I like this quote by Walt Whitman: “I exist as I am, that is enough.” I bought a spoon pendant that it is stamped on in quite a nice font. I also have it on another pendant (and would buy it again!)
I got a strand of hand painted beads from Sondra’s Estate Beads Destash Depot, along with a few larger, more colorful beads that are similar.
I put just one of the larger hand painted beads above the pendant. I added some round venetian beads I got from Andrew Thornton:Project Destash. I added pink seed beads in between to bring in the pink from the bead above the pendant. I used the old box clasp that was the clasp on the necklace of hand painted beads. By the time I was done, I had made the necklace long enough that it didn’t need a clasp, but it was already in my head. I wish I’d saved it for another project but not enough to restring the whole thing!
This is really the kind of necklace I love. I like larger pendants, the quote, old hand painted beads, a little bit of a folk art look. Pretty, comfortable and filled with meaning. I can’t quite explain it, but I think many readers will understand that this necklace reminds me of old quilts.
I was looking at an Andrew Thornton: Project Destash event a little while ago, and a strand of resin tiger heads came up. I jumped at the chance to get it because they were so cute, it was a wonderful price, and I knew both my father and I would enjoy them. I got them and they were even better in person! They are fully figural, with a face on each side, so no matter which way the bead turns, it looks great!
As I often do, I love the beads just in their strand. So I wanted to make something fairly simple. I thought I’d go on a search through my stash for just a little bead to go in between each head for a bracelet, but I didn’t even need to do that. I had some perfect sized striped seed beads on my table that I had recently used for another project, and I thought they were just the thing.
Just a short time later and ta-da! This bracelet is so cute and just what I wanted. I really like these snap clasps for when I want something that doesn’t take up much space. This is the kind of design that would be good for a stretch bracelet, but those often fit too close for me. A small clasp and Soft Flex is my choice. This is actually a medium size of the snap clasp. They come in a smaller variety.
One of my local bead stores, Meant to Bead, is in the business area where there was a tragic gas leak explosion and is still closed. When they re-open, I plan a shopping trip to support them. I am adding a variety of sizes and finishes of the snap clasps to my list.
This was another fun, easy make that turned out just how I hoped. I’m interested to see what my dad makes with his half of the strand.
My mom and I had another patina day! We were very pleased with the results. I also tried an idea I had with Mod Podge and was super pleased that it turned out as well. So, I will just get right into the show and tell.
I got one of these lily of the valley stampings from Sondra’s Estate Beads Destash Depot. I have gotten a lot of great things from Sondra, so check out her page if you have a minute. Tons of stampings for sure; many of the older really quality, heavy duty kind. Anywho, I forgot to take a picture of mine nekkid, so Sondra let me use hers. I used Vintaj patinas in marble and a mixture of moss and seafoam pearl for the green. I used the Vintaj reliefing block because I always like stampings to look old.
My mom patina-ed another lily stamping I got from Sondra with the same colors. Here are the original and color versions, with the original once again by Sondra Jackson.
I didn’t go in with a solid plan for this pewter dragon fly focal by Fire Goddess that I got from Andrew Thornton’s destash. I kept changing my mind, but in the end I think it turned out kind of fun. Here are three quick pics: the original pendant, with bronze patina and some reliefing, with white gold, ochre, and carnelian.
I guess I didn’t get many before pictures. My mom had a silver face pin that she patina-ed with verdigris, ochre and cinnabar mixed with garnet. Here it is in progress and finished.
My mom also had an old brass vase stamping; here is a picture in progress and finished.
I had these fish I was just going to lightly patina with sea colors, but they were smoother than I first thought. The patina didn’t take well, and I would have had to rough them up. They are way too cute to even consider doing something that could ruin them, so I decided to leave them as is. I just wanted to include them to say that not everything ends up needing patina! These are also from Sondra Jackson.
The last thing I patina-ed is some copper chain. I thought it was a good candidate because it was so heavily textured, and I didn’t really like it that much in its natural state. I have a pendant I want to use it with, and I chose moss patina. Here is a picture of the patina (right) and then after I reliefed it (left).
I cut the chain, so I had some extra bars. I said I was going to throw them away because I can’t keep every little thing – that’s why my studio is the way it is (giant mess). My mom decided to keep them in case I needed them at some later time. Not minute later I broke one of the bars being a little too rough with my reliefing. My mom was able to hand me one of the spare bars (that I had tested the patina on, so it was already done!) and I fixed it. My mom is the smartest!
One last thing I did was Mod Podge some old flowers I have onto a wooden bead. Hope Smitherman’s blog showed a project with washi tape earrings. I think that in combination with another project I saw but really can’t remember made me think about a little table I Mod Podged with tissue paper. It turned out so cute! I figured I could do that on wooden beads. I looked through my paper craft supplies, and I really wanted to use some old flower items a friend had given me. I got the wooden beads from St. Katherine’s Supply Co.
And here is the finished product in my first ever video on my blog.
Whoo! That was a long post. I hope you enjoyed it! You will be seeing these items turn up in finished jewelry in the future.
I took a fall a few days ago and injured my hand, so I haven’t worked on the projects I had hoped to show. However, I’m glad to say my hand is healing better than I thought! I don’t like to go too long without posting, so new beads are always a good choice.
First, though, I wanted to let people know that there is another Artists for Animals Auction coming up. I participated with this last October and will be participating again May 14 – 20, 2018. There are two ways you can support the auction: 1) participate as an artist and auction your handmade items; 2) participate as a purchaser and bid on the items that week. Each artist donates proceeds to their charity of choice. I will donate to Madison Cat Project. Check out the auction page for more information. Join to make sure you get updates.
There are some juicy peridot nuggets, morganite barrels, faceted lapis rondelles and small faceted carnelian. This photo doesn’t show their real beauty (which is true of most of the photos in this post) because I was unwilling to disturb MooKitty in order to get better light.
The cute blue dishes that I am showing the beads in are by Jennifer “Jangles” Heynen. Here are some of the laser cut wood pendants I’ve gotten from Allegory Gallery.
Next up are some really lovely vintage plastic beads from Allegory Gallery.
I’ve been enjoying shopping some great vintage (and other) items on Sondra Jackson’s page. I’ve gotten some great chain. I love this unusual vintage diamond chain. She has a great variety of cup chain. This one is much more sparkly in person, and there are better photos on her page.
Some excellent metal beads. I can’t decide if I want to patina these or leave them as is. Maybe some of each.
She has an extensive collection of Czech glass buttons. Of course I chose a cat.
I also got some destash from Staci Louise Smith. There was one particular old bag of old stuff that is just the kind of thing I go for. I knew there were some real gems in there, but I wasn’t sure exactly what until I got it. Here are two things I especially love from the bag.
There was more, including a large number of white glass pearls in a variety of sizes and some champagne glass pearls. I’ll have fun using all of this.
I look forward to presenting some finished pieces. I have two necklace designs in mind, plus two bracelet projects. Bracelet weather is coming!
