ABS February Challenge

It's a miracle, but I finally finished my ABS Challenge piece!

The focal bead is made with a vintage optician's lens. Encased under the glass is a vintage photo cut from the cover of the book displayed. They're both securely wrapped in a hand-cut printed tin bezel.



Detail of the focal bead.

 Detail of the back of the focal bead.
Cut from a shortbread cookie tin lid.

The necklace contains a variety of recycled glass beads, vintage glass rosary pearls, Mill Hill glass seed beads, and the little bird clasp is from the Jill McKay Collection. I've also added two of my handmade printed tin beads.

Detail of the handmade vintage tin beads.

Images © re-maker

Jewelry Making @NPL Weeks 3 & 4

Catherine shows off a button dangle!

We finished up our Jewelry Making class last week.

It was so much fun and everyone learned a lot!

Here are a few photos...

I finally figured out how to get them off of my phone.

Seriously...I am not smart enough for my smart phone.

Supplies for our last class.

During our third class everyone learned to make a wrapped loop. Can you say frustrating?!

Jean working on her charms.

For the last class everyone could use either a simple eye pin loop or wrapped loop to create charms for their pendant.

Chris showing off her finished necklace.

It turns out that the most complicated part of the last class was trying to teach everyone how to make sliding knots with their leather cord. Sometimes the simplest things are actually the trickiest to explain.

Donna showing off her finished necklace.

I brought along a small anvil, copper and brass charms, files, hammers and a  letter number punch set so everyone could give metal stamping a try. That was a lot of fun!

Supplies for metal stamping.

I'm happy to say that everyone had a great time

and is looking forward to making more jewelry!

Thanks to everyone that participated and
to the Friends of the Library too!

Images and text © re-maker

Taking the Art Bead Scene Challenge

The Conference of the Birds by Habiballah

I've been a (re)maker for a very (very) long time, but most of the work I show on the web isn't the really cool limited edition or one of a kind stuff that gets sent to my sales rep for museum shops and galleries.

This morning Lorelei of Lorelei's Blog shared her entry for the Art Bead Scene Challenge. Intrigued by her work and the challenge,
I went to check it out...

I follow the creative adventures of a few on my favorite blogs and find that what I love best is when they share their process. So, I've decided to do the same, starting with this challenge.

 

Fingers crossed... it may be a bumpy ride!

xo

re-maker

Making Jewelry @NPL Weeks 1 & 2

Chris makes a perfect eyepin!

I love making jewelry and my local library so much, that

I decided to run a second round of Jewelry Making 101!

I have a fantastically enthusiastic group of (lucky) thirteen women who are learning the basics. During last week's class I decide to share our adventure and took a few photos.

Week 1: Multi-strand Bracelet

Using cord and wire everyone created a single or multistrand bracelet. Some people took to it more quickly than others, but in the end we'll all get there!

Practice, practice, practice!

Week 2: Dangle Earrings

We stepped things up in the second class and learned to make eyepins which allowed everyone to make several pairs of fabulous dangle earrings! It was really exciting when everyone started to get the hang of it. But, my favorite part was when no one thought they'd be able to make their own

earwires out of headpins,
"Are you kidding?!", and then they did!
Such a great group!

Today we'll learn to make wire wrapped loops and connectors. Stay tuned for more...

Images and text © re-maker