Pages 03/01/14

Here are the final Anti-Valentine's Day Swap charms from the swap I participated in. Everyone came up with some super rad charms! One of the girls made these cool charm holders. I am very pleased with how it all came out.

Pages 02/08/14

Well, it's been awhile. Here are a couple things I've been working on over the past few weeks. Top are some Anti-Valentine Charms I made for a swap. I picked up the metal charms from  eBay and made the hearts from air dry clay.  I then wrapped wire around the handles and made some small dangle wire pieces.
The bottom is a ceramic Catrina Bowl I am painting with underglazes. Next stop is the kiln.

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Pages 08/04/08

I made these odd charms for a swap on the Zettiology Yahoo Groups list. It was a tough challenge and I spent quite a bit of time to get these to work. I found a stash of these tiny doll arms at a funky little shop in Half Moon Bay in CA. The clerk kind of gave me the 'eyebrow' when I came up to the checkout with 20 doll arms. But I kind of shrugged and gave her the 'eyebrow' back.

I painted the arms with black and white acrylic paint, then spray sealed t with varnish to get rid of the 'sticky' feeling the pain made. I then made a neato loop hook with wire and beads and sandwiched a plain old washer between. I then super glued the washer to the top of the arm and made the loop secure.

I coiled some silver wire around the forearms and secured with a tiny dab of superglue. I thought I was done, but looking at the hand portion, it begged for something in it's palm. I took another batch of washers, sized an appropriate image and printed out label paper. I cut them out, adhered them to the washer, and sealed with a sparkle varnish. After they were dry I used another tiny dab of superglue to hold them in place.

Pages 03/18/08

Last weekend I got a big old jar of broken jewelry at a second hand store for a deal. Score! It was perfect for a swap which was coming up. I cleaned all the pieces in my new super sonic jewelry cleaner, then broke them apart and repurposed them as charms. I got a chance to practice my wire work and making loops. (I'm getting better, but it takes alot of practice!) These will be going to a 5th Anniversary Charm Swap for the ABC (Altered Book Club) group on Yahoo Groups.

Pages 02/16/08

Just working on restocking my etsy store while my hubby does some upgrade work at my office today. I did these pendants awhile ago, and not sure why I haven't listed them yet. (Most likely because it's work to list and I procrastinate.) Anyway, the moon pendant on the right was made the same way you solder a microscope slide, but I messed around with different glass shapes than the norm. These are about 1" square. Back side (see below) is a pretty pearlescent dichroic surface that is a little texturized. I soldered on sold wire swirlies and added some funky little charms and a wire spiral bead I made. I found an old vintage chain, cleaned it up and recycled it. It's actually VERY lightweight.

Pages 02/10/08

Milagros Charm Swap - ArtErratica. These are charms I made for a swap over on the ArtErratica Yahoo Group. I got alot of practice with making my own wire eye pins and am getting pretty good at it. (After making 15 and then another 14 more for ANOTHER swap!) So, it goes to show practice makes 'somewhat' perfect. By the time I finished I had it down pat. I got these milagros when we were in Tijuana several years ago and it was hard to part with them. But hey, I know my swap partners will enjoy them. I used heavyweight brass beads and made danglies and embellished with random mixed beads of shell, glass and metal. When I get the final swap items back I'll try to post them. I love the ArtErratica Group - it's such a great group of talented artists who take pride in their work and come up with some awesome ideas.