How Far Did I get with My Pledge?

Back in February I have decided that I shall learn 10 new techniques this year. So let's have a look how far I got. These were some ideas I had:

1. sawing - yes and yes! This is probably so far my favourite new technique, it can change and define so many designs.
2. chainmaille - one pair of earrings to start with. I need to stock up on jumprings...
3. etching - yes, this is another great technique to enhance metal jewellery.
4. riveting - I like it, although I feel like I need to work on it much more.
5. foldforming - off to a good start, I have many ideas that I will hopefully be able to make a reality.
6. viking weave - another new technique I fell in love with!

1. Here is one technique that wasn't on my list, but I learned:

1. Chasing & repousse!

 Not tried yet:

1. soldering
2. electroforming
3. drilling
4. stamping
5. enameling
6. working with resin ............ and maybe something else too...

So that's 7 done and 3 to go - I better hurry up and it's already October, I hope to hit my goal! Fingers crossed!

Turquoise Set - Viking Knit Technique

Another bracelet I made with the Viking knit - I just bought these adorable turquoise beads (it's actually dyed magnesite of a brilliant colour!) - hexagon rondelles - and I want to use them in a thousand of designs!

The bracelet looks really nice on the wrist.

...and it comes with earrings!

Pledge - I will learn a new technique a month

I am not a person, who can deal with New Year resolutions - I just don't believe that if I tell myself to do something I don't want to do or don't like doing, that I will actually listen to myself and make myself doing it. If I know something is good/bad for me and I need to start/ stop doing it, than I either go cold turkey or slowly faze into it. But I have to get going "right now", because "next year" or "next Monday" usually turns into "next century".
So there was no New Year's resolution on my side... but there is a resolution RIGHT NOW. I just spent money on yeat ANOTHER jewellery making book and then had a look at my EMPTY etsy shop and felt embarassed... I really need to make some more stuff, take more pictures before I give it away (because there have been some cute pieces I gave out as gifts, but never documented them) and mix up the techniques a bit, so I can start feeling like a jewellery artist! I just kicked myself in the behind (which reminds me, I need to do more yoga:) and signed myself for some jewellery lessons.
The last year was very lazy, we moved from Jackson Hole to Seattle and I didn't even unpack half of my jewellery-making supplies. Now I see how many amazing tools I have collected since I started making adornments and I know I have to give them an active life NOW.
So I thought I need a goal, a tough one, but a reachable goal - and decided I will learn 12 new techniques I haven't tried before - all before the end of this year. It doesn't matter that I have missed almost 2 months already - the aim isn't to try a new thing a month, but get to the number 12 before end of December. So if I work on it and learn 12 by August, I can just continue the pace and learn MORE...

Here is a list that I compiled while thinking what all I'd like to know or make:

1. sawing
2. chainmaille
3. etching
4. riveting
5. foldforming
6. viking weave
7. soldering
8. electroforming
9. drilling
10. stamping
11. enameling
12. working with resin

>> not necessarily in that order and maybe not all of these, I might just as well find something amazing on the way and learn a new thing that is not on the list. All of the above are just realistic things I should be able to get into, although some will require new tools (well, if it needs to be done... ;-))). I would also like to start using more recycled/ upcycled materials....

So next will be my account of the first jewellery lesson I took!

Note to self - I need to edit my blog settings too...

Coiled Coils

This was one of the projects, that were not properly planned in advance, where I didn't know what I was looking for and just experimented and went with the flow...

It's one of my older works that I never saw worthy putting on the blog (that was until somebody bought it:) - please note that all the coiling was done before I discovered the "Coiling Gizmo".

Copper Washers Are Great!

There are so many things jewellery can be made of - things considered junk (or at least "suitable for something else"). But as the saying goes, one's person's junk is another person's treasure.

I have first seen washers used by great jewellery maker Sharilyn Miller (http://www.sharilynmiller.com/,  here is her blog: http://sharilynmiller.blogspot.com/). The ideas Sharilyn has and the pieces she makes with washers are amazing! Following her recommendation, I have bought a kit of 110 copper washers (car repair shops have them, and they're on Amazon too) - that way you get 6 different sizes that you can combine. Hammering them and oxidizing afterwards makes the washers more attractive.

Here is my first pair of copper washer earrings! And they're certainly not the last, I'm already addicted!



Copper - Patina, Rivets and Stamping

And here is another patina project - a pair of earrings that speak to you. Well, at least if you believe in HOPE and LOVE, because that's what they "say"!
I have combined a number of different techniques to make this pair and I'm hoping to come up with more than this, since I really like the result.

I have used ammonia and salt to add patina to copper plates. I actually forgot about the experiment and left the metal "under influence" for longer than intended (2,5 days to be precise), so if you look closely enough, you might notice, that snippets of the metal have been eaten off by corrosion at the edges. But I don't mind, firstly this was my first experiment with patina, secondly I was trying to make the metal look aged anyway.
The patina was so thick I even had to remove some, otherwise it wouldn't hold on well even after spraying with clear paint. I had removed more patina from waht was going to be front side of the earrings and that created a nice effect of 2-coloured patina; red and green layers.

Then I've sprayed a clear paint over the plates, so the patina wouldn't come off or stain clothes. I have applied 2 coats on each side and let dry for several hours between the coats.

In the meanwhile, I have prepared 2 pieces of copper and stamped them with words HOPE and LOVE, one for each ear.

After the paint dried on the patinaed metal peices, I had to measure where to put holes for rivets and hammer the rivets on.

And then all I had to add were 2 handmade jumprings (how good does it sound, instead just jumprings) and earwires. Tadaa!


Here is front and back of the earrings:




Hope & Love... who's in?

New Copper Earrings

My love-affair with COPPER seems to be never-ending! Well, there are several reasons for this - copper looks amazing, copper is in vogue right now and it's fairly inexpensive! And as if I needed another reason, I have lots of copper wire at home!
Remember my "trash stash" that I got from our Engineering? I got even more! Lots of discarded copper wire! It's rubber coated (like telephone wire) - so guess what I was doing for hours and hours while watching my fav TV programs? I think you got it: stripping my precious wires off their rubber clothes!

And here is what I've been working on recently:

Copper earrings with lots of copper beads.


Just wires - hand forged and hammered:


Swirls with copper beads:

And simple hammered swirls:

And this is just a bonus - next swirly earrings will be patina-coated! This is what ammonia with salt can do:

HOPE - Bracelet With Stamped Message

I was playing with the copper sheet more and more - I have already 2 products with similar design on Etsy. This is one of those - HOPE stamped bracelet.

I really like working with stamps a lot and was thinking to order a whole alphabet on Etsy - a few sellers have some unexpensive sets for sale. Don't laught, I have only a few letters that I had made on order in India, because before that all I could find were really pricey sets. Now after exploring Etsy closer, I have discovered more possibilies.

How do you like this bracelet?

Back For Real And With New Ideas

Does it ever happen to you - waaaay too many ideas and no time to make them into a piece of art? And way too many other things you want and need and must do...

With my almost two-months break without computer I wanted to do so many things, but didn't. As always. Sometimes the ideas just STOP me instead of push me forward. I have all the wires and tools and beads put outside - and then I get completely confused as to what I wanted to do right now! I wanted to try another variation of herringbone weave (sure, still my favourite), but I also wanted to try something similar I just cut out of a magazine yesterday, but I also have a picture I wanted to transfer on a shell.... AND I ALSO WANT MY DAY TO HAVE 24 HOURS! Well, you might say this is easy - a day does have 24 hours indeed. I want those 24 FOR WORK AND CREATING! No sleeping, transit time etc. PURE 24 hours.

Am I just trying to bite a piece too big for my mouth?

Well it wouldn't be the first time, as you can see...

But I didn't only sleep all this time when I couldn't show you any photos - I will slowly show you my new projecs!

Here - I started making my own earwires:

I have also figured out, how to get patina on copper - this is the first try. You can still see the OHM sign stamped into the sheet - I can feel this is going to turn into something cool!

And because my day doesn't have enough hours, I will go to bed now.... more is coming!

Another Free Tutorial from Jewelrylessons.com

Still no news on my broken laptop... I'm buying a new one, as I feel like I'm missing an arm. OK, maybe just an ear, but missing it a lot :) 

This is a disease that comes with modern society - computers became such a big part of our lives that we feel lost without them. Mobile phones, TV sets, iPods a.s.o.... we have these arm extensions in the form of electronics. Boy, I don't own a mobile phone now, but I remember when I did - the battery would die and I'd be restless till I could recharge it and see for myself that I hadn't missed an "important" call indeed (when I'm a CEO of some sorts, I will remember this story and laugh with my never-out-of-battery super-satellite raspberry-thing in my pocket). Now I just come home and see if the answering machine blinks.

When we lived in Ireland (that's why I have such a funny accent by the way - I'm sure it's very tangible on me blog :), we never owned a TV. We just watched DVDs on a laptop if we felt like it, but never missed the telly itself. But with the computer, it's different. I AM MISSING IT! I like being in touch with my country via news on the net, I like browsing my friends' blogs and photos, I like using it as a phone! To me, it's all of the modern extensions in one little flat box!

Enough of the weeping, at least I have the aforementioned Apple, my husband's computer. That allows me to introduce another free tutorial, courtesy of www.jewelrylessons.com again!

Learn basic weaving techniques and incorporate them in your designs!

This is what the tutorial teaches you:

Find the full tutorial for FREE here: 

http://www.jewelrylessons.com/tutorial/basic-weaving-techniques

If you're not sure, how to get the free tutorial, have a look at my previous post. And then go to jewelry lessons' website and find so much more!

Happy learning!

Neverending Trouble - War Machine vs. Man

I am so sorry I wasn't posting for a while. Believe me, I wasn't sleeping, I made some nice things, but....... my laptop is broken. It went back to his makers' (wow, that sounds very human, but in this case it means that it still might be repairable) and I don't have any news as of yet. 

My husband's laptop is an Apple and I'd rather eat it than work on it :-)

I just don't have a sufficient photo editing program on hand.

I haven't been keeping in touch either - in fact for the same reason. One computer is just not enough in our household (see, we don't fight over the remote control, we fight over the computer), so I'm trying to limit my on-line time right now. Just wait when I get my broken baby back (or buy a new toy)!

And if all of the above wasn't enough, there is news from work: all access to web addresses that contain 'blog' in the name has been blocked... boooo! So I cannot even have a look at my favourite blogs!

Well, everything bad is supposed to be good for something in the long run, right? I cannot wait for the great thing coming ahead! Because that will have to be BIG!

What a Difference a Day (Off) Made

I had a day off and wated to do some earrings - very simple and cheap earrings, just for the sake of playing with easy designs.

Steampunk-inspired Key Earrings


Lavender Briolettes Earrings

Copper and Czech Beads Earrings

Indigo Firepolished Bead Earrings

Baby-blue and Lime-green Earrings

I Just Love Making Copper Bracelets

Ahhaaa!
After making a bunch of seedy-beady bangles there was another thing awaiting - bangles with not-so-seedy beads! I admit - I like a cluster of bangles on a hand all together, maybe that's why I always make a few to compliment each other.
But hey - they're good on their own too! No bangle should be ashamed on its own!

Sorry, I'm in a silly mood today...

Copper Bracelet with Blue Ceramic Bead:

Another simplified version of Copper Bracelet with Blue Ceramic Bead:

Copper Bracelet with Red Glass Beads:

Copper Bracelet with Lampworked Beads:

A Lemonade Award

A Lemonade Award – sounds delicious even in winter!
I have been nominated by Kathleen – a wonderful glass artist. I feel really honoured . Her blog was one of the first I started following when I “signed up” for this madness called blogging and have since found lots of inspiration in her design (and you should have a look at her blog and Etsy shop too!).
Thank you, Kathleen, you’re so kind!

Now an explanation, WHAT IS A Lemonade Award:
A Lemonade Award is given to bloggers that show a positive attitude and gratitude.
Sort of a list of bloggers who not only write for their own fun, but share the sunshine, help others in the cyberspace.

Here are the rules for the award:
1.Put the logo on your blog or post
2.Nominate at least 10 blogs that show great Gratitude and/or Attitude.
3.Be sure to list and link your nominees within your post.
4.Let them know they have received this award by leaving a comment on their blog.
5.Nominate your favorites and link to your post.

Here are nominees I have chosen (most of them have something to do with jewellery making):

Kecia can show you how somebody’s junk can be another person’s treasure!
Pippi makes not only jewellery
Perri will amaze you with how very tiny tweeny small things can be made with wire
Reverie – you might not understand her blog if you don’t speak Polish, but if you’re looking for very beautiful jewellery, you will understand the pictures
Gosia has her blog in Polish too, but again, the pictures speak any language – beautiful jewellery with antique feel
Dawn makes very different colourful designs to light up your day
Eni – a jewellery artist and teacher who made it possible to so many people! Find her also on http://www.blogger.com/www.jewelrylessons.com
Bobbi is a great teacher and inspiration
Franchezka has always kind words for those who are learning. Although her blog is a baby now, make sure to return to it!
Vin is a real blog doctor – see him with all your blog ouches
Kathleen – not as a thank you for nominating me, but for the inspiration and kind words!