Bead Embroidered Cuff

Another finish!  I finished my first bead embroidered cuff.   I used three dichroic triangle-shaped cabochons and lots of vintage beads, Swarovski crystals, and other stuff. 

 I really liked making this cuff and I'm definitely going to make more!

AND, I've had some paper clay hanging around for some time now.  I haven't had much of an idea of what to do with it.  So, I decided to make cabochons with it using some of my polymer clay molds.  Here's what I came up with:

I really like working with cabochons...there's so much you can do with them.   Some of these guys will end up on cuffs, some as pendants for necklaces.

Finally a FINISH!

Finally, I have a finish to a project I've been working on for months.  I finished my 1920's Flapper off-loom project. Here's a picture:

It is done in 3 drop peyote.  I made it from a copyright free design that I tweaked and then colored.  I'm going to get a shadow box for her and hang her somewhere.

This is a picture of my Edwardian girl Loom piece.  It's hard to tell what it will look like from this picture, but it will be nice.  I have about 98 more rows to go.  I've made quite a bit of progress on her this week.  She's destined for my mom's house.

Still working on Griselda and my bead embroidered cuff.  Maybe pictures of them tomorrow.

Glass Disaster!

Got some nifty new glass fusing molds on Thursday last week.  So, I brushed on kiln wash, filled them with glass frit and got them ready for the kiln.  Saturday morning I put in the first mold which was a neat moon figure.  Saturday afternoon I took out the mold when it was done, only to find that the glass had cracked rather badly, but not irreparably.  I put in the second mold, a sun.  Sunday morning I took out the sun mold to find it had broken badly during firing.  The mold had literally crumbled.  That was quite disappointing.  

I put the moon mold back in with the glass repaired and refired it to fix the broken areas.  I took the moon out after about 8 hours to find that the mold had also broken, probably in the first firing which is why the glass cracked in the first place.

I've contacted the online store I bought the mold from and asked for replacements.  Hopefully I'll hear from them soon.

So, bad weekend at the kiln.  I did, however, get some work done on my bead loom project, an off loom project and some bead embroidery.  

I'll get some pictures posted this afternoon.

Nifty Fifty Doll and other Updates

I started out my fifth decade thinking that I would make a small artsy quilt for every month until I turned 51.  Well, with settling in back here in Hawaii, I just couldn't manage that lofty goal.  BUT, I felt the need to commemorate my fifth decade in some artful way.

Lately, I've been really into beaded embroidery.  That hobby comes and goes.  I will always like using a needle and thread and using them with beads is pretty much heaven for me.  SO, I decided to make a bead embroidered doll to celebrate my entrance into the 50s.  I call her Griselda the Nifty Fifty doll.   

I'll be posting updates on her.  I have her scheduled to have her finished by 12 October.

In other news, I just got back from two weeks in New Hampshire visiting my mom.  It was really nice and restful.  I gardened and shopped for vintage beads, jewelry (to take apart), vintage beaded bags for my collection and clothes.  No sales tax in New Hampshire except for restaurant type purchases.

I'm girding my loins this weekend to do a mountain of laundry and continue my quest for organization of my craft supplies :)  (Don't ask me how that is going :) )

Book Review Time!

Ding, ding, ding....time for book review!  I've gotten a couple of craft books lately and thought I'd give my observations:
Totally Twisted: Innovative Wirework & Art Glass Jewelry 

First one I really, really liked is Totally Twisted.
It is a good book for learning to manipulate wire to make wire jewelry.  There are several nice projects, but more than that, it gives you techniques you can use to make lots of other jewelry.  Check out the link to this book on Amazon.

Simply Stylish Chain and Metal Jewelry 

This second book is also very good.  Lots of chain looks...mixing metals, which is hot right now, and even some metal clay techniques.  Check this one out for some really good projects. 


  Bugle Bead Bonanza: A Sparkling Collection of Jewelry Projects (Lark Jewelry Book)
The third book is about using bugle beads (had to plug my favorite online bead store).  I have lots and lots of bugle beads.  I use them for fringe on some of my mixed media quilts and once in a while in a necklace.  I have some lovely vintage bugle beads and I want to explore other techniques for using them.  Well, I'm not going to find them in this book.  It uses bulge beads for...guess what...fringe and necklaces.  There are a couple of bracelets, but they weren't very imaginative.   This one is going on my pile for books to be put on eBay.  One of these days, I'm going to list them all and get some of my money back. 


 

Time for cat pictures!

Seeing as this blog begins with the word "cat" it's only right that we have some cat pictures...and the stories that go with them.

 This is Jazzmyn.  She's 12 years old.  She hates having her picture taken.  Most of the pictures I have of her are of her backside.  But, here, she's "sharing" my glass of water.  Boo boo started this practice of "sharing" and she picked it up. 
Before anyone reports me to the ASPCA for not giving my cats water, they have a big bowl of fresh stuff by their crunchy dishes.  They just like to share mine.

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This is Boo Boo.  He's giving me his patented "I-don't-see-you-even-though-you-are-in-my-face-with-that-freakin'- camera" look.  Like most cats he's very good at ignoring what doesn't fit into his plan of the day.  That means almost everything I want him to do and absolutely everything I DON'T want him to do.  This apparently works very well for him as he has been doing it for almost 14 years now.  As far as I can tell, besides a little problem with his thyroid, he's fit as a fiddle and likely to continue his ignoring for many more years.


I am currently trying to find a more natural cat food for both of the spoiled brats.  And, of course, they need to like it.  Natural food is relatively easy to find...but the rest...well, not so much.

Lots and Lots of Stuff

 Lots and lots of stuff going on this month.  My glass making has really taken off.  It's fun to experiment with using different kinds of glass.  My favorite right now is iridescent glass.  It's amazing what kinds of effects you can achieve layering patterned glass with iridescent glass.  Iridescent glass doesn't look much different than normal glass. Some of it has a slight rainbow effect, but you have to look pretty closely to differentiate between normal glass and iridescent glass.  I've done a couple of dishes with iridescent glass and a couple of small pendants.  Lots more experiments to do :)

My bead weaving is progressing apace.  I'm working on a loomed piece for my mom.  It's a portrait of an Edwardian girl.  For some reason my bead pattern making software picked metallic green beads for the girl's face.  So I had to tweak the pattern.  Still working on two off loom pieces.  A three-drop peyote of a 1920's woman and a two-drop peyote of a red hollyhock taken from a photograph I took in Taos, New Mexico in 2006.  Love beading my own photographs.  My next big project is a pattern I made from a photograph I took of Caesar's Forum in Rome in 2006. 
I also have a couple of pieces waiting on my 32" Mirrix Loom.  I started too many loom projects without realizing how long it would take to finish them.  

And I'm still working on some wire and metal jewelry.  I'm going to give up metal clay when I finish with the batch I have.  It's ok, but not something I want to do a lot with.  It's great for charms, but since I learned to make rings from silver wire, I don't want to work that much with metal clay.  It's expensive.  It's great for charms and pendants, but that's all.

And that's my monthly craft summary.