Repurposing: anguish and anticipation

( Warning: the contents of this post may be shocking to some. Beader discretion is advised. Please note: no beads were harmed in preparation for this post.) 

Last week in the ceramic studio a friend and colleague uttered the fateful words:"Jenny, I have something for you..." I was at once intrigued and cautiously optimistic. She described a necklace, large, a multi-strand that had fallen out of favor in her jewelry hierarchy. It never gets worn, she confessed. And she would hate to donate it to a charity... Perhaps you could use it, repurpose it somehow. My interest grows. She tells me its filled with little carved animals... Oh! Can it be? Carved fetish* beads? YES! I, no exaggeration, had a little prickle up my spine.

Before. In all its beauty..

A close up of the critters, the multi-strand component and the sterling cones/clasp. 

I offered to remake it for her, or to make her something in keeping with her current more casual style.  ( Because then I could adopt the left overs...) No, she said. Its all yours. I knew from her first mention that I was going to cut it apart. And yet. 

It was a lovely piece. 5 strands of fetish animal beads strung with horn heishi, I believe. Turquoise animals served as connectors, and a turquoise hawk focal. And there was NOTHING wrong with it. No loose threads, no broken clasp... I did have a moments pause. As if I was doing the unthinkable. Someone was going to catch me... But the anxiety was quickly over... 

 Oh heavens! The carnage... 

Stampede! No seriously - there are many foxes. Average length is 1". 

The materials sorted. One purple animal! Random... 

That'a a plentiful pile of animals, a plethora, a pack, a herd, a sloth (bears), a skulk (foxes), a rout (wolves)... Sorry. I digress. (Sidetracked at Oxford, with coffee.)

I look forward to using these pieces in mixed media necklaces, in bead embroidery... their small size inspires me to use them in combination with other diverse materials. To take them far from their original context. And I think I am compelled to make a piece for my friend. She may not even wear it, but its good karma, you know? 

I asked my team mates for a few "After" pix - things they had repurposed as I am still pondering and planning.

Lesley shares this necklace from a former Bead Soup Blog Party. The pendant is from a brooch that was her mother's. The clasp is a vintage piece, repurposed as well. 

Melissa loved this pearl, but not its original setting. So when the bezel broke... she was thrilled to design this piece. She wears it often!

Linda pulled this chain of a handbag! The bag - still in use as a clutch. It has a great patina.

Kristen did bead weaving ( bead wove?) these pearls from her mother into a bracelet. 

Keirsten took apart an imported metal necklace and showcased the pendant with pearls.  Adds the luscious pearl luster, and makes the pendant really a focal. 

Thanks to my team mates for the eye candy! I Know I am in good company repurposing a piece of jewelry. I would love to hear your tales, and I wonder - did anyone else feel a twinge of anxiety? Or just the beading anticipation? 

Until later! 

Jenny
www.jdaviesreazor.com

* Zuni fetishes are small animals carved from gemstones. They are associated with Zuni Pueblo in NM. Here are a few links if you are interested in more information: 

Overview article 

How they are made. 

Types of fetishes

Animal symbolism

Crimps

If you’d have asked me a couple of months ago how I felt about crimps, I could have spent a good 10 minutes telling you how much I hated them. But needing to use a strong thread for a bracelet I wanted to make with heavy beads with tiny holes, I couldn’t see an alternative, so I decided to give them another go. This time, something just clicked and now I love them! 

There’s a bit of a knack to them, you might already know, but I’m going to share what I found for anyone who doesn’t!

For my post today, I’m going to make a necklace and pendant.

To start, you will need some crimping pliers. They have a double tip with a curved crimp section and a section with a little spike in.

You will also need beads of your choice, wire, crimps and crimp covers. I found some beautiful rose gold plated covers. They are a great colour to match with copper and bronze.

Choose the components you want to add to the pendant. The stringing material I’ve used is Beadalon 7 strand wire. It’s 0.6mm and I’ve found it will fit most beads without any problems. 
I added jump rings to the glass drops and threaded them on to the wire, formed a loop and added a bead and crimp through both strands. I’ve found it’s better to leave loops and connections a little bit loose. It makes the design sit better and some of the gap will be filled when you add a crimp cover. 

For the first squish of the pliers, you need to use the section with the little spike in. Position the wires so that they sit side by side through the crimp.

Then squish it flat. You don’t need to do this very hard, and I found after destroying quite a few that you are better to crimp just hard enough to hold the wire in place. If you squeeze too hard, the crimp will break in the next step. I wasn’t sure if it would hold, but it does as the wire is plastic coated which helps to hold it in place. 

Next turn the wire as shown in the picture below and use the curved section of the pliers to fold the crimp in half. Trim leaving as small a tail as you can, this will be tucked away in the next step.

Next is the crimp cover. I disliked these as much as the crimps, they always squashed and ended up out of shape, but again, go in gently and they'll look great. Position it over the crimp, then with some long nosed pliers, carefully squeeze going around the crimp on opposite sides until the two edges meet.

Thread your beads on to the pendant. As my beads had large holes, the seed beads disappeared in to the holes, so I added enough so that they just sat above the beads. 

Next add a crimp, then more seed beads. Form a loop with the wire and pass it back through the crimp. 

Finish as before, trimming and adding a cover to complete the pendant.

To make the necklace, I added a button clasp on one side of a length of multi strand wire using crimps, added seed and Czech glass beads and the pendant, then finished with a loop of seed beads large enough to go over the button on the other side.

The finished design is strong and neatly finished.

I’ve always been nervous about the strength of thread I’ve used with seed beads, but using the wire, I feel happier that my designs will last. Crimps are my new best friend!

Caroline 

http://www.blueberribeads.co.uk

You 'LIKE' us!

The Art Jewelry Elements blog debuted just over two years ago and we are so excited and grateful you all are along for the ride! To supplement the blog and interact with you, our community, we also have a Facebook Page.

As we got closer to 1000 likes on the AJE Facebook Page, the team decided to do something big to celebrate reaching 1000 likes. What do we do for the best community on the planet? We have a giveaway, that's what. Not just one giveaway, but SEVEN giveaways, one for each day of the week. But it gets better! The winner for each day will win two of the art jewelry elements pictured below made by two different AJE contributors....

And guess what! We hit 1000 likes on Monday June 9th.

The details:

• The giveaways start on Monday June 16th.

• The giveaways runs 7 days with a different prize of 2 art jewelry elements each day.  

• Each day of the contest will feature something from two different AJE contributors 

• For a chance to win that day's prize leave a comment on each day's blog post AND MAKE SURE YOU LEAVE AN EMAIL FOR US TO CONTACT YOU!

•  We will draw a winner daily, so don't forget to comment each day. 

•  ALL winners will be announced at the end of the week. 

• This giveaway is open to anyone living on planet Earth.

• Each person is eligible to win once. Unless you're on the AJE team. Then you cannot win any of the days. Sorry. I want to win too and I'm pretty sure I have the power to rig it. No one (except maybe me) should wield that kind of power.  

GOOD LUCK!!!

Jen Cameron

Glass Addictions

Tutorial - Button Mold

One of my fellow AJE team members wanted to know how I make my button molds so I thought I would share how I do it with you too!  This is just a culmination of my experience - yours may be different and you may make yours totally differently than I do and that's ok - there's lots of ways to do lots of things!

Supplies needed:

Two-part silicone mold making putty
Ceramic Tile
Plastic Measuring Spoons
Buttons

Tip - make sure you have all your supplies together before you begin.  Once you mix the putty, you only have a certain amount of time before the putty sets.  The putty is not inexpensive so you don't want to waste it!
 
First, start off with a button.  Or two.  Or heck, just a whole pile if you want!  Tip - choose a button that has a nice curve to it.

 Tip - to measure the silicone putty, I like to use inexpensive plastic measuring spoons I purchased at the grocery store. Mark them for the two colors of your putty - here, I used a silver sharpie to mark W for white and P for purple.  This way, you won't contaminate your two colors before you mix them.

 I have no idea where I purchased this silicone putty - I wish I could remember.  It was a long time ago.  Which is also a testament to how long this particular putty lasts and still works. I have heard that Michael's now sells less-expensive two-part silicone putty, but I haven't tried it so I have no idea how it works.  If you really want good, high-quality molds, I recommend buying high-quality putty even though it's more expensive, especially if you plan on using the molds many times.

 Measure out your two colors of putty in the measuring spoons to ensure you get an even amount of each color.  This helps the chemical reaction that occurs when you mix your putty work correctly.  Tip - use a larger measure of putty than the button you are pressing.  Remember, you are going to be pressing the button down and need enough putty to make it work!

 Put the two pieces of putty together on a piece of ceramic tile.  Tip - This is to protect any surfaces you may be mixing on, and to keep the putty clean.

 I like to tear the putty blob in half, put it back together, and tear again several times in this way to begin the mixing process.

 Here's what it looks like after several tears - keep doing this, and begin to smoosh (yes, technical word) the colors together, blending them until you can see no white left.

 Here's how it looks after blending.  Note you can't see any white in the mix.

 I then like to form a ball with the putty by rolling it in my hands, just like rolling cookie dough!

 I put it flat on the tile, and then just very gently smoosh (there's that technical word again) it down so it becomes a little bit flat.

 Then, I position my button on top of the putty in the center before I push it down.  Tip - if you don't like the position of your button, just roll the putty and start again.  But remember, you only have a certain amount of time before the putty sets.

 Here's a photo of the button pushed down into the putty.  You're just going to have to get the feel for how far to push the button down - you can't push it too far down or it will be too thin on the bottom.
Push with an even pressure on the button.

 Now to wait.  You must wait the prescribed amount of time for your putty to set.  This is a good time to go wash your hands, as you have chemicals from the silicone putty mold on them.  Tip - use the very edge of your fingernail to gently push into the side of the mold.  If the silicone does not retain the fingernail mark, it is ready to unmold.

Once you've waited the required amount of time, take your mold (button and all) off the tile and gently twist the mold to the side to release the button.  There should be no rips or distortion if you waited the correct length of time.  If you are in doubt, just wait longer!

 And here's what your button mold will look like!  I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and that it helped you if you are having difficulties getting your button molds just right!

Susan Kennedy
SueBeads Etsy
SueBeads Web Site