Week 45: Gears Galore

It's steampunk o'clock again!  The more popular the style becomes, the more materials seem to show up at my local craft store.  I have to admit, the lure of antiqued metals and gears is too much for me to resist.  So in another great showing of my favorite crafting style (gluing things to other things), I decided to work with my considerable steampunk components stash this week.

Clock face, key, and gear pendant on leather.  I love these little flat keys from the scrapbooking section at Joanne's!  They look great and are super easy to attach to other components.

Clock face, gear, and cameo necklace.  I'm really feeling the clock-y goodness this week!

Altered key with clock face, hex nut, crystal, and weathered art-deco style "wings".

Another altered key, this time with gears, scroll work, and a neat little mirror!

Filigree pendant with gears and hex nut.  I created a blue patina on the base for the pendant  by using the ammonia and salt technique.

Altered key with keyhole, gear, and fan "wings".  The fans came from the clearance isle at Michael's, and I just knew they had to go on a key!

And back to clock faces!  Clock face with gears and washer on antiqued brass base.  The pendant is threaded on leather, and I added a few gears to keep it company.

Week 36: I Feel Special

It's been pointed out to me that while I make an awful lot of stuff, I don't normally make things with myself in mind.  So this week, I decided to only make things that I knew I would use, and use regularly.  It turns out that my aesthetic is mostly black and silver based.  Big surprise there!  But it's kind of neat; I feel like I have a cohesive "line" of accessories for my everyday use now.  So, uh, Merry Christmas to me?

Hat Pin!  Just not in the traditional sense.  I love adding a bit of extra flare to my hats.  The button was a super cool find at Joann's, and I  used epoxy clay for the first time to put the feathers and button together on the pin back.  For a first attempt I'm pretty pleased.  Plus, giant feather poof for my hat!

My second experiment with epoxy clay.  The ring base and spikes are both from Michael's;  the spikes appear to be some sort of plastic so the ring is really lightweight!  While this is totally not a work appropriate ring, I' think I'm going to end up wearing this a lot.  Plus I think it may double as a self-defense weapon in a pinch.  :)

WWTWW?  Or, What Would Tom Waits Wear?  If he was a girl, I think it'd be this necklace.  This bad boy is much fancier that I'd normally go with, but a girl's gotta play dress up sometime, right?  

I about peed myself when Michael's came out with their Art Nouveau  line of jewelry  components.  I was particularly taken with the fan-style wings.  Add a keyhole and skeleton key charm, and it's perfect!  I'm surprised at how much I wear this necklace.  It's pretty much a staple of my wardrobe now.

And if I don't feel like wearing the super sized version from above, here's a downsized version for more casual wear.  Keys and wings.  I don't think you can go wrong with that combo!

Once I got my box of keys out, I just couldn't stop!  These flat backed keys are from the scrapbooking isle at Joann's, and they're perfect for my favorite type of crafting; gluing things to other things!  I had this gunmetal finish filigree plate stashed away for a special project, I'm super happy I finally used it.

And my absolute favorite of the batch, my Get Smart earrings!  I had a box of these old bingo-style tokens, and once I saw these two tiles I just had to make something with them.  A bit of dremel work turned them into neat beads.  And I can't resist adding chain tassels to anything.  I wear these all the time now!  So far nobody has gotten the reference, but someday they will and that person will be my new friend FOREVER.

As much as I enjoyed designing for myself for a week, I'll be happy to go back to working with other inspirations.  My color palate for personal wear is super monochrome, and I really do enjoy working with colors!  Just not wearing them.  Expect a color explosion next week to compensate!  Thanks for checking in, and we'll catch you next time!

Week 34: Altered Key Week

Recently, I've come into possession of a large stash of old door keys.  As anyone who has even glanced at this blog can tell, I love gluing things to other things.  I've made some altered keys in the past, but I've had a lot of designs that got put on hold because I ran out of old house keys of my own.  With my new bounty I finally got a chance to try out some of my new designs!

I have a lot of gears, and I really like gluing them to things.  This key uses a cluster of gears, along with a filigree heart adorned with a gear to create a neat key pendant.

No gears on this one!  I though it would be fun to add one of these lock charms I've been hoarding to a key.  Lock and key all in one! 

This cool filigree charm has been aching to go on a key for some time.  Once I glued it on, it looked a little out of balance, not to mention washed out and monochrome, so I added a pop of color with these cute metal flower charms I got from the scrapbooking section.

A clock charm, a brass charm, and a hex nut all come together to make a nifty steampunk style altered key pendant.  I softened the edge a little bit with another one of those metal scrapbooking flowers.

This key got the works!  I added filigree leaves, a flower charm, a keyhole charm, and some gears to this key.  I think it looks kind of like a dragonfly key.  But that might just be me.  The layering looked weird through the keyhole, so I added some enamel glaze to give it some coverage.  

Yet another keyhole and gear key pendant.  Are we beginning to notice a theme this week?  I didn't intend for most of my altered keys to turn out so steampunk-ish, but the keys themselves just match with that style so well.

And finally, more gears!  This time I layered some gears with a cameo and  filigree charm that I antiqued myself.  : )  I really like the pop of mint color on this one; it's unexpected and makes the overall piece seem kind of cheerful.

I have so many nifty keys that there is bound to be another round of altered key jewelry before the project is over.  I'll try to wait a few weeks before repeating a theme, but I'm so excited that the ideas are just overflowing.  Well, I'm off to glue my fingers together again.  See you next time!

Week 32: Ring Week, Round 1

I love rings.  Well, I love wearing them, anyway.  I haven't really tried making rings before, and I realized that this was a pretty big gap in my jewelry making adventures.  So I went hunting and found seven different types of "ring blanks" to embellish.  This is what I came up with:

  

This ring base was one that had a single eye in the middle of the band.  I think it was for attaching beads on headpins to make one of those cool cluster rings.  But while fiddling around I realized that the eyelet fit perfectly into some flower components that I had.  I domed one of my gears to help it fit into the design, and then stacked them all onto the eyelet, securing them with wire and a sparkly copper bead.

This ring is maybe the most basic of the week.  The ring base for this one was a plain brass band with several different holes in it.  I'm really not sure what it's intended use was, but I used the holes to anchor some wire, then wrapped this cool clock key charm I had onto the base.  Simple, but fun!

I love quartz crystal points.  I came across a bounty of them at the Crystal Connection, a local shop for VA rockhounds.  When I found these filigree ring bases, I just knew I needed to wire wrap a crystal point onto one.  I've had some very cool crystal point rings in the past, but they've all gone out of my life now.  I'm crazy excited to have one again!

I love sprinkles!  And I've wanted to expand my experimentation with resin.  This ring base with a deep bezel seemed to be the perfect opportunity to combine the two.  I used a UV curing resin because it takes so much less time to set than regular resin, but I had issues with teeny tiny little bubbles forming.  By the time they rose to the surface, the resin had already started to set.  I think that UV resin will be great for some projects, but the sprinkles just had too many gaps for air bubbles to hide in.  Still, while not perfect it is perfectly wearable!

This ring began as some sort of fidgety meddling on my part, and quickly became something extra crazy.  The ring base is a neat domed circle with an eye in the middle for attaching beads.  I happened to have big dish of safety pins sitting on my craft table, and started putting them through the eye just to see what it would look like.  A few quickly became several, which became many, which became many many, which became lots.  (Pratchett fan!)  Once I couldn't fit any more onto the base, I started stacking safety pins on top of each other.  I really love the result;  it's so much more sculptural than anything I've done in awhile.

The base for this ring was what most people think of when they think of a standard ring blank, a band with a flat surface for affixing some embellishment.  I've been holding onto these cool etched buttons for a long time, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to use them.  I had to file the back of the button flat, but that was the most work I did for this project.  Other than that it was just glue, glue, glue.  Still, the final results are pretty darnn cool.

This ring turned out so much better than I thought it would!  The ring base is pretty funky; it's a standard adjustable band but it has this weird filigree flower type bit on the front for affixing things to.  The flower isn't flat, so I'm not sure what exactly it was intended for, as it doesn't seem to be made to hold glue or anything like that.  I decided to use it to wire wrap as it gave me a pretty solid anchor point.  I had this itty bitty snowflake obsidian donut that I wrapped onto the base, then embellished it with some tiger eye beads and a nice round quartz bead. 

All in all, I'm pretty happy with the way that most of the projects turned out, but using pre-made ring bases was limiting.  That's why I've decided that next week I'm going to make seven different rings using my own wire wrapped bases.  I'll see you then!

Week 30: Keys to the Kingdom

I found a bunch of oversized skeleton keys in the dollar bin at my local Michael's store, and I instantly knew that they were going to be the theme of this week.  They're all pretty large and similar in design, and I thought it would be fun to see how many designs I could come up with to use was was essentially the same item in different ways.  Overall I'm pretty happy with how things turned out; there are a couple of designs that aren't as strong as the others but overall I feel pretty happy for making seven different things out of the same key item (pun totally intended).

For this key I filled the top with resin that I added some metallic blue powder to, then added some star cut outs and rhinestones to give it a sort of "space" feel.  I'm not 100% pleased with the results, but the concept is good and if I can find some more of those keys I'll try again!

I decoupaged some origami paper to this key, and added some cut ribbon to give it a bit of "fringe" up at the top.  Again, I'm not 100% pleased with the results, but it was totally worth a try!

This key I painted with nailpolish to give it a Tim Burton sort of feel.  The detail work at the top took forever with my hands, but the bottom spiral was pretty easy thanks to some masking tape.  : )

For this key, I added a butterfly that I got off a Goodwill bracelet.  I think this might be my favorite of the group this time, even if it is the hardest to photograph  .

I turned this key into a charm necklace by adding a bunch of odds and ends I had  from various charm packages I got at craft stores.  A bit of wire wrapping on the end evened the key up so it hangs nicely as a necklace.

I wire wrapped the length of this key, and added a whole bunch of different accents like gears, freshwater pearls, tiny heart charms, and an itty bitty cameo.

This key I turned into a lariat necklace.  I didn't want to run the chain directly through the keyhole, so I added a large jump ring to the hole at the bottom and ran the chain through that.  It seemed to balance the necklace better and didn't cover up the keyhole plate with chain.  I also added three freshwater coin pearls as an accent to keep it from being too plain.

I know I don't get too many points for creativity this week as they're all necklaces, but honestly the keys were just too darn big to do anything else with!  Other than the lack of variation in the end product, I'm happy with the variety of the necklaces themselves.  Coming up with seven different styles was pretty challenging, and I'm happy that it encouraged me to try some things that I wouldn't ordinarily have done.  That said, I might take it easy next week.  : )  Thanks for stopping by!

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 10: Ste M Punk

Yeah, I'm a wrestling nerd.  <3 CM Punk!  This week's craft items have nothing to do with wrasslin' though, they're all steampunky earrings:

I'm really having a thing with gears and cameos.  You'll see!

Fun little gears and locks.  So tiny!

Gears and flat backed keys from the scrap-booking section.  Steampunk has now invaded everywhere!

You thought I was kidding about the gears and cameos?

Because no, no I wasn't.  : )

My only wish is that these hinges actually.... hinged?

Another washer project.  I added patina to these washers during washer week and then didn't use them.  Turns out they were the perfect base for some spirals and gears.

That was a pretty low stress week, so I'm going to endeavor to do something a little more ambitious next week.  I just haven't figured out what yet.  Thanks for looking!