China 4 Jewelry Lovers

These bead and chain lovelies are from Candie Cooper, aka the Savvy Crafter, who is currently living in China right now enjoying the sites, sounds, and jewelry goodies. If you are new to her blog, then find some time to stop by and catch up. She often shows and tells about her various excursions.

The recent trip that inspired her to design these earrings included a stop at a bead vendor building filled with beads (she's got some excellent photos of this....drool city, baby) followed by a gem and jewelry show in Hong Kong.

Previous posts include trips to the beach where she meets a beaded jewelry guy peddling his wares, Candie sewing paper together for a new crafty idea, some yummy looking noodle soup, and pretty much a blog diary...

Copper Wire Bracelet

I'm a big fan of wire and beads, so I had to stop when I was surfing around looking for copper wire ideas. Victoria has mentioned before that when working with metal, copper is a great place to start because it is so inexpensive. So for newbies, it is a good way to get started without spending a lot of loot to boot.

But just because you don't spend a bunch of money on your jewelry supplies doesn't mean you can't make some great designs that you'll wear and enjoy for a long time. This bracelet project designed by Margot Potter, which I found on the Beadalon web site, is an excellent example of that. It combines natural copper wire with crystal beads, and then you can see that the various strands are woven together so the wire is...

When Looking Old is Good

Aging metal or giving it that spcial patina can really make a piece of jewelry pop.

Metal Craft Discovery Workshop: Create Unique Jewelry, Art Dolls, Collage Art, Keepsakes and More! by Linda & Opie O’Brien of Burnt Offerings Studio is a wonderful how-to and project book using metal sheet and found objects to create metal and mixed media art. One of the best parts of the book is the section on aging metal. Liver of sulfur and coloring with a torch are covered, but my favorite recipes are the ones for aging copper and brass. Did you know you can get a nice patina with potato chips? And ammonia and salt gives an intense bright blue patina.

Although six of the twenty-one projects are jewelry projects, all of the projects use...

One, Two, Buckle My Shoe

Do you have some vintage clip-on earrings? Instead of wearing them on your ears, put them on some shoe clip findings and clip them on your stilettos or flats for a fresh look. It's a great way to stretch your shoe budget. Here's one I did with vintage earrings:

Same shoe, different look:

Craft Supplies Online has some shoe clip findings. remove the clip back from your old earrings and wire the front onto the shoe clip finding and voila!

Once a staple of every wardrobe, shoe clips are back in fashion. Check out Absolutely Audrey for some beautiful shoe clips.

Metal Clay Call for Entries

Book Title: Picture Yourself Making Metal Clay Jewelry: Step-by-Step Instruction for Forming, Firing, and Constructing Finished Jewelry
Publisher: Thomson Course Technology
Series: This text will be part of the publisher’s “Picture Yourself” series.
Author: Tammy Powley
Contact Information: tammypowley@yahoo.com
Estimated Publication Date: May/June 2008
Call for Entries Deadline: December 5, 2007

Book’s Focus: The focus of this book is super simple - to make metal clay component projects (charms, pendants, beads) teamed up with basic jewelry techniques resulting in projects which allow readers to make finished jewelry pieces showcasing their metal clay creations.
Audience: The audience is the interested...

From Pin to Pendant

Peggy's clutch purse idea on episode 8 of metalchik reminded me of these pin converters that I had seen:

They're available from Fire Mountain Gems (look in findings under bails, pin converters). If you would rather wear your vintage pin as a pendant slip the tube of the converter over the pin stem, run a chain through the bail or bead a matching necklace, and you're done.

Or you can make your own pin converter by wrapping a little wire around a mandrel a little bigger than the pin stem. Make one larger loop in the center.

Tool Bonanza

The November tool issue of Jewelry Artist (formerly Lapidary Journal) was in my box this afternoon and I’ve hardly been able to put it down. It’s packed with great ideas for making your own tools. I’ve wanted to pattern some metal but couldn’t afford a rolling mill so I was really happy with their tip on making texturing hammers from old tack hammers. I also like the tip on making an inexpensive bracelet mandrel and mallet.

Jewelry Artist has always been a great magazine for bench jewelers. There are articles and projects that involve setting and cutting stones. My interests are mostly in stringing, Art Clay, PMC, and wirework and I find Jewelry Artist has lots of articles and projects that interest me. Do you like the metal...

Broom Straw Silver Casting

Recently my family and I visited Maker Faire in Austin and saw a lot of interesting artists at work. Here is Michiel Rushing demonstrating broom straw casting. First the silver is melted.

Next it’s poured into a bound broom head that has been soaked in water.

These are the castings. They look a little like stalactites. They will have to be cleaned in pickle and soldered to findings or drilled to make pendants, rings, or other jewelry.

My husband, who really likes melting things, made this one after seeing Michiel at work.

I’m going to cut the casting into two pieces and make the long part a pendant or maybe a pin. I’m not sure about the lower part yet. The nice thing about broom straw casting is if the...

Become a Metal Master at B&B

The Bead & Button Show has announced some of the master jewelry classes that will be offered at the next show, and one of them includes a class with the metal master himself, Tim McCreight:

Direct Casting: Ancient Methods for Contemporary Work

This energetic and unusual workshop will explore ancient casting techniques as a way to develop skills in thinking three dimensionally. Working with pewter, you will focus on low-tech approaches including charcoal, cuttlefish, and sand casting, all of which allow almost immediate gratification. Participants will have time to experiment with a range of techniques, with time enough to revisit the process that interests them most.

Who Should Take This Class?
This class requires no prior...

Hunting Wholesale Jewelry Shows?

If you are serious about the jewelry biz, then wholesale is the only way to go when purchasing all the supplies you need to make your jewelry creations. Luckily, when I first started selling jewelry back in the late 90s, I stumbled upon a wonderful wholesale resource, and I've been a fan ever since of the G&LW Shows, aka Gem and Lapidary Wholesalers Inc.

While I will say that these shows every year seem to have more and more finished jewelry than jewelry components, you'll still find plenty of goods to make your jewelry such as gemstone and crystal beads, findings, wire, chain, tools, equipment, and displays. It's also a great way to hook up with wholesalers that you may want to do business with outside of the show later in the...