Thursday, September 20, 2012

Beading Path Lucite Challenge - Reveal Day

Whew!

Who knew this challenge was going to whip my patootie!  I work with vintage beads ALL of the time. I work with these lovely colors on a regular basis - as a matter of fact I seek them out!  So, what's UP, Buttercup?


Lorelei picked out some AWESOME lucite beads from The Beading Path for this challenge.

I ordered my stash the first day and couldn't WAIT to work with those black flowers.  I've never worked with anything like them before and I was thrilled.  Unfortunately, 2 of the three arrived broken into pieces.  The Beading Path (awesome store, BTW) quickly sent me 2 replacements, but this put a reality check on my idea for a super chunky bracelet.  Not very practical!

It turns out that the new loves of my life had more difficulty in store for me.  (Isn't that always the case?)  Let me just show you the finished necklace first - then I'll explain what I mean.




So, I used some lovely vintage glass headpins to decorate the center of the flowers.  They turned out to be very pretty!  But, when I tried to incorporate them into a necklace design (and there were MANY designs that I went through) they would never lay right.  They would turn over, droop, basically look simple awful.  So, I did something I never do when making jewelry - I used GLUE!  I actually glued each flower contraptions to an aqua lucite links.  Well, you know what.....it gave them the support they needed to lay properly.  It did limit my design ideas, but I actually like the way it turned out.  I added some vintage chain and made it 19 inches because I wanted to wear it with this dress:

HOWEVER.....

The lucite links have a tendency to wiggle right out of those large jump rings and I'm not sure it is going to stay together long enough for a night on the town.  I may just glue those damn things shut too!  Apparently glue is my new best friend.


So, I spent something like a total of 7 hours (over several days) on the necklace alone.  I had VERY little time left to do the other things I wanted to do - like earrings and a bracelet.....not to mention I had a whole crap-load of beads left over that I hadn't even touched!  I got to a couple pair of earrings but the bracelet is still a glimmer in my eye.  And there's still some lovely lucite I have yet to touch!!!

So, 2 pair of earrings is all you get at the moment....

These are the teal buttons, with the orange lucite and some vintage glass from my stash.  I actually like these a lot and I'm sort of proud of myself for using the buttons in a way that is different for me (I am still holding onto one for a clasp).


Here's 2 of the links with the red lucite and some leather cord.  

So, who knows.....I may rip the whole thing apart next week and put together Lucite Challenge Part 2. Plus, there's still a bracelet in the works.  

I STILL really love those flowers.  Maybe I'll have a 2 am epiphany about them and end up with the necklace of my dreams - because the components are there!

Meanwhile, I'm going to give it a trial run with the dress and see how it holds up.  I'll take pics of the complete outfit.




Go check out what other participants have done with these goodies.  I'm looking forward to seeing who did ingenious things with the flowers and who avoided the glue!

SongBeads 
Pixiloo
Lisa Cone 
(You are here)
Suzanne Kiertianis
Copper Diem
http://uptwnsh-fallingintothesky.blogspot.com/

http://franciebroadie.com/blog/


Lisa

Friday, September 7, 2012

Bracelet Stalking

I have a couple of main "styles" of jewelry I like to work with.  One one hand, I like collagey, art bead goodness and on the other hand I love to do modern recreations of vintage pieces.  There's a bracelet worn by Grace Kelly in Rear Window and I simply love it.  I want to do my own version of it one day soon, but I can't seem to find a good (ie: clear) picture of it.




I'll take that top too!




The bracelet is not only beautiful as well as substantial, but it has little charms hanging off of it and makes the most WONDERFUL sounds.  It's almost like wearing a subtle wind chime on your wrist.

Here's the section of the film with the bracelet (it's also where she open up her TINY Mark Cross bag and her voluminous night gown pops out. (pardon the commercial interruption)

One day, all of this lusting will result in a Grace Kelly Inspired Bracelet.

Saturday, September 1, 2012

Challenge of Travel Blog Hop




It seems the only way I can get myself to actually PHOTOGRAPH and POST pics of my work is to participate in a blog hop.  So, when Erin of Tesori Trovati Jewelry  posted on her blog, Treasures Found - Inspiration is Everywhere about the upcoming Challenge of Travel Blog Hop, I signed myself up.  We got to choose our region and country.  I immediately choose Japan.

Now, those of you that know my style or have seen my house don't think of traditional Japan.  But, I wasn't thinking of traditional Japanese style.  I went right to contemporary Japanese Pop Culture.

I visited Tokyo for 10 days in 2005.  While we visited some historical sites, the most memorable parts of our trip were focused on pop culture and food (oh the glorious food!).  We spent days (and nights) at Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo Disney Seas, The Ghibli Museum, shopping in Shibuya and Shinjuku, spotting Harajuku girls, seeing underground pop bands, shopping at places like Tokyu Hands, the Kitchen District and the amazing and wondrous department stores.  Oh, and the vending machines!  I put many a coin in those vending machines.
(Photo from 8Tokyo.com)

No one, no where, does pop culture like the Japanese.....and I adore it all.  The odd thing about my love of Japanese Pop Culture is that I am pretty much CLUELESS about American Pop Culture.  But, I find all things "Kawaii" (ie" Super Cute in Japanese) to be amazing.  The bold (and extravagant) use of color and pattern is way out of my comfort zone (and I'm not shy) and minimalism is an unknown commodity.   Harajuku Cosplay has gotten quite popular in the US recently and it is amazing and inspiring to see in person.  There's a whole Flickr Group devoted to Harajuku fashion.




So, that's where I started - with Japanese Pop Culture and a bunch of stuff from my stash.    Luckily, i have a ton of vintage lucite, lots of plastic, some toys from Japan and lots of other beads to work with from my ever-growing vintage (ie: hoarder) collection.  It didn't start out to be as easy as I thought it would be, however.  I've been working mostly with art beads, fibers, leather and other more "earthy" elements lately. Apparently, I've toned down my style!  I made, tore apart, re-made, tore apart my first piece several times - and it is still my least favorite piece of the trio I ended up with.  But then, I got my groove back and I went a little nuts.  So, yes, there are 3 pieces here (and I really could have made more).  Oh, and I'm still futzing with photography.  And by futzing, I mean cussing.

Here's my first (and more sedate) piece.  The colors are so not me.  I must have been channeling Martha Stewart here.  But, the vintage lucite, the plastic flowers, the My Elements rubber rings and the sweet blue owls are lots of fun.




Then I went nuts.  Plastic dinosaurs from earrings I used to wear in 1984, more plastic flowers, a string devil doll, a Gloomy Bear from a Japanese vending machine capsule, more vintage lucite, random glass flowers, more My Elements stash, and - oh look - a couple of Elaine Ray art beads.


My last piece was more gothic inspired with a Disney twist.  I seem to have quite a collection of Little Green Men (from Toy Story).  I got most of these in Japan and, while I haven't been wearing them lately, I seem to never trow anything out.  So, these guys got mixed with vintage American vending machine baubles, more vintage lucite, My Elements plastics and rubber and some (almost eatable) vintage glass beads.




I'm just crazy enough that I will wear 2 our of 3 of these.  Martha Stewart can have the pastel bracelet. ;)


There are 59!!! bloggers on this blog hop.  It may take be a few days but I will visit each and ever one of these sites.  Enjoy your own journey!

Lisa

Name
Blog
Region Chosen
Inspiration Nation
Monique Urquhart
Africa
Burkina Faso
Niky Sayers
Africa
Egypt
Therese Frank
Africa
Kenya
Raychelle Heath
Africa
Lesotho
Joan Williams
Africa
Mauritania
Sherri Stokey
Africa
Senegal
Regina Santerre
Africa
Seychelles
Raida Disbrow
Africa
Tanzania
Kristi Wodek
Africa
Zimbabwe
Sally Russick
Americas
Brazil
Melissa Trudinger
Americas
Mexico
Tracy Stillman
Americas
USA
Sandra Wolberg
Asia
India
Tanya Goodwin
Asia
Japan
Susan Kennedy
Asia
Japan
Beth Emery
Asia
Japan
Lisa Cone
Asia
Japan < Here U R!
Tanya Boden
Asia
Japan
Inge von Roos
Asia
Laos
Erin Prais-Hintz
Asia
Nepal
Dee Elgie
Asia
Phillipines
Carolyn Lawson
Asia
South Korea
Lisa Stukel
Asia
Sri Lanka
Elly Snare
Asia
Thailand
Shelley Graham Turner
Europe
Austria
Mallory Hoffman
Europe
Bosnia Herzegovina
Paige Maxim
Europe
France
Jenny Davies-Reazor
Europe
Germany
Sharyl McMillian-Nelson
Europe
Greece
Evelyn Shelby
Europe
Iceland
Holly Westfall
Europe
Ireland
Rebecca Siervaag
Europe
Ireland
Toltec Jewels
Europe
Ireland
Lee Koopman
Europe
Ireland
Laren Dee Barton
Europe
Italy
Cindy Wilson
Europe
Norway
Kathleen Lange Klik
Europe
Poland
Shaiha Williams
Europe
Portugal
Jennifer Justman
Europe
Romania
Elsie Deliz-Fonseca
Europe
Spain
Lola Surwillo
Europe
Sweden
Kim Hora
Europe
Switzerland
Leanne Loftus
Europe
The Netherlands
Patti Vanderbloemen
Europe
The Netherlands
Marcie Carroll
Europe
Turkey
Marlene Cupo
Oceania
Federated States of Micronesia
Ine Vande Cappelle
Oceania
Fiji
Tammie Everly
Oceania
Guam
Alice Peterson
Oceania
Kiribati
Elisabeth Auld
Oceania
Nauru
Susan McClelland
Oceania
New Zealand
D Lynne Bowland
Oceania
New Zealand
Denielle Hagerman
Oceania
New Zeland
Rebecca Anderson
Oceania
Papua New Guinea
Mischelle Fanucchi
Oceania
Samoa
Kari Asbury
Oceania
Solomon Islands
Cece Cormier
Oceania
Tonga
Emma Todd
Oceania
Tuvalu
Debbie Price
Oceania
Vanuatu