Hi girlies! I am here in frigid Chicago, trying to loosen cold-stiffened limbs with hot bubble baths, scalding tea and sauna sessions. Then that heat makes me all dizzy and loopy. Is it just me? I'm very lucky to have access to a sauna in any case.
Busy as always, but I wanted to share a haul, which I haven't done in forever. These were all gifts recently sent to me by the ridiculously generous Linda of TeapotsandTelephones. She even makes the box pretty what with the fancy tissue paper.
My act of gratitude was to line everything up neatly so I could take pix. Look at all the rhinestone chains! I literally said, "Well, if you have a few broken bits of rs chain you can send some along."
Look at this! This isn't the cheapo Kuchi I normally use- this is extremely well made. Girl coulda just listed this in her shop for a pretty penny. Well, that also goes for everything she sent.
Little ruler for part of a cuff? And look at that amazing brooch- the base is a wacky plastic tree and these huge silky pearl acorns dangle off it. Shell mermaid, gorgeous bullion appliqué from India, two sets of clip-on earrings, these beads you could describe as the intersection of trade and wedding cake beads. Even a great big heavy teapot knick knack that's too big for a necklace but I have an empty place on my mantle downstairs... Horn star and drop charms with metal inlay, pearly celluloid grape cabs...
Squeeeee! Cabochons! The green gloriousness are actually sew on! They have a glass bit on the bottom with two width-wise holes. Look at the abalone waffle sunflowers! And the big-ass white rhinestone rondelles. Just exclamation points everywhere.
Busy as always, but I wanted to share a haul, which I haven't done in forever. These were all gifts recently sent to me by the ridiculously generous Linda of TeapotsandTelephones. She even makes the box pretty what with the fancy tissue paper.
My act of gratitude was to line everything up neatly so I could take pix. Look at all the rhinestone chains! I literally said, "Well, if you have a few broken bits of rs chain you can send some along."
Look at this! This isn't the cheapo Kuchi I normally use- this is extremely well made. Girl coulda just listed this in her shop for a pretty penny. Well, that also goes for everything she sent.
Little ruler for part of a cuff? And look at that amazing brooch- the base is a wacky plastic tree and these huge silky pearl acorns dangle off it. Shell mermaid, gorgeous bullion appliqué from India, two sets of clip-on earrings, these beads you could describe as the intersection of trade and wedding cake beads. Even a great big heavy teapot knick knack that's too big for a necklace but I have an empty place on my mantle downstairs... Horn star and drop charms with metal inlay, pearly celluloid grape cabs...
Squeeeee! Cabochons! The green gloriousness are actually sew on! They have a glass bit on the bottom with two width-wise holes. Look at the abalone waffle sunflowers! And the big-ass white rhinestone rondelles. Just exclamation points everywhere.
Big lovely caps, filigree tubes, rhinestone earrings/brooch/buckle, filigree scarab all dapped and more of those gorgeous space-aged stones. What do you call that shape? Diamond? Cuz that's a terrible name for them, that's not at all how diamonds are cut. It's like harlequin-pattern shaped. Rhombus! It's a rhombus.
Set rhinestones in bezels, upper left you can see a king and queen stamping! What! They're kinda big but you know I'll think of something for them. Right next to the queen, these lovely silver Indian charms, abalone triangles for inlay, big-ass mop buttons... a heavy teapot in pendant size.
Too many things to name! One of these long purple glass rectangles broke but you know that don't do me no nevermind. How does that expression go? That don't make me no nevermind? Weird expression.
The most gorgeous ostrich leather. I think that's what it is from the dimpling. A variety of beautiful bangles, little rhinestone chain ends- indispensable, leetle mali clay seeds. Two gorgeous black glass...buckles? I didn't really capture the detail on them. A pile of teeeeny nailheads.
Little pot!
Check it out she even made one with the shield of arms of Uruguay! Just for me! It now lives on the bottom right corner of the cover of one of my Uruguay travel journals, see? Mr. Devices and I almost had a tussle over it.
Then there was this mysterious bundle. I was wondering if it was fabric or crepe paper... It was just packaging swaddle to protect the lovelies below. Look at those! I think I'm gonna use it for polybaby texture though. The swaddling paper, not the flower stems. Look at those AB petals though!!!
As I catch my breath from all the panting...
My Kuchi supplier was selling wholesale pendant lots so I had to stock up even though I keep promising I won't make more work for myself and will just focus on using up what I have. When has that ever worked? When you're sitting back on the couch with the TV on, you get so many ideas and it all seems so easy. Plus, you can't pass up whatever deal you stumble upon. So that image above is after I'd taken them all apart. Already hammered and used a bunch of the s-hooks above left for various things, as well as the chains. I stupidly ordered the flat ones on purpose thinking to set some of my faux druzy on it using my Cosmic Rocks technique. But like, wtf. I have regular bezels coming in the mail, why make things more difficult? And so yeah, now I have all these to texture or something cuz they're too plain as is. And here's my faux druzy. Again, had to order it cuz it was so freaking pretty and such a deal and if I can't see the difference between that and the real stuff...? I mean? What matters is how it looks after all- it's jewelry not rocket science. I dunno.
So when you remove the cheap glass cabs that come with, there's some dusty paper that is packed beneath to give them height. Then when you pull that out, you get a little bit of the desert released into your studio, it's lovely. I wish I knew exactly who made these so I could give them a big kiss. So there's one above right all cleaned up. And left, here I'm experimenting with some faux druzy. Cuz it's plastic so you don't feel bad sanding the sides down and breaking off a bit of another one to get it to fit somewhere. I also added some large grit glass glitter to maybe blend it all together. I'm thinking they might need a bit of leafing or something but to do that I'd have to clean them and I really like the patina they have... so maybe not? How about coloring them with pencils and acrylics to make the patina more complex looking? But dang gold leaf would really do the trick in that triangle...Ok. enough babble. I did nothing productive today, spent it all taking pictures of supplies. Which is why I don't ever show anything other than finished work. Also cuz the lazy.
Now look at this amazingly egalitarian squirrel orgy:
Too many things to name! One of these long purple glass rectangles broke but you know that don't do me no nevermind. How does that expression go? That don't make me no nevermind? Weird expression.
Look at dem big fat cabs. The sew on ones- I think they'd layer well. With what? Who knows!
The most gorgeous ostrich leather. I think that's what it is from the dimpling. A variety of beautiful bangles, little rhinestone chain ends- indispensable, leetle mali clay seeds. Two gorgeous black glass...buckles? I didn't really capture the detail on them. A pile of teeeeny nailheads.Little pot!
A whole sheet of GORGEOUS floral decals. Vintage of course cuz you know how my girl do. And! Look at these stickers she made herself from her vintage paper collection. ZOMG. So gorgeous. Embossed even. She sells these in her shop at a just $8 for FIFTY. I've extensively scolded her about this and ordered a price hike, so if you want some jump up on that before they're gone or much more expensive. Also, what a great idea for something to do with a collection of ephemera.
Check it out she even made one with the shield of arms of Uruguay! Just for me! It now lives on the bottom right corner of the cover of one of my Uruguay travel journals, see? Mr. Devices and I almost had a tussle over it.
My Kuchi supplier was selling wholesale pendant lots so I had to stock up even though I keep promising I won't make more work for myself and will just focus on using up what I have. When has that ever worked? When you're sitting back on the couch with the TV on, you get so many ideas and it all seems so easy. Plus, you can't pass up whatever deal you stumble upon. So that image above is after I'd taken them all apart. Already hammered and used a bunch of the s-hooks above left for various things, as well as the chains. I stupidly ordered the flat ones on purpose thinking to set some of my faux druzy on it using my Cosmic Rocks technique. But like, wtf. I have regular bezels coming in the mail, why make things more difficult? And so yeah, now I have all these to texture or something cuz they're too plain as is. And here's my faux druzy. Again, had to order it cuz it was so freaking pretty and such a deal and if I can't see the difference between that and the real stuff...? I mean? What matters is how it looks after all- it's jewelry not rocket science. I dunno.
So when you remove the cheap glass cabs that come with, there's some dusty paper that is packed beneath to give them height. Then when you pull that out, you get a little bit of the desert released into your studio, it's lovely. I wish I knew exactly who made these so I could give them a big kiss. So there's one above right all cleaned up. And left, here I'm experimenting with some faux druzy. Cuz it's plastic so you don't feel bad sanding the sides down and breaking off a bit of another one to get it to fit somewhere. I also added some large grit glass glitter to maybe blend it all together. I'm thinking they might need a bit of leafing or something but to do that I'd have to clean them and I really like the patina they have... so maybe not? How about coloring them with pencils and acrylics to make the patina more complex looking? But dang gold leaf would really do the trick in that triangle...Ok. enough babble. I did nothing productive today, spent it all taking pictures of supplies. Which is why I don't ever show anything other than finished work. Also cuz the lazy.
Now look at this amazingly egalitarian squirrel orgy:
