A Finished Necklace

Sometimes, occasionally I do finish something I start.  My wife will get this one as a Mother's Day present.  Almost always when I do finish a piece, she will glom onto it.  That tells me I should finish more pieces so I would have something to sell.

 

Changes coming.  I have said that before and I will say it again at the risk of being repetitive.  Most of the blog title will stay, but the words "and art" will be added, and "making" dropped.  

This change will occur when I post a piece of art work.  And, when will this occur?  I'm shooting for a posting on or about June 1, 2014, or about two weeks from now.

What kind of art?  Abstract.  Just mainly mixed media colored patterns.  A little bit of this and that: Inks, watercolors, acrylics, crayons, colored pencils, markers, collage, odd bits of this and that stuck on here and there, rubber stamps, metal pieces, beads, whatever I have on hand.  Nothing serious, just having fun with color and stuff.  Good ole stuff!

Which reminds me  of an occurrence at an art fair the wife and I attended.  Our booth was set up next to this lady who was became very irate about another ladies remarks about her artwork.  She was heard to remark quite loudly, "The nerve of that woman calling my stuff, stuff!"  So, I guess it was o.k. for the artist to call her art "stuff" but insulting when someone else did it!

I just want you folks to know, you can call my stuff, "stuff" if you like.  It's just going to be stuff.

See you soon, thanks for having a look.

Leaves again

Faux Bone leaves colored with Ranger alcohol ink.  The one on the far left has three no hole beads affixed with Ranger Glossy Accents. It has some jump rings attached. The beads are seated in depressions made with round burs.  These will end up in another tutorial that I will submit for consideration at Wubbers University.

Thanks for looking.

What a time!

Hi, everyone and welcome new followers, if I didn't before. The brain is fried. We received an emergency call for help from our son.  So we made an emergency trip to Washington DC.  His wife had to go out of town on business and with him working nights, that would leave two special needs children without a family member to be there with them.  Well, we are old folks and the house has stairs and we don't do stairs.  Plus, we have no training in caring for special needs kids.  But, in spite of everything thrown at us, we survived, the kids survived. We are back home now and recovering.  I refuse to make any promises about posting, but I will try to have something for you to look at next week. It will be more leaves, finished, maybe.  Bye!

Faux Bone leaves, Unfinished

Photograph of some unfinished faux bone leaves.  A project for another tutorial.   I had intended to have some of the leaves shaped so they would appear to be more natural looking.  But the old heat gun went on the fritz and you can shape faux bone with cold air.  So now I will have to get a new one.

These are almost ready for coloring.  The veins are in, bead are seats done.  Went a bit too far on a couple of them, but they will be o.k.  Found some nice 3 and 4 mm no hole beads which should work out nicely.

I'm Back

Hi everyone.  It has been awhile since the last post.  Things have pretty much settled down now and I will try to post more often.  Some folks have already heard that statement before.

Want to take a moment to welcome new members to the blog.  Thanks for your interest.

The big news at the moment id after months of waiting, a tutorial I authored has finally been published at a site called Wubber's University.  The site has loads of free tutorials covering all sorts of jewelry making techniques,

I will warn anyone interested that the site has had its troubles getting set up and you may experience some problems.  You have to go thru the log in process and in the past that has been problematical. But they are working diligently trying to make it user friendly.  I have been in communication with the powers that be there and they have taken notice of my displeasure.

I think I posted a similar photo of these Faux Bone leaves before.  This will be the next tutorial I will do for Wubber's U, once I'm sure the site is user friendly.  These are very easy to do.  I am changing the procedure for doing these and similar for the tutorial.  The coloring is as usual, done with alcohol inks.  These two shown and others I've done are long gone, sold!  These have pin backs attached, while others have bails or jump rings for necklaces,  Smaller sizes have ear wires attached.  The decoration on the above are Swarovski half drilled pearls.  They are GLUED on wire posts.  Oh my, I've said the bad word!  I have to remember political correctness and say Industrial Adhesive Medium! LOL!  Anyway, I'm changing the application method and using a different type of IAM.

All for now.  Leave a comment, if you like, or dislike for that matter.  I know it is a hassle to jump thru the hoops to leave a comment, but it can't be helped.  Bye!

Break Time

I will not be posting for an undetermined length of time.  We have had a death in the family.  My wife's mother passed away Dec. 31 and we have been busy with lots of different things, and I have had no time to work on anything.

I had previously remarked that I was going to change some things about the blog and that I was going to go back to doing some of the things I used to do, so future blog entries will be not only on jewelry making but on crafts as well.  The jewelry will not be fine jewelry but more, I guess you would call it artsy crafty type.

Anyway, check back now and then to see if anything new is posted.

Color Charts and some etcetera

Seasons Greetings All!

A new follower has joined and thank you for your interest in this on again off again blog.  It is, I'm willing to admit, not the best blog in the world, so I'm always glad to see someone take interest.

Christmas is just around the corner and we are expecting company.  I may not be able to submit anything until after Jan 1, 2014.  With company coming, it means curious little fingers, and everything has to be put away and secured.  Some of my stuff, actually a lot of stuff is situated in the living room and has to find a temporary home elsewhere in the house.

The above poorly photographed color charts is what I've been doing.  These three are only a partial representation of the charts I've made so far.  My wife and I both have a myriad of different colors at out disposal, inks, watercolors, acrylics, pastels, chalks, color pencils, metallic pencils and pens, rubber stamp pads, etc., etc., some brands which are no longer available.  I decided to make color charts so that I would know better what we have as some things are stored here and there in the house.  It is easy to forget what you have without some kind of reference.

The upper left chart are new colors.  Inka Gold Metallic Rub top and on the bottom, Viva Precious Metal Colour paint. Yep, that's how it's spelled. I intend to make another chart of these two on black paper to see how they look.  I especially like the Metallic Rub. Not all colors are represented, by the way. That is really going to make things pop when applied to a textured surface.  I think better than Rub 'n Buff .  Yep, got that, too.  But it is an o.k. product.

On the right, Alcohol Inks by Ranger.  You have already seen results of these when I colored some Faux Bone.  Some colors are pretty weak and you have to be careful how you use them.

The bottom chart are some colors of a product called Radiant Pearls produced years ago by Angelwing Enterprises.  I may be in error, but I believe this product may have been picked up by another company and has been repackaged and colors partially renamed to Twinkling H2O's.  The one drawback I found with Radiant Pearls was that they would not dry on a non-porous surface.  Even on a porous surface they took awhile to dry.  But once dry they are beautiful and vibrant.  Another nice thing about them, a little goes a loooong way.  This is true of a number of metallic or pearlescent paints and look better on darker backgrounds.  

The interference pigments you find in Twinkling H2O's, Pearl-Ex, and Perfect Pearls, and Golden acrylics for example,  also look better on darker backgrounds, allowing the reds, greens and violets to come to life.  Speaking of Perfect Pearls, I am not a big fan of this product.  I would not have had them except I won four sets as a prize in a mini-book contest years ago when they first came out.

Well, that's all for now.  I hope to get another entry in before company comes.

Another brief post

Thought I'd better post something so the world would know i haven't fallen of the edge.  Just when I thought I could get going again, several things got in the way.  One was doing some jewelry repair for a neighbor lady,  I don't like doing that sort of work, but she's a nice neighbor and, well, I don't like saying no to her.  She doesn't get around very well and I'm always glad to do what I can for her.  Anyway, that's done and out of the way.  Now, I hope I can start working again.

The things I'll be posting in the future will be quite different than what I've done in the recent past.  I'm sort of going back to my old roots, doing more artistic type jewelry and mini-books.  I have purchased quite a lot of new supplies and I will have to do some experimenting with them.

Anyway, look for something different coming soon.

Bye!

Plastic Tubing, Artistic Wire and Alcohol Ink

I took some 1/8 inch diameter plastic tubing, cut to 3/4 inch and 1 inch lengths and colored the inside with alcohol ink.  The outside is not colored. They sort of look like some electrical fuses.The red and purple colors worked better than some others.  Then I threaded the artistic wire through and made wrapped loops on each end.  The result looked like it needed something extra, so I cut some 1/8 inch long pieces of brass tubing and added them to the ends of the plastic.  That looked better, I think.  It is a work in progress  I'll add 2 or 3 of them to the steampunk necklace which is another work in progress.
These might look kind of neat placed on some kind of psuedo circuit board.  I'll have to play around with that.

Steampunk Reversible Pendant

Another stab at doing some Steampunk jewelry.   

More Steampunk

Components for a necklace element.  Compass disc from Tim Holtz "idea-ology" line. The disc heated with hot air gun and while warm, Swellegant Blood Red Dye-oxide daubed onto the surface. The part on the right is a textured brass strip, drilled for the brass screw, heated and Swellegant Darkening Patina daubed on and then relieved with sanding block.  Bent to fit the disc.  Copper wire balled.  A watch crown added to the brass strip. The wire will be inserted inside the brass strip.  The ball end will allow movenent in the finished piece.

The finished element.  The Compass disc can be rotated if desired.  

Investigating Steampunk

One reason for not posting sooner is that I got interested in making some Steampunk style jewelry.  It seems to me there are several categories of steampunk style.  There is what I would classify as Classical where the maker is using found objects and re-purposing them into not only jewelry, but also into fashion clothing and accessories, wall art and sculpture.  On another level, the maker is using cast or stamped (not found) objects and either using them as is, or altering them in some fashion.

I'm starting on the low end of steam punk style jewelry and hopefully work my way into a better grade of steampunk.

Below, are shown some gears and wheels, beginning and after, of the "not found" variety which have been altered from their factory finish.

The far left gear and the bottom right and far right wheels were sanded to remove some of the factory finish.  These were heated using a heat gun, then both Swellegant Darkening Patina and Blood Red Dye-Oxide dabbed on using a small water color brush.  I like to think these look better that way.  More steampunky.

Here's the colorant.

You could use the product without heat but it would take much, much longer to work.  

Anyway, it's a beginning.  

Brief Posting

Very brief posting this time.  Company's gone and I can begin doing some work after I sort things out.  Had to put my sprawl of projects in various states of completion away to keep curious little fingers from getting into them.  Now I have to sort them all out again.

Gave my daughter in law and her mother (who refers to herself as the "outlaw"), a couple thousand or more beads from my stash.  Daughter in law makes both beaded and steam punk masks which she sells at some of the specialized conventions she attends.  The "outlaw" does Native American type beadwork, so they both went away happy. I would have like for them to take a couple thousand more beads then I might have more room.

I did manage to sell a couple Faux Bone pieces, the leaf ones with alcohol ink coloring.  So, I am happy about that.

I will gradually begin to make some minor changes in this blog over the next few weeks.

Applicators and Sanders

Shown, some of the things I use to apply alcohol ink to Faux Bone.  On the left are tiny little applicators that Micro Mark sells.  They weren't specifically made for applying ink, but I adapted them to the job.  Next, the ubiquitous Q-tips, but notice one end has been clipped off.  The resulting stub end becomes another applicator!  Amazing how this works.  Then there is the make up eye shadow applicator, used without modification.

On the right, the familiar salon sanding boards.  These are really great for curves, inside and outside, nicely conforming to them, and for edges as well.

I recently made an expensive mistake.  People have been saying how great the Tronex cutters are.  Well, certainly, they are well made.  No doubt about that.  But do they really make a better cut on wire than other brands?  In my own tests of the razor cut Tronex, it did not cut the wire any better than the Xuron cutters I've been using.  Expensive is not always better.

No production next week.  Company coming in for a visit and the wrist is still hurting.

Ring Pendant

This piece went through a lot of different modifications before I settled on this version.  Faux Bone, Swarovski Crystal Pearl cabochon twenty gauge copper wire, balled and wrapped, alcohol ink.

I've done something to my dominate hand and wrist so I don't know if I can complete anything by next weekend.  When you get old things happen that you don't have a clue as to how they happened, they just do.

Black and Gold

Egg shaped Faux Bone, black alcohol ink and gold leaf (imitation), not quite finished yet.  Needs a bit more work on the coloration.  The usual tube bail on the reverse.

I seethe blog has a new follower.  Welcome!

Sorry, little bit of a hurry to get this posted.  Maybe have a meatier blog entry next week.

Faux Bone Leaves

Pictured, leaf forms made from 1/16" Faux Bone with half-drilled Swarovski crystal pearls.  Colored with Ranger Adirondack alcohol inks.  I used five different ink colors, plus tiny, random dabs of gold mixative.  Applied with the generally used standard dauber for this brand of ink.  According to conventional wisdom, one should not reuse the dauber.  I found this to not be true, at least in applying
ink on these and several leaves which are in the process of completion.  The same application of ink is used on the reverse side.  One leaf is made as a pendant, the other as a brooch.

Next post, more Faux Bone, new project.

Segmented Faux Bone Pendant and a Bail

This pendant presented a host of problems.  There were some trial and error pieces before the above came about.

I put two pieces of Faux Bone together with double-sided tape and sanded the top side and bottom to remove the shiny surface,  (the top is 1/16" and the bottom is 1/8"). I turned the bottom side up and using a circle template, and a 5 mm lead pencil, I drew the outer circle and then the inner one, making a washer shape. Then I roughly divided the washer into uneven thirds.  I wanted the end result to have three segments of unequal size in length.

To keep from smearing the drawing during sawing, I sprayed it with PYM II.

I sawed out the outer circle, filed away the saw marks, keeping the sides straight up and down, and then separated the two pieces.

I drilled an access hole for the saw blade into the inner circle and sawed this out.  Then I sawed out the segments.  I wanted a gap between each segment, so these had to have a bit sawn off one end.  Then removed the saw marks and sanded the top of the segments. I roughly reassembled the segments and colored them with different colored alcohol inks.  The inner edges were colored gold using a gold leaf pen.  I also colored the inside of the bottom disc and drilled a hole in the center with a No.67 drill bit for the 20 gauge wire which will form the post for the half-drilled Swarovski pearl.

The bail.  Previously, I had to figure out how to make a bail for the pendant.  After fiddling around with this and that,  here is what I came up with:

A short, bent piece of 1/8" outside diameter copper tube held by two 20 gauge wire staples, ends riveted on the other side.

Now to assemble the pendant.  Each segment piece was attached, one at time, with 20 gauge wire rivets, done on at a time.  To hold a segment in place while drilling and riveting, I used the Speetog plier/clamp.  These can be hard to find, but anyone can make a serviceable plier by purchasing a mini vise-grip or similar plier and padding the jaws with strips of leather held on with super glue.

Once the segments were attached, the pearl was placed on its post with one small drop of super glue.  Oops!  I'm not supposed to say "g__e." I'm supposed to say something like "Industrial Strength Adhesive."

Then, lastly the outer edge was colored as the inner edges were.

Something a little different coming next weekend.  Still more Faux Bone and Alcohol inks and half-drilled Swarovski pearls.  Stay tuned.

Faux Bone Pendant

A Faux Bone pendant.  The purple field looked pretty good a first, but I decided that it needed some help.  I put a half-drilled  Swarovski cabochon pearl in the field and that improved the appearance.  I also added a few brush strokes of pearl.  Whether that was a good idea, I don't know.  Maybe yes, maybe no.

Lighting conditions certainly not the same.

I don't know why, but I sort of like the half-drilled pearls.  Of course, these are not real pearls.  They only have the appearance of a pearl.  And, they come in a variety of colors.  Hard to find, though.

 I use this method to fasten the pearl.  First, I ball the end of a short piece of 20 gauge copper wire. I don't bother to pickle or remove any fire scale.  It's all going to be hidden anyway, except on the backside of the piece and that will be taken care of later.

Next, I insert the wire into a riveting block, that funny looking hexagonal steel block with different sized holes and slots, and hammer down the balled end, flattening it into a nail head rivet.

After removing the rivet from the block, I file the head to make it thinner, and it brightens up the end.

Then, drill a hole in the Faux Bone where the pearl will go, and chamfer the outside part of the hole with the point of a triangular scraper.  This because under the rivet head there will most likely be a tapered portion, left over from the original ball. Chamfering make a tapered opening and the rivet will sit flat against the back.

I file the other end of the rivet to remove any bur and actually file a bit of a sharp point so the wire will easily go through the hole, place the piece on the bench block and tap the rivet head flat on the back.

Having previously tested the hole depth in the pearl (1/8"),  I clip the wire to that length, file the end a bit, and put one tiny drop of Zap-a-Gap adhesive on the wire and quickly pop the pearl on wire, and let dry.  Although this adhesive sets up very quickly, I let it dry for 24 hours before continuing to work on the piece.  

Next week's blog entry will detail the process of making a bail for the stringing and a different sort of pendant, my magnificent (ha ha) segmented pendant!  I just know you can't bear to wait for it.  Chuckle, chuckle.

Alcohol Ink and Faux Bone

Shown are a few alcohol inked tiles of Faux Bone.  There are innumerable ways to apply ink to Faux Bone and the above barely scratch the surface.

The procedure I use for the pendants-in-progress shown in the previous post, is to draw a free-form shape and cut it out, saving the cut out piece.  If this piece is too ragged, I use it to redraw it on another piece of paper and cut that out.  The open piece is moved around on the tile to find an attractive or interesting area.  Then, I tape it in place with one piece of tape.  The other form is place inside the other and it is taped in place.  The open form is untaped and removed.

Next, I saw around the taped on form, moving or removing tape pieces as needed.

Why do all this?  I don't know!  It's just my method.  By doing all this, shapes can be repeated again and again if I want to do that.  Call me crazy, I don't care.  But don't call me late to dinner!

Next post, I will be experimenting again with a different coloring process on Faux Bone with the usual free form shapes.

Until then be well and for American followers, have a Happy Fourth of July!