It's Friday the 13th and I've gone Goth.

I made these polymer clay pendants the other day. I was trying to mix up a beige colour but some how got this washed out pink (don't ask) and decided to just keep experimenting and playing around with things even if they end up in the box with all the other mistakes and mishaps that I've made (that box is almost full I might add) and thinking to myself that the colour couldn't possibly go with anything. Well lo and behold as I was wandering around the shopping centre the other day I noticed that a lot of the spring and summer fashion is very pale creams and washed out pinks and lots of antiquey looking lacey stuff and I said to myself, even though most of the time I don't listen to myself, that maybe I'm onto something, so I do actually have plans for these.

I really like this one. I rubbed Stazon Timber Brown over the raised areas and after adding the polish, the ink ran and turned this rose kind of colour. Noice!
Now onto the Goth part of this post. Black beads wired together and a silver toggle clasp.
Some white beads with little silver charms.
Black polymer clay cross. I bought this Krafty Lady mold the other day and not being a particularly religious person there was something about it that drew me to it. I think the beautiful embossed pattern is what grabbed my attention.
So I molded, baked and then added silver rub n buff to the raised areas. Added a silver bail and put it all together. So hard to get a photo to how it sits when it's worn. But hopefully you get the idea.
Sold

So that's my Friday the 13th post. Don't walk under any ladders or let black cats cross your path. Maybe my gothic cross will protect you.

Give Away

I've done it again...thought the last post I did was 199 and this was my 200th, but in actual fact this is post 201......oh well, me and math never got along too well and what's one or two posts between friends and bloggers. So this is number 3 of the pieces I made a couple of weekends ago. (At least I think it's number 3).
Polymer clay faux raku technique, round toggle clasp.

Pendant with a dingly, dangly whats it.

Black enamel chain with the toggle clasp designed to be worn at the side rather than at the back. It's quite long and I wasn't sure if I liked it. But Carmen came over one day last week and tried it on over a cream top she was wearing and we both agreed it was quite striking on.
So onto my 200th or 201st blog post as the case may be and let's not get pedantic with numbers, I said I'd have a give away. Well here it is:
You have the choice of this piece. A silver necklace with a beautiful metal clasp made by Summers Studio.

Baubley bits and bobs made from various beads and gems and one of Summer Studios hand made silver bead caps.
It has a little sparkly bling as well.
This is another piece designed with the clasp to be worn on the side. Who wants to hide that lovely piece of hand made gorgeousness at the back.

Or you can choose a bit of whimsy. Red polymer clay heart that has been embossed and highlighted with black rub n buff. I've stamped a pattern on the back as well but forgot to take a photo.
Black enamel ball chain with a gunmetal toggle and clasp.
So what do you have to do? Easy, just leave a comment telling me which piece you'd like, you can become a follower too if you aren't already but it's not essential to be in the draw. You can Tweet, blog or face book it as well. I'll leave this post up until next Monday 9th August and then I'll pull a name out of a hat, or a bowl, or cup, or a thimble depending on the number of comments left. Good luck.
Now I'm off to cook dinner...Portuguese chicken with pumpkin and zucchini and I'm going to try and infuse it with a bit of love (DS always complains I never cook with love). That's not true......I always cook my polymer clay with heaps of love!!!!

Laughing...and not all the way to the bank.

See the photo above....it's a gorgeous necklace made by Lorelei Eurto in a book called Chain Style by Jane Dickerson. Fabulous book full of gorgeous contemporary jewelry using lots of different styles of chain. So I was browsing through it the other day for the millionth time as is my want, trying to get some inspiration and to get out of the black and silver rut that I seem to be stuck in of late and this particular necklace by Lorelei spoke to me and thought I'd use it for inspiration.

This is what evolved.....ha, ha, ha, I'm laughing just looking at it. It's a dogs breakfast! You can laugh too....I won't be offended because it's really awful. Nothing sits right, the balance is all wrong, and frankly it's just terrible.
Ok, that's enough laughing now, stop it....see, now coffee is coming out of your nose, serves you right for laughing so hard at my expense. Snicker all you like, I'm just being brave and showing you that not everything turns out how you expect it to and sometimes things just don't work.....at all....and you'd better go back to the drawing board and hope that Lorelei never sees it!
Where's the chain I here you ask, well if you must know I forgot to add it.....ok?
But seriously if you want to see some stunning pieces of wearable art got to Lorelei's blog and be amazed.

Oh for a Hot Shower

I'm in a black and white and silver rut at the moment. Oh well, I'll just keep going with it until it wears itself out.
We're living the pioneer life at the moment. The last few mornings have been the coldest so far this year and of course the law of averages means the hot water system, which has served us well for the last 17 years, sprung a leak. So I haven't had a shower, I've had to boil water to wash the dishes and I sooooo miss running hot water. The new system gets installed tomorrow afternoon, so it's off to SIL in the morning for a nice hot shower.

Black lava beads linked together, black enamel chain and a black and white cameo.
I did change the main silver jump ring in the centre and replaced it with something a little more interesting.
I've also made another wallpaper necklace that I'm thrilled to bits with the way it turned out. I'll post pictures later in the week.
I'm contemplating going to the Craft and Quilt fair this week. I can't remember if I thought it was worth while when I went last year or whether it was a disappointment, or maybe that was the year before. Well I won't know unless I go, will I.

Black and Silver

A very hard necklace to photograph so please forgive the awful quality of these pix. I whipped this up on Tuesday lickety split and before I could say good grief, it was done. I lie.....don't believe a word I say.....it's taken me a few days to put this together. I kept changing things around, different chain, tried different ways to highlight the focal added this, took off that, played around for ages until I was happy with it. Such a simple looking necklace too, who would have thought it would take me so long.

The chain is very long, about waist length, so it can be worn a couple of different ways if desired.
The focal is wallpaper and grungeboard (what else?) with a silver metal filigree whatsit attached with some beads and crystals.
I'll see if Brighita likes it, if so she can have it as a welcome home present. Only 1 more week until she arrives home from three and half months working in New Zealand. Can't wait...I've missed my bratski.....I need her back to balance out the male to female ratio in the house and I know she's just dying to have some of my home cooked meals (my tongue is firmly in my cheek).
Speaking of cooking, my cupcakes were a hit last week but I won't bore you with photos of them. Your welcome. Now I have to try and think of something to cook for dinner tonight. Ugh!!!

Black, Cream and Grey

Remember this from my last post? (I've got old lady hands..now that's depressing).Here's a close-up of the beads after I stamped them.
Another close-up. The large speckled beads were once on another necklace.
Wallpaper and grungeboard discs. The middle one looks as though there is a Japanese lady peeking out from behind a tree. Total serendipity.
Here's the whole necklace. I was unsure if it was a bit too busy, but after getting a couple of opinions from females from either end of the age spectrum, one a young, funky, hip and happening kind of girl and the other an age appropriate hip and happening kind of lady they both assured me it wasn't too busy and both would wear it in a heart beat. So I was pleasantly re-assured.
I have a few of the stamped beads left so I might make something entirely different with them.

The Muse, MacGyver and Me

Yesterday I took myself off the the Craft and Collectibles show at Claremont. I have to confess I spend more time in the antiques and collectibles than the craft section these days and I bought this necklace (of course I've pulled it all apart) because I knew those cream tubular beads were the right colour to go with some wallpaper focals I've made.But they were terribly bland and blah and ordinary and when I got home I was looking at them trying to come up with an idea to jazz them up a bit. Well as luck would have it, the muse just happened to pop by for a quick visit and said.....why don't you stamp them.....brilliant idea I said....but wait a minute, how am I supposed to stamp something that's tubular.....and she just shrugged her shoulders and said....not my problem, I just give you the idea and it's up to you to bring that idea to fruition.....so I said.....but don't you do both?....and she said....nah, that's just an ugly rumour someone started......and poof! she was gone.
So I thought, how would MacGyver tackle this problem.
Well for a start he'd definitely have a piece of wire handy.
And he'd know without a shred of doubt that the wire should be threaded through the bead.
Then I guess he'd look around for a stamp the approximate width of the bead.
Ink up the stamp and very carefully roll the bead down the stamp until it was covered. Of course he'd use two hands because he would have an assistant to hold his camera.
And this is what he would end up with.
So when I've finished putting the necklace together I'll post some photos.

All Things Silver

I quite like this. I made it for me to go with my new funky, edgy clothes I bought. Lots of silver and clear glass, and black beads.I crocheted two strands of beads and twisted them together and added a silver chain. There was an incident with the wire though......it snapped just as I was about to finish off the ends. Drat and double drat. But with a bit of ingenuity and a lot of cussing and cursing I managed to salvage it (I think). The beads are quite large and some of them are reasonable heavy, hence only doing two strands so I'm wondering if the 28 guage I used is a little too thin. Jana are you there? I'll soon find out when it all falls apart I guess.
It's a choker style necklace which I've decided is one of the best styles for me. Because I wear glasses for reading and have them hanging off those horrible glasses hanging things most of the time, if I wear anything longer it looks weird. Plus everything gets all tangled up.
Slightly blurry photo. I should get my tripod out and use it. I always forget I've got one until I see a photo like this.
This morning I cut out a whole lot of grungeboard discs and some beautiful paper given to me by one of the ladies I work with. So another necklace and some earrings are in the pipe line along with a few other things I'm experimenting with.
Enjoy the rest of the week.

Giveaway Reminder and New Earrings

Just a reminder about my giveaway, still a few days left to post a comment.

Some new earring designs which I'm really loving. Grungeboard painted with a metallic blue, embossed and highlighted with a white metallic wax and copper findings. The beads on the end are copper with a black speckle, they don't show up very well in the photo. Possibly because my shadow was in the way.I'm keeping these. Grungeboard painted with metallic champange, embossed and highlighted with brown stazon ink. Little bicone pearls with a very slight pink tinge to them.
These are the mother of all earrings. Fun, funky, bold and dramatic. Grungeboard painted metallic black, embossed and highlighted with silver rub n buff.
I'm going to make another pair with a slightly narrower and shorter strip and try some different colour combos.
I've just been to the doctor for a blood test. One of those glucose tests where you have to drink really sweet fizzy stuff and then wait at the lab for 2 Hours and have more blood taken. I new I had to wait but I thought I could wander off to the shops and browse around and look at stuff and kill a bit of time. But no....I had to sit there for the whole 2 hours twiddling my thumbs. But after she took the last test she said I had to go home and not do anything all day......really? so I can't do laundry or vacuum or dust or do the grocery shopping, or wash the car. Noooooo! she said. Well, I'll just have to sit at my desk and play all day. Yes! she said. Whoohoo I said.

Sunday's Child

And the child that is born on the Sabbath day is bonny and blithe and good and gay.
Are you all exhaling a big sigh of relief that this is the last day? I am. Hard going posting every day.These last two necklaces are still in production. Kinda, sorta, maybe.
Just trying to tweak the closures a bit for a better and surer clasp.
You know how it goes. They look so much better than the photos.
The one below is my favourite.
Gorgeous latte coloured lacy material with a pearly sheen to it.
It will look good with this winter's colours. I've noticed lots of shades of grey in the stores.
So now for a giveaway. In honour of my mammoth week long posting I thought I'd say thanks for stopping by. But you have to work a little bit. Don't worry, I won't ask you to be a follower, but your more than welcome. I like to think people follow because they enjoy my blog and not for the lure of bright sparkly things.
Leave a comment telling me what day you were born on and if you could have dinner with one person in the world who would it be.
Winner get's to choose any piece of jewelry from any post between Monday and Saturday, (Sunday's not included as I'm still tweaking).
I'll put the names in hat next Sunday and draw out a name. (Don't think there's any need for Random.org).