I didn’t make nearly as many things this weekend as last weekend, but it’s just a regular weekend and not a long one. I switched from earrings and made a necklace and a pendant.
This dot pendant is from Yvonne Irvin-Faus. I love dots, so this dots within dots is really my kind of thing. I also got the black flower connector and tiny turquoise O rings from her shop My Elements. I wanted to play up the colors in the pendant, so I added the tiny peach tassel and used a similar color waxed linen so the peach peeks out in addition to the turquoise rings. I used a few different purple beads, primarily mermaid beads from Allegory Gallery. Their glow includes other pendant colors like blue and pinkish. This will be in the Artists for Animals Auction.
I used a Nunn Design bezel (that coincidentally I got from Christi’s shop) and had fun stuffing it as full as possible with the crystals. I kept taking pictures and video and finding more space! Here is a little video of it when I called it done. Now it’s just curing.
Here is a photo, but I think the video captures it better – the sparkle!
I cleaned the inside edge up a little more after I saw this photo as well.
I had a three day weekend, so I made multiple things. I rested on my first day off, designed on my second day and made on my third day. Employers note: adequate time off can help us be more creative (including problem-solving.)
I like to look at Jes MaHarry jewelry. I get emails from her company, and one think that isn’t in the catalog, but I’ve seen layered in some photos is a nice set turquoise heart pendant. I’m not going to be able to get something like that, but I saw some turquoise chips in Christi Friesen’s shop around the same time Allegory Gallery showed some bezels, including one heart bezel I was lucky to get. I thought setting turquoise chips in the heart bezel with Apoxie Sculpt would give me a similar look in a way I could afford. I was super happy with how the pendant turned out. I thought long and hard about what to add to it for the necklace. I ended up hanging it from a vintage chain. I didn’t want to take attention away from the pendant.
I made another necklace inspired by a movie called So You Said Yes on Hallmark. I like to watch romance movies while making sometimes since I don’t have to pay a lot of attention. Of course I scrolled back through it to try to find the necklace so I could take a screenshot, and I couldn’t find it. Oh well. It had a sort of 1920s flair. It was longish and had a rectangular pendant with dangles. This pushed me to try to work with some tin. I want to work a lot more with tin, so this was a simple beginning project to boost my confidence.
It’s longer than it seems here, but it’s always hard to show a necklace that has a lot of chain. I cut the tin out of an old lid. I debated whether to age it more, but since it’s a relatively small piece, I didn’t want the whole thing to be too grungy. I really had some other vintage metal dangles in mind, but of course I couldn’t find them. I did find a couple of earrings I bought in a destash. Each had three of these nice dangles. I just remembered I was thinking I could use the 6th dangle on the back near the clasp. I didn’t end up needing a clasp since it is long enough to fit over my head. I might change it to be adjustable. If so, I can add the dangle then.
I made two pair of earring for the upcoming Artists for Animals Auction. My auctions will benefit Madison Cat Project. It is coming up May 2 – 8, 2022. I had bought some really pretty chain and crystal dangles from Famous Vintage Bead Hoard Liquidation Destash. I have an idea for it in a necklace, but when my Mom saw it, she said it would make great earrings. She’s right. I made sterling silver ear wires, hung a dangle from each and done! The photo doesn’t look nearly as pretty as in person. They are fancy.
The other earrings are the result of me looking through my vintage metals for the dangles in the second necklace. I found some vintage metal filigree rounds. I used marble Vintaj patina and then use the Vintaj relief block to bring back a few metal highlights. I added Preciosa crystals and vintage glass beads. I think they turned out really pretty.
Making is so calming and satisfying. I really, really need to clean in my studio, but whenever I’m in there, making just calls out to me.
I have collected a fair amount of things that don’t have holes but that I love anyway. Much of it is vintage, and I love vintage things. So I took a couple of classes about using Apoxie Sculpt with Erin Prais-Hintz. That is a two-part epoxy clay in which I can embed things. It cures hard in 24 hours. It is pretty easy to use, but I still need practice. I get nervous I won’t mix the right amount of each part or that I won’t be happy with the less than perfect spacing of items.
Here is a design I was working out last weekend. I have a bunch of shallow square brass bezels. I used vintage no hole pearls and grey nail head sew-on beads. The bugle beads are contemporary. Once the design was done, I used black Apoxie Sculpt to embed the materials. I used a pointed tool to texture the parts that showed. Once dry, it looked sort of like lava rock. I don’t mind that the spacing isn’t perfect.
I glued a vintage brass bail onto the bezel to make it a pendant. (I will be so sad when I run out of those!) I used grey pearls from Allegory Gallery, some brass spacers, and a vintage grey pearl box clasp. It does remind me a little of the look of Chanel, different than my usual more bohemian, colorful style.
I made a few things. First, just an easy-peasy necklace. My mom bought me a statement crystal. I hadn’t decided what to do with it. This weekend when I was looking through some chain, I found a little vintage Monet box chain. I thought the crystal would look great just hanging from the chain, and it does. It’s impossible to get a picture of the crystal without that “stripe” across it, but that lets you see the design better.
Then I decided to practice with some Apoxie Sculpt. I thought I could do a version of a bead stitched bangle project I saw and get a similar look. However, I would need to be much more patient and precise to make that happen. When that became clear after one row, I pulled that row out. It was also clear I had put too much Apoxie Sculpt in the bezel area. I thought maybe the amount I took out when I removed the seed beads would be enough, but it wasn’t. I forged ahead anyway, so the bracelet is much less than perfect. But it was good to practice. However, one of the things I am nervous about with Apoxie is having to mix it. This got me over that. I have the same concern with resin. It can be nerve-wracking to mix two part epoxy products.
I had some mixed Apoxie Sculpt left, so I made a tiny bezel.
I used a stamp I got from Charity Elise. I put a vintage flat back red heart in the little circle part. I brushed on some gold mica powder. I used the last of the leftovers to make an egg-shaped bead that I also covered with gold mica powder.
So it was a good practice session. I have had a lot of ideas for Apoxie Sculpt and needed more practice so I wouldn’t be afraid to try them. I haven’t had as much studio time as I’d like lately. I hope I can get more. I’m not going to have as much time off during the holidays as I usually do, but I’ll try to sneak in a little bit of creative time every week.
I attended The Whole Bead Show online this year. It’s a lot of work for folks, and I hope they can get back to the way they prefer to do business, but as long as things had to go online, I’m glad I got to partake. I got some wonderful items. I had already signed up for my Apoxie Sculpt class when I had the opportunity to buy a bag of Roman glass shards from Hands of the Hills, one of the participants in The Whole Bead Show. I really loved it, and thought after the class, I’d have a way to use it. I was right.
I really love the patina on the glass. There are so many colors! I also got some Roman glass beads from Hands of the Hills, and I used some of those to make a necklace with my pendant.
I used several of the shapes, plus a few bigger green amethyst beads I got from Allegory Gallery. I finished it off with a couple of strands of blue beaded chain to bring some of the blue to the back of the necklace.
This was fun to make. I still have a lot of the shards. I also have so many other cabs and shards I look forward to using with Apoxie Sculpt.
As I’ve mentioned, I took a class with Erin Prais-Hintz about working with Apoxie Sculpt. I loved it! She has been teaching a series of classes this fall/winter online through the University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point. I am hoping she teaches more in the spring. Two were jewelry focused (including mine) and an upcoming one on December 11th is about making an art mosaic piece.
For my class, I made two bracelets and a pendant.
It’s fun to have some blingy pieces. There is larger rhinestone cup chain on the bottom of each side of the larger cuff. I didn’t realize I didn’t get any pictures of that until I was finished taking photos. I never like to have to go back and re-do things, so I leave it to your imagination!
This is prettier in person. The light blue circle is a vintage foil back glass cabochon. I think I’ll probably patina the metal parts of the pendant.
I’m very excited to use Apoxie Sculpt in more projects. As usual, I have a million ideas. I said in class that this has justified all the vintage cabochons and no-hole art shards I’ve ever purchased! Now I can use them all.
Bead Love 