re-maker: handmade pendant

Friday, November 2, 2012

Kalmbach Bead Soup~ Reveal!

Finally finished my Kalmbach Bead Soup Challenge!

In celebration of Lori Anderson's new book Bead Soup

Kalmbach Books hosted a Bead Soup Challenge!

Bead shops from far and wide put together little packets of

"Bead Soup Mix" and mailed them off to beaders and

jewelry artists to see what they would make.

I received this beautiful bead soup mix from

Simply Beadiful located in Springfield, Ma...

The focal bead, a tagua nut, had a bit of a blow out in the back where the hole was drilled. I decided to cut a back plate from roller printed brass sheet, solder on a few chunky prongs and tube set a carnelian cabochon in the spot of the original hole. The carnelian picks up the red highlights in the root beer glass cubes I wire wrapped and added to the chain. Before I soldered on the prongs I hammered the outer edge of the front plate to add a little texture.

Close-up of the focal bead with tube set carnelian.

I capped each end of the wood beads with a brass pocket watch gear. They have a tiny tube on one side that fit perfectly inside the bead holes. To balance off the clasp I added a stone flower from my stash whose color echoed that of the tagua nut. Final length is 24".

Thanks again to Kalmbach Books and Simply Beadiful!

Images & Text © re-maker

Saturday, June 9, 2012

Alice in Wonderland Blog Hop and
A Give-Away!

Off with her head!

"I'm late! I'm late!

For a very important date!

No time to say hello, goodbye!

I'm late! I'm late! I'm late!"

Today is the blog hop for Alice in Wonderland hosted by

Stacie Louise. I didn't complete my piece in time to get in on the hop, but wanted to show you what I came up with anyway!

The challenge was to create a piece of jewelry inspired by

Alice in Wonderland. It's a wonderfully imaginative story that offers lots in the way of inspiration! An additional requirement was that

at least 50% of the piece had to be handmade.

As I was pounding some well worn silverware into garden markers for the upcoming Vintage Bazaar I noticed a few pieces with a great rose pattern and decided that I would choose the Queen of Hearts!

I used the spoon on the right to create a toggle. The bar is cut from the stem of the same spoon into a scepter and arrow. Messy work, but well worth the effort. I think it came out great!