Unravelings

How to make a cuff bracelet from an old record

I am the featured artist for 2010 in Step by Step Wire magazine!

 OK, can I scream,jump up and down, brag ever slightly and just in in general by thrilled to death?

I was chosen late last year as the Featured Artist for 2010 for Step by Step Wire Magazine. I've been making jewelry and writing like crazy, as this means I will have a feature in each issue. This first one is out (see cover on left) but I haven't gotten my copies yet. I'm so anxious to see the article.

Here's a blurb from the magazine website:

• We're celebrating our 5th anniversary, and we increased our frequency to six times a year! Make three kinds of unique wire wrapped rings. Break out your torch, rivet and texture a moveable heart neckpiece. Create an intricate spiral locket and put photos inside! Meet Charlene Anderson, our featured artist for 2010! Play with scrap wire and resin to make bottlecap pendants.

You can order your copy here: Step by Step Wire Magazine.

Make friends with your electrician

by Nancy Vaughan... Last spring after finishing a remodeling job that included some electrical work the contractor asked me if I had any use for the leftover pieces of copper wire. I'm in favor of recycling and re-purposing so you can imagine all of the ideas that started forming in my mind. The wire was quite heavy, 12 gauge, but very bendable. I started out making simple pendants then moved on to more and more complex pendant designs.Before long I was out of wire. So I began calling around to various home improvement centers to see what gauges of wire they had. Home Depot to the rescue!When I went to my local Home Depot I found just what I wanted, 12ga bare copper wire. The gentleman who measured and cut the wire was a bit startled when I ask for 25 feet. He was curious about how I planned to use it and I told him, "I'm going to use it to make jewelry."He just raised his eyebrows and cut the wire.

To date I've used over 50 feet of wire. Pendants were the first things I made. Then I started making bracelets. The first bracelets were simple wave cuffs with various kinds and colors of beads. After that I made a few with silver and some with brass, some with little waves and other with bigger waves. My next step was to incorporate circles of wire into various designs. The most recent designs are made with a series of continuous circles that are formed around a sharpie pen. The only other tools used are a pair of round nose pliers for the small loops and my fingers. I have a cheap pair of needle nose pliers with heavily padded jaws to make bigger loops and curves but I don't generally use them on the circle cuffs. It has been a grand adventure into the world of electrical wire. It really does pay to make friends with your electrician.

via www.making-jewelry-now.com

Making it on Etsy | the jewelry loupe

If you’re thinking about selling your handmade jewelry online, you’ve probably looked into Etsy. And if  you love shopping for unique and well-priced baubles, you’ve likely spent some time and money there.

via thejewelryloupe.com

Jewelry by Desiree: Featured Artist - Charlene Anderson

 This is the last of many interviews that I have left to post on my blog. I know that I've gotten some new followers in the past week so if any of you would like to be featured just contact me and I'll be happy to email you with the questions!

Here's Charlene of Purveyor of All Things Creative, she's got a great mix of totes, jewelry supplies, beads, and fiber arts supplies.

What’s your name and where are you from?

Charlene Anderson, born in Hollywood, CA, lived in Hawaii 20 plus years, now in beautiful Jackson Hole, Wyoming

via jewelrybydesiree.blogspot.com

Master Craftsman

The Flash from Helen’s Bench

Helen Driggs is Managing Editor of Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist magazine.

Every now and then, I am reminded of why I do this. The other night, I was hammer forming and I crossed over to that very calm, focused and quiet place of concentration where it was only me, my hammer, the anvil and the metal. Nothing intruded – I felt my breathing slow, my vision focus sharply forward, my mind go quiet, and I blissed out. The studio was silent, dark and still except for the sound of hammer strike and torch flame. I totally lost track of several hours' time, and I felt like I’d received a great gift when I came back. The rare feeling of that place is where I am so happy and most alive. It’s where I want to go and stay whenever I can and I fiercely fight for space to get there. It is the place of focus and creativity. It is the place of excellence.

Do you have 10,000 hours?

I recently sat in on a lecture on becoming a “master craftsman” by Lew Wackler, one of our long time contributors to Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist. His main point was that for someone to reach master status, they had to practice their craft for at least 10,000 hours. He’s done that and beyond.

Lew’s concept made perfect sense to me because traditional art school training set me up to expect to invest lots of time making bad art to get good. I’ve been lucky enough to have studied with masters in every creative arena of my life: painting, dance and metals. The masters I’ve respected, become awestruck over, and have admired most were artists who had given up everything to focus on the one thing they wanted to excel at. They had the talent, desire, drive and dedication to do only “the one thing.”

Most people, myself included, could not do what they had done. Even if you are bursting with natural talent, you may never get there. It is very hard to abandon a “normal” life and do “the one thing” without diverting energy on family, friends, a home, stuff. And I will be very un-PC here and say especially for a girl. Sorry. It’s just a biological fact, so please don’t send me a nastygram.

I am too interested in too many things to choose only one. I love my son and my friends and family, I like to cook, paint, work on my house, garden, dance, and I have a genetically driven need to constantly make things with my hands. Happily, I’ve become accomplished at many of those things, but I have given up other things I passionately loved because I knew that to get good at them it would take more life than I could possibly give – so I abandoned them rather than do them badly. But I can’t imagine doing that for everything but “the one thing.”

I don’t have forever in front of me like I thought I did in my art school days, and I want to make the most of what I do have. It’s hard to give things up. But it is worth it sometimes, and choice is what makes us human. I figure I’ve spent roughly 3,500 hours so far on metals. I’m not even halfway to becoming a “master” yet. There are processes and techniques out there I’d like to try, and I fully enjoy every moment I spend at my bench. Yes, I hope I get to 10,000 and beyond, but to tell you the truth, I don’t even care. I love working in my studio with the skills I have. I'll just love it more with more and better skills.

To me, the funniest thing about it is that someone quantified it, and I’d never really considered it in those terms before. And it would be cool if you got a gold medal when you clocked 10,000 – but silly for a metalsmith, because they would probably just melt that medal down to make something. Sort of the point, right?

Twitter followers mosaic

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Etsy Twitter Team Shop of the Week: In My Head Studios

34-year-old artist Vickie Porter, owner of InMyHeadStudios, has a passion for paper. "I love everything about paper-the way it feels, the sounds it makes, the colors and textures. It has dimension, and I try to use that in my work."

A self-professed perfectionist with an eye for detail, Vickie's exquisitely crafted pendants create miniature spaces that call to mind old letters, or the box of special treasures you had as a child. Says Vickie, " I have to make art like I have to breathe! I intentionally keep a messy desk so I can be inspired by the play of papers together. I have WAY more ideas for art than time to do it in!" Using scrabble tiles and upcycled vintage dominos as the base for her pendants allows Vickie to "create something new from something old" and the addition of beads, dangles and charms give the beautiful pieces texture and movement.

An avid Twitterite, Vickie uses her three Twitter accounts not only to "connect and form relationships with people. I talk to them, post useful links, and funny stuff" but also to "share my creative process so people get to know my craft as well as me. I strive to have people think of my work when they think of me."

In addition to working fulltime as an artist in her home studio, Vickie is also leader of the 175-member Etsy Twitter Team. "Running the team is truly a joy and a blessing to be part of! The members have created such a close community-I'm really proud of that." Recently, she made the decision to help start up and run the Facebook Fans of Etsy Street Team (FFEST) with several other women. "They are all very talented and I am really excited about this new venture!"

InMyHeadStudios is happy to do custom pendants. "If you dream it, I can do it!" and ships jewelry all over the world. " I guarantee you will love wearing your pendant as much as I enjoyed creating it!"

On Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/inmyheadstudios
On Etsy: http://inmyheadstudios.etsy.com

SHOP OF THE WEEK SPECIAL:
15% off all orders (not including shipping).
Discount refunded via Paypal.

Etsy Twitter Team Store of the Week: Nikky Lee Designs

Nicole Husnik creates stunning handmade jewelry and very professional photographs. I like the juxtaposition of her work styles. The two seem to complement each other nicely in terms of design, color, and composition. Her Etsy shop is NikkyLeeDesigns.etsy.com

She says about her two styles, “They're both a passion that I don't think I could live without. Every jewelry piece and photo I take is made with beauty and pride in mind.”

What inspires Nicole to create? “Mostly nature and its ability to be beautiful with such little effort.” Her work seems to require little effort, too, and that is a hallmark of excellent design and craftsmanship. She chooses many different styles of beads and stones to work with. Some of her work is funky and some of it is more traditional beadwork.

Her favorite thing about her craft: “The pure exhilaration when a piece is finished, or a photo turns out, just as I hoped... amazing feeling of satisfaction!”

What are her Twitter tricks of the trade? “Lots of personal tweets, cross promo tweets with personal promo scattered about. Share the love and it will be returned!” Nicole tweets a lot for the team and is always at the ready to retweet a sale, special, or just good news from other Etsy Twitter Team members.

Follow her on Twitter @nikkyleedesigns Read her blog: Nikky Lee Designs

Etsy Twitter Team Store of the Week: Firebirdhouse Designs

Kristen Evans, the owner of Firebirdhouse Designs, loves creating unique jewelry designs and textiles from vintage and new components, as well as recycled/repurposed vintage pieces and fabrics.

Originally a fine artist, Kristen says " I love turning beautiful things with history into useable and wearable art and that really began to be the core of my inspiration. I like the challenges that come with recycling and reusing in new ways."

Original patinas, embroidered and hand needlefelted details, and high quality components are some of the things which set Firebirdhouse pieces apart from the crowd.

Her colorful shop is an everchanging display of pieces that "hold onto the charm of vintage while still having a modern or quirky edge." The shop offers free shipping to the US and Canada and ships worldwide, as well as now offering a wholesale catalog.

An avid user of Twitter under the name @Firebirdhouse as well as co-leader of the EtsyTwitter Team, she says "I love the people I meet on twitter, and I try to talk, comment, and share just like I would if they were hanging out with me in my studio. I try to always be genuine and be myself. A lot of my sales come from Twitter but I don't ever make that my goal."

Firebirdhouse Designs is offering 25% off on purchases over $25 from August 17 - August 23rd. Use Code SOTW in notes to seller and your refund will be issued via Paypal. Excludes Joyce Richardson Benefit items.