Iliad-inspired earrings

On March 12th I posted a challenge from my mother-in-law:

I've been reading the "The Iliad", and was interested in a description of a pair of earrings that the goddess Hera wore: "And in her pierced lobes she put a fine pair of earrings, Glowing and graceful three-drop clusters." The Greeks used gold and rock crystal. I issue a challenge to create a pair of earrings that a goddess could wear to seduce Zeus!

I offered a $25 bead gift certificate to Fire Mountain Gems or a bead store of the winner's choice, and I was really interested to see all the different styles of earrings that my readers would create.

The deadline has passed, and I have received no entries.  Steve thinks that maybe recreating earrings for a goddess is too intimidating.  I, however, am undaunted.  (Besides, I'm the one who hosted the challenge, so at the very least I needed to give it a try.)

Here is my interpretation of "glowing and graceful three-drop clusters":

The crystals at the bottom are clear, and the little ones are cloudy, and they look like they'd glow in the right light.

Here are the earrings on a purple background:

I'm not sure if they'd seduce Zeus, but Steve likes them!

If you happen to have made your own earrings and would like to share them (even though the challenge is over), send a picture to traci@creative-pursuits.biz, and I'll post it.

A challenge and my new "Waltz rope"

It's been a while since I've hosted a challenge.  My mother-in-law has come up with a great one:

I've been reading the "The Iliad", and was interested in a description of a pair of earrings that the goddess Hera wore: "And in her pierced lobes she put a fine pair of earrings, Glowing and graceful three-drop clusters." The Greeks used gold and rock crystal. I issue a challenge to create a pair of earrings that a goddess could wear to seduce Zeus!

I'm not sure how comfortable I am discussing Zeus-seducing with my mother-in-law, but I think it's a fine challenge!  I'll see what I can come up with, and I'd like to see what you come up with, too.

Send a picture of your "glowing and graceful three-drop clusters" to traci@creative-pursuits.biz to enter.

The deadline is March 31st, which gives us all plenty of time to think, shop (perhaps at the Madison Art Glass and Bead Show?), and create.


On April 1st, I'll post all of the pictures and open voting, probably through a Survey Monkey poll.  On April 8th, I'll announce a winner.

The prize will be a $25 gift certificate to Fire Mountain Gems or any bead store (online or local) of your choosing (provided they have gift certificates for sale).

If you'd like to help me fund this challenge, please click on any ads over there on the right that interest you.  Thanks!

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Now on to regular blog business:

Karen (she who asked the Ott light question that was yesterday's blog post topic) called me this morning to thank me for the post and to tell me that she got a new job!  It's only 12 miles from home, which is a lot shorter than other commutes she's had.  I'm so happy for her!  Congratulations, Karen!  (And don't worry about waking me up.  It was almost 10, and I should have been up anyway, insomnia or not.)

Remember the projects I've been working on lately that may have also been designed by other people?  See the polka dot beaded beads post if you don't remember.  After more research I've determined that mine is different enough that I feel comfortable that I'm not stealing from someone else.  We've determined that it's more a technique than a design, so I'm not going to worry about it anymore.  What I am going to do is write up my technique for my Waltz rope (because it's all in threes) and my Polka Dot beaded beads (because they're faster versions of the Waltz rope) and post it here for anyone who's interested.  With luck I'll be able to do that tomorrow.

My friends looked at me askance when I told them the names (Waltz and Polka Dots), but unless anyone has any better ideas, the names stand.  If you do have a better idea, e-mail me at traci@creative-pursuits.biz.

To hold you over until I can write things up, here's my finished "Waltz rope" bracelet:

Update: The instructions have been written and are available here.

Eek!  It appears to no longer be Wednesday.  I guess I'd better get to bed!

2013 LBS Challenge - Part 4 - Finishing

This is the fourth and final installment of my 2013 LBS Challenge bracelet, "My Milwaukee: A Triptych".  If you missed the previous parts, you can catch up here:  Part 1, Part 2, Part 3.

For a quick refresher, here's the finished bracelet:

At the end of part 3, all of the bead embroidery on the bracelet was complete.  The backing needed to be stitched on, and all of the figures needed to be glued on.

First, though, I needed to finish the movie screen.  Steve had made me a screen out of styrene and painted the edges a dark gray:

I didn't take process shots of how to make the screen because, frankly, I was in a hurry and feeling a little frantic, since the piece was due that evening.  :)  What I did, though, was to take the Fish Fry and a Flick logo and print it small enough to fit in the screen.  I adhered it using scrapbooking adhesive (Mono, to be exact), and I brushed two coats of sealant over it.  You can see the final result here:

I'd like to say that a logo, book cover, or any copyrighted material should never be reproduced and used in a project to be sold.  Since I'm never going to sell this bracelet, I figured it was okay to use the logo.

After I set aside the screen to dry, I put the Ultrasuede backing on using my Mono adhesive again (next time I'll use E-6000):

I trimmed the backing to match the front, and I started stitching the three layers (Ultrasuede, interfacing, and Ultrasuede) together:

I believe this is a whip stitch.  I put some beads on and stitched from back to front, close enough that the beads were right next to the previous stitch's beads.  I think of it as a "roll stitch", but after doing some research, it appears to be a whip stitch.  Anyway, I like the look it gives to the piece, and it hides the interfacing very well.  Also, if you mess up like I did and trim a little too much from one side, you can hide your mistake by adding more beads.  No one will notice!  (Hopefully)


Once I got around to the left edge, I added the other halves of the snaps.  I figured it was better to get the hard stuff out of the way right away so I'd be less frantic later.  I was going to stitch the snaps only on the Ultrasuede backing (which would have been VERY easy), but Steve thought they would be more sturdy if I stitched through all layers.  He was right (of course).  Even though I won't be wearing the bracelet much it would be better if it was as sturdy as possible.  It was a bit difficult to do it without the thread showing on the front, but I think I succeeded.

Before continuing on with the rest of the edging, I tested the snaps to make sure they were in the right place:

Whew!  It fits!  You can see that one of the waves popped up again, and when I was done with that section of the edging, I glued it back down.

Here are a few more looks at the snaps and the edging-in-process:

One thing I really wanted to do was to sign the piece, but I couldn't because that would tip folks off during the Challenge voting that it was mine, and the pieces were all supposed to be anonymous.  I did the next best thing - I sewed this in between the layers:

So when this bracelet is found 500 years from now and someone super-X-rays it (or if it falls apart), they will know who made it, when it was made, and what it was called.  Yes, I like to dream big.  :)

Here's the bracelet after the edging was finished but before the figures and screen were glued on:

Here's the "movie-goer" section in process:

And here's the guy in the rowboat:

This figure was originally standing, but Steve cut the poor guy's legs off and glued them back on in such a way that he could sit down.  I think it looks really good!

Here's the whole middle section again:

I did have some problems with the screen and the standing guys staying standing, but that's because I didn't give the piece enough time to dry before moving it and because I used the wrong glue.  Fortunately I was able to glue them back on before the challenge voting, and I think they're still where they're supposed to be.  Once I get the piece home (after the Jewelry at the Domes show this weekend), I'll repair anything that's wobbly and let it sit in an acrylic case so it's protected.

Here's one final look at the other sections and with me wearing it:

It's been an absolute pleasure sharing my process with you.  I hope you've enjoyed it, too!

2013 LBS Challenge - Part 3 - Bracelet Straps

This is the third installment of my 2013 LBS Challenge bracelet, "My Milwaukee: A Triptych".  If you missed the previous parts, you can catch up here:  Part 1 and Part 2.

For a quick refresher, here's the finished bracelet:

Today I'm going to talk about each of the straps of the bracelet - the "fish art" and our house.  After the center section (Fish Fry & a Flick), the other two sections were much easier.

For the left side of the bracelet I chose to recreate art found along Milwaukee's River Walk:

I knew I wouldn't be able to duplicate it but knew I'd get pretty close.  I found blue curved glass tubes on the Fire Mountain Gems website and knew I'd make the fish from polymer clay.

I had no idea the hardest part would be to find a brown to match the brick.  I bought three different colors of Delicas online that I thought would work (2 possibilities for the brick and one for the mortar), but they were all too orange.  I looked in two local stores, but nothing was even remotely close - these had too much red, those had a tinge of green.  There was nothing close in Delicas, round seed beads, bugles, tilas, or any smallish bead.  I finally decided on DB-287, Cinnamon Lined Topaz Luster Delica beads:

They're far too dark and had a luster I didn't want, but time was ticking away, and I had to get stitching.  I paired it with two lighter colors for the mortar - one with a luster finish and one with matte for variety - and I stitched the bricks on:

They're not perfectly straight, and each brick could have been a bit wider, but I think for an art piece they turned out just fine.

There was just a bit of difficulty making the fish.  I had wanted the holes to be mouth-to-tail, but every time I tried doing that the fish squished up.  I decided to make two holes across the body of the fish, and that worked out much better.

I used my thumbnail to make the ridges along the fish.  After baking, Steve painted the ridges and eyes with some black paint, and I was ready to go!

I determined where the waves and fish should go, then I discovered another problem - how was I to get a needle into the curved glass tubes?  Fortunately I use my needles until they break, so I was able to find one that had the perfect curve to it:

After stitching the waves and fish on, I noticed something annoying:

Those waves were not lying down!  More frantic discussions with Steve, and we decided to glue them down.  No, it's not an elegant solution, but I really didn't have any other choice.

I had a heck of a time getting them to stay down, and even after I found a bead and glass glue that worked the waves still have a tendency of popping up when the piece is handled too much.

After stitching the bubbles on, that part of the bracelet was finished:

Now for the other strap - our house.  As I mentioned in Part 1, I moved here because of marrying the love of my life.  I love our house, everyone who's in it, and that it's in such a wonderful city.  I'm glad I was able to include it in my piece.

Because I couldn't find a good, clear shot of the front of the house and didn't want Steve to know what I was doing, I took a picture of it with my cell phone when I came home from buying the brown beads for the bricks.  The picture isn't the best, but it was perfect for my purposes:

It gave me a good idea of the shape of the front of the house.  As with the other parts of the bracelet, I knew I couldn't reproduce it perfectly, but I knew it'd be pretty close.  I drew out what I wanted with pencil then stitched the outline and started filling the spaces in:

At about this point I realized there's much more brick than green to the house, so I made a slight adjustment to the bottom part so it would look like the brick and have bushes in front.  They're actually stitched on top of the "brick" for a more dimensional look.

That area to the right that's not stitched is where the straps overlap.  Any beads there would not be seen when the bracelet was worn, and they would probably interfere with how the bracelet fits, so woo hoo!  There's a big area where I didn't have to do anything but add the snaps!

I stitched the sky like I stitched the water - with curves to represent air currents.  The smoke coming from the chimney is supposed to be a heart, but it looks like a goal post.  That's what happens when you use Delicas instead of smaller beads that can be manipulated a little easier.

That's it for today!  Come back next Tuesday for the last installment on finishing the bracelet up.

2013 LBS Challenge - Part 2 - Bracelet shape and FF&aF section

This is the second installment of my 2013 LBS Challenge bracelet, "My Milwaukee: A Triptych".  I do have to warn you that it's a bit long, but there's a lot of pictures.  And... there's a Frisco reward for you at the end.  Remember - it's cheating to scroll down just to see the kitten being cute.

If you missed the first post about the bracelet's inspirations with lots of lovely pictures, you can read it here.

For a quick refresher, here's the finished bracelet:

The shape of the bracelet started with the center piece, Point Fish Fry & a Flick.  I knew it wouldn't be completely to scale, but I wanted to reproduce the shape and atmosphere of the event as best I could.

Again, here's a good view of FF&aF:

Please see my previous post for picture credit.  :)

Before I could do anything, I had to go shopping for the figures.  Nope, I didn't make all those by hand.  I'm not that talented!  I've mentioned before that Steve works for Model Railroader magazine, so it shouldn't be a surprise that I "hired" him as a consultant.  ("hired" is in quotes because I didn't pay him.  Sorry, honey!)

In our basement we have essentially two model railroad layouts - the one that takes up over a third of the basement which is in HO scale (the most common), and a much smaller one that Steve had started for articles in the magazine but needed to come home due to lack of space at Kalmbach.  That one is N scale.  In case you didn't click the links to the Wikipedia articles, HO scale is about 1:87.1, and N scale ranges from 1:148 to 1:160 (a lot smaller than HO).  I'm very familiar with the size of HO figures and knew they'd be too big for jewelry, so we decided I'd use N scale.  There's also a Z scale (1:220), but Steve said the selection for figures isn't very good.  (As an aside, I saw a Z scale layout at a model railroad show once - it was in a briefcase.  Easiest set up and take down ever!  Open up the briefcase, put it on a table, plug the cord in.  Done!)  If the numbers mean nothing to you, check out these pictures: Scale chart for figures (the tallest is 3") and Scale chart for locomotives head-on.

Once we determined the scale, I figured out basically what I wanted and went shopping online.  Thank goodness for the Internet.  Like I've ranted about before, I couldn't buy everything from one place.  Walthers has an enormous selection, but I was surprised that they didn't have everything I needed.  I ended up buying from two different vendors: Wig-Wag Trains and Zug Meister Trains on ebay.

If you want to reproduce what I did, I bought Faller's "Garden Chairs & Tables", Model Power's "People Eating", Preiser's "Family at the Beach" (Family Krause, to be exact), Preiser's "Seated People", and Plastruct's "Pleasure Boats".  I have a lot of leftovers that I'm going to have to figure out how to make into jewelry.

To give you an idea of how small these pieces are, here are the chair parts with a quarter:

The hurdle-looking things are the arms and legs of the chairs.  Two per seat.  Here's Steve my contractor gluing a chair together:

 See that tiny bit of white at the end of the brush?  That's the chair.

After my contractor glued the chairs together, he glued people in the chairs.  I decided to take four people from "People Eating" and four from "Seated People".  Since three of the "People Eating" were standing, I couldn't put them in chairs (duh).  I planned on arranging them so they would mill around the seated folks.  One of the people eating was a tall redhead and looked like Steve, and one of the "Seated People" had brown hair and was reading.  I determined that one would be me.

We're so in love, even in model form!

When Steve glued "me" into the chair, he said, "Just like the real Traci, her feet don't touch the floor!"  So not fair.

I arranged everyone (including an empty chair for "Steve") onto a piece of paper:

It was a little big, so I rearranged everyone and drew out a plan.  I then cut out a template:

 Yes, it's a G, but that can't be helped.

I mixed together some clay (ivory and translucent, I think) and cut the shape out:

This is in process, of course.

Using the pins from my Bead Baking Rack, I skewered the piece longways so I would could sew the form to the bracelet backing.  I then started pressing and gluing little rocks (in the model railroad world they're called talus) into the clay:

That was difficult, and some of them came off when I stitched the lake.  I should have used a better glue like E6000.  I used G-S Hypo Cement because it was thinner, but maybe the thicker glue would have been more adhesivey durable.  Other options would have been to make little rocks out of polymer clay and press them on or to sculpt rocks right onto the base, but I wanted actual rocks.  I thought it would be faster.  Ha!  It does look nice, so maybe that was the right choice.

Once the rock-gluing was done, I pressed the screen (I'll discuss that in a few weeks) into the clay so it would fit snugly.  I placed the people where I wanted them and pressed their little feet and chair legs into the clay.  I then took a picture so I would remember who went where:

I just noticed all the people eating are men. :::insert sexist joke here:::

After I took the people and chairs off of the clay (didn't want them to melt!), I oh-so-carefully took the skewers out.  I really wish I hadn't had to do that, but I needed to curve the clay while baking, and I couldn't do that with the skewers in.  Steve said I should have curved the skewers, but I didn't want to bend them.  Besides, I probably would have screwed up the piece.  I millimeter-by-millimeter eased each of the pins out and was glad the top part of the G didn't break off.  I then draped it over a pop can (Mountain Dew, to satiate your curiosity), which fit pretty well in the baking rack.  After baking, the form kept its shape very well.  Yay!

Based on the width and length of the FF&aF section, I made an initial paper form of the full bracelet:

When I was testing the bracelet around my wrist, I noticed that when the ends met on the inside, there was buckling on the outside.  That meant that it was too wide to work like a "normal" bracelet and would need some adjusting.  After an unbelievable amount of time and discussions with my model railroad jewelry consultant, I determined that on the inside the ends should form a V.

I made a new paper form (dropping the rounded corners because of the angles needed for the new shape), and Steve and I made a few notations so I knew where everything was supposed to be:

It may seem silly to have so many notations, but I was getting seriously confused.

For the bracelet base, I used Pellon interfacing and Ultrasuede from Knot Just Beads.  I tried to make it work with one piece of Ultrasuede by having one whole piece for the bottom and two pieces for the part that would be covered up with beads, but I had a gluing and logistics problem:

Glue was seeping through in some spots, and the piece on the right in the above picture I tried gluing upside down or something stupid like that.  Like I said, I was getting very confused.  Back to Knot Just Beads I went, and I brought back another piece of Ultrasuede and a hank of very gorgeous dark blue Charlottes I used in the lake.

Not only was the glue seeping through, but it wasn't always working.  I tried a plethora of glues - I don't remember all of them - and finally my scrapbooking Mono adhesive worked well enough.  It just had to stick enough for me to be able to stitch the pieces together while I beaded.  I know there are many people I could have called who know exactly what glue to use, but I was in a rush (as I often seem to be) and needed to get started.  If I had read Explorations in Beadweaving that I reviewed last Friday, I would have known to use E6000.  I even have it in the house already.  That's what I get for not checking my resources!

I should probably say that Explorations in Beadweaving is a great book for learning how to do bead embroidery.  I'm not going to explain how to do it step-by-step in my blogs, so if you would like to know, please pick up her book.  I sent her a Facebook message letting her know about the review.  She's very nice, and we're now friends on Facebook!  (Hi, Kelly!)

I'm glad I had a single piece of Ultrasuede because as I was curving the piece around for testing, the split ended up rather wide and wouldn't have been workable.  Perhaps it was "good luck" that I had so many problems and needed another piece.  If I had spent hours stitching just to find out that the split was screwing everything up, I'd have been pretty upset.

I taped the FF&aF base to the bracelet base and sewed it on, using light blue Delica seed beads to signify water crashing against the pier.  Then I started stitching the lake, using the gorgeous Charlottes, some dark blue 15/0 seed beads, and the light blue Delicas:

You can't tell in the pictures, but the Charlottes are flat on one side, and when that part catches the light it's really beautiful and looks like light glinting off the water.

As I stitched I noticed that I was "making waves" toward the right side of the piece.  I had the boat facing the wrong way for that, so I erased my lines and switched the direction of both boats:

Now it looks like the boat is pushing the water in that direction.

The final bracelet picture for today is this section all stitched up (including the edging, which happened much later) and before the figures and boats are glued on:

Next Tuesday, both straps of the bracelet.  It will be much shorter.  I promise.

Now for your reward for getting all the way down to the end.  Here's Frisco in his new favorite place, the window above my desk:

He's adorable up there, but he keeps knocking stuff off.  It's messy enough up there as it is without him wreaking more havoc.