Using Jewelry Components in Non-Jewelry Work

One of my goals for 2016 involved learning mixed media techniques outside of the realm of jewelry. To accomplish this goal, I signed up for the yearlong class called Wanderlust because the price was right (I signed up early enough to get a discount) and it didn't feel too new age-y to me (I don't do new age-y stuff...it's just not for me). Plus, with all the classes able to be downloaded and saved forever, lots of teaching about products, and all the different teachers sharing their style of art, it sounded like a great class for a clueless beginner. 

I don't know about you, but whenever I sign up for an online class, I have the best of intentions. However, when it comes down to it, I never actually do the class. Sigh. So much wasted money over the years. I decided I would NOT let that happen this time. And I've done ok. Not stellar, but I've watched every video put out so far, and done a couple of the exercises. I'm finding that my lack of supplies is seriously hindering me. I didn't even have the basics like paint, gesso, or really anything except lots of papers, some found objects, and a few other random bits and pieces.

I guess that is why I latched onto the tutorial by Finnabair. I had the canvas, paper, and the bits and pieces to glue to the canvas. I did have to pick up a few other supplies. I started by making the base layer on the canvas. While that dried, I gathered random found objects, broken jewelry pieces, old toys, etc. Realizing I really didn't have enough stuff, I started gathering bits from my bead boxes. After realizing that STILL wasn't enough, I thought of using rejected beads, seconds from other artists, etc. 

How many of you have a box of beads or components that you were going to use, then forgot, etc and now it's like "why did I even buy (or make) this thing?" Or maybe you made something you think is a little on the wonky side? Those are good candidates for a project like this because they are painted in black gesso, you never see them after the gesso step and everything gets tied together. 

Let's take a tour of what I used before I paint over it. 

First up you can see my focal in the lower left of the photo with the old pocket watch innards with other pieces attached to it. If you look at the pencil to the right, above it is a bead I really love, but the bead release got stuck to the end making it unusable. I thought it might add some interesting texture, so I glued it on.

In the photo below, the filigree flowers are from a mangled necklace I got at a flea market. The brass heart is from a bead shop now out of business, and the flattened penny from a vacation on the North Carolina Outer Banks almost 6 years ago. 

The black ceramic piece is a shank button made by Lisa Peters. It was considered "seconds" and Lisa was offering them up for things like mosaics. The texture is great, so I added it into the canvas. 

The below compass is a Tim Holtz collection piece. The glass ball in the center was a headpin until I mangled it and had to cut off the wire. Now it is glued in place. 

In the next photo you can see a Vintaj butterfly, a piece of cork from a bottle of wine we drank, another Lisa Peters Art ceramic piece, and lots of found objects. 

I thought the most difficult part would be finding enough fun stuff to add to the canvas to create a good texture and interesting composition. But no. That was NOT the most difficult part. The hardest part was painting over all that stuff, which was super scary. 

I happened to start this project on my 23rd wedding anniversary weekend, so I incorporated several items which symbolize something about our lives together. 

I wanted to have this piece completely finished before I wrote about it here, but the truth is, I don't have the correct types of paint to start adding color. However, I do have  mica powder now and will try to make my own. And honestly, at this point, it feels like a toddler's glued pasta picture. We'll see if it gets any better. But even if it doesn't, it's been a learning experience for sure and I found a new way to use jewelry components and beads. 

Have you used jewelry components in work OTHER than jewelry? What was it? How did it turn out? Share a link if you have one for it so we can all see it too. 

Finding and Breaking Down Patterns for Inspiration

At the end of last year, I signed up for a year-long mixed media class called Wanderlust. One of the techniques taught so far is Zentangle. The same weekend I was practicing my first tangles, we went to the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto (during the COLDEST weekend of the winter thus far. BRRR!). 

Because I had been practicing Zentangles during down time in the hotel room, I was particularly tuned into patterns while we were at the museum. We spent the majority of our time in the Made in China: Cultural Encounters in Export Art exhibit. Other than the dinosaur photo above, every picture I took was mostly about pattern. These are just a few examples:

The plan was to draw them into a pattern of some kind to keep for future reference and inspiration. I decided to play with the photo below first.

On my first attempt, I tried keeping the branches, but it just looked blah. So then I just focused on the flowers. I did practice these a few times in a few different ways before doing my final pattern stepped out for you below to use if you want to try it. 

Step 1- Top Left: Draw a few random circles spread out. These circles will remain on top of the stack of circles. Add the pattern to the interior of the circles.

Step 2 - Top Right: Draw partial circles peeking out from behind the full circles you drew first. 

Step 3 - Bottom Left: Continue drawing more partial circles, add more full circles (that are top of the stack) as needed and fill in. Draw the interior circle patterns. You can leave it like this if you want. 

Optional Step 4 - Bottom Right: Start shading. The pattern is lovely on its own, but shading gives it so much more depth and interest in the sketchbook format. You can use a regular #2 pencil or if you have graphite drawing pencils, this is a good time to play with those. You will also want to use a tortillon. For this pattern, I start by shading a shadow cast down from all the top circles onto the bottom circles. In this photo, I've started shading the last half, leaving the right half alone. 

Option Step 5: After creating a shadow under all the top circles, I decided it needed more. So I imagined a light coming from the top left side, and shaded the bottom right of the circles. 

This is my final product. I have a Pogo printer (similar to this) that I will print out a photo of the original inspiration. It's a sticker, so then I will just stick it to the top of the page where there is a blank space.

I use a small 5.5" x 8" sketchbook to play with markers for tangling or for watercolor markers, etc. It isn't really meant for water, but this book isn't precious, so it isn't a big deal if I destroy a few pages playing with marker techniques and patterns, etc.

Here are a couple tangles I've tried from a book I have. You can see where it's hardly professional quality. I'm just playing with it to see how it feels and how it works:

You can try this technique with any pattern you find that you think is interesting. You can find pattern in so many places if you pay attention. It can be in nature, fabrics, buildings, art, jewelry, and so much more.