Oldies but Goodies - Tiger's eye

Sorry, I'm a bit preoccupied at the moment, totally non jewelry-related, so I'm going to keep today's post for the Jewelry Artisans Community Oldies but Goodies Challenge of this week short.
Our topic was tiger's eye (and no, not all of these pieces do have tiger's eye, but you know that we are generous with the rules ... can you find out which are different stones?).
Hope you'll like the collage!

1/5/8 MC Stoneworks
2/3/7 Cat's Wire
4/6 Jewelry Art by Dawn

Whimpering and rambling

Seriously, I can't handle a new addiction. I feel torn between one technique and the other, I fall in love with one kind of design and want to make it in a thousand different colors, and then there are still those ideas from the list I made two years ago, one year ago, four months ago.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

Ok, that helped. Not. You know I'm very unsocial at the moment. I'm happiest with two or three cats fighting for the best place on or near me, with a DVD playing, in my little fort whose walls are built from a loom, a bead mat, bead cups, wire, findings, beads, cabs, crochet hooks in different sizes and two remote controls. I don't need to talk and I am much too lazy - although I prefer to call it happily relaxed - to go outside and buy food. The selection at home is not that great at the moment, but as long as I still have milk, I don't really mind. Don't worry, I had spaghetti with veggie bolognese last night, I won't starve. And if there's danger of starving (if you know me, you'll find this as funny as I do), there's still nice Indian food waiting for me across the street. Very tempting.

I should take pictures and edit them before they take my Picnik away. I have played with other photo editing programs, downloads and online, but so far none of them has been IT for me.

Let's get to my latest addiction now however. I better write fast, the cats are in a strange mood today, and I have no idea when they'll get up and try to scream each other down again, crazy bunch.

A while ago I got myself some gold and silver Kumihimo cord. It lay around waiting forever, but suddenly its time had come.

Would you have thought that cord, tiny glass cubes and other beads might look good together? Well, I did, thanks to Erin the Evil Enabler. You might remember her.

Inspired by one of my favorite quotes I now want to say "I'm gonna need a bigger cube stash." As in Miyuki cube. You saw what I did with the bigger ones, I'll show you what I do with the tiny ones.

Those pearls (from Crysallis Gems, another enabler ;-)) look good enough to lick. I bet they would taste like chocolate. They sure look like it.

Unfortunately I found that I didn't have the right clasp for this cuff, so it's not listed yet.

Oh darn. I knew I wasn't fast enough. The "food patrol" is here demanding food for starving cats. To avoid more screaming and hissing, I'll obey.

I'll turn some music on for you and be right back.

I just hope 6 minutes will be enough.

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Amazing. I'm a real speed feeder.

On with the story. As I had so much fun with doing this cuff, I decided to go through my beads and see what else I had and I found tiger eye.

Then I had some more fun ;-)

Bead loomed cuff with tiger eye

THEN I ordered some more cord in different colors and now I need to decide what color cubes I want .... *sigh*

If you came that far, I can only admire you. Thanks!

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.

Banglemania!!!

This is so addictive! Yes, I watch Bollywood, yes, I own a saree that I have never worn and yes, I love bangles, but I have to admit I have a problem with the sound they are making if you wear many and bangles have to be worn in abundance, right?
So I was sitting there looking at my colored wire, looking at my stone beads and the small candle in my brain started to shine, a little flickering at first - which is why the first one became a children's bangle - but then I really felt I was on to something here.
I hope I won't be the only one to think that. Do you know this feeling? You are all enthusiastic about something, you do a little happy dance and all your soul and thoughts go into this project, no matter what kind it is. You are excited to show others and then the bubble blows because you get a polite "Ah yes", "Mmh-mmh" or something else along that line. Sometimes these experiences stick to you like glue, sometimes you shake them off. I learned it is important to always do something for yourself in the first place and then maybe the spark is gonna flow.
I had fun making these bangles and I am sure they won't be my last, I'll just have to stock up on beads and wire. What a sacrifice! Shopping for beads and wire is one of the hardest thing to do, well, at least if you don't have the money to say you take everything ;-)
Today we were at a minerals and fossils fair. I took the tall guy along because of his wallet, eh, I mean because he is the perfect companion for this. He headed off to hall 7 immediately where there was an antique fair. He found something, I found something, we are both broke, but happy :-P

And here are the first bangles with round beads, I also made some with chips. Not Doritos! Red goldstone and rock crystal. Not as tasty, but they sparkle more ... Eventually they will pop up in one of my shops, too - in a few days, I guess.

Sterling silver wire and labradorite



Copper wire and brown tiger's eye



Copper wire and red tiger's eye



Green coated wire and light green Chinese jade



Hot pink coated wire and rose quartz, bangle plus hoops with copper earwires



I am sure the banglemania will go on now that I have new beads ... gotta hurry, my hook is calling me!! :-D