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Showing posts with label bracelet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bracelet. Show all posts

Thursday, October 11, 2018

Embossed Metal Colorized Bracelet

Embossed, formed, riveted, dimpled metal bracelet made by me in class.





Last weekend, I attended a metal bracelet class taught by Dry Gulch Jewelry at the Tulsa Bead Market.  I have been collecting various metalsmithing tools and supplies over the past couple of years with the intent of teaching myself metalsmithing; unfortunately, time, other jewelry projects and life, in general, took precedence.  When I saw the Dry Gulch class advertised, I knew I had to attend.

The class was taught by a wonderful woman name Catherine.  I have met Catherine and the folks at Dry Gulch Jewelry previously at other craft and bead shows.  The owners consist of three generations of jewelry makers within their family. They are super-nice people, and very helpful.  I can honestly say I have purchased many jewelry making tools and supplies from them during the various shows I have attended.

During class, we had the option of making one of three advertised metal bracelet jewelry designs (as shown below) or we could make something different to suit our own individual tastes.  The first bracelet consisted of metals colored with metal patina paint and sanded to reveal the embossed pattern; the second featured uncolored pieces of copper, nickle and brass; the third consisted of metal pieces painted with acrylic paints.

Three versions of the metal bracelet using the same technique.
I always enjoy coloring my jewelry pieces, as I have shared here, here and here in the past.  For this project, I opted to colorize my pieces with alcohol inks.  As you can see by the before and after pics of my bracelet pieces below, coloring makes a huge difference in how the pieces look.

Before - Copper and silver metal bracelet pieces before colorizing.

After - The same metal pieces after coloring them with Vintaj Patina metal paints.

After sanding the pieces, the embossed patterns were revealed, which added extra interest to them.  The sanding really made the pieces "pop."

The focal bracelet pieces after sanding.
Another thing I did to add extra interest to my bracelet was that I added a tiny bit of color to the insides and edges of my "flowers", which consisted of metal discs that were domed, dimpled with dimpling pliers and hole-punched.

Touches of color were added to the "flowers" for added interest.
Needless to say, I was thrilled with my completed bracelet.  It turned out beautifully!

My completed metal bracelet. 

Here is a comparison of my bracelet and another student's bracelet.  Both were made using the Patina metal paints, but they are so very different color-wise.

Bracelets made using Patina metal paints.

Another student opted to leave her bracelet as is, with the natural metal colors being the highlight of the design.

Bracelet using the natural metal colors as a basis for the design.

All in all, I really enjoyed the class and I am looking forward to using some of my newfound skills to come up with some new jewelry items made with metal.  I will share my designs here and also on my Instagram page, so please stay tuned.

My completed bracelet.






Wednesday, October 10, 2018

Jewelry Made from Coloring Books Tutorial - Part Two - Boho Floral Charm Bracelet


A couple of weeks ago, I shared a tutorial on how to make a Boho Floral Necklace using an adult coloring book image as the focal point of the necklace.  This was made based on a challenge I participated in which was sponsored by C&T Publishing featuring one of their coloring books.

The only problem (if you could call it that) that I had was limiting myself to making just one piece of jewelry.  I ended up making several, and decided to share tutorials for each on my blog.  This particular tutorial is for the Boho Floral Charm Bracelet.  I love this piece - it is bright and cheery and screams summer.  Plus, it is lightweight in design, which is an added plus.  Now, without further adieu, here is the tutorial:

BOHO FLORAL CHARM BRACELET TUTORIAL

Supplies needed:

6 - round wooden disc blanks, 1" inch in diameter. (I used Blank Slate pre-drilled wooden discs that I found at Hobby Lobby, but you can always purchase plain wooden discs and drill your own holes in them.)
1 - Adult coloring book page.  I used Modern Elegance.
5 - Sharpie markers in complementary colors (I used yellow, orange, light orange, light pink and dark pink/fuschia.)
1 - pink acrylic paint (I used Apple Barrel Pink Eraser)
1 - orange acrylic paint (I used Apple Barrel Tropic Orange)

8 inches - rhodium larger link jewelry chain
additional chain - as needed - to elongate the bracelet length
10 inches - Sari silk ribbon/silk ribbon in shades of orange and/or pink
10 - glass beads, crystal and/or pearls in shades of orange and pink
10 - silver-colored bead caps, or more, if desired (optional)
10 - silver-colored seed beeds
10 - 2" inch long, silver-colored head pins
1 - Lobster clasp
several jump rings - silver-colored

White glue
Super glue (optional)
Diamond Glaze by Judikins
Water-based varnish  (optional - please see #4 for information.)

Tools needed:

Paintbrush
Drill (only if plain, undrilled wooden discs are used)
Basic jewelry tools - chain nose pliers, rosary pliers, wire cutters
1" inch round hole punch

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Paint one side of three of the wooden discs with pink paint.  Paint the remaining three discs with orange paint.  Set aside to dry.  Repeat.




2. Color the coloring book page with Sharpies.







3. Using the round hole punch, punch out 6 circles from the colored page, ensuring that interesting images are captured with the range of the punch.





4. Use finger to apply a light layer of glue over the unpainted side of the wooden disc blanks.  Carefully place the coloring book piece over the top of the blanks, smoothing it out with your finger and removing any wrinkles and/or air bubbles.  Set pieces aside and let them dry.  Once they are dry, use your finger to apply a thin coating of Diamond Glaze over the tops of each piece.  The key is to use a very light touch here, so as not to smear your images.  If desired, once dried, the discs can be left as is, however, I noticed that items sealed with Diamond Glaze can be somewhat tacky.  To alleviate this, I add a coat of water-based varnish over the top.  This takes away the tackiness of the Diamond Glaze.  I do not recommend using the varnish without the Diamond Glaze, though, as it may "lift" the color off of your pendant.  The Diamond Glaze is used as a protectant.  When applied lightly, it will help to prevent the coloring from smearing or lifting off of the page.



5. Lace the ribbon through the rhodium chain and cut, leaving approximately 1 1/2" inches extra on each end.  Tie each end into a knot.  To ensure the knots stay secure, dab a dot of super glue on them (optional.)  Trim excess ribbon.




   

6. Use jump rings to attach wooden discs to chain, ensuring that they are evenly spaced apart, and that they alternate between the pink and orange colors on the back.

Front of bracelet.

Layout for back of bracelet.

7.  Thread headpins with a silver seed bead, one pink or orange bead and bead caps. Wire-wrap each headpin into a loop and clip off excess wire.  Lay out the beads in an alternating pink and orange bead dangles.  Attach 5 of these to the chain, spacing them evenly between the discs.  Please refer to photo for placement. 




8. At this point, measure the length of the bracelet chain. It will be shorter than the 8 inches you started out with due to being threaded with ribbon.  Add additional lengths of chain, as desired, to both ends of the ribboned chain in order to make it the desired bracelet length.  Add  remaining beads to the outer edges of the discs.  Add a lobster clasp onto one side of the bracelet length, and one single bead to the other end of the bracelet length.  





 Ta-Da!  Your beautiful bracelet is done!!!



Polymer Clay Chocolate Bunnies and Peeps Easter Jewelry!

Over the past couple of weeks, I have been working on some brand new Easter jewelry designs - all made from polymer clay.  (Yes, Easter is early this year - it falls on March 27th - next month!)  The designs include little "chocolate" Easter bunnies, white "chocolate" bunnies (as not everyone likes chocolate) and "marshmallow" Peeps. For a sneak peek of these items in process, please check out my Instagram page.

Here are some of my latest designs - all of which will be posted to my Etsy shop this week:

Chocolate bunny and roses Easter bracelet.

Chocolate Easter bunny necklace.

Chocolate bunny Easter necklace and earrings set.

Chocolate bunny Easter bracelet.

White chocolate Easter bunny bracelet.

White chocolate Easter bunny bracelet.

White chocolate Easter bunny earrings in two sizes.

Peeps Easter jewelry.

Peeps Easter jewelry.



New Polymer Clay Halloween Designs!


True to form, with the hectic pace of being a full-time college student (along with all of the accompanying homework), plus work and all of life's little "things", I feel like I have been pressed for time in getting my holiday jewelry creations completed in a timely fashion.  I have just completed some new polymer clay Halloween designs, which were posted to Etsy and EBay this evening.  Without further ado, here are a few of them for your viewing pleasure:

Pumpkin brooches - hand carved by yours truly.


Candy corn charm bracelet and earrings.

Candy corn charm bracelet - detail pic.

Pumpkin charm bracelet and earrings.

Pumpkin charm bracelet - Detail pic.

Ghost earrings and necklace.

Country prim pumpkin earrings.


In the event you are interested, I have been sharing photos of my jewelry creations on Instagram as they are in the process of being created (among other things.)  Such as the image (below) of my pumpkin jewery pieces being treated with antiquing medium to give them a more rustic, prim look.

Pumpkins being antiqued - from my Instagram page.

I am happy to report that I also have started working on some new Christmas and Catholic jewelry designs - just in time for the holidays!  Stay tuned  - I am planning to share them here as they are completed.  :)

Polymer Clay Jewelry in Process


Although I have been creating things for as long as I can remember, I really only started creating jewelry designs in the late 1980's.  In the early 1990's, I discovered polymer clay and became immediately hooked on this wonderful medium.  At one point, I can recall other artists transferring images onto polymer clay, but I wanted to do something different than what others were doing.  Frankly, I wanted to impose images into my work in a manner that was more foolproof with less trial and error.  I developed the technique for incorporating images from real paper into my jewelry designs.  At first, I utilized postage stamps into little framed pieces of polymer clay jewelry, and gradually started using other images, as well.  I sold my designs on EBay and couldn't keep them in stock. Then, when I shared my technique for my framed postage stamp/polymer clay jewelry designs in Belle Armoire Jewelry II about 10 years ago, I noticed that all of a sudden, I had competition from people who were using my technique to create and sell their versions of framed polymer clay jewelry designs on EBay.  To this date, I can't recall anyone giving me credit as the person who discovered this technique. And yes, it is still a sticking point with me.  It is what it is, I guess.  Live and let learn, right?  OK, enough about that.  I am getting off of my soap box now.  LOL

Some of my earliest postage stamp jewelry designs (circa 1999-2000):







 Even though I still created with polymer clay at home, the pieces I made to sell on EBay and Etsy were primarily made of other mediums.  I focused on creating mixed media Catholic and pop art jewelry designs.   These days, I am known more for my Catholic jewelry designs than anything else.

Lately, I have decided to return to my polymer clay making roots while still focusing on the Catholic aspect of things so as not to alienate my customer base.  Earlier this week, I spent an entire 12 hour day working on just polymer clay.  I wanted to share some pictures of what I am working on right now.  Please keep in mind that all of the pictures show the designs in process.

This design utilizes the Klimt cane as a base.  It will be fashioned into a necklace and possibly matching earrings:




 Another pendant in process.  I'm still toying with the idea of adding more clay into this piece and then covering the top with resin:


A Virgin Mary pendant with handmade rose beads.  I am thinking about adding some rhinestones to this piece:


Polymer clay focal jewelry pieces in process- pendants and brooches:


Polymer clay crosses which will be made into earrings, necklaces and a bracelet:


An image of the polymer clay designs I made in 12 hours.  The hearts have been textured and will be highlighted with other colors so they pop:


Stay tuned for more pics of these projects as I complete them. :)