Rescuing a Crap Wrap...

The other day, I made a bunch of swirl wire-woven pendants and a couple of them didn't work out. This one...

...I decided was worth rescuing. I wasn't sure exactly what I would do with it, but as I was twisting the bead off thought, hey, it looks okay at an angle: showing just a little bit more of the wire weaving balances everything quite nicely.

Plus, by flipping the bead back to front, the colour blobs now echo and tie together the lines and shapes of the wire weaving, strengthening the overall design in a way that the random blob pattern on the other side didn't.

For all you wire-weavers out there, I recently joined two Facebook groups, and they're both a great read, with lots of good info and participants from all over the world. I'm finally "meeting" the people whose work I've been obsessively pinning for a few years now or even subscribing to on Craftsy. Do check 'em out and join:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/wirewraptipsandtutorials/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/wiremetalstone/

Thanks for stopping by!

Sharilyn Miller on Craftsy...

I just won this contest!!! for 50% off a video course from Craftsy presented by Sharilyn Miller via Pearl Blay's blog, the Beading Gem Journal. 

Bonus for me is that Craftsy has discounted all their courses over the American Thanksgiving, so my prize now means that the course is free for me. I highly recommend the two that I've been/will soon be learning from (and, no, I don't get any kickback from Craftsy, however, if you go here and click through to Craftsy, Pearl will get a commission on any sales).

As soon as I get back from The Gem Expo this weekend, I will be diving into Sharilyn's course and playing with my long-neglected torch. This means new stuff will be showing up on my table at the Woodstock Farmers Market in the run-up to Christmas, as well. 

While we're on the subject of the farmer's market, Jim and Jan Post of Caravan Candles will be occupying my spot this Saturday, November 21st, while I'm in Toronto, and we'll be sharing my tables up until Christmas, too. 

I'm also taking part in a Christmas fundraiser on Sunday, December 6th at the animal rescue office next door to the market at the Fairgrounds, deets to follow. 

See you there!

Cobra, my first wire-weaving...

Finally, after a week of typing, I got a chance this afternoon to finish my first "real" wire-weaving. Just to remind you, the heart pendant is my first effort made about a month ago before I hunkered down with Debbie Benninger's book and Sarah Thompson's Craftsy video and book Fine Art Weaving Techniques and got serious.

This is so gross. The base wire was 18 gauge, way too small, and I think I used 26 gauge instead of 28 to weave with. And look at the gaps. Gaaaaahhhhh...

However, this is what you get when you follow the pros. Yes, I can see every mistake, but it's so coooooool!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As I wrote in the bead show post, with nothing in particular in mind except knowing this was the bead I wanted to use, I started out randomly weaving wires and dropping a wire, and adding other wire bits here and there, and then inserted one wire into the bead hole and started pressing and shaping the woven sections around the bead. If I didn't think something was working, I undid it and went in another direction. The woven wire is surprisingly very forgiving. The bulgy shape started out to be a leaf, but since it looked more like a cobra, I went with that.

I think the best and cleanest view is the side view.

Kind of a dog's breakfast in the back, but I was trying out different things I'd seen and kinda got lost in twirling and hammering and wrapping without considering what it was really starting to look like while I was doing it.

Pendant is finished. Bonus is I got the twisted angle at the top correct and the pendant hangs perfectly. Unfortunately, I think I wrapped too much in the middle there to secure the centre curl to the left hand bit. I should've just done a couple of wraps and left it. My great failing is I never know when to stop. Next time.

It sure looks different in a photo than in real life. All the mistakes show up so very clearly, but, hey, that's good for learning, right?

Other than the market tomorrow morning, I have a whole long weekend free to play. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone (send me some leftovers), and thanks for looking.

Wire-Weaving Course by Sarah Thompson...

Wire-weaving is my latest passion in my ever-evolving style and this particular combination of thick and thin hammering, exquisitely symmetrical and layered wire-bending...

...combined with wrapping revs the machine-like precision-monster in me like nothing else. I just now bought Sarah Thompson's 3-hour video course via Pearl Blay's Beading Gem blog and I cannot wait to start working my way through this tut.

Go to Pearl's blog, make a comment and enter the draw to win the free video tutorial. For me, I'm too impatient (and not reeeeally very lucky) so I clicked the link on Pearl's blog and -- whoo hoo! -- bought the course for half price at Craftsy. I'm currently mulling over buying Sarah's book... but I probably will.

Thanks for looking!