As promised, some before & WIP (work in progress) photos

None of these are listed yet, though the triple (which you can see will be steampunk -- well, they probably all will be -- & another originally like it are I think finished, as is the "African" one.

This is the raw material for a Valentiney set -- displayed locally, but not yet sold.

 

 I've been working on this one for awhile, and it's almost done -- really just needs more chain & a clasp. But I can't get the pendant to hang the way I want it, so probably need to remove and try again.
Notice the clock parts incorporated in the chain -- plenty of steampunk elements, but subtle.

Shortly, 2 rather elegant non-steampunk pieces -- one a carved face strung with real emeralds & pearls, the other a gorgeous purple titanium druzy wire wrapped by Chase Arevalo & strung with some stunning purple beads.  Plus, if I can photograph them, 2 wild pieces incorporating sari silk, chain, souvenir spoons, gem donuts, and a number of other interesting items. Fun!

My latest & probably best steam punk necklace

Wow, I have not posted in a long while!  Partly I've just been busy, partly not having a lot of new work to post.
But here's probably the best piece I've done in quite some time:

It started with an antique calf weaner, of all things, and I added various mostly vintage bits plus a cast resin bird skull by Ann Koi, which I "distressed" with colored waxes & a bit of ink & to which I added doll eyes.
It's listed in my etsy shop, but I wanted to show it here too.
Hope everyone's had a happy turkey day and is sailing into a not too crazy December.

Better pics of Chloe in leather

Better pics taken during our NW sunbreak--today actually over an hour btwn rain & dark! Notice that this little egotist was willing to let me photograph her back only while admiring herself in the car windshield!

Pics of Chloe in new leather dress, etc.

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.

WIP--ear gages

Several young friends and a couple of customers have suggested that some of my work would go well in ear gages, those larger-than-earring-sized objects that have been appearing in a lot of lobes (at least around here).
Our friend/sometimes roommate/partner of Chase Carolne has 00gages in opal or opalite that look really good, so I recruited her as a consultant and bought some gages for experimenting. I also bought some Easy Cast, which I can now recommend - it sets fairly quickly and perfectly clear, unlike the Diamond Glaze that was giving me problems.  It's a bit harder to use--a 2  part resin that requires measuring and mixing-- but I think it's worth it.
We stuck the tubes to fac-up packing tape to hold the resin in. Relatively successful. though next time I think we'll use a see-through surface.
I set some of the gages up with things I thought might work & ranthem past Caroline and Chase. Then last night, while Caroline was at school, Chase and I mixed the stuff up, sort of layered it and added things, and the pics below are what we have now.
Measurung: Each batch of 6 oz. or less requires 3 plastic vessels and 2 plastic or wood stirrers, all of which have to be tossed after use. So. I bought 100 small thin white plastic cups , which we marked (on the outside) with a permanent marker line at the same level. We could see the mark fromthe inside (THIN plastic cup) so just poured each part to the mark. Then we poured them together & stirred (we were using washed popsicle sticks, but I'm hoping to get something next time we go to the restaurant supply place--till then we have some thickish skewers, but I don't think round is the ideal shape) for the required 2 min, then moved to another cup and stirred with a clean stick for another 2 min. It worked really well.

Anyway, so there we were with a cup of goop and quite a few gages, in silcone, wood, ad horn. We also have one metal one, but we were only doing tubes and it's closed.   Preliminary results suggest that
1. we need more research on glue to hold anything to silicone.
2. silicone gages work nicely filled with resin, but may work even better as molds.
3. wooden gages can have things glued on, and are dynamite with resin and inclusions.
Silicone and horn (red flowers) are also great.
4. Diamond Glaze, which we tried using to hold a few things that didn't require transparency, stays runny in silicone & is a poor choice for this project.
5. We used 2or 3 different Beacon glues--experiment, remember--and all worked well with wood but not silicone. I triend some Flexible, Stretchable with the silicone, but it was old and runny. I'll give it another shot with a new jar--the problem is that the silicone tubes flex off the glue, so that seems like one way to go. Another may be to use some sort of caulk, but we're not going there yet. If anyone's had any success with a adhesive for silicone, do please let us know.

So this is what we have--final cleanup, any sanding, etc. still to be done. A little more pouring to top things up, too, but you can at least get an idea of where this is going.