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

Oldies but Goodies - Soft

I know I have missed a few Jewelry Artisans Community Oldies but Goodies Challenges in my blog, mostly because I'm struggling with frustration about the whole Covid thing (I know I'm not alone with that), but I'm back now with this one.
The topic was "soft" which could be anything, soft material like fabric, cord, or felt, soft colors or even a soft look of the design itself.
We are happy to welcome a new member with her beautiful Sakura necklace, too. I think it works both for the soft colors and the soft look.
I hope you'll like the other designs as well.

1 Silver Jewellery Girl
2 My Bijou Life
3 Jewelry Art by Dawn
4 Cat's Wire

Gavin the pood...., erm, polar bear

Wondering about the title? Well, to be honest, Gavin was supposed to become a poodle when I started working on this. I hadn't expected it to work out right away, but I also didn't expect things to change quite so dramatically ;-)
No idea why, but my needle felted animals tend to be on the pudgy side. In this case, however, there was no chance to call that growing piece of felt a pudgy poodle. Instead it turned into a bigger dog (whom I gave fluffy hair at first), and then I thought that was actually a polar bear staring at me, even if it wasn't really a polar bear yet and didn't have eyes yet at that point.

After changing that, though, Gavin is now ready to say hello.

Jessica goes travelling

One week later and Jessica has finally chosen the outfit to go with her bead embroidered overnight bag.
She wanted it to be fashionable yet comfortable, classic but not boring.

The white sweater is a moderate A-line and has a turtleneck that isn't folded over, but covers the neck completely. The edge is a decorative, lacy look.
The short sleeves are woven differently to add interest.

Jessica loves wearing long and bold necklaces over her sweater. Here she chose a copper tone Y necklace with a crystal and a huge (from her point of view) freshwater pearl. The brown and white tones go so well with her outfit and the accessories!

To add a bit of color to her outfit, Jessica grabbed her slim scarf made from a multicolor mix. Just a touch of yellow makes the sun come out, she says.
She can wear it like this, but also as a head scarf.

Among her favorite pants are these woven palazzo pants. They are wide and comfortable and even if they look blue at first sight, they also have that beautiful gold tone mixed in that you see if you take a closer look. It's one of Jessica's favorite colors (and mine ;-)).
She thought about wearing boots with them, but in the end she decided to wear her brown slippers after all. You never know how much you have to walk when going sightseeing.

Now the whole outfit in one picture ... Jessica looks quite happy with it, don't you think?

Oops, can't forget the bag. All of her important stuff is in there, she said, although she refused to show me what exactly she was taking.
I have the suspicion that she raided my snack shelf for her trip, and that bag is looking heavy! She better bring some souvenirs home for me :-)

 

Jessica was a registered trademark of the Topper Company. I am not affiliated with Topper in any way.

Bead embroidered miniature bag

Usually things go the other way round. I make a doll outfit and then I make accessories going with it. I guess this time it won't work like that, but it hasn't been planned that way.

In fact I am working on a Barbie doll outfit at the moment, on the top, to be precise. In the middle of this project, however, I ran out of one bead color. No problem, who doesn't like a bead order? I like to optimize my bead orders, though, so I'm still listing what exactly to get.
In the meanwhile I started on a new idea, a bead embroidered handbag for Barbie. I have made bags on the bead loom and in brick stitch and peyote before, but I wanted this one to be sturdier, with a lining, one that she didn't get from the department store, but from a bag store. It's really kind of funny because I would never think of going to such a store myself, all I need is my trusted kitten tote.
Just so you know, Barbie didn't like her new handbag and I get why. It quickly became clear after I started beading that it wouldn't work with her outfit in colors and style, so she's going to get something different eventually.

My plan was not to make this bag flat like the totes I had made before because I wanted to put something (whatever that was going to be) inside.
I started by cutting out the backing for the beads, a large rectangle marked with smaller ones for the front, the back, and the flap, with smaller pieces for the sides of the bag. I would bead the surface, sew on Ultrasuede for the lining, and then fold everything up and close the seams.
It sounds easier than it turned out to be. While my measurements weren't wrong, I hadn't calculated how much thicker the beads and the Ultrasuede would make my piece which made it harder to fold up and sew together right. For example, I would have wanted the flap to be a bit longer which it would have been on a flatter piece.
I wanted a kind of button or hook sewn to the front to go through a hole in the flap to close the bag, but because the flap wasn't as long as planned, I had to settle for the strap instead.

There were a few more things I learned while sewing up the seams, so if I'll ever make another one, I'll know what to pay attention to beforehand.
I'm still very happy with the result, though, I just wish it hadn't taken me so much longer than I had expected. Not that that doesn't happen to me all the time, thinking about it ;-)
I have already been contemplating other ways to make miniature bags.

As Barbie has decided not to use this bag, Jessica has taken a look. She said she needed an overnight bag and thinks it will work nicely. She tested it with a short dress and a blouse. And now she wants an outfit going with this.
Putting my thinking cap on in 3 ... 2 ... 1 ...

Oldies but Goodies - Easter eggs and more

This week's Jewelry Artisans Community Oldies but Goodies Challenge was about Easter ... white and colorful "eggs", pastels, flowers. I hope you'll like my little collection.
And can someone take those chocolate eggs away from me now, please? ;-)

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

Oldies but Goodies - Blooming

Spring is definitely around the corner in our hemisphere.
To celebrate this, the topic for this Jewelry Artisans Community Oldies but Goodies Challenge is inspired by the blooming that has been going on all around us.
My plan had been to take some pictures in our little garden to complement this post, but it's cold out there and I just can't bring up the motivation right now.
Instead I will be giving you these beautiful blossoms that our members shared to get you into the right mood!

1 The Crafty Chimp
2 My Bijou Life
3 Cat's Wire
4 Beyouteous
5 Jewelry Art by Dawn
6 RioRita