Social Networking through a Blog Hop

Found some blog hopping on Facebook and got to wondering what that was all about. Looked like a great way to connect to other bloggers and support each other. I am seeing it as a way of being a part of the oneness.

Now I am giving it a try. Looking forward to linking to your blogs in this blog hop. Wish me luck. This is my third try so hopefully it is a charm. Did you know that expression is because there were three fates?

You just click on the link and add the name of your blog or Facebook page. You can also look at others on the list and follow their blog if you like. I am definitely looking at everyone on the list. Look for my Iris logo in your followers.

Hey, I did a Print Screen

Amy's Body Decor has great pictures of collections.  I asked her how she did it and she explained how to do it on a MAC.  Too cheap to have a MAC, I attempted it on my PC and I kinda have it.  This is the result.  Not as hard as it seemed, PrintSreen button, paste it in Paint, then crop.  Of course cropping was the hardest part and you can see I didn't actually get it all cropped correctly, but hey it is 70 degrees outside right now which is hot for Oregon so I will fuss with this later.  Looks like I have the basic idea just need to keep playing with it. 

Jewelry Making Books I Love: Great for the Beginning Wire Worker

I have a number of jewelry making books I have bought through the years.  Unfortunately, some have excellent pictures and very poor instructions.  Now that I have been making jewelry for a few years I can guess at what they mean, but in the beginning they were impossible.

Having taught school for 30 years, I understand the importance of being very specific.  Now, instead of running out and buying a book, I check them out of the public library to see if it something I really want to buy.  If you don't have a great library and need to purchase books sight unseen here are a few of my favorite beginner books.

Mainly a beader but you want to start wireworking,  All Wired Up by Mark Lareau is a great book.  The directions for each project are step by step with illustrations so there is no guess work.  He even tells you where your fingers should be on the wire and he is funny.  This book has everything for the beginning wire worker. The section on making your own findings will save you lots of money.   I have dog earred many pages.

Bead on a Wire: Making Handcrafted Wire and Beaded Jewelry by Sharilyn Miller is also a goody.  This one has beautiful photos of each step in the process and some really great designs.  Again, this is a perfect beginner book with step by step instructions.  What I like is the combining of beads with the wire working. Her designs are great and  the brooches are especially nice.

If you are wanting to learn to make jewelry just from wire , then Making Wire Jewelry by Helen Clegg and Mary Larom might be your book. The instructions are very detailed with illustrations and templates you can lay your wire component on to make sure you are doing it correctly.  The book has 60 different projects using wire and a number of them look very Egyptian.  

All Wired Up will show you how to do a basic cabochon wrap.  However, you might find you want to make more then just wire wrap pendants.  Wire Wrapping: The Basics and Beyond by Jim McIntosh will show you how to make bracelets and rings out of wire wrapped cabochons.  The last section of the book is on design and encourages you to make  wire wrapping  designs of  your own.   Jim really wants you to think outside the box when it comes to wire wrapping.   He explains his process and how sometimes the pieces he really thinks "Yuck" someone else dearly loves.  Great black and white photos and wonderful advice.

Speaking of advice, here is my mine.  Practice with copper wire before moving on to sterling or goldfill.  Copper wire is very forgiving and when learning a new design even if you are experienced, you will make some mistakes.  With the current prices of sterling and goldfill, it will be a costly mistake.  I was stubborn and learned this the hard way.  Well that just about wraps it up. 

Earring Winners

Earrings will be popped in the mail soon  to a couple of the blog followers.  I'll be giving away more jewelry  in the future.  I appreciate all of you following my blog.  The current recipients of new earrings are Sun Down Alpaca Farms and Barlee Creations.  They also have wonderful blogs and great shops you might want to check out.  Click on links below to see blogs.
Barlee Creations
Sundown Alpaca

Mayan Calendar and 2012

Is the sun rising or setting?

 I have to make an editorial statement about all this fear around the Mayan calendar and 2012.   Really, there is nothing to fear. The  calendar does not end it simply starts over again. The calendar is a wheel or Great Cycle that began in August 3113 BC and is completed in December 2012. The calendar reflects our planet's movement through the galaxy which is also circular. The Mayans were connected to the natural world and understood its cycles and seasons. Change is in the air most definitely and this is an opportunity for us to move in a more harmonic direction.
The Mayan calendar is made up of 13 bhaktuns of slightly less than 400 years each. In 2012 we will have completed the Great Cycle of the Piscean age and will be aligned to the Aquarian age. Remember the Age of Aquarius, harmony and understanding, trust, living together in peace. You may be saying, " I don't see more harmony, I see the "end times."

In an interview about 2012,Sai Baba explained:

"There is not more evil...there is "more light". Imagine that you have a room or warehouse where for years you have been storing your things and is lit by a 40 w. bulb. Change the bulb to a 100 w. and you will see what happens. You will see the mess and the dust you didn't think existed. The dirt will be clearer."

As the wheel turns and the light increases, I believe we are being given the opportunity to come back into alignment with nature and the feminine. The masculine energy has dominated the planet for too long. The Great Mother Earth is no longer going to just let us "have our way with her." We have moved so far away from the natural  world and become so reliant on technologically that many of our children have forgotten how to go outside and play.

Since we are all just making up stories about the future, if you want to make up a horror story I guess that is your choice. I like to imagine a future where we get our population under control, respect and love each other, and live more in harmony with nature. We only have the moment, the rest is a mystery. 
 

ReUse as a Way of Life- A tribute

I am old enough to remember the original Earth Day and am wondering what happened to this consciousness. My father started the family recycling in 1969. We washed our cans and flattened them, cleaned glass, saved newspaper. When there was enough to make a trip across town to the recycling center at Portland State, we took them. Having grown up during the Depression Era and WWII my dad believed firmly that resources were precious. The clock radio I received from Santa when I was 12 still sits next to my bed. Sure it is old, but it works so why send it to the landfill. Really, you don't need a new phone, Ipod, gaming system every couple of years. Even the computer I am writing this on is a refurbished model.

My studio is a great example of this philosophy. Years ago I had a hot tub and living in the woods in needed a roof over it to keep out debris from the trees. After giving the hot tub away, we enclosed the structure to make my shop. The windows and door were discards from a neighbors remodel. The wood stove was from another neighbor who was no longer heating with wood. The screen door is from my childhood home and is almost a hundred years old. I cherish the scratch marks in the wood from Susie, my family's dog, who died 40 years ago.

When you throw something away, it just moves to another location. Like my husband annoyingly points out, there isn't another planet we are shipping the toxic garbage to. As I learned from my dad, newer isn't always better. We wouldn't have all those great antiques and vintage items without the preservers of the world.

All I am asking is that you just think about what you are consuming and why. I'd love to hear about your efforts and/or great finds.

Repurposed Jewelry Displays - Do It Yourself

Earth Day will soon be upon us and jewelry displays can easily be found at thrift stores. I like the part of the Goodwill that has metal "stuff", candle holders, CD racks, hooks etc.  This is usually really close to the tins (which of course make great jewelry).  So here are a few examples of things I have found. 

 

Cassette Display - Who Needs That

I Do.  Great for pin

 I like to look for things that can be turned on the side or upside down and become something useful.  When I saw the little slats of wood, I immediately knew this was exactly what I needed for the twenty or so pins I make.  Since many of them are made from bottle caps and recycled tins it seemed perfect that the display was also something I had repurposed.

I have a wide range of items I offer and differing price ranges.  For my expensive one of a kind pieces, I use the traditional black velvet busts and jewelry trays you can purchase.  For my "production" pieces like OM Rocks, Trashy Tinsel, bracelets and such the repurposed displays are perfect.  I can hang lots of jewelry on them and people seem to like to "dig". 

Scale with missing trays

 

Candle holder turned upside down

I love things with arms and swirls.  I can hang tons on these pieces and they don't take up a lot of table space.  This leaves more space in the booth for my upper end art pieces of jewelry.  Pillar candle holders are great turned upside down and screwed to a board to broaden the base.  There always seems to be a number of these at the thrift stores. I bet people get them as gifts :-)

With the help of my husband who is handy with a saw I have a box repurposed into an earring display. While I am no carpenter, what I understand is that grooves were cut into wood with a table saw.  The earring cards hang on this groove.  The boards were glued to the back of the box with waterproof wood glue.

What I really love about this, is I can just close it up and take it with me at the end of the day.  No more time spent hanging up earrings and taking them off  to store them.  This box was given to me by a coin collector, but the same thing could be done with those old boxes that stored flatware. Heck, you can make jewelry out of the silverware and repurpose the box too.

Would love to hear what others are doing to recycle, upcycle and repurpose.  Save our planet and Happy Hunting.