Summer of Color3: Week 4

I can't believe we're at week 4 of this great challenge!  Summer goes by too quickly for me, even though right now we feel like we're living in the rain forest!  But, I'm having a great time with this color challenge.  This week's colors are pale pink and charcoal.  So, I decided to make a set of wire bangles. 

Even though I started making jewelry with beads I've become more and more attracted to wire and metal jewelry.  I'll always have my beads because I love working with a needle and thread.  But, I also have come to love working with wire and metal.  I often, okay mostly always, incorporate beads into my wire and metal, but it's a different discipline entirely.  And, it's so much faster to create a bangle in wire or metal than it is to bead weave one.  So, on to this week's project. 





 

 

I had seen a project for a bangle designed by Lisa Nivan Kelly that I had wanted to make.  So, I thought this would be the perfect time to make a set of bangles based on the pattern.  I like to wear multiple bangles so I decided to make three and vary the design elements.  These are the bracelets I came up with.  I used 3 shades of pink seed beads and sterling wire that I oxidized with Liver of Sulphur which made it charcoal in color.  I like to oxidize my wire and metal because you can see the patterning better. 

 

Here's a close up.

 



 

These were fun and quick to make.  They're comfortable to wear even in this aforementioned rain forest type weather we're having right now because they're lightweight.  I really love them and I'll be making more because my daughter has requested a set.  That will give me more variations to try, so I'm looking forward to making them. 

 

Thanks for stopping by today. To people new to the blog, welcome, I love having you visit.   I hope you're having a good week! 

 

 

A Time to Stitch 2

Today is the reveal for A Time to Stitch 2 blog hop hosted by Therese and Christine.  This time around Therese and Christine chose RAW and St. Petersburg stitches for the participants to try their hand at.  I decided to a bracelet with each stitch.  The RAW bracelet is an original and the St. Petersburg is from the book Great Designs for Shaped Beads by Anna Elizabeth Draeger.  Here is the St. Petersburg bracelet.



It uses Tila beads and 4mm crystals.  I loved these Tilas with their raku finish and decided to keep the palette neutral so I can wear it with most anything. The crystals are Purple Haze finish and I used gold lined 15s and gunmetal 11s.  Here's a close-up.

Here is the RAW bracelet.

The inspiration for this bracelet is a stone wall from the Department 56 Villages New England collection.  You can see a peek in the background.  The wall has a vine of fall colored leaves and berries trailing over it.  I use it in a farmstand vignette that I set up on my kitchen window sill.  I love this piece because I've always loved the stone walls you'll find all over New England.  I was looking at it one day when I was thinking about this bracelet and decided to use it as my inspiration.  I stitched a RAW rope and then used gold 11s and orange, sun yellow and bronze 4mm crystals to stitch a freeform "vine over the rope.  Instead of the grays and blacks of the wall I used a mix of browns and rust colored 8s.  I decided to make it a bangle and used a piece of 14 gauge bronze wire inserted into the rope and spiraled on the ends.  I love the results.  And, I intend to do more bangles with bead woven ropes in the future. 

This hop was great fun and I want to thank Therese and Christine for hosting it.  Please check out the other participants' blogs to see what great things they've created.

Therese Frank and Christine Altmiller

Nikki Byers

Kristen Stevens

Shirley Moore

Cynthia Machata

Shannon Hicks

Lola Surwillo

Maryanne Gross

Alenka

Karin Slaton

Katherine Gale

Sally Russick

Amy Severino

Alicia Marinache

Sonya Stille

Tanya Goodwin

Lisa Stukel

Marla Gibson

Sarah Sequins

Mandy

Andra Weber

Kim Hora

Karen Williams

Create!

As in the Create Retreat held in  New Jersey last week.  My daughter, Carrie, and I went and had a wonderful time.  Several people we know were there and some of us took the same classes.  And, the classes!  They were great!  Carrie especially wanted to go so that she could take classes with Michelle Ward.  Michelle is a wonderful person and a great teacher. We both follow fantatic blog. Carrie had the best time and learned a lot in the classes she took.   I originally was going to also take Michelle's classes but then I discovered two metal jewelry classes that I just had to take.  I'm soooo glad I did!  They were both great and I learned so much. 

The Friday class was with Eva Sherman.  We made copper bangles and scrapbox rings.  Everyone made 3 bangles and 2 rings.  Having just made my first copper bangle a few weeks ago, which you can see a post or two ago, I was really excited to be making 3 more!  Here is a picture of what I made.

We used a corrugating machine which I had never done and I love the effect.  I also used a disk cutter for the first time and I did some heat patina on the smaller cuff on the right.  It's become a favorite way to patina.  The large black cuff on top was what Eva called our "thesis project".  It was the last bangle and we were on our own as to design.  When I annealed the metal it turned black with those lovely red splashes on one side and it stayed that way, even after I had quenched it.  So, I decided to leave it because it's really cool!  I riveted different size disks to it.  I haven't decided if I'm going to leave the "bull's eye" markings on the smaller disks.  They were put there to mark the center of the disk but Eva and some of the others in the class liked them. I'm still debating.  I did polish them off a bit.  We'll see.

Well, that took care of the morning and in the afternoon we started our scrapbox rings.  Eva named them that because she made the original one from scraps on her work table.  We made 2, and I made one for Carrie and one for me.  I really love them because they use coiled wire which is one of my favorite wire techniques. 

Here is mine, I didn't get a picture of Carrie's.  Her's is the same but with a green bead.

They are very easy to make and each one looks a little different.  Well, that was Friday and there was more fun on Saturday.  I'll share that with you tomorrow. 

I hope you have a good day.  Thanks for stopping by.