Mixed Bag Wednesday

Here are a few updates on things I have been working on, and a new journal project. Also, a bit about the Nick Bantock book The Trickster's Hat, which I just bought, and am looking forward to playing around with the 49 creative exercise challenges he writes about.  Here we go.

First, the Drunken Spider Vest. I have pretty much finished the web part...I think. I will add more beads as time goes on. I still need to find little bugs to add to the web, and a nice spider pin for the center. I have also started beading around the armholes, and will bead around the neckline.

This is all done in back stitch with either embroidery floss or doubled quilting thread.



Next is a photo of three of the many hair ornaments I have done lately. I sold several of these at a recent SCA event, and got lots of positive feedback, so that made me feel good. I was attempting to rig a quickie light box by holding a white sheet of paper behind the ornaments, but with dubious success. Light box is still on my "to do" list. The wire is either hammered copper, aluminum, or steel. I really enjoy making these and unless I add vintage pieces to the prong, I can keep the price fairly low. These three would have gone for $10 each.

Moving right along...

I bought Nick Bantock's book The Tricksters Hat, mainly because I love anything by Nick Bantock, but also because it was a play book for creativity. By play book I don't mean a list of tunes from the local radio station, I mean play...as in get out in the dirt and build a town with whatever you can find (yes, that is one of the lessons). I am not going to go into detail because I would much rather you bought the book ( I imagine Nick would rather you did as well). All I am going to do is give the lesson number and post a photo of what I did. Maybe it will pique your interest enough to go see what the fun is all about. I hope so.

So, this is a photo of lesson one. The lesson only involved the two 1"x1" boxes, the rest of the doodles I did on my own 'cause I was having way too much fun to stop.

Lastly...and you might want to sit down for this one, since I have posted many times here how unsuccessful I am at this...I am starting another journal. Now, before you scoff (and you would have every right, considering my past stalling out with previous journals), this one is a bit different. I put a limitation on it, mainly so that I wouldn't get bogged down and too serious. The journal itself is small, only 5 1/2" by 4 1/4", so I can't get too carried away. It was a thank-you gift given to me last October. The cover is actual vellum (sheep skin) and the pages hand bound. It has been sitting on a shelf in my "studio" ever since it was given to me. However, with this new spur from my Nick Bantock book, and the fact that I really do like journals, I am giving it another go. Here are the limitations: I can only pick one thing from the day to write about, and the artwork must be quick and small. Actually there is a third limitation...the artwork must be done within 15 min. The reasoning behind this is that, with my previous journals I would start out gangbusters with wonderfully complex pages...then slowly lose interest because they took too much time. Also, my handwriting is ghastly and my spelling worse (which I am going to ignore) With this small journal, I am forcing my brain to KISS — Keep It Simple, Stupid!

I did the first page yesterday, the day after the lunar eclipse, which I thought a good omen for starting something new. I stayed up until 2 am watching the magic of it, and even woke Robert up from a sound sleep at 1 am because I couldn't bear the thought that he would miss it all. I think he was grateful, but he was still half asleep, so it was hard to tell.

The last photo is about the farrier coming to trim the horse's hooves this morning. The number three is because we have three horses. Sorry for my finger in the picture, but the journal doesn't lay flat so I had to hold the page open.

Again, the main focus of this journal is to keep it quick, simple, and not overworked. Besides, my days aren't all that exciting, so for today, the fact that the farrier was due was sorta the high point. Endless entries about where I go (pretty much nowhere), how I worked the horses, or did blah, blah, blah, is what got me bogged down before.

So that is Mixed Bag Wednesday, with lots of fun stuff to look forward to all summer.

Next Project — Earrings

I have a whole collection of old keys, which I use periodically in my jewelry. I haven't done anything with them lately, since it seems that everywhere I look there are folks doing stuff with old keys, especially since Steampunk went mainstream. Keys and clock gears turned up EVERYWHERE.

But I was in the mood for something different than the more elegant jewelry pieces I had been making lately, so pulled out my keys, and some of the things I thought might go well with them, including two fancy wire paperclips. I'll see how things go as I play around with these. One thing I do like is that the earrings will be asymmetric, since each key is slightly different from the other in each set. Just some fun, funky stuff to experiment with and see what turns up.

In the background is the keyboard to my old computer, which still has stuff on it that I use. Also, and I am embarrassed to admit it, is my tea-stained tea cup, which needs a good scrub with baking soda. So, sorry if it grosses anyone out. :=D

Necklace and Earring Set

This necklace had been sitting around my studio for a few months. It was finished...sort of. I decided after completing it, that it needed teardrop pearls. I only had one. So it sat until I could find some, but apparently teardrop pearls are not big sellers, and I couldn't find any at either Michael's or Joann's. That's when I remembered I had a bracelet I had made a year ago, with quite a few vintage teardrop pearls. The bracelet had been up on my Etsy site several times, and never sold. So, I pulled it out, took it apart, and added the pearls to the necklace and earrings. Perfect.

Here is the result.

It's made with black wire, black wire-wrapped beads and hearts, small black beads, silver hearts, small crystals, large drop crystals, and vintage teardrop pearls. Voila!

Inspiration

I think I've stated before, somewhere in this blog, that I really like vintage/antique jewelry, In particular, Edwardian. It has a cleaner, more graceful line than Victorian, which to me can seem overly fussy. On the other extreme, I like the look and colors of religious icons, medallions, and medals. So, to that end, I danced off to the library and brought home two books that have tons of inspirational ideas in them. You just gotta love the library!

Vintage Jewelry Design by Caroline Cox
Relicarios—Devotional Miniatures From the Americas by Martha J. Egan

I have long wanted to be able to reproduce, at least in feel, the Edwardian jewelry that I love. Since most of it is made in finely crafted gold, silver, diamonds, and various jewels—not something I could readily afford or reproduce, even if I wanted to—my quest was to reinterpret those designs in something, well, let's face it, more mundane—wire, beads, crystals, pearls. I'm not attempting to copy these jewels, but get their, for lack of a better tern, aura, using fairly inexpensive supplies, easily acquired.

Today was my first attempt at this, trying to replicate the lines and feel of a beautiful Edwardian pendant done in white gold, pave diamonds, and pearls. After five hours, and four failed prototypes, I finally got one pendant that is close to what I am after. It's not quite "there" yet, but I'm getting close. More work and experimentation is needed, but I have to confess, I kinda like the way this last one of the day turned out. It showed me that progress had, indeed, been made. However, a lot of wire ended up in the trash before I could get this design to work, even at this early stage. Lots more playing is needed. But here is the pendant = Hammered "silver" wire, steel wire, slider with crystal, faceted AB crystal bead, drop crystal, and emerald-green glass beads. Pendant is about 3 inches long.

More pendant ideas are floating around in my head. I want to do one in "gold" wire and one in black wire. Well, actually, lots more in silver, gold, and black. As "they" say (who are "they" anyway?) practice, practice, practice.

Next I'm going to play around with the relicario pendants...maybe do small works of collage/drawings on wood, and put them in metal bezel frames? Not sure. More playing is needed.

Playing...it's a good thing. :=)

New Headpiece

Here is my first experiment in pounding heavier wire, adding brass wire wrapping and beading. The wire pieces are parts of many that I salvaged from the garage floor, left there by the messy electrician when he re-wired our garage. It is actually a bit too hard to be useful for jewelry, but I hated to waste it, and it is perfect for me to play around with until I get the hang of pounding wire to give it a better and stronger look. In future, I will use wire meant for jewelry, where I can get the same gauge, but which is softer and easier to work with.

This is also my first attempt at a headpiece. And although I would have put a bit more detail in the curls of copper wire, if it had not been so hard to bend, I still think the piece came out rather nice.

There is still much to learn, but this was fun to make, and I have lots of ideas for future headpieces and hopefully, simple tiaras.