Copper washer earrings

It's been two or three weeks of solid typing and aimlesssly banging away here and there on different bits and pieces and playing with shapes, then trying to become motivated in the drag end of the week -- two or three hours late on a Friday afternoon -- to make some jewellery before the Saturday market but finally today I got something put together. After watching the digital version of paint drying -- watching quick-charge batteries recharging -- I took these pictures.


Hammered copper washers, swirled wire doodad, pewtery/Tibetan silver/zinc bead w/copper beads, argentium sterling earwires. Yes, the bubo is from hammering the relatively small washers. Baaaad washers. Baaaad hammer.



I'm still not entirely sure if these are a work in progress but they are/will be for sale (email me). I may dispense with the jump rings and wrap the pieces together with either copper or silver wire. Still debating that. I also have larger hammered washers, but they might be too heavy for here.

Vote/comment here or Artefaccio on Facebook.

Copper triple bail spiral & curved leaf dangles

What I've been designing/working on today...

Consistency is the goal at this point. Then I will work on speed, as right now they're clocking in at a cost of $4.10 each... but they sure are purty. With the triple bail design, I wanted something that is going to sit solidly on a leather or cotton cord in between the beads so the necklace overall doesn't get too floppy -- and here I'm thinking old chevrons, Tibetan dzi agate beads, African handmade sandcast and clear glass beads. I've hammered all the triple bail spirals, so they're thick and thin like the leaf. May make a pile left plain.

Orders taken, please email me if you're interested. I'm particularly interested in producing my designs in quantity. Shipping is extra, depends on destination and need for speed.

Thank you for looking!

Copper headpins and dangles...

These are what I've been making this week -- at least 150 of the little suckers -- with approximate prices. They seem so expensive to me (even made in copper) but time and materials have to be accounted for.
 

3" flat paddles = 35 cents each
2" flat paddles = 30 cents each



2.25" open spiral = 80 cents each
2.25" closed spiral = 80 cents each



2.25" rosette = 86 cents each

I've also been making assorted dangles:

Hammered copper heart with Chinese AB crystal rondelle, pewter daisy spacers, copper swirl headpin



Lapis lazuli rondelles, faceted copper spacers, pewter daisy spacers, 20 gauge tinned copper spiral headpins;
lapis lazuli rondelles, pewter daisy spacers, 18 gauge copper headpins w/hammered loop



These are the headpin prototypes I was playing with this week. They look like copper, but it's just my bad photography. They're 20 gauge tinned copper and are what I used in the dangles below.



Chinese AB crystals, pewter daisy spacers, rosette tinned copper headpins

 Other than making these, I haven't done much all week except type and read and sleep. I was very sick on Monday/Tuesday and had a migraine for the first time in years from all the wind of the past two weeks. The weather now, though, is unbelievable -- 20C the past two days --  and everything is turning green so quickly, but with a hail storm yesterday morning, I suppose to add that little soupcon of seasonal reality. It's forecast to be like this pretty much all of next week, as well, and then we get some more coolish weather down around 10C. I can live with that.

The hammered copper Art Deco-ish bracelet...

...that started out as a necklace.

I finally finished this. I've been messing around with it all week on and off. Actually, I've been typing like a mad fiend since Sunday, finished that early on Tuesday evening, spent a great part of yesterday in bed in a dark room with all the symptoms of a migraine but without the pain. Very curious sensation. Wind is still a trigger for a lot of migraine-like symptoms even though I haven't had a full-blown migraine in years -- for which I am profoundly grateful. I had 13 years of those suckers 4 and 5 times a week with no letup. They disappeared as abruptly as they began.

But back to the bracelet. These Art Deco style "roses" I've been doodling for I don't know how many years, and it struck me one day they'd make cool connectors, and I think they work particularly well because the beads somewhat mimic the shape. Yes, in this case, the connectors came before the beads, but when I saw the beads at Rainbow Trading's trunk show at the Bead Boutique in Kitchener a week ago, I pounced. I just wish I could have afforded another string.

Showing the clasp, still working on refining the design, but so far it's easy on/off and extremely secure.

I cannot get over how hard it is to photograph a bracelet on.

I wish I could've had five beads on this, but... I wanted it to fit a medium wrist. Another bead will add a full 2 inches to the bracelet.

This is for sale, please email me for details. Thanks for looking!

Checkitout... I'm on Facebook!

Yeah, yeah, okay, all right... I'm only ten years behind the times. Big whup. Nothing new about that.

I now have a Facebook store thing! Thanks to my good pal from deviantArt, http://blackowl4.deviantart.com/, I have been dragged kicking and screaming and better late than never into the second decade of the 21st century. Go visit her pages and see her stunning work.
http://www.facebook.com/BoriquaDoll

And then come back and see my stuff.
http://www.facebook.com/#!/giftsfromthegarden

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, I'm in a weird mood, I sift through beads, can't get inspired, but what does suit my mood is pounding the snot out of poor innocent copper wire. I've been doing that a lot lately. I wonder if it means anything significant...

These are copper, obviously, earwires, part of an order for Lynn in Arizona:

These are string ends I've been playing with, to use when tying off with leather cord (instead of using plain jump rings) after I've strung 6 or 8 inches of beads on wire, some hammered art deco rose spacers, and some more necklace ends or maybe dangles, respectively. I'm finding that the overlapping of wire on the string end loops and thick/thin hammering means there's less chance that the stringing wire will work its way loose the way it will do through the gap in jump rings, but there's still the flexibility of being able to take things apart if necessary.

I had made this originally as a heart, but didn't like the loop at the bottom. I still don't care for it even sitting at the top, but it makes for an interesting frame for the Chinese AB crystals, which I'm using to keep the cost down. Now to riff on this copper shape which I do like and see what transpires.

TRUNK SHOW ALERT - 1-4 March 2012!
Anyone reading this from Southern Ontario, please plan to go tonight, Thursday, 1 March though Sunday 4 March to The Bead Boutique in Kitchener. Jess is hosting a huge bead trunk show, and the bead selection will be stunning. Here is the link for more info, hours, address...: http://www.facebook.com/TheBeadBoutiqueKitchener

Rose ring & heart ring...

Two more rings from this morning. Wittyliving.com has a number of cool ring tutorials, all free. Yay. Here are my first versions. As always, I try to improve on Mother Nature and/or my own nature to abscond with ideas and run with them in a totally unnatural direction.

Made the goinks in the band to see if that was a way to shorten the band a bit.

Too many wraps, though: now the decorative goinks are hidden.

My version of a heart ring design I found online, with a couple of variations.

I didn't like the wires crossing through the heart, so I started my wraps on either side of the heart without doing the cross. This means my heart is somewhat adjustable -- not to mention, if I use finer wire it will too easily come apart. I think this is about 12 or 14 gauge wire (it's from the 7-strand copper wire you can buy at the hardware store off a huge spool).

It just occurred to me that there may even be a way to combine the rose with the heart... back to the drawing board.

Pewter skull ring

I think this turned out really well. Made this in 20 gauge, but I don't know if it's a little too fine for its size, which is 9. Fits my index finger. I will make it tomorrow in 18 gauge and 12 gauge, and see how they compare.

And another Kingman turquoise ring, playing with a wave pattern to hide the fact that the wrapping was really loose and wonky. Size 5.75... said it was wonky.

Wrapped copper rings...

Well, I was going to make more tree of life pendants today, but then I got distracted. Holy moley, these are messy. But they're kind of fun to make. Just wish I hadn't run out of 20 gauge wire on a long weekend. 

This was the first one I made, with Artistic Wire. It's going to be way too floppy to hold up to wear. But I like the gold/brass colour.



Clockwise left to right:

Square pink dyed jasper or agate(?), brass Artistic Wire;

Kingman turquoise, 20 ga copper;

Kingman turquoise, 18 ga copper, with 20 ga wrapping the stones onto the 18 ga;

Matte faceted lapis lazuli, 20 ga copper wire;

Matte faceted lapis lazuli, 14 ga copper wire.

If anyone feels like trying this out, here is where I got the tutorial for the rings. She makes it look sooooooo easy! http://www.lythastudios.com/123bead/project-46.html

Turquoise tree of life pendant

This is another variation, dull silvery-coloured tinned copper to give that driftwood feel, on a copper frame, about 2" diameter, Chinese turquoise chips.

This is for sale, please email me for details. $30, includes a Greek leather cord or deerhide thong, colour of your choice, plus shipping & handling ($5.00).

Pendant with 2 carved bone bears & turquoise chips

I have no idea what this represents. It started out as a tree of life with a bear, zoned out and this is the result.

It's about 55mm/2.25 inches in diameter. Note that the bears are a little more beige and the turquoise chips a little warmer than it shows here. Chinese turquoise chips, possibly colour washed, but for sure these are not dyed howlite.

$30 with a beige or black Greek leather cord on it -- or I have some deerskin lacing -- or black cotton. Email me at bemacdougall@gmail.com.