Thrift Store Blog Hop Reveal!

I hope you all had a good time with my first blog hop. I think I might try running another in the not too distant future so keep your eyes peeled!

For my item I bought these from a Cancer hospice shop for 50p each. They are little ornamental masks I found in the junk bin.

I have no idea why I bought these. For a start I am scared of clowns and these sat in the kitchen staring at me creepily until I gave them a few coats of acrylic paint.

I painted one a deep rusty brown, and the other a very dark green. They both needed a few coats to cover the clowns face paint.

Then time for a design! I thought of a few different themes. A green man seed beaded bib style necklace, a voodoo shrunken head style wall plaque.

But ended up going with HR Giger.

And my meek little sketch in comparison? *laughs*

So next I drilled holes using my pin vice. I've used one of these on a silver art clay course before and knew I needed to have one "just in case" but this is the first time I'd used mine at home.

I drilled 4 holes through the mask which is made from a white plaster of paris type substance. I went fora  small hole to begin with, and then kept increasing the size of the drill bit until it was 2.3mm so fit my 2mm aluminium wire.

I threaded the wire through the holes and made spirals using the lovely nylon jawed pliers which I was bought for Christmas. And promptly broke off one of the nylon coverings. Oops!

Then with some silver wire, wire wrapped Czech glass AB faceted emerald glass and some pale green Chinese crystal rondelles down each side piece.

After finishing both side pieces, I wrapped the whole item around a lynx deodorant can to get it's shape!

Hope you like the finished piece. I most certainly do!

Don't forget to visit everyone else who is hopping today to see how they have got on with the challenge. :)

And as a thankyou for participating, I'm going to send a special bead soup type challenge pack out to someone who took part. I'd love it if you blogged about what you made though. If you are hopping and would like to enter my giveaway, shout out! (open internationally)

Sarah - www.pookledo.blogspot.co.uk
Deb - http://greenshoot.blogspot.co.uk/
Kimberley - http://goddessesandbeads.blogspot.co.uk/
Skye - http://skyescreativechaos.blogspot.co.uk/
Ambra - http://chicandfrog.wordpress.com/
Beti - http://stringingfool.blogspot.com/
Emma - www.apolymerpenchant.com
Shelley - www.shelleygrahamturner.blogspot.com
Tammie -  http://ttedesigns.blogspot.co.uk/
Leah - http://beadyeyedbunny.blogspot.co.uk/
Denielle - www.somebeadsandotherthings.com
Keri Lee - http://www.pinklemonade.typepad.com
Rochelle - acreativechelle.blogspot.com
Pam - http://pamelas-studio.blogspot.com/
Ingetraud - http://ingetraud.wordpress.com/
Audrey - http://esperianterra.blogspot.com/
Julie Anne - www.thepeacefulbead.com
Sharyl - http://www.sharylsjewelry.blogspot.com
Micheladas - http://micheladasmusings.blogspot.com 
Lo -   http://thecreativeklutz.blogspot.co.uk/
Kala - http://maybejustperhaps.blogspot.co.uk
Jo - http://jobunkum.blogspot.co.uk/ 

Edited to add: http://deelitefuljewelrycreations.blogspot.com/2012/08/thrift-store-blog-hop.html

So sorry I missed you from the list!

More Bead-a-holic Shopping

I had to go to work on Saturday so when I got home I did some comfort shopping bead buying to treat myself. Does anyone else do that? I'm sure it can't just be me.

Here's what I bought. And the seller has a sale on at the moment 30% off for the next 3 days. Use code 30FOR3 at checkout.She's got some gorgeous stuff!

Purple Amethyst Collection

Monet Waterlilies Collection

Disressed Polymer Clay Cubes

Distressed Faceted Beads

I am a Bead-a-holic

My stash of beads has reached a near critical mass. I'm sure G would say that happened a long time ago.

I'm wondering if I admit to what I buy on my blog I will slow down my rate of buying, or will it just enable others to buy too!

But I'll give it a go.

Thursday I bought 4 strands of beads from Beads Direct (where I work as a packer making kits and packing orders, and some time designing the occasional item.) They have a £1.50 a string promotion on at the moment and I couldn't resist a few strings.

I bought:-

Small Crystal Quartz Chips

 

 

Red Jasper Chips

Red Aventurine Chips

 

 

Yellow Turquoise 6mm Rounds

 

And then this morning, after reading about Wingsmith2010 listing glass cabochons in her shop on her blog, I bought 2 of the 3 she had listed for sale.

I brought the gemstone chips home with me, and will hopefully receive the cabochons soon! I'm not sure what I will make with them, but they were just so pretty, especially the skull one. I couldn't resist!

Wholesale Order to Go!

When I got in on Friday an email was waiting for me asking if I could post out a job lot of earrings.

Of course I can. Woohoo! I like it when I get an order like that.

So I got my pliers out and started making.

All lined up to make sure there is a nice range of colours and materials

A close up of a few pairs

Bagged and labelled with a card saying what each bead is made from

And off they went to their new home by first class post this morning!

Creative Chaos Blog Challenge - Geek Inspired!

Skye at Creative Chaos Blog set a challenge at the end of May in Honour of Fathers day.

"Raid the tool box, the junk drawer, or visit the hardware store to use up some of your pocket change ;) Then make a piece of jewelry out of your toolbox find / hardware store purchase and share it in your blog on June 16th."

 I asked G for some random "manly" junk I could upcycled and he gave me a grip-seal bag containing this.

 

My first thought on this bags of goodies was to make a rainbow bracelets but when I looked in to my stash of findings, none of my ribbon clamps were the right size.

Then I checked out the resistors but I couldn't get them clean enough. They were a bit rusty and dark in places. I'll look into how to clean them for the future though as I have some idea of what to make with them.

So I carried on with the bit of circuit board. I found I could cut it with my wire cutters which was a good sign and it didn't leave a sharp edge either. Bonus! So I even off all the edges and cut it in half so I could make two pieces from it.

I glued on a vintage escutcheon that I bought from a  vintage shop then wired on round tigers eye beads and some bronze tone butterfly connectors. 

I improvised a way to connect the cord by making spirals from the same wire that I made the eyepins from and clamping the cord ends in place.

Then onto the next piece of circuit board! I just love the patina on these keyholes!

And I thought I'd see what a similar pendant would look like with a chunky vintage style curb chain.

These are nice simple earrings using what I think may be LEDS? I've threaded patterned bone beads onto the wires that came out from them and used them like ball ended headpins for a quick fix pair of earrings.

Etsy is down at the moment but I'm hoping to get everything listed later today when I'm sure the glue has set properly and when Etsy is back up again after it's scheduled maintenance.

 Other Participants doing this blog hop challenge are:-

Skye - http://skyescreativechaos.blogspot.com/

Marlene Cupo - http://amazingdesigns-marlene.blogspot.com/

Pookledo - http://pookledo.blogspot.com/

Julie Anne - http://www.thepeacefulbead.com/

Shelley Graham Turner - http://www.shelleygrahamturner.blogspot.com/

Leslie Wayment - http://www.aabeadsonline.com/blog/

Sherri Stokey - http://www.KnotJustMacrame.com/

ingetraud - http://ingetraud.wordpress.com/

Dyanne Everett-Cantrell - http://deelitefuljewelrycreations.blogspot.com/

Keri Lee Sereika - http://pinklemonade.typepad.com/my_weblog/2012/06/something-from-his-world-blog-hop.html

Shaiha - http://shaihasramblings.blogspot.com/

Check out what they have done for their fathers day inspired challenge!

Hathern Carnival Photos

Had a lovely day at the Carnival yesterday and actually managed to take some photos for once. I really do have to get in the habit of taking more photos!

Me in pink with Jo from JojosBeads

A selection of my wares

And some of Jo's

And I think this gorgeous creatures has to get the award for cutest dog of the day. I just love his red white and blue hat! I couldn't resist taking a photo. Can yous ee the cute baby with a sleepsuit with ears on in the background too?

More photos of some of the great stalls I saw and brilliant people I met coming soon...

Vintage Inspired Bead Embroidery - The Beginning!

I made a bead embroidery piece a couple of weeks ago for a feature in a magazine (Coming soon!) and decided that I fancied making another in a similar style.

I found a cabochon from a broken piece of jewellery which was a small portrait of a girl in sepia tones decoupaged onto acrylic.

I found a piece of board to use as my backing stiffener. It's a piece of hardboard whcih was the base of a jewellery stand I bought on ebay. When the stand arrived in the post it was smashed to bits bit I managed to salvage the unbroken base.

Next step was sketching out a rough design.

And choosing a colour palette.

Then getting started!

More to follow when I've got some more completed! I still haven't decided what the final item will turn out to be. Any ideas?

Challenge Bracelets #13 and #14

Beige Recycled Button Cuff Bracelet

I still haven't forgotten about my challenge to make and document a bracelet a week in 2012. I am a little behind on taking photos though as I'm also trying to get up to 100 items in my Etsy shop too. (71 so far!)

I've got a couple of craft fairs coming up, the next one being at an Eco centre, so I thought I'd make a few more obviously recycled items.

Pale Turquoise and Peach Recycled Cuff Bracelet

And I'm part way through a free pattern tutorial for these too which hopefully I'll get posted in the next week or so.

Busy Times! - Craft Fairs, Paperwork and Other Stuff

I can't believe it's a week since I updated my blog! Where does time go to? 

Well, there's been lots of form filling in going on around here. Insurance forms, craft fair applications, phone calls to book stall spaces.

And I've been on a needle felting course which was great fun. I'm playing around with different techniques to see how I can incorporate it into the work that I already do. I've got some great samples which I'll share when they have a bit more work done on them.

My next Craft fair is on April 14th and 15th at the Derby Eco centre. It's their Spring fair and wool festival which sounds like it could be a great weekend. With all this bad weather over the last couple of days, I'm glad I paid extra money to be indoors!

But with craft fair imminent, I'm doing all of those getting ready for a craft fair jobs. All my jewellery needs boxing up whether I've listed it on Etsy or not, I need to made a few extra pieces of stock where there are gaps in my product lines, and a few extra pieces which will hopefully appeal to my audience at the fair I'm going to. I'm going to make a few more heavily recycled jewellery pieces, and some yarn inspired earrings. Maybe even some of my new needle felted items will make an appearance.

And I'm also waiting for a couple of shipments to come in. A box of recycled cabochons from vintage jewellery, and a secret surprise parcel for a magazine project. I hoe they arrive today so I can play with them over the bank holiday weekend!

Recycled Shell Wearable Art Necklace

Wearable Art Necklace

I've got a collection of these shell piece in my stash. I just can't resist damaged or broken items when they come my direction. Obviously shops can't sell broken or damaged items as new so a lot of the time they are just thrown away. I like to think of them as nature pushing you towards a design plan.

The top of this shell was broken but the rest of it was fine so I used seed beads to make am asymmetric freeform peyote feature bail.

Next I had some sari silk from Stef Francis which was just crying out to be used. A little wire with seed beads threaded on to it held the silk tassel in place.



It took me a while to figure out what to hang the pendant on. I'd just been focussing on one step at a time. Letting my ideas flow organically from one step to the other.

With my pink and purple palette of beads still laid out in front of me I figured I'd make a piece of seed bead rope until an idea came to me. Duh!

I threaded the rope through the bail and it hung beautifully.

Voila!

Front Cover - And Stash Storage Solutions

 What a week! Finally this week I got to find out whether my jewellery design made the front cover of this weeks Creative Beads and Jewellery magazine. And it did! How exciting!

These style of pendants take me ages to make but I do love making them. I keep all my "lonely" beads in containers with other beads of the same colour. I also add anything else that might be useful such as odd sequins, buttons, broken jewellery.

And that is how my storage system has ended up how it is today.

These are my great Really Useful boxes. With nice clippy lids so that when they fall on the floor I don't have a bead-a-lanche.

I used to buy cheaper boxes from various shops buy found out to my cost that not all boxes stack on top of each other properly and when a shop discontinued a range, the next range they stocked didn't stack on top of the old range




My full strings of beads and bags of beads go in a separate storage system. more Clip lids boxes once again, but nice and stackable so I can take one box at a time downstairs to do a project (That's the aim anyway. I'm not very good at bringing them back upstairs until the living room where I do most of my work reaches a critical mass)

 As you can see, I have a  bookshelf for my craft  books too to separate from from my fiction which are downstairs. The tray to the left of the stack is my stash of choker wires, ready made necklace chains, hair barrette findings and fascinator clips.
 










Then we have the fabric stash. I have boxes of large pieces in  an area which would be far too embarrassing to take a  photo of, as with my yarn stash, but for smaller pieces I have a office filing system. The top set of boxes are fabric sort by one colour per drawer. This is for pieces of materials that are fat quarters and smaller.

The bottom set of drawers is for my ATC and collage supplies. Anything I could collage with really. Magazine cuttings, scrapbooking paper,card, tissue paper.

And of course my overlocker is on the top smiling down at me.

Swap-bot - Rainbow Scavenger Hunt

 

I love colour. I love matching them and seeing what goes with what. So when I saw a rainbow swap on Swap-bot I decided to join in.

As you can see, I had to send my partner a Bead Button and Bauble in rainbow colours with an aim to finding gold at the end.

Froggit

I'm not sure what the beading equivalent of the knitting term "froggit" is, but that's what I've been doing recently. I've got a lovely Bead Soup mix that I've made up but nothing seems to be working with it.




I've tried two freeform peyote necklaces. With the first attempt I had a strop at and pulled it apart to start again. Then next just didn't hang right at the front. This time it's a bracelet. I left out the bugle beads as I thought that might be affecting it's flow, but still no good.

This is the final incarnation before I took it apart yet again. I wonder what it will eventually turn into?