Happy Merry Whatever

I've been setting stuff using my Cosmic Rocks technique, as you see below. I shared this on Instagram cuz I feel like I should take pix of some cool things I have that aren't yet complete cuz that's sorta the point of IG... But then I don't want to share stuff there and not here.

  

The quartz below is by etsian Copperelectroforming and on the purplish middle guy, the sewn layers are by shipwreckdandy, as well as the crochet cap in the image above. (She has some cool fabric things in her supply shop, and a lot as yet unlisted. I bet if you convo her she'd list it for you.) And the two chunky polymers on the top of the purplish middle guy I made in collaboration with her. Which, as I explained to her, sounds much better than saying she had some unfinished stuff she didn't want so just tossed them over my way.

She sent me all kinds of cool stuff and when I got really PMS-y and was avoiding taking photos, I messed with them:

She sent them unpainted and I've been coloring them with pencil and adding tiny facet details and paint washes and squee-ing and clapping to myself over how great everything looks. There's actually much more. The ones that now look like flower buds are so colorful irl, basically nothing like anything I ever play with so I wonder what they'll end up as?

Here's a rough stone found on the ground in Uruguay nestled into a shell.

Imma share a little sumpin' so you can know how dysfunctionally literal my brain is. In my comment section, FadeandRemain wrote, "Melon baller! Is awesome. And those earrings! But, I've been away from these parts for a while, and returned to find....theeengs aren't being OX'ed?? Da faq is going on?" 

So I just read and re-read that every time I'd go into my comment section... "Like a mellon baller scoop for making bizarre cantaloupe balls like they did in the 50s? Did she comment on the wrong blog?" And then I'd go, "OXed? Like XOXOX, like you sign a letter? Is that like hearting or faving something? Is she saying people aren't liking my stuff anymore? What?" OK and after 5 years I finally read it without the capital letters like "OH, oxed! As in oxidized? DUH!"
(←I soldered the flower piece on to this industrial ring.)

Which I'm glad you noticed. I have been ox-ing, as you put it, but I've been using a much gentler type than the Pewter Black I always use just cuz I found it in my stash and thought I'd try it. It's called Flemish Grey, also by Jax. I used to not like it which is why it was abandoned but idk, it does take out the bright shiny of the raw metal and I'm warming up to it. However it also creates a dusty finish sometimes, tho that's easy to wipe right off. Right now I'm using a mix of Flemish and Pewter which I call Plemish Fewter. 

... Aaaanyways, five years later I looked through my post wondering if I'd mentioned mellon ballers somehow and realized DUH I had a big mellon ball bead I raved about. Moral of the story: That comment wasn't nonsensical, I was.

 (I had narrow field of view setting on the pic above by mistake so it's all fuzy oh well. It was a brooch that I removed the pin from and soldered loops to.)

And! All three above mannequin pix were taken with my iPad. Which is limited but when you can make it work is just so much easier. So yay.

I riveted this ornate stamping from Kathy haul on to a big cheap coco wood medallion I found in Uruguay which I re-enforced with plumbers epoxy on the back then finished with gold leaf for funz. And the two rough stones are set into a little miniature copper dish Tribalis sent me. And I soldered the coin... And then I just realized I forgot to take a mannequin picture of this thing, craparoo. 

And I put eyelet rivets into the connecting holes for a little extra sumpin'. As you can see I've gotten really enthused over toggles lately. The visual tension of them is so satisfying. I've soldered them and also just cold-connected pins through holes.

So this amazingly iridescent ammonite fossil. Baltic amber RomAntiqueSoul sent and a soldered Euro. Maybe the year 2002 on there isn't in keeping with the antique feel but I just think the euro coins are so gorgeous, this is like the fourth time I've used one.

And a tiny piece that was on an alligator pin clamp thing which I removed it from and then curved for an even more satisfying toggle.

Before we move on to bracelets and earrings, can I interrupt to share my addiction to the smell of this stuff: 

(Of course, I get the generic though.) Next time you're shopping pop this guy open and take a sniff. It's this crazy chemical smell but it's soooo good. I never rinsed and repeated in my life- why would I? Since getting hooked on this every single time I'm like, "Yeah I better go again just in case." Like??? And I don't even have dandruff, I just love this stuff. Plus then I read on the label that it's for... sclerosis? Psoriasis? Which is a skin thing so I decided they were definitely telling me I had to spread that stuff all over my face. Don't wanna get sudden onset psoriasis.

Where was I? Oh yes, chunky bracelets.

Toggle! This was a very tall pendant with broken loops that I hammered in the back and soldered connections to make it bracelet-able.

Did RomAntiqueSoul send me this? Or Emmanuelle? You guys gotta stop with the gifts if you want credit cuz it's all a blur. .... Look at these cool-ass baguettes that Teapotsandtelephone's Linda sent me:I found the closest I could get to settings that fit and then smooshed and reshaped them into place. I actually think they look cuter and more dear somehow with the imperfect fit, ya know?

So yeah since these fringe guys all went pretty fast I made some more. The purple rhinestone is from a gift from French bud Emmanuelle and the crystal from Patroness. Yup, still working through mountains of gifts I've been given. So here you can see the Flemish Grey in action. It left these chains a bit verdigris-ed. Those stars were originally like so →

Oh and I had to re-do these because that one stick biwa was bugging the crap outta me. Now harmony reigns once again.

Piano ivory and below, tiny Kathyhaul stampings on pits of bone from an antique fan, also Kathyhaul.

From the same stampings collection. Except a lot are die cast. As you may remember, last post I told you about coiling wire. This above is what happens when you twist half-round. Also bits of soldering and hammering on the random wire shapes I told you about last time? That I used with the fringe pairs?... Also a very old Uruguayan game piece and a mop disc.

Some super involved coiling and hammering led to these wacky guys.

See, not exactly a successful experiment but I used the results anyways and learned how different shaped wires respond to different treatments.

Thick soft bezeling wire, coiled. Hope you can see how very chunky this pair is.

The crystal was translucent (also Kathyhaul) so I painted it with white pearl paint, sort of my version of foiling the back, which is what they do to make rhinestones look so cool and not just like faceted glass. ANYWAYS, usually its gold colored but I grabbed what was on hand and the effect is kinda magical. Birdie by potterygirl1.

I 'foiled' these gifts from Teapotsandtelephones the same way.

The white pearl makes a very bright silver reflection. I also used the paint to glue these into the findings. Then I created connections with tiny eye pins at the tops and bottoms. When will the cleverness end?!?!?!

More from the hammered shapes collection seen in the fringe pairs.

More tiny die-cast stampings. Look at how perfectly rustic this pair is. The thickness of the African prayer beads harmonizes perfectly with that of the game pieces.

These look straightforward enough but in reality took an almost Herculean effort, if you allow me some hyperbole and fancy vocabulary. The shell drops were crazy thick at- and only at- the tops. I had to slice that off with my flex shaft over the course of 58 dust-filled hours. When I drilled the one on the right, the whole tip broke off. Good thing I like asymmetry or I would never get anywhere with my makings. Anyway.

And finally, these random guys. I put a scrappy scrap of silk between the glass stones and the settings cuz the bezels had a circle cut out in the center which landed right at the pair's booty area, like a very bad metaphor or something. The tiny red guys were actually also a gift- greybirdstudio.

 So many things. 

Too much holiday/family/PMS to get myself to list anything. So yeah, write if you're interested they won't be up for a while yet.

An sneak attack by a santa hat.

Cats feel like I do about holidays, I think. Generally unaware.
And finally, some lions playing catch.

Full video here.