Ive found 'Gold'

Hi Everyone
Ive a little progress to share re the cappuccino project. At last the beads are looking like a bracelet (almost).












My next step is to complete the bracelet - I need more beads. It looks as if the beads go around my wrist - not the case. I'm short of about 6/7cm. My thoughts are to have a series of seed bead size 'cappuccinos' on a magnetic fastener (embedded into some more cappuccino clay). I like the jump rings but am not sure they are practical to wear - it strikes me that the little flat 'nail bit' may catch on things ? I love the individual shapes of the 'rings' which are hammered as well as the smallness of the item. I need to wear the finished item and check it out.
The individual beads have been sanded and polished but left as they were baked. I will reassess the finish when the bracelet is complete. There was thoughts of texturing but I quite like the polished finish. I can't wait to make some earrings using the same bits. I'm taking this as a good sign ie almost excitement and 'inspiration' from my own work !

Other news - I came across a new product (new to me) and am thrilled by it.



I found this stuff while browsing blogs and am amazed ! I tried it out on a newly baked bead - 'earring to be'.



This is a first application followed by some wax seal. The Inka Gold is a paint and described as a 'metal gloss paint'. Its a wax like mousse in the jar and seems to dry immediately. I applied it with a dry cloth to a clean baked surface and polished it to a shine. I will apply another coat to this project but I quite like the effect of seeing the polymer underneath. I think a surface texture could work well with this technique. I wonder about the durability but will wear the earrings when finished to check it out. Maybe there needs to be a final seal ?


The last photo is the back of the bead and gives an idea of the high shine finish. The Inka paint comes in a variety of colours. I'm already planning to acquire more colours.

Bye for today.
Thanks for reading.

Even more hair jewellery talk.

Hi Everyone
I'm sad to report no development on the cappuccino project. I was so wrapped up in house/ living tasks AND my dental appointment ( no problems there) that the day just disappeared.

Today, is another day ! I'm hoping to try and experiment with my beads at least.

I did manage to start the hair jewellery Pinterest board. A few weeks ago I was especially taken with a jewellery artist called Sarah Loertscher and failed to keep a link of her work. I wasted ages looking for her. However, all is well and I found the link. Sarah does some amazing work - it was these hair jewels that set me thinking about the possibilities of designing some hair jewellery.






Lovely ideas - not sure what I can come up with ? I think I need to be a little more 'everyday' style. My Pinterest board is started and I'm aiming at something simpler (for now). Take a look Here

In hope of great work today, Ive set up my cappuccino beads for my attention. This is the range Ive got to play with.







Will be back tomorrow.

Thanks for reading.

Hair Jewels News

Hi Everyone
Where did the weekend go ? We had a semi relaxed element for about two hours in the day on Saturday but from Friday 4pm until Sunday 10pm - all go, travelling to pick up kids (a very long journey x 4) and clearing up from camping etc. Lots of mud and washing. Thank goodness that's done !!!

As I look out of the window there is a beautiful red tinged sky - the whole light quality looks great. Quite uplifting and potentially inspiring, however, I need to go to the dentist !! Such is life.

This week, I'm moving on with the 'cappuccino' project. I'm a little unsure about the finish of the beads and have been pondering how to change their appearance. I had thought I wanted to fine polish them to a high gloss look but I'm now thinking about adding some wax cream polish with a metal sheen and texturing the edges ? I will experiment.

I did produce more jump rings from my from 'scratch design' metal pin. I'm keeping the beads and jump rings in this style of wooden box which I'm going to have as a safe place to store the bits and eventually the finished bracelet. This particular box is a little too large, so will have another made specific to the bracelet. I like the overall 'feel' of these boxes, I think they give the jewellery a certain added value and are really nice to use.



Here is a look at one of the jump rings, Ive made another 8 - they have a slight hammered look which I like. They look good with the beads, although as previously mentioned I want to change the beads a little.



Another big idea of mine is making (as part of my jewellery collection) hair jewellery. Ive seen several examples recently, hair slides,combs etc and many elaborate hair decorations for bridal collections. I'm going to get a Pinterest board going just for the purpose later today. I like the whole idea of 'hair jewels'. I have long hair and often look for individual hair items to dress up a simple style but I think short or medium length hair also look great with a little adornment. My personal issue is often hair accessories just fall out. My hair is quite fine, I have lots of it but I tend to loose slides or combs very easily because of my hair texture. Ive decided to experiment and see what I can come up with.

That's it for today.

Thanks for reading.

Cappuccino or chocolate ?

Hi Everyone
I'm feeling as if I'm 'on track' after quite a poor start to the week. For some reason, I had a 'eureka' moment about 11am (yesterday) and felt (suddenly) as if I knew what I needed to do ! I'm hopeful I can build on my new 'state' and keep developing my skills and ideas. I'm basing this positive situation on participating with an online Do What You Love Project which will last the whole year. It's an exciting project and very practical with lots of inspiring prompts as well as quite a large community of folk involved. The whole thing is described well by the project title and is quite literally that. Ive been involved for about a month or so but somehow today, things just came together. My 'revelation' involved understanding my need to create with 'integrity'. I'm defining that as producing quality, beautiful, true and unique (I'm sure there will be other words involved over time) things. At the moment, my focus is jewellery but I see this as part of my greater mixed media thing. I guess it's a state of mind.

Getting back to the moment and practical matters. I was trying to get a name together for the new jewellery collection and the name I keep coming back to is 'cappuccino'. I will stick with it ? (for now). Yesterday, it was chocolate ? Still not sure !

My other dilema ,yesterday, was deciding on how to link some flat beads. I took the plunge and drilled the holes ready to take jump rings. I'm happy with the decision and have abandoned any other plans - I did have 3 initially. I spent lots of time being very specific about the hole size, shape and position. I'm trying to appreciate the need to almost 'get lost'/ be totally absorbed in the creative process. I do this regularly when I paint and feel it's this that develops 'higher' skills and will give my creations this 'integrity' I'm looking for. I'm beginning to look and finally 'see' the specifics of the jewellery 'engineering'. Each element needs to be just right - no matter how long it takes. Allowing myself 'time' to do this is important. I also found myself very pleased about working at my new work bench. It's great.


I also spent lots of time arranging the beads in different places and then rearranging until I was happy. I drilled the holes in several (size) stages so that they all lined up. I liked the wavy nature of the bead position (above) which allows the inner lines, collectively, to have 'movement'. This reminds me of the swirly patterns on the surface of a cappuccino sprinkled with chocolate powder.



My initial jump ring development was a little too short. I did want to have a 'u' shaped link but each end needed to either have an extra something on it (to stop the link from coming off) or bent inwards. In the end, I had to redesign the jump ring. I will hang on to the original idea for another time, I like the simplicity of it.


This is my second approach. The jump ring has one end with a 'stopper' the other is bent square - ish. I need to make more jump rings to complete the bracelet as well as a hook/eye for the closure. One side of the bracelet connection is flat and the other has this 'stopper' characteristic. I like the latter, it gives the bracelet an interesting feature. I like the colour of the copper link, I did struggle with choosing the right material for the jump rings. I'm happy I took the time to experiment.


Looking in detail at the close up of the beads - it's clear they need lots of work to finish them. I want each bead to be polished and smooth.

That's it for this week. Have a great weekend.

Thanks for reading.

Chocolate Beads ?

Hi Everyone
Let's hope today will be more productive than yesterday ! I had a shockingly bad day 'moving on' with the new collection. I haven't even managed to decide on the name. I think it may link with the faux bone stuff and possibly be called 'wood and bone' ? However, there is something about 'chocolate' which keeps coming into to my mind ?

Almost all my work plans collapsed by lunchtime (yesterday) I was absorbed (in my head) with finding a way to link a couple of flat organic shaped beads for a bracelet. My approach was so cautious that I did nothing practical. Having reviewed the impasse (overnight - I need to get out more). Ive finally decided to develop three different experiments and accept that the beads may go in the bin. This is a huge issue for me, for some reason ? - I need to theoretically explore all eventualities before committing to action - just in case I spoil it. I waste so much time ! and more IMPORTANT of all, it's contradicting the 'experimentental' process !!!!! Having realised, admitted and announced all this I'm hopefully back on track.

Here we are with the a photo of the problem beads. I want them to be flat against the wrist in my bracelet but need a simple connection for my design. I like the hole in the centre but also like the idea of an elastic thread. It's clearly not an option if I want the hole to remain. I do have a few experiments to perform (note the almost jump ring) so I will get on with it and see what happens.






I will need to compromise the original design and either move it on or bin it.

The next photo is another example of the bead style with a second smaller bead inside. I hope to use this one for a ring.





I quite like the look of the ring beads together.

The next photos shows a few more beads and another ring design. I like the ring and will move this on with some finishing techniques to make it a solid and smooth piece. The beads do need something else in terms of the finishing and stringing combinations. Not sure on this one, yet !











As I write, a few more creative thoughts are creeping in ! I will report on any progress tomorrow.

Bye for today.
Thanks for reading.