Jewelry Making Mojo Challenge Week 6

Ok, I admit it, I am behind on the Mojo Challenge.  Three weeks behind in fact.  But,  I got caught up in the Bead Soup Blog Party and that seemed to take all my time for the other challenges I had focused on.  I made a promise to myself that I would do as much of this challenge as possible, so I went back and finished the piece I had begun weeks ago to go with this week's theme.

Sarah's Rose

For this challenge, Heather encouraged us to find a song, poem or quote that inspired us and to then design a piece of jewelry from that inspiration.   If you know me, you know I am a very musical person.  My mother was a professional singer, and there was always music in my home.  I learned to play several instruments and I sung in choirs and choruses all the way through college.  Some of my friends say I think in song!  I often can pull song lyrics to fit any conversation and I am a great partner for trivia games!  

Knowing all that you would think this would have been an easy challenge for me.  But...it wasn't.  Why?  Because I have too many songs that inspire me!   I listen to music while I work on my jewelry designs.  I find it relaxing and it helps me focus on my work space.  So, I thought over some of the music that called me lately.  Jazz is a personal favorite genre, and one of the songs I have been listening to lately is Stacey Kent's So Many Stars.  You can find a video of the song here  The first stanza,  

"The dawn is filled with dreams

So many dreams, which one is mine?

One must be right for me

Which dream of all the dreams?"

Read more: Stacey Kent - So Many Stars Lyrics | MetroLyrics 
We all have dreams, and like I talked about in the Dreams Challenge a few posts ago, my jewelry work is a big part of my hopes and dreams.  Along with love, health and happiness.  We can all find our dreams, they are there for you just reach out and take them.  Here is my necklace, inspired by the song.

Sarah's Rose

I went with a jazz theme for my design.  I can imagine sitting in a dark jazz club, in some incredible dark purple dress and wearing this as my necklace.  If I really get lost in the image, its Chicago in the heart of the Jazz Age.  The focal is a black rose highlighted with clear crystals.  The glass beads are faceted black rose lampwork beads.  I love how the roses seem to float in the beads.  In between the roses are cube-shaped crystals in light rose.  These cube beads show up throughout the strands of the necklace as well.  I finished the necklace with crystal bicones in jet with an Aurora Borealis finish. 

I love this piece, it is classic and very feminine.  I enjoyed the challenge of getting to match a song to piece of jewelry very much, and I may explore that opportunity with other designs in the future.  I also enjoyed doing something in such a classic color like black, and adding just a bit of color for accent.  

Thanks for stopping by,  I will be back on Friday with this month's We're All Ears Earring Challenge and a birdhouse themed design challenge as well.  Until then, enjoy!

Jewlery Making Mojo Challenge Week 4

I have been trying this week to get caught up on the Jewelry Making Mojo Challenge.  There won't be a new challenge until the 31st and I am happy about that because I was two weeks behind.  

This week was all about handmade findings.  Findings are the things that make jewelry come together.  They are the ear wires, links, or those little rings you see on your pieces.  I have always purchased my findings from several jewelry supply houses or had special ones made for me.  Originally, I thought about skipping this week in the challenge because I don't have the tools (or the wire) to make my own.  But, after watching a tutorial in this month's BeadMe magazine, I decided to give it a try!

I decided to give making my own jump rings a try.  What is a jump ring you ask?  These are :)

www.limabeads.com

Jump rings are used for all kinds of things in jewelry design.  I use them mainly as a method to connect one part of a piece to another.  Usually a pendant to the main part of the necklace or connecting a clasp.  Some people create entire pieces of jewelry out of jump rings.  If you get the chance, Goggle chainmaille jewelry, it is beautiful!

The first step in making my own jumps was the easy part.  I cut a length of wire about a foot long. The nice part of this process is that you can cut as much wire as you need.  If when you are done making the rings you find out you need more, just cut more wire and begin again. 

Next,  I wrapped the copper wire around the body of a pen.  Again, you can use anything you would like to coil your wire around.  Obviously, the smaller the diameter, the smaller the rings.  Since I was attempting this for the first time,  I thought a pen was a good size to work with.

Because I used a softer wire, the coils kind of fell into each other, but that won't happen with a thicker gauge wire.  I was able to straighten them out easily.  Next,  grab your wire cutters and start snipping each loop.  It is important that you snip each loop individually so you get a properly shaped loop.  I snipped each one at the top of the loop, and it took less than 5 minutes to snip all the way through my coil.

Ta Da!!!!  Cute little jump rings!!!  I am very proud of myself for actually trying to make these.  I had really thought I would never make my own findings, so it was fun to take a challenge and be successful.   Just as a side note, because the wire on these is thin, I won't be able to actually use these in a design.  From what I read, a minimum of 20 gauge wire is recommended.  Go ahead and give it a try!  It really is easy and lots of fun!

Jewelry Making Mojo Challenge Week 3-Go Back To School

A few weeks ago, I posted about my participation in the weekly Jewelry Making Mojo Challenge over at Humblebeads .  While I wasn't trying to find my mojo,  I was looking forward to embracing a weekly challenge that would not only allow me to challenge myself but would let me work at focusing to get things done.  Alas,   I am a little late turning in my week 3 post but that was a delay in shipping, not me putting things off.

Several weeks ago, I aquired a Vintaj BIGkick machine (it is actually a Sizzix machine, but this is the Vintaj limited edition) and I have been wanting to experiment with it.  

Sizzix Vintaj BIGkick

I have been curious about using metals and embossing them for some time.  If you spend some time over at the Vintaj site it can be a bit overwhelming.  So much art metal in all different shapes, designs and colors!  After studying for a bit,  I ordered some arte metal blanks and a couple of dies to use in my machine.  When they arrived,  I jumped right in, embracing the mojo challenge to go back to school and learn something new.

The machine is very easy to use, all it takes is a little muscle to crank the plates through and a bit of trial and error to line the pieces up.  First, I embossed two round blanks.  Here is how they came out:

One thing I love about the Vintaj site is that there are tons of tutorials, project ideas and videos on the site.   By studying them I learned to sand and buff the piece of metal after it came through the machine to put the embossing in relief.  (I used a multi-sided finger nail file, I need to get a Vintaj block to keep from raiding my manicure supplies)  I do like how they came out for my first attempt!  I can see them both on a black chain, highlighted with some pretty sparkly beads.  They will fit right in with my love of mourning jewelry.

Next, I tried a DecoEtch die on some arte metal earring blanks.  Here is how they turned out:

The relief is hard to see because I haven't used any inks or patinas on them to bring out the design.  Since this is an etching instead of an emboss, I really don't think the keys will show without some added color.  I haven't gotten any inks or dies yet, so for now these are a work in progress.  I am not as happy with the etching because I would have rather just had the key and not the nearby designs from the die on the piece.  If anyone knows a way to keep that from happening I would love to learn!

Well,  I went back to school and started learning all about working with metals, how to emboss and etch.  Now I have to go further and learn to use inks and patinas to make my work come to life.  Week 4 of the Jewelry Making Mojo challenge is all about making my own findings.  Eeeek!!!!  I've never made any so that will be a challenge!!  See you soon!