painting with glass…

jewelry corner:

So, for the last month or so, I have not really spent much time at the workbench that amounted to any finished pieces. I have spent time getting my workspace set up so that I don’t kill myself. I also treated myself to some new supplies, and am teaching myself to torch enamel.

I saw an article in Belle Amour Jewelry (a beautiful magazine, that I usually don’t buy) about how easy it is to enamel copper using your torch. I was immediately enamored with the the whole process. With little extra equipment, you can add color and texture to your copper.

My first order from Frantz Art Glass was only four colors (clockwise from top middle- red orange opaque, transparent bonnet blue (shown over white), white with speckles of the orange red and grey green). Not very smart on my part, when they offer a 40 color sampler pack that was very reasonably priced. So that was my second order, and using additional colors from that order, I created the “buttons” that match the wire wrapped green opal, and then I wanted to check out the difference in the two yellows included in the sampler. So there has been much “playing” until this past weekend, when I actually cut out some pieces of copper in order to create some earrings.

I LOVE color, but am not always successful in how I combine it, so I often take cues from fabrics and designers. I am currently obsessed with Amy Butler, so I wanted to use the colors from a piece of her scrapbooking paper…

not feeling that Amy Butler vibe? Well here, let me make it a little more clear for you…

…how completely off the mark I was. I certainly have some practice before me. This is after approximately three additional firings with transparents over the garish opaques. This picture actually tones down the heinous nature of this color combo- apparently my camera is not interested in accurately recording anything this ugly! So I said to myself- self, why are you trying to run, when you haven’t even finished learning to crawl with this new technique. SO I took some deep breaths, and went all mono-chromatic on myself.

The pendant is pale petal pink with dark petal pink, the earrings are dark petal pink with light orchid. The bail on the pendant is a piece of 16 gauge wire that I torched until the ends balled up, and then I enameled that with moss green. And since the set didn’t make me vomit, I wore them to work today. I hammered a tiny border of texture around all the pieces, and I don’t think I will do that again, It makes it more difficult to get a clean edge of enamel. So, I am very excited to make fun enameled headpins, and you can safely assume for the foreseeable future that everything not nailed down will be enameled until I am happy with my technique.

I will take pictures of my enameling set up, just in case any one is interested in how my mind wants to do things.

food fun:

the last two weeks, I have been inspired to try some new recipes, and with the help of the Epicurious app, on my Itouch, I found some very inspiring Asian recipes to try. (have you tried this app? It is awesome, it is free and it will create shopping lists for you, which as far as I am concerned is the most awesomest part of it.) I made a shrimp with red curry for my brother and his lovely vegetarian wife two weeks ago. Her dietary choices force me to stretch and I LIKE it! I also made a simple stir fry of snap pea tops, that were on special that day at the Asian Food Market. They were quite tasty. This past weekend we entertained my husbands friend Five-Star and his wife. He likes spicy and she does not, so I made chicken with coconut milk and green curry, a marinated flank steak, napa cabbage slaw, a broccoli salad, and a baby bok choy dish. When I set out all the food, I felt silly for making that much food for four people, but I have to say, we made quite a dent! I also am in love with left-overs, and am married to a man who will eat said left-overs, so it was a win-win for my household.

travel:

It looks like my hubby and I will be traveling with friends to Ireland in spring of 2011. We are in the early stages of planning this trip, so ideas of things to do and places to see on the Emerald Isle are welcome. Looks like this will be my present to me for my 40th birthday. Did I just type that? gulp. I did.

On that depressing note (the turning 40 part, certainly not the travel part) I will bid you farewell, dear readers. Have a lovely week, and I challenge you to try a new recipe this week. Actually, lets up the ante on that. I challenge you to a meal entirely comprised of new recipes/foods. Yes, visit a new aisle in the market, or go to a grocery store you’ve never been to. I adore going to the Asian Food Market, and walking up and down every aisle, and trying to figure out what stuff is for. If you have a family, you can make it a fun night of some kind of learning- really I am running on fumes now, can you tell?

ciao-

Jen

Technorati Tags: Amy Butler,Epicurious,green opal,Thompsons Enamels,Frantz Art Glass,Ireland,Asian Food Market,copper jewelry

time for a little introspection- very little….

Well, it has a been a whirlwind month since I last posted. I had to actually visit my blog to remember what that post was about. Then I went back again to see what I have been posting about in general. This blog is emblematic of my life in general. My posts have been sporadic, and the topics have been scattered across the board. So it is with my life, things happen in fits and starts, and I have trouble focusing. I contemplate having separate blogs for jewelry and life stuff. For now, I reject that notion as just adding another element in my life to neglect. I like bulleting, so maybe I will try to have little segments within each post. Let's try that right now, shall we?

Jewelry corner:

I have sorely neglected my jewelry this past month. I can post a picture of the piece I made for a cousin’s wife:

Amethyst and quartz crystal, wrapped with sterling silver, accented with fine sterling, fused links and heart centerpiece. The original centerpiece was a fine silver free-form daisy, but our cousins two little girls vetoed the flower and requested a heart. I was dubious at first, but the slightly off-kilter heart came out quite lovely.

In other jewelry news, I had to take apart and then reset my photo “studio”. At first, I was a little irritated by this, but it gave me the opportunity to streamline the set up, and I am so glad I did. For some reason, I had this giant laundry basket of props and other crap that at some point I had deemed critical to my jewelry photographing kit. Well, I have it pared down to the bare minimum, and that will make it so much easier to break down when I do have to. ( My studio is on an extra table in my dining room, so occasionally when I entertain, I do have to break it down.)

I did make a pretty cool pendant with some large, square, green opal beads that I have been having trouble figuring out what to do with. I realized I’d like to frame one as a focal, and here is what I came up with:

Green opal puffed square (approx. 30 mm) framed in copper, with moonstone, amazonite, and MOP accents.

I am now working on a necklace for this. I have soldered some copper links and a center element for it to hang from (not really a bail, as the frame has a bail “hook”) and will wrap some links of amazonite, maybe some smoke quartz and possibly a third stone, it depends on what is in my stash.

I have gotten back to my bench on Wednesday nights, and will be putting my nose to grindstone, as tax season is coming, and my schedule gets much less forgiving until April. My MIL wants to have a jewelry show for me in February, so I have to set my sights on that and WORK, happily and dutifully!

Family:

Woohoo, can finally talk about the fact that I will have a new niece/nephew to dote upon! R2 will be making an appearance late August, and I couldn’t be more excited for my sis-in-law and her hubby. They had to announce to immediate family on Christmas Day, when we were plying her with shots of Spiritus. What a great excuse not to do a shot! So, I did hers for her! For the next 8 months or so, I will dutifully do all of her drinking for her!

Photography:

I was inspired the other day to stop on my way to work to take these two pictures.

The sky was by turns sulky, and bright and threatening. There were almost perfectly horizontal bands of clouds of varying degrees of “cloudness”.

I also received an Eye-Fi card for Christmas, but have yet to set it up. We had a “wi-fi-palooza” of sorts at our house over New Years, and this was unfortunately overlooked, when setting up our technologies. I am not quite sure how I will use this to my benefit, but when I figure it out, I will let you know!

So, that worked out pretty well. Now I just have to apply a little effort to getting my life in order, and all will be right in the world! Or at least, my little world. Happy New Year to all, and may 2010 be happy and healthy and whatever you wish it to be!

thanks for checking in,

J

Technorati Tags: Pulled Sugar Designs,Eye-Fi,amazonite,copper jewelry,Green Opal,Fine Silver,Sterling Silver

she’s making a list, and then not doing anything on it…

I like to have a vague outline for my weekends.  I try not to get too specific, because spontaneity doesn’t like bulleted lists.  My foggy vision of what this past weekend would include was sort of like this:  Friday, spend some time at the bench, and get a couple of loads of laundry thrown in.  Saturday, while Scott is at the Rutgers game, get the house straightened up so that cleaning can happen, so that holiday decorating can happen.   Make three different cookie batters.  Sunday, bake said cookies and celebrate my dear MIL’s milestone birthday. 

Here’s what happened instead:

I made a commissioned piece for a cousin’s wife

Its a Christmas gift, so I won’t post a picture of the completed necklace until after.  I was uber-pleased with how it came out, I hope she feels the same.

I blew bubbles on the deck

Blowing Bubbles in December 2009 from Jennifer Herbert on Vimeo.

If you, like me take dreadful movies, use a program (I used Microsoft movie maker cuz its free) to edit it and hopefully improve it. I used the auto movie feature, chose a style (I chose old timey), and it does all the cutting/editing etc for you, and you end up with something decent.  I should have cut it a little short, but hey, there is a stop button, you didn’t have to watch the entire thing!

 

I made some flannel flowers

This picture happens to be the front and back of the same flower that I made into a pin for my MIL.

I made an ass-load of cookies

I celebrated my MIL’s birthday.

Not bad, not bad at all. 

One caveat- Christmas Eve is coming, whether I have my act together or not.  Ummm, welll, uh, yeah.  Did I mention I go to PA next weekend to visit my goddaughter and her family?  Yeah, my time management skills have obviously not improved over this year.  Or maybe I have decided that I need to savor the little joys that are there if you just slow down long enough to blow bubbles on the back deck, you know?

Thanks for checking in-

Jen

 

 

Technorati Tags: bubbles,bubble grill,silver jewelry,felt flowers

hard to buy for?

I have been told, numerous times, by different people that I am hard to buy gifts for. I have people in my life who I find it difficult to find that perfect gift for as well, and can sympathize. When times are tough, and there may be less cash available to spend on gifts, it is more important than ever to find a gift that will be adored by the recipient. I think I have found a handy little tool that might just ease some gift buying stress out there.

You probably already know about the Amazon Wish List. Well, Amazon has improved upon that. Everything in the world is not available through Amazon (hard to believe, I know), and to remedy this situation, they have created the Universal Wish List button. This creates a button on your browser tool bar that allows you to add any item, from any store on the web to your Amazon Wish List. So, although I don’t have the capability to have a wish list on Pulled Sugar Designs, you could add things from my store to your Amazon list. This also consolidates all of your desires onto one single list, instead of having lists on several different sites. This is so cool. I have added jewelry making equipment, items from favorite Etsy stores, all different things to my own wish list. You can then add a Wish List button to your blog, or send out an email to people looking for gift ideas that includes a link to your wish list.

I prefer it if I am inspired spontaneously to buy a gift for someone. Sometimes inspiration needs a push, and this button may be just the thing.

Jen

what makes YOU happy?

 

here are a selection of things that have made me happy recently:

this is a crazy little solid perfume I found at Sephora-it’s not only the scent that makes me happy- look at the adorable box it comes in, just too pretty.  I should have snapped a photo of the actual perfume- its like a tiny solid deodorant that rolls up and down.

 

another thing that makes me happy- Happytape!  This assortment, called oragami, comes in its own diminutive dispenser box. 

The tape is made from japanese washi paper, slightly translucent, and oh so fun!  I use it to package my baubles:

crazy eggs that my friend’s father’s chickens lay (I’m not even sure I got that right)

I didn’t do the greatest job of photographing these eggs so that you can see the differences in them. The front, white egg is an “extra large egg” from Costco, the middle brown egg is another one of Buzzy’s eggs, the last one is the biggest chicken egg I have ever seen.  Here are two close ups:

The egg is actually all crinkled on top.  I just imagine that chicken trying to force that big old egg out- ouch!

my new work area makes me very happy!

I haven’t moved everything down yet.  I move something, use it, figure out where to put it, maybe move it again.  The only problem I see is that the wooden potting bench that I am using is not “solid” enough (for lack of a better word) for any real hammering/pounding I may do.  When I punch out circles of metal, for example, I have to put the cutter on the floor because the surface of the table is too “bouncy” (I know there are actual terms for what I am trying to describe, but the vocabulary eludes me).  Anyway, it is very convenient.  Behind me, there is a double basin slop sink, one bay of which is completely stained with etching chemicals.  The other basin is fitted with a stainless steel strainer for my tumbling shot to be drained and rinsed.

The last thing that made me very happy this past week was “Fantasy Thanksgiving”, a holiday I made up so that I could spend time with friends and family who couldn’t possibly all fit around my Thanksgiving table.

Here is my lovely vegetarian  sister-in-law proudly displaying her first ever roast turkey!

 

 

we set up a family portrait area

 

 

 

a family portrait (of family that was around at that moment)

 

 

snapped a shot three seconds before that little truck became airborn…

 

 

 

we had a kids activity table, and music and some games.  And FOOD, copious amounts of delicious FOOD, more food than you could imagine.  Throwing a potluck dinner is good fun, I highly recommend it.  I also can’t extole the wonderfullness of making up your own holidays- why should Hallmark get all that fun?  Pick a day, call it what you will, and get as many loved ones together as you can!

So, in honor of Thanksgiving, and what it means, think about what makes you happy, and what and who in you life brings warmth and a smile to your heart, and celebrate those people, places and things!

Technorati Tags: sephora,Happytape,Thanksgiving

new color options available

 

I really like being able to go down into my workspace and create all by my lonesome.  I also appreciate that many of my projects are portable, so I can bring them up and work while watching television.  It did drive my husband a little batty that I kept digging through my bead bin while V was on last night.  The rustling of all those little baggies was apparently distracting.  Well, we got through it “whew!”, and I have a total of four color combinations to chose from in the large teardrop earrings I have on sale as the Item of the Week in my store.  I hope to have the smaller version of this earring up this weekend.  Here is a self portrait snapped wearing the Garnet and Rose Quartz combination so you get an idea of their size.

As you can see,even though they have presence, they don’t pull on my lobes (which are quite soft and susceptible to “large earring drag”).

I guess that is all for now.  I will also be posting pics of my workbench soon, before it becomes completely submerged in metal and stone!

Thanks for stopping by!

Jen

Technorati Tags: tear drop earrings,V,Pulled Sugar Designs,Item of the Week

leaves, and onions and shells, oh my

I have to say that the best thing I have done for myself lately is to set up my workshop in the utility room.  Our laundry/utility room is on the lower level of our townhome, is a good size and was being under utilized.  It took a lot of fortitude and trips up and down the stairs, but it has been completely worth the effort . I am not entirely finished.  I made a commitment to myself that I would not rush this process, so I have been bringing things down from my upstairs work area (desk) bit by bit.  I will work on something, bring down the tools/supplies necessary and then decide as I am working where to store it, where on my bench does this tool make sense.  If you are trying to organize any workspace such as this, I can’t recommend this method enough.  I realize it is probably not  feasible for everyone, but if you have the opportunity to do it this way, try it!

So, what are the fruits of these labors, you ask?  I needed more earrings for my site, and I love this bulbous tear shape, and I love to wire wrap, and I am really working on my soldering skills:

they are going up on Pulled Sugar Designs today.  They will start as the item of the week, but then will move into regular stock items, along with additional color combinations and a smaller size as well.  These are pretty large, at least 3 1/2 inches long, but are SO featherweight, really comfy, and swingy and fun.  They will be on sale while they are the item of the week.

I also created this ring:

please ignore my heinous knuckles in this picture- I snapped it quickly before work.  The band is quite wide- 1/4 of an inch.  The leaf is hand forged and pierced from etched copper.  I’ve been wearing it all day today, and am quite pleased with the comfort of this ring.  I did realize why I do not like to make rings.  Earring and necklaces, once you put them on, you don’t really look at them all day long.  A ring however (and to a lesser degree a bracelet)  you can stare at ALL DAY LONG.  It is on your hand, it catches your eye, you wash your hands, etc.  If there is a tiny imperfection, I will stare at that minor scratch/dent/(in this case tiny spot of solder on the bottom of the leaf) and will not be able to concentrate on anything else about the piece.  And so although I try to make all my pieces of jewelry as perfect as possible, a ring to me is the most unforgiving accessory there is.

I also worked on these fun chandelier earrings:

They are near impossible to photograph so that they look as pretty as they are.  They are dyed shell, in little shapes, accented with sparkly faceted glass and sterling wire.  There will be at least one additional color choice with these guys.  They are dangly, but not too long- approximately 2 inches form the ear wire.

Okay, two posts in as many days, kind of scary, I now.

Thanks for checking me out-

Jen

Technorati Tags: tear drop,earring,copper jewelry,ring,chandelier earring