Counting Flowers on the Wall . . .

Filed under: Hair Adornments | Back to: Homepage

I can’t help thinking of this old Statler Brothers’ song when I look at the decorative headbands I just finished. There are days when I wish that visual stimuli would NOT make me think of a song, but, alas, that’s just how I’m wired. It’s just part of the musical chatter than runs through a musician’s mind.

     “Counting flowers on the wall, that don’t bother me at all,

      Playing solitaire till dawn, with a deck of fifty-one . . . “

Personally, if I’m going to stay up until dawn, I’d prefer making jewelry to playing solitaire, but “to each his/her own.”

Headbands seem to be quite the thing right now among women with few years on their faces. However, even my 89 year old mother wears a headband to hold back her beautiful gray hair. The newer embellished headbands, however, are no longer just for functionality, but rather for adornment.

The initial three headbands pictured and one hair clip at the bottom of the photo are the start of my learning to decorate hair ornaments. I want to continue to make some of these with beads, dangly chain, etc. They are quick to make and fun to create. Now, I just wonder if I can get my mother to wear one that I’ve embellished. You never know; it seems to me that any woman who would get her picture taken with a flower in her mouth would surely wear a fancy headband!

Hair Adornments 2 comments

Repairing Jewelry

Filed under: Philosophy | Back to: Homepage

Where do people go for simple jewelry repair or modification? It appears that there aren’t too many folks who will take a strung gemstone piece in to a fine jewelry store for lengthening or shortening. But, let’s face it; we’re not all the same size and modifications are sometimes needed. A tiny customer in one store told me she has seldom found a bracelet that fits her slender wrist and that most necklaces are too long. The opposite, of course, although seldom stated out loud, is the heavy set woman who struggles with length for a different reason. Also, we all have one problem . . . things break. We drop a piece or it gets hung on something and then we’re left with a mess. This happens in the boutiques even before a piece is purchased leaving the boutique with jewelry it cannot sell.

I make repairs. It’s probably one of my least favorite tasks, similar to mending a garment. It is, however, a task that is sorely needed. It doesn’t have to be jewelry that I have made, I’ll try to fix most anything. Repairing or modifying a piece of jewelry seldom takes much time and is greatly appreciated by the customer or boutique owner. I always carry my tools with me when I visit boutiques that sell my jewelry. You’d be surprised how a crimp here and a clasp change there can make a woman happy. It’s especially nice if I can take care of the piece while I’m at the store without having to transport it back and forth or mail it. I laughed at the nursing home today where my mother has been for seven years. I think the nurses must send out a signal when I arrive. One came from out of no where to show me that she had lost an earrings and hoped I could make a match for the remaining one. Another, that I’d never seen before, was delivered to Mother’s room by her friend who said she just knew I would be able to fix her pin. Today was not unusual; I do a good deal of mending and/or modification for people who work there.

The store from Maine that buys my jewelry sent me a little package of jewelry that needed repair and a pair or silver earrings that a customer wanted me to make in copper. A Texas store had another little bundle of things that a customer brought in for modification. These jobs have kept me busy most of the last few days.

If you are a designer who hasn’t ventured into repairs and modifications, don’t expect this part of the work to produce an economic boom. Little money exchanges hands when I repair or modify jewelry and I don’t charge anything for modification of a piece I originally made. The exchange is, however, quite pleasurable. People want their jewelry to fit and I can help that happen. A broken piece may have been something that was treasured and its repair yields happiness. For example, a woman once brought me a very inexpensive necklace needing a clasp repair. She said she knew the necklace wasn’t very pricey, but her husband purchased it for her on their honeymoon so it was quite valuable to her. I fixed it and she was extremely happy. She thanks me every time I see her. I made necklace extenders in copper and in silver for a larger boned woman so that her necklaces from more slender times would fit. She, too, continues to thank me and purchases my pieces when the opportunity arises.

One of my favorite sayings when people ask what they owe me is “pass it on.” I  believe if we do something nice for a person she may just pass it on and do something nice for someone else. I’m not looking for reciprocation of a good deed. I’m just trying to incite the next one. A little jewelry repair here, a smile there and who knows . . . let’s just pass it on.

Philosophy 2 comments

Earrings Du Jour

Filed under: Earrings, Metal Work, Wire Work | Back to: Homepage

Since I don’t do soup . . . may I offer you the earrings “of the day”? First, however, you should know that the light on the right of my photo tent is out right now creating somewhat difficult picture-taking circumstances. This appears to have caused the large circle earrings to show as different colors when they are exactly the same. It did not cause the second amethyst earring to completely disappear. I couldn’t get them both to hang well for the photo.

I got started making earrings today when a store that sold one of my necklaces requested the large circle copper earrings to match. I hurriedly made a pair and took them to the store only to learn that I had the wrong patina. I was given the customer’s daughter’s phone number to gather further details and learned that she “didn’t know what her Mother wanted” and that the necklace had gone to the other side of the state. She kindly gave me her mother’s number and after calling her, I learned, she really didn’t want big earrings at all . . . just small copper rounds that matched. Hmm . . . how do I figure out what “small” means and how do I match the patina to a necklace that I can’t see? I suggested sending a photo to the mother, but the daughter explained that Mother doesn’t compute. Finally we agreed that I would make the earrings, send a digital photo to the daughter here in town, she would forward it to her sister who lives near the mother and the sister would show it to the mother. Do you think there is much chance that the earrings I make will match? By the way, if you are one of the daughters reading this blog, I truly appreciate your efforts for your mom.

I had another call from out of state for a pair of earrings to match a copper necklace sold by that boutique. Luckily, the owner matched the necklace to the stone in a pair of silver earrings she had in the store before letting the customer get away with the necklace. She mailed the earrings to me and I think I have a chance at that one.

So, what’s the point? I’ve told myself this before, but I’m absolutely sticking to it this time. If I have the beads to make earrings for a necklace, I should do it before the necklace goes out. Secondly, if I’m going to patina metal for a necklace, I MUST patina enough to make earrings in the same liver of sulfur bath. Does anyone wish to bet on how long I remember these statements? The hurrieder I go the more I forget my promises

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Playing With Shapes

Filed under: Necklaces, Pendants, Wire Work | Back to: Homepage

I’ve played with shaping most of my adult life. I’ve tried this diet and that fad, but my shape is stuck. As a healthier outlet to this dilemma, my current “shape” work is being done with wire. No, I haven’t decided to wire my mouth shut! I’m working with 16 to 18 gauge wire in an attempt to find a new pendant armature to put beads on. I’ve tried this before, but always attempted to work with very heavy gauge wire that I purchased inexpensively from the recycle place. This mostly just turned out to give me aching hands. Using the lighter gauge wire, however, appears to be more successful. When I find a good shape I can then replicate it with heavier wire. Initially, I planned to use the shape shown here with the side to the right in the picture as the bottom. I planned to hang it from the loop that is on the other side. Yet, upon completion it seemed more fitting as shown.

I planned the second armature the same way, but it too seems better turned as shown in the picture below.

Next, I would like to create a much smaller version of this pendant to see how it works with less openness. I can see it with more delicate beads.

At any rate, this type shaping is much better for my ego that the shaping “supposedly” created through dieting. Of course, if I just immediately filled my hands with wire and tools each time I got hungry, perhaps my body might shape up too. (somehow I doubt it!)

Necklaces, Pendants, Wire Work comment

Puppy Shot

Filed under: Bracelets, Earrings, Metal Work, Pendants, Wire Work | Back to: Homepage

The day started just like any other day. I had carved out some time to design and shape some copper sheet metal and then patina the pieces with liver of sulphur. I never know just exactly what color the patina will produce due to varying factors including water temperature, amount of product, whether or not a piece has been torched, etc. On this particular day, everything was working well. I liked the color produced and was pleased at its richness when I took it out of the tumbler. If you aren’t used to this process, I use a rock tumbler to remove the excess grime created by the liver of sulphur and to polish the pieces. The tumbler is partially filled with steel shot, a drop of liquid detergent and water. The shine it produces is largely a product of the length of time a piece tumbles. Following the tumbling, I pour the tumbler contents into a metal kitchen strainer in order to rinse the pieces without losing any of the shot. I then place the strainer on the top shelf of my laundry room work cabinet. That’s what set the stage for trouble.

As I continued my clean up process, our exuberant 3 1/2 month old puppy raced into the laundry room for his food.  He spied the strainer, leapt up and grabbed it and then we were both showered with flying shot. I tried hard not to yell at the little guy, but when I got the broom to sweep up the shot, he kept grabbing it and trying to run away with it. (I’m thinking of rewriting the nursery rhyme to read “the DOG ran away with the BROOM) Picture a little black and white puppy scurrying down the hall with the broom head in his mouth dragging the handle. That was the end of my patience. Slipping on the rolling shot, I managed to grab the puppy by the collar and drag him out to his pen. Then I set out to sweep the shot. Sound easy? When I tried to sweep part of the shot, it would quickly roll to the other side of the room. Eventually, I put up little shoe barriers to catch it as it rolled. That shot was everywhere . . . under the washer, under the dryer, under the freezer, behind the sink, in the shoes, in the boots, buried in the rugs and even in my apron pockets. Two days later, I’m still finding shot – - – puppy shot!

Just so you won’t worry, let me say that I did not shoot the puppy. That’s just the new name for what I put in the tumbler. By the way, this is the same puppy who while waiting inside the running car while the trash was emptied from the car into the container on the street managed to lock one of us out of our own car. He’s such a good little fellow!

Bracelets, Earrings, Metal Work, Pendants, Wire Work 2 comments

Fluency and Flexibility

Filed under: Bracelets, Creativity, Wire Work | Back to: Homepage

In a previous post, I commented on FFOE and elaboration in particular. Today, I’m focused on FF, fluency and flexibility. Over coffee one day last week, my friend drew a bracelet that she has made saying I could try it. I think it is particularly nice that most wire workers don’t mind sharing information and designs and I truly thank my friend for the pictured bracelet idea that she calls “winding road”. Fluency obviously has to do with the production of many ideas while flexibility deals with the ability to think in different categories, from different angles, or to see things from a new perspective. I was fluent in making many bracelets of the same design. While simply adding different beads to exactly the same shape would NOT have required very flexible thinking, I was somewhat flexible by changing the basic shape and type of elaboration. Slight variation in the placement of the beads as well as the selection of the size of the beads is indicative of flexibility.

These bracelets can be made fairly quickly and although I see the “winding road” they also make me think of Cleopatra with one of these in gold above her elbow. It also makes me think of a serpent round the wrist. (I was careful to properly file the ends of these so that serpent doesn’t sting!)

The next plausible step with this bracelet will require originality. How can this idea be modified so that it leads to something new and different? I’ll have to leave that for another day.

Bracelets, Creativity, Wire Work 2 comments