Art Bead Scene Monthly Challenge

This is the Ice Storm necklace I created for the Art Bead Scene's January challenge. I used beads by Elaine Ray including a tree medallion for the center. The words 'ice storm' make me think of the giant pecan tree that shades our home. It is sheltering from the summer sun but in the winter, with a dangerous glaze of ice it seems to tower with a glittering menace. If that tree fell, it would smash our small house into ruins. I made this necklace a bit menacing with daggers of crystal quartz and a small vial of rock salt to protect the wearer from danger. I used flat shell beads along the neck like worn shingles and added some dangles with ceramic snowflakes and drops of water. Originally I was going to incorporate a hand-made sterling bezel by Susan Lenart-Kazmer with the number '32' inside but I messed it up first with Diamond Glaze and then with Amazing Glaze. Since I usually tell folks those are fool proof I may have to reset my ideas. If you know how to get dried Diamond Glaze out of a bezel, please let me know.

I wonder who will win the challenge. Whether I win or not, it was fun working with a theme and a deadline.

Weekly Project - Filigree Bracelet

We have added some new filigree pieces to the site in anticipation of my book. I was all prepped to write about these new pieces of filigree plus tell you how to make this bracelet and what comes in today from the UPS driver but the final proof of the book. Beading With Filigree. It's real and kinda crazy. There is my name, big and bold on the title page. All the photos look great. I can hardly believe that I made all this jewelry. How did that happen?

So, anyway, back to our regularly scheduled project of the week:

To make this linked filigree bracelet you will need
12 glass beads, 6 mm (we used fire polished Czech glass)
5 antique copper filigree dapped squares
2 antique copper two-strand end bars
2 antique copper jump rings, 9 mm
4 antique copper jump rings, 7 mm
1 antique copper S-hook closure, 19 mm size
12 inches copper craft wire, 20 gauge

You will also need wire cutters, two pairs of chain nose pliers and a pair of round nose pliers.

With your round nose pliers loop all of the glass beads. Set aside.

With your chain nose pliers gently open one of the 9 mm jump rings. Thread it through the single loop on one of the endbars. Feed the hook onto this jump ring and close securely. Attach remaining 9 mm jump ring to the remaining endbar.

Use your chain nose pliers to gently open the loop on the end of one of the glass beads. Thread the loop through the side of one of the pieces of filigree. Close securely. Repeat to attach all five pieces of filigree to one another in a line as shown.

Use your chain nose pliers to open a 7 mm jump ring. Thread it through a looped bead at the end of the lined up filigree pieces. Attach to one of the endbars. Close securely and repeat with remaining jump rings to attach the other endbar.

You could easily turn this into a choker by adding more squares.

This project is not in the book. There are 30+ more, though. We'll be adding new styles of filigree to the website and the stores all this spring so that you can make all the projects. We have so many more findings in the stores than we do on the website, that is going to be a big bit of work. Like the endbars used in this bracelet, they are in the stores but not up yet on the site. It is really a full time plus job to add new items to the site and Sandy works her tail off as it is. I sorta-kinda-almost understand how to do all that HTML stuff but not enough to be useful in any way at all. It is really interesting to me but I just don't have the time to really learn it right now especially when I have several folks who really know what they are doing and so can do it 1,000 times faster than I could.

What I do have to do, what I have to make time for right now, is to look over those final proofs. The last set had two pieces of jewelry photographed backwards so this bit of checking is important. Sadly, this is not a strong suit of mine AT ALL. Spell checking, fact checking, my brain freezes up when I try to concentrate on those things. In second grade when I kept messing up on my spelling tests I actually told the teacher that I didn't need to learn how to spell because one day when I was a grown up I would have a secretary to spell things for me. The funny part of that is that I was a second grader in 1975. Little girls in 1975 didn't grow up to have secretaries, they grew up to be secretaries. Now we all have Microsoft Word so even administrative assistants don't have to know how to spell. I still am not the best at noticing printing errors. I may need to go get a cup of fancy coffee.

Soldered Ring Cuff

This is the project for the Metals Club at Ornamentea this month. It was created by Tiffany Price, a fabulous artiste who is one of those annoying people who does a million things really well and always looks great, too. She'll be showing folks how to make the cuff at the meeting. The Metals Club meets every month and they take turns showing each other how to make projects or do different techniques.

If you have a bead store and don't have any clubs, I suggest you start some. We have a Beadweaving Club, an Altered Book club and the Metals Club. Many of our staff are 'members', plus the customers come to the meetings. Technically, these clubs are supposed to be for the customers but since we all work at bead stores because we are interested in playing with the merchandise we get to come, too. Each club gives us a chance to try things and get feedback from folks who are interested in specific techniques or types of work. When my girls are a bit older and I can be absent more easily from bedtimes I will start attending the clubs more regularly. I wish I could make this cuff!