AJE Earring Challenge Reveal 3

I almost forgot to get my earrings done and photographed for the third reveal of the Art Jewelry Elements Earring Challenge.  The challenge is to create at least one pair of earrings per week using art beads. 

My first pair for this reveal is made from hand cut copper discs that I textured in my Sizzix BigKick.  Then I fumed them with ammonia to get the blue patina and sealed them with Protectaclear to keep the patina.  I hung them from some of my hand forged balled copper ear wires.

 

 

The second pair I created just this morning and were inspired by Kristy Abner's Drops of Rain earrings posted on the Earrings Everyday blog.  Mine are annealed steel wire frames accented with  enameled copper headpins to hold turquoise lampwork beads.  The ear wires are wire wrapped directly to the frames.  Wore these to a Stanley (did you know the Stanley Co was still around?) party today, they were lighter than I expected.  Now I'm not sure I can list these because I like them so much.

 

Be sure to visit the AJE Blog to visit other participants in the challenge!



Copper and enamel tube beads in production

I sat down the other day and cut what seemed like a mountain of copper tubing into short lengths for enameling into tube beads.  I cut around 4 feet on tubing and here was the result.

The whole pile fits in  a little 4 inch bowl.  I flared some of the tubes to play with some additional shapes.  The flared ones look a little like spools don't they?  Then I set to filing all the tube edges so they don't cut through the stringing material. 

I have lots of ideas for these including some Monet inspired beads for spring.  So many ideas and so few tubes.  Guess I better go start cutting some more.

I plan to get them enameled and listed on Etsy this week for those who are interested.

I treated myself to a dark chocolate Dove bar yesterday,  They have little sayings in the wrappers now, sort of like fortune cookies. 

Thanks Dove.  I will try to remember to do that :). 

 

Hope you are being free, happy and you this weekend too!

AJE Earring Challenge Second Reveal

Continuing on with the one pair of earrings a week challenge from Art Jewelry Elements.  This time I really only did the one pair a week as I was completing the Lucite and Clay challenge from my previous post.

Here's what I have for you this week.  Hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed making them.  Be sure to go to the AJE site to see the other blogs or the AJE Pinterest board.

This pair is made from a pair of gear hoops by Karen Totten of Starry Road Studio.  Be sure to check her Etsy shop for lots of drool worthy ceramic pieces.  The center hoops are enameled copper by me and the ear wires are hand made by me as well.  Really need to get these listed on Etsy, but I'm having a hard time parting with them.

The second pair for this reveal is all component made by me other than the Swarovski bicones of course.  This week I learned to make hollow lampwork beads and this is one the pairs of them. Pairs of hollow beads are proving to be a little tricky for me in getting the size to match, this pair is pretty close. The nice thing about the hollow beads, besides the look of them, is they are quite a bit lighter so I can use larger beads for earrings.  On my monitor these are appearing almost the size they are in real life.

What's been in the works

This week I have been rearranging my studio space (again).  This time was to accommodate the addition of a treadmill and recumbent stationary bike into the space.  I took advantage of the move to also add my bead table and storage in there and even do some reorganizing.  I will try to get yo some pics of that tomorrow.

Yesterday the temp here soared to an unprecedented 66 degrees with sun!  Yes, sun in western NY in January (it was back down in the 30's today but let's focus on the positive)!  So while the sun was out yesterday I took a few quick pics of some projects and beads I worked on in late Nov and Dec. 

First up is this cool copper cuff.  After cutting it out I textured it in my new Sizzix BigKick that I got a great Black Friday deal on.  Then I added patina with ammonia fuming and sealed it with Protectaclear.  The patina is actually a little more blue than it appears in this pic. Tip of the Day:  If you have been dreaming of a rolling mill but can't afford one the BigKick might be a temporary solution for you.

I also worked in quite a bit of enamel and copper.  The dragonfly is an older piece but I made him a new bail and a neck ring to hang from, the blue flower would also work with this neck ring.

There was some beading done.  The flat spiral bracelet is still in progress and is very similar to the necklace from the Hoops Challenge.

I worked on my lampwork skills.  It's a work in progress, still working on how not to get bubbles in my transparents. I love the paisley, too bad the ivory in the center of the paisley was very picky and burned.

Here are a couple bracelets I made from my very own beads :).  I need to rework the memory wire bracelet,    it holds it's shape well under the weight of the beads but needs more beads and it has a tendency to fling off my wrist when I talk with my hands, lol.

I had a bit of torch time today but the beads are still annealing, so those pics will have to wait too.