4/20/15

From the darkest depths, I re-emerge...

What dark depths, you ask? PMS motherfuckers.Faculae. Antique kuchi and vintage rhinestone bracelet. Rustic assemblage victorian tribal bracelet.
Lookit dis ting I made with an old broken kuchi bracelet and a buncha chain Linda from Teapotsandtelephones sent. Simple, cute? Not so simple to get all those rhinestone chains the exact same length though. Deceptively un-simple.
Synodic. Purple violet rustic assemblage bracelet. Rustic assemblage victorian tribal bracelet.
Buncha purple things. Why does the word violet sound so much more elegant than purple?
 
There's a ceramic wheel there that I added crackle to and a bit of iridescent paint and it came out much more interesting than it was.
Off to Sea. Rustic assemblage bracelet with ship, Chinese calligraphy art beads.
I am so ridiculously thrilled with this. Just the fact that I was able to find a use for these Chinese ink painting and calligraphy beads. Cuz really, what was I thinking making these? 
And going with the travel-in-the-days-of-yore theme...
Promise to Wait for Me. Rustic assemblage victorian tribal necklace.
Ok, look at the cab right under the main scrimshaw boat brooch thing.  See that little lady? I found that tiny thing in Uruguay. It was like a chip of bone with most of the lady rubbed off but doesn't it look like something someone would've taken to remember their sweetheart?
So I imagine this as a collection of trinkets from a journey.
Gokotta. Rustic assemblage grey blues victorian tribal necklace.
Here's a buncha grey-blues. The tin is epoxied on to the kyanite rectangle. It kept popping off though until I textured the tin to give the resin lots of places to grip.

Also I made the toggle by winding together two enameled head pins then hammering. 

Hiraeth. Long cluster rustic assemblage victorian tribal necklace.
All three of these bits are from Uruguay. Still working through that hoard. The middle one is a mechanical pencil with real teeny rubies and diamond. One of each missing. Rose gold plate. Neat.
I made it super long, idk.Aware. Druzy geode slice n knife. Rustic assemblage victorian tribal necklace lariat.
Aware- (Japanese) the bittersweet feeling of a brief and fading moment of beauty. 

More Uruguay treasures. I had to struggle with this pocket knife for ages to get out the tiny rivet on top holding the knife in. There was a hole at what is now the bottom, but the shape didn't work that way, I had to connect it at what is now the top. I drilled hammered, warped the whole piece, put it back together...  African beads but you can't see the crackle all over them.


Aphelion. Chunky graduated choker in amber browns. Rustic assemblage victorian tribal necklace.
Big, chunky, graduated beads in browns, ambers and oranges.
Some of my polies in there.
Acosmist. Buddha amulet reliquary rustic assemblage victorian tribal necklace.
Remember my buddhist reliquary pieces from years ago? Man I wish our sold items were searchable to the public because to find something now would take eons of scrolling. Anywho, here's this.

*********************************************************************************


I wanted to show you what I've been doing with polymer the last week or so. I had several ideas for beads I wanted to try and I realized that mostly they involved techniques applied after the beads were baked. So I was buying some findings from those Chinese mega-everything cheapo shops and I just popped some of these guys into my cart, just to try. I know you're thinking, ugh, but wait and see what I did it's alright.
Just so you know when I start babbling about sanding, I mean after you've baked, painted and dried them. Ideally, you could brush on the paint then wipe off with damp cloth before it dries but I think that only works with crackles cuz I kept wiping everything off.

Here's more details on how I made those last ones if you're interested.


Texturizing.

For some reason the hole on this one stayed very tidy throughout the texturizing. Most of them you end up with a big ol' mess of a hole. So now I sorta gave you a tute but all out of order!

I meant to make another video more briefly describing how I made a bunch of other beads but instead of hitting video, I hit freaking time lapse! So if you want an epileptic seizure, here it is:
Swear to god I'm a freaking idiot. All this technology, I feel like I'm eighty. Dasit, I'm done. You only get one animal gif this post, harumph.
(But look at him go! Squeeeeeee!! I've always wanted a pet raccoon.)

4/5/15

Latest.

Some new makies for your Easter Sunday/Passover/Spring Equinox celebration.The Waiting Darkness. Rustic assemblage beaded bracelet in black with antique French carved jet flowers.
The Waiting Darkness. 
"Light thinks it travels faster than anything but it is wrong. No matter how fast light travels, it finds the darkness has always got there first, and is waiting for it."
-Terry Pratchett

So hey guess who's got contoured thighs and arms for the first time in her life? Aw yeah, Zumba baby.
Night's teeth.  Rustic assemblage beaded bracelet in black with antique French carved jet flowers.
Night's Teeth.
I'm even taking a class called BollyX that is all done to Bollywood music, with funky Indian moves and everything.
History's Rubbish. Vintage wire work and Kuchi earrings with lemon citrine rustic assemblage Victorian tribal.
History's Rubbish.
So among all the piles that Linda of TeapotsandTelephones sent me what this gorgeous broken necklace with lots of wonky wirework. I unkinked them, removed the plastic rhinestones, wound it to a strong frame, danced a little jig... These earrings, they make me squee.
Diadem. Rustic Victorian tribal long dangle earrings.
Diadem.
Those rhinestone rings she gave me. And the little star below and the plum glass pearls below that. Phew!
Dulcinea. Rustic assemblage asymmetrical earrings in violet, lilac and pink with amethyst, pearl, ruby.
Dulcinea.
Enamel stick is from 4Ophelia. Very rarely can you make a truly asymmetrical pair of earrings, it's only ever a happy accident.
Curious Wine. Deep plum baroque glass pearls in caged earrings.
Curious Wine.
I had been hungry all the years-
My noon had come, to dine-
I, trembling, drew the table near
And touched the curious wine.
-Emily Dickinson

Theosophy. Rustic buddhist assemblage necklace with Baltic amber, garnet, pyrite, quartz.
Theosophy.
Theosophy- immediate divine illumination or wisdom

Another petite cluster choker with real amber.
Thaumaturge- A Worker of Marvels. Rustic Victorian tribal assemblage lariat necklace in blues and greens.Thaumaturge- A Worker of Marvels.
A huge honkin' lariat.

Here it is worn almost like a tie:

I was also asked in comments for pictures from the Pulse Project gallery show.
Doesn't this look like a fun show to wander through?
Cool-ass airplane.
You can kinda see my necklaces hanging there.
 And etcetera.
Now here 's a gif of me chasing after my artistic vision:
















Now I gotta got cuz I'm hungry, after which I'll be: