Trying To Get Started Again!

I am really trying to post to this blog more often but job and entertainment keep getting in the way .  But I did manage to start some Christmas gift making.
I have a girlfriend who loves unusual and flashy jewelry.  So I thought of a design that might fit her.
I recently saw a necklace design on Pinterest that I thought I could use for inspiration.
It spurred me on to make this for her.  Since I have recently decided to do more metal smithing and learn all I can it was a good chance to try it out on a small scale.

It is by no means real "smithing". But it's a start.

I drew out the pattern and cut it out with shears (don't have a saw yet):

I wanted to put beads where all the little marks are but decided that was too safe for this girl.  I tried all kinds of beads that just didn't feel right like these below:

 Kind of liked these but not enough of them.

  These just don't look right.

  These were too feminine with the metal.

So, I used a vintage necklace that I got at an antique store and took it apart for the brass beads and voila!!! there it was.  See what you think:

It's really weird how the metal plate looks so different in different light.  I hammered the hell out of it, then annealed it for more fire scale and finally sanded it.   I still have more sanding and polishing (not too much polishing) to do.  But I love how it turned out and I think she will too.


I bought an old watch with the insides still there and couldn't decide what to do with it.  I finally had an idea (although not a really unique one).  I used resin to fill the face and then added some rhinestone chain around the face.  The beads I used are some very old grungy looking carved stone beads.  They are a light greenish color with discoloration on a lot of them.  For me that's cool as I like old looking stuff.  What do you think:

Excuse the lighting.  It's been rainy and cloudy here all weekend. But oh well it's the best I could do.  I think i'm going to put this one in my etsy shop just have to figure out pricing. What's on your work bench now?

Thanks for reading!

Gone So Long!

I know i've been gone a long time. Moving, getting settled, getting a new job, a new house etc. etc. etc.  Well, i'm so sorry about that and now i'm trying to get back in the habit.  It's not like I have a million followers or anything but I have felt bad about being shady and not blogging.

I have not stopped making jewelry just blogging about it.  So this is my attempt to get back to the blogging world.  So much has happened in my life that it's even hard to remember.  I guess we all go through things and there is no getting around that.

So if any of you who followed me are still here please forgive the interruption and stay with me as I try to re-vamp my blog and start showing some of my creations.

Have any of you bloggers out there ever just had to give up blogging for awhile? if so please leave me a comment to let me know how you got back into it.  I would greatly appreciate it.

Thank you!!! and please stand by for some pics of my jewelry and some of my latest vintage jewelry finds.  I recently found the most fabulous little store that sells nothing but vintage and antique jewelry.  The owner is so knowledgeable about his wares and of vintage and antique jewelry.  I can't seem to stay away from the place. It has become an addiction!

some of My Bead Stash For Your Viewing Pleasure

so I promised to show ya'll some of the beads I bought from a vendor in Canton Texas at First Monday.  For those who don't know First Monday is a gigantic flea market where you can buy anything from beads to antique furniture to delicious junk food and to everything in between.  I have been twice and i still haven't seen the whole place!

So anyway, my in laws were visiting this past week end and we decided to go again.  i of course only wanted to go to buy more beads from that vendor.  I made another haul.  And although I don't know for sure all of the beads I bought the vendor seems pretty good at identifying them.

So here goes and I will tell you that these pics don't do justice to most of these beads:





Below is a green turquoise.  Love the shape and the variations of color in these.  There's brown, pink, white, green, black.

Next is clear quartz nuggets.  They are a really nice sized nuggets and very heavy.

These babies below are the most beautiful shade of turquoise turquoise.  They remind me of robbins eggs.  Large.  I think they would make an extraordinary necklace.

Below, these round discs are chalk turquoise.  They are a very light shade of blue.  The vendor explained to me that chalk turquoise is real turquoise but it's crushed and then put back together in different shapes of beads.  I love these beads and think they'd make a show-stopper of a necklace.

This is more turquoise.  The color is gorgeous but it didn't come out well in a picture.  These beads have holes that would cause the beads to lay in triangles.  I don't think that came out right but you can see at the bottom how the holes run.

Then there's these babies below.  They are barrel shaped turquoise beads!!  They have cracks and everything. These are mine, mine, mine!!!

These beads are a beautiful shape and vary in size.  They are agate and the color variations are beautiful.  From black to brown to grey to off-white.  Lovely.

These red beads are actually blood red and are lead crystal.  Love the shape of these and they are a very substantial size.

These large briolettes are pink quartz.  A very light shade of pink.  They have an almost chalky appearance.

Then there's these turquoise nuggets.  They have a lot of brown in them and are a really good size.  I don't usually like nuggets.  Too much fuss for not a lot of impact.

These black beads are obsidian and when they are cleaned up I can just tell they will sparkle.

These cute little hearts are shell.  They have a lovely opaqueness (is that a word?) about them.

And take a gander at this pink coral.  That bottom one looks like a tooth was growing out of it. Yuck! But I could not resist them--less the toothy one that is.  No idea what I will do with these.  Maybe just keep them to gross myself out.

 Then there's these rocks below.  They look like a mix of some rhodocrisite (spelling?), rocks, amethyst and who knows what else.  But I really like them all mixed up together

I don't know if these are amazonite or aquamarine.  Anyone want to take a guess? Even the bead guy wasn't sure.  I think they are amazonite.

These black labrodorite beads are gorgeous in person.  They have a light but instead of blue it's a shiny silver that you get glimpses of.

And I know chrysoprase when I see it.  These suckers were a cool 70 bucks for the strand in some high end bead store.  They are magnificent.  I love that color of green and then the almost caramel brown.  Really pretty.  My mother is really hinting at wanting something made from these.  We'll see.  If she's good maybe

So what do you think of some of my stash.  I am over the moon at finding this guy.  If you ever go to Canton for First Monday you can't miss him.  Any of you beady peeps will scope him out immediately!

So that's all for now.  Hope you enjoyed seeing all of these amazing rocks.  Never thought I'd become a bead hoarder.  I've heard of  those types but never thought I'd be one.  My guy walked into my new studio the other day, looked at me sitting in the floor surrounded by beads, shook his head and walked out.  LOL LOL LOL.  Love it!!!  He said I looked like I was in some type of dream state.

See you later1