Ammonite fossils again, this time with dragons

You may remember my fascination with ammonite fossils, those amazing Fibonacci spirals aged from roughly 66 to 300,000 years (I hope I remember that correctly!)

Well, I've been making pendants and earrings with them, most recently in bronze-toned owl frames, but I had sold all my owl earrings and had no more ammonites of the right size and thinness to make more!  What to do?

Well, I'd thought about ammonites with dragons, and had some slightly smaller ammonites and dragon charms I thought might work, so here's what happened:

First I had to set up a supply tray, in this case a shoebox lid, with all the tools, equipment, and pieces I'd need.

And in a spot next to the storage drawers, my coffee in its beautiful cup, made by Joelene, who lives not far from us and whose etsy shop is  PotterybyJoelene .

Then I looked at the available ammonites, which happened to be heat-sealed in clear plastic, picked a few that looked possible, and held my dragon charms up to check the fit. 

Ah, but those dragon charms have already been altered to accept the ammonites: here's what had to happen first.

bX-wnrswiFirst, the dragons in their original form.
Notice that I'm now using a smaller and less cluttered work tray, which I can even set on the supply tray to keep everything close at hand.

Next, cutting the interior portion of the tails.  I'm not sure whether you can see that this takes 4 cuts, and that they're not flimsy joins.  The one-winged dragon in the pic is what happens if I hold the piece the wrong way while snipping.

 Once I have 2 open pendants, I file the sharp edges of the metal with jewelry files and sometimes a diamond dust nail file or even an emery board, both so that they won't catch your hair and so that there's enough flat back to allow a solid join. 

Currently I'm using a superglue plus sometimes Aleene's Glass and Metal glue and/or Beacon's Quick Grip.

And here they are: front and back as they're lined up and glued,

 

 

and finally, the finished earrings.

I'm pleased with these, and considering more possibilities.  I think I have one pair of tiny ammonite slices that may fit in a mermaid's tail.  And maybe a vintage monkey or scarab with enough of the right kind of space. Stay tuned! 

More WIP

Got some wonderful watchparts from Israel. Got some perfume bottle pendants--from India?--I think Fire Mtn or Shipwreck used to carry these, but I no longer had any & got them as a destash.  Also got some old cameos/cabachons. 
Some of these may just need cords. Some others (I'm thinking the bug, esp.) may need something added.

Steam Punk Wizard and a bit about how I make jewelry

This is another of those pieces that has been some time in the making.

I bought the wizard probably a couple of years ago knowing that I would find a use for him, and when I began trying things out with the watch parts he was an obvious fit for the big plate, but then he sat for a while longer.

I tend to work on several pieces at a time, so often a few will be sitting around together wating to be finished. Sometimes I'll try something on one and decide it would look better on another, sometimes I'll decide that more than one needs something--in this case, Funky Monkey got one of these chains and then I realized that it was right for the wizard as well.

The words were sort of an experiment: in my non-art-making mode I am definitely a word person, but I tend to believe that art should speak for itself and not need explaining. However, I had a bunch of these word charms, a lot of my artist friends use words in their pieces, and I thought I should give it a shot. "Imagine magic" seemed pretty appropriate, and the pieces fit right in with the wand-ish watchparts, so I ran them past my collaborators and critics and went with their thumbs ups.

etsy listing--more photosThe copper spiral was added to lighten up the left side, and then the "diamond button just fell into place. The bead chain at the bottom went on, the piece was hung off the big copper chain, and it was finished.

Gregory Fricker's new necklace

Greg is a painter, and he illustrates children's books, so having him commission a piece from our friend Chase Arevalo and me was especially nice--working for other artists is fun. (And he has a painting I'm hoping to do a trade for, too.)
I wish you could see Chase's knotting a little better--we should have gotten a pic on the table, but once Greg got the piece there was no way he was taking it off--he said he loves it so much he's going to read it bedtime stories: "And then the little dragon said...."
Greg also bought a little piece of mine for his about-to-be-wife at last month's Artswalk, and, much to my delight, he said she wore it for their wedding and every day before and since.

So there it is.

Chase and maybe Caroline and I are working on a few more ideas for collaboration. No one else seems to be doing what we're doing yet, so we're hoping to get some press for it.

Four steam punk leather bracelets or cuffs for BJDs made and posted!

I am so pleased! I was trading stuff at my Tues night crafts group and got a necklace with leather & wood & maybe cork beads. One set of the leather ones just HAD to be made into steam punk doll bracelets for my BJDs (they fit other dolls around the same size too). You can see them scrolling past in my store slideshow or go over to The Creative Block and look at more pics while they're not moving.
They're a little clunky, but that's partly the style. Next batch, I think, will be more delicate. Leslie

Art and sales

I have 2 etsy shops.
The first one, The Creative Block, at www.siragwatkins.etsy.com sells my own stuff, a few vintage items, and the occasional exceptional carving or casting from my international (usually Asian) suppliers.
The second one, Findings, www.leslietsy.etsy.com sells findings, beads, components of various sorts for people who make their own jewelry or whatever.
Of course Findings has many more sales--but just when I'm feeling really discouraged and wondering whether it's even worth keeping The Creative Block online, I'll get a sale.
Tonight was one of those times--the sale was a small one, which is OK--I try to keep a range of prices in the store so just about anyone can afford something--but this was interesting. I have some handmade fused glass pendants and a few other things for about the same price.as well as some pieces I'm really pleased with for more, but what sold was a pair of earrings with tiny Pet Milk cans dangling from a piece of filigree attached to an earwire. I tried to put a link here, but it doesn't work--you can see them by clicking The Creative Block link and going to the sold items list in the lower part of the right-hand column.
Of course I'm happy--it's a sale, and it is something I made--but I also have mixed emotions about these, of all the cool things in my store, being what sold. They're humorous, of course, and nostalgic, and kind of cute, but........
I'm not sure exactly what the word for this is--I think irony may be as close as I can get.
I'm not complaining, mind, just a bit bemused--comments are welcome!