What Am I Making?

It has been mentioned already but now that I know I'm not gonna get rich making jewelry, I am free to craft whatever the hell I feel like. This is not a good thing. This leads to me making crap with no use or function. Take this for example:

What the hell is that? Is it an earring? A brooch? A pendant? A Christmas tree ornament? I don't know! It's not as if that thing took a few minutes to make. The wrapping took hours. And during all those hours of wrapping, did I stop to think about why I was doing all that wrapping? Of course not! So there you have it. A black and silver thing with rocks.

I saw a pattern for a wire bird and thought it was kinda cute, so I made one. And then I said to myself, I said Self, why is this bird flying around? and my self answered Stop talking to yourself, you fucking idiot! Then I made the nest. So there you have it. A bird and a nest.




Maybe I should not write these while I'm in pain. Pain makes me all stabby.

Not Medical Curiosity Sunday

Due to a medical condition, I've been in quite a bit of pain this last week. This has made me unhappy and I was going to spread this unhappiness to anyone who would wander into this blog by doing a whole entry on medical curiosities. But I came to my senses. Instead I was going to dip back into images that make me happy, namely Art Nouveau. But I've already done that. Sooooo, how 'bout some Art Deco? Specifically, how 'bout the Art Deco of my childhood?

I didn't live in this building but the one next to it. My building didn't have that neat mosaic on the outside but all the buildings had grand and incongruous lobbies with geometric designed marble floors and ornate door moldings. These did not match up with the steel doors with teeny peepholes and multiple door locks on them.

This is a ceiling, not a floor. But it illustrates the point. This is a building on 161st and The Grand Concourse.

How can you live in Art Deco splendor and not know it? This is how. I don't think Sagamore Apartments, Inc still manages the building.

We lived within walking distance of the Loew's Paradise and went often. It was a multiplex at the time with a filthy red carpet and only hints of it's former glory. This picture is the facade as I remember it. The restoration has changed it.

Seriously, how can you put that behind drop ceilings and panel walls? Going up to the theaters on the upper floor, you did pass empty recessed niches, which we'd climb into as a goof. It's funny because we did think it was a cool place, we just didn't understand the enormity of it's coolness.

It is so good to see these treasures being restored to their former glory.

Ribbon. Ribbon is the New Trend

Yesterday I was being a whiny little bitch because I couldn't buy even more crap than I already have. Which is especially douchey considering all the wonderful and not crappy stuff I've been given by friends AND strangers. In fact, I have so much wonderful and not crappy stuff on hand, my wanting to buy even MORE stuff is a glaring example the failure of my imagination. Last night I got to working with what I have.

In the past I bought these two for a dollar ribbon spools from the 99 Cent Store. One is the perfect length for a necklace. I made another Ridiculous Caged Fluorite and strung it on a ribbon thusly:

The fluorite and the topper-thinger-whatsit were both free gifts from the on line stores from which I have made many purchases. Although I spent money to get them, they, themselves were free. The Ridiculous Caged Fluorite looks happy attached to the not fancy ribbon. I think I may wrap a thin gold colored chain around the ribbon, to give it more heft.


Also jumping on to this ribbon bandwagon is this bracelet I made. The lampwork bead was given to me by the lovely and talent Karen (who is most definitley not cranky). I have got a lot to say about this bracelet.

It is what I pictured in my head. I like it alot. I am extremely pleased with it and would do it all over again. Except for a few very minor changes. To better understand what I'm about to talk about, let's get a closer look at the bracelet:

First and foremost: cheap mylar ribbon is nasty stuff. The only thing it is remotely good for is tying balloons. I will replace the ribbon with fabric material the first chance I get.

The figure eight links are too flimsy and small. I'm gonna have to replace them with 18 gauge wire.

While I'm using a heavier gauge wire, I might as well use silver colored wire. Silver goes so much better with blue.

Speaking of blue. That mylar ribbon is actually a very pale blue in real life. The glass bead is between a light blue and lavender. The bells a much brighter blue. At least that's what they looked like upstairs. Downstairs the ribbon turned almost white and the bead skipped the light blue and went straight to lavender. In the picture both the ribbon and the bead turned pink. They teach classes on color values. If I ever were to take one, I'm sure I'd flunk.

Silver colored links call for silver charms. The brass flowers will have to go. And I'll have to re-hang all the bells with silver wire too.

I'll probably replace the glass bead with a large clear faceted crystal.

But besides that, the bracelet is perfection and I wouldn't change a thing.

Who Decides TheseThings?

I've been searching for trends in crafting we may be in for in 2012 and what I've found is that the people who decide what will be trendy are making it up as they go along. That, and they're all cracked in the cranium.

Pantone, the fashion color people, are showing less saturation than we've been getting lately, even though the big 'in' color, Tangerine Tango is -well - colorful. The new spring colors do not have that neon harshness that makes me wanna vent some intraocular fluid. This is probably because I'm old. No, I am not going to mention the color names. They are also quite subdued. Except for Cockatoo Blue. That one is a bit much.

Halstead Beads tells me crystal hearts will be trending very soon. A bold statement considering the popularity of crystal and the upcoming love-infested holiday. Along with their daring call for fidelity locks and romance inspired charms, I daresay they're dipping gingerly into much chartered waters!

Tribal is very in. Although I can't quite figure out what the hell is meant by 'tribal'. I'm almost sure it isn't something school girls wear daily, JW Anderson.Donna Karan was inspired by all those tribes. . . in Haiti. What does this mean to crafters? It means stock up on leather, feathers and puca shells.

5 Things I Won't Be Buying Soon

Had a job interview yesterday. This is good since the last time I sold a piece of jewelry was in November. I got absolutely no Christmas sales. So fuck conventional wisdom, the Christmas season was abysmal for me. So, here is a list of stones, charms and findings I will not be buying any time soon.


1.Clear glass cabochons

2.Donut stones

3.Gold tone spacers

4.Rutilated quartz beads

5.Twisted square wire

Numbers 1 and 2 I have a particular design in my head for each of them. More than one idea for number 1, in fact. I'm running low and all kinds of number 3. I just love, love, LOVE all types of quartz but the rutilated kind is my absolute favorite. Number 5 is because I have very little square wire which I will not be twisting. Plus I'm lazy and it would be so much easier to have the twisting done by not me.

Also not buying: a new car, Jimmy Choos and a pony.

Sunday Paper

The front page headline:

Police Blotter:

Entertainment News:

Advice Column:

Junior Word Scramble:

Letting Other People Do The Work For Me

It's been a while since I've done a one-handed tutorial. They're a pain in the ass to be sure, as they are literally done with one hand on the project and one hand on the camera. While I sit on my bed. With a wooden board on my lap. I'm thinking of clearing a little space on the dining room table-- no, I'm not gonna lie. It's a table in the dining room but no dining ever gets done on it-- I was thinking of clearing a space on the table and shooting a tutorial there, but I'm lazy. Plus, that's not where my working material is.

So instead, here are other people's tutorials.

Cozy Sister's wiggle earrings.

Voilet Elephant's base ring. She's got a black background. Someone should tell her to stop that.

How to make beaded jewelry's tassle earings. This site has dozens of tutorials, so don't be surprised if I link to them in the future when I, again, wish for other people to do the work for me.

It's The Little Things

Sometimes I get an idea and it won't leave me alone until it is out of my head and in my hand. This happened to me last night. I don't mind when this happens to me so long as it happens at a reasonable damned hour. Last night this mania struck me at 11 pm. Even that isn't too bad. Unless the idea in my head takes more than 7 hours to manifest itself into a piece of jewelry. Silver lining-- I was able to prevent Hubby from oversleeping with a "Hey, HEY! It's 6:30! Time to get up and keep me in the manner to which I have become accustomed!"

What I made was a choker. I call it Choke on Grapes. Why? Because I like to name my jewelry in such a way that no one would want to buy it. Not on purpose but because my brain dwells in the land of the unappetizing and that's the type of name it attaches to things. Plus, take a look at it.

That's 8 hours of work right there but do you know the part that I love the most? The part that I think is the most bad-assed piece of jewelry making that I've done in weeks? Not that big ole throat adornment nor the labor intensive wrapped links but the toggle. I just LOVE it when I visualize something and then, when I make it, it comes out looking as cool as I thought it would.

---

In celebrity news, Betty White had a 90th birthday on TV. Me and hubby watched it. I say to him, "Ya know, Betty White was the oldest of all the Golden Girls. She was born in January of '22 and Bea Arthur was born in May of '22. She beat Bea by about 5 months." To which hubby replies, "Nope. She beat out Bea by still being alive."

In dead celebrity news, Jimmy Castor died. If you don't know who Jimmy Castor was, you are either too young or unfunkified. Here, get yourself some funk. Be warned, there is a cartoon titty behind this link.

I Got A Magazine In The Mail!

I have six Art Jewelry Magazines that I treasure. Someone, who will always have a special space in my heart, forever and ever, just as soon as I remember who-- gave me a one year gift subscription. Not only was this a thoughtful and much loved gift, it was also an expensive one. It is a bi-monthly magazine. And not the good bi-monthly were it's almost every two weeks but not quite. The cheap-ass bi-monthly where you only get six magazines a year. Which, when the time came around, cost 35 bucks to renew. Even still, if I had had the 35 bucks to spare at the time, I would have re-upped.

So time kept slipping, slipping, slipping into the future and all of a suddenly it's last October about Halloween time. I get one of them discount magazine whoziwhatzits that clearinghouses send out. There I find Step By Step Wire Jewelry. It looks sort of like Art Jewelry but without the feature articles, just the tutorials. And this is only 17 dollars for a year! I snap it up (just in case you're confused-- buying the magazine from the site will cost you a bit more). I subscribe.

Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hubby's birthday, New Years all come in a bunch and distract me. Hey, I can barely keep track of my day to day existence, much less remember when I spend 17 dollars impulsively. Until 4 days ago when I got my first magazine. That not-the-good-kind of bi-monthly makes for a huge lag in between issues. Especially if there's not an issue to lag from. If you know what I mean.

It is, in fact, a magazine of tutorials. One of the tuts was a pair of pretty stud-like earrings. The only problem was that the tut involved a torch. My son once tried to give me a lesson in soldering. When I was done I had a closed ring with a blobby mess where the space used to be. "See," says my son, "easy!"

"That'll probably work fine on a circuit board but nobody's gonna wear it as a ring," I respond. I'm not gonna use a torch in bed anyway. But I still wanna make the earrings. So I improvise and these are the results:

By the way, Step by Step has a website, Jewelry Making Daily, that has free projects for download. You do not have to subscribe to the mag to get them but you do have to register. And they're free! Exactly the right price.



And, in closing, look at this pretty picture I took:

P.S., my Artfire and Etsy. Buy something.

I Didn't Mean To Leave For So Long; I Never Meant To Come Back

In my last entry (You Poor, Neglected Blog) I mentioned that I would be unbloggy for an undetermined amount of time. Good thing I wasn't too specific because I was thinking I would be back in a week, perhaps two at the longest.

But then life started happening and, not only did I stop blogging, I stopped crafting. Too many other things needed to get done --like scrubbing this joint from top to bottom, finding out there is no help for my knees and writing my own Harlequin romance (if you want I'll post an excerpt of what I've written so far. Just ask!). Anyway, once I realized I wasn't going to make any real money at it, my jewelry designs went a little off-kilter.

Case in point:

What the fuck is that thing? I'm thinking of making another and having the most ridiculous lantern earrings to ever not be worn on anyone's ears.

So yeah, I stopped writing this blog. And then the other day the sweet, lovely and talented Serratia posted this link from The Good American Wife's blog: Neglect. After I read that, I felt so sorry for Wire Wrapping For Survival. The poor, poor baby blog. What? Me anthropomorphize my blog? No! Of course not. The Good American Wife anthropomorphized it. I just meekly submit to the guilt.

Oh and just because I realized that I'm not gonnna get rich selling my jewelry, that doesn't mean you shouldn't go to my shops and buy stuff.
Artfire
Etsy

P.S. How many times can I type anthropmorphized in one blog entry? Three. Three times Mwahahahahaha!