360 Days – day two

Wire-wrapped pearl earrings 

   
 

Happiness is…

Some new heavy gauge wire and a (hopefully) free weekend ahead to play with it!

Ridiculously tiny

I’ve been on an unsuccessful bunny buy two weekends in a row. It’s not good for the soul. Today, the world tried to make it up to me, by having this ridiculously tiny chap appear in my garden. He’s having lunch by the path under my window.

It’s not usually that weedy, but that’s where Mama Partridge decided to build nest number two, amidst the pampas-type grass, so I’ve not been able to weed it for three weeks. (Seriously? Best excuse ever.)

For a sense of perspective at how Ridiculously Tiny it is, how about atop a standard sized brick…

Pretty tiny.

I was creatively inspired….a brooch maybe? Or a key chain if done in thicker wire? Pretty happy with it, for a prototype.

Thanks, little chap.

A matching set

It’s quite hard to type while lying down, but here I am, trying to bring a little sparkle into a day that’s had me laid up with backache. My day did brighten a little when my sister texted me to say thank you for her present – a necklace and bracelet matching set.

The problem with doing these bracelets as a surprise present means you have no idea what size to make them, and as my sister is a tiny greenfinch to my golden eagle, I had to come up with a fastening that would allow for flexibility of length. It’s not the prettiest, but it works. Plus the tie is underneath, but you know what? I’m actually loving the soft suede texture against the hard wire…..

And there’s the fact I actually had cord that matched the colour of the beads I’d used, which was unplanned but serendipity!

The necklace was a cheat recycle; I’d originally designed it as a ring, but the gauge of the wire was too low and made it bulkier than I liked, but adding a drop bead made it more pendant-like and I strung it on the same suede cord I’d used for the bracelet.

I even managed to get them to her 350 miles away on time for her birthday, which is pretty good for me! She loves them and really, that’s all that matters, because that’s why I make things.

Today’s to do

I used to have this choker, bought from a second hand market.

I wore it a lot, and then the clasp broke. I fashioned a repair. Kind of. And then when I relocated it got left in the other house and I got used to not wearing it. Fast forward 18 months to our reuniting….and I’d kind of fallen out of love with it. Well, not so much the bits as the main – the chain just felt wrong. So I got to thinking a little while ago, that I’d take it apart and remount it.
So I did.

But now I’ve taken it apart, I wondered if that was enough. I debated actually replacing the linkage but have talked myself back from that and instead I’m just going to replace the plastic-looking cream and dark brown beads, so now I’m just unsure of two things – what colours and what necklace?
I’m looking at browns and greens

So my question, dear readers, how to string it? I could crotchet a chain with brown cord or maybe with wire. I could recycle another necklace and use that. Or I could do something I’ve yet to think of but you’re about to tell me…thoughts in a comment highly appreciated!

Recycling, up-cycling just not bicycling

Firstly, for those who’ve been along for the rid on the nest front, we’ve had two mornings of pretty hard frost in the last few days – like ‘having to scrape the car before I can see out’ frost. I’ve been worried about the my little egg guys, but yesterday saw mum and dad partridge very close to the nest, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed that they’re checking in and know what they’re doing. So there’s that. And while we’re on the subject, we have a new addition to the window feeder – a blackbird. No-one’s told him it’s not meant for birds his size or weight and after a few bad landings and watching the others, he’s now got it figured out and manages to land and squeeze himself under the roof and eat all in one relatively graceful movement. He has also learnt that his tail wont bend no matter how much he tries to squish it against the window so that he can turn round. Smart guy. There also appears to be some kind of queuing system in place along the drystone wall amongst the blue tits, wagtails and bullfinches. The robins don’t seem keen on it, they’re queue jumpers, flying in from the other angle. Sneaky.

So on my to do list over the next couple of days is something thanks to my friend Annabel at work, who kindly donated some unwanted jewellery to anyone who wanted it. I picked three pieces and have plans….sort of.

I’m thinking this pretty stone is going to become the pendulum piece in a wind chime, if I can find some little tubes when I go to the hardware store tomorrow. I’m thinking crocheted metalwork frame, and suspending the tubes either with clear fishing line or actually making it a feature and using ribbon and then either ribbon or crochet chain and bead up to a hanging point. It’s one of those “I’m not going to know until I start” things, I think.

This bracelet is going to have several new lives! I’m looking at the little charms for…well, I don’t know yet, something will need charms sometime, I guess! The silver spacers I’m looking at for a necklace in crocheted wire, so it passes through and then fans back out, and also as a base for some biggish carved wooden beads, wrapped in fine wire. And the stones themselves can be used as centre points to a bracelet or necklace, I think.

The other bird’s nest

I’ve made a couple of these, one for me and one for a friend. It’s been a good way of experimenting with different thicknesses of wire – thicker works better than thinner. I like the browns and greens for the “eggs”. (Oh…eggs…maybe I’ll make some for Easter gifts…)
I am still struggling a bit with the jump ends though, but am having more success with some from one shop as opposed to another so it may not just be my inability (though if anyone has any jump end failsafe instructions I’ll gladly hear them!)

And as for the other nest? Five eggs still present and correct. Keep watching.

Playing with prototypes

I’ve spent the last few days playing with prototypes, trying to come up with new designs, new ways of doing old things and just generally trying to learn new things. It’s not often I have enough time to do something like that, which somehow always feels a little like a waste of precious time as it’s not producing something you can give or sell. But I’ve had some enforced vacation time so amidst lots of pottering around achieving not very much, I’ve been playing.
I tend to do this with wool, for a couple of reasons. One, you can unpick wool when you go wrong, and when I’m trying new patterns and stitches I go wrong a lot. A huge lot. The other reason is that I have any amount of wool and its cheaper than wire. But also, once I’ve prototyped it’s nice to keep it for reference, or just for inspiration further down the line.
This is, I think, going to be a cross between a dreamcatcher and a wind-chime. The idea of making wind-chimes has gripped me recently, but I’m struggling on the actually chimey bit right now, so I’m concentrating on the top bit for the moment,, just envisage it in wire, with some tiny iridescent beads..

This next one is a form of Bruge lace – totally new to me, but I think I’ve got it worked out right. Again, some beading would go on, maybe alternating inside and outside the loops, or just inside, in alternate pairs. Or maybe a big bead every three repeats or so. That’s half the fun, isn’t it – adding your own twist to things.

FInally, a different direction. This started life as a ring, but the wire was too thick and bulky, I think. So I debated turning it into a pendant of some sort, but it felt like something was missing, so I added a little tear drop bead. I wasn’t overly keen on it but taking it out to photograph it this morning I’m liking it a bit more.

The fun part is what Im going to do tonight, where I take my notebook, look at the design and try to decide where the beads go and how do I get them there!
What’s everyone else up to?

New Year, new post

The year’s come in with a bit of a bang, weather wise; it’s blowing a gale and raining fit to burst, so other than a run to the woodshed later, I’m staying inside looking out.

So it’s a good reason/excuse to curl up under a blanket (it’s cold!) and look at the pretty for some inspiration.

Lets hope some comes before I freeze!

The Vanishing Lady

Yikes.

It’s been an awfully long time since my last post.

But that’s what happens when you work 12 hour days, with an hour commute at either end. We’re almost out of production, and as I’m possibly thinking about doing NaNoWriMo I guess I’ll need something to procrastinate on, so I’m going to try and do several short round ups every couple of days…

So, first up….

A crocheted cuff. I have to say I was so pleased with how this came out, even though its by no means perfect. But for a first attempt at crocheting with wire and using beads, I was really pleased. This is definately something thats going to be repeated and with some tweaking, I hope to be making it a regular on my shops when they’re up and running.

excuse the bad image, atop my mac, but better ones down the line!

I was worried how fragile it was, but wore it to work and it survived quite happily being leant on as I typed and squished by proofs, so I guess its tougher than I think!

Here it is at the start, to give you a better idea….

And another shot of the finished article

The pattern itself is pretty simply and it also looks really nice done in wool – I did a test run first, before I tried with the wire – so it may be that I knock up a couple of those too for little christmas gifts. Which is not happening for AGES. I dont care what the shops say.

More tomorrow – I promise!!