Rocks, Rust, Rings, Bones and Baubles

Rocks, Rust, Rings, Bones and Baubles

 

My first endeavor this go around is a piece that started with a discarded metal part I found while out walking. I suppose it fell off of something and had laid there for quite some time to gain some wear from water, sun and road wear. I took it home. as I often do, and it hung around in a empty hot chocolate can with some spring binder clips. Then an idea popped into my head of what I might do with it. So I rummaged around and found other items to use, and off I went. The first stone placed into the hole that fit was my starting point.

It's funny how pieces seem to suggest themselves as wanting to take part.

I had a different plan to begin with but it was discarded for this second string of beads made up of stone, metal and hematite beads. The last to join the group was the button at the top of the pendant. I coated the metal piece with clear fingernail polish to keep the rust from coming off onto the wearer. I like how all the pieces play together to make what I think is a nice harmonious whole. It reminds me of a piece I did in high school. We were asked to make something with discarded items and make them into something new. That piece was made of found objects from my Fathers workshop in the basement of our home. I put it together with an old weathered board which was cracked and covered with old chipped green paint, with some rusted metal pieces. I don't know their original use of .They became a picture of a sunburst sort of design. That was the first time someone approached me with an offer to buy something I made. She offered me an amount that I thought was way more than what it was worth. I haggled the price down to what I thought was more reasonable. Ten dollars, I think. Even that seemed like robbery to me. My sister said I needed an agent. I am not very business minded. 

 

I made this next necklace from the rescue of an item on its way to the trash. A friend of mine knows I like to make items with broken or found objects and he has a friend who goes to auctions and buys lots of old jewelry. He picks out what he wants and throws away the broken or otherwise unwanted pieces. This was a feather pendant and only had half of the chain left. Originally it was worn in a horizontal fashion. I turned it to a vertical direction and added a tassel on the bottom end. The necklace part is made with nylon thread and pale gray pearl-like vintage beads I think these are made of glass. Then in between those I have placed some tarnished silver twisted long beads. I put the pearls in groups of three and the cord around in a manner to suggest peas in a pod. 

  

The next Item is a tear-drop shaped piece of Jasper. The colors in this piece are beautiful salmon, brown and tan. I attached a bail-like piece with a small flower-shaped bead and some strong brass wire. Then I added a nylon cord with various knots and bamboo spacer beads with knotted salmon colored cord. Then I wove some wooden spear-shaped pieces through those cords and on one of them I added a bauble. I found they did not want to stay, so I glued an old friend (one of my vintage poker chips) to hold it all together. On the end of the necklace part it attaches with a hard round disk bead and a loop. 

 

I started a small tatted piece with silver spokes in the center and a man-made pearl in the center of the spokes. I used three different colors of thread. I attached it to a bangle bracelet and covered it with gray thread knotted around. Perhaps it will hang on a Christmas tree or something. 

  

A friend of mine asked me to redo a medical-alert bracelet to make it more feminine and decorative. I think I did it. I was at the thrift store yesterday and and in the display case was a bracelet with a piece missing and it was marked down 25%. So it came home with me. I think it came out nicer than when I started. I hope it will be close to what she wanted and be comfortable too, as well as decorative. I added some heart charms and a natural stone and two glass heart beads. 

 

The last piece is me just fiddling around while I was watching TV last night. Maybe I should have called this journey Lost and Found. Because all of the Pieces where made with lost or found items. I had fun. I hope you did too. It just goes to show that you can find new uses for old discarded or unwanted items and make a useful new item, also a new way of looking at things. See Ya next time. 

 

A Life of It's Own

A Life of Its Own

I bought new cord to work with on eBay. It came on a large spool. From a company that makes supplies for tents and awnings. In the picture it looked like a gold toned cord, and also in the description it was stated as gold in color. When I received my package, as I opened it, I found it was what I would call tan or beige, which it turns out I liked better than the gold color pictured. I guess when used for the purpose for which it was sold it did not really matter what color it was. For my purposes, it does matter. 

 

In any case, this was my medium for the two projects I'm going to write about this time. When cut into sections and held, it reminds me of cold, cooked spaghetti. It looks and feels smooth and hangs in sort of a languid way, but when tied into a knot it changes character completely. It can be rough and harsh. I guess we can behave in a similar way. Anyway, my point is, when you use a new material, it takes some getting to know, and that is what this exercise is about. 

 

 

The first project was a bracelet, started with a certain idea in mind. As I progressed, I found it was taking a shape not as I had first imagined. Because of the thickness of the cord it was wider than I wanted, but I continued on, and it became a sort of cuff style bracelet, able to stand on its own. I learned that the knot also affects the end result. I have been of late using tiny thread in comparison. I had to adjust my thinking a bit. I had to totally rethink this bracelet, but the result is not too bad, just different. The end fastener became the focal point. 

 

The second endeavor really took on a life of its own. I have had that happen with poems I have written in the past. It seems things can speak to you, not in a literal sense, but a form of inspiration or direction. I started this exercise with the intent to make a basket. I began at the bottom with a small ring. Then I went outward. This required that I add new cord as I progressed. Anyone who has worked in the round knows that you have to adjust as you go to get the form to lay flat and expand. Things were not progressing as I wanted, but I kept working. As I changed knots, I realized I would have to find out how to hide the ends and start to decrease. I learned how to increase and allow for future expansion at the same time. Nice, I think.

As I worked, I learned that this would not stand on its own as planned because the weight of the cord increased. So I toyed with the idea of making this a flat piece mounted in a frame and on some sort of board. I asked a few people what they thought and most of the consensus was round, basket-like.

 Because of its weight, I would have to have some sort of form to attach it to, so off I went to my favorite thrift store to see what I could find. At first I felt like I was not seeing many possibilities, but I continued to look. I finally found the perfect glass bowl. It even had similar texture and design that went with the knot forms. A bonus, don't you think? I had come with my husband and a friend of ours, and as they were still looking around, I continued to explore and found a placemat that appeared to be made of flat, smooth, stick-like pieces. It felt like the material that dominoes are made of. By the time I found that little gem, my husband and friend were also ready to go. We checked out at the cash register and were on our way. As we went out into the sunlight, I took out the placemat to look at it closer and found it was not made of what I had originally thought. It turned out to be made of a fine bamboo. The edges were so carefully finished and smooth I could not tell what it was at first. It must be made from some larger pieces of bamboo because it had more weight to it than other bamboo I had worked with in the past. I was glad it was not because I prefer to work with more natural materials. I accomplished my errand in finding a base for my work and other future projects with this new found item of bamboo beads. 

 

When I got home, I had to figure out whether to attach the form inside the bowl or outside. The outside won, and I worked to figure out how to attach it to the bowl. The problem was how to fasten off the ends to hide them, because the string ends can be seen from both sides, as the bowl is clear.

 As in all projects, I like some of the results and others I don't, but all in all, it is what it is. As I came to the end of the process, I set the bowl down and it seemed to suggest that it needed a base or a pedestal of some sort. I looked around and found what I think is a perfect match. I bought this wooden carved base quite awhile ago, not knowing what I would ever use it for, but it spoke to me because of the nice carving and the shape, I brought it home. It has been waiting for the rest of its parts.         

 

 

Four main items came together and made a whole. Not what they where originally made for, but they worked well together and now have a new start in life. 

 

By the way, this exercise had it's drawbacks. This cord was rough on my hands. It managed to make a blister on the side of my baby finger and before I knew what happened, I had scraped the top of my skin off.  I had to add some armor to protect my finger as to not further injure it . Many years ago I worked on a project in

High School when I learned macrame'. I made a large wall hanging fastened to a large bamboo pole we had around the house. The cord I used to make it was even harsher to my hands. It was made of common rope the size of my baby finger. I got really tough callouses on my hands and I think I even lost a little blood that time. So I was really surprised at the injury I received from this much smaller and what seemed to be, a tame cord. So I hope you found something of interest taking a trip into the mind and process of the birth of something new. 

 

P.S I liked this cord so much I bought another spool of it, so don't be surprised if you see some more in the future, in spite of the pain. I just looked up at my calandar and saw a quote that I thought was appropriate to Today's blog.

“Faith makes things possible...not easy.”