Silver Earpiece and Updates

Did you miss me?!?!?

The bottom of this post has a rundown of the last few weeks, but that really isn't why you read this blog so onward ho! My mom asked me for some stuff for a trip, so today I made an ear piece. I haven't made a whole lot of these in the past and I'm not really sure why, but this one is fun enough:

The loop that comes out the bottom is part of the design, but it's also longer because I know for a fact that my mom's ears are bigger than mine.

And hey, remember that piece that I designed and cut out but never put together? yeah...I put that together today!

And it's an inch and a half short on each side. lol. Obviously there are a couple of tendrils in there that need moved into proper alignment with the piece, but it really does need more on the outer edges and I'm not confident enough to tweak the design tonight. Part of why it is as short as it is was that I was having trouble thinking of more to make it longer. It will fit exactly as I meant it to though which is lovely. For now, I've flattened it back out so I can add to it.

I did miss silver-work. There's something very satifying about watching silver melt and flow the way you want it to, and then fishing the tarnished piece out of the pickle pot all shiny and new looking.

Also a new development. Because weeks like the past few are inevitable, and because I DO go on vacation occassionally, I've decided to stop numbering my posts. If I realize that I'm REALLY slacking, I'll consider revisiting the numbered posts, but as long as I'm putting stuff out pretty regularly, I'm not going to guilt myself about sleeping in or baking cookies or going to a movie instead of making something. This project isn't about guilt, it's about creative freedom. In general, I put out better work when I'm not forcing it, and that's how it should be.




Where have I been?

No secret that I took a couple of weeks off from projects. I was working overtime, 6 days a week usually around 12 hours a day. We served breakfast in my restaurant for 2 weeks, and I had a week of coming in from 7-11:30am, going home and napping til 2pm, taking a shower, going to physical therapy from 4pm-5pm and running upstairs for work from 5pm-1am. Then I'd get back up at 6am the next day and do it all over again. I got one day off a week, about 8 days apart. The last thing I feel like doing on my day off is telling myself I HAVE to do such and such. I did some shopping, some eating, and a lot of sleeping. I also spent lots of time at the park with Honey, and we finally gave her a chance off-leash on the nature trails. She's behaved wonderfully and I'm so proud of her. It was relaxing, I had fun, and I don't regret one second of it.

 I've also been spending a lot of time working on my hands, since a lot of the physical therapy I'm doing can benefit my hands overall and is kind of fun. My favorite therapies are Baoding melody balls (little cloisonne spheres with chimes, they come in an asian box), silly putty, and tendon glides (which i affectionately refer to as sign language). I've also been drinking joint juice (which i prefer over pill-form glucosamine supplements- it's basically kool-aid). I'm also on prednisone to speed up healing. Can't say as I really think it makes a difference, but I can turn doorknobs and wash dishes without being in immense pain so something must be working. (If you're curious, the rundown of my hands is as follows: Carpal Tunnel in both hands, damaged cartilage in my right hand, tendonitis in my left hand, and an overstretched ligament in my left hand that is likely permanent from the way I carry trays- the ligament being stretched just means that it doesn't support my joint the way it ought to, making it easier for me to hurt myself if I don't support it in some other way, so I've been given a brace/support to wear on that hand at work, specifically because I carry trays.)

Also, I'm going to be tattooing my damaged hand for my birthday. In general, I know how most of you feel about tattoos one way or the other, and my general reply is this: I've wanted a tattoo for a really long time, I didn't just wake up one day and decide I wanted to go get one. I've known what I wanted (Honey's pawprint) and where I wanted it(on my hand, the final location will be the most damaged part of my hand- the area between my wrist and thumb/index finger) for over a year. I made a stamp and tested the image for several weeks. Between my secret love of makeup, fairy ear prosthetics, and because the hand is damaged and I'll be wearing a support (be it a brace or kinesio tape) at work for medical reasons for the rest of my life, I'm not concerned about the location of this tattoo interfering with my job/future jobs. So what I want you to know is I really thought about it, I made this decision for myself and no one else, and I'm a grown-ass woman turning 25 and quite frankly, my dear, I just don't give a damn ;)

Week 11

So I did check the scratch window on the new paint this week. In case it was really small i just did a lava shotglass. I scratched it when it was tacky, and I could smear paint. I'm not sure about the window when it's dry. I like the super shiny definitely permanent finish i get with this paint, but i prefer the control i have with my permanamel paint. Wonder what would happen if i mixed the two...

The second project...perhaps doesn't really count because it's an in-progess work...but since it's the type of work you probably read this blog for, you're getting a sneak peek. It's a collar-style necklace which I don't have the ability to harden to the extent I would want to so it's a half collar and the back will be secured with chain or ribbon.



I had a necklace flashing through my head all week. When I sat down to draw it out, I drew something completely different than what was in my head...




And this is the layout in silver. It still needs soldered together (which is the hardest part of any piece really)




I also finally went to see the Hodge Podgery (consignment shop) this week to see if it was for me and maybe pick up a form for consignment. I was not impressed... The shop is about the size of a large bedroom on the outskirts of Harrisburg, and the works featured were the kind of hack jewelry I really hate (oh hi, i bought a bunch of charms at hobby lobby and hung them from a soda tab, aren't i awesome?!?!? I can string beads too! Look what I can do with a silk tie...) and a lot of homemade soaps. It just really wasn't what I expected.

Week 52- 1 WHOLE YEAR!!!

That's right, I did it- 1 entire year of weekly projects!!! woot woot! So without further ado, these are the final projects for Year 1 of The Xarata Project:

I went to Hobby Lobby this week. It's kind of like my candy store, and I bought some of my favorite things: flowers and fabric!

New Hair Flowers!!!

 

I take pride in choosing silk flowers that look like real flowers; it the difference between my hair flowers and the ones you can get at claire's. I like that people ask me if they're real.

Look at these silk dogwood flowers- so pretty!!!

Little red lillies with perfect yellow stamen

A pink orchid like my other orchids

And some wonderfully adorable daisy hairpins!!! so cute!


New Headbands!!!

I haven't made a new headband in awhile, so it was fun buying headband fabric again.
 The green peacock isn't usually my taste, but I saw it and just knew I needed it for some of the gals that buy my headbands.



Try Try Again...

Remember that glass from last week? This week, I took all the things I learned the first go round, and made one better!

I soldered the wires to the ring instead of just twisting them on so this time they didn't break and they didn't slide around. I also added a silver colored glass bead at every junction...cuz it's pretty...lol. At the bottom, I twisted and turned the ends so they were finished instead of sharp and pointy.


And there you have the end of Year 1 of The Xarata Project.

See the link at the top of the page for what to expect in Year 2!!!

Week 49

I'm not positive, but i kind of think the stone is a sapphire. At first glance it looks black, but if you hold it up to the light its a deep deep blue like my promise ring.

I'm really not happy with my settings so i need to come up with a better method- right now, i tend to melt several of the pins when i'm putting the piece together and i make them too long. I'll probably redo these at some point. Must.Make.Cleaner.Prongs.

Week 48

This week was a dream catcher. I started 2 other projects, but they aren't working as well as I had hoped. I used to make metal dreamcatchers all the time, but haven't in years...

It's about 3" round. I'm thinking about turning it into a windchime, a hairpiece, or a belt. What do you think it should be?

One of the projects that isn't going so well is to dreamcatcher a glass, but it keeps bunching up- i might google crocheting bottles etc to figure it out. Maybe I'll macrame (sp?) one, that I know how to do :)

Week 42

I made this at 1am on New Year's Morning. It isn't perfect, but I spent the whole day conceptualizing what it would be in my head, knowing that I had a very small window to make it in (I have to work all day today starting at 11am, so this was really my last chance to make something this week). It isn't perfect- one of the hazards of putting things together at 1am- and I wisely convinced myself to stop trying to fix it before I could melt it into a lump of amorphous silver, but I like the design, and feel like there may be some more ornate versions in the future- will have to consult my dwindling gemstone collection. lol.

Off to bed now... Happy New Year!

Week 40

This week was earrings. There's a few different ones: green glass to match the bracelet I did last week, silver spirals in a smaller gauge as a gift for someone, and a set made out of some swarovski bead I forgot I bought for my birthday.

Week 39

This week I'm working on glass jewelry (seaglass, broken glass that's been smoothed by sand and water). I've tried a few times in the past and haven't really been happy with it, but I like this go at it. Bob wants me to make a piece of seaglass jewelry for his mom because we both share a love of picking up seaglass- though all of mine is from the Caribbean and all of hers is from Lake Michigan. I'm not sure that this will be the gift piece, but it's a good mock-up/practice run for a gift piece.

On a side note, my clumsy streak has struck again. This piece took me two days to complete, because when I went looking for the length of chain (the chain part is purchased chain) to make this, I fell down my stairs. My mom was just over this week and commented on how my stairs really ought to have a railing too. I know I'm lucky- I didn't break anything- but I have a big bruise on my thigh and I wrenched my shoulder pretty badly (I'm gonna give it a week before I really worry though. It hurts/pinches, but I'm pretty sure that if I'd torn anything it would be excrutiating). I only skinned a fingertip and an elbow so I'm lucky for that as well. The Xarata Project lesson of the week? Always wear the socks with the grippy dots on the bottom.

Week 35

This week I played with a multiple stone setting. The overall shape is nice, but I feel it's too wire heavy and could use some work.

Also made some headbands this week. I made 5 out of 2 fabrics. I love the batiks, this one is a sort of green and brown mix and the teal on white damask for some reason makes me think of snowflakes (i don't know why, it's not even cold today) I took pictures of them on, but today is not my most photogenic day so you'll just have to settle for the closeup:

Week 34

Right about now is when I realize the irony of the fact that I spent all my warm summer months upstairs painting glass- because I lit up the torch again and my studio(aka the concrete basement) is COLD!!! And full of house centipedes fleeing the cold outdoors- if you don't know what a house centipede is, I strongly encourage you to google image because it's a very disturbingly creepy bug and it lives in my house... Actually, I will google it for you:

creepy, huh?

Ahem...anyway...Last week I promised you a peacock pendant and so of course, I have made good on my word!!!

 I'm actually even happier with it than I really knew I would be. I want to wear it all the time. I need to buy it a worthy chain... For awhile, I felt kind of guilty for never attaching the pieces to earcuffs, but I'm so much happier with them this way... I have no idea what the stone is- my guess would be cubic zirconia, but i'm honestly unsure. It's clear and it's sparkly...

Week 33

I guess I let the craft show get me discouraged, because i just did not want to touch anything this week. An hour ago- the last hour in the week- i looked at the clock and thought "I haven't skipped a week yet, and there's no good reason to start now". I'm not the only one who will know if I skip a week... soooooo.... It's just 1 piece (well technically two but it's earrings so they're kind of one), but it's something. They're 100% sterling silver and made in the curlicue greek style I've been working with in copper. The gauge for the wire is the same as the copper, but i kind of feel like it should be thinner/daintier for this sort of thing or maybe because the silver reflects more light/looks bigger. eh, it's still pretty:

So...if I haven't been crafting, what have I been up to? well... I have been working these past few days- 14 hours yesterday (in a corset, what was i thinking? Anything for the love of halloween...lol) and when I left work at 1am, my car battery was dead so i got it jumped and drove around to charge it up. I think i need a new battery- they never did replace when i fried my car's computer this summer- it's probably damaged.

 Bob bought me a video game (fable III) which has kind of usurped my attention this week. I'm not a huge videogame player- i'm not very good at most videogames, and i get bored easily-if you didn't already know this about me ;p, but I like the fable games and the viva pinata games and they'll usually keep my attention for at least a week when they come out. Not to worry I'll be over it in another day or two, and back to my crafty ways.

My creativity hasn't been entirely wasted this week in that we get to dress up for halloween at work, and I put my own costumes together and I'm something different everyday. Yesterday I was a pirate, and today I was a wood nymph. I wasn't allowed to dress up earlier in the week, and I'm not entirely sure what I'll be tomorrow but fear not- I never fail to celebrate Halloween in style. It's my favorite day of the year.

I actually do know at least one thing you'll be seeing next week and that's a peacock pendant made by taking those half finished ear cuffs i made in an earler post and soldering them together back to back. I had them pushed together on my workbench and realized their greater purpose :) I also want to try a wire wrapped glass, but i'm out of copper wire so it may have to wait. I have quite a few half finished headbands in the studio and some fabric to make new too, so I've got work to do!

Week 31

1 week til the craft show- I'm pretty excited about it. I've been pretty busy finishing up glasses and thinking of display stuff.


Glasses:
I told you I had 15 glasses left to paint. They became a set of polkadots, a set of pink roses, a set of flames, and some geekery glasses. I have more plans for "geekery glass" in the form of "42" with 2 little mice (hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy reference), the symbol pi, "I speak GEEK", and "This is my Zombie Plan". If you're not a geek, it's okay if you don't get any of these, but I assure you they target a demographic. My hand hurt, and I have started developing calluses, but I'm proud. Everything is clear coated now, and even prettier. I intend to wash them before the show, but i want to give them time to air cure.



see the little mice? I feel so clever. lol



This week's glasses

The martinis- you've seen them before



mostly lava and tree bark sets


What I'll be working on this week:
I finally bought some 20 gauge copper wire to play with and began my attempt at the artsfest bracelet i've been promising. It's a fun twist on a link bracelet though i'm still working on getting the links trully consistent. Bob said should make a collar for Honey (our dog) like this. maybe I will. I do want to make a few to take to the show. They take about an hour.

What I'm taking to the show:

-Roughly 50-60 glasses including wine glasses, martini glasses, and shotglasses displayed on neon end tables and some white tables my neighbor tossed when he moved out this week.

-Roughly 50 headbands which i'm going to display on a pretty curtain rod.

-Random pieces of jewelry including chains, link bracelets, pendants, and earcuffs

-maybe some hairflowers

-maybe some copper quill pens

Wish me luck!

Week 28

Well...I was planning on tonight being my big worknight this week, but then Bob went and cut himself and we've been trying to stop the bleeding for 2 hours to no avail so...i'm going to post what i have. It's not a lot, but it's fairly detailed. Two glasses.

First, a green man design- i'd like to perfect it a little further, but Bob says he calls dibs on this glass anyway.

The second glass I made this week- was my final attempt at translating the daggers design to a wine glass. I've only done 1 so far, but I will probably make the other 3 for the original commission.

Sorry the pictures are a little blurry- i had the flash off and wasn't paying enough attention and really don't feel like re-taking them at the moment.

I also made another ear cuff- i think this one is kind of fun, but i'll have to add some glue to secure the gold rings to the green beads so they dont slide around:

I may find something else to do yet in the night, but there's only an hour and a half left in the week so I think I'm just going to shoot for a heavy load next week.

Week 26

Week 26. Halfway. In the past 6 months, I have made over 100 headbands, about a dozen hairflowers, half a dozen copper feather pieces, 2-3 dozen handpainted glasses, and an assortment of silver and copper jewelry including pendants, chains, hair pins, and ear jewelry.

 In honor of this halfway point, I'd like to share that I got into a craft fair. October 23rd and 24th at Hunter's Valley Winery, I'll be setting up a little stand with wine glasses and jewelry. Not sure if I'll bring my headbands or not- i feel like my hodge podgey way of making whatever i feel like doesn't necessarily mesh real well for an art show, but we'll see.

This week, I made a set of glasses in the tree bark series. They're hard to take pictures of because there's SO much black, but in person they have a really cool optical illusion effect from the lines going every which way around the glass. These were commissioned, but I'm sure I'll make more. I want to take at least 10 sets of glasses to the craft fair plus a mix of single glasses.

I also decided to finally play with ear cuffs this week. I finally have silver wire in an appropriate gauge, and they came out pretty cute. I apologize that my ears aren't more photogenic :)

Bob wants me to make a bracelet we saw at Artsfest so stay tuned for that.

Week 23: Part 2- Fun with Pewter

So...today was my first day with pewter. ::big sigh:: All told, it could have been worse and I feel like I learned a lot in my hours of melting and pouring and mold making. over and over and over again.

The molds: My past experience with casting has all been silver lost-wax-casting. I currently do not have any wax (ordered some) so I had to play around with other types of molds. Ideally, I'll like to cast nature pieces- specifically leaves, because I find that kind of detail hard to fake in carving. Naturally, all the molds I made today were of leaves. I had a few sculpey molds (imprinted with real leaves), severals molds where i made a base and border around a real leaf (in case you were curious, no they do not in fact burst into flames) and a couple of silicone molds. I do have a leaf in some plaster, but it needs drying time.

The pouring: From the get go I had issues with pouring. I was heating the metal for as long as it said to, but it was just pouring thick- way thicker than i wanted. The first sculpey mold i filled came out ok with decent detail, but was almost a quarter of an inch thick. At the end of the day, i can honestly say that basically the given time for heating was wrong because eventually i got the metal to pour just fine, if not always in the direction i wanted.

The results: I would say I spent a good 4-6 hours melting and pouring and mold making today. I give you 1 photo:

This is the only leaf I was happy enough with to photograph. It took many many tries to get a thin pour that covered the entire mold (leaves make shallow molds). I might have been happy with it if not for the fact that the mold was blemished- which i knew before i ever used it though i'm not sure how it got that way (if you're looking for the mark it's the little round spot mid left). In the whole day, i probably only managed about 5 leaves in general- one was too thick, several were surface damaged (from the water boiling out of the leaves when the metal touched them), many were incomplete (the metal didn't cover the whole pattern). I certainly would never sell this one though i might keep it (rather than remelt it) as a sort of first day token. I haven't melted down that first pour of a quarter inch leaf either. Can't wait to see how it goes with wax...

Week 23

Among other birthday fun, Bob took me to JoAnn Fabrics last week (it's probably a good thing that it's kind of far away, because i always spend way too much money there). I bought some really fun beads and some pretty clasps, but naturally i also bought flowers: Can you tell from the colors that I'm ready for Halloween? (It IS my favorite day of the year).

This is a silver bracelet for my niece, Lily. Her parents bought her a souveneir bracelet on vacation and it broke, so I took the seashell/stone out and made her a new bracelet. It's not perfect, but I hope she'll like it.

My foray into pewter casting began today, but i haven't really been happy with any of the results so far so no pictures. All I have been truly successful at with it so far is to melt down a 1lb ingot and pour it into much smaller blobs to make it easier to cast smaller things. I made a sculpey mold with a leaf imprint- worked just ok. Poured ontop of a leaf, the prints aren't very deep and it's hard to get the metal to spread out, it likes to pool. Will be making molds tonight and later this week for more fun experimentation. we shall see.