Experimenting with "vine-wrapping"...

I was busy at the market yesterday. I mentioned back in late September about taking a "vine-wrapped pendant" course from Judy Feskun through the Grand River Bead Society at our meeting in Guelph. I finally got Jan's undrilled lump of malachite wrapped and she flipped. The difficulty came because I had to hide a glob of glue that I was never able to completely sand off the top and while I'm not 100% sure I like what I came up with, Jan walked by my table at the market every hour or so muttering, "I love my pendant, I love my necklace." Always nice to get positive feedback!

Note the snowman earrings -- from last year.
White jadeite & red Swarovski crystal spacers with a matte black jet heishi hat.

What I really like is that Jan can wear the necklace with either side showing. She also likes that the necklace is longer so she can put the necklace on over her head without having to undo/do up the clasp (which is oversize anyway). I notice people have been commenting on the larger clasps I've been using -- some think they're overkill -- but then they become converts when they realise how easily the necklace or bracelet go on.

Because there was an extra bead from the original necklace, I started playing with vine-wrapping that in order to bulk it up a bit to use as a pendant for a second necklace I'm making to use up the rest of the 4mm malachite rounds I'd bought to lengthen the original necklace.

Every angle is different, and the wrapping hides the chewed-up bit on one side of the bead:

Note that this is the true colour of the malachite but while the wire looks like brass, it's actually bright copper. I'm still working on overcoming the weird light at the market.

Then I strung some pewter skulls with some extra beads left over from a restringing project to make a bracelet for one of my male customers:

And finally, here is the finished version of Winter's raven skull necklace (originally two separate projects) that we worked on over the course of a couple of Saturdays. I'm a big believer in sending people away to test-drive their jewellery for a few weeks and then come back for adjustments. Turns out she decided she wanted both necklaces to be combined into one (because she found she wears them both at the same time), plus she wanted a way to be able to add more stuff in the future (hence the large jump rings).

The necklace is adjustable for length in three ways: first, overall; then the shorter centre piece with the raku skull and body parts can be loosened off or tightened up; finally, the height of the raku skull cord relative to the overall necklace and raven skull can be changed by loosening off and moving a knot on either side of the main piece of leather cord.

For all you procrastinators, there's still time to order something for Christmas (I adhere to the Italian gift-giving date of January 6th on the Feast of the Epiphany so there's plenty of wiggle room) so contact me either by email or come and see me at the market on Saturday and we'll see what we can come up with.

Yo to procrastinating sig/others: I can't tell you how many ladies have told me what they hope their sig/other will get them for Christmas. A gift certificate or a promissory note for something from my table tucked into a card will make a great and perfect and stress-free gift. Just a suggestion/reminder/kick in the pants.

Thanks for looking!

Epiphany: Vine Pendant Wire-Wrapping Class with Judy Feskun...

Dontcha just love ah-hah moments?

For the past six or eight months, I've been seeing examples online incorporating all kinds of beads surrounding and offsetting a central/off-centre bead or cabochon, along with different styles and patterns of bead-weaving, the swooping, looping, layered complexity of which has basically been blowing my mind. I had resolved this year to shake up my hyper-symmetrical, balanced, linear mindset and was considering finally taking a class in something, anything, as my second step to New Stuff -- the question was where and when (my first step was watching and learning from my pal Nancy with her beautiful asymmetrical stringing). I do have several bead-weaving books, but I'm what they call an "experiential learner": I need to learn new things in person. I'm a dolt when it comes to following written directions.

To this end, I signed up to make a "Vine Pendant" at last night's Grand River Bead Society meeting in Guelph. I chose a sodalite pendant from the many offered, and copper wire was supplied in the kit. This is how mine turned out:

Front view:

Back view:

Side view:

Once you have the pendant wire-wrapped, the actual twining and vining is done with your fingers -- not with tools. I really did believe that all that random looping was done using round-nose pliers. Silly bobo. Temporary taping of wire(s) is also required. That was another duh moment for me.

Judy is the resident wire-wrapping instructor at Robert Hall Originals in St. George where for years I have been admiring the wire-wrapping examples on the class board. Unfortunately, I work at the times the classes are usually offered or I forget to sign up. For those of us into instant gratification, whose schedule prevents taking classes and/or who live several time zones away Judy sells tutorials from her website, but you can also find out about and sign up for upcoming classes held at Robert Hall Originals.

Okay, off to make more of these!

...oops, spoke too soon. I just got some typing in. Well, later, then.

Thanks for looking!

Open House "Classes" & Acquaterra Necklace & Bracelet...

I can't really have people in and out like a store nor have a truly open studio on any regular basis because of my real job as I never know from hour to hour whether or when I will have work in or when I will have to start typing.

My current thought is to have an open studio by appointment only, which so far has been on Sundays, although occasionally during the week, with the caveat that I could end up typing while people are absorbed in choosing beads. The idea is that I give someone an overview of where all my beads and findings are and, as in a "real" bead store, they pick and choose the beads they want to make their own necklace. Once they're happy, they string the necklace and choose a clasp, and I do the final crimping and finishing off. What's interesting is how amazed newbies are at how long the whole process takes and how difficult it is to choose the beads that, A, they like (and/or can afford) and, B, that are truly "right" in order to express what they have in their mind's eye.

My buddy Lynn of Fashion Your Space (who is forever helping get me organised) was here a few weeks ago to finally put together her turquoise necklace using the string of Kingman chips I'd given her for her birthday back in January. I'd made those hammered copper hearts a couple of years ago.

This is what Lynn had to say about the experience:

August 2013

Dear Barbara,

I am thrilled with my necklace and earrings!  I just love them!

What an enjoyable experience at your home choosing from an extensive collection of genuine stones, ornate beads and wire work creations. To my delight, I found your unique handmade ‘copper wire hearts’ to add to my jewellery pieces. I never thought I'd be wearing real turquoise. I love the color and I am so proud to wear them. Thank you so much for helping create my jewellery.

Many thanks,

Lynn

This past Sunday, Lynn and Claudia came for a potluck lunch on the deck (when it was still lovely weather; it's going to be really chilly this weekend!) and Claudia was finally able to start working with the teardrop lapis lazuli that she bought last year from the Grand River Bead Society Bead Show in Guelph (which is coming up again in a few short weeks: Claudia told me she will be going again to buy more beads and findings).

These are the designs that Claudia is now mulling over.

Hi Barbara and Lynn,

Thanks for inviting me on Sunday! I enjoyed playing with my beads at your studio and having lunch. Those cheesecakes were delicious!  I found out in a jewelry store a pearls necklace with the same design that I did for my lapis lazuli and the sparkling rounds. So, I'm going to keep it for me and look for a another one, more modern for my niece. I got an email with the invitation for the show on October, so I'm going to wait to see what can I get there.
Thanks again and see you soon,
Claudia

That raw lapis lazuli you see in the last example is new and gorgeous with lots of pyrite. Every single piece is full of character and possibilities. I will have lots at both the Grand River Bead Society Bead Show in Guelph the weekend of October 5th and 6th, as well as The Gem Expo Friday, Saturday and Sunday, November 22nd-24th in Toronto at the Hyatt on King Street -- or email me and I'll be happy to send you more pictures with prices.

And... I was busy this afternoon. It only took about 3 hours, but I managed to put together a necklace and bracelet with some beautiful blue acqua terra (aka imperial and/or impression) jasper that I got a while back from Nelson Gemstones. I really should have gotten more strings of this particular colour. It is so very, very pretty and goes with so many things. The fill in the necklace is a lovely warm putty pearlescent colour of 6/0 Japanese seed beads that I got from Beads of Colour in Dundas.

The necklace has aqua terra jasper rounds, pewter and silver-plated beads with a silver-plated rose & wing pendant and finished with Japanese seed beads, about 22" in length; $49 plus shipping.

The bracelet is made with aqua terra jasper rounds and silver-plated and pewter beads; 7.5" long; $15 plus shipping.

As always, please email me for availability or to discuss a commission, and I do take PayPal.

Thanks for looking!

Stocking up on lapis lazuli & turquoise... & musing on a new design technique

I've already started stocking up on turquoise and lapis lazuli beads to replace what I sold at The Gem Expo in Toronto in July. Here's a sneak peek of two items in the parcel that just arrived. Christmas and my birthday all rolled up together in August!

Outrageously blue, raw, flattish natural lapis chunks with lots of pyrite, hand-polished, with very clean 1.5mm to 2mm holes. The beads average about 1" / 25mm in length. These would be particularly great for stringing on leather or wire-wrapping. Some of the beads have sawn-flat backs which would lend themselves to beaded bezels or wiring flat to metal shapes or used with leather bands for cuffs or attached to leather pouches, etc.

Blue to slightly greenish-blue turquoise nuggets with and without matrix. Each bead is about 1/2" in length and softly triangular/pyramidical -- is that even a word? -- in shape. Except for hand-polishing to a velvety-soft matte finish, these turquoise nuggets are not stabilised, dyed or enhanced in any way. Being more accustomed to stabilised turquoise, I noticed right away when I hefted them that the strings feel quite light for the size of bead, which means the stabilisation process adds considerable weight to turquoise beads.

I will bring a selection of the new beads to the September meeting of the Grand River Bead Society in Guelph if anyone wants first dibs before the GRBS show in October or The Gem Expo in November in Toronto. Fetish and skull beads in various materials and a great range of Fair Trade recycled glass beads are on their way.

I just got word yesterday that Square now allows us to accept debit cards here in Canada, so I will be able to offer debit, Visa and MasterCard, prepaid Visa and MC, as well as generic cash cards at the shows and at the GRBS meetings. If anyone is contemplating using Square, it's cheap, it's fantastic and works beautifully wherever you have cell phone coverage... well, 99% of the time. And, no, nobody is paying me to say this!

I've had the occasional wonky card that the card reader didn't like, but in that case I can enter the card number by hand and it will go through (for a slightly higher fee, of course), or, as happened at the Gem Expo, my Square reader flat out wouldn't accept either of one customer's cards -- yet it had worked fine with a previous customer's card 20 minutes before. She ended up going to the hotel ATM. Later on, we tried the card again that she'd used in the ATM, and this time it worked with no problem. Who knows what happened? Computer bug. Bug went away. Customer -- and me -- happy.

NOTE: Always check and double-check you've packed your phone and peripheral whatnot chargers to the shows with you! And then check again before you pull out of the driveway. I actually did remember to bring mine (it was other stuff I forgot), but another vendor didn't and their POP machine took a special type of charger. Luckily, someone was able to help them out but it was a last-minute scramble to find one.  

I'm very happy to report that the new jewellery designs that I've been posting this spring and summer are selling well. Credit for these goes entirely to my pal Nancy who seems to have broken the design logjam in my brain. In fact, it occurs to me that the easiest way to get out of a stale design rut would be to invite a non-jewellery friend or kid of your acquaintance over to play with beads, give 'em some fishing line to string with and see what they come up with. Believe me, there are some real ah-hah moments to be had.

If something you like here has been sold I'd be happy make something similar or in different beads. Or, if you'd like a bracelet version of a necklace -- or vice versa -- or coordinating earrings (or you're looking for a particular type of bead), email me and let's see what we can come up with.

Stay tuned for lots of new jewellery -- and beads -- and thanks for looking!

Riveting...

Went to the Grand River Bead Society meeting last night in Guelph and the demo/workshop, taught by Caroline Andrews of Metal-Artz, was about riveting. I overheard many participants marvelling at how simple this process turned out to be, many of us coming into this believing it required some type of heavy-duty, complicated equipment. Basically, after punching a couple of holes in a piece of sheet metal, texturing if desired, and stacking up a couple of components on a copper nail which is then snipped to 1mm, it's all about gently, gently almost stroking that little bit of nail sticking up with a ballpeen hammer, alternating the ball side with the flat, to moosh it down and out to extend past the holes in the doodads and metal piece and make them fit nice and tight. What could be easier?

This was what I ended up with:

...which looks kind of like a cracker... or is that just because I haven't had dinner yet?

Thanks for looking!