Ebony Wood. Would You?

It's beautifully organic, delicious to the fingers, a puzzle. This is what I made with it. My Ebony Wood necklace.

I attached this very beautiful Walnut wooden Tree of Life pendant, that Sarah at HHH Enterprises sent me. (You can also get Tree of Life Pendants at R&T or other types of wooden pendants.) It took no imagination whatsoever, on my part to do this, but it had to be done. The link attaching the pendant to the chain is made of turquoise faux leather and wrapped with fine brass wire. Turquoise and chocolate are very hot and trendy this season so score one for me in that department and another in the darn, that look's good together department.

Wrapped the faux leather ends with brass wire and made a hook and eye clasp.....

 

....and there you have it! I'm thinking turtleneck. You?

Always thought that I needed a fuller bust but apparently I need a taller one too! lol

Time Flies!

Here is my first creation with the swag batch I received for cleverly winning the Rings & Things Blog Partner Contest! As you know, these packages are put together by Dave Robertson, R & T Web Optimizer, and the man really takes the Optimizer part of his job description seriously! Who amongst us has not enjoyed at least one Twitter or FaceBook interaction with Dave? Anywho, he's also, ummm, a bit, uhhh, well, unconventional in his selections....check my last post to see what I'm talking about! (Okay, lazy, he sent Tim Holtz Ideology scrapbook embellishments with the jewelley making stuff! *whirls finger beside head*).

Ha ha Dave! Using scrapbook stuff is all the rage in the funky mixed media jewellery in the spotlight lately! It's so Steampunky! That's the vibe these vintage styled pieces gave me anyway and above is the result! Let me walk you through my process here a bit...the 'why' of my design.

I started with the Hammered Oval Cable (Antiqued Brass Plated) chain. I was already thinking Steampunk because of that crazy little embossed brass corner piece and the watch hands. At this point, on an unrelated craft emergency, I had to go to Michaels, the Arts & Crafts store near here, to get some 12 x 12 paper. Like most of you, I go into craft stores knowing exactly what I need, head right to it, check out and leave...I'm sorry; my lies sicken you, don't they?! Suffice it to say, while getting the paper, I was distracted by a nicely sized, coin shaped piece of Opalite, which is Chinese glass with a haunting glow to it....to me, a very Steampunk type of glass.

(Sidebar: I learned all about Opalite from R& T years ago, and it was their truthful Opalite info that made me their fast friend!).

I also found those sweet little leaf and word tags dangling off the bottom and the little bird at the top of the opalite bead. Rings & Things has similar danglies. I used brass wire to make a double eye-pin to put through the opalite bead and then I did something heretofore never even considered...I glued the Opalite bead inside the brass cormer frame!!!! (Have you noticed how its okay to glue things to things now in jewellery making? So I did!) I had to manipulate the frame a bit, but it knew it was being manipulated, and it didn't seem to mind, so I quickly had the large coin shaped Opalite snugged inside the frame.

Disoriented and dizzy from the glue fumes, I now had a rather visually heavy pendant, which meant that I needed more chain to balance it.(More, not less chain, is all the rage right now!) Having 2 kinds of such brass chain, I quickly attached them to each end of the length of oval chain. I then attached the watch hands together with a link from one of the smaller chains, and made them into half of a toggle clasp, sliding them easily through one of the oval links. I like it and prefer it when necklaces close in the front.

Isn't it beautiful how the Opalite seems to change colour?! The tag dangly says 'bloom', the bird and the watch hands remind us that time flies and to live for the moment and the entire necklace, I think, evokes a delightful memory of a past that hasn't happened yet.

What do YOU think? (I know you can hear me!).

It's Raining Beads! And Findings!

Cor, what a week of fabulous mail deliveries! Took this later in the day so it is rather shadowy, otherwise I think you can see the many cool things sent to me by Rings & Things for winning their Blog Partner Contest!

I'm intrigued to find what appear to be scrapbook embellishments! So glad my Tim Holtz token has an "E" on it, for Edward, my dh! Watch hands, a frame, a metal corner...these are from Tim's Idea-ology™ line.

There are also the cutest little glass Christmas charms...a tree, a stocking, an adorable pengy penguin, a gingerbready bear and two decapitated snowmen! Well, the heads of the snowmen lol! I know that they want to be earrings but there are a few other things I'm trying first with them!

I'm loving the three different types of chain, especially the Ebony wooden chain.

Oh and right there in the middle, and a little to the left, is the most darling little bottle, with a screwable closure and a hole for a jump ring! It looks like a fairy's perfume bottle or maybe a flask for those hard fairy days!

Okay! To work!

(SO not work! lol)/

Thank you Dave and Rings & Things! Please stand by!

Bounty From The Beadin' Path!

Mouth-watering greens, pinks, and purples! Shiny and matte and moonglow! Rounds, ovals, rondelles, top-drilled, flowers and drops!  Ga ga with gratitude over this heavenly heap and already have a couple of ideas for each item! Thanks again to Heather at The Beadin' Path for choosing such rich colours and finishes and shapes for me to play with!

I'll try to show a few of the things that you could do with these, especially the drops and flowers. I can tell you right now that, if you just put a jump ring through either of the flower pieces and hang them on a chain or ribbon, you'll be stylin'! The top drilled purple beads are so pretty that if you just strung them on memory wire, elastic or tiger tail, as is, you'd have a great looking bracelet! Actually, a simple strand of any of these luscious beads would be delightful at the wrist or neck.

Because the beads are so lovely on their own, the challenge, as always, is to show them off without overwhelming them!  Whenever I make a bracelet or necklace, I decide first which beads are going to be the stars of the piece, which beads will be the supporting players and which beads will chime in from the chorus. So let's see what kind of production I come up with using these!

And The Winner Is.....

.....ME!!!!
I've written about Rings & Things before, and you've met Russ Troll Bead here and followed his travels, so it should come as no surprise to know that I entered this and my name was drawn! What a lucky duck I am to work with the thoughtful choices put together by R&T's own Web Optimizer, Dave Robertson! I can't wait to see what my first package contains! I'm not in this alone either! Have a look at Just a Tish's blog and Dawno's blog. (I'm afraid to because I want to come up with my own take on things, which is really, quite difficult, what with inspiration to be found everywhere! But our styles are all so different that it should be quite interesting!)

Now, MY news from Rings and Things is thrilling, isn't it?! YOUR news from Rings and Things can be thrilling too! These guys are so generous and they are really showing it by giving designers this opportunity:

"A jewelry contest of creations made from Rings & Things products.

We invite you to show us your favorite handmade designs.
Designs don't have to be jewelry—they can be anything!

Entries accepted Jan 1 thru Feb 28, 2010. 

Winners announced the 1st week of June.

Winning entries (with credit to the designer) could be featured in our catalog

& promotions—that's exposure to more than a million people a year, worldwide!

You can turn around and use this for "as seen in" promotions of your own."

How cool is this! Fun for YOU and ME, thanks to Rings &Things! How perfect! Thank you Rings &Things! YOU rock!

Indie North Gift Guide!

Beth Smith of Indie Northhttp://indienorth.com/, has put together a really lovely looking gift guide and I am thrilled/proud/pleased to have an ad for Winged Heart Studio and the Peterborough Downtown Craft Market in it! Beth has a huge readership and she toils endlessly on behalf of Canadian Crafters to promote them and their indie businesses! If you are making a point of shopping local this year, have a look at the Guide. Or just look at it from a design standpoint! It really is well done visually! Thanks Beth baby, for a great job!!!