Layering Necklaces

I like layering necklaces and always combine some vintage ones I own with some new that I designed and made.  The possible combinations are endless and include necklaces of various lengths, or all same length, but different textures/ beads... Yuo get the idea. It's the best thing you can do, if you have simply one too many necklaces:)

Here is just an example of 2 necklaces of same lengths that go well together.

Both necklaces are desinged and made by me.

Ohm on Mother of Pearl (Photo Transfer)

I was playing with photo transfers again - here is just a simple charm: mother of pearl in pink colour with an "OHM" photo transfer.

Indian Secret - Necklace

This is a new item I made yesterday - and I put it on Etsy straight away!

Brass chain holds mother-of-pearl chip with photo transferred Hindi writing and a Rudraksh (holy nut from India that has healing powers and spiritual powers).
The red thread is Hindu holy thread that every Hindu person ties on their wrist for protection).

Silver Version of "Hangin' In There" Heart

Here is a silver version of the heart I made earlier in copper; http://designbymisa.blogspot.com/2009/01/hangin-in-there-copper-heart.html
Making the same design the second time around was much easier and faster - and I've just received an order for 2 of the copper ones!


Here are pictures of the heart from sides and top - this will give you a better idea how it is made. It's basically a modified loop with beads added. Oooooh, I'm making it sound so easy...

Hindi Prayer

I haven't done anything with photo trasfers in a while .... OK I actually can explain this, as I really do not like the word lazy in connection with me and I have already used it in my previous post. Our appartment isn't big and I don't have a fixed jewellery-making spot yet. No workshop, no designated area.
I like working in front of TV, because I like having sound around me while working, but radio lacks the visual stimulation. (Can you believe that we lived for a little over 4 years without TV and now all of a sudden I like it???) So my tools, wires, all that jazz is on a little table in front of the telly. When we have visitors, I try to clean it a bit and stock it in shoe boxes. When the visitors are gone, I take out the shoe boxes and spread everything around again.
I think people like us, because we had a lot of friends for dinner in past few weeks... and I just keep cleaning up and "down" again and again.
And the photo transfers are the messiest (water is involved too), so I don't take it out of the box as often as I would like to.

BUT! Solution is on the way: I'm getting our friends used to the idea that I have started making jewellery and that I need some work space. Some of our closest friends have already seen the "mess", as I didn't clean up. And it actually turned into an improvised house jewellery party! They wanted to see what I'm making, what are the tools and some of them picked what they liked! AWESOME!
So now when this hobby is slowly becoming a part of me, I won't have to clean up that much anymore (still talking only about the jewellery mess, of course :-))) and instead of looking through those shoe boxes I will spend more time making my pieces!


Oh, did you want to know about the 'Hindi Prayer'?
So this time I have added bits of gold leaf to the transfer and it came out very pretty. I would say the leaf adds a touch of antique feel to it.
I have to apologize as the photo transfer doesn't photograph very well (the irony!), because it is shiny and also because the base is mother-of-pearl. I'm thinking that bigger distance and macro on the camera will give a better result - next time, ok?

The text isn't actually a prayer, it's from a calendar, but the name sounded so nice. And most people will not understand anyway...

Photo Transfers - Something Small

This is result or more experimenting with the photo transfers - small mother-of-pearl tags, that can be used with pendants or even added as a part of earrings (if they are the same colour, unlike here...).

Working with Photo Transfers

Here is a new technique I wanted to try - jewellery with photo transfers. It seems to work quite well. Actually better than I've expected!
I love the results - you choose a picture and transfer it onto some smooth surface. My choice was mother of pearl. The transferred photo is translucent and takes on the colour and character of the surface underneath, so I wanted to see, how the pearlescent base would work.
It turned out pretty neat, considering this is the very first piece I made:

I like the almost antique look of this piece...



Now I just need to learn how to take good quality photos of my jewellery :-))
I need to try different chains/ threads/ ribbons and decide what this pretty lady would look the best with.

And then happened what happens when you try something new and it works out well - I became hooked! Totally! I'm transferring everything and testing colours of bases, testing different types of paper and comparing the results. Which means that you can expect more photos of the photo transfers.....

Not to make you wait for too long, here is one of the things that followed Leonardo's painting. This is a transfer from an Indian newspaper (by the way, I seems that Indians use a different type of paper for their daily media - it was more difficult to work with than anything else I have tested so far).

And since after making a few pieces I became a total pro (haha - a blessed wish!) and needed to prove myself on something more challenging than just NORMAL FLAT surface, so I used these pearl chips, that I didn't know what to do with so far, and tried to transfer the newspaper on them. Whohooo! It surprised me and although it cost me some time to finish, i like it - what do you think? I believe I have something original, finally!

Same as with the lady pendant, I just need to find what to "hang" it onto for the best effect!