Book review - Altered Curiosities

I am a part of the SATEAM blog carnival, and this month the topic is book reviews!

I  decided to take on Jane Wynns - Altered Curiosities, the newest member in my book collection.

At first glances you might not think it has anything to with jewellery, from the looks of the scary doll head on the cover, but it does.

The book is about using found objects, preferably old broken toys, in making art. She teaches you how to saw plastic and put it back together with metal.

One of my favourite projects, is the deer necklace. I wont give too much away but sawing of a platic toy deers head is involved :-)

The style is sort of Tim Burton meets the mean boy from Toy Story one. A fabulously cool meeting if you ask me.

So if you are wanting to try out mixed media, and love the sort of weird scary style this is the book for you. Great pictures and great tutorials, written in a delightful heartfelt tone.

Read other book rewievs here:

The FamiLee Jewels

Galadryl Designs

Northern Girl Jewelry

Bead Sophisticate

Island Girl

Christmas is Nearing

I always have a signature Christmas pendant in my stock for the holidays. And this year is no different. I get inspired by all the wonderful traditions Christmas holds.

Here's the last couple of years' holiday pendants

My first holiday pendant from 2 years ago, was this big red quarts, wire wrapped and adorned with pink tourmaline beads. I chose the pink to go a long with the red, so that it would fit the holiday theme, but also be wearable outside of the season. The inspiration for this, was the beautiful Christmas balls.

Christmas ball

Last year I made this more subtle pendant. I used a white cherry quarts, red garnets and a brown tourmaline. This one was inspired by the Danish holiday dish, "Æbleskiver". It's kinda like fritters, it's fried bread with jam and sugar. We eat a lot of it here in Denmark during the holidays.

 

The Danish holiday snack; Æbleskiver - picture provided from; Carinas Craft blog

So this year I wanted to go all out on the Christmas theme, and make something in red and green. So I got this gorgeous moss agate bead pendant, and some lovely red garnets, green tourmalines + apatite and wrapped it all up in this;

The inspiration for this piece was the traditional Danish Christmas tree. Which almost always is dominated by red and green. Unfortunately this pendant will not be up for sale in my etsy store. But it is available on Shelter Flair a long with other of my designs.

Last years Christmas tree

I wish you all happy holidays!

Featured Artist - The FamiLee Jewels

This time, my featured artist is not only a talented jewelry artist, but also a good friend, Bonnie from The FamiLee Jewels!

Tropical Dreams

The FamiLee Jewels consists of 3 generations of jewelry artist, all working together in making a wonderful enchanting shop. Most of the jewelry is Steam Punk inspiered. I love steampunk because the idea of someones rejects, becoming someone elses treasures, appeals so much to me. The Family Jewels use many different techniques in their jewelry, wire wrapping, etching, cold connections and even chainmaille.

 

Textured Copper Cuff

I was lucky enough to get Bonnie to answer a few of my questions in a small interview.

What’s your favourite thing about making jewelry?

I love letting my imagination run free, collecting unusual bits and pieces from garage sales, salvage yards and friends junk drawers, and using them in unexpected ways.

Do you have any advice for someone just starting to make jewelry?

Practice, practice, practice. Repetition makes things easier and the easier it becomes the more you can put your own ideas into your creations.

What’s your favourite website and why?

If I can only choose one of the dozens listed as my favorites it would have to be Eni Okens. http://www.jewelrylessons.com/ is a generous website full of fabulous tutorials, beautiful photographs and talented teachers.

  Describe your jewelry in 3 words

Victorian      Industrial     Recycled

How much time do you spend on making jewelry pr month?

That took some calculating. Every chance I get but if you need a number 2-3 hours a day on the days I work and 4-8 hours a day on my days off equals about 150 hours a month. of course that includes marketing and selling but it's part of the package. 

This is one of my favorite pieces in your shop, so please tell me a little about it

Salvage Hardware Dragonfly Necklace

The actual piece only takes about 90 minutes to make. There is however a lot of time that goes into finding the various components.

What materials did you use, and why did you use them?

Antique cabinet hardware, in this case the pull from an old cabinet door. I love the intricate detail in these old pieces and the lasting quality of the work. I use brass components, wire, findings and antiqued brass chain that complement the hardware.

Did you plan out the design, make a sketch or did it just come to you?

Most of my designs come from playing with the bits and bieces of hardware that are in the studio. I lay them together with components in likely combinations until I like the way it looks, then start the attachment process.
 
What techniques where used to create the piece?

All of my pieces are assembled with cold connections. In this case I used wire wrapping to attach the dragonfly to the frame, and to make the multichain necklace that it hangs on.

To find out more about The FamiLee Jewels visit these links:

Blog
Etsy
Artfire
Facebook
Twitter
Flickr

Bonnie actually did a nice interview with me as well, check it out here!

First Time Etching

I've been wanting to try a new technique for some time now. The idea is to use an acid that will etch copper, but leave places to be protected from the acid and then when finished you will have the imprint on your metal.

Of cause I messed it up, but I wanted to show you my results anyways...

First mistake - used way too thin sheet metal (26ga)

Got my circle cut out now...

Cleaned the metal from any grease or other stuff...

Drew my little fairy picture...

Final product got way too etched cause I forgot to put resistance on the back...

Now oxidised...

Couldn't bare not to use it, so made this little piece out of it. Wont put it up for sale though, this is just for me. 

SATeam Wrist Candy Charm Bracelet Giveway

I am a member of the starving jewelry artist team on Etsy, and last year we had a very fun bracelet give away. And now it's here again. We all contributed with a small flower charm for the bracelet, and I think it turned out just amazing!! 

35 different shops are participating in the sale, so you should be able to find something you like!

How do I get this bracelet you aks?; The sale runs from 17 October to 28 November and each time you make a purchase from a participating SATeam members store your name will automatically be entered into the draw for a chance to win the flower charm bracelet and the draw will be on 30 November.

The bracelet is made with sterling silver!

Of cause I am one of the participating stores, so if you buy something from me (Even a tutorial) you will be in the draw! And just to top it of, I have lowered my prices in my shop and as always I am offering free worldwide shipping and giftbox..

Thought you might like to see which charms I contributed with... These are handmade polymer clay roses

For a complete list of those participating in the sale, please go to http://www.etsy.com/people/SATEAM

Also - follow SATeams blog for updates on the sale and giveaway at http://starvingartiststeam.blogspot.com/

What is Copper??

People often ask me why I use copper in my jewelry and not silver. The answer is simple, I can't afford silver and I love the golden colour of the copper. Copper has many of the same abilities as Silver and Gold. It is a pure natural product, that can be found in nature. You cannot get allergies from wearing copper, as copper contains non of the toxic metals such as nickel. All great reasons why I love to use copper in my jewelry.

The reason why copper is not considered to be a precious metal, is because it oxidises very quickly in the air. That's why most copper jewelry is oxidized, this means it wont change it's colour, since it already has been oxidized. This also means no polishing :-) Almost all of my copper pieces has been oxidized.

I am allergic to copper! - No probably not... When people think they are allergic to copper, it's often because their skin reacts with the copper, leaving a dark green colour on their skin. The same thing happens with silver, only that the marks are black. But the marks are in no way dangerous, but just annoying. Some people reacts stronger to this then others. This is do to the substance of chemicals in their sweat. If you have this problem, a small coat of clear nail polish on the places that touches your skin, can prevent this from happening.

I love copper so much, that I even chose to make our wedding rings in copper.

Copper is actually known to ease the pain caused by gout in the hands. So if you have trouble with pain in your hands during the cold winter months, a copper bracelet, might help you.

Available at ShelterFlair

Copper is not as rare as silver and gold, and this leaves the material coasts to be much lover, and of cause this benefits you when buying jewelry because we are able to make beautiful pieces, but at a much lower coast, then if we used gold or silver.
Remember that when you buy a copper piece, you know that there are no hidden toxics, it's a pure product that is safe for you to wear.

New tutorial - Round N' Round Earrings

I finally finished the tutorial, and it's going to be for my crazy spiral earring project "Round N' Round earrings".

 

 

In this lesson I will teach you how to make a pair of Round N’ Round earrings. We will go through such basic techniques as how to make spirals and how to form a loop, and these techniques will be used in making the fun Round N Round earring design. I do recommend that you have some wire experience before hand, but this is not a difficult project, and should be mastered by beginners as well as intermediates.


Material List

16” of 18 ga round copper wire
 8” of 20 ga round copper wire
 1 pair of ear wires

Tool List

Flat nose pliers
Round nose pliers
Wire cutters
Nylon Jaw pliers
Hammer
Steel Bench Block
Metal file

The tutorial is available in my Etsy shop and on Jewelrylessons.com

Hot News Only For my Blog readers!!

I've just finished a new tutorial! It's not ready for order yet, but will be tomorrow evening. You just got the news before everyone else...

I wont reveal what the tutorial is for just yet, but I will tell you this is my first earring tutorial. I actually hate making earrings, but this project I find to be fun, even if it is for earrings :-) plus you can use it in bracelets as well.

So keep watching! I will reveal the project tomorrow.

Until then here's a picture of the tools you'll be needing

Playing With my Hammer

I just recently got a new texture hammer, and today I tried it on some different small projects.

This necklace has a small citrine drop, dangling from it. I like the simplicity of this pendant, although it's not my usual style.

Again a more simple everyday look then my normal 

pieces.

See how different the texture is. I think these kinda look like crumbled up paper.

These have been donated for charity, supporting the fight against breast cancer. It's only available in Denmark, but you can check it out HERE

So that was just what I've been up to. All pieces are available in the shops!

Fairy Princess Necklace

I have already shown a few pictures of this piece, but I thought it deserved it's very own post...

Available here

Inspiration: When a fairy girl fancies a fairy boy, she will give him her birth flower. All fairies has a birth flower, that is sort of their guardian angel. So when a fairy boy receives a flower, he knows that someone likes him. If he likes the fairy girl back, he will also give her his birth flower, and then a wedding normally fallows quickly along after.

Nice clean back, that wont irritate your skin or clothes.

 

 

 

 Stones used are all pink tourmaline

Metal is pure oxidized copper

 

Blog Award

I just got a blog award from makingjewellerysupplies.com


So thank you, to them!! :-)

Recycling

We are doing a blog carnival on the always wonderful SATEAM. This means that we are all writing about the same topic, and this month the topic is; RECYCLING

Great theme for me as I do have some fun recycling projects to show you.

Soda can before

I had this idea, that I wanted recycle soda cans, and use them in my jewelry. The idea sprung from a friend who just can't live without her daily doses of coca cola, and as a fun present I wanted to make her coke earrings :-)

Cut out soda can earrings

So I cleaned out the cans and cut out circle discs, with my disc cutter. Afterwards I filed the edges so they wouldn't be sharp.

Finished earrings

Then I punched holes in the circles, and used little star rivets to cover the holes. I haven't gotten around to make any more, but the plan is to have some available in my shop soon, so keep an eye out.

Another recycling project is my steampunk pieces. I use old watch parts, buttons, nails and whatever fun thing I come across.

Christmas present for my Mum last year

Birthday present for my Mum

My mum love steampunk, so most of my steampunk pieces she ends up getting before they make the web shop, but I do make these as custom orders as well.

So that was a little bit about how I like to use recycling products in my jewelry making!

Follow the links to the blogs of this month's participating members to find out how recycled materials play into their work.

Bead Sire


The FamiLee Jewels