Oldies but Goodies - June Moon

I'm a June child which I usually blame for loving the moon so much.
June birthstones are the moonstone, the alexandrite and the pearl. I remember being very disappointed as a teenager because for me a pearl wasn't a stone. I would have preferred something sparkly and not so "old". The moonstone was okay, but not really exciting, either. I never even knew about the alexandrite then.
People grow older and learn things, and sometimes the tastes changes with the years, too. I can now appreciate the shimmer of a pearl and a moonstone. I don't know when I found out that moonstones can come in different colors, but I admit that my personal favorite is still the white one because it has such a magic look to me.

For this week's Jewelry Artisans Community Oldies but Goodies Challenge the topic was June moon which left the door wide open for different pieces as we are rather generous about the rules. No one had a June beetle to offer, though ;-)
Instead I present to you a variety of moon inspired pieces of jewelry. Are you game for a trip to the moon with us?

1 and 7 Cat's Wire
2 and 4 Jewelry Art by Dawn
3 and 6 RioRita
5 and 8 My Bijou Life

Dainty

The moonstone in this pendant has been an old companion of mine. In fact it has been around almost from the very start of my jewelry making journey. There were originally two of them that I had made into wire crochet pendants - not easy with a cab that size - one sold, the other one got ripped eventually.

I love moonstones because I love the moon. I really think they deserve their name.
As small as this one is, it still has a lovely blue glow which made me choose some silver lined light blue seed beads with the clear beads and crystals. I mostly used a thread also in light blue to give the clear beads a touch of color as well, only the picot edging sitting on top of the crystal row is made with white thread. 

Including the bail the whole bead embroidered pendant is only an inch, so it needed a dainty chain as well. When I went on YouTube to look for something else, one of my recommendations was a two bead spiral Herringbone rope tutorial.
I wish the internet would get out of my head!
Nevertheless that was one recommendation that really worked for me - I still don't understand why YouTube seems to think I'm into crazy disclosure stories about English Royals just because I watch one channel about Victorian cooking! - because the dainty look was perfect for my pendant.
Also it's not hard at all to do, and with everything that has been and still is going on, both personal and in the world, and which occupies my mind, it felt good to get lost in a repetitive process for a while.
To enhance the icy look, I chose clear and silver lined clear seed beads for the rope and finished it off with a simple click clasp.

At the Jewelry Artisans Community we have some tiny challenges - tiny because not many people participate - six times a year, the latest one was to make a piece of jewelry with your own chain.
I have often made wire ropes to go along with my pendants, mostly crocheted or knitted, but I never make chains from wire links on my own. My plan was to tackle one of those, but I didn't feel I had the nerve for it at this time.
So it'll have to be this instead.

Art Elements Design Challenge and Blog Hop - Moon

I love the moon. It is not the first time I've said this on my blog. In 2009 I talked about my favorite perigee ever, a magical event that I never forgot - a HUGE moon and we were heading right into it. Well, we weren't, but it felt like it. I had never seen the moon that big and I haven't ever since, and no, although it was around 5 am, I know it was not a dream.
So there was no question about participating in the Art Elements Design Challenge for which Lindsay chose the topic Moon. This time I wouldn't just be participating, though, I would master this challenge like a boss by starting early. I had loads of ideas.

The cow jumping over the moon was the first one, even before I saw the picture in the post. My inspiration came from a different source, Mary Poppins. It would have to be a big moon for me to manage a cow in a good size, and how would I attach it? I'm still thinking about that one.
Then there was Little Peter's Journey to the Moon by Gerdt von Bassewitz about a May beetle taking two good children to the moon. Hans Baluschek's illustrations would have made for great inspiration. I didn't have the book, though, but would have wanted it for the details. Another one for the list.
Theodor Storm. The Little Haverman. Little Hobbin. The Little Häwelmann. I found all these titles for the fairy tale about the little boy who doesn't want to sleep and uses his cradle for a little trip on a moonbeam. Another inspiration. Ugh. This was getting more difficult than I had planned.

Should I even go for the full moon yet again? When I was a kid, I turned the C from my first name into a waning moon (under which I was born, by the way, which I looked up for the first time today) with a big nose, a googly eye and a wide grin for a signature. That would be fun to make once I got better at soldering, but not now. Did I even want to use wire?
Decisions, decisions!
I kept thinking and waiting for the perfect idea, but then I realized I didn't even have a moon I could use. Rather small magnesite beads were the closest I had and they didn't convince me. Polymer clay was out of the question, I wasn't in the mood for light colors and black cat hair. I had a rose quartz cab. Was there something like a pink moon? A song by Nick Drake, Pink Moon, from his third and last studio album with the same name. Never heard of him. What was I doing?? I was going into the wrong direction and time started running out.

Then I got lucky (was about time, too!). While looking for something else I found the cab I had had in mind all the time, a carved moon face with closed eyes. It called for a night sky, craters and stars. Finally I was getting somewhere!
First I beaded a simple peyote bezel with my beloved gunmetal AB and clear AB seed beads in size 11 and 15.
Next stop - moonstones. I didn't have any, but I had a ring that I had been wanting to rip up for some time, anyway. I created "craters" by adding seed beads around the moonstones that I sewed on the bezel. Last but not least there had to be a little fringe with a mix of all the beads.

Another last minute project finished, I am getting good at this! ;-)
 

Please pay a visit to all the other participants in this challenge, too. I promise it's going to be worth your time.

Guests

Jenny - Melissa - Kathy - Sarajo - Hope - Sarah - Rebecca - Divya - Anita - Rozantia - Raven - Cat (that's me!) - Evia - Alysen - Beth - Tammy
 
AE Team

Claire - Laney - Caroline - Cathy - Sue - Niky - Jenny - Jen - Lindsay


P.S. Do you know the moon from The Mighty Boosh? That one could provide me with more ideas ...

Fly me to the moon

Many years ago I watched a documentary about Picasso. He was telling, uhm, stuff that I have forgotten, all I remember is him painting on a panel of glass. He started painting and then he added a bit here and a bit there, then suddenly painted all over it, and although I'm not a big fan of his paintings, I was hypnotized by the painting changing like that all the time. I have forgotten what he started with and I don't remember what it looked like in the end. I do remember there was a rooster at some point.

The fascinating part was how the painting was in motion throughout the process, much more than I had expected.

I'm not Picasso and I'm no painter. I don't know what drove him to work the way he did, maybe I should have listened better.

What I do know is that I'm still fascinated by a design changing all the time unexpectedly.

The July challenge of the Starving Artists Team is "Fly me to the moon". My first thought was a carved polymer clay moon, the second one was moonstones. Half moon. No, full moon. Did I have enough moonstones left? A small full moon made of silver and moonstones. Yeah, with star charms dangling from it. A pendant. Where's my fine silver? Oh yeah, upstairs. Great, now I forgot to bring the charms as well. Wait, what's this? A few leftover moonstones, smaller ones. Stars. The full moon surrounded by night sky. Black wire with moonstone stars. A flat pendant. No, now that I started working with the black wire I feel a domed look is better. How about a double layer edge since the edge started curling so nicely. Hm, know what? Maybe this shouldn't be a pendant at all, it would be a pretty cool ring. Big, but lightweight, and definitely different. On a sterling silver shank.

See what I mean? When looking at the ring now, you won't even know of all the thoughts that come with it, or the time that went into it. I know and it's why I love so much what I do.

And there it is now - in my shop.

Sun and moon

I have a secret drawer. Sometimes I store things in there for a bit until I find time and energy to take pictures for example. And sometimes I forget I stored things in there. Then I'm in for a surprise, just like yesterday.

When I opened it, a necklace came out. It had been a spontaneous in between project which maybe is the reason why I forgot it. Maybe the reason is that someone stole my brain. I should check for Zombies again. Wait, I think I can hear one!

*elevator music*

Ok, that was false alarm. It was just Greebo snoring somewhere behind me. He's not interested in my brain.

Back to the archeological find. This is it, one of my tube ropes with a pendant.

I had bought that moonstone cab such a long time ago, but it's not very big and therefore it was a little challenging to make a bezel for it. The gunmetal bezel alone made it look dark, so I added the golden wire.

When I was done, the irony wasn't lost on me. The pendant now reminded me of a sunflower with the gunmetal and the gold color, but in the middle was a moonstone! Maybe that's just me, though. Maybe others see something totally different in it, who knows?

On a ring trip

From time to time I go through my stash of beads together with my muse. She points out beads that I had forgotten or some that I don't have many left of. Sometimes she will even find a half-forgotten WIP.
Perfect projects for those occasions are rings. They are fun to make because you can always choose a new combination of wire and beads.

This is what she came up with this weekend.
First of all she found a WIP I had made quite a while ago, then "lost" underneath something else. I hadn't decided yet if I wanted it to be a pendant, a collier or a ring. My first attempt at a ring had failed on a day when I was very impatient, so off into the box it went.
What I had so far, was a crocheted dome of sterling silver wire with faceted little moonstones. Too pretty to hang out in a WIP box with their blue flashes and sparkle.
I got stubborn and finally did it. One down, only one million to go. Yesss!


Then my muse (I wonder if she needs a name, time for another poll? Let me know what you think!) gave me some lovely frosted 4 mm amethyst beads that had been left after making the Winter Berries necklace.
Perfect for this ring in fine silver wire, don't you think?


I have only tried to spool knit brass wire once. It was not a success because it doesn't bend the way copper does. So I still had this ugly necklace lying around. It's always hard for me to throw something away, but there was no chance I could have saved it. Snip, snip, snip - welcome back, little jasper cubes.
I find they look much better on this ring (what you can't see in this picture that on this ring the wire is crocheted in a different direction than the others, I can be soooo innovative at times :-P).


When I wanted to take the pictures to list the rings, I found ... or rather, I didn't find (it was a very negative feeling) no charged batteries. Ten batteries and all of them dead? That delayed the listing a little, but I hope they'll be in one of my shops soon. The rings, not the batteries ;-)

Bifocals!!!!!! ;-)

So I just picked them up - AND got home without falling. That is a good sign, isn't it? Later I'm going to put it through the hardest test of all, crocheting and looking TV at the same time. If that works I should be on the safe side. Of course my friend is already making fun of me. So I am an old woman, who cares? ;-)
At any case I hope making pieces like this moonstone pendant in a net of copper wire coated black (afterwards scrubbed down to let the copper color reappear a little) will be easier from now on. It took quite some fiddling, I can tell you, because the stone is small. I tried to make another one in sterling silver, but the stone kept slipping. In the end my eyes were so weary I had to give up. Sometimes you have to know when to put something down and give it a new try later.



Now I'm off to do my laundry. Not something I particularly love, but it has to be done. Although it is said about Swabians that they are crazy about housework, I think my mother's genes - she isn't a Swabian - come through here :-))

Shoot, I keep looking over the rim of my glasses when I want to look at something closely, I really have to stop that!