fanciful devices

OK. This pile I said was spoken for is no longer spoken for. But before any of you speak for it, a warning: it's gonna be expensive. Really. Not because I think this is inherently worth that much, but because of the invisible hand of the market.



Read up on your Adam Smith. (Or don't, really.) It's called capitalism! Supply and demand! Last stack I priced at a whopping $85 took about 10 minutes to sell. So, $90 here we come.



One thing I do notice, if I put it up on the blog before listing it in the shop, you crazy ladies get yourselves all worked up and are chomping at the bit. By the time it's in the shop it has a ... 38.6% higher chance of selling right away. (Percentages makes it sound legit.)

Anyways (I sure say 'anyways' a lot on my blog), I have the colorful bangles. I just need to oxidize the 'filler' bangles, which really do make every stack look better. Just trust me.
But to give you a taste, and get you chomping at the bit like the pack of horses I apparently think you are, here's some eye candy.

 It's a gray gray day, so the  Sparrow Glow™  might be crapping out on me. But the crazy bright colors make up for it....

As for the comments:

Stregata- RIGHT?!?!? Remember when you were the only one who commented here? And you would always make sure to do so, giving me my needed encouragement... I felt like you were my mom going "Good girl!" And I totally loved it!!! 

Dad was once like, "Oh this lady stregata, you can't sneeze without her going 'great job!" 

And I'm all, "Remember how growing up you never once said anything I did was any good and just assumed I'd somehow know I was a good person even though all you ever did was criticize and point out my failings? Remember that? So back off my blog mom!"

(My well-meaning pops, science genius but zero people skills.)

Numinosity- aw, shucks. Big XO right back atcha! Thanks for checking in. *feels all warm and fuzzy*.

Yes, Janet, I meant you too. Really! Anyone. Except for the fact that the invisible hand of the market is making these piles expensive and I feel like an asshole charging my blog buddies so much...

SO, with that in mind. I have an assignment for you all. 

Step 1- Pick your favorite colorway. Do like me, I do pales, darks, amber/brown/whatevs, or colorful.

Step2- Pull out every bead and bit of torn fabric that even vaguely falls into that colorway that you have no real plan for. 

Step 3- Get every bit of wire you can find. Your thick and stiff stuff will be the bangle base. I use steel wire from the hardware store. No, Amth13, no memory wire. I have some, but I'm not going for the wound and tight look but rather the loose and stacked look.

4- String your beads and also charms all willy-nilly. The willy-nillier the better. At least, I think so. Don't worry about balance or anything. Cuz with these, all you need to achieve balance... I mean, what kind of balance are you even talking about? I guess the overall pile will provide its own balance. Balance shmalance.

5- Make a loop at one end of the steel, and then thread your beads through. That should be before step 4, I know. I'm a goof like that.

6- Start the same for your fabric ones, just wrap your fibers and yarns and ripped strips and wind your thinner wire to keep them in place. If the fabric wrap is still sliding all around, thread your wrapping wire through the eye-loop of the bracelet. You can even thread your ribbons through there to keep everything snug. But it's also not necessary. 

6.5-Did you cut some of your base wire too short? No prob! Get an eyepin or 2, toss some beads on that sucker, link it to your 2 base end loops. 

7- Oh, yeah. You have to finish the other end w/a perpendicular end loop that can hook on to your first end loop. Pull and smoosh a bit to get the bracelet into roundish shape.8- Pull out your bottle of oxidizing serum. Drip some into the bottle cap, dip your handy paintbrush in there and paint it on the ends and all visible wire. Here's a tip- you can get the black galvanized steel from the Hardware store so all that will need darkening are places where you cut or the ridges on your pliers scratched. Especially in the fabric ones where the cloth tends to soak up a ton of the oxidizer and much goes to waste, this is useful. On the other hand, steel is super pokey, so make extra sure to turn your ends into the fabric and poke them in and squeeze your final wraps tightly. Did that make sense?

9- Final step. Actually, you could consider yourself done. Or, you could get a pile of thin bangles as I linked y'all to 3 or so posts ago. You could also do as I do to give your fabrics that old leathery look and smear them with this magical stuff I've never really told you about called wax medium. It's awesome. 

I was actually keeping it a secret as something to put in my book if I ever wrote one. Thing is, if I ever do, it'll be years from now since all I want to do now is make. Also, folks will buy that for the pretty projects, not for the amazing secrets revealed. Also, I hate the thought of keeping secrets from... well anyone who bothers to come here... anyways, if you're here you're the people most likely to buy a book from me, so it makes no sense. 

OK, wax medium. It's amazing. Use it to seal rusty metal. Use it to age and strengthen fabric. Mix it with dirt from your back yard and shmear it into wire and/or cord wraps to get the look of something that's just been unearthed from an archeological dig and has that sealed-in-grime look. Smear it on top of resin pieces to get rid of the shine! Also glass and glue!!

Then wash your hands with Lava soap. I love my Lava soap!

What else? Oh! I actually gave these a dip in a little canister of water mixed with black acrylic to tone everything down. The bead ones, not the fabric ones. So if your results are too bright, try that.

Phew!

OK, that's enough for now. Petra, I'll give you some blogging cheats and shortcuts next time. I'm spent. Also, if I don't have enough pictures to put between the written bits, many of you seem to space out. Like, I'll probably get several convos going, "Are those bangles I saw on your blog for sale?" And I'll have to be all, "Umm... if you read those little words between the images you'd know that I'm just waiting on the filler bangles which you'd know what those were if you read those little words..." Or better: "Sorry to bother you but I saw these lovely bangles and was wondering if you could tell me how you make them." 

And then I'd have to take a good hard look at myself and admit I skim other people little words between the eye candy on their blogs, too.