Michon Jewelry Blog

Duct Tape Dress Form

Posted by Leah on Sep 21, 2008

This is an actual dress form, custom made with duct tape to fit a friend of mine. We had a lot of fun making it! She found instructions online somewhere and enlisted me to help her out, since for obvious reasons it would be hard to make yourself one without help….

It involved an old T-shirt that she didn’t mind destroying, and LOTS of duct tape. I think it took us about an hour, and then she had to stuff it later on.

Mixed Media Experiments

Posted by Leah on Sep 20, 2008

Remember my post on resin collages? Well, I finally got around to doing something with one of my collages.

I cut out little rectangles exactly the right size to glue onto these little balsa wood tiles. Using mod-podge, I affixed them to one side of each of four tiles. (Note: the tiles ended up curling, so keep that in mind if you want to try a similar project - you may want to use something that won’t curl when glue is applied.)

Once they were dry, I got out my package of composite mica, and peeled off some pieces of it, which I mod-podges to the back of the tiles. On one tile, I glued some newspaper underneath to see how it would look with mica over it. (Gluing on the back helped a bit with evening out the curling from the previous step, but not completely.) I also glued some mica over one of the collages, to see how that would look. Didn’t work too well, since the image was curling away from the mica, so I ended up removing the parts that didn’t stick.

Then I thought I’d punch holes and finish them with eyelets so I could potentially make some kind of wire bail for my tiles to use them as pendants. I thought about maybe connecting them all together to make some kind of book, but I forgot about that when I was punching the holes, and ended up trying a few different placements of holes instead.

Next time, there are some things I’d do differently - like maybe start with wood that is thicker, something more like scrabble tiles. That would mean I’d have to drill the holes & use something besides scrapbooking eyelets to finish them, but luckily I have the skills to do that.

Mica Project Link

Posted by Leah on Sep 17, 2008

Thanks to Stacey from ZNE for sending me a link to a great project using mica (and a bunch of other things that sound like fun). Here’s the link.

I’ve been experimenting a bit with the composite mica that I bought…pictures coming soon…not sure I love what I did, but it’s a new material for me and I’m having fun playing with it.

Resin Collages

Posted by Leah on Sep 6, 2008

My regular readers are probably familiar with my 3D resin pendants - but embedding objects in resin in only one of its many potential uses in jewelry making and other crafts.

For example - it is a great medium for making collages, and because it stiffens and seals paper, creating a collage with resin is a great way to prepare paper for use in jewelry projects. Just think of all the things you can do with paper…write on it, paint on it, draw on it, print on it…plus you can use pages of old books, magazines, newspapers, photos…and don’t even get me started on all the cool stuff available to papercrafters today like stamps, embossing powders, metallic inks…

One very important thing to know about how resin affects paper: if you apply resin directly to paper, it tends to make the paper transparent. So if you have a piece of paper, such as from a magazine, that has text or images on both sides, you may want to seal it with glue or mod-podge before using it in a resin collage. (Or not, sometimes the transparent, double-sided effect is nice.)

Also - because resin will seep through paper and fabric, you need to have a sheet of plastic underneath your collage to protect your work surface. I used a sheet protector, and when my collage was dry, it just peeled off. I’m sure you could use other kinds of plastic, but I happen to have some old sheet protectors lying around so I used what I had. I can’t guarantee all types of plastic will work as well…so try this project at your own risk!

For my collages, I tore articles out of a recent issue of the San Francisco Chronicle - politics, hurricane Gustav, and some sports clippings. I also used scraps of ribbon, and some tissue paper that had been used as wrapping for a baby gift I received. So the materials, other than the resin, are all recycled.

The technique is pretty simple: mix your resin according to the manufacturer’s directions. I used about 1/2 ounce of resin for my collage. I laid out a layer of paper on the sheet protector, and using a foam brush, coated it with resin (on both sides). Then I layered tissue and ribbon over the paper & covered that with resin, again using the foam brush. I made sure everything was coated well and sticking together. At one point, I peeled the collage off of the sheet protector and flipped it over so I could add stuff to the back. When I was satisfied with how it looked, I set it aside to cure.

Resin safety tip: wear a respirator and work in a well-ventilated area. I worked next to an open door, with a fan blowing fumes away from me.

Once my collage was completely cured (you can tell because it doesn’t feel sticky) I peeled it off of the sheet protector. I noticed that I could have done a better job of getting rid of air bubbles while I was working, but it still looks pretty good - you can read the text in most places, and there are areas that are transparent with others that are more opaque.

Resin tip: if the resin doesn’t ever stop feeling tacky, unfortunately you probably mixed it incorrectly or got the ratio a bit off. It’s important to be very precise when mixing resin, or it won’t properly cure. If this happens, and you really want to save the piece, mix a new batch of resin & apply a coat over the piece, again allowing it to cure - 90% of the time, this has worked for me.

Now that my collage is finished, I’m going to cut it up and use the pieces in a jewelry-scale project. With mica!

Related ideas you could try:

• plasticize a sheet of paper or fabric using the same technique - just don’t layer anything with it
• add pigments or glitter to the resin to add some color or sparkle to your collage
• incorporate non-paper objects into your collage - resin sticks to most non-plastic, non-wet objects

Mixed Media Jewelry - Techniques to Try

Posted by Leah on Sep 2, 2008

One of my favorite things about being a jewelry artist is that it allows me to try so many different crafts, and incorporate aspects of all of them into my designs. There are no requirements in making art jewelry - some art jewelry isn’t even really wearable - so it’s a perfect art form for people who like to dabble in different crafts. Here’s an (incomplete) list of techniques and materials that can be used in jewelry making:

• wirework
• bead stringing
• bead weaving, on a loom or using off-loom needle and thread stitches
• basketweaving techniques, using fiber or metal
• embedding objects in resin
• knitting, using fiber or metal
• crocheting, using fiber or metal
• sewing - can be used to connect metal, paper, fabric, etc. stitching can be done with thread, yarn, wire, cord…
• collage
• cold connections in metal
• scrapbook techniques and materials, such as eyelets, brads, etc.
• writing (poetry, quotes, etc) - words can be stamped into metal, engraved on metal, or incorporated in a mixed media piece on fabric, ribbon, paper, etc.
• ink stamping, embossing, glitter, gold leaf…
• felting - needle felting, fulling knit or crochet, wet felting, or any combination
• deconstructing vintage jewelry, watches, and other items with small parts, and using the parts as beads or findings
• stained glass
• metalsmithing techniques (okay, that might be obvious - we are talking about jewelry after all)
• making dolls and miniatures
• polymer clay
• ceramics
• soldering electronic parts
• using LEDs and other working electronic parts for a piece that literally lights up
• use preserved flowers as decorative elements
• fake flowers can be made using many of these techniques and then used as design elements
• drawing and painting
• sculpture
• woodworking
• PMC, aka metal clay - thanks Silver Canyons for the suggestion!

Help me add to this list - leave a comment with a craft technique that’s not on the list & I will add it.

I’m working on project ideas and tutorials using non-traditional jewelry making techniques - if there is a specific technique you’d like to learn more about, let me know and I’ll see what I can find out. I’ve been having so much fun searching for information on mica this past week, and I’d love for my blog to become a resource for people who want to learn about combining different mediums in art and craft projects.

Types of Mica

Posted by Leah on Aug 30, 2008

There are several types of mica and mica products available to crafters. These are the basic types I found available online, and a way they can be used for crafting.

• Mica powder - comes in many colors, used as a pigment, adds sparkle. Mix with resin to color and add sparkle, sprinkle on glue like glitter, mix with acrylic paints and mediums, mix into soaps and candles - any time glitter would be used, pretty much. Also used in cosmetics such as eyeshadow to add shimmer.
• Mica flakes - from what I can tell, mostly used as fake snow, or as glitter when the desired effect is more rustic than fine glitter.
• Composite mica - lots of small pieces of mice bonded together, can be used in paper crafts to add sparkle by covering an image with a thin layer.
• Sheet mica (also called mica tiles) - thin layers of almost clear mica can be peeled off, used in a similar manner to plastic transparencies. Can be stamped on, painted, transfer images to it, etc.

Composite Mica

Posted by Leah on Aug 26, 2008

What would you do with composite mica?

I’ve used sheet mica once, in a mixed media jewelry making class taught by Susan Lenart Kazmer, and always figured if I found some cheap I would buy it to play around with.

So I bought a package of “composite mica” not realizing that it doesn’t work the same way sheet mica works.

What do I do with it? Anyone out there use composite mica in their crafting? It looks like it would be fun to play with, but I’m not sure how to use it….

Inspiring blog posts for today

Posted by Leah on Aug 21, 2008

There is just too much good blogging going on these days (which reminds me, I need to finish my post about the Arte y Pico award, kindly given to me by TWO fabulous bloggers, Silver Canyons and Macaroni and Glue - but I’m having a hard time choosing just five blogs to nominate!)

Today I ran across a great post titled “Of Jealous Husbands and Subliminal Inspiration” over at Thyme to Dream. Her post is about Alexander Calder, one of my favorite artists and a definite inspiration for me. Be sure to check out the links at the bottom of the post to learn more about Calder.

Then over at Lucky Girl’s blog, I found a picture of a sterling silver top she found while searching etsy.com. If you have $5400, you could own your very own silver shirt!

Over at the Fabulous Artistic Moms blog, Amy of New England Quilter was kind enough to put together a welcome to our new team members, complete with pictures from their shops.

And here’s a fun demo post of how one artist makes her sterling silver and resin earrings. If you’ve ever wanted to see the steps involved in making metal jewelry, this helps demystify it a little.

Craft blog posts I love today

Posted by Leah on Aug 20, 2008

Found a couple great craft-related blog posts today & had to share.

This one has great ideas for organizing craft supplies. It’s written for scrapping stuff, but you could easily use these tips for storing and organizing lots of different kinds of craft supplies.

If you love jewelry tools, or were wondering about basic tools to get started making jewelry check out this post from Shiny Adornments. Unfortunately, reading it reminds me that I still really want a circle cutter…you really can’t ever have too many tools.

Scrapbooking is more popular than golf

Posted by Leah on Aug 4, 2008

Anyone reading listen to Craftypod? It’s a podcast (you can search for it in I-tunes if you want to listen) about crafts.

Overheard in a recent episode: “Scrapbooking is more popular than golf.”

Just thought I’d share, it made me laugh. I’m not really into golf or scrapbooking, but I thought it was a fun comparison. And, as was pointed out on the show, if you take pictures and use them to preserve a memory, you are doing a kind of scrapbooking. So in that sense, anyone who blogs is doing a kind of digital scrapbook…