Jewelry Making: Glass Opalite and Obsidian Bracelet and Earrings

 

I recently made a Thank You gift for a family friend. I don't know her well but still wanted her to know how much we appreciated her recent help with my husband's dad and black and silver seemed pretty universal. I have some "special" beads that I keep set aside for special gifts so I grabbed a pair of black and white Murano style glass beads and some coordinating Opalite and Snowflake Obsidian beads from my stash, along with solver spacer beads and bead caps and went to work. 

Supplies:

• Murano Style Fused Glass Beads (Specialty Bead Shops or Shipwreck Beads/Fire Mountain Gems)
• Natural Gemstone Beads (I used Snowflake Obsidian)
• Silver Bead Caps and Spacer Beads (Sterling or Plated, Bead Landing from Michaels)
• Earring Wires
• Jump Rings
• Head Pins
• Stretch Jewelry Cord
• Jewelry Glue (Aleenes, Walmart)

The black and white glass beads worked perfectly with the Opalite, picking up its luminescence.  I love the head pins by Bead Landing at Michaels because they're strong yet bend smoothly. 

I strung an Opalite bead on the pin followed by the black and white bead and finished with a bead cap before making a closed loop.  

Once you're done with both pieces, attach to the ear wires using jump rings. 

Then I went to work on the bracelet which used a combination of Snowflake Obsidian and Spacer Beads. 

The design on these coordinated well with the bead caps. Spacer beads are also by Bead Landing. I strung a spacer bead and then a black crystal bead followed by another spacer bead and completed the rest of the bracelet alternating spacer bead, gemstone bead, spacer bead until I had the right size. As I shared in my Spooky Season Jewelry post, clamp on end of your stretch cord length, and I just eyebal until I have the size I need for my wrist which is pretty average-sized. 

To finish, I added a small rhinestone charm (Charm Along, Michaels) using another jump ring. Since this was a gift, I wanted to present it as such. I love these organza bags which you can find at Michaels, JoAnn, bead and packaging shops. 

I cut an earring card using my Cricut and placed the bracelet in a small bag and the earrings in a medium one to accommodate the earring card. .

I love making gifts for special people but I also always hold my breath. I think as makers, we know we love what we do but maybe wonder if other people do? Maybe that's just me! I exhaled when I got the nicest thank you note stating that the recipient LOVED her gifts. 

Sharing At: 

Hammered Silver Earrings...Thanks Michaels

 

When you make jewelry, you set yourself up for "Really? You needed another pair of earrings?" Yes. I do so there. In my defense, I went to Michaels because I really did need new trimmer blades for my paper trimmer. But what kind of Maker would I be if I went in and didn't walk around the store? I'm no poser! And "see, what happened was"...I was in the Bead and Jewelry section and a bunch of these earring components said rescue me like when the Tin Man in the Wizard of Oz calls out for his oil can. It couldn't be helped! These were just my style since I love big, bold, earrings. 

As you can tell, more earrings will follow but since I'm also preparing to move, maybe not right away. 

Supplies: 

• Bead Landing Silver Earring Components
• Silver Beads
• Head Pins
• Jump Rings
• Jewelry Pliers
• Clip Backs or Ear Wires
• Loctite Gel Glue

Since I bought um "several" , the hardest part was deciding which package to play with first but I chose the hammered silver ones. I had some silver beads in my stash along with my clip earring backs ( for pierced ears use ear wires) and I love the Loctite Super Glue Gel.

Since the main component had three holes I decided to make three beaded dangles using three beads for the middle and two beads for either side. String onto a Head Pin (these are the ones with flat ends vs Eye Pins which come with a pre-formed loop) and then finish with a wrapped loop. 

For clip wearers like me, glue the clip backing to the piece to a flat back pendant shown in the supplies. 

Attach the beaded dangles to the Hammered Silver component using jump rings. See How To Open and Close A Jump Ring here.  Follow the same process to attach to the earring base or ear wire. And then you're done and you have another pair of earrings easy peasey! 

Maybe I'll call them my Moving Earrings. Ha! 

Halloween: Don't Forget To Decorate Yourself...Skull Earrings and Bracelet

 

Not that I'm going many places these days, and I know a lot of people are barely wearing clothes, but I do go out once or twice a week to run errands, and despite the fact that it's still triple digits here in the desert, and I'm still wearing shorts and tanks, that doesn't mean I can't get into the season right? Right! 

So I made myself some seasonal earrings and a matching bracelet. 

Michaels continues to expand their jewelry making supplies and there's not a trip that I make without a few things sneaking their way into my cart. 

Supplies: 

• Skull Charms ( I found mine on clearance at Michaels but they have some other similar beads)
• Silver Connector Links 
• White Marble Beads 
• Filigree Bead Caps
• Rhinestone Dangle Charms
• Small Silver Spacer Beads
• Jump Rings
• Misc Charms
• Jewelry Making Pliers

All of my supplies except for the little star charms, small silver spacer beads, and the swirly flat bead shown at the top of the earring are from Michaels Bead Landing / Charmalong lines).  

I found these on clearance when I wasn't even looking for them. They were up by the register, on clearance, so naturally I bought two sets! 

Step 1: 

If you're a novice jewelry maker, there are tons of great tutorials on You Tube. Here are some on "How to Open and Close Jump Rings") 

Open a jump ring, then use it to attach the skull bead and silver connector link. Sorry this is blurry! One handed photography while trying to hold up pliers with your non-dominant hand is tricky! 

I used the same process to attach the little star charm to the other end. 

Step 2: 

If like it seems 95% of people, you have pierced ears, you'll use the same process to attach an earwire. I'm in the ( I made up this stat) 5% of people who doesn't have pierced ears. Can't. Apparently I'm missing the connective tissue that prevents them from ripping so....it's me and your grandmas and people deathly afraid of needles. 

For us "clippies" the good news is Michaels has us covered. 

Problem Solved!

I use Loctite Gel Glue to adhere these to whatever misc flat backed findings I have. And then you're done! 

Bracelet

I do a lot of my bracelets on stretch cord which is how I did this one. 

Supplies: 

• Stretch Magic Jewelry Cord ( Michaels)
• White Marble Beads
• Filigree Bead Caps 
• Skull Charm
• Dangle Charm 

I always cut off more stretchy cord than I need because I've found it makes it easier to knot and I learned the hard way of trying to be very specific in my measuring only to find out I couldn't quite tie the knot. 

Clamp one end ( you can use an official bead clamp which they sell in the jewelry supplies or I've used clothespins, binder clips, or clamps I found in the hardware section of the Dollar Tree). 

Starting w/ a bead cap string as follows: bead cap, white bead, bead cap, spacer. Lather, rinse repeat until your bracelet fits your wrist. For reference, I have what are considered small wrists and I used 10 of the marble beads. Once you're satisfied w/ the sizing, close your bracelet with a knot. Dab a dot of Loctite Glue and then knot again dot of glue, knot again and trim the ends. 

Open another jump ring and attach your skull charm and rhinestone bead dangle and you're done!

And since it's 2020, my accessories wouldn't be complete with out a mask right? 

I already had this fabric in my stash so it was a no brainer! I've been using a pattern from Sweet Red Poppy to make my masks. 

I hope you've found some inspiration! 

Paint Poured Pendant. Say That Three Times Fast

So, my Chocoholic reading peeps, you know I'm recently obsessed with Acrylic Paint Pouring. I love that no two pieces are alike and it's therapeutic for me to watch the pieces evolve as the paints mix and dry. 

It's messy and there will be excess though. Being a waste not want not kind of Maker, I was ECSTATIC to discover that you can do things with the leftovers called "skins", which, if you pour on a non-porous surface like the plastic drop cloth I use, is what the paint forms after it dries and you can peel it off like, well, a skin! Some artists do pours specifically to create the skins for jewelry and mixed media pieces. Once I read about this, of course I had to play. 

Supplies: 

• Acrylic Paint Pour Skin (leftover from previous project)
• Beveled Pendant Blank (Mine are from https://www.craftfantastic.com/)
• Glass Round (https://www.craftfantastic.com/)
• Diamond Glaze Dimensional Adhesive (Stamp stores or online)
• Circle Paper Punch

The hard work is done once you have a skin to work with so this is a super quick project. I punched a few circles from the skin, and chose the one I liked best. 

Put a dab of the Diamond Glaze on the bevel blank ( don't flood it just a small dab) and lay in your punched circle. Smooth out to make sure there are no bubbles. I just used a dry Q-Tip. Use a little more Diamond Glaze and then place your glass circle on top. Let dry. You're DONE!

If you don't have a glass blank, you can also flood your bevel with the Diamond Glaze and it will dry to a hard finish. You just won't have the "domed" effect you get with the glass. 

Tips: 

I cleaned both my bevel blank and glass round with alcohol just because it seemed like a good idea. I also think I'll be using my phone camera more because it takes amazing pictures. Used it for the pendant pic and my camera for the rest and like the phone pic best. 

Black Panther Movie Inspired Jewelry

So like millions around the world based on the Box Office reports, we went to see Marvel's latest Superhero Movie "Black Panther" this past weekend. It was awesome for many many reasons.  I don't really do Cosplay but for this movie, I did want to have some fun and made some jewelry inspired by the lead characters costume. 

Without giving anything away, the Black Panther's costume relies on the necklace designed by his brilliant teenage sister Shuri. I took my inspiration from that and made some earrings and a necklace. 

I went through my jewelry supplies ( to quote Mr. Chocolate "You just had all that stuff?" ....I plead the fifth) and chose components that reminded me of the necklace. Silver and black, spiky and bold. 

The hammered metal collar piece and spike beads are things I'd picked up on one of my trips to the amazing Shipwreck Beads located in Lacey WA. They have a great online store! It's like Disneyland for jewelry makers. Not affiliated with them, just a loyal customer. I attached those to the collar piece with jump rings and strung the square and tube beads ( Michaels) onto head pins as shown. 

I wanted to make this more bold so I then took waxed cotton cord and tied some silver beads randomly and added those to the collar piece. Finally, I added strips of leather from a bag of leather scraps in my stash. 

For the necklace itself, I attached three strands of leather cord to chunky cord ends which I attached to the focal piece with jump rings. 

Not content with the necklace alone, I made a pair of earrings to go with! 

I'm known for wearing big bold earrings but these are the biggest and boldest I think I've made! I went to my Shipwreck stash again and chose hoops that have holes in them so you can attach findings. I spaced more of the spiky beads, and mixed in some chain and tube beads ( Michaels). 

Both the necklace and the earrings look heavier than they are. The elements themselves are quite light. 

Alas, they give me no superpowers or superhero suit, but I loved wearing them and will enjoy wearing them just as part of my wardrobe! 

#WakandaForever!

Handmade Gifts: Leather Earring Ensemble

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and is getting some rest now that the chaos is over! Sharing a project  I couldn't share before Christmas since it was a gift for my Mom.  She is what my son calls a "stylish Grandma" and loves to be fully accessorized and coordinated. 

I was busy in my workshop so didn't take a lot of pictures along the way. You never know where you will find supplies. I'd gone w/ my husband to a place he wanted to go, and lo and behold they had bags of leather scraps they were giving away for FREE! He mentioned to the guy working there "she's a crafter" to which the kind man said "oh then take two" so I have two bags of amazing leather scraps. 

I trimmed two pieces into leaf shapes for the earrings,  gold leafed 1/2 of each, punched a small hole at the top and added a strand of beads .

I used the beads from the same package ( a bead mix I picked up at Shipwreck Beads) (one of my favorite bead places in the world) to make the coordinating bracelet and pendant.  The bracelet is strung on Stretchy Cord. 

My habit of  "stash collecting" (aka picking things up with no particular project in mind) paid off because I had this antique gold pendant base in my jewelry making supplies and added more beads from the same collection to it along with pieces of coordinating chain. 

Happy to say that she loved all the pieces!