Day XXV of Challenge 2012 - 365/365

 Rocky Mountain hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh in Colorado!

Woohoo!  Left Hays just before 7am and, lemme tell you, it was cold.  Western Kansas is much like eastern Kansas and eastern Colorado is much like western and eastern Kansas.   Flat to the horizons.  The road is stick straight. Then you notice you've been climbing and now you're at 3500 feet, then 4000, 4800 and then the magic mile 5,280 feet above sea level and you're still going up!

You're all wrapped up in watching the altitude climb (on your iPhone duh) until you come up over a rise and there they are.  In the distance but still awe inspiring.  We were about 40 miles east of Denver at that point and Terry's comment was how it would have taken the pioneers two days to travel the 40 miles we were going to cover in the next 30 minutes or so.  Think on that for awhile.

Then Denver.  And Saturday morning ski traffic.  But who cares??  We were driving across the Rocky Mountains and the scenery was majestic!  Rivers and rocks and big horn sheep and tunnels and gorges and snow blowing from the top of the mountains.  It was wonderful.

We stopped in Grand Junction for the night and found Orrs' Trading Company and it's lovely manager, Debora, and we bought some beads and feathers and honey and there was plenty more we left behind.  So tonight's pair is the outcome of all that and, furthermore, these were designed by Terry.  Presented with no further ado and just 340 more pairs of earrings about which there will be much ado and to do and hoodoo and would you?  Please?  Just once?   So he did.

 

Day 24 of Challenge 2012 -365 earrings in 365 days

As we were driving across the vast flatness that is eastern Kansas, we were, uh, struck by its vast flatness.  Then we we hit the Flint Hills at sunset. How beautiful it was!  The rolling hills silhouetted against a sky aflame with pink and orange and the headlights of the oncoming vehicles were punctuation marks against the darkening sky.

All that beauty and, yet, when i sat down at the desk in the hotel room in Hays, Kansas....nada.  Colors didn't come together.  Beads weren't telling the story of the glorious views we had seen in the Heartland.

So i went to the beach instead.   No worries, mon.

Supplies:
(2) 25mm mother of pearl discs
(2) lengths of chain i had lying around with  little white drops already on it from a previous failed project
(12) 6mm Swarovski bicones to the rescue in ocean colors
(2) 10mm jump rings
(2) 4mm jump rings
(2) ear wires

To the left are the component pieces. And just fyi, i hung the chain on the inside curve of the disc.

 I don't wear round earrings like discs and hoops as my face shape looks better with longer earrings but i think i'd wear these!

Especially if i was on the beach in Jamaica sipping a cold one and watching the waves roll in.  Then i'd watch them roll away again.

 And i'd do that for 341 days while i made that many more earrings out of seashells and sand crabs.

Day 23 of Challenge 2012 - 365/365

Since we are hittin' the road tomorrow afternoon and much is left to do before then, i thought i would make a pair of earrings that featured (that's a mighty strong word for what is about to occur) a simple-looking technique i had downloaded from http://www.jewelrylessons.com/ many months ago.  I was rifling through stacks of paper looking for something else and the printout caught me beady eye.

The technique is a variation of the "uh oh i don't have any headpins" theme or, alternatively, the "geez i'm so tired of using those boring headpins" theme. 

This tutorial was posted to http://www.jewelrylessons.com/ by Donna Spadafore and she requests that she, as the designer, be credited.   So be it.  Here's the link to the tute but you'll have to sign in or register to get the deets:  http://www.jewelrylessons.com/tutorial/knotted-headpin

Tutes and deets.  Gotta love it.

Take a length of 22gauge soft or half hard wire about 1.5inches longer than how long you want the headpin.

Bend the wire up 1.5inches from the bottom like a hairpin.  Squeeze the bend together.  Gently.

At about 1/8inch from the bottom of the bend, bend the shorter wire out at 90degrees.

Then wrap that wire around the doubled piece of wire below where you just bent it.

Ms Donna says to cut the wire and file it but pshaw!  That there is fer perfessionals.  I jes' wraps it til it's 'bout done and calls it gud.  Yessir.

Six attempts later, i called it good.  'Cause i have to save some energy for the remaining 342 pairs.

And i have to pack. 

Day 22 of Challenge 2012 - 365 earrings in 365 days

Back when silver was $7 or so for a troy ounce (as compared to the $30 or so of today) i didn't think twice about buying the silver items that caught my eye.  And one of my most favorite silver things, then and now, is liquid silver - those thin little hollow tubes of silver that, when gathered onto multiple strands, flow and shimmer like a river dancing in the late afternoon sun.

Sigh.

I have yet to amass enough of these little heishi beads to make the necklace of my dreams, but in support of more recent fantasies, i raided the stash of enough to make today's earrings.

Supplies:

(6) 3inch pieces of 22gauge silver plated wire
(6) turquoise glass drops
(42) liquid silver heishi beads

(2) 10mm plated jump rings

(2) stainless ear wires

Straighten the wire piece as much as you like.  A bit of curve can be a good thing.

Thread a glass drop onto the wire and secure with a briolette wrap.  Don't use too much wire at this point.

Thread 8 heishi on one wire, 7 on the second wire, and 6 on the third wire.

Make a simple loop on each wire right above the last heishi.

Open a 10mm jump ring and thread the 3 wires and the ear wire onto the jump ring.

Close the jump ring and put those babies in your ear.  Swingin'!

Repeat for the second earring. 

All the earrings i've made so far are now on display at the shop.  Makes for a fun collection but i do wonder where i'm going to put all 365 of the little objets d'art.  I suppose that will work itself out.  The trick is going to be coming up with CCCXLIII more of them. 

Day 21 of Challenge 2012 - 365 earrings in 365 days

21.  Does that make us legal?

If there had ever been a Plan A, today's pair would be Plan B.  More likely C or D.  But that's the creative fun in this here challenge!  No plans.  No worries.  And, so far, 21 pairs of earrings in as many days.  Woot!

I kinda like the mix of beads in this pair.  There's natural shell, glass, and metal so it seems the design is about combining textures. The color is neutral.  I wanted to add a pop of red but didn't have any suitable beads so went with black and i think doing so kept the design from losing its direction.  hahahaha!!  Like we had direction to begin with!

Anyhoo....

Supplies:

(2) heart shaped shell beads
(2) 6mm Swarovski bicones (jet)
(2) random metal beads  (Are they bows?  Are they butterflies?)
head pins and 24gauge plated wire
(2) gunmetal ear wires

I'd wear this pair, too!  Just 44 more - oops! - make that THREE HUNDRED44 more pairs to not plan.

p.s. We're headed Out West this weekend.  I'll be forced to engage in a bit o' planning if i think i'm going to make earrings while on the road for the next three weeks.  yeehaw.  I'll keep you updated.

Day XX of Challenge 2012 - 365 earrings in 365 days!

Sometimes overthinking leads to blockage and that's what happened to me tonight.  I thought lightning would strike twice and i would be INSPIRED by outside events again today.  No such luck.  I guess working on taxes doesn't give me a creative jolt.  Go figure.

So i tried this and tried that and messed around - which is fun in and of itself but doesn't necessarily lead to a finished pair of earrings.  Finally, almost in desperation, i picked up a pair of antiqued plated copper chandelier components.  I tried black glass drops but really didn't want to have to do briolette wraps tonight although the black looked good with the copper.  Tried this.  Tried that.  Tried the other.  Nothing was clicking.

Well wouldn't you know it.  Swarovski bicones to the rescue.  The color was perfect.  The shape is attractive.  And, sometimes, making a few decent wrapped loops makes me feel like i've accomplished something, by gum.  I'm going to wear these tomorrow!

Supplies:

(2) plated earring components
(6) 6mm Swarovski bicones (tourmaline)
(2) plated ear wires

Twenty pairs of earrings in as many days...
Can i stop now?
Not so fast, lil miss.  You've got 345 more to go.  Aiiiyeeeeeee!

Day 19 of Challenge 2012 - 365/365

I rarely title the jewelry that i make but tonight's pair is called "Bad Hands".

My first inspiration was 49er red and gold.  My final inspiration was Kyle Williams' fumble in OT.

Ah well. 

Supplies:
(2) 6inch pieces of 26gauge gold plated copper core wire
(2) each of glass hand beads, matte gold frames, small turquoise beads
(2) 4mm jump rings
(2) gold plated ear wires

The glass hand beads are top drilled so i threaded the wire through until the bead sat in the middle, then folded the wire up like for a briolette wrap.  Instead i used the vise pin and twisted the wire, stopping when there was a nice distance between the glass hand beads and the twist of the wire.  Then i just threaded the wire through the frame, capturing the turquoise bead in the middle of the frame.  Then a wrapped loop and a 4mm jump ring to attach the dangle to the ear wire.

It's a sad pair.  Like 49er fans everywhere.