Year of Jewelry Project - Week 25

I'm taking a metals cuff class with Connie Fox this week about which I will post more later, but here is one of my first cuffs....

Bead & Button 2013

Five days, eight classes, plus LOTS of new (and old) friends = one fabulous time!!!
Here's my digital diary....

 The lobby of our hotel - The Hilton Garden Inn

Milwaukee

"Year of the Cuff" Class & Projects

Bead Dreams Wire Work Winner

Bead Dreams Wire Work Honorable Mention

"From the Ruins of Pompeii" Class and Projects

"Fold Forming" Class & Projects

Best Teaching Assistant and Roomie Shelly Gross

"Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder" Class & Projects

New Friend Kumi Fischer from Hawaii

Our Editor Erica Swanson

"Eye of the Storm" Class & Projects

"Rosette Cuff & Bangle" Class & Projects

I won!

:) :) :)

Year of Jewelry Project - Week 24

Year of Jewelry Project - Week 23

From my class with Lilian Chen....

Year of Jewelry Projects - Week 21 & 22

Year of Jewelry Project - Week 20

Productive weekend in the studio! 

:-)

The Year of Jewelry Project 2013 - Week 19

What in the world is Fordite?

Reposted from www.fordite.com

"Fordite, also known as Motor Agate, is a unique automotive enamel material with an interesting history. The original "rough" slag consisting of layered automotive paint was created by the now extinct process of hand spray-painting cars in automotive factories. The over sprayed paint gradually built up on the tracks and skids that the car frames were painted on. Over time many colorful layers built up and were repeatedly hardened in the paint curing ovens. Some of the deeper layers were baked hundreds of times. Eventually the built up paint became obstructive and had to be removed.

As the story goes, some workers with an eye for beauty realized this unique byproduct was worth salvaging. It was super-cured, patterned like psychedelic agate, and could be cut and polished with relative ease! “RECYCLE IT!” seemed to be the resounding sentiment. And so it was...

As word got around about this remarkable material, rock hounds began showing up at auto factories, offering to help remove the problematic paint.

Sadly the techniques that produced this great rough years ago are no longer in practice. Cars are now painted with an electrostatic process that essentially magnetizes the enamels to the car bodies. This leaves little, or no over spray. The old factory methods that created this incredible material are long gone. The Fordite “mines” are dry, so get some while you still can!"

I got mine this weekend at the Spring Gemboree in Cuyahoga Falls.... :-)

The Year of Jewelry Project 2013 - Week 18

I don't love it but eh, it's done....

The Year of Jewelry Project 2013 - Week 16

The Year of Jewelry Project 2013 - Week 17

The Year of Jewelry Project 2013 - Week 15

Two thousand year old recycled roman glass in a "Ring of Fire"...

Bead Fest Spring 2013

See you next week?

The 7th Bead Soup Blog Party & The Year of Jewelry Project 2013 - Week 14

Is finally here!!! 

Meet my partner Lyn Foley, an amazing lamp work artist who sent me the most beautiful hand made beads in my favorite color palate of blues and greens. Here's what I received....

As usual, time got away from me and the necklace part of this piece did not get done, but here's what I did with the focal, which my DH suggested might be a Christmas ornament...and no, I did not smack him...
 

The toggle became a "spinner" ring.....

And a few of the beads wanted to become earrings.....

Want to see more? Check out the rest of the Bead Soup Blog Party participants here!

The Year of Jewelry Project 2013 - Week 13

From the UFO file....started 2011....finished 2013....onward.... :-)

The Year of Jewelry Project 2013 - Week 12

Fold Formed & Flame Painted

Wanna Get Looped?

:-)

Bling it Sistah!

oh yeah, you can't go wrong with a little bling... :-)

Back in the Saddle...

......I mean studio.  :-)

After the mad dash of the past few months, finally I can relax and get back to playing with metal. There are a couple of techniques I've been wanting to tackle. First; soldering with copper scraps. Years ago, I bought a pendant from a welder who made little abstract faces from his scraps. Although my piece looks nothing like a face, it has some interesting textural and dimensional qualities, no?

The second "Soldering with Scraps" was a cuff, because as you may know, I have a thing for cuffs. And yes, it really is........

The next set of experiments involves a swirly wire wrapping technique inspired by my friend Szarka Carter. I figured out a rather "creative" way to cold connect the cab and wires to the ring and voila!

The Year of Jewelry Project 2013 - Week 10

The patina used was from a recipe on Sue Lacy Designs.