The Continuing Saga of the Tumblestones

I love my wire work - but I like it to be a bit organic - not too organic and messy - but a bit 'handmade' - after all, what's the point of having handmade stuff that looks like a chain store find, made by a machine in China? I was taught by a perfectionist - her wire loops are so neat and tidy, so it's now a bit of an effort to 'mis - make' my version of handmade jewellery.
I showed you the tumblestones I was given to set into pendants last week - well, after a lot of looking at it, and turning it over in my little fist, the second one got a setting of wire swirls - after all I couldn't make two with the same design - like the old 'mother and daughter' catalogues from JcPenney's - could I??
So, here they are - the first one was on a Viking knit wire chain, and the second on a green and black Kumihimo braided silk necklace. I am glad to report that both have reached their new homes, and their owners are reportedly delighted with them.

The stone above was really hard to set as it was a plump. slippery odd shaped customer - hence the extra safety elements - the cross wires on the back and an extra layer of weave at the very top, to give it strength. 


The second one below was not much easier - a smooth elongated marble - all my instincts were to put it in a coiled cage of wire, but perseverance paid off and I set it in a hardy square wire swirl, letting the wire guide me as to its placement. 

Falling Star

I spent part of the weekend making the stars for the next piece - they were made of polymer clay, cut to free drawing templates of various sizes, etched with a star pattern, painted and reformed in a faux ceramic finish, and then glazed with Ice Resin, which took 3 days to set firmly. I strung the finished stars onto long chains of multicoloured seed beads, nearly blinding myself in the process - I hate seed beads - you have to string 11-12 beads to cover and inch of beading wire, and their holes are ever so tiny- but they do look pretty - don't they??
This song was a favourite with my dad in the sixties, but I found another, more modern version on YouTube, my favourite hunting ground, for your listening pleasure.

Now that's what I call a pocket full of stars!  

I made a pair of earrings with some copper flowers from my kiln,  which were patinated with Vintag colours, and some turquoise rondelles - they turned out really pretty and I am pleased with the result. However, I failed in my endeavours for the 'messy' look - never mind, you can't win them all!

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 But, the nicest piece I made this week, started life a few weeks ago. I bought a Nepalese pendant from a trader many moons ago, and made a pair of polymer clay 'arms' for a necklace to match. The clay was set in a wire armature, and the piece was poked and prodded and teased into shape, impressed, embellished, painted, and encased in resin - this saga went on and on for a few weeks, till I was happy with the result. I finally made up the necklace and called it 'Tribal Princess' and was in the process of posting it on my website, when one of my friends happened to be  online on FaceBook and snapped it up - so it never went on the Caprilicious website after all in the end. I now present.....

Tribal Princess

The pendant, all the way from Nepal

The 'arm' of the necklace

A Sneak peek into next weeks work

My Peruvian peacock - do they have peacocks in Peru??

I started out making these two Peruvian thread work pendant pieces  a long time ago - and they have mysteriously metamorphosed into this peacock, which I finally finished last night - now to figure out how I want to hang it - I will have a picture for you next week.

Have a lovely weekend - I am working at my day job on Saturday, but have the rest off to play - catch you next week!
xx

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