Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Challenge #14 - Twined Spokes


This is my final challenge for the month and it is twined spokes from a project in Mary Hettmansperger's Book "Fabulous Woven Jewelry". The materials list called for 18 and 24 gauge copper wire and I used 19 gauge black wire and 28 gauge gold wire.
This time the whole length of the black wire was forged and then twined with the gold wire. I connected the three groups together with jump rings.
From the looks of the bracelet in the book, you needed 13 groups of 4-6 twined spokes to create a bracelet and I was not that ambitious! I loved the look of it and wanted to play around with the technique but not enough to create a whole bracelet.

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Challenge #14 -Twined Figurative Pin


I am still playing around with Mary Hettmansperger's book "Fabulous Woven Jewelry".
This twined figure is a variation from the twined bag necklace done in the previous post. Again the ends of the wire have been forged(the metal wire is hammered flat). I didn't have all the wire sizes it called out for, so I improvised and used whatever I had on hand.

Monday, June 23, 2008

Challenge #14 - Twined Wire Bag


I came across a project that caught my interest in another book titled "Fabulous Woven Jewelry" by Mary Hettmansperger. In the book the actual project was called "Twine Copper Bag Necklace", and since I only had black wire, that is what I used. I forged the ends of the wire sticking up at the top and added stones to the interior of the bag as I was twining. It takes some practice to get the twining down! I loved the process and hopefully can add this technique some how into some of my doll creations.

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Challenge #14 - Controlled Breaking of Glass


This is my current project for Jen Worden's Monthly Challenges. It is from the book "ALtered Curiosities by Jane Wynn I loved doing this project!!! For my first time around, breaking the glass was not that controlled for me. It does take some practice to build up your skill in using the glass cutter and the anticipation in trying to break the glass in sent me a sweating frenzy!
Again it called for 2-part Epoxy for the inside, and I used E6000.
It seems to be holding up pretty well! I just love the whole process and was fairly pleased with the end product!

Saturday, June 14, 2008

Challenge #14 - Egg Shrine


It took me a while to finish this project!! First I was busy with the kids week long bible school and I just couldn't find anything to place inside the egg. Finally, I came across a bag of little babies at Walmart and bought them! I contemplated on cutting the arms off, but decided to leave that for another time.
After preparing the egg, I then glued a piece of cork on the inside of the egg so the baby would stand out from the back. I then placed pieces of stainless steel scrubber in the background(I purchased mine at the dollar store). The plastic baby was coated with paint and then wiped down and glued in place. The base is a very heavy and durable metal spring that had rust on it, so it seem to work well with the egg.
**Oh Yeah! The previous blog entry mentioned about my husband's grandmother putting egg shells in her garden. I found out she did that as part of recycling or compost.

Friday, June 6, 2008

W.I.P.-Project #1, Challenge #14


Well I finally started on my 1st project for challenge #14 in Jen Worden's Monthly Challenges. The book I am working through is "ALtered Curiosities" by Jane Wynn, and the project is called egg shrines. Before reading Jane's book I would never have thought of using an egg the way she has. It's pretty ingenious! I've been eating eggs every morning for years and I shudder to think of all those eggs shells I have thrown out! I mentioned to my husband to save egg shells he may use, because he does love to bake. Well, he looked at me and asked me if I was going to use them the same way his grandmother use to. Apparently she used to crush them up and place them in the garden. I have no idea how that works!
But anyway, when working on extracting your egg, make sure you have had breakfast already, because it took way too long to get that egg out for me to eat. I almost passed out from hunger!
It calls for 2-part Epoxy to coat the inside of the egg and I didn't have any, so I used E6000. It seemed to work okay. After the glue dried I then painted it with a copper metallic surfacer and that is where I am currently. I should have the finished product by the first of the week.