Monday, February 21, 2011

postcard from the playground.

This is the collection of beads I wound up with after editing my supplies. It still looks like a huge amount, but it's less than 10% of what I have. I was feeling lazy yesterday morning, so I didn't want to actually unpack all of them - which means you get a not so pretty picture. These are the only glass beads I'm allowed to work with for a whole month. Any silver materials or chain I have are fair game, but I even edited the vintage metals down to just a few things. I do have one trick up my sleeve so I feel like I have something new. Just before Christmas I bought a tutorial and patina kit from missficklemedia, and last weekend I put the finishing touches on my first batch of colored metals (boy howdy, that's a lot of work - highly recommended, though, it's an excellent tutorial). If I can bring myself to cut into the chain and/or use the bits, you'll start to see them in new pieces shortly.

So. I promised to show everything I made during this experiment. Here are the first three pieces. This pair of earrings is something I had partially in mind since last week, but I grubbied it up with oxidized raw copper beads from Africa. The pearls are whiter than the ones I usually use - almost silvery. It was very cloudy yesterday, so these aren't as clear as I'd like - it's hard to tell how sparkly these are.

I'm on the fence about this pair. I loved them when I made them, and then half an hour later I hated them. Now I'm feeling iffy. I love the colors. I love all the beads. I think it's the double ovals that are tripping me up. But I made them according to the rules. Start with a thing I like, and no plan, and go from there.

This pair is my favorite of the batch. They're extra weird, but I think they work really well - I love it when odd pieces combine into something that looks like a whole. I started with a flat white metal tab and manhandled it until it looked like something I could use. I didn't use protected tools and I didn't refinish or seal the metal, so these have all the flaking paint and tool marks and weird shaping you'd expect. It took me a couple of tries to figure out how I could hang the weird saddle-shaped thingies I made, but with a little help from a draw-down punch, it all worked out. All three pairs will be listed at Leaves of Glass in tomorrow's shop update.

4 comments:

Wear Your Wild said...

Nice! I love #3 the best!
Ya know, I got a whole patina kit from one of the companies. And when I did it a few times, I couldn't get into it, so put the bottles of chemicals away. I thought I would really love it. I had such plants! Maybe one day. Have fun with yours.

lillyella said...

your creativity and perseverance constantly inspires me. (I hope I spelled all those big words right. It's 5 am and I have blurry cry eyes.)

KBARRETT said...

Deeply LOVE #1.

K-dad said...

#3 is awesome! Looks like little green chili peppers...