Week 29 Year of Jewelry

Here is another new design for my line of copper shawl pins.  I used wire wrapping to define the shape and it features a large lampwork bead from Laurel Mountain Glass.

Latest Shawl Pin Design

My copper shawl pins seem to sell very well at the knitting oriented shows I do, but I decided I need some new designs.  This one is simple in concept, but it was difficult to make the 10 gauge copper wire cooperate.

Half way through

I'm half way through with the Year of Jewelry project.  Here are my entries for weeks 24-26.  The first earrings are made of polymer clay scrap canes and look sort of like little quilts.  They are folded into a wavy shape to look like fabric.

The earrings below are made from large copper "beads" placed on niobium ear wires which are colored to look like copper.

 These are copper wire pieces I purchased and put on the niobium ear wires.

Faux jade, Week 20 YOJ

This faux jade shawl pin is my entry for Week 20 of the Year of Jewelry project.  It's made with Premo clay since that brand of translucent is better than the Kato which is my clay of choice.  I tried Pardo clay, but it didn't like the texture sheet.  It tended to stick, even when using water as a release, and it didn't hold the design as sharply.

Week 18, Year of Jewelry

Well, I got a bit behind on the Year of Jewelry project while working on my shows, so here is Week 18.  These are polymer clay earrings with crackled paint on the surface.  I cut them with a "cookie cutter" I made myself.

Year of Jewelry, Week 17

I've been busy preparing for two shows on consecutive weekends, so I've been doing variations on prior designs.  These pendants are polymer clay, die formed, with handmade cords.

Week 15, Year of Jewelry

I love the retro pixelated cane (thanks Bettina Welker) and I love die forming (thanks Dan Cormier).  Here is my latest pendant using these techniques. 

Weeks 9, 10 and 11, Year of Jewelry

I'm a bit behind in my posting.  Here are my entries for the 9th, 10th and 11th weeks of The Year of Jewelry Project.

This is made with three lampwork beads from my sister, Melissa Blanton of Laurel Mountain Glass and the two copper elements at the bottom are my first attempt at wire weaving.

 

These earrings represent my very first attempt at soldering sterling silver.

 

Another necklace with my sister's beads and handmade copper elements including the clasp.

 

Year of Jewelry, Week 7

Back again with another piece of copper with a heat patina on a torn piece of polymer clay.  This one looks completely different.  I took last week's to the melting point to get the red color, but I was more gentle with this one.

Year of Jewelry, Week 6

I like the look of distressed metals, and this piece is really distressed.  I tortured a piece of copper with a torch until I got this amazing red and gold patina.  The black polymer clay backing piece has torn edges and is textured to look like lava rock.  The copper is riveted to the clay.

Year of Jewelry, Week 5

These weeks sure roll around fast!  Here is my entry for Week 5.  It is made from a piece of copper with a naturally occurring patina.  Then I laced around the edges with green leather and also made the cord from it.

The Year of Jewelry Project, Weeks 2 & 3

I made this polymer clay pendant and the earrings to go with it using a Retro Pixelated Cane (from Bettina Welker's tutorial).  The pendant was made by die forming using one of Dan Cormier's dies.  I needed the earrings to be long in order to show the transition from light to dark, so I used a custom cutter I made.