NEW PIECES FOR UPCOMING ART SHOW

I have been making new items this week for the upcoming art show at the B&O, Youngstown, OH, Sunday Oct 3, 12:30 to 6:00 p.m.  Items will go on Artfire next week, as well as the floral bracelets posted last week.



Copper & Howlite

Copper & Howlite



Copper & Howlite

New Listings

I am posting new listings on Artfire today and will continue to add over the next few days!  Just an FYI!  Thanks for looking.  Have a great weekend!

Blessings,
Anita

BEADING IN JULY!

Today I finished up three necklaces.  The first is a rainbow of mauve, blue, and green in a multi-strand necklace, created with seed beads, tube beads, and more of Jeanne's lamp work beads set as the focal point of the necklace.  I love this piece - great for summer.    The second piece is also in mauves with stone chips and polished stone focals.  A heavier chunky look, great for the individual who likes the look of natural stone.  Great for summer or fall, I think.  And lastly, everyone likes a simple black necklace - this one is done with sterling silver accents and a simply wrapped black focal bead.   Which look appeals to you?  I'd love to hear from you and your thoughts on these pieces!  Thanks for looking.  Blessings.  Anita

MAY PROJECTS

So far this month, I have worked with wire, done some basic beading, and created some PMC Bronze pieces with my friend, Jeanne.  It's been a while since I've done a project just stringing beads, but this month I did a lovely necklace in a shell theme with a fossil coral focal.  I really liked it with one strand for the necklace, but since chunky is in, I decided to double strand it. 

For the wire project, I had started coiling some wire one day into links and thought I could work it into a bracelet.  My friend called it an "original", but there are so many wire workers out there that I can't believe someone hasn't thought of this design before, so I hesitate to call it my original.  But keeping with my shell theme, I added small coin/disc shell beads to it and thought it came out well.   The wire is Vintag by Parawire and the toggle is a gold tone that I thought blended well.

And lastly, Jeanne and I once again attempted our work with Bronze PMC.  I love the bronze and it seems to fit right in with the colors I like, and the patina giving it a rich antique look.  We had very good luck with the kiln this time and the settings for firing have been saved for the next time.  I cleaned up my pieces with a brass wire brush, tumbled them, and then added some patina.  I tumbled them for another half hour and this is the result.  I want to clean them up some more and maybe do some burnishing, then will decide what I want to create with them.  I especially love the large one in the center - my lovely lady with the flowing hair.  She didn't come out the last time, but she fared very well this time.

NEW BOOKS TO CONSIDER:
To help in educating myself in PMC techniques, I have purchased two books, both which I found informative and well written:  The Art of  Metal Clay by Sherri Haab and New Directions in Metal Clay by CeCe Wire. 

Another book I purchased was Contemporary Copper Jewelry by Sharilyn Miller, a great book for you wire workers.  I loved the projects in this book and the directions and photos seem easy to follow.

As always, thank you for looking!  HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY TO ALL YOU MOMS AND GRANDMAS!

Blessings,
Anita

Egyptian Coil Bracelet

I took on a new wire project this week - an EGYPTIAN COIL BRACELET. I downloaded the free tutorial from http://mckjewelry.blogspot.com/2006/08/egyption-coil-tutorial.html. So my thanks to Marie Cristine! I had fun making this bracelet, starting out using inexpensive 19 gauge stainless steel wire that I picked up at a local hardware store. Having never worked with stainless steel wire, it was harder to work with than copper as it stiffens up as you work with it. But the end result was worth the effort. After making my first piece, I moved on to 18 gauge copper wire with the results pictured. I am very pleased with this piece and my advise if you decide to make this bracelet is to keep each wire length the same, check each piece after coiling to see that each piece is still the same length. Be consistent in each step you do so that the final piece comes out well balanced. I really thought the bracelet was beautiful in its natural copper coloring, but decided to patina it and absolutely love the antiqued look from this process. If you decide to make this, please share a photo with me! If you have ANY QUESTIONS regarding this piece, or anything else on my blog, please e-mail me through the blog!
Have a great week.
Anita

New Artfire Items Posted

Visit my Artfire store and start shopping for Valentine's day! I've posted a few new items on Artfire today and hope to add a little more every day. I've added some of my copper wire hearts, a lampwork bracelet, a red, Crystallized pendant on leather cord, and a lampwork necklace with copper accents, on leather cord. The lovely Lampwork is hand crafted by my friend, Jeanne. If there is something on the blog that you're interested in, but can't find on Artfire, please e-mail me - I will be happy to accommodate you.

Also on Artfire, and a great gift for Easter, is my COLORS OF FAITH BRACELET, made up in sterling, pewter, and Czec fire polished beads. It makes a lovely gift and a portion of the proceeds are donated to my church Missions Committee to help support our local food pantries.

Thank you for looking!

NEW ITEMS POSTED ON ARTFIRE

Today I began to add more products to my Artfire site, including some of the items seen on this blog. Added items include copper bell earrings and matching bracelets, snowman earrings, copper and mauve lamp work bracelet, and snowman necklace. I plan to add more over the next couple of days, and don't forget, everything is still on sale at 20% off through December 15th. If you see an item on the blog that is not yet listed, please e-mail me to see if it is still available! Again, thanks for looking!