Creating for Cosplay

It's no secret.  I love cosplay.  This weekend I'll be heading out to The Steampunk World's Fair for three days of creative cosplay fun!  I don't sew but I do enjoy making the jewelry for my costumes.  For this years SPWF, I've made the jewelry for two of my three outfits.

Necklace for the butterfly collector cosplay

I've been hanging on to this fabulous metal and resin butterfly pendant by Lynn Davis for several years.  Well, I'm bringing back and revamping my butterfly collector costume this year so I finally had the inspiration to work with this piece.  I added some citrine, coral, carnelian and Vintaj charms and chain to complete this necklace.  It will also look great paired with the leather butterfly cuff that Lindsay posted about yesterday!

Fit for a mermaid

The other outfit I needed jewelry for was my ocean/mermaid-inspired steampunk cosplay.  

Fabulous enamel focal by Gardanne Beads

I knew when I saw this enameled seashell in Anne's booth that I had to have it.  It matched portions of my costume perfectly!  I paired it with some porcelain Suburban Girl seashell charms, Swarovski pearls, faux coral branches and aquamarine rondelles.  

In addition to using art beads for my cosplay, I also like to spread the love by introducing art beads to people who might not know about them.  In 2013, I started hosting the trinket swap at SPWF.  Participants create steampunk-inspired wearable trinkets that we swap with one another.  The first year I created wearable porcelain gears.  Last year I made stoneware keyhole pendants.

Stoneware Keyhole Pendants

This year I decided that mustaches would be my theme.  

Porcelain greenware mustache charms

I found a 3-D printing service and had them create some mustache cutters in an assortment of sizes.  I thought the tiny size was the best fit for my trinkets so I made about 25 in porcelain.

Glazed but un-fired porcelain mustaches

These charms were glazed but un-fired at the time I wrote this post but I should be unloading them from the kiln sometime today.  After I inspect them, I'll add a jump ring and put them on a ball chain.  

I'm looking forward to swapping them on Saturday AND to introducing more people to the wonderful world of art beads!

Happy Beading!

Folklore Friday - Butterflies.

Twig the Fairy

So - Spring has finally sprung here in the Mid-Atlantic. In fact we have had a few days that positively feel like summer is approaching! I, for one, relish Spring. Windows open to birdsong and breezes, enjoying sun on my face, flowers emerging... and all too soon it will be hot humid summer days. I still have flowers to plant, and dogs to walk. 

I have spent the last two weekends at Faerie Festivals, both attending and exhibiting. It seems natural to have wings on my mind...

Butterflies in folklore

The butterfly is a symbol of transformation across the globe. The results of the process from caterpillar to butterfly, wings unfurling, flying free - are radical indeed. The butterfly can be read as a symbol of faith as well - to keep faith during trials and changes. 

Butterflies are fragile and delicate, yet seem imbued with strength as well - to change, to be blown about and still right oneself. They can be seen as symbols of freedom as well - leaving the cocoon to escape and go where they choose. After the long period in the cocoon - butterflies can be a symbol of rebirth and/or resurrection. 

1 &4: Lesley at THEAtoo. 2: Jo at Daisychainextra. 3 & 6: Jenny at jdaviesreazor. 5: Melissa at MelismaticArthewelry.

Butterflies in mythology: 

• The ancient Greeks and Romans also held butterflies in metaphysical regard. The philosopher Aristotle named the butterfly Psyche, which is the Greek word that means “soul.” The myth of Psyche is one of love, trust, love lost, labors, love restored. (She was married to Cupid. Venus is a tough Mother in Law...)

• In ancient Rome, butterflies appeared ondenarii coins, to the left of the head of Juno, goddess of weddings and marriage.

• According to 
Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things, by Lafcadio Hearn, a butterfly was seen in Japan as the personification of a person's soul; whether they be living, dying, or already dead. One Japanese superstition says that if a butterfly enters your guestroom and perches behind the bamboo screen, the person whom you most love is coming to see you. However, large numbers of butterflies are viewed as bad omens.

• Irish folklore holds that the butterfly is related to the very soul of a human being. It’s considered bad luck to kill a white butterfly, because those hold the souls of deceased children. This association with butterflies as souls of the departed continues on to Cornwall as well. 

• The Russian word for "butterfly", бабочка (
bábochka), also means "bow tie". It is a diminutive of "baba" or "babka" (= "woman, grandmother, cake"), whence also "babushka" = "grandmother".

• Native American tribes had a number of legends concerning the butterfly. The Tohono O'odham tribe of the American Southwest believed that the butterfly would carry wishes and prayers to the Great Spirit. To do this, one must first catch a butterfly without harming it, and then whisper secrets to the butterfly. Because a butterfly cannot speak, the only one who will know the prayers that the butterfly carries will be the Great Spirit himself. According to folklore, a wish given to a butterfly is always granted, in exchange for setting the butterfly free.

• The Zuni people saw butterflies as indicators of weather to come. White butterflies meant the summer weather was about to begin - but if the first butterfly seen was dark, that meant a long stormy summer. Yellow butterflies, as you might suspect, hinted at a bright sunny summer season.

• Chinese culture regards the butterfly as a symbol of immortality, and conjugal bliss. When seen with a chrysanthemum, it symbolizes beauty in old age; and if seen with a plum, it symbolizes long life.

• In Taoism the butterfly has come to represent Zhuangzi, a Taoist philosopher. Zhuangzi once had a dream of being a butterfly flying without care about humanity, however when he woke up and realised it was just a dream, he thought to himself "Was I before a man who dreamt about being a butterfly, or am I now a butterfly who dreams about being a man?" Hence the butterfly is emblem of joy. It is also a symbol of summer.

Clockwise from top left:Slate Studios,  Skye Jewels, Marsha Neal Studio, Green Girl Studio, Silver Sage, Anne Gardanne

I hope this finds you enjoying the weather! I would love to hear if my folklore musings spark any ideas, if the Muse flits in on butterfly wings... 

Jenny

www.jdaviesreazor.com

Resources: 

• Insects.org
• The myth of Psyche
• Chinese cultural symbols 

Spring organisation - and some butterflies!

Spring has finally sprung over here in the UK! We're actually having beautiful weather for the time of year, probably nature's way of making up for all the rain we've had over the last year, and even better the forecast says that the weather is due to continue over the Bank Holiday weekend this weekend (we get Monday off for May Day) - although my apologies in advance to our UK readers if I have now jinxed the weather and your planned BBQ gets rained off!

handmade copper beeheart round headpins by KristiBowmanDesign

Spring has also brought out the bulbs in the gardens and the park we walk through on the way to my eldest son's school, and the trees are now suddenly coated in beautiful greens. I even saw a couple of early butterflies in our garden this morning, much to our kittens excitement, and some bees busy pollinating the flowers too - don't worry, they didn't catch them!

bronze patinaed butterfly focal by TheaToo

Spring always makes me look afresh at everything in my life. Everything always looks so much better in the sunshine with the birds singing, and I get renewed energy to organise and generally make my life (and my family's life!) brighter and run smoother. One of the changes that I have made this week to make my Daisychain Extra etsy shop run more efficiently is to change it from a "made-to-order" shop to one where everything listed is ready to ship out. It means that when you put an order in you can be certain that everything will be posted out to you within 2 working days, often that same day, and it also means that I can make batches of designs rather than one or two of a design at a time to fill and order - far more efficient! It has already allowed me the time to create some new clasps that I have had sketched out for a couple of months, and I will have regular shop updates every 10 days or so with new stock and new designs.

oxidised copper butterfly hook clasp by DaisychainExtra

So, I'd like to know what changes Spring makes in your life - do the changes you see around you in nature give you new energy and new inspiration for your jewellery making? Have you made changes in the way you work as I have? And while you're thinking about that I hope that you will enjoy the butterflies and bees I've found in the AJE team members shops!

rainbow stained glass faceted polymer clay beads by TreeWingStudio - these remind me of butterfly wings!

Fly Away

Sweet freedom whispered in my ear 
You're a butterfly 
And butterflies are free to fly 

Fly away, high away, bye bye 

Elton John

On May  3rd and 4th I will be helping fellow AJE team member, Kristi Bowman, with her booth at the Whole Bead Show in Lynnwood, WA. I'm looking forward to spending a couple of days with Kristi and getting a behind the scenes view of what it is like to be a vendor at a bead show.

In preparation, I have been making some jewelry to wear to the show, using Kristi's metal clay components.  I took pictures of each step of the design, so I could share my thinking, as it developed during the process. I began with Kristi's bronze clay butterfly.  I've been hoarding this for awhile, so it was time to put this little beauty to use.

My first step is the jewelry design equivalent of brainstorming.  Anything goes.  I think freely and creatively at this point and pull out all the beads that could conceivably be used in the design.  In this instance I wanted a peach and turquoise necklace.  Here's my brainstorm pile of possibilities.

I bought the burnt orange leather cording on the way home from work yesterday.  Unfortunately, it was only available in a 1 mm size and I was worried it might be too thick.

My fears were well founded.  Only the large turquoise beads fit on the leather.  Drat! After some thought, I figured I could string about 5-6 inches of beads on either side of the butterfly, using brass colored stringing wire.  Then I could use the rust orange leather to complete the back of the necklace.

So with this new plan in mind, I started editing my beads and organizing them.  I was looking for beads whose size would be proportional to the fairly small butterfly pendant.  I also wanted a variety of shapes and textures. I chose oblong, textured turquoise beads and round peach beads that are part opaque and part  translucent.  I added some light peach teardrop shaped beads that create a zig-zag pattern and some slightly darker turquoise cube shaped beads.

I decided I wanted some dangles on either side of the pendant, so I threaded some beads onto ball end brass head pins and laid them out by jump rings that I attached to each wing.

At this point I had some tentative designs floating through my head, so it was time to get started.  I attached the dangles to the jump rings and crimped on my stringing wire,

I came up with two possible designs and strung them both to see which I liked best.  I chose the one on the left, although, in the end, I tweaked it again.  Once I decided on the final version, I strung both sides to match.

Then it was time to add the leather.  I tied largish loops on the ends of the leather and made a small loop of the stringing wire around the leather.  I crimped the stringing wire and covered the crimps with crimp covers. On the other end, I tied knots as close to the ends of the leather as possible and then glued the leather inside the brass bead caps.  I added the clasp on one side and a short chain on the other side, so the necklace would be adjustable.  I made a little dangle to decorate the end of the chain.

Now I'm all ready to help Kristi at the show.  Well....not quite ready.  I still need earrings.  Come back to the AJE blog on Sunday for our earring reveal blog hop.  I'm making earrings to accompany my new necklace!