Cuff Me!

Don't taze me, bro!  Cuff me!

Hello all,

Hope that you have all had a great week.  As my jewelry making time dwindles into an ever decreasing sliver,  I am enjoying the bits of time spent working even more than usual.  I was able to get a couple of things finished up including this cuff.....

I roller printed antique lace onto the copper cuff months ago, waiting for inspiration to strike.

Strike it did!

I wired on an overlay of crocheted yarn,

and affixed an oxidized filigree piece.

The focal is a gorgeous vintage piece, which, I think is a

perfect elegant accent to the rustic fiber and metal.

Here's how it closes......

A brass leaf has been altered to function as a clasp adorned with

two floral headpins.

I enameled one side of a penny with

Venetian blue enamel,

the other side with transparent enamel so that you can see that it's a penny

and added a rhinestone wreath atop of the blue.

How about another shot of my soon to be no more back yard....

A pair of doves nested this year in our yard.  I've attempted many times

to capture the babies at the birdbath outside of our kitchen window.

They seem to know when I go to grab the camera,

because the second I return with camera in hand,

they're off in a flash!

Finally,

I managed to catch this no longer a baby-

not quite an adult-

enjoying a cool drink.

You can see that I took the pictures through the slats of the window blinds.

Even so, they seemed to know

I was there with the camera. 

Love the zoom feature!

I unsuccessfully tried to capture the doves

 when they were much younger, timidly taking their first baths.

They were flapping wildly doing their best not to fall into the bath,

as their siblings nervously cheered them on from the edge of the birdbath.

I hope you'll get to see that delightful show for yourselves sometime.

and now, back to all things jewelry....

I made these with some of my goodies from the

Bead and Button show.

I tube set a sky blue topaz onto one of the hammer textured shields

and added that same color to the other shield via rhinestone chain.

These hang under an arc of freshwater pearls

with rainbow moonstone briolettes and tiny faceted pyrite beads.

Do you notice something

that's not quite working on the tube set earring?

Look closer......

I don't know what I was thinking.

In my head it was supposed to look like the rays

of the sun bursting out from around the tube setting.

Nope,

looks like a bunch of scratches.

hmmmmmm

I'm going to have to do something about that.

Thinking, thinking....

Maybe stamp a little design...

ideas anyone?

But there is a bit of good news on the earrings front....

the torso-less head looks quite lovely as an ear model, don't you think?

Here she is wearing the newly oxidized

Roman glass, druzy and labradorite earrings I showed you awhile back.

I think with the oxidation, they're ready to list........

 

These had been listed, but I decided to oxidize em,

redo the pictures and relist them.

 

Roman glass and labradorite.

here's the same antler tine bracelet from last time.

with a new clasp,

and on a hand (courtesy of my amazing realife ear model, Melissa)

so it's easier to see how it looks when worn.

Much better, eh?

Antler tine, turquoise, horn bead, bird band,

fossil mammoth bone bead and a locket.

Yes, that's a much better shot than last time.

So I caught a cold and have been feeling pretty miserable for about 4 days now.

You all know what makes me feel better, right?

That's right-ice cream!

But look what my daughter put on her wellness blog

  Since she so thoughtfully informed me as to the best kind of cool creamy treat to eat,

 I feel compelled to go find

healthy ice cream.

But since I'm home sick,and don't want to go out

and infect the community with this

nasty summer cold,

I'll just have to suffer through and eat

the wrong kind of ice cream that I have on hand.

Someone has to.

If any of you follow me on

Pinterest,

you may have noticed massive pinning this weekend.

hahahahaha,

yes, that's me resting up,

trying to beat this cold into submission,

by repeatedly hitting "Pin it"! 

You're so right ladies,

ice cream and pinning.

Look what awesomeness I ordered from

small bronzes

Aren't these incredible?
These are for those of you who were creeped out by my manne's hands.

( I didn't think the manne hands were creepy at all, btw,

and was quite surprised that some of you did)

These are absolutely exquisite.

Not an iota of creepiness.

You're welcome.

These will become pendants in assemblage necklaces.

Can't wait!

Here's more from small bronzes

Love this work!

Wouldn't these be wonderful joined together, circling your neck?

You get lots of random cool things to look at

when I don't have alot of new jewels to share with you.

Now quit applauding,

 you might hurt my feelings.

Here's one of my fav local places to hunt for little treasures.....

Isn't that a fabulous name?
And goodies abound inside.....

If that picture in the upper left corner was smaller,

it would be perfect for photograghing jewelry on.

Check out the patina on this amazing safe.....

yum, patina love

wonderful old stove. You know if you were trying to find ones of these,

you wouldn't be able to, right?

Yet, here is this one just waiting to go home with someone.

Isn't this a fab face?

antiques, vintage, modern, retro, funky-

they've got it all!

The one that got away....

a 4 foot tall bright turquoise statue that would have been

a great necklace display.

When you visit you might be helped by gorgeous Braidy Megeff

or her equally lovely mother, Johnna.

No website but the store is on facebook.

I tried to give you a link, but no go. 

You know, cuz of the tech-challenged thing I have going on.

Coffeefreak, this is your neck of the woods! 

Grab some friends and go-definately worth checking out.

Sparrow, THANK YOU for the wonderful link to your photography tute

in your comment on the last post.

Looking forward to putting those great tips into practice when I get all of my props unpacked.

I don't need to tell you, because it's painfully obvious, that I've kept out just the bare minimum.

Folks, if you want to see how to take better pictures of your jewelry, check it out.  Yes, you have to go back and get the link for yourself because, well you know. 

You don't come here for tech saviness, right?

Why exactly do you come here? hmmmm?

Oh yeah, so you can learn how to say goodbye in 14,000 different languages.

I knew you had a good reason.

That's all for this week.

Hope you all enjoy yourselves till next time.

ba bye (creole)

Headless Torso, Torso-less Head!

Yup, that's right folks!  There's a new headless torso and a new torso-less head floating around these parts.   Why, you ask? ( you all really do talk to yourselves alot here in my blog.  It kind of worries me, actually.)  Well, because the quest for getting the perfect picture never ends, that's why!  It's finally getting pretty close.  I've got a bunch of necklaces that have been finished for months but haven't been listed in my etsy shop because I can't seem to get good enough pictures, no matter what I do.  And yes, it's entirely the prop's faults, not mine in any way.  So when my favorite re-use store (thank you Coffeefreak for giving me the heads up about these)  got some new mannes, I went to check them out.  I'm thinking this is pretty close to perfect.
There's no cleavage to fight with, for those necklaces that hit in just the wrong spot on my other mannequin.  There's no texture to compete with the texture in the necklaces. 
They had a great selection...torsoless leg mannes.  They had headless baby mannes.  They had headless standing whole body mannes.  All child sized.  This is the one I picked...

Near-perfect, right?

Here's some new pics of some already completed jewelry that you may have seen before.  Please tell me what you think.  I'm LOVING it!

The Edgy Bride, which I know you've seen before.

Didn't get listed for the spring wedding season because all of the backgrounds in the previous pictures seemed to compete with the necklace.

What do you think of this one?

Much better right?  You can see all of the detail now.

A concrete-bezel-set-cast of an a fossil ammonite.

Yes, this was done at the same time as the other concrete

pieces.  Last summer to be precise. 

 Finally, after a year,a picture of it that I'm happy with!

A big hunk of turquoise with green serpentine, raspberry quartz, magnesite,

some beautiful turquoise beads of stone or glass (?) and sterling.

This effect is so much better on the plain background. 

The colors stand out against but don't compete with the display.

the manne even has cute little hands.

soft soldered wire bangle with turquoise colored magnesite

and a champagne colored freshwater pearl.

Even the ombre ribbon shows up nicely against the neutral beckground.

From the Floral Frenzy article in Belle Armoire Jewelry.

And this is one of those glass bezels cut from an old perfume bottle that was

 published in Belle Armoire Jewelry.

The etched metal and the smooth glass

encased in resin also look pretty nice, don't you think?

I'm thinking this is a winner for those difficult to photogragh pieces.

Thoughts, please.

But you must be tired of seeing all of those older pieces. 

 Here's a couple of actual new things for you.....

Bohemian Rhapsody

Vintage silver filigree, glass beads, lampworked headpins from Havana beads ,

lustrous mother of pearl seashell and sterling earwires.

Here's a closeup

These went a completely different direction than what they began as.

Do you guys do that too?

Saturday at the Park.

Against an interesting, tho rather busy background....

Amazing how the background adds ambiance, eh?

Here's a bracelet that I absolutely couldn't get a great photo of.

This is probably as good as it's going to get.

Cuz well, the hand displays are all packed away.  Sigh.

So I might have to keep it if I can't get good enough photos to list it, right?

And these aren't good enough for listing, right?

Of course they aren't. 

Right?

Right?

Currently named

The Woman Whom He Loved.

Ok stay with me here... see all the components.... the game commission bird band, the REALLY BIG bird band,  For a big bird of some sort.  Suggesting a manly man, eh?  There's the soldered wire frame providing the anchor for it all.  Yeah, stay with me some more.....  See the knobby antler tine?  Cool, huh?  And the big horn bead and the turquoise donut bead affixed to the antler?  Ok to me those all say mining or hunting. 

 Sure, us ladies can do that. 

But see, I know I don't want to.   Except for the easy mining part.  

I have no desire to be underground in the pitch black chiseling away for treasure. 

That's right, when I'm tired, my sense of adventure departs rapidly and completely.

Well howsa about the FOSSIL MAMMOTH BONE BEAD?  

 Or the Turkoman button?   Surely those suggest some rugged chiseled hunk of a guy, don't they?

You know like this?

Yeah in fact, I think he was just washing up after working in the mine. 

And being the thoughtful person I am,

I included a locket to put his ruggedly handsome picture in,

so you (or I) can keep him near to your (or my) heart while he toils away trying to find treasures for you (or me)..... 

Ok, so that explains the name.  Or I could just call it antler tine on a soldered frame with a chain and  a locket, a fossil mammoth bone bead,  a game commission bird band with a Turkoman button.  See, so much better to weave a story into it.  :)

Wanna see some w.i.p?

Turkoman Goes Modern

I don't usually oxidize until the very last step, thought I'd try

this sequence for a change.

Hugs and Kisses assemblage bracelet.

Very much in the progress stage.

Actually in the stumped, no idea what I want to do next stage.

and that's it!

hahahahaha

two w.i.p.  Wow!

so that's not real exciting, but this is

Welded bookends from Iron Hut Dezignz

blacksmithed blades.  very cool, huh?

Chased copper bowl.

Wanna hear why this work is so cool?

Aside from the obvious fact that it's just cool work...

It's made by an 18 year old young man who has only been

metal working for a couple of years.

And is so talented that the fine art center

where he first learned how to blacksmith and weld,

has now invited him to demonstrate technique!

CONGRATULATIONS!

He started with this type of work

and quickly progressed to this

and this

Wow!  Precision wrapping!

Um yeah, this was his first try with this technique.

How about some welding?

Nothing this young man can't do!

A tropical paradise for your desk!

And this next one is mine

Not mine because I made it, mine because he gifted it to me.

I LOVE IT!

Be keeping your eyes peeled,  I think we'll be seeing lots more

from this talented guy.

Thanks for letting me share your work, Z!

Now that you've had your senses filled up with all that eye candy,

I bet you're wondering where

that torsoless head is,

aren't you?

Right here....

So why do I need a torsoless head, you're asking yourselves.

well, obviously for this....

Because the quest for the perfect ear never ends!

True, my latest ear model, Melissa has a very lovely ear and she is

by far the best ear model I could ever hope to have.

Better than an ear on a string.  Better than a creepy polymer clay ear.

Better than a resin ear that still stubbornly refuses to come out of the mold!

grrrrrrrrrr.

Sadly, as most of you know,

 I will soon be moving far away from Melissa's perfect earring modeling ears.

So this manne will be named Melissa Too. 

Kind of like Audry Two for you Little Shop of Horror fans. Only not.

We'll see how this works out after I take a drill to her ears.

Relax.

I'll be drilling Melissa Too, not Melissa One's ears.

And now,

 please bear with me while I indulge in yet another flower photo....

The plant on our arch is loving this hot dry weather.

And rewarding us with tons of gorgeous blooms.

The hummers are pretty thrilled with this turn of events as well.

One last thing..as promised in response to some of your comments,

I added the "how-to add a blogroll to your sidebar" as an update on my last post.

As you'll see if you check it out, all thanks go to numinosity Kim 

for explaining to me how to do it.

That's all I've got for you this time. 

 Hope everyone has a perfectly wonderful week ahead of them.

See guys, he likes the arch.

Snakkes (Norwegian)