Brass Bezel Bleedthrough

My 9th grade teacher would be so proud of my alliterative title! I can't remember her name, but I can see her in my head - a short, round woman with dark hair who couldn't believe how ignorant we were about grammar. Anyway...

I had some brass bezels on hand, and I purchased some Mod Podge Dimensional Magic at the new Joann Fabrics store that recently opened in Columbia, MO. I wanted something for quick narrow bezel fills and I had read about this product - I used a 50% off coupon so I could give it a try.

This was about 2 weeks ago, so I decided on a St. Patrick's day theme.  I cut an oval out of shamrock paper glued it down and filled it up with Dimensional Magic, waited overnight.  The next morning, it was a MESS. The ink bled through! Ugh! I didn't take a photo of that because the idea to blog about didn't come to me until after I took it apart.

When I stripped everything apart, it wasn't the ink on the paper that had bled, it was the brass on the bezel that had turned green. The pink arrows point out the greenest part but it still may be hard to see. But it was obvious in person.

Ugh! Green!

I scrubbed and sanded it clean, then coated the bezel with clear fingernail polish. Not sure if you can see the coat of clear polish either, but here is what the cleaned-up bezel looks like.

After a coat of clear nail polish

The nail polish was just what I needed. The next pour worked perfectly! I topped the shamrock paper with a 3D glitter shamrock sticker, and coated it again with Dimensional Magic. I made 2 this time, and the results turned out just like I wanted! 

Finished bezel pendants

This product won't totally replace using two-part epoxy resin, for one thing it is not self-leveling. But for quick little pendants like this, it works well. I hope this little coating tip helps you when you are working with raw metal bezels.

Finally Done, and not Overdone

My last blog post described my "One step too many" heart, and how I went overboard by adding one more thing. The second time, I stopped before I overdid it.


I finally finished the heart and the necklace design yesterday - too late for Valentine's Day, but that's OK.


Brass Heart Pendant

I purchased the plain brass heart pendant, and then embossed it with my Sizzix BigKick machine. I used a Cuttlebug folder for a more geometric look (the Vintaj decoemboss and decoetch folders are great, but I wanted something different). Then I added alcohol ink and Vintaj patinas, extra-fine black glitter, sealed it with Vintaj Patina Glaze, and embellished with Swarovski flatback crystals in a lavendar color.

Originally I wanted to make it into a true lariat necklace, but it didn't hang like I wanted, so I put a Brass toggle clasp in the front instead. I debated on putting the dangles in front of the heart or the back, but in the end I chose the back because it was distracting from the heart too much. The rest of the chain has one AB finish lavendar faceted crystal on one side, and three purple dyed jasper rondelle beads on the other.

Pendant, clasp and chain

I decided to make matching earrings match the dangles that hang behind the heart. <rant> Man, making loops on 2-4mm faceted beads is a KILLER on my thumbs! I have got to find a new method because I am pushing directly on the facets when I bend my wires and it just hurts. </rant>  The large bead at the top of the earrings is the dyed jasper on the left side (facing) of the chain, and the dangles are the same beads as the ones that dangle from the hearts. They are not only a great match, but they are lightweight and will work great worn with or without the necklace.


Matching Dangle Earrings

You can see both items in my Etsy shop: Necklace and Earrings. Thanks for stopping by!

Just one more...

Have you ever had a piece nearly perfect when you decided to try one more thing?

Yes, here I am with my trusty (used) toothbrush and nail polish remover scrubbing everything OFF the embossed heart that was almost finished because I wanted to add something else.

And guess what? It was too much. But at least now I know where to stop.

Stay tuned for Round 2...

Wellness Words Jewelry Challenge

Today's post is about Tracy Statler's Wellness Words Jewelry Challenge from her blog Make Bracelets! I love all of Tracy's blog posts and it's one of the few that I follow - I usually learn something from each one of them and I look forward to getting and email that there is a new one to read.

Tracy's challenge was to come up with an inspirational word or phrase in an area of your life where you want to make positive change. My word: Persist.  I have been working on finishing things that I start!

I knew I wanted to stamp my word on a strip of brass, which I had on hand. Another word I could have used - "Practice," because good, clear, even stamping isn't one of my strengths. You can probably tell by the position of the I.

Friday night was a prime example of persistence. I waited until the last minute finish this necklace (maybe my phrase should have been "Stop Procrastinating") and I thought about just saying to heck with the deadline. I mean, I had the phrase piece done. But I stuck with it for once!

However, it was too late to get a good photo. There is always a hitch, isn't there? So you are getting the best photo I could take tonight. I promise to get a better photo of the whole necklace, because it looks pretty good and there's lots more goodies to see than just this section.

EDITED: I'm back with more photos of the rest of the necklace. Originally, I was going to have the "Persist" Brass segment hang from the art bead and then the dangles hang from that, but it turned out way too long and in the end, I like it as part of the necklace anyway. The brass flowers were a plain connector that I colored with Vintaj Patinas and Tim Holtz Adirondack Alcohol Inks.The remainder of the necklace is finished with a combination of Picasso finish beads and Tiger Eye tube beads on the left, and Brown Glass bead, a polka-dot Lampwork Art bead, and Blue Peruvian Opal stick beads on the right.  The back end of the necklace ends with a brass chain and a toggle (OK fine! It *will* end with a chain and toggle, I promise!)


Complete necklace (left); Pendant and Dangle detail (right)

Please visit everyone else who participated in this challenge.

acreativeforce.blogspot.com alankarshilpa.blogspot.com

allprettythings.ca

anniamaebisuteria.blogspot.com.es/

apolymerpenchant.com

beadlolabead.blogspot.com/

beadrecipes.wordpress.com

centsations.wordpress.com

clay-space.com/

creativeatelier.net

elliesbijoux.com

emakdesigns.com

erinsiegel.com

etsy.com/shop/shamaen

facebook.com/hotsouthernmessdesigns

facebook.com/soquilidesigns

fairiesmarket.blogspot.com

firstimpressiondesign.blogspot.com

gemsbyjudy.com

glasstastreasures.blogspot.com

handcraftedserenity.blogspot.com humblebeads.blogspot.com

facebook.com/azuresunshines

facebook.com/whdalaska

jeanetteblix.com

kimmykats.com

kymhunterdesigns.blogspot.com

lisayangjewelry.com

macmillanmarie.blogspot.com

makebraceletsblog.com

miabellasoul.com

misheldesigns.com

mycreativechallenge.blogspot.com

noseycritters.blogspot.com

pixiloo.blogspot.com

sandivolpe.com

sharonsjewelrygarden.blogspot.com

shaterra.etsy.com

shinylittlethings.blogspot.com

shymedesign.se

shymessmycken.blogspot.se

simpleearthcreations.com

soultosubstance.com

suebeads.com

sunshinebliss.com

sweetbeadstudio.com

sweetwillowdesigns.blogspot.com

thebeadingyogini.com

thestudiosublime.com

treasures-found.blogspot.com

twitter.com/ldymlivelystone

vault31.blogspot.com

veradesigns.blogspot.com

Dried Flower & Resin Pendant

I have a pinched nerve in my neck right now. Besides the obvious "pain in the neck" jokes, it is keeping me from creating anything new. Talk about a hardship for the creative soul! So I am blogging about a piece of jewelry that I created in the Fall.

I have mentioned before that we are lucky to have a neighborhood park within walking distance to our house. Before Winter set in, I would walk Mo (our 2-year-old Bassett-Cockapoo mix) around the trail. Yes, I am a fair weather walker. What can I say?

Mo, my walking partner

In one corner of the park were an abundance of dried flowers in a beautiful deep red color. They were perfect for a resin pendant! I collected several at the end of one of our walks and headed back home. I wanted to make the pendant right away so that the color didn't have time to fade.

I used a flexible resin mold that I got from Hobby Lobby with one of their 40% off coupons. I like it because there is a large assortment and the resin releases easily from the mold.

Hobby Lobby assorted shapes mold; oval shape I used is in lower left corner

I mixed up the Easy Cast resin according to the package directions. I poured a small amount of resin into the mold first (I did this is to prevent the dried flowers from projecting out the front of the pendant). Then I placed a few small pieces of the dried flower in the mold (about 3), and filled the mold the rest of the way. If you are trying this yourself, DO NOT overfill the mold! You don't want it to mound up as if you were filling a bezel; you want it as flat as possible. I used tweezers to move the flowers around to their original position - they almost always move; after all, you poured liquid on top of them! Toothpicks or even headpins If using tweezers or a headpin, wipe immediately.

Then you WAIT. A full 24 hours. No really. There's no rushing resin. Pop it out, and glue a bail on the back.

The result is pictured below. I hope you'll stop by my Etsy shop to see the listing for this necklace.

The finished pendant

Trying something new - Making Woolywire beads

I think I have mentioned before about the greatest jewelry group on Facebook called Creative Bead Chat (CBC). We share tons of creative ideas, tips and tricks. It's a great place for jewelry designers to be.

One day, CBC member Sandra McGriff posted a giveaway - she had been gifted beads and Woolywire from another CBC member and hadn't gotten around to using it, so she decided to give it away to someone in the group. And guess what, I won!

Woolywire is a product available from yet another CBC member Karen Totten (Etsy shop Starry Road Studio). According to the product description on Etsy, Woolywire is "fiber that has been hand dyed and hand spun onto 24ga solid copper wire can be shaped, twisted, coiled, wrapped, woven through chain, for your jewelry creations. It has been permanently felted to keep fiber fixed to the wire."

I received 3 feet of Woolywire in a mix of blacks and pinks plus 3 ceramic beads - two wavy tube pink beads and one black leaf bead. The curl of the wire in the package made me instantly think of making a Memory Wire bracelet.

I like to make chunky bracelets with Memory Wire, so I went to the stash and started pulling out all the pinks medium sized and a little larger. I did purchase one strand of purple, pink and pale yellow crinkle glass nuggets to tie it together, but the rest came from my stash (hooray). I ended up with 4 rounds of beads.

My original thought was to weave the Woolywire through the entire bracelet - a twist here, loop around a few beads, twist again, etc. etc. But I had made the bracelet too long for that plan! Plan B: cut the wire in fourths and make Woolywire beads.

Woolywire bead!

The Woolywire comes with detailed instructions on how to cut finish the ends, right on the packaging materials. I followed them to materials. I followed them to a T and it worked perfectly.

Instructions included

So here is the finished bracelet. I am very happy with how the beads and the bracelet turned out. I still want to try out the original plan of weaving the Woolywire throughout a bracelet, so I see another purchase in my future....

I am including a link so you can check out the bracelet in my Etsy shop.

The Brave Necklace

I promised myself that I would start filling my Etsy shop with all the designs I already have made but haven't listed because of all the holiday shows (and the fact that I *hate* listings - but that's another story).  So this week, I kept that promise to myself and listed 3 items over 3 days - not bad!

One of them was this inspirational necklace with a decorative "Brave" charm hanging from the end.

"Brave" necklace

I had this decorative charm in my stash for a long time before this design came to me. I wanted something special for it! For a certain time in the near past, bravery was a pretty important part of my day. Let's just say that teenage children can be beyond stressful!

One day, I pulled out the charm and the keyhole connector and started designing. Out came this little necklace. I love the Brave charm and keyhole together, the little pearl, the little wing, the shades of brown, grays and blues in the beads - heck, I love everything about this design.

Late in the evening, I get a notification on my phone, and it's an Etsy notification - I've sold the Brave necklace! It was my first sale after getting my iPhone, it's a "cha-ching" sound, LOL! Took me a while to figure that out.

As it turns out, a FB friend from one of my groups purchased it, and had the nicest things to say, "You never know when your jewelry will be an answer to a prayer! You have no idea how this will brighten up someone's day."

Gosh. I never thought about how my jewelry might affect people in that way. I only thought about how it made me feel. It's really validating for someone *else* to feel that way.

What a great end to my week!