All this gold, not much glitter
Hello there. It's me, the long-lost Pear-Shaped Woman.
There hasn't been too much going on around here since my last post. We did have a very nice Christmas, quiet and drawn-out as it was, with six days between one family celebration and the next. I just today got around to packing all the holiday decor away. Last year I couldn't seem to get it all into storage, which consists of a stack of six under-bed plastic storage boxes from Target (which I've never bothered to put under the bed, because that would take away too much cat hiding space). I was determined today that it would all fit, so after some rearranging by me and Ruby's determined destruction of a number of glass balls while the tree was up, everything now has a home.
I was so efficient that I was even finished by 2:00 p.m., leaving me several hours to haul out the jewelry-making stuff and work at the dining table while watching two sappy movies on the Hallmark Channel. I made a pair of earrings that has been roaming around in my mind for a couple of days, with beads that have been roaming around in their storage jars for several months. A bit of oxidation is required before I can photograph them and list them in my shop. Then I moved on to some copper wire and brought out my micro torch to experiment. Now I have one completed earring of one style and one of another style and some very nice copper headpins. Oh well....copper is going to take some practice with the torch.
And remember when I wrote about working with 14 karat gold wire to make some custom jewelry (in this very long-winded post)? Well, I did get all the pieces done and shipped in time for Christmas, but my idea of making my own ball head pins simply did not work with my tiny butane torch. I actually made one head pin, but then could not for the life of me get another one to form. Apparently I need an oxy-acetylene torch for working with gold. That's okay, because I think I won't be working with it again for a long time. Not only is it expensive....really, really, expensive....but it's much harder to bend and form into shape than silver or copper.
But since I did make gold jewelry, I certainly must show you how it turned out....
And yes, I made all of those ear wires myself. Take that, gold wire! And you'll see that there are lots of freshwater pearls and a couple of peridots and smoky topazes thrown in for good measure. The chains are just some I used for photography purposes, as they were not included in the order. And there are NO ball head pins to be seen, because I opted for a rush order of flat head pins from Rio Grande, and I was really happy with how the pearls looked on them. More understated than the balls would have been. I hope mycustomer dear friend and her giftees were happy with them, too.
There hasn't been too much going on around here since my last post. We did have a very nice Christmas, quiet and drawn-out as it was, with six days between one family celebration and the next. I just today got around to packing all the holiday decor away. Last year I couldn't seem to get it all into storage, which consists of a stack of six under-bed plastic storage boxes from Target (which I've never bothered to put under the bed, because that would take away too much cat hiding space). I was determined today that it would all fit, so after some rearranging by me and Ruby's determined destruction of a number of glass balls while the tree was up, everything now has a home.
I was so efficient that I was even finished by 2:00 p.m., leaving me several hours to haul out the jewelry-making stuff and work at the dining table while watching two sappy movies on the Hallmark Channel. I made a pair of earrings that has been roaming around in my mind for a couple of days, with beads that have been roaming around in their storage jars for several months. A bit of oxidation is required before I can photograph them and list them in my shop. Then I moved on to some copper wire and brought out my micro torch to experiment. Now I have one completed earring of one style and one of another style and some very nice copper headpins. Oh well....copper is going to take some practice with the torch.
And remember when I wrote about working with 14 karat gold wire to make some custom jewelry (in this very long-winded post)? Well, I did get all the pieces done and shipped in time for Christmas, but my idea of making my own ball head pins simply did not work with my tiny butane torch. I actually made one head pin, but then could not for the life of me get another one to form. Apparently I need an oxy-acetylene torch for working with gold. That's okay, because I think I won't be working with it again for a long time. Not only is it expensive....really, really, expensive....but it's much harder to bend and form into shape than silver or copper.
But since I did make gold jewelry, I certainly must show you how it turned out....
And yes, I made all of those ear wires myself. Take that, gold wire! And you'll see that there are lots of freshwater pearls and a couple of peridots and smoky topazes thrown in for good measure. The chains are just some I used for photography purposes, as they were not included in the order. And there are NO ball head pins to be seen, because I opted for a rush order of flat head pins from Rio Grande, and I was really happy with how the pearls looked on them. More understated than the balls would have been. I hope my
Your dear friend and her giftees, Dearie, were impressed, delighted, and blown away by how perfectly beautiful they were. And, our collaboration process was wonderfully easy! Next time I get the "withwhich" I'll stick to silver and let your imagination and talent run.............
ReplyDelete