Halloween Jewelry

I know I'm a little late to the party since most bead makers put their Halloween jewelry out right after school starts but I just couldn't get in the grove.  I made this skull a couple months ago and he has just been hanging around waiting for the perfect project.  After a few shots at using the skull in a design I landed on this one and I am very happy with it.

I'm glad I don't have to take photos of contrasting jewelry often because it isn't easy to get everything to show up.   My photography has gotten better over the past year but high contrast still stumps me.  If you light it to much then everything light turns to mush and if you don't light it enough it all goes grainy.

Last Piece to Pack

I finished this bracelet a second ago with some tulip shaped beads just made today.  The color and texture is nice and like the rest of the jewelry I make it sounds good too. Now it's time to pack up for the show tomorrow in Southfield, nothing like putting it off until the last possible second. 

This one is called Bell of the Ball

If this bracelet sells at the show I am going to use the money to purchase audio books for my cousin who was in a terrible car accident last Thursday.  She is going to need something to keep her mind busy while she recovers and audio books are wonderful for taking you away to another place and time.  If it doesn't sell I will be placing it in my Etsy store,  TracyBell.etsy.com

Braclet Ideas Dancing in My Head

I love working with coconut shell and have plans for more toggles and other items.  It's soft, easy to sand and has a beautiful texture on the inside and out.  My bracelet turned out OK but after finishing it I thought of a few other design ideas, maybe I will get time to work on a few more toggles to go with other designs dancing around in my head. I have been told that my jewelry is to bright for fall and winter.  I never thought of my jewelry as to bright to wear anytime but then I like bright, beautiful colors year round.  Working in fall, winter colors may not be for me but I'll try it out for a while and see where it takes me.

 

Book Party

I got an email from a party planner who had seen me at the Marshal Craft show, he wants 35 itty bitty books for a party he is putting on this Friday. Yes, I said this Friday,  I know that I can get that many ready without a problem but I should be working on things for the bead show in Southfield on October 10th.  Nothing in the self employed world never go as planned and since Sandra and I only have an 8 foot table I could go with what I have right now but being the over achiever that I am it would be nice to have more.  So I guess the bead show stuff will just have to happen next week.

There may be a trip to Grand Rapids Monday since I am totally out of some colors of leather and he specifically asked to have as many colors as possible.  If you have never been into a Tandy Leather store its a huge warehouse full of tables and boxes of leather and a wonderful place to find scraps of every color imaginable.  Every time I'm in there I think there has to be more I could be doing with leather since it's so cheap and there are such wonderful colors, this time I'm going to keep my eye out for some unusual pieces and see just what I can create with them.

Since you can see the itty bitty books in previous posts here are some other pieces of jewelry.

Bright Baby Beaded Bracelet, my Sister-in -law owns this one

Chain x3

Penny Challenge

If you have been reading along you know that I am taking a 12 week class called Nontraditional Materials for Jewelers.  So far we have worked in paper pulp and made beads, we also used stacked paper and resin to make cabs to be put into a setting.  The paper beads were a waste of time in my book, why would I bother with such a nasty material when I can make glass ones.  On the other hand the stacked paper and resin will be something I plan on working more with, it has a ton of possibilities and with time some really great things could happen with this medium.

During the first class we were handed 15 pennies and told to create something with them.  We could use as few or as many as we liked but our project must have pennies as an element.  I thought it would be fun to take a design that I love and try to incorporate the pennies into it. After running a bunch through the rolling mill and then trying to anneal them at the torch I found that pennies made before 1980 are best for manipulating.  I ended up with some blobs of who knows what on my torch table.  Since only 3 of my 15 pennies made it though the annealing process and then they were not as easy to manipulate as I had hoped, none of these got made into leaves for my project so back to the drawing board.  Next I annealed a bunch of pennies made before 1980 then drilled a hole in the middle,  domed them with the Lincoln head out because it is the smoother side.  The last thing I did to them was enamel them in oriental red. Since I haven't had much experience enameling it took some time to figure out how thick the enamel needed to be and how hot everything had to get for a nice even coat but in the end I love the looks of penny caps.

It is doubtful that I will win any prize for my design but I did take the challenge and use pennies in a nontraditional way.  I may do more of this pennies make a very nice heavy gauge bead cap.

Please don't comment on how it is against the law to deface money.  These are only pennies folks and my teacher said she had Obama's permission to use them in this fashion :)

Now for the bead porn .....

Here is a photo showing the process of a penny becoming a flower.

One Cent Flowers :)

Close up since the other photo didn't capture the color well

It Takes a Village

Today I am packing the new little camper to go on the annual family camping trip at Fort Custard in Battle Creek.  It is my maiden voyage in my little camper so it's perfect that it's only about 20 min away since I have never pulled anything behind my car.  Since it is the first time out it will give me a chance to see what needs to be changed and what we are missing.  I started camping when I was 2 and have loved it every since, hotel rooms bore me to death, with camping you get out and it's a much more social event.  This weekend is a huge social event since it is my extended Sult side of the family that will be going.  My dad has 2 brothers and 2 sisters although not all of them will make it many of them will, along with all their kids and the kids kids!  It should add up to well over 30 people.

This brings me to my list,  I am a huge list maker for everything.  Getting someplace and remembering that you forgot your something as stupid as a flashlight or life jackets sucks and that's why I have a huge master camping list that I add to every year.  I make lists for everything else I do like what I need for shows, what jewelry needs to be made, bead colors I am low on etc.  Often these lists get left behind especially the grocery ones but I find that if I have wrote it down that it often sticks with me enough to get most of what was on it.  If I don't write it down then it just fly's out of my head never to be seen again. 

I got off track there for a minuet time to get back to the point.  I wanted to talk about family and friends!  My family and friends have been some of my best customer, every time we get together they always want to see what's new and often purchase pieces.  They are also my best advertising since they wear what they have purchased all the time and people ask where they got the items.  I have loaded them all up with business cards so that they can hand them out as needed and this is starting to pay off.  My aunt Penny handed one to the ladies at a little store in Vicksburg and they have called me asking if I am interested in selling them some jewelry and spiders.  These contacts are not something I can do on my own it takes a village to raise a business and my village is a supportive group, I want to take a second and thank every one of my friends and family who wear my jewelry and pass out my business cards.  This is a tough business since many people are making jewelry but I work hard to make mine unique and it is paying off with the help of many.

Now for the bead porn :)  Here are pieces that my family and friends have purchased.  This isn't all of them I have to save some photos for future posts!

This is a chain and washer bracelet my Aunt Penny purchased.

Here is a little book necklace my friend Maralyne purchased

My cousin Heather purchased this turquoise and cream 3 strand bracelet.

My step sister Michelle purchased this happy heads bracelet. 

I just couldn't ask for a better support group, keep up the good work and let me know if you are out of business cards :)

Special Orders

I was at my hairdressers today getting the natural color put back into my hair and got to meet her mom.  She reminded me about the bracelet I had made for Teri and told me how much she loved it.  The bracelet did turn out beautifully but it took me about 6 months to put together.  I am TERRIBLE with special orders they just stifle my creativity, I always try to look at them as a challenge and that should make it fun but for some reason when someone wants something specific my creativity just shuts down.  How do you feel about special orders?

Logo bracelet

The logo and leaves were made out of the Mona-vie bottles

 I think the bracelet turned out especially nice, I used the glass from the bottle to make the leaves and the flower colors are from the logos on the bottles.  This design shouldn't have taken  me so long to create since I used parts and pieces of other designs I have made before but oh well the finished piece is perfect.  

This is some sort of special juice that Teri sells so the bracelet is very special to her :)

Here is the full length look

Class Time

Today I started a 12 week class called Non-traditional Materials for Jewelers from the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts.  My teacher's name is Amy Culp and I think it's going to be interesting.  Amy taught us how to work with some paper pulp to make some paper beads, even though I don't think this is anything I would ever bother with since glass is so beautiful and paper just doesn't do it for me it is a technique that may come in handy at some point in my jewelry building.  The second part of today's class was spent working with a resin and paper to make a chunk of resin/paper that we will turn into something interesting next week, or maybe not depends on how it turns out.

At the beginning of the class we were asked about our favorite found object and I told the class about the treasures my husband brings home for me from job sites.  I never know what might come home in his pockets or back of his truck but I forgot about my favorite all time found object the shells I picked up on beach of Fort Laurterdale.  My stash is running out and it is looking like the next trip will have to be a business trip to sit on the beach and pick up shells. Here are some of the bracelets I have made with the drilled shells and beach glass beads I made.

Beach Bum Bracelet in my favorite color combo

I love using the copper tube to make this style bracelet

My friend Sandra's favorite color combo

Tutorials n Such

Today I reiceved a tutorial on how to make flower murrini and I have to say Christina out did herself, the tutorial  is great and looks like it will be very easy to follow once I am sitting at the torch.  Learning by reading tutorials is one of the easiest ways for me to get new information and incorporate it into my beads.  I do love to sit in on a good class and if I had an unlimited cash flow I would travel and take classes from many of the great artist in the bead making world but since I don't, tutorials are the next best thing.  Most authors will answer any questions you might have on their tutorial so the bang for the buck is much larger than going and taking a class, $25.00 wouldn't even cover my gas to get to a class.  Here is the link to her tutorial, http://www.fengbeads.com/E-books.html

Since I am talking about tutorials today here is a bracelet put together with beads, made with murrini I created using a different tutorial.

Recycled copper and handmade headpins were used in making this bracelet.