New Mixed-Media Jewelry Book
Posted by Administrator on Mar 28, 2007
Making Designer Mixed-Media and Memory Jewelry: Fun and Experimental Techniques and Materials for the Home Studio
This isn’t exactly a review, since I haven’t read this book yet, but it looks like fun. My friend Cyndi (author of the Bead Arts blog) has a piece in the book. If anyone reading my blog has seen this book, would you mind posting a comment to let me know what you thought of it? I haven’t seen it in stores yet, and I’m dying to see how Cyndi’s project turned out!
Server Move Complete - and now back to making jewelry!
Posted by Administrator on Mar 27, 2007
I moved my site to a new server last week. Everything seems to be working properly, so I’ll get back to the business of making jewelry, instead of spending so much time being the IT department.
Here’s a sneak peek at some resin pendants in-progress that I’ll be showing at the Pleasanton Craft Mafia trunk show on April 7th (at Pleasant Memories in Pleasanton).
Two craft-related articles to check out
Posted by Administrator on Mar 20, 2007
The latest edition of the “Make it from scratch” blog carnival is up at Stop the Ride. This edition includes some great stuff to make, including lots of food, and two yarn projects (including my crocheted pendant tutorial).
Craft Revolution has a great interview with Adjowah Brodie, the organizer of the Maven Craft Fair. If you read the whole article, you might notice that she mentions Michon (that’s me!) as a returning crafter for the May 12th show (which is at 1021 Sanchez St in San Francisco, in case you want to come check it out).
A couple of fun links
Posted by Administrator on Mar 14, 2007
The latest edition of Carnival of the Creators is up on Bobbi’s blog. There are some interesting articles to check out!
This next link relates to my post yesterday about what can legally be called handcrafted in the United States. If you want to create a completely handcrafted bead necklace, check out all the resources for making your own beads, posted on Cyndi’s bead arts blog.
Handcrafted vs. Assembled
Posted by Administrator on Mar 13, 2007
If you are an artist or crafter, or if you like handmade goods, you probably see the words “handmade” and “handcrafted” a lot. But did you know that there is actually a legal definition of what handmade/handcrafted is?
In jewelry terms, a piece is only legally considered handcrafted if all of the components are made by hand. This means that, unfortunately for many designers, necklaces made from strung beads aren’t legally handcrafted — unless, of course, you make the beads and the clasp yourself.
When I describe my work, I try to clarify what is handmade and what isn’t. I often make my own earwires and clasps, but not always. I almost never make the beads I use, and I wouldn’t even know where to start with cutting stones. I do make all my wire pendant frames - luckily for me, wire *is* considered a raw material, so anything I make from wire fits nicely under the legal description of handcrafted. So does sheet metal - but not the tins I use as bezels for my resin pendants. That’s a bummer, because I often make the metal and mixed media objects that I put inside the bezels!
I’m planning two jewelry making tutorials in the next few weeks that will illustrate the difference between handcrafted and “assembled by hand” (the term I use for jewelry I make usinng pre-made components). I will describe how to make a piece of jewelry using objects you can buy at craft and/or jewelry supply stores, and then I will describe how to make something that looks very similar that is entirely handcrafted.
Even if you don’t make jewelry yourself, I think you’ll appreciate seeing how much more work goes into a piece that is entirely handcrafted versus a similar assembled piece. (Of course, many assembled pieces also require loads of time and skill, but that’s a subject for a different post because I could go on for a while.) I hope that you will also be able to understand why I (and many other jewelry makers I know) use a combination of handcrafting and assembling techniques in creating jewelry. While it is often the case that the extra time and effort to handcraft a component adds a lot to a piece of jewelry, sometimes assembling beads and other manufactured components is not only adequate, but results in an equally attractive and high-quality piece of jewelry. Watch this blog, or subscribe to the feed, to see my upcoming tutorials!
Tutorial: Easy Crocheted Pendant
Posted by Administrator on Mar 8, 2007
If you know how to make a chain stitch, a slip stitch, and a single crochet stitch, you can make this pendant. The yarn I used is from Vickie Howell’s new yarn “rock”, manufactured by Southwest Trading Company. It is a sport weight yarn, so you could probably substitute any sport weight yarn and get similar results (the color I used is called Courtney - it’s such a bright pink that it seemed like a flower would be a natural thing to make with it). I used a 4mm crochet hook.
You can change the look of this flower by varying the number of chain stitches in the center and each petal - thus increasing or decreasing the size or the loop- or by using a different size/style of yarn with an appropriately sized hook for that yarn. If you aren’t feeling too adventurous or are a true beginner, try doing it with the exact yarn and hook that I used until you feel comfortable enough to experiment.
To start, chain for about an inch and join the chain using a slip stitch to form a ring.
Instead of doing single crochet into each chain stitch, single crochet into the ring itself until you have single crochets going all the way around the ring. Join to the first single crochet with a slip stitch.
To make the petals, chain 4-5 stitches, then single crochet into the next stitch. Do this all the way around, using the same number of chains for each petal if you want a uniform look. Then single crochet into the loop of the first petal the same number of times you chain stitched. In other words - if your petals used 4 chain stitches, single crochet into each petal 4 times. This stiffens up the petals a bit.
Instead of fastening off, chain for about 1 1/2 inches, then join the end of the chain back to the body of the flower with a slip stitch - this makes the pendant bail (the loop you use to hang your pendant from a chain). Cut the yarn and weave in the ends. That’s it!
In the picture, the pendant is hanging on a knitted I-cord, also made from a sport weight yarn, but you could hang it on any kind of chain or fiber. If you’d prefer a pin instead of a pendant, don’t make the bail of the pendant, and glue or tie it to a pin finding.
Jewelry: Fundamentals of Metalsmithing
Posted by Administrator on Mar 5, 2007
Jewelry: Fundamentals of Metalsmithing (Jewelry Crafts)
This book is an excellent introduction to the basics of metalsmithing, as well as some more advanced techniques. In addition, the selection of photographs is very inspiring. I refer to this book often when I want to try a new technique, or one that I haven’t used in a while. McCreight is a highly respected metalsmith and author, who also wrote books on precious metal clay, casting, and design, just to name a few. His books always seem to be highly recommended by other jewelers and metalsmiths, so even though I can’t personally recommend any except this one, I expect that his other books are also excellent.
My Profile at Bead Arts Blog
Posted by Administrator on Mar 1, 2007
Check out this profile about me on the Bead Arts Blog!
Thanks to Cyndi, the author of the blog for featuring me and arranging all the images so nicely. You can read about all of the jewelry artists Cyndi has profiled on her blog here. She also profiles mixed-media artists on another blog, Layers Upon Layers, here. The guy who makes porcelain urinals really caught my attention - definitely unique!
