March 2017 Gem Expo in Toronto... & Class Info...

Yes, it's confirmed -- I WILL be at The Gem Expo at the Hyatt Regency Hotel on King Street in Toronto March 17th, 18th and 19th. Hope to see you all there. It's on the final weekend of March break when everyone -- well, a lot of you -- will be back from holidays, Sign up for any class(es) and get free admission for all three days.

In addition to all the usual goodies at my table, I'll be offering two classes:

Totally Addicting Stretch Stacker/Mala Bracelets

The Totally Addicting Stretch Stacker/Mala Bracelets class is intended for complete and utter beginners, but it'll still be an interesting and informative class for anyone of any age who wants to learn a new technique. I'll supply beads and Stretch Magic in the kit and there will be plenty of beads to buy, but participants are encouraged to bring their own beads and findings -- and there's a whole ballroom full of vendors with beautiful beads, too.

Class size will be limited to 8 participants, so sign up early. 

Wire Tips & Tricks

My Wire Tips & Tricks class is for not-so-beginners to intermediate students. You've already taken some classes, maybe you're new to wire or looking to improve your techniques to attain a more professional, finished look to your jewellery, or maybe you're ready to turn your hobby into a business and need to develop more efficient production skills.

We'll walk through an overview of tools, different wire and findings properties: features to look for, what's good for what, what to avoid, where to buy, the pleasures and pitfalls of buying online, how to buy wholesale, etc. If you're curious about what's involved in selling at craft shows or store/consignment venues, we can talk about that, as well.

Because you're a not-so-beginner, I want to move fast through the yackety-yack in order to get to the making part of the class.

I've been an artist most of my life, and have made and sold wire and semi-precious jewellery for about ten years, Since I'm a production person by nature and because time is money, I figure out the easiest way to make something and then I get really fast at it.

I'll show you techniques I've developed so you can quickly and consistently make your own ear wires, dangles and other findings, wire-wrapped beads for earrings and chains, and we'll cover some very basic wire-weaving tips and tricks.

Please feel free to bring a project with you for either a quick critique or help if you're stuck.

Class size will be limited to 8 participants, so sign up early. 

I'll let you know here and on my Facebook page when the classes are posted. Subscribe to The Gem Expo to get discount coupons, vendor list and info on the other classes being offered.

If you have further questions please ask below, or email me.

In the meantime, see you every Saturday morning at the Woodstock Farmers Market. Thanks for stopping by!

Prototype Leather Cage-Wrapped Skull...

This was a fun project. Like, not. Eeesh. This very slippery carved skull of wood or something -- but very nicely done -- has two holes at the jawbone, but if I tried to put wire or leather through that, the skull would of course hang upside down.

My customer is very, very particular. Doesn't like frou-frou-ey stuff, doesn't like shiny, doesn't like large. But he does like a backstory. While I was first playing with the skull and test-wrapping various wires and leather around it it reminded me of those medieval cages that criminals and such were hung in to starve and get their eyes picked out by ravens; essentially to be rendered down to a facsimile of what I was holding in my hand. Hey, I get up at 3:30 in the morning to go to the market. I'm allowed.

Here is the prototype. He can play with this and try to make the skull fall out, and then when/if the design is approved I'll probably redo it a little more tidily.

I hammered the 1.5mm Greek leather to flatten it...

...to keep the three layers of leather as flat as possible, which I then wrapped with 24 gauge copper wire. I probably would've used 26 gauge, but I didn't have any, and if I do this again I will make that weaving a few rows larger. It looks pretty cool.

This is the back of the skull, again, should've used 26 gauge. Even though this is dead soft wire, it sure hardens fast. The resulting lumpiness kinda reminds me of brains. And I really like the self-bail, how that turned out.

I mentioned my customer doesn't like shiny: this wire will tarnish very nicely after a while. After I took the picture, I used my pliers to make waves in the wire and tighten them up a bit.

Thanks for looking!

It took me two days...

This is the mess I've managed to create in just two days. I spent several hours yesterday sorting tax receipts into quarters, and then my pal Brenda arrived to learn some wire-wrapping techniques, so the receipt piles all got shoved to the back against the wall. Who knows how long they'll remain there as I just got a pile of typing in.

This is the pendant I wrapped with dead soft copper wire and which will be going on my market table tomorrow morning. No idea what the stone is. Reminds me of snowflake obsidian, but this doesn't have the opacity, and it's dyed. Most of the beads on the table in the above picture will end up wrapped. You can get some really cool examples of beads on multi-strings for next to nothing. I got mine from Arton in Toronto a year or two ago.

Thanks for looking!

Happy Student, Happy Customer & Happy Me...

Here is some of the work (mostly perfecting her wrapping technique) that my student Nancy Mac has been been working on over the winter:

I was a very happy camper yesterday: I'd sold these earrings on Saturday at the market and then Monday I sold the necklace to Brenda, a fellow vendor at the Antique Mall. I'd only ever made the one pair of half-hoopish earrings but, while I like the shape, had no idea of their wearability. Brenda told me they're very comfortable and she's been wearing them non-stop. 

Those iridescent blue/purple seed beads are impossible to photograph, but for some reason when I photographed the necklace a few days ago through the glass in my showcase and under the ambient/artificial lighting, the colour -- and outrageous contrast -- came out a little better. 

Nancy Mac and I went halfsies on an unusual Baltic amber collar necklace with double-drilled slightly isosceles trapazoids that Brenda had at her booth. It's the double-drilling that keeps the individual pieces from flipping up out of position when wearing it, and an interesting sign of quality and workmanship that I've never run across before. 

My bits, divided up and mixed in with turquoise rondelles, will be wending their way to the Saturday market and/or showcase soon. I also have to finish off two strings of Roman glass, wire-wrap two pendants and string a heishi necklace -- all commissions. I'll be busy this week. I'll post pictures when they're done. 

Thanks for looking!

PS: As of this morning, my robin is back sitting on her nest.