Showing posts with label Shipwreck Beads. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Shipwreck Beads. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 21, 2018

Black Panther Movie Inspired Jewelry


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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. 

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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!


Wednesday, December 27, 2017

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! 

Monday, April 17, 2017

My Easter Basket Goodies



I mailed Phd Boy all the Easter chocolate in his Easter "Boxsket". My basket actually got filled on Saturday when I got to go to one of my favorite places, Shipwreck Beads. It is a HUGE warehouse filled with anything and everything a beader or jewelry maker could want. 



Not that I needed anything but that's beside the point right? I mean they were having a sale and since the warehouse is 90 minutes away from home and I don't get there frequently and ...... you get the point. They have a great website and their sale goes through tonight I think. Just sayin' :) 

I picked up some Kiwi Sesame Jasper and Amazonite, miscellaneous findings and connectors, Vintage French and Venetian seed beeds, and some Lucite Petal Flowers. Not sure what I'm' making with any of it yet but not the point right? 





Saturday, February 11, 2012

School Spirit Necklace and Bracelet

I mentioned in my post about my field trip to Shipwreck Beads that I picked up some things for a specific project. We’re going to a parent’s event at our son’s college and I wanted to show my school spirit so I made sure to pick up some beads in his school colors. Most people buy a tee shirt. I make jewelry. I know…

TAIC Blue Crystal Bracelet and Necklace

When I make jewelry, I have a general idea in mind but my “process” is to gather up the stuff I think I might use and take it from there:

TAIC Jewelry Supplies

I had some gunmetal Bead Landing chain in my stash that I knew I wanted to use, two shades of blue fire polished crystal beads and these great crystal studded beads I picked up on my trip..

TAIC Blue Crystal

I made four sets of these with the light and darker blue crystals and the crystal studded beads, then attached them to some of the chain with silver jump rings.

TAIC Blue and Metal

I had two different styles of Bead Landing chain (Michaels) so I used both and doubled them up to give some more depth to the necklace.

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The center piece is actually half of a clasp but I’ll use the other half for something else.

TAIC Blue White Bracelet

Although this looks like a necklace on my Premiere Prop Co mannequin form, it’s actually the bracelet I made to go along with my necklace. You can find a variety of these jewelry props at Michaels.

TAIC Metal Blue Bracelet

For the bracelet, I used more Bead Landing chain, crystals, bead caps and white off set beads.

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Disclosure: Premiere Prop Co provided me with props however, the opinions expressed are mine

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Field Trip: Shipwreck Beads

While Mr. C may tease me about my craft stash and how excited I can get over a new product or technique, he is extremely supportive of my creative pursuits. He’s surprised me with trips to favorite places and understands when we travel that I’ll have a list of paper / bead / art supply stores wherever we go.

We had gorgeous weather last weekend and we decided to go for a drive. He asked “Do you want to go to your bead place” which is about 90 min away from us. “Bead place” sounds like it might be a nice little bead store right? WRONG! In this case, it refers to  bead Disneyland, aka Shipwreck Beads, a HUGE bead supplied located in Lacey, WA. I think they do most of their business online but they have a ginormous retail warehouse. So you know my answer was YES PLEASE!

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These pics don’t do the place justice.It’s located in a warehouse / office park and it's wall to wall beads, findings, packaging, etc. Gemstones, sterling, pewter, Czech fire polished, seed beads, wire, chain, tools, findings, you name it. If there’s something associated with beading or jewelry making they have it.

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I’m always overwhelmed whenever I go there because every time I’ve been they’ve added more.

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One thing I love is that whether you’re buying in bulk or for a specific project, they offer almost everything by the piece / strand to huge quantities.

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They even have an area where those not shopping can sit and wait, as well as a café and espresso bar in case you’re there so long you need to refuel.

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It’s very easy to become overwhelmed but you will not leave empty handed. Of course I didn't!

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I stocked up on some things I’ll use all the time like jump rings, spacer beads, Jablonex and Preciosa crystals, and then a few things for a specific upcoming project. I’m good for a while!

Monday, July 19, 2010

Indulgence

I love jewelry. "Good" jewelry which I am really lucky to have been  given by Mr. Chocolate, and then there's the stuff I make lol.  One thing I like about making jewelry (well about making anything) is that you can reinvent it once you get tired of it or if you're not happy with it or if it breaks, and then I don't feel guilty about making more of it than I can wear because I can always transform it into something else.

I consider myself a "stringer" more than a beader. I don't weave with beads or do things requiring knotting because I'm not precise or patient enough. I do have a really cool knotting tool that a friend of mine's wife created. I still need to play with it.

Anyway...babble babble, I usually get supplies at the big box stores...Michaels or JoAnn's , both of which have improved their beading sections in recent years. But a couple of times a year, I get to treat myself with trips to amazing suppliers. Here in my home state, we have Shipwreck Beads  which is overwhelming on your first visit. You know you're in trouble when they have a lounge area (aka "man chairs") , cafe, and espresso cart because you are going to need a break to sit and regroup!

My other more limited, but sheer indulgent pleasure is, Scottsdale Bead Supply which to me is like the Tiffany of bead stores, or the Callebaut of chocolate  I'm definitely on an allowance there because as the saying goes, you get what you pay for and their materials are all fine quality. I walk through the store and take my time in each section, making probably three or more laps around before narrowing down my choices and then another two or three more laps to decide what I want, I mean can afford.  Then I do things like get them home and am so paranoid to use the materials because "OMG what did I spend?" and then they sit in my stash which is kind of pointless isn't it? Like the tee shirts we're afraid to re-fashion because "you mean I have to cut them up" but which otherwise sit, unworn, in the closet? Yep.

So I put on my big girl panties and got out some of my treasures from my last trip to SBS and made a bracelet ( that I can wear on my next trip there which is coming up!):


Black onyx, another stone the name of which I couldn't remember but Mich in LA reminded me it's a jasper, Bali silver, smokey quartz and :

Silver, black onyx and mother of pearl inlay clasp. 
And...

And I've promised myself that if ( OK when ) I buy these special things, I'm not going to stash them away because they're too precious. Life it too short. Did you know stressed spelled backwards is desserts?

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