Technique fails

"We all know them, techniques that we simply can't or don't want to pursue any longer, either because we suck at them or because they are boring to us or maybe even outgrew them over the years."
This was the topic for the new Jewelry Artisans Community blog carnival. It's not necessarily failure that makes us eliminate certain techniques, there can be all kind of reasons beside those mentioned why we drop a technique or a craft actually because this doesn't just have to be about jewelry making. For example, I gave up on polymer clay because of cat hairs which just added to my mostly not being very good at it in my opinion ;-)

A jewelry making technique that I gave up on is quite visible in my everyday life. This knitting spool has been a cat toy for a long time which is why it's always on the floor. Gundel isn't interested much, so I guess it's time to put it away. I never used it much, anyway, it came with a smaller spool.



Unlike many children, I had never learned to use a knitting spool. Not that it's difficult, it's just something I never had.
I don't remember exactly why I got the spools to use them for wire, but maybe it was just a natural development after starting out with wire crochet. It's hard to believe that it was more than ten years ago!

I made spool knit ropes without and with different beads, in silver and in colored copper, with ribbons inside of the wire, but my favorites were the ones I made only from gift ribbons. Unfortunately these turned out to be surprisingly exhausting to make, especially my favorite one. The loops were so tight due to the width of the ribbon that it was hard work to lift them off the pegs and I had to take many breaks.
Here are some of my pieces.
As you can see, the wire ones are very airy, actually almost too airy for my liking. I'm crazy about regular stitches and I just didn't manage to make these loops regular. I would probably have needed a spool with very small pegs.
Excuse the pictures, too. These are early ones, I have become better ;-)

My favorite ribbon rope ... do you see now why I like these? Very regular!

Eventually I learned new techniques, the knitting spool - the one I actually used - got put away, the folder got moved to "Archive", and I moved on.
That's how things go.
In fact the last year has been full of beads and very little wire. My crochet hooks are having a long vacation, not much crocheting or knitting. I'm quite sure that is going to change again, though. I don't plan to put my crochet hooks into storage.
Who knows, maybe I'll even get out the spool again sometime?

As mentioned above, this is a blog carnival. If you want to know what stories the others have to tell, have a look here. I'll add links as they come in.

Silver Jewellery Girl (there's not one specific blog post, but have a look around or check out the JAC thread!)
My Bijou Life

Once upon a time ...

... there was a necklace. It was finished, but then the artist saw that the pendant wasn't sitting perfectly, and the necklace got put away for the time being. From time to time it was taken out, but always put back until a better moment would come. The moment didn't come and the necklace lay in a drawer for a long time.

The waiting is over now which kind of makes my other WIPs hope that they have a chance to resurface again, too ;-)

This necklace with the sapphire pendant is crocheted and spool knitted from fine silver wire.
It is available in my Zibbet shop now.

Finishing touches

You know how from time to time I'm trying to finish stuff. I'm definitely not the only one with a load of WIPs around or with a stash of beads etc. that could buy me my own tennis court (no, I don't play tennis which makes the decision for the stash a lot easier) and every, now and then the moment comes to calm your own bad conscience and finish a WIP or use up a few beads (wire, cabs, clay, yarn, whatever your poison may be). Afterwards you can happily start fourteen new WIPs and put in a huge bead order and it will feel so right!

I actually did both (AND even listed an item) and I hope you are as impressed as I am about myself. I think I earned myself the right to order Delicas in abundance later. Now if I could get enough peace to take photos, everything would be fine, but it's hard to concentrate on the right lighting with a yelling cat sitting in front of the door. So you will only get to see pictures of one piece now.

This necklace actually started out as a sample for a custom order. The middle part is spool knit fine silver with my beloved dark red and black Swarovski crystals, a color combination that I'm crazy about because it looks so luscious. I crocheted a very slim silver rope to go on each side and added a little focus to where the spool knit part meets the rope by wrapping around two rows of crystals.

It's dainty, it's elegant, it sparkles ... and it will hopefully be listed in my shop tomorrow!

Spring cleaning

It's not spring yet and I'm not cleaning my house as you might think now.

The cleaning I want to do is in my inventory. I feel there are some older pieces which could use a little rejuvenation. I'm not sure at the moment how far that will go, it depends a lot on what Mabel is telling me.

Have I ever told you she likes to hide in drawers, little bags, on wire spools and in boxes? I have to admit it, sometimes I am not very organized.

So today I found a bag containing nothing but a wire spool with some 9 ct. gold that I had gotten myself months ago to see if it would work for wire crochet (it doesn't ....) - with some faceted garnet beads on it! I remember thinking then  how gold and that red would go together perfectly, then I got discouraged by the wire breaking and packed it up, only to forget it. Like my grandmother used to say "the house doesn't lose anything".

One of the patients on my rejuvenation list had been a rope, spool knitted from dark red ribbon. Red garnets ... red ribbon ... hm ..... what about that tiger eye rock still lying around. Red and dark ... dark mood ... a dark pendant on milky white skin (thinking of my second doll head Lilith here) ... no silver ... gunmetal wire! As you can see, Mabel has been hard at work here which was no easy task as my head is not the best tool at the moment.

So here's the result - the "Lady Jean" necklace, now in my ArtFire studio.

Treasure

It had been like an adventure movie - the jungle, the snakes and the spiders, a competing team (even if they didn't carry poisoned arrows, but laptops and electronic devices), the heat, the excitement, and now they were here at the temple's gate.

They looked at each other. Who was to go first? There wouldn't be a trap, there wouldn't be a curse. This was the 21st century, none of them believed in curses and none of them carried a whip and wore a battered hat. They were scientists and still ... in these surroundings even hard-core scientists could suddenly feel doubtful about what to expect in this ancient temple.

Again they looked at each other and laughed in a slightly embarrassed way. Together they opened the heavy stone gate, and holding their torches up high they walked into the dark.

Suddenly one of the torches caught a sparkle, so they walked towards it and there it was - the face of the God.

When I had finished this piece, it reminded me so much of an ancient mask that I suddenly had this image in my mind. I myself would be much too chicken to fight my way through a jungle (the bugs would be my smallest problem, but the heat and the dampness and weird food), but we all probably have dreamed of a moment when we discover a treasure.

This treasure is in my Zibbet shop now where you can also see more pictures.

Mary Poppins and the knitting spool

If you now wonder what the two have to do with each other, that is indeed a very legitimate question.

When I posted my first spool knitted pieces to Flickr, I was asked to include my pictures in a group pool for spool knitting. I became a member of the Flickr group, later of the Yahoo group (which I have terribly neglected, I must admit) as well.
When the Flickr group admin, Maz, posted a picture of her new spool knitters, I was reminded of Mary Poppins right away. Mary Poppins has always been one of my heroines. She is magic, she is stubborn, she is strict and stern and thinks very highly of herself and still she is lovable and I would have loved to have a nanny like her. I have all the books and I can't even count how often I read them and yes, I still read them from time to time.
It was very hard to pick just one color, they all looked so great, but finally I decided to order a red spool "Mary" and now she's here.
When I opened the parcel, I found a box, that was what I had expected, I was just a little surprised about the height.
Then I opened the box and what I found in that, I hadn't expected at all!

Instead of just my "Mary Poppins" there was so much more in there!
I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves.



Thanks Maz, this was a gorgeous surprise and Mary will get a special place in one of my cabinets for sure!! I wish you could have seen my face when I opened the box, it would have said so much more than my few words ....

And hey, people, if you want to know more about the history of spool knitters, be sure to go by Maz' blog!

They couldn't be more different

I am talking about the two necklaces I listed on Zibbet today.
It was an impulsive decision to join Zibbet, but now that I am there I try to fill up the shop a little and as I still had a few things around that only needed to be woken up from their hibernation (although it was summer and fall, but that's ok, you know what I mean), I found I like the setup.

Today I listed this "old" piece, from my early days. The colors and the beads are so bright and bold that I thought a simple design would work best.
It's from two twisted strands of crocheted copper wire and the beads are glass that is "filled" with color and glitter (now am I a glass expert or what? *lol*)
Looking at it gives you a summery feeling which is not too bad now that the days are very dark here.


The other necklace is a new one. When I got these frosted Brazilian amethysts, they made me think of frozen berries right away. Only they didn't stick together.
Compared to the other necklace this is a very feminine design. Classic understatement with a twist.


Why don't you check out my Zibbet shop?

Hmmm, those brown tigereyes on my desk .... I must have some brown wire somewhere ....

Playing with sapphires

Quite a while ago I bought half a strand of tiny faceted sapphires in all colors of the fall, orange, yellow, greenish, almost everything but blue. At that time I had no idea what to do with them. Every, now and then I took them out and waited for the muse to tell me what she wanted me to use them for.
You know my muse by now. If she is not in the mood she just stays quiet, and if she is she gets violent easy ;-)
So the last time I took a peek at the stones she told me to put them on the wire and then let her take over (she hates the part of stringing the beads first, I guess it's too boring for her). And boy, did she suddenly take over!
I had had a vague idea when I reached out for the marquise shaped closed form of silver wire and I thought about giving it some sparkle, but suddenly there was sparkle all over.

Then I remembered I still had a silver spool knit necklace and although I hadn't been happy with the last pendant I had teamed it with, in this case it gave just the right extra kick.



Now there were still a few sapphires on the wire, so when I took it out a few days later I wondered about something little that I could do with it.
Here's the result - a fine silver wire ball with polka dots. Not quite what you let your children play with. Also I doubt it'll jump very well.


This is a night picture, I hope you can imagine what it will look like in the light ....

Care for a dance with the vampire?

I am still not done with my knitting spool. Not at all. Although so many ideas haunt my poor old brain, sometimes the crochet hook has to go to sleep and give up its place to the spool.
The other day I bought some cheap boxes with beads that were on sale. One of them contained a black mix, the other one a purple mix and both of them contained big seed beads of which the purple ones are silver-lined. Suddenly I just happened to have my black and metallic purple wire in reach (even true, there was no planning whatsoever involved at first).
So the beads went onto the wires and row for row the necklace was growing. Take a closer look to find out what exactly I did ;-)
The result looks really best in the dark, I found, just with a little light on (shhh, I still got one of the old light bulbs in my lamp, but don't tell the EU). I tried to take a picture to show you the effect, but I am not a good enough photographer (yet *lol*) to take good enough night photographs. You'll just have to believe me that the light makes for a dark, mysterious sparkle.
Black and purple makes me think of Victorian times, but also of a kind of classic understatement that seems dark and dull one moment and suddenly gets lightened up to reveal the subtle colors. It doesn't always have to be black and red to get into the right mood ...
Imagine a gorgeous dress swishing across the stone floor when you go to meet the handsome vampire and have a dance with him, this necklace sparkling on your white throat.


P.S.
For your information ;-) No, I haven't read or seen any of the "new" vampire books or movies, but I have to admit I still think I could fall for the vampire Lestat, prince of the darkness - and I'm not talking the guy in the movie I don't even want to mention! And by the way, you'll find this necklace in my DaWanda shop ...

Chair thieves, ribbons and treasure

Blue sky, white cotton ball clouds, sun, warm - the perfect Sunday for a fleamarket. The one we went to is usually one of my all time favorites, for a great atmosphere and also for some spectacular finds (I am not exaggerating!). Today it was a flop. I don't know what was wrong, but we came home almost empty handed.
So I am sitting here now blogging although I should do some research for something else. I am not sitting in my usual chair, though. When I came to the computer, my chair had already been taken by a furry black girl. I couldn't throw her out when she looked at me with those big eyes, purring away happily. So I pushed the chair aside and took the tall guy's one instead which is not as comfortable for me because I am smaller than him. I only have to look at this picture to know it was the right decision, though. May I introduce the sleeping beauty? Excuse the picture, the colors are a little weird, but my camera was acting up again. I can't wait till my new one arrives.
So here is Esme, showing her bald little ear where the fur has not grown back yet after she got into a fight with her brother and had a scratch. She is lying on a dark and light blue blanket (told you the colors were weird!).
Ah, jealous Greebo is on the way to let me know he still exists, too! Ssssh, don't tell him he is going to the vet's tomorrow because he sounds like a bird, he seems to have a sore throat again.


What else have I been up to the last days? I played with my knitting spool. I had bought these ribbons on sale because they seemed perfect for an idea of mine. I love the fact they don't have clasps, but can be tied in the back.
First, I don't really like to put clasps on. Second, you can adjust the requested length easily. Third, you can actually also use them as hair bands!

Wine red ribbon with light pink metallic wire, spool knit together.


Two ribbons spool knit together without any wire. I happened to have orange and black in reach when I wanted to try that, so this became a Halloween band. Of course, this one is thicker than the ones I only used one ribbon and wire on. While you can easily put chunky pendants (like the crab agate) on the one ribbon ropes, a two ribbon rope works better without. Just my humble opinion.



This had been the original idea. Just the wire is spool knit and the ribbon runs along inside. These strands are not as thick of course, so I made two and twisted them. Do you also hear Christmas songs when looking at it?



And yesterday I finally caught a treasury again. I know I would probably make a terrible mess with resin, so I haven't tried yet, but I would sure like to because I think it's really cool stuff. Check out Soaping of organic compounds if you want to see some great pieces.



Last, but not least I can announce I found two more nests ... I hear funny little purring and scratching sounds in the night and see the cats staring at corners, but not doing anything. They seem wary, but not scared or aggressive. What is going on here??

More spool knitting

Sciatic pain, lumbago, whatever the exact word for that what I have since yesterday, it's annoying. I can't sit for very long, I can't lie for very long and it is so embarrassing to say where exactly it's hurting. Wipe that grin off your face, I won't say it out loud.
At least I got a few things done today that I could do in my now favorite half-lying position.
I started out with this blue rose pendant. To me it looks like a rose, if you see something else in it, go ahead and let me know. The first stitches are knitted, the rest is crocheted, both times with fat needles. Actually it was supposed to be something totally different, but as always I trusted my needles to take me the right way.



A few days ago my new knitting spool has arrived. Six hooks instead of four and a bigger hole which means I can work beads in. In this case I only used three of the six hooks to give it a really airy structure. I am looking forward to try different things with it and I am lovingly looking at other spools now with up to 24 hooks, although I think 12 will make the most sense for me.
I used fluorite (wow, it was the first time ever I wrote this word right at the first try!!) beads on the earrings and pendant because I love the different color shades.
By the way, these are not the pictures I will use when listing them. If you wonder about the net, it is a cat net as we have it in every room but one. Ponder helped me taking the photos by trying to steal the pendants, but I didn't let him get close enough, haha! :-D