Week 42: Chip Off the Ol' Block

It's no lie, I have a king's ransom in stone chips I've collected over the years.  A small country's king for sure, but a king nonetheless.  I don't really use them so much as I collect them, and I decided that it was time to put the collection to good use and actually make something.  Thus, here are seven stone chip jewelry designs!

Sodalite and quartz crystal necklace on leather.  I'm glad I finally found a use for those giant bead cones!

Wire cage (with ammonia and salt patina) filled with raw aquamarine chips.

Russian Amazonite and Amber wire wrapped square earrings

Tiger eye on turquoise leather teardrop earrings

Amethyst, peridot, citrine, and garnet chip bracelet.  Hurray for memory wire!

Chakra chip earrings.  Garnet, carnelian, citrine, moss agate, sodalite, amethyst and quartz crystal.

Two strand amber and rainbow obsidian chip necklace.

 This didn't even begin to put a dent in my stash, but at least it's a start!

Week 24: Rainbow Chainmaille Week

I'm addicted to chainmaille, it's no lie.  In fact, a good half of the folks I follow on Pinterest are chainmail artisans or collectors of cool chainmaille designs.  I haven't worked with maille in awhile, but when I went to Michael's they had a bunch of really cool (and TINY) multicolored jump rings on clearance that were just begging to be made into some colorful chainmaille designs.  Normally my chainmaille is pretty sedate; I work mostly in silver and copper, sometimes black and gunmetal.  This was a nice change of pace, even if I did have to spend a bunch of time sorting tiny jump rings by color.  : )

Fun chainmaille pendant using a Japanese style weave.

This bit of Chainmaille looks like bubbles to me!  I know it's not rainbow colors, but the rings I picked up had a lot of gold rings interspersed with the multi-colored rings, so I thought it best to make use of them.

Rainbow Chainmaille Wave Necklace.

Beaded Chainmaille Earrings.  I finally figured out how to jazz up plain silver rings.  Yay!

Rainbow chainmaille drop earrings.  These were supposed to be based on the byzantine weave and turned out to be some unholy combo of Euro (the knots) and Japanese (the 2 in 2 connectors) but I like them anyway.

Celtic Flowers Chainmaille Bracelet

Crazy Rainbow Chainmaille Bracelet.  This one took the most time, but was also the most worth it.; it is definitely my favorite for this week.

The good news about this week is that I managed to use up almost all of my rainbow colored rings.  The bad news about this week is that I managed to use up almost all of my rainbow colored rings.  Now I won't be tempted to make more, but if I do think of a really cool design I'll have to *gasp* buy more rings.  OH NO! : )  Until next time!

Week 21: Hardware Week

In preparation for my move, I've been spending an awful lot of time at Lowes.  While I was there, I got a little lost in the hardware isle and decided to pick up some components for crafting!  When I was a much younger "grunge grrl" I had a necklace that I made out of old, rusty hex nuts that I found in my garage.  I've been in love with the industrial look ever since.  I know a lot of the stuff I make is girly, but I mainly craft for other people or to challenge myself; I don't wear most of what I make.  I usually like my accessories with an edge.  So this week I went all out and made stuff that I'd be more than happy to wear!

Chainmaille made from locking washers!  I added different metallic coatings to the washers, then added some patina before putting them together in the Japanese 4 in 1 weave style.

Wire-Wrapped Locking Washer Hardware Earrings.

More Locking Washer Hardware Earrings

Hex Nut Chainmaille Necklace.  This bad boy is really heavy!  It is put together with hex nuts in the Japanese 4 in 1 weave style.

Hex Nut and Locking Washer Earrings.  These were a "bonus" design for this week because they're pretty much the same as the trio of locking washer earrings, but without a hoop.  : )

Hex Nut and Washer Earrings with Chain

Bracelet Made From Brass Hinges

Tiny Lightbulb Earrings!  I found these in the hardware isle in one of the drawers marked "Science Fair Materials".  There is a lot of fun stuff in that drawer!

I am really happy with the results of this week's crafting.  It is really fun to use non-traditional materials, such as hardware and other "found-item" components, when making jewelry.  Thanks for looking and I'll catch you next time!

Week 15: Bracelets Abound!

I don't know what kind of can of worms I opened up by flirting with bracelet design, but I'm hooked!  This week is now the first back to back theme week of the year; mostly because I just wanted to make some more bracelets.  And here they are:

This was a fun bracelet I made by raiding my overabundant hook-and-eye stash.  Add jump rings and a clasp and voila!  Instant bracelet.

Leather with beads and a wire spiral

Leather with a small (and functioning!) hinge.

Multi-strand bronze metallic leather bracelet.  There are eight strands of the leather, but you can't quite see them all in the picture.  This one may be my favorite to wear of the new batch.

Leather cuff with eyelet studs and chain for a hand wrap.  Whoo, fancy!

Wire circle with wrapping and  various semiprecious stones.  I lied.  This one is my favorite to wear of the batch!

And here is the final (and most time consuming) bracelet of the week!  Two leather straps connect a strip of Euro 4 in 1 chainmail.

I got the design for the Euro 4 in 1 bracelet from an excellent book by Laura Poplin called "Unconventional Chain Mail Jewelry".  I highly recommend checking out this book if you are in the intermediate stage of chainmail construction and are looking for new directions to take your designs.  Expect to see more projects inspired by the book in the future!

Week 14: Brace Yourself!

A friend of mine recently pointed out to me that because I don't wear many bracelets I tend not to make many bracelets.  I didn't believe her at first, but when I went back through all my posts I found that to be really true.  I did a little looking around on the interwebs to see what kinds of bracelets seem to be popular right now, and I came across the trend of wearing a lot of chain and leather bracelets stacked all together.  I feel in love.  LOVE.  Inspired by my new muse, I decided to do an entire week devoted to bracelets.

I started off easy with a simple braided wrap bracelet.  This one goes around the wrist three times and connects with a lobster claw clasp.

Braided leather "charm" bracelet

These leather and button closure bracelets seem to be quite "in" right now.  I can see why; they're the only bracelet I've ever made that I haven't had a hard time closing myself.  Yay button magic!

Another kind of button magic bracelet.  I like this one a lot too; it feels quite sturdy.  Also, the fake buffalo nickel  button is pretty fun.

The first of the chain wrapped in leather set.  I really like how the turquoise and gold turned out.  The silver and green was a fun color combo but a little chunky to wear.  These both close with lobster claw clasps.  At least the chain is sturdy enough for me to tug on while I try to get them fastened!

The second version of the chain and leather bracelet.  This one is probably my favorite.  The extra strip running along the sides of the chain adds some structure and some extra color.  Also symmetry = happy me.  these close with toggle clasps, which I'm not super fond of for necklaces but turns out I love 'em for bracelets!  Go figure.

The mac daddy of the chain and leather bracelets I made.  This bad boy combines two chains.  Whoo!  Livin' dangerously!  I like the fall colors, but all in all it's too much bracelet for me.  : )

I really enjoyed the challenge of making something that I would not ordinarily wear.  I know that a lot of things I make aren't my personal style, but I still feel like I have a good sense of balance for earrings and necklaces.  Bracelets was a totally new territory for me though, and it was nice to have to work my brain in order to get some of the styles to work.  I'm also super stupid excited about this new "wrapped chain" thing and can't wait to incorporate it into some necklaces.  Maybe that'll be next week.  Until next time!

Week 12: Fab Fabrics

This week I decided to work with a medium that I don't use nearly enough.  Both fabric and ribbon are versatile, cheap, and usually utterly ignored by me in my crafting endeavors.  While digging through my old goodwill finds box I pulled out a really pretty (yet irreparably stained) silk skirt that I've been meaning to turn into something else.  Then while cleaning I uncovered my sorely neglected ribbon stash.  That was what got this week started.  Anyway, on to the projects!

Nobody can loose their keys in their purse quite like I can.  So I made myself this ribbon key fob to help me identify my key ring in the vast depths of my purse.

Hairflower from remnants.

Bib necklace from old T-shirt.  This was super easy; I just cut the shirt around the rosettes, which happened to be at the neck of the shirt.  That meant I could run a thin cord through the seam and boom!  Five minute necklace.

Earrings made from lace remnants and old iron-on style denim patches.  I just cut four of the teardrop shapes, then used my trusty rolling mill to punch out the circles in the center.  I cut the lace to fit, then sandwiched it between the two layers of denim and ironed it.  The heat activated adhesive took care of binding all the elements together.  Hurray!

This choker is made from some funky yarn that was like a rolled up net.  It was nice to trot out my old friendship bracelet making skills on this project!

Fabric bead earrings!  Everybody is super into paper beads right now so I thought I would go ahead and try making some in the same style, but with some scrap fabric I had laying around.  I'm pretty pleased with the results!

And last but not least, the reincarnation of the silk skirt!  I cut strips off where there were seams, then wrapped those strips around some wooden bangles I've been meaning to do something with forever.  These are so totally not my style but I love them dearly anyway.

I'm super into using the denim iron on patches to make jewelry now.  It was so fun and super easy!  Thanks for looking, and I'll see you next week.

Week 7: Back on the Chain Gang

I have a love for chainmail that far outstrips my ability to create chainmail.  I tried a variety of different weaves when I was first learning, and pretty much had settled on Japanese weaves as what I could comfortably do.  I have a couple of chainmail books sitting on my shelves that detail more European weaves, so I decided to pull them out and see what I could do.

Tiered "Infinity" Links

"Shaggy Loops" earrings

Helm chain bracelet

"Romanov" Byzantine links with rose and crackle quartz

European 4 in 1 thin bracelet

Queens chain necklace in copper and silver

Byzantine rectangle links in copper

So yay!  thanks to my new project I can do some very basic European Chainmail weaves.  I made all these with jump rings purchased from Michael's; I really suck at Aspect Ratio calculation (because I'm lazy) and their consistent ring size really helps me avoid having to re-measure new batches.  I always wander back to chainmail so I'm sure I'll have mroe weaves to post in the future.  Right now I have my eye on Persian weaves and Dragonscale, so we'll see.  : )  Till next week!