Pretty Beads, All in a Row...

 

So...For those of you that have read my old blog many moons ago, jewelry making is something that I absolutely LOVE but every time I bust out the beads - everything that comes out is...Well...Not going to win any awards.  I always think that I just have to make things that I would love to wear and I just haven't been able to accomplish that.  I almost always prefer someone else's jewerly over my own.  BUT!  Hold the phone!!!!  I LOVE THESE!!!  And I MADE THEM!!!!!  Happy, happy girl.  I want to keep all three and wear them proudly.  I am only hoping that it is like working a muscle, the more that I make, the better that I will become and the more the jewelry will develope into what I have in my brain.  These will be for sale at the Ligonier Country Market this Saturday.  If you are local - please come on down and say hi!

 

PS!  If anyone sees these and wants to purchase, send me an email!  We can arrange that to happen and they are quite affordable in my opinion!

Mr. Big Stuff

 

There is always a little part of me that wants to try to take the tiny things that I normally make and make them BIGGER!  Even 8 inches tall, rather than 4 or 5 inches tall would make the creations the giants of the studio.  A few years ago, I pulled off a set of bigger figures.  I don't think I have ever shared this before and the reason that it is coming up is because I am revisiting the idea currently.  I made a series of children playing.  They are made to be hung on a wall.  They are about 16 inches tall (GIANTS!)   I absolutely love them and have kept them in order to someday get them displayed properly in my home.   My apologies for the terrible pics.  They are in storage now and so I am just using the hastily taken pics from when they were made. 

 

 Last year I made the Woodland Santa figure (about 8 inches tall.) I sold them wholesale but they were an incredible amount of work for batch work so I am no longer carrying them in my holiday line but I like the idea of one of a kind creations that I can fuss and fiddle and put in lots of details and sell in my Etsy shop or at the Country Market. Right now I am working on a little witch that will (hopefully) be riding a broom. It is my hope that I can figure out how to display her so that she hangs and looks like she is zooming around on her broom. We shall see. No pics of that yet as she is just a nudey wire body and a big funny looking bald head!

Heavy Metals

This past weekend, I did something that I have wanted to do for years and years!  I took a class at Touchstone Center for Craft in Farmington PA.  If you have never been, please check out their website.  It is really incredible.  I don't even know where to begin!  The facility itself is really like a summer camp for creative folks - in the woods, cabin-like studio with tiny sleeping cabins.  Really beautiful and I can't wait to go back!  The class that I took was entitled "Imagery in Jewelry"  Totally out of my comfort zone!  (Hence the hilarious and totally TRUE map that a friend sent me.)

We learned etching, decals on enamel, using epoxy and various other ways to finish and add color to metals.  For someone who LOVES metalwork and jewelry but no absolutely NOTHING about making or working with metal.  I was in heaven.  I was so jazzed (like over the top jazzed) to be learning how to cut and drill and manipulate materials that are very very different than the ones that I just everyday (felt, thread to be exact!)  Now I just have to take photos of what I made to show and tell here.

Now I just have to figure out what course I want to take next!!!!

Carved Blooms

Every so often, I try my hand at stamping.  From afar, I love everything about it.  I love the look, I love the endless handmade design possibilities, I love the simple materials needed to do it, I love the idea of having a cache of beautiful stamps to make other things with, specifically pendants.  So, I gave it another shot recently.  It's been a long time since I tried my hand at this, I was amazed that I even found my supplies so quickly!  So the first stamp that I tried was this one.  I ruined one eraser on my first go around but this one, the second one, I like!  It wasn't easy!  All those tiny branches and the centers of the circular flowers???  Yikes.  But I love it and I am so proud of my first stamp.  I hope to do more soon!  Now off to try to make a pendant for myself out of these...

New in the Shop

Still working on something that I am so excited to show and tell and am not ready to show and tell just yet!  So, here are things that can be shown and told and they are in the shops!  Peasoup on Etsy for felt goodies and elmerandeleanor on Etsy for jewelry. 

Wooden (Pirate) Ship

This post could also be titled "The one in which I build a ship..."

A pirate ship to be exact.  Oh how I love this little creation.  It is my entry for the Novel Art event held at the Ligonier Valley Library.  It is a wonderful fundraiser that asks the community - young, old, crafty, artsy,  - to make a piece of art from a book.  Last year, I made a castle (see a few posts down) and this year, I wanted it to be sort of a companion piece to the castle.  And fairy tale castles, seemed more appealing to girls, so I thought a few swarthy pirates were in order for the boys in the audience.  So I started, of course, with making the pirates.  That part was easy.  Peg legs, hooks, bandannas, goatees and long hair pulled back into a pony tail - so so so much fun to make.  For some reason, I have always wanted to try making a mermaid.  So I did that too!  And a treasure chest.  Then I moved on to the ship.  I had NO idea how to do it.  I didn't want to get too fussy with the structure and if you really look at a good pirate ship.  It's fussy.  There are all kinds of sails and cannons and details that I knew I could get lost in but I did have a deadline for crying out loud so I just went simple.  The ship itself is just card stock with cardboard supports and I literally built it from the bottom up.  I drew the base out of cardboard and measured how long the sides needed to be and how tall I felt like they should be and I drew the shape of the sides based on these measurements.

Then the fun part...The "boards" are just lots of watercolored book pages cut into strips and decoupaged onto the sides and the flooring of the ship.  Between all the layers of paper, adhesive and cardboard - it's a sturdy vessel!  And of course there had to be sails!!!  SO much fun.  So much fun that the evening of the day that I turned it in to the library, I actually uttered the words "I miss my ship."  That is how much fun this was to make. 

The other photos included in my show and tell this post is - it's spring!  Thank you thank you thank Mother Nature!  It's beautiful.  And someone has REALLY been enjoying the nicer weather.  Here is my doxie Bean taking a little rest after a long walk. 

It's the time of the season...

I hope I hope I hope.  It is turning into spring...slowly, soggy, murky, musty, fresh, tender, vibrant, dazzling - SPRING.  Okay, they are calling for snow tomorrow but I refuse to spend any time with that.  I have lots to show you but no real pictures to show you....Hmmm.... 

I am working on my project for Novel Art.  I love it.  I am trying to take lots of pics while I am building.  So I will eventually have a little show and tell with that.  I have a bunch of things finished and half finished that I have in the "To be photographed" bin.  (I really should have photo-ed before typing but right now we are in the middle of a lovely rainstorm - you know, before the snow comesso no photos now.)  So pictures first and then I will be back with a much more interesting post.  But before I go, I posted this pendant over in my jewelry site www.elmerandeleanor.com