Index Card a Day (ICAD) - Week Five

 How quickly the time seems to be going as I continue this challenge.  I am starting to amass a nice little collection of cards now and just need to decide what to do with them once it is finished.  Above, you can see: Citrus; Arcade and Font.  Arcade had me thinking and in the end the image was quite simple - just arches drawn with a biro and then some distress ink smooshed on.

 The next photo shows Earrings; Periwinkle; Board Games and Lantern.  For the earrings, I looked at lots of earring images and decided to use the suffragette colours of white, green and purple.  White was for purity, green for hope and purple for loyalty and dignity. (Dignity and Hope are certainly things we could do with at the moment.  I was in the town centre this morning and it felt like social distancing had gone out of the window - all rather worrying.)

 I rather liked the earrings I had created for this Dina Wakley stamped face and decided to make some real ones, inspired by these.

Here they are  - white pearls, green fluorite hearts and amethyst rounds.  Women's voices are still not being heard around the world so this is my little token of support for them.

June Artists' Trading Card (ATC)

 Here's the latest of my ATCs - for June.  I knew the focus had to be roses, not just due to the verse for June, but also because my garden is full of roses in June.  I used a sort of leaf stencil and green paint for the background and stencilled the roses using texture paste.  I needed to infill the roses with paint as the green showing through was just too distracting.  I coloured the texture paste, but ended up painting the roses as well.

 They needed a little something extra, so glitter was added as highlights.

The gemstones I used this month were all pinks and purples and I tried to get an ombre look.  I used rose quartz, lavender amethyst, kunzite, peach moonstone, pink opal and pink shell. The gemstone for June is pearl, so I added a pearl charm.

The back of the card features the verse and some die cut roses.  The new rose dies arrived the morning I was working on this ATC which was serendipitous, so I made good use of them.  I am pleased with the end result - June is all about the roses!

Keeping Busy

 I have been keeping occupied quite well over the last week or so.  Above is a pearl necklace which I re-strung for my mother-in-law as the catch was broken.  It took me several attempts and a bit of choice language to get there.  I have decided I need to practise with the pearl knotting tool,which, when I have got to grips with it, will make the whole process so much easier. When the necklace was strung before, it was knotted in groups of six pearls.  I have re-done it with one pearl then a knot.  It means if it does break (I hope it won't), only one pearl will be lost and it also keeps the pearls from rubbing against each other.  It does look nice now.

 In another jewellery project, my friend Rachael asked if I could make her a necklace for her birthday incorporating three charms she had been given.  I had a bit of a think and came up with this design. 

 I used wrap loops to join all the parts together for added stability and longevity. 

 I chose aquamarine, jadeite and labradorite as the gemstones and you can see the little charms here.  I made it just longer than a choker length and I hope it will be comfortable to wear.

 Last Thursday, I decided (on a bit of a whim) to tackle the patio and release the chairs and table from their prison of plants and pots.  They had been at the back of the patio for at least ten years and we weren't able to actually use them.  After a lot of sweeping, moving pots from here to there and re-positioning, we can now sit down.  Of course, the weather has been too cold since then, but they are ready for us.  (They also need a bit of TLC and repainting, but that's for another day.)

Finally, here's tulip Brown Sugar again, enjoying the sunshine, when we have had some.  It does complement the brick wall, I think.

A night sky hare

As you know, I do like hares and have gradually built up a small collection of figurines and pictures.  Recently at a small craft fair, there was a stall with hare ornaments, painted by the stall holder.  I was drawn to the hare above with the night sky colours of navy blue, purple, white and silver (only £2.00) and thought I could definitely add a little something to it.
I had seen similar ornaments in ceramic (which I had coveted) in a local craft shop and also on Moonlight and Hares (Karen Davies makes the most beautiful hares which sell out in seconds, but I do have a hare card and print from her which I love) so decided to zhuzh (or zhoosh or zhush, depending where you look) my hare up.  As she (I think she is a she) had the night sky decoration, this dictated the gemstones I used.  Chris very kindly drilled three small holes along her tummy and I set to work creating the dangles.

I chose to use silver plated wire as it echoed the silver moonlight.  I had a lot of fun deciding which of my rather large stash of gemstones to use, but chose those which said 'night', 'moon' , 'ethereal' or 'magical' to me (and are also some of my favourites).  I used amethyst, rainbow moonstone, coated haematite and blue goldstone on the first dangle (to the left).  The middle one has a pearl, a haematite star and the original moon charm.  The third one (on the right) has a blue pearl, crystal quartz and a labradorite on it.  I created a wire spiral to hang her from and dropped a little silver pearl from the centre.  I am really pleased with the end result and she looks just how I imagined she would (which is often not the case, in my experience).

Here she is hanging up and making me smile every time I see her.
Edited to add: thanks to Briony for the idea - here are some photos with a ruler to give you an idea of her size -

She's about 16.5 cm in length... 

...or about 6.5 inches

...and about 6.5 cm or 2.5 inches from the top of her ear to her tummy.

Jewellery and gardening

 My best friend who lives in Canada had a big birthday at the end of July and I knew that I wanted to make her a proper, hand knotted pearl necklace with sterling silver findings.  I gathered everything I needed; pearls, silk thread, sterling silver toggle clasp, sterling silver beads, sterling silver french wire and watched many a video on the internet as well as consulted books on the subject.  I decided to use a pair of jewellery tweezers to help with the knots as I felt this looked the most user friendly way to choose.  I stretched the silk thread the day or so before starting in order to lessen the stretch once the necklace is worn.  It took an afternoon to do the knotting and threading, after a couple of false starts and a few choice words.  I was really pleased with the end result.

 I duly sent the jewellery off, but as sometimes happens, circumstances conspired against me and the parcel's progress went a bit quiet.  I had sent it with tracking and signed for, to try to ensure it arrived safely, but after a good fifteen days, missing my friend's big day (bother), it hadn't arrived and I was more than a little worried.  However, when I checked the tracking progress again, it suddenly reappeared and my friend has now received it.  She left me a lovely phone message and I think she liked it!  

The garden is slowly starting to show its late summer colour - this year, the dominant colours are blue/purple/lilac, thanks to the agapanthus, clematis and hibiscus.

 One of my favourite plants for July/August is Hibiscus Syriacus 'Oiseau Bleu/Bluebird' which has the most exotic looking flowers and which has flowered brilliantly this year.  It is always featured on my blog.

However, to offset all the pastels, I have enjoyed seeing the crocosmia (here, it is 'Columbus') unfurling, with the rich yellows and oranges providing a lovely hit of colour.  Lots to enjoy in the August garden.

Finished necklaces

I finally got around to making some necklaces.  The one above features my polymer clay bead, with peridot, aqaumarine, amazonite and apatite chips, both on the necklace itself and in the tassel.  I think the colours of the gemstones really complement the polymer bead.

You may remember that I bought this peridot chip necklace at the car boot sale.  I have taken it apart and am using the peridot from it.

As I was in jewellery-making mode, I also made this necklace, using pearls from a previously bought necklace, aquamarine, peridot, two colours of apatite and amazonite chips.  I spent hours threading the chips onto the beading thread, held it up to judge the length, then promptly dropped the end without the bead stopper on it! Consequently, everything fell off, rolling to the far corners of the room and I then spent quite a few minutes retrieving it all, with a few choice words being said at the same time!  Once I had recovered, I set to and re-threaded it all on again. (Note to self: use a stopper bead on both ends when judging length of necklace!)  However, I do like the result as these teal/blue/green colours are favourites of mine and it is a necklace I shall wear a lot.

Polymer Clay Days

I have been enjoying working with polymer clay and introducing more friends to this versatile medium.  Below is Angie's first attempt at pendants and earrings using just black and white clay.  She made spiral canes, flower canes, extruded canes and then did the Sutton Slice (on the teardrop shapes)  I think she may be hooked now!

 My friend Rachael has discovered what she described as 'her thing' - Kawaii creatures - which means 'cute' in Japanese, I think!  She started off making a dragon (and made me one too) and then made a gingerbread man and reindeer.  They are indeed very cute!

The dragon...

 ...the gingerbread man...

...and the (rather nose-heavy) reindeer, who needed a bit of support to stay upright!

She was delighted with these little creations and then tried out a new mould which I had just got the previous day.

 I think it worked beautifully!
So, what have I been making?  Well, I absolutely love using the silk screen kit and have made two pieces into pendants with tassels.

 I call this the 'Frankenstein' pendant because the pattern reminds me of lightning and electricity and I chose gemstones which had the same shine and colours including snowflake obsidian, shell, pearls and quartz.

The other one I made has a range of blue gemstones including pearls, sodalite, blue quartz and labradorite.  I love the blue colour on the labradorite which is at the bottom of the tassel (the correct term is labradorescence!)  Chris suggested using cord to hang them on and I agree, as the plaited beading thread just didn't look quite right.  I wore the blue one at work on Friday and got several compliments, which was really nice.

Lucky me - again!

Look what I won over at A Little Fur in the Paint where the lovely Anne, who is an extremely talented polymer clay artist and watercolourist/linoprint maker was having a tutorial (you can find it here ) on how she makes her lovely brooches and a giveaway.  I always thought I wasn't a 'lucky' person - well, lucky in lots of ways, but not lucky in winning things like the lottery. However, since starting my blog, I have entered lots of giveaways and have won a lovely selection of things. 
I love blogland for being able to meet (albeit virtually) so many creative people who share an interest (or two) and for the way that there is always someone out there who can help with any little creative challenges you may be experiencing, or give you inspiration for a new project.
(While I'm musing... I'm not exactly sure I believe in 'lucky' or 'unlucky' people - it is more about making the most of opportunities that come your way. If you enter enough giveaways, the chances are that you will win something at some point.)
Anyway, I digress.

The brooch is a mini work of art, incorporating perfectly formed roses, pearls and crystals and is beautifully finished off.

Even the back is lovely.  So a HUGE thank you to Anne, for your generosity and your skill.  I shall treasure this brooch.

Jewellery (and problems with comments)

 Although I haven't been doing much felt making at the moment, I am making jewellery.  I love the way you can create a piece of jewellery and wear it the next day.  Above is a bracelet I made for my friend from Canada who has just been visiting England for the first time for three years.  I used amazonite, mother of pearl, labradorite, botswana agate, shell and zebra jasper, all in neutral shades.

The necklace is for me and is completely different from anything I have made before.  Usually, I have much more delicate designs, but I was trying to make a chunkier piece.  Initially, I tried to make an assymmetric design, but it just wasn't me at all, so I had to revert back to symmetry.  This design has a lot of different gems in it; lapis lazuli, keishi pearl, jade, blue-green jasper, shell, fluorite, labradorite, turquoise and kyanite.  I hope it will complement a lovely blue-green cardigan that I wear for work.  I am going to make an amethyst necklace next, leaving the wire showing at the back and maybe even plaited.

Incidentally, just to let my lovely followers know, I am having trouble with the comments on my blog.  For some reason, they seem to disappear and just show a white screen when you click on them.  I am hoping to find out what is happening and get it sorted as soon as I can.  (Technology, eh?  Brilliant when it works and a complete pain when it doesn't!)

A new hobby - Warning, it is addictive!

This is where my new hobby (Chris says it is on its way to becoming an obsession) of jewellery making all began.  I have always loved jewellery, especially earrings and am usually on the lookout for new ones to add to my ever expanding collection wherever we go.  I saw some faceted amethyst and silver ones on a local craft stall, and bought them because I hadn't seen faceted amethyst before, and because they were gorgeous!  A couple of weeks ago, I was idly channel flicking and came across jewellery maker (also a website http://www.jewellerymaker.com/) which is a shopping channel for gemstones and jewellery making supplies.  I have quite quickly become au fait with beading thread, crimp beads, toggle clasps, jump rings, shepherd hooks and all the other vocabulary required.  Gemstones, shopping, beautiful colours and textures - I was hooked!  So, my first purchase was faceted amethyst beads and silver grey pearls (see above).

My most recent purchase was a mix of stones including labradorite which is the grey stone above, but which in certain lights has a flash of blue or cream or pink shades inside the stone (called a schiller, in case you are interested). 

The whole of my latest purchase, from left, labradorite, black shell squares, lapis lazuli puffy coins, two strand of green fluorite, three strands of picasso jasper.  The presenter said the fluorite is known for its fluorescent qualities in certain lights and I must admit, I wasn't convinced, but looking at the photo above, perhaps it does have this quality after all!

I love the fact that I can make my own bracelets and earrings (well, once I get to grips with the techniques).  Lapis Lazuli sounds so exotic and I think it is amazing that I can wear jewellery made from a stone that was precious in Egyptian times and was ground down to create the vibrant blue used in medieval books of hours or renaissance paintings.

 The picasso jasper reminds me of stones on a beach, especially at Hunstanton on the Norfolk coast, where I spent many happy holidays.  I'll probably use the grey/blue stones for myself and perhaps some of the chocolate brown colours.  It is odd how I have become so interested in such a short space of time - if I feel any of my creations are worthy of being put on future blog posts, I'll include them.  Now I just need to go and have a bit of a practice...