and the light ones are a baby pink.

Crystal rondelles! There are 2 strands of the lilac opalescent ones!

Another cool shape! Oval-ish nuggety faceted yum! The 2 strands are both in the yellow family: champagne and light gold

Pure unadulterated bling! I had this shape crystal for the Winter challenge, but these are the color of sunshine!

More sunshine, only more so! Tiny yellow rondelles.

Clear crystal bicones - you can't go wrong with these.
 
And some sea glass, of course...
Sea Glass nuggets and curves. The color is more of a bottle green than my photo shows.

Orange long drops and teal long ovals!! So smooth to the touch.

Rings and round charms. Does anyone else think these look like "Easter"?

Last but not least, teal top drilled nuggets
 
So, I have my work cut out for me. I need to make a couple jewelry designs in the next week and a half. I can not wait to get started!!! I will post photos of my designs after the Spring "Creative Spark" glossi is published, so please stay tuned!