Flower Headpin Earring Tutorial

I've been making these cute flower headpins for a while now, and while I love to make beads and components, I rarely make jewelry anymore.  I decided I wanted to write a tutorial for something you could make with these!

So of course it took me a while to come up with something, but I really like what I made!  Here is your supply list:

•  pliers
• chainnose pliers
• roundnose pliers
• cutters 

You'll also need the following components:
 

• glass flower headpin
• glass lampwork spacer bead
• czech picasso bead in blue
• copper round
• copper or brass filigree beadcap

First, add the filigree beadcap onto the headpin.  The beadcap is round and this headpin is not, so you'll need to manipulate the beadcap to fit onto the glass part of the headpin.  It's rather simple to do - just use your pliers to gently bend the beadcap onto the glass flower, and then when you've got it going, use your fingers to finish the job! Don't bend too hard with the pliers or you'll mar the beadcap.

Here's what it looks like bent over.  Then the rest is simple - string the beads onto the copper headpin with the lampwork spacer first, then the czech bead, and then the copper round.

Finally, make a wrapped look and add your ear wires and you're done!  I quite like these earrings, they are very summery and nice and solid without being too weighty.

You can find the flower headpins in my etsy store, SueBeads.  I hope you enjoyed this tutorial!

Susan Kennedy

Art dolls and Doll Maintenance

As I have been increasingly busy with studying for my insurance licensing exams, I haven't really been making much lately.  It's kind of hard to read the material and click through the online course work if my hands are full of fun colors/textures/materials.  At times like, I often get introspective about my own creative work - since I'm not creating it's an interesting exercise to look at older pieces and reevaluate.  Since I've been on a doll kick lately, I thought it might be fun to share some of my past and present art dolls, along with some more creative doll things!

I've been making dolls since I can remember - fabric, polymer clay, weeds, yarn, and anything else I could find got made into doll.  In highschool and college polymer clay and fabric were my medium of choice.  I was also fortunate enough to take some classes with doll making guru, Susannah Oroyan - If you make or are interested in making dolls, her books need to be a part of your collection.  I made these two cloth dolls back in college.  The bodies are ultrasuede with bead and fabric embellishment.  Now, the mermaid is unfinished and the dragonfly fairy man needs some repair, but in looking at them, I feel like they're too simple and flimsy.  I want more substance, both physical and visual now. 

These are all much more recent, and are all WIP's as well.  The mermaid is a more traditional cloth doll with wire armature, but I consider everybody else mixed media.  In the last several years I've been having a lot of fun combining unusual materials with beads to create dolls that are an amalgam of textures, materials, techniques and ideas.  It's really interesting to see how my approach has changed since college, isn't it?

When I need a small study break, I'm still working on projects and clothing for the ball joint and other dolls.  Check out all this mohair for making doll wigs!  I'm investigating different techniques so that I know what to do when I finally have time to get to making.  Do I want to make sew wefts from the fiber and stitch them to a wig cap?  Do I want to make glue wefts and try a hardcap wig?  Or do I cut the hair-on fiber to make a hide wig?  There are too many choices...and that's not even considering these delicious colors I have to work with. 

I've also been attempting some dolly maintenance.  Remember how I mentioned that ball joint dolls are really just a series of interlocking beads?  I needed to clean a couple of dolls for general maintenance and in preparation for doing their "faceup"s, so I thought you might be interested in seeing the individual body "beads" and how they all fit together.  I wiped their paint off, and gave them a thorough spa treatment in a tub of warm water with a little bit of dish soap.  It's impossible to see in the photos, but the cleaning made a huge difference in the mobility of the joints, and I was even able to remove some darker marks with a magic eraser.  I had recently restrung the larger doll, so I will be able to reuse his elastic when he's ready to be restrung.  The little doll however...I had to order new elastic for her, so I'll have to get her put back together later.

As I have these two ball joint dolls disassembled, i was able to investigate the joint structures a bit further.  When I had a little bit of free time on Sunday, and since I've made polymer clay dolls before, I thought I'd wing it and attempt to make my own ball joint doll.  Here are the steps, as far as I got - foil armature, covering the head ball with clay, creating the headcap and neck openings, covering the body with clay, creation of shoulder and hip socket joints.  It was at this point I realized that there is WAY more involved as far as engineering goes when it comes to creating a doll like this.  What I mean to say is, I already knew this...but sometimes I just have to try something anyway.  I mean, what's the worst that can happen?  I get part way through, realize it's just NOT going my way, and end up with a squished up doll...so, yeah, now I have a ball of nice copper clay that's conditioned...

I think I'll go back to my WIP dolls and retry some simpler construction next time I try the polymer clay.  So this is what has been rattling around in my brain as I take breaks from my study material.  I know the summer is crazy for a lot of people - how do you keep the creative spark flowing, even when you can't create?

Creative Interlude

We pause from our regularly scheduled schedule... to bring you a creative interlude. Diana - scheduled to post today - is in the midst of relocating to Rochester NY! This is her world view right now:

Dianas view: boxes and cats

We hear everyone is settling in nicely and Diana will be back ASAP with news and posts!  

So  Jenny here! <waves> I have a creative interlude planned today with Marsha - wanna come along? Not a full play date but a coffee talk catch up....

Umm, yes. Exactly. My fav small local coffee shop! 

OK - I have to say - I had not seen Marsha  ( of Marsha Neal Studio) in FAR too long. Crazy summer schedules, some medical stuff that had her out of commission... So we were way overdue for a catch up. Why is this worth a whole blog post you ask? 

There is a contact high, for lack of a better term, when hanging out with a fellow creative mind. And when you are both fast paced personalities - it can be quite a rush. I always leave Marsha's presence invigorated and inspired! Her kids, and their cousins were thundering away upstairs, so amidst their peals of laughter we took our beverages down to her creative lair... 

Peeves the cat takes refuge under the slab roller in the ceramic studio. 

I love seeing other artist's workspaces. I also love arranging and organizing... so I am always alert for ideas on space and function. I was aware of some changes Marsha was making... and have been a sounding board in the past for her space changes and growing patterns. Riding the creative wave that was Bead and Button for her, she was making room for NEW things... so I was eager to see the "new" space. The metals kiln out of storage! Enamels on the ready...

Metal, enamel and kilns - oh my! 

Secret stash of metal clay! 

Just seeing this makes my fingers itch! I had my introductory lessons in metal clay with Lesley and Karen last summer ( recap here). I confess - I haven't touched it since. I have the clay, the tools, and access to a kiln at work. But being able to talk it all out with Marsha - and urge each other on? Priceless. 

Inspiration is everywhere! 

See? Just looking around a fellow artists space - delicious! And then there was discussion of new ideas! New materials! New techniques! Oh heavens!

Up next on Marsha's horizon... 

On my side of things - I DID have show and tell. Marsha works at Sarafina Fiber Arts, and enabled me with my fiber needs. I took a day "off" on a Sunday a few weeks ago... More on that in MY next post. Stay tuned.

My show and tell - since she introduced me to felt... 

On top of it all - the weather was summer! Not crazy hot, not brain melting humidity. As a non plant person I revel in her garden.

See? Inspiration IS everywhere. And I left with three cucumbers! 

I hope you enjoyed this creative interlude - I sure did. Three hours later we regretted we hadn't planned lunch! I hope you all get creative, energetic time with friends this week!

Rut or Obsession

What do all of these pieces have in common? I suppose I need to give you a bit of a background story first. Back in 2011 Kerrie Slade purchased 1700 grams of same color seed beads with the intent to use only them for an entire year. I thought at first this was a crazy idea but when I saw the color I was instantly hooked.

Toho 176b is what she purchased. They are a trans rainbow grey but let me tell you they are pure joy to me. She only used them when creating her pieces and they are stunning creations. These are just some of my favorites.

What I found is that while they are stunning on their own they make the perfect accent bead as well. I have paired them with and other greys to make pieces like this.

I have paired them with a blues and they really bring out the colors.

I can pair them with darker beads and they add that pop of color.

And when I am in a rut and have no inspiration I pull them out and then this happens.

I have also found that the whole line of Toho 176 which includes matte and transparent that makes a truly stunning piece like this.

I have also found when I am shopping for beads I am drawn to any bead that would pair with these beauties. So would you call it a rut or obsession? Do you have a favorite bead color one you just gravitate towards? Tell me about it.