What was old is new again

Happy New Year!

I’m so happy to have started this year having spent some time in the studio… yay!  I have quite a few items that I’m not completely happy with, so I did some work on some of them and I think I’m feeling more content.

One of the items I was working on was my Reef pendant.  Somehow it turned into a full necklace.  I guess I had thought of it as a necklace when I first started doodling ideas, so it really just reverted back to part of the original plan.

While doing some tidying I found a necklace that I had made many years ago,  prior to learning any silversmithing.  I really liked the necklace, but as someone with curly hair, it was a dangerous item to wear… I think it ended up with more of my hair woven around it than I had left on my head!

Hair tangling necklace

Hair tangling necklace

I separated the links into pairs, twisted them together, and soldered/melted the wires to match the feel of the pendant.  Although I think I preferred the way the links looked originally, the new combined links work better on the new necklace, and it will now be worn instead of languishing tarnished on my wall o’ jewellery.

Here is the new necklace.  I used pearls of different shapes/colours, citrine, lemon smokey quartz, and a stone that I believe is Kyanite.  I purchased it from someone who was giving up jewellery making, and the supplies for sale were unmarked.  The bag it came in contained some Kyanite, and although this piece isn’t as blue as the others in the bag, it has the same feel (brittle).  From pictures I have seen, it looks like there is a broad range of shades for Kyanite.  So, unless corrected, that’s what I’ll call it until I find out differently.

Kyanite, citrine and baroque pearl necklace

Kyanite, citrine and baroque pearl necklace

I’m so glad that I’ve taken two pieces that I wouldn’t have worn (much) and turned them into a piece of jewellery that I think I will be happy to wear.  It’s a good start to the year 🙂

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Filed under Jewellery, Uncategorized

If at first you don’t succeed…

Because of the workshops I’ve been teaching, I’ve been pretty focussed on needle felting lately. I think it’s time to start pondering jewellery for a while.

I created a pendant for the art show that was held at my work, and it wasn’t at all what I wanted it to be – partly due to running out of time, partly due to many of the beads I wanted to use crumbling when I tried to thread them on the wire. This is a sketch of what I was thinking of creating, and then what it turned out to be.

Rough necklace sketch

Rough necklace sketch

What is was

What is was

It is titled “Reef”, and I wanted to have coral beads for the chain part of the necklace. It did end up with coral beads, but not in the way I intended. When it came back from the show, I stripped the beads off of it, and this is what I’m left with.

What it is now

What it is now

I think I will try to go back to a version of the original intent, although I have a few things to figure out – whether to use only coral or to incorporate other beads, multi-strand the whole thing or just portions, make it short or long… the list could go on forever! Or maybe it will be something quite different… who knows!  I’ll keep you posted on the outcome.

I have realized that I have been very lax about documenting jewellery I have made for myself.  Must get on this!

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Roving, roving, everywhere roving…

Today was the first of two Christmas ornament workshops (still room in the second workshop on December 13th – see the Classes page for more details) – it was a lot of fun… a great bunch of students making some pretty fabulous ornaments!

Table decor

Table decor

The snowman likes chocolate...

The snowman likes chocolate…

Last night, after I had put together all the material for the class, I decided to make one last ornament.  Smudge decided she had been ignored and shooed away quite enough, so she decided to “help”.  Sigh…

Smudge "helping"

Smudge “helping”

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Filed under Artsy-Craftsy, Classes, Fibre Arts

A Twisted Tree

‘Tis the season of craft sales… what fun!  I went to two this weekend – they were overwhelming, but I picked up several wee gifties and stocking stuffers.  I did find a little treat for myself as well… odd how that seems to happen!  This is my lovely new ornament/all year around piece of fabulousness… a twisty tree!

Tree of Life

Tree of Life

The artist is Sharen Johnston of Glass Quirks. I had seen her work before and loved it… I’m glad to have a piece of my own!  There is a tree on both sides of the disc, so when the light shines through, there is a real feeling of depth.  She had a selection of colours and sizes, but deep red… one of my favourites…  Yummy!

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Filed under Artsy-Craftsy, Random

Everything’s coming up sparkles!

Everything in my world is sparkly right now… the floor, the counter, me, the cat…  It’s a little bit crazy!  But I’ve had a lot of fun working on the tree.  The clay that I added cracked a bit while it dried, but instead of filling it in with more clay, I went the route of loading the tree up with paint, gloss and sparkles.  Then I sprinkled more sparkles on it.  Sensing a theme?  Some of the cracks still show, but that’s what twisty lighting is for.  Now I guess I need to make more ornaments for it…

Sparkle close-up

Sparkle close-up

Lit and sparkled tree

Lit and sparkled tree

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