Electroforming for Jewelry

This Easy Electroforming for Jewelry book by Denise Peck recently caught my eye and I've been contemplating it ever since.

It's $19.95 and available through the Interweave Store online.  If you have it already, could you please comment and let me know your opinion?  It's kind of stuck and I am thinking I'd really like to get it.

Demopalooza- First Demo- Rick Frank Enamelist

You know, usually I think the word "amazing" is sometimes overused, but in this case, I don't.

Saturday night's kickoff for Southern Flame's Demopalooza was enamelist, Ricky Frank.  Perhaps you've seen him at a really big show, like American Craft Council or similar.

Ricky agreed to make a fully enameled piece in front of our very eyes and he also demoed a second piece to show us some variations.  It was great energy.  Seems like people who use glass enamels speak some of our same glass language, COE's, color reactions, firing temps and other shared terms were a big part of the evening.  But we also sat there "amazed", while watching him put together his pieces while telling stories, his philosophy and chatting with his darling daughter who came along to keep him company.

Ricky used to do more cloisonee work, but has changed his style.  He uses the silver or gold wire for emphasis and showed us how he can work without it, while using the enamels.  His dexterity and artistry was a delight to behold.

Later this week, I'll go through more of our Sunday line up.  For more information and great photos, visit Ricky's website.  www.rickyfrank.com or www.rickyfrankenamels.com.

Etsy Owl Inspiration

I look all over the internet for inspiration when making different sculptural beads.  Often, I go directly to Google, but sometimes, I'll pop by Etsy for fun ideas.

For example, I love to make owls in different poses and with a variety of faces.  Here are some Etsy shop examples.  This first one came from SarahTrotterVintage.  And it's a pendant from the '70's.
I like the design in the center and the use of colors.

And here is a totally different look from Etsy.  This one is apparently rare and porcelain from NotTheBeatles' shop.

They both would make really cool beads and yet are so very different.

So I would encourage you to check out vintage Etsy.com for another source of inspiration.  And you'll see what fun ideas different decades have to offer.

See you tomorrow.

Charm Exchange Bracelet

Do you love the diversity of charm bracelets?  Often, they say a lot about what you like.  Some people have topic, color or style specific ones.

This one was a lot fun, because it came from a charm exchange on Lampwork Etc.  Hosted by Mallory Hoffman and Deb Batten, it had a lot of beadmakers participating.  The maximum number we could submit was 15 charms with receiving the same number in return.  I loved it.  Any material was fair game.

I'll take a better photo next time, but I was so excited, that I wanted to show you.  Having a wire base, it was necessary to have spacer material between the charms, to help prevent them from bumping against each other next time.  I really like being able to use up some of my little lampwork donuts that were hanging around and I added in some of my fun rubber O rings from Yvonne at MyElements on Etsy.

So now I want to know what do you like in charm bracelets?  Do you have one (or more)?  What materials is it made from?  Does it have a theme?  And of course, I'll take any jewelry making suggestions you could toss out.  I have so much to learn!

Rainbow Colored Rubber Tubing- Fun for Funky Jewelry

There is something about this combination of joyful colors in a necklace that just makes me want to smile. The designer, Yvonne Irwin says it reminds her of a carnival and I had a similar reaction of thinking that it looks like a visual party.

Yvonne is the shop owner of MyElements on Etsy who sells these rubber tubes, colorful O rings and quite a variety of other jewelry making pieces.  I found her through some of my friends and have to admit, am a bit addicted to the tubing.

You see, it works perfectly in some instances for a quick ending to a memory wire style necklace that uses my lampwork.  It keeps it lighter weight and for me, a quick string.  Here is an example of one that I just recently made.  (It is available if you message me, but not up on my StudioMarcy etsy site.

I love this light periwinkle blue color of the tubing.  It goes with a lot of my spring colors.  I have used plenty of other colors.

The O rings work well for accents between some large hole beads strung on the memory wire + tubing made up choker style too.  I'll show that necklace another day.

So pop by and visit Yvonne's shop.  One of the other options with this tubing is to feed wire through it and bend it around.  You can make corkscrews, loops or whatever you like.  Lots of fun and funky options.

If you've made something already with it, please post a link.  We'd all love to see it.

See you tomorrow!

Jewelry Design Dilemma

So you probably remember my post from Monday, where I showed you some of my new flowers in pastel colors.  I've been dithering over what I want to do with them still.  This is one of my options that I pulled out  I liked the silvery gray sparkle with the opaque flowers and some of the transparent bead in here.  I was thinking perhaps this one should be made into a bracelet?  What do you think?  Stringing ideas?  Change it up to something else?  What would you do?

Alternative Jewelry Projects

I saw this book, 10 Alternative Metals Jewelry Projects on Interweave's website, and have been debating about purchasing it. It tempts me and I don't work in metals.

I keep telling myself, "oh no, don't need to get into more projects and more tools, but this book is singing a siren song. I think it's the bird bangle in the center of the photo that is pushing me. I have a "thing" about birds and the simplicity of the form is just my style. The caption tells me that it is an easy-to-follow, instant download which to me means instant gratification. Darn- making it a little too easy on me, I'm afraid.

I don't know... Anyone downloaded this book? Care to give us a book review and let us know what you think?