Some supplies get used as quick as can be. I’d been visiting and longing for those vinyl record beads from Africa forever so once I got my hands on them, I had to use them immediately. The pink btw, is bright neon.
The vintage black buttons look like vinyl records to me, they are art deco and were purchased long ago. I have a tupperware container of buttons for each of about 8 colors. A sorting exercise when I was buying the buttons in bulk from ebay. It really does make them easier to use and was fun seeing each and every button in the large lots.
No idea where that little glass smiley bead came from, have also had that in the stash forever. So I wore these out last night to decide whether I could part with them. For now, I simply have to keep these. They really express how I feel about the world, in a way that I just can not describe.
To see these photos full size, visit my flickr page.
My work for designfarm takes precedence during the weekdays and this has been a slammed week, with no time for jewelry other than the site launch.
Finally, with things winding down on Friday afternoon I took a break to run errands and found myself at my local bead shop — S&A Beads — in Old Town Takoma Park. Manager Zoe had restocked the tiny shop with so much amazing ethnic tribal and glamorous gemstone stuff, I was dazed. Pictured at the top, vinyl beads in brilliant neon colors and above, gorgeous leather tassels, all from Africa. SWOON. If you’re in the tri-state area, swing through and visit S&A. Sunday is great, the Farmer’s Market will be set up out front (year round) and soon will be brimming with fruits, veg, flowers, baked goods etc.
Here’s an cool jet black beaded sequined tassel I picked up at Value Village when Molly and I stopped by after her orthodontist appt this week.
On the same VV run, picked up these hideious earrings which I can’t wait to disassemble and reconfigure.
But the main reason for the trip to VV was hunt for Bollywood bangles, and my No.1 thriftstore did NOT disappoint.
It makes me happy having this stuff strewn about my desk while I work on my graphics deadlines. That way the supplies can continue their job of talking to me about context. My favorite time for making jewelry is Saturday morning. I almost always get up early, caffeinate, then gather up the supplies and head for the studio. What’s your most creative time?
Having a far-away art friend is today’s version of a pen pal (which I’m old enough to also have had), only better! Manuela lives in Milan and we met on flickr — where she goes by the name Gigliotigre and/or PoppyPoppins. We were drawn to one another’s jewelry images; pictured above is Manu’s hand-knit plastic necklace, Knotting Lies.
Although we barely know one another, we decided to do a destash trade… destash being an invented word crafters use to describe the sharing of their overflow hoard of supplies. I was so excited to get Manu’s package, note the mustache tape! Inside was a little suitcase and inside that…
A crazy little mini-hoard! Here are some pix…
Manu also sent me a super sweet pair of earrings from her PoppyPoppins line, pictured below. Of course we both LOVE polka-dots.
Lastly, here is one more necklace creation of Manu’s, entitled Erasmus, “la tete Mundurucù” dedita all’ubriachezza molesta or The head hunter’s first victim.
Despite our language barriers — Manu’s English surpassing my Italian by a gazillion percent — we’ve become great friends. I’ve sent a package off to Italy and knowing their mail system as I do… I hope it arrives before Xmas! I can’t wait to see the extreme craziness that comes of this trade. And I hope to introduce you to a few more of my talented art-buds soon.
My attention span is so limited at times… I LOVE making earrings, but when they get complicated… as they have been lately… I never feel like making up the second one! Pictured above, two singles from today’s work.
This one features labradorite coin beads, a favorite earring finding, and a sweet little blood-red glass leaf from India in the shape of a heart. Or a heart in the shape of a leaf? Anyway, it’s translucent, and so pretty.
This little burst of sunshine has a wire-wrapped crystal point with a ring beaded in warm bronze bugle and neon seed beads. Tedious!
I promise to finish the two pairs and have them listed on the new So Charmed site. COUNTDOWN… 3 days.
Depending upon how long you’ve been reading this blog, you may remember that in the spring of 2010, my family traveled to Paris to attend the opening of a major exhibition of work inspired by French poet Arthur Rimbaud — RimbaudMania. You know how some moments of your life are so surreal that you can hardly experience them? This is one such moment. In the very short video above, you can see several jewelry cases, one of which has two pieces of mine displayed. This was the first room of the exhibit, entitled Objects Fetisches.
Below is a much longer video, running about 9 minutes and the videographer is moving through the exhibit from end to beginning. My work gets focus at 8:07 or thereabouts. This video also shows the works of Picasso, Leger, Miro, Mapplethorpe, Patti Smith, and Cocteau, among others… also included in the exhibition. There was a gorgeous hardbound catalog of the exhibit published, and my pieces were later sent to the Rimbaud Museum in Charleville-Mézières, France, where they reside as part of the permanent collection. Here’s a link with lots of photos to my original post.
Having some fun with solder again today. These necklace focals are both made with thin sheets of micro glass, between which stuff is sandwiched, then soldered.
This is particularly fun, because you can see the lace from the other side of the charm. I used two little claw-foot findings to make loops for stringing chain. They were a beeeyatch to solder… I need one of those third hand thingees before I burn the bejeebus outta myself. The lace is tea stained and the flower is millinery, both very vintage.
This image shows you the flip side of the scissor charm. These are vintage tobacco tags from India, with the coolest graphics. I used a filigree broken in half for the top… one piece soldered to each side. Crafty!
I’m so excited to share this with you… a new necklace focal — printed images soldered between thin pieces of glass. Above is one side, below is the other. I added the little fleur de lis charm for fun and patina and sanded everything to a messy aged black.
Since giving up the resin process, I’ve been agonizing over not being able to play with text and images. Having had this entire soldering kit around the studio for several years, and having experimented with it a bit lately, I finally got inspired to go the full distance creating one of these sorts of picture things. The technique is nothing new. But I hope I’ll be bringing that So Charmed touch to the whole thing.
And here are some CRAZY tribal focals made with clay (polymer), wire, and dental teeth, which I believe are porcelain, but not sure. They didn’t melt in the oven… so I’m assuming they aren’t plastic! I have a few cards of these… they are used (I believe) for shade matching.
I have to say, these scare even me. They are so incredibly creepy. But I do love them and can’t wait use them in jewelry. Big hugs to Steph of Vladthebatsattic and Simona of HappyFallout for the clay inspiration. Visit their shops to see really great stuff made with actual fired clay… much better than my efforts!
Here’s the second Marie focal, with a vintage brass ribbon thingee soldered on. This is LOTS OF FUN to do.
The back of this second charm features an ancient guillotine illustration. Had to go there…
Since deciding to make a little dress (see previous post) I’ve been exploring the vast world of imported Japanese fabric on Etsy.
There are several shops that have hundreds of listings of these gorgeous prints in cotton and cotton-linen blends.
The rest of this post will be sans text eye-candy. Oh, be warned: some of the fabrics are ghastly expensive. But I’ve really never seen anything like it.
I stumbled upon the work of Jody Pearl (I know, soul sister in name right?), over on flickr, where she posts lots of great images including a recent self portrait with flaming pink hair (I know, hair sister too!)…
Turns out Jody — who goes by Reinventing Fashion (soul sister of craft!) — has a full-on web site where she sells her wonderful patterns, fabrics, and trims. I fell in love with the Piece of Cake dress, pictured in this post, and emailed her to ask just how piece-of-cakey it might be for a fledgling sewist such as yours truly.
My guess is that regardless of the answer to my question, I’ll be giving this a try… it’s just TOO tempting. Visions of thrifted and vintage fabrics dance in my head, along with an entire wardrobe of funky, handmade tunic tops to wear with leggings and skinny jeans. Anybody want to mentor me on this (you know who you are…)? Here’s a link to the pattern, but don’t miss these pattern packages which also include some of her lovely fabrics.
We celebrate the mid-February holiday of romance at our house, despite some jaded opinions that it’s simply an evil conspiracy between the Hallmark and Whitman’s companies. How cute is this little heart-shaped baseball box of chocolates? Well, there were only three candies inside, and the BF was sweet enough to share with Molly and I.
The BF went the traditionalist route with a gorgeous bouquet of pink and white roses that have been slowly opening all week.
Molly, a reluctant celebrator of this holiday, not only picked out the CUTEST Valentine at the store (I was actually lusting for this one when I picked mine out)… but she also wrote very tender and funny notes to both of us inside. Couldn’t get a great photo, but it reads: Mom: Thanks for dealing with all my crap all the time. Even though you drive me insane, I love you. Molly
A keeper forever.
So anyway, for the real history of the holiday, a pagan ordeal which includes a Christian saint, and the alleged sacrifice of a goat AND a dog hit the link. (ewwwww).
