All You Need Is Love

Valentine’s Day is the 14th February. I have never particularly ‘celebrated’ it or enjoyed it. In fact, I find it a bit of a nuisance because it overshadows another important day of the year….

…..my birthday, the 13th February. Oh, I know – I don’t have it as bad as those poor souls actually born on the 14th. But at least they are more likely to have their date remembered: “Hmm, Valentine’s Day is coming up…(scratches head)….reminds me of something. Doesn’t something else happen that day??? OH, that’s right! I remember!” But then, I guess they get it as bad as those born on Christmas Day – their birthday is lumped in with the celebration and gets lost in the process.

But I can’t complain. My husband has never been one for Valentine’s Day, either, so neither of us bother with it. I really enjoy my daughter-in-law’s perspective – she calls it ‘Hallmark Day’. It seems she’s right, too, for the number of cards sent on this day is only second to the number sent out at Christmas. And really, why do we need to be reminded about showing those we love that we care? Why must we buy gifts to prove our love for another? It’s just commercialisation run rampant. Valentine was a Christian martyr (or three) whose feast day was either celebrated on the anniversary of his death, or set up in direct opposition to a pagan fertility ritual.

But to show I’m not a total scrooge about this particular day, I’ve got together a selection of wire ‘love’ jewellery to show you. I’ve just got enthused about working with wire again, and these are great sources of inspiration. I hope you enjoy my gift to you on my birthday

Must think how to make pierced earring ‘love’ studs.

Really like the heart-shaped bail.

Love makes the world go ’round.

A different twist on wire wrapping.

Two hearts joined by love…

Gold and pearl – I think one would be enough!

Great, simple copper work.

Gold pendant.

Simply elegant.

Ear cuffs are fun!

Trees of Life

I was browsing Pinterest (as you do), looking through wirework jewellery, when I came upon an image of a Tree of Life pendant. I’ve always appreciated the style of them with their combination of wire and (generally) semi-precious stone chips, and I’ve even made one myself, so I thought I would do an image search and see what different slants people have put on the basic concept. But first, a bit of background:

Apparently, the tree of life is a common motif in various world theologies, mythologies, and philosophies, and is commonly a mystical concept that refers to the interconnectedness of all life on our planet. I prefer to view it from the Biblical perspective with references made to it in both Genesis (where it was the only tree in the garden of Eden that was not eaten from) and Revelation (where its leaves are for the healing of the nations).

I enjoyed the hunt for the different trees, and I hope you like what I have found.

This is a Four Seasons Tree of Life, beginning with winter on the left.

This second one incorporates coloured wires as well as variously coloured and finished stones for greater visual interest.

A different idea is to use a stone ( a cabochon would work well, too) to wrap the wires around to depict a leafless tree.

Another leafless tree, but this time with a full moon behind it (and a blue moon, at that!).

For the seed-beaders out there, here is one for you. It makes me think of a pine tree.

And finally, a lovely, swirly copper wire tree – probably my favourite of the six. It has the word ‘peace’ hidden in its branches.

Do you like Tree of Life pendants? Have you made one? Or do you have an image of one you’d like to share? Let me know – I’d love to show it off for you!

To Boa or not to Boa

Have you ever wondered why feather boas were named feather boas?

Well, I hadn’t until the other day. I had just taken some photos of a couple of my…..let’s call them neck adornments. I had uploaded them to my computer, as you do, and then cropped and adjusted lighting levels and white balance in a software program, as you do, when it came time to save the results.

I had to stop and think. What was I going to call these items that I had designed and put together? Made of yarn, they were long, knitted tubes that are very appropriate for the cooler months, but they weren’t scarves. Then it came to me – they were very much like feather boas, without the feathers. So I called them boas.

Which set me thinking – why a boa? And the obvious answer: because they are quite snake-like, being long and sinuous and able to be coiled around one’s neck. Unlike a constrictor, you won’t have to worry about it squeezing you to death. Unless a human being decides to yank on the ends, or you get it caught in machinery….but we won’t dwell on the negatives.

A quick internet check backs up my reasoning. Popular during Victorian and Edwardian eras, the roaring 20s saw them made of small animal pelts, with the heads, feet and tails left on. However, the Great Depression brought back the very much more economical feather. Now, boas tend to be used as burlesque accoutrements or for fancy dress.

Anyway, here is my take on the boa. Hand made from wonderfully fluffy, soft yarn, I have added beaded drops to the ends to give weight and make a nice finish to them. And if you like them, you can find them listed in my MadeIt Artefacts webstore.

Nothing Ventured

What’s your favourite magazine? Do you have subscriptions to mags that focus on home improvement, beauty or fashion? Or are you the crafty type and simply must have the latest scrapbooking, quilting or woodworking journal? Maybe you love the gossip rags and keeping up-to-date with all the celebrity shenanigans. Whatever your fancy, you’ve probably never been in one.

Neither had I until I took a chance.

I subscribe to beading and jewellery magazines to learn new techniques and get great inspiration. But I had started thinking that I could be making and writing projects for these same magazines. The question was – how?  

Having my first items published was quite easy – the lovely ladies at ‘From Polymer to Art’ were requesting tutorials, and it was very exciting to provide two projects for this international polymer clay periodical. However, I didn’t feel I had a lot more to teach where polymer clay was concerned, so I didn’t go any further with it.

However, I still wanted to get my name out there in as many ways as possible, and felt that having projects in magazines was the way to go. I had noticed that one of the magazines – Creative Beading – was actually published not far from where I live. However, it seemed that to provide a project, you also had to have a shop or website and offer kits for those projects. Since I couldn’t provide kits, I thought there was little chance of being accepted.

But I also thought, “If I don’t try, I’ll never know”. It wasn’t hard to dash off a quick email, briefly introducing myself and asking whether there was any way I could write some projects for the magazine. I expected to receive a negative response in a couple of days.

The phone rang 20 minutes later. “Hi, this is Simon from Creative Beading. Let me tell you what we can do…”

My first projects appeared in the December 2011 issue and I have provided at least one tutorial in every issue since, ranging from polymer clay to beading to chainmaille. It is so exciting to see your jewellery in full page glory, styled by professional photographers and available for people to reproduce for themselves – I can highly recommend it!

Have you, or has your work been featured in a magazine or book? Leave me a comment and let me know.

 

Reaching for the Brass Ring

Over a year ago, I entered a chainmailling challenge, the topic of which was ‘steampunk’.  I made a collar based around a recycled brass dress ring from our ensuite vanity renovation and incorporating square-faced brass jumprings and repurposed bracelet beads. Titled ‘Victorian Fantasy’, it didn’t garner many votes as a true steampunk  item but I thought it was a very pretty, romantic piece. I expected it to be sold as soon as I listed it on my website.

That didn’t happen.

I took it to my first market stall at the Great Train weekend up at Mt Victoria in May, 2011.  Some admiration, but no takers. I listed it on my web-based mall shop as well as my own site. Nothing. My daughter-in-law had a home jewellery party for me, which was quite successful, but the piece remained mine. Earlier this year, I had two more home jewellery parties, one in my own home. A good friend tried it on, but no go – she bought two other items. Was no-one going to give this piece a decolletage to decorate?

Then the friend’s husband dropped in. He and his wife were going on a short holiday to New Zealand, and he had heard my friend raving about my jewellery. He wanted to buy another piece to give her while they were away. Which one did I think she’d like?  Assuming she hadn’t purchased my Victorian beauty because of the price, I suggested it to him. He took it! Hooray! A home at last.

Some weeks later, after I had returned from a holiday overseas, my friend approached me. She hated having to ask, but could I possibly exchange her steampunk piece for another necklace? The reason she hadn’t bought it in the first place was that she had nothing to wear it with! No matter how much you love a piece, it needs to “go” with at least one piece of clothing. Of course, I exchanged it – what else could I do? It looked like it was going to live with me forever.

Until last weekend. I attended my second Great Train weekend. I took ‘Victorian Fantasy’ and displayed it on a bust. And there it sat for the whole weekend…..until an hour before pack-up. A young friend of mine, who works at the site where the market was held and had been there the whole weekend, decided she was going to buy some jewellery.  She picked up a card of chainmaille earrings, then her eyes fell on the row of busts, and stopped. She almost goggled with delight at what her eyes beheld. Egged on by another, older friend, she picked up ‘Fantasy’ and tried it on. I held up the mirror so she could see how perfectly at home it looked, sitting delicately on her collarbones…..

It was love at first site. And that’s all ‘Fantasy’ had been waiting for.

Talk About Mixed Media!

Have I mentioned that I get bored quickly? Not bored as in lying on the lounge wondering what to do with myself, but bored as in, “Okay, I’ve done that – now what can I try next?” I find it very difficult to work with a medium consistently and exclusively until I’m proficient. I like variety. I like trying new things (creatively speaking).  There is no possible way for my hands to keep up with my brain, although it’s not for want of trying.

And I have tried in the last few days.

So I thought I’d share with you what I have been up to since I returned from England. It’s definitely a mixed bag of stuff, but I’m finding it energising.

The first thing was to complete a commission I received before I went O/S. This polymer clay bangle is for a lady who loves the ‘Revenge’ series on TV and requested the words ‘Double Infinity’ and, if possible, the symbol. I used permanent marker to draw the symbol.

Next was a favour to a friend. She asked for help to quilt her mermaid dolls’ tails. I tried using a stippling foot on my sewing machine, but the stuffing was too bulky. So I hand-stitched them instead, and got a really nice result. Since they’re not my own creations, and because they aren’t finished, I can’t show you what the complete doll looks like. But I like looking at just the tails poking out of the bag.

 My flowering gum has produced lovely gumnuts and I’ve collected them to use in some way. Wire and polymer clay were combined to produce my artificial, oversized stamens, and I’m pleased with the result. however, I don’t know where to go from here – brooch or hairpiece, if I add some polyclay leaves? Something else altogether? Suggestions would be great!

Now for the two works in progress. I’ve been thinking about a line of knitted/crocheted necklaces and bangles, because I have always delighted in yarn. So I’ve begun with a ‘knitting nancy’ to make some French-knitted tubes as a basis for my

 designs. I know it’s already been done, but I want to see what I can do with the technique – how I can add my own slant to it.

And finally, I have a craving for drawing again. It’s been a long time, but I’m itching to do some Aussie flower designs, and try out the Derwent Inktense pencils I bought while in England. I plan to upload the results to Redbubble so they’re available as prints for cards, T-shirts, etc. This is a progress shot of my first design – the beautiful NSW waratah, which is one of the few plants to actually grow and flower in my garden.

Thanks for taking a look at what I’ve been up to. I will post the end products….when I finish them

Of Penguins and Gnus

This gallery contains 9 photos.

My daughter was planning her wedding, and I was eager to help in any way I could, taking into consideration the fact that we were half a world apart. Of course, my husband and I would go to the wedding, but we couldn’t be anywhere near as ‘hands-on’ as we would have been had we […]

Only One Ring

I lost a ring recently. And I’m not in the habit of losing things. I tend to remember where I put things, generally because I put them back where they belong. The thing is, this ring had been continuously on my finger for almost 9 years, so to lose it meant that it somehow came off my finger without me noticing. All I can remember is that it was on when I went to the gym one Monday morning, and I noticed it gone once I was back at home making my morning tea cuppa. I rang the gym and checked my gym bag, but it’s gone.

Needless to say, it was upsetting. Those of you who wear a ring or two may not realise how much you unconsciously fiddle with them. It’s starting to wear off now, but for a long time, my thumb would just reach over to push the missing ring down my third knuckle. It was one of three rings I wear continuously, the other two being my wedding ring and my 25 year anniversary ring.

I’m guessing you’re thinking it must be my engagement ring, or an heirloom ring – something passed down through generations. But it wasn’t. It was quite modern and not particularly valuable, monetarily speaking. It was mass-produced and a product of popular culture. But it was special to me for two reasons: the giver, and what the ring represented.

So what sort of ring was it? It was a ‘One Ring’. For those unfamiliar with the Lord of the Rings book and movies, it was a ring of malevolent power that sooner or later corrupted those who came in contact with it, and was marked inside and out with a ‘black speech’  inscription.

So why on earth would I want a representation of evil on my finger? Because for me, it exemplified all the good and noble qualities of those who fought against it and the creature who made it. Don’t ask me why, but those movies affected me deeply and made me long for ‘a better country’. Wearing it reminded me that that this is not all there is: something better awaits.

And the giver? My only daughter, who was 18 at the time, somehow divined how moved I was and, with some financial input from her father, bought me the sterling silver version for my birthday. It was a thoughtful, special gift that always evoked her care for me.

I’m not normally a sentimental person, but the loss of this ring was very much felt, especially since my daughter is about to get married and live half the world away. The tangible representation of her love has gone, and it’s amazing how such a small thing can mean so much and be a repository for hopes, dreams and memories. I think that’s a big reason we wear jewellery – not so much for how pretty or expensive it is, but for what it represents and how it makes us feel inside.

Think about it.

 

2011 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 5,600 times in 2011. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 5 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

Love is in the air

Since my daughter is getting married in March, wedding-related ‘stuff’ is rather prominent in my life at the moment. So I thought I would go searching the ‘net for some of the more unusual wedding rings that are out there.