Wire all the Way Around

by Staci Louise Smith

Long necklaces have always been difficult for me.  I find that when I create shorter styles, the composition just flows for me.  However, when you do a long necklace, making it flow together is more difficult.  You have many many more elements that need to work together in order for the composition to look right.  More shapes to balance, more colors to carry through.......it's a challenge.

I finally took the dive though and began making some for my mom and I think I figured it out.  I mean, don't get me wrong, I still take them apart and add and take away....on and on.............until they are just right.  But I am no longer intimidated by them.

One thing I have found, that is the saving grace of the long necklace, is wire.  Using a consistent wire all the way around, and using it periodically as a design element itself, is crucial.  It is the uniting element that carries the onlookers eye through the whole piece.

Remember those wire ball bead from last week?  I love adding one of those in.  
I usually start with one piece and make a wire frame for it.  It's a good starting point.

As I lay the beads out, I often don't think they will look right, but as I add wire to them, and wrap it around them, and between them, it all begins to come together.....

and at the end, it looks cohesive.

I do a lot of taking apart and re-doing on the longer pieces.  It takes some fiddling to make sure things lay right, and that they still  have balance of color, shape and size.  I am enjoying the challenge now though!

AND- I am falling in love with wire all over again!  It is not merely a way to connect things, it is a part of the design itself.  

While I was on the wire kick, I took time to make some of my wire components for charm necklaces, because who doesn't love a good charm necklace?

And here are a few of them all filled in.  

Endless possibilities with wire!

So I encourage you to tackle a design you haven't mastered, and to have some fun with wire.  It really can be anything you want.

Check out our tutorial page, and scroll down to wire work.  There are many tutorials and blog posts to try out if you are new to wire, or just want to explore something new.

Maybe you can do some new wire work for our upcoming blog hop on October 25th!  Celebrate Dia De Los Muertos with us by making a piece inspired by the holiday, or sugar skulls!

Wire, Wire Everywhere...........

by Staci Louise Smith

I don't know about you, but I go through a lot of wire.  My designs are very free form, and I use wire as a main design element.  So that means, when a piece just isn't laying right, or the composition isn't right yet, I have to take it apart, leaving a wire graveyard in its wake.

So, I have been working on some new pieces for my last show of the season, as well as the Bethlehem House Gallery that my work is in.  (cruise through their site, its the coolest gallery ever! and you can buy the art online as well.  I love being a part of that gallery!  But maybe that is a whole other blog post)
anyhow..........

Remember when I was preparing for Bead Dreams at the beginning of the year?  I had made this piece, which was a real runner up for entry.  

And for all the pieces, I had made these polymer horns as part of the necklace.  Well, I wanted to do something else with them all year, and hadn't gotten around to it.  So I finally made some more horns to play with.

However when I began to play with them, I just couldn't find a way to use them that was wearable and that I loved compositionally.

So needless to say, I went through quite a bit of wire.

I finally decided to just use chain and the horns together.  

(I love them, kinda rock star- biological rock star...lol)

I loved it, but again, still had to figure out how much chain- which chain, getting it to lay right...............I went through a lot of wire, and learned what I will do differently to make the process easier the next time I make a batch of horns.  Anyhow, I ended up with lots of piles like this

(and then some.....................)

I have been trying to keep my desk cleaned up so I can be more effcient (said the artist....lol).  I also, hate to waste so much wire.  I have a recycle bin, but still, its more wire gone that I have to replace.  but once it is all bent up like this, its really hard to re-use.

So I have decided to use the bits and ends on my desk to make wire balls to use in my jewelry.  It takes a little time, but still, I feel better using it in a way that it still makes it into my jewelry.

So I uncoiled these wire ends I had made and then cut off.............

and then wound them into little wire ball beads

I love these wire beads, they add wonderful texture and some negative space into heavy designs.  I am really glad I took the time to do this!  I have a video at the bottom of the blog showing my process.

I also got to use some of my new spiky polymer beads in some designs.  I think over - all this batch with the horn spike shapes and the spiky shell like shapes, and the heavy gauge chain- it really has a rock star feel to it, while still feeling like specimens off a biologists desk.  Rock Star Biology.  

So, I am just going with this look for now, because I love it.

Want to make your own wire ball beads?  There is not real "way" to do it.  But I shot a little video of how I do it if you want to give it a go.


Enjoy!!!!



Don't forget, we are having a Day of the Dead design challenge (basically, show off your sugar skull jewelry designs!!)  here and on Facebook on October 25th.  You KNOW I am participating!

What goes into handmade?

by Staci Louise Smith

I never get tired of watching how things are made.  It doesn't matter what it is, if someone is making it, or painting it, or carving it, or building it, I can not take my eyes off it.

I think when you are a maker yourself, and you have a process you know, it gives you a respect for the process others go through.

For those of us who do shows, I know that we often wish we could share that passion and knowledge of what goes into handmade with our customers.  It is often literally blood, sweat, tears and heart.  so I am going to share this process.................

I have been on a new journey of making lino-cut print bags and totes to sell in addition to my jewelry.  It has given me that outlet for some creativity that is not jewelry related, that I very much needed- and I also think it will reach a wider audience then my jewelry alone does (cause its weird, and not everyone's cup of tea).  

What started out as simple dyed bags with lino-cut prints on them (above), has evolved already (because I just do not do simple very well!!!).  So, as I went through the process of this new medium, I decided to document it in pictures to share with everyone.  I hope you enjoy watching the process!!

I buy fair trade bags- wash them and hang them to dry.  Then, I tye some up to add some variation in the dye.

Then I dye them, which entails, mixing the dyes, and other chemicals in the correct quantities for the correct amount of time, and then rinsing, and rinsing, and rinsing and rinsing them.  Then washing them and hanging them to dry.

Each time I do a batch I end up carving some new stamps.  This time a added a sugar skull and an elephant too.

Since I got a new style bag that has a flap, I decided to sew some patch style layers onto it, since I could.  So I went nuts at Joann's fat quarter sale.  Batik fabrics have my heart.

I also decided to do the layers on some of the other bags, and bought this heat and bond to be able to do that.

Then all the fabrics get washed and hung to dry

Next I begin to cut squares of the solid colors to stamp on

Then I stamp, and I stamp, and I stamp...................

I work in my unfinished basement, so pardon the gross background and odd things I use to hang and store my wares on....lol

Once the fabrics are stamped and dry overnight, I stack them by design, and the fun begins.

I GET TO DESIGN THE BAGS!!!!

I had so much fun doing this part!

After that, the flap bags get sewed on, and the others get trimmed, ironed onto the backing, trimmed again, then ironed on to the bag.  Then some extra ironing to heat set the printing ink.

and VOILA!  I love them.  

 These are the sewn bags with the flaps

These are the first two iron on's.

Tonight I have to put the rest together, iron and sewing.  Tomorrow they all get a little winged heart stamp on the back as a signature.  Then that gets heat set with an iron too.

Then they get tagged and priced and hopefully find some new homes over the weekend.  So much work goes into each bag, but I really love the outcome.

I hope you enjoyed the process, I know I am.  It always feel good to be able to do something new.  It revives the creativity that sometimes falls asleep on the job!

Bog Hop Postponed

by Staci Louise Smith

Due to some personal issues and busy schedules of our contributors, we are going to push the blog hop back.  We are pushing it back a month and a few days so it doesn't fall on a weekend.

The new date is
April 14th.

If you hadn't heard of the hop yet, here is the link to all the information.

Create a Bowie inspired piece.  Could be from a song, a picture of him, or just his style alone (which changed drastically and fantastically through the ages)!

http://www.lovemyartjewelry.blogspot.com/2016/02/stardust-david-bowie-tribute-blog-hop.html

I hope this doesn't cause anyone to lose momentum.  If you finished your piece, you can go ahead and blog and post it on your personal blog if you can't wait, and post that link later at the hop.  You can also just save your post for that day.  I do hope it gives more people time to play along and be creative.  

We all here at Love my Art Jewelry really want to play along, so, in order to do that this postponement has to happen.

Thank you for your understanding.  

Seeking Closure

by Sherri Stokey

Have you ever had one of those pieces that just won't come together like you want?  I'm always thinking "outside the box" which translates into "always running into snags".  It's an occupational hazard, I think.  My latest conundrum was finding a closure for this micro macrame cuff bracelet:

I have a favorite button (doesn't everyone?) that is copper with a dragon on it and wouldn't you know since I love it the most, they discontinued manufacture of it a couple years ago.  I bought up all I could find and have a tiny stash of them I hoard jealously and use only on piece deemed worthy.  I really wanted to use one on this cuff, but I also wanted to use copper bars on the ends.  I didn't want to just do a button and loop closure, I wanted to make an actual clasp that would have the button on top of it.  I started messing with wire and the button and ended up with this:

It doesn't look too bad, do you think?  Until you fasten it, and then it does this: 

Well, pooh.  That's not exactly what I had pictured in my head.  I wanted the hook under the button like that, but hadn't anticipated the gap the hook would create, and that fact that it would put the button off center.  The hook part of the closure and the loop it went through just stuck out too far.  If I'd added an extra big loop on the other side to offset it, it would have made the bracelet too large.

Then I thought maybe I could do a sort of "S" clasp instead of just the hook.  That would make both sides equal.  I just had to make sure to keep it as small as possible so it wouldn't add length to the overall bracelet.

It seemed like this might work, until the main wire of the hook started slipping back and forth within the wire wrapping.

Well, shoot.  And by now my work area looked like a bomb went off:

I asked for some advice from someone who knows more about wire work than I do (I don't even pretend to be an expert on that subject) and after a lot of back and forth, came up with this:

It was late and this was a prototype - please don't judge me.  I figured I could refine the design later and make it neater.  It did at least put the button in the center of the closure.

But when I was testing it out, this happened:

The whole closure wanted to sit sideways in the piece!  By this time I was using language my grandmother would not approve of.  Oh, who are we kidding here - I was using language that would make sailors blush.  How could it possibly be this complicated to use a button as a closure without just using a loop around it?  So I put the whole thing aside (threw it aside might be more accurate) and left it sit.  For a long time - like a couple of weeks.  And when I came back to it today, this happened:

Yes, after all that, I went back to the button and loop.  And guess what?  The button sits off center again!

So what's the moral of this story?  I'm not sure I know.  Maybe I'm just supposed to learn patience.  Meanwhile, I've decided to leave the loop closure.  And market the bracelet like this:

So, tell me - do all your ideas work out like you planned?  Or do you have a not-so-perfect ending you're willing to share and make me feel better?