Color Play with Glass Links

Making these glass link bracelets is somewhat addicting, as I pull out the frit, the molds and the scale to play a bit of mad scientist!

 

After pulling out my supplies (spoon, cups, scale, frits and molds), I begin mixing up colors depending on my mood. Sometimes my inspiration is a flower, or a dress, or even wedding invitations! BUT... 

Here come the brides...

My great friend, Malindi, recently got married to her soulmate, Michaela. They're so cute together. It was a beautiful ceremony and a great party afterwards. I made them a little extra gift for their wedding that tied in the colors of their special day. So, they can wear these buttercream and blue bracelets and think back to the night they made their bond official.

Love you girls and have a great time in Thailand!!!

Glass Casting Jewelry

Since coming home from the Glass Craft and Bead Expo in Las Vegas in April this year, I've been wanting to create some Glass Links jewelry using the Oval Links casting mold from Colour de Verre. I saw so many ladies walking around with their creations. But when I stopped by Jayne Persico's booth, I was so inspired by her creativity that I had to order my supplies immediately!


So, I've been madly mixing color combinations in my basement with my scale and measuring spoons...I feel a bit like I've got my own glass lab! You've got to be careful for reactionary glass - glasses that will turn unexpected colors when combined (generally yellows and blues which turn a baby poo brown). Aside from that, let your imagination run wild!

Shortly after making my very first creation, the lime and lemon links necklace, I happened upon the news that Ed Hoy's was sponsoring a contest using Glass Links molds from Colour de Verre!


I am competing for the title of "Most Innovative Jewelry Artist" in a contest sponsored by Ed Hoy's International and I need YOUR vote! If I win I will receive some fabulous prizes as well as recognition and promotion for my work. To vote for me and my work follow the instructions at the top of this page http://edhoy.com/What_Hot.html Voting ends May 15th! Thank you!

Now, I don't remember exactly what the fabulous prizes are...But, I'm crossing my fingers for some more molds so I can create necklaces a bit faster! Right now, I can cook up 12 links in an 18 hour period. When the links are done, I have to clean out my mold, prep it with glass separator and fill them before popping them back in my Caldera. However, the cleaning and filling part sometimes have to wait until after dinner, or sleep. If I could have a second batch waiting to go in as soon as the first set came out, I could really rock and roll and have that Caldera running all the time!!!


As a side note, you'll be able to find my Glass Links creations next week at the LUX Center for the Arts Spring Bling jewelry trunk show! I'm so excited to share what I've been making the last few months. Stop on by, Thursday, May 19th from 6-8:30pm and try on some glass jewels!
I'll be previewing some new fused glass cuff bracelets, as well;)

Happiness

I made a bunch of these small fused glass pendants quite awhile back with the intention of fusing the variety of precious metal decals that I've collected. Then, I had an inspirational moment...and Voila!! I absolutely love this new design and have been experimenting with color combinations. The amber chips on this necklace work perfectly with the faceted purple glass beads, and it truly makes me happy!!

Friendship Series

Friendship, originally uploaded by CalyxAnn.

Just thought I'd post some new photos, the new tumbled glass and sterling silver charm pendants that I've been working on lately.
Enjoy!

My re-worked lovelies...

No! Not those, silly:)
These:

Yes, after a year of sitting in my dressing table drawer, I pulled out this great necklace that I made and disassembled it for re-creation!
Sadly, I don't have a before picture to compare it with, but if you use your imagination to blank out the blue squiggles, you'll have the necklace in its before state.
The fused glass beads would flip over to show the blank side and a peek through to the high temp wire findings - Not Appealing!
So, I refired the pieces with a little Glassline Enamel Liquid Paints.
Such a simple process, but it made all the difference!
I can now proudly wear this bold necklace with my favorite penny jacket and par-tay!!

Always a Bridesmaid...

A few weeks ago, I was commissioned by my friend, Jacqueline, to make some jewelry for her bridesmaids for her upcoming wedding. Well, with short notice and being the perfectionist that I am, I have stressed myself out for the last week, thinking about nothing but the necklaces, earrings and bracelets that needed to be done for tomorrow's ceremony!

Of course, I really had nothing to worry about. It's only one of the most important days in my friend's life!
Jacqueline described the dresses as being a beautiful sage green, so immediately I thought that I would incorporate peridot into the design. With only a few weeks to make the jewelry, I wanted to get started as quickly as possible. (Jacqueline lives three hours south of Napa in Monterey, and would only be in Napa on the weekends. So, we only had a couple of times that we could get together.) Since she was busy planning the wedding, I didn't want to have to bother her with every little detail of the jewelry design. But after buying a whole handful of gemstones and pearls that I wanted to use, I still needed to see the dresses and make sure the greens didn't clash.
Fortunately, I am innately intuitive (or perhaps just lucky) and the beads that I picked matched spot on! Immediately, I began to piece the design together and was able to get all of the earrings done, and the necklaces half done. The design style that I intended required exact measurements for all of the bridesmaids (and the bride), so I needed to wait another week to get Jacqueline in town and measuring necklines (and wrists)!
Meanwhile, I prepped the beads for bracelets so that they were ready for assembly. I also needed to order a few last minute jumprings and clasps, and in order to save a bit of money, I wanted to order in bulk from my favorite online bead store (Fire Mountain Gems). Of course, this meant that I was now stressing that the items wouldn't get delivered on time, even though the estimated delivery date was Wednesday. (I gave myself a deadline of Thursday.)
Everything arrived on time, I worked all night Wednesday, and everything was finished by Thursday. So....


After work last night, I was able to gather the boxes and head up to Jacqueline's grandmother's house on the hill. I presented the boxes to her, and the anticipation grew as she ate the rest of her late dinner and talked about last minute preparations and showed me some of the gifts her mother has been showering on her. She did notice that there was one extra box fairly quickly.
She has four bridesmaids for the wedding, so she asked for four sets. But, I couldn't imagine seeing all of my bridesmaids with such beautiful jewelry and not having a set to match! So, I felt inclined to make a special set for her as well.


Yes, I'm very happy with the outcome. But, more importantly, Jacqueline is happy. And I know of at least one bridesmaid that approves as well. I can't wait to see the whole ensemble all together at the ceremony. Now, I can relax and think about what I'm going to wear. But, really, who's gonna notice what I'm wearing anyway, right?

Raffle Necklace for GGE

I recently received an email from Mandy Van Deven, the Associate Director/Community Organizing Coordinator for Girls for Gender Equity in NYC, asking for items to be included in a raffle for a fundraising event that's coming up in July.



From the website: "Girls for Gender Equity is committed to improving the physical, psychological, social and economic development of girls and women. Through education, organizing, and physical fitness, Girls for Gender Equity encourages communities to remove barriers and create opportunities for girls and women to live self-determined lives."

I did a little research and checked out their website to see what the group is all about: afterschool leadership programs, basketball, soccer, boxing, self defense classes...The list goes on. This is a group dedicated to making a positive impact in the lives of young women.


So, I decided to send a piece to be included in the raffle. This is one of my newer necklace designs, incorporating stained glass into jewelry. I soldered the lotus/fuschia-inspired flower pendant with Silvergleem, a lead-free, super-shiny solder composed of tin and silver, added Czech fire-polished Aurora Borealis beads, and finished with a rubber "chain" and sterling silver components.
I made the necklace 17" long, but since it's for a raffle and whoever ends up with it may need a longer length, I added a chain extender to each clasp (there are two). So, the necklace extends to approximately 19".
This is the first necklace that I've incorporated chain extenders into, and I like the outcome. They add a little extra flair while serving to make the piece more versatile. I'll definitely be adding this technique into future necklaces.

Art Nouveau "Hanging Gardens" Necklace

My newest listing on Etsy, I've finished the third of my Art Nouveau-inspired stained glass necklaces. Although, the first two were gone before I was able to take pictures! Oops!
Spring Cleaning is in full force, so there's not much to add to this post, except that the bathrooms and the kitchen are clean!! Yea!

Looking for some Inspiration?

Or maybe just want to learn some new techniques?

Recently, I read through The Penland Book of Jewelry - Master Classes in Jewelry Techniques:

The Penland School of Crafts is located in the Southern Appalachian region of North Carolina and has been teaching crafts (lovely art) for more than 75 years.

From their website: "Penland offers one-, two-, and eight-week workshops in books & paper, clay, drawing, glass, iron, metals, photography, printmaking, textiles, and wood. The school also sponsors artists' residencies, educational outreach programs, and a craft gallery."

But even if you cannot make it to the school in person, Penland has put together a series of books that offer intermediate-level technical information. This book is the third in the series and includes not only a wonderful, inspirational gallery of pieces created by Penland artists and instructors, but also features 10 projects and detailed instructions for creating breathtaking jewelry pieces of your own.

Featured artists and techniques include: Marilyn Da Silva (Nontraditional Color on Metal), John Cogswell (Forging), Jaime Pelissier (Alloying), Rob Jackson (Fabricating with Steel), Heather White Van Stolk (Casting), Jan Baum (Die Forming), Tom McCarthy (Alternative Stone Setting), Maria Phillips (Electroforming), Mary Ann Scherr (Etching), and Douglas Harling (Granulation).

Each section begins with a sampling of the artist's work in the technique being focused upon. The featured artists have all written introductory essays to accompany the tutorials. Following the detailed lesson is a gallery of other artists' works selected by the featured artist.

If there were no lessons at all, the amazing pictures alone would be reason enough to get this book! Full color, highly detailed images allow you to examine the work closely, giving you "an insightful look at the creative process."

Soldered Pendant Necklaces

Finally, I've assembled not only the soldered pendants, but I've gathered all the components to actually piece together the entire necklace. I've got two beautiful necklaces so far...













These are both made with Czech fire-polished glass beads, about half of them have an Aurora Borealis coating which gives them a gorgeous shimmering effect. Both necklaces are finished with pure silver findings and silver chain measuring a total of 16".








I also thought that my fused plaid pendants could use some dressing up, so I wired this one together with silver chain and assorted glass beads:

My Very Own Dichroic Tile

Today, for the first time, I really dug in and played with some dichroic glass. It's always been a bit intimidating for me, because the stuff is so expensive! But, I must say, it was far less painful than I had made it out to be.
For the tile, we started with a 4"x4" piece of thin glass. For the next layer, we used mosaic nippers to break up opaque dichroic pieces, staggering them on the bottom layer. And then, we topped that layer with broken pieces of transparent dichroic glass. The last layer is a thin piece of 4"x4" clear glass.
The tiles will be dammed in the kiln with fiber paper and hot bricks so that they keep their dimensions. After firing, we will cut them, re-fire them at a low temp to soften the edges, then glue on bails, or drill holes into them and they are ready to wear!

The line down the middle of the tile is the score line I made to start cutting it into little pieces for pendants...Then, I remembered I wanted to photograph the before image! So, I've finished snipping it into littler pieces, and the next step is to fire them in the kiln again to soften the sharp edges.

Finally getting some soldered pendants done!

You may recall back in my March 16, 2007 post, that I mentioned I had some new pendant ideas...
I have finally figured them out completely and have taken the pictures I need:
First, my custom pendants...
This one is for my friend who's daughter is turning 3 this year. Although, I've got presents for her daughter, Sequoia, I thought that it would be appropriate to put together a necklace for Mommy. Someday she can pass it down to Sequoia, when she's old enough to appreciate it.

Another custom image pendant I did was with a photo of a Giant Sequoia:

And then, finally, I finished my stained glass leaf and flower pendants. Very time consuming, indeed! First, you cut all the tiny pieces. Then, you wrap each one with copper foil and burnish. Then, arrange them without letting them slide all over while soldering. Attach a jump ring, rinse, polish, and voila! They are very pretty. I think I'll incorporate them into some beautiful beaded necklaces.

New pendant ideas!

Well, it's been quite awhile now since I've produced any new pendants. What with being away from the studio for two months, and then having my father visit for a month, and fighting the "blahs" of winter, and not having the proper lead-free Silvergleem solder...I'm finally approaching the day of reckoning! Yes, today I am gathering all of my design ideas from the last three months and beginning to cut some glass!!!
I've wanted to make some glass pendants that are "stained glass"-esque, and I've got lots of ideas floating around in my head. So, keep your eyes out for my new offerings!

Update...check out this post for finished pendants.