Week - 46

This week’s theme is  “TWISTS AND TURNS”,.. so here is my totally impractical Twist & Turn ring. I had a lot of fun doing this ring. Slightly off the rails,. but that’s what I wanted .

Week - 45

This week’s piece is made from a beautiful Dichroic cabochon, made by Lynette Owen. I’m also currently writing a free tutorial for this design.

Week - 44

This week’s theme is ‘Simmering Summer’ and with that, sometimes comes enormous bushfires. A few years ago we had what was termed ‘Fire Storms’ that threatened our small city(more like a large country town) on several fronts at the same time. It raged through some of our suburbs. 300 houses and many other properties including historic were burnt to the ground and several lives were lost. This pin represents that firestorm racing towards our city through the native gum trees. 

I had a blast doing this piece. It was not meant to be a functional piece of jewelry as such,.but rather a mini sculpture,..an excuse to fiddle around with a few techniques I have been wanting to try for a long time. It is made from copper sheet and wire, and apart from the bird’s eggs it was all made from scrap that I had lying around on my workbench.  I wanted to see if I could cold connect sheet,. so I have a rivet located between the nest and the stem. I deliberately snapped off a bit of the flame so that I could see if I could rivet it back on and was amazed how well it worked. Last piece I made, I LOS’d it, but for whatever reason,. the LOS had a weird dulling effect on the copper and I was really wanting colours like I achieved here. These colours were achieved by holding the piece in the flame on my stove.

I’m enjoying working with sheet,. and one day I might bust out and buy some sterling silver sheet. I really need do buy some proper tools to work with sheet however.

Week - 43

Before Liver of Sulphur

Everything fell in place for me this week time-wise, I had time to just play around with the FSOJ piece which is such a treat. Almost every week I do a rushed piece for the FSOJ, just to get something done and stay commited to the challenge, so this was a nice change to be able to just sit at my workbench and play. The ’suggested’ theme for week43 was ‘Mixed Metals’ and although I rarely follow the themes (I try, buuut…), since I had free time this week I thought it would be fun. Co-incidently I find out,  the theme this week was my suggestion,lol.

 
After Liver of Sulphur

This is my first attempt at playing with sheet metal. I have been wanting to do this for eons,. and this week’s theme seemed like the perfect reason to give it a go. This is copper sheet, from a scrap heap. I haven’t a clue what guage this was but is was soooh hard.

I haven’t got the right tools so I layed the end of the sheet over a heavy wrench which had a round hole in the handle for hanging and whacked it with a cheap ballpein hammer to get the dome, then just snipped the shape with flush cutters and filed the edges. I sacrificed the points of three of my tiny files for the pupose of punching holes in the sheet,lol. The wire is Gold Filled and the beads Sterling Silver. There is scratch work all over the piece which can be seen better in real life, including the dots on the left of the dome.

I was disapointed with the LOS on this copper,.. everything else turned black but the copper just went boring dull but not darker. I think I need to buy some better sheet copper,. I’m sure copper usually gets beautiful abolone shell like effects.

Anyway, too much fun was had in one afternoon.

Week - 42

This ring is another variarion to the same ring design. I have used a faceted lentil bead,.special thanks to The Baroness of Windypuff - Lori for the beads, because I didn’t have a round cabochon and I really love this one.

Note: I haven’t been able to make any other jewelry over and above the pieces I’ve been doing while writing the tutorials, time and energy won’t stretch that far for me. So to enable me to stay committed to the FSOJ, I’ll need to use these pieces for now. I hope you understand, it’s either this, or drop out of the FSOJ completely. I’ve come too far with the FSOJ, and would hate to let it go now.

Week - 41

This ring is a variarion to the same ring design. Using a triangle shaped cabochon instead of a faceted gem. The ring was dipped in a weak solution of Liver of Sulphur (LOS) which I think really looks great with Turquoise.
Note: I haven’t been able to make any other jewelry over and above the pieces I’ve been doing while writing the tutorials, time and energy won’t stretch that far for me. So to enable me to stay committed to the FSOJ, I’ll need to use these pieces for now. I hope you understand, it’s either this, or drop out of the FSOJ completely. I’ve come too far with the FSOJ, and would hate to let it go now.

Week - 40

This week I made 28 charms for a Charm Swap.  Well 26 for the Swap and one each for my daughters with their choice of colours. While I could provide a photograph of these now,.. it might spoil the surprise for the Swapees, so I’ll leave this (?) here and replace it will the real photo once I know everyone has received their charms.

Week - 39

This week I have been working on a new ring design for faceted gems and this is the result.
Note: I haven’t been able to make any other jewelry over and above the pieces I’ve been doing while writing the tutorials, time and energy won’t stretch that far for me. So to enable me to stay committed to the FSOJ, I’ll need to use these pieces for now. I hope you understand, it’s either this, or drop out of the FSOJ completely. I’ve come too far with the FSOJ, and would hate to let it go now.

Week - 38

This pendant was made with copper wire and a 1.5″ cabochon. The colours in the cab don’t show to their best here,. it is awesome in real life.
Note: I haven’t been able to make any other jewelry over and above the pieces I’ve been doing while writing the tutorials, time and energy won’t stretch that far for me. So to enable me to stay committed to the FSOJ, I’ll need to use these pieces for now. I hope you understand, it’s either this, or drop out of the FSOJ completely. I’ve come too far with the FSOJ, and would hate to let it go now.

Week - 37

This piece was made using copper and a slice of agate. Very quick and easy pendant.
Note: I haven’t been able to make any other jewelry over and above the pieces I’ve been doing while writing the tutorials, time and energy won’t stretch that far for me. So to enable me to stay committed to the FSOJ, I’ll need to use these pieces for now. I hope you understand, it’s either this, or drop out of the FSOJ completely. I’ve come too far with the FSOJ, and would hate to let it go now.

Week - 36

Another very busy week this week,  however I managed to make this pendant a few days before it was due, despite posting it late,lol. 

Week - 35

Oh,. I cannot believe how the weeks are flying by.  I think I’m more proud of myself  for sticking with this FSOJ, than anything else,. despite life throwing some challenges my way lately *sigh*.   I’m even more pleased with myself for posting on time *~pat~ ~pat~ ~pat~*The last few weeks I have been going back in time,. and making things I once did a lot of and used to enjoy making them.  It’s very surprising what memories come to the surface too.  I haven’t made one of these I think for a few years,. but talk about a blast from the past.  Too much fun in one day, it should be illegal.

Week - 34

This week I added a little bling to the earrings I made in Week 27, and made the matching pendant.   My mother now owns this set and wore them with a black outfit the other night and I was very surprised how classy and expensive they looked against the black.  I’m not easily surprised, but these did catch me out.  My mother loves them and has asked if I could make them in other colours,lol.

Week - 33

A quick ring this week, time is limited.  ‘Twas fun to do nevertheless.  Still needs a tumble to bring up the shine.

Week - 32

I have to say,. even though bizantine has been done to death,. it is still my favourite weave to do.  Not that I can truly compare them to all weaves since I’ve only really mastered a few of the simpler ones.

These beads, Robbie (Metallique) sent me some too many years ago to remember.  Out of all the beads I have ever had,  these appeal to me the most for some reason.  They are vintage glass I believe, and not completely clear,. and the colour is quite unusual too. I just love them and would never sell the last of these beads.  I think this bracelet is for moi. :-}