Art Elements Theme of the Month: Repurposing

For this month's Art Elements Theme of the Month, Lesley Watt has given us an interesting prompt... repurposing!  This is a really broad theme and I had super grand plans at the beginning of the month.  I'm sure that some of you can relate to the fact that time has sort of gotten away from me this time!

I'm guessing that my contributions are not going to be as impressive or exciting as what many folks come up with, but meet the challenge where you're at, right??

I started out by making a necklace with another one of the vintage keys that a friend gifted me awhile back.  I've still got quite a few keys left in my stash, so I'm guessing you'll see more key-filled designs from me in the future now that I've broken them out!

The perfect addition to the key pendant was a sweet little heart charm by Mary Harding.  Then the light bulb went off and I decided to stamp "Key to My ♥️" on a silver plated circle to tie things together.  I picked Czech glass and vintage lucite beads to go with the colors in the heart charm. 

This one is long and can just be slipped over your head without any monkeying around with a clasp.

Next up, I played more with some of the vintage tin that I broke out for the Art Bead Scene Art Journey 2 challenge.  This time I'm using some of the pieces from the edges of the containers lid (I'm so glad that I didn't toss them... Packrat for the win!!)  I had really hoped to be able to cut a taller triangle, but I just didn't have the material to work with this time.  I'll have to revisit my other idea later.  After cutting the two trapezoids instead, I hammered the rolled edge of the lid flat and filed all the edges smooth.  Because of the shape, I knew that I needed two connection points at the top for them to hang correctly... so then I had to decide what to put up above the tin pieces.  The solution?  My (very under-utilized) Now That's a Jig!  Yay me!  I whipped up two cute little connector pieces to fit perfectly and hammered them a bit for strength and texture.

Lastly, because I was needing to get ready for a little home jewelry party I'm doing at a friend's house this weekend, I started to make a new batch of my up-cycled beer can earrings.  I had a lot of new beer can colors and patterns that I wanted to play with for the first time.  Unfortunately, I didn't finish any of them... this is where things were at yesterday when I called it a day.

In the next couple of days I'll get them all put together but I always underestimate the amount of time it takes to complete these.  There are so many steps... emboss the metal blanks that serve as a base, smooth the rough edges of the aluminum punch outs, punch holes in the centers of the flowers and the metal blanks, rivet, hammer in the dapping block, pick out beads, complete the bead links, attach earwires.  Whew... tired just thinking about what I need to get done!  Those aluminum circles at the top edge of my photo will hopefully become medallion style necklaces this week too.  Fingers crossed!

This is a blog hop... Check out what everyone else created by repurposing this month!  This should be a fun one!

Guests

Tammy

Alysen

Evie & Beth

Karin

Hope

Divya

Anita

Sarajo  - You are here!

Kathy

Rebecca

Martha

AE Team

Niky

Laney

Cathy

 Caroline

Jen

Jenny 

Sue

Claire

Lesley

Artisans Create Together Inspiration Challenge: May 2018

The monthly inspiration challenge over on the Artisans Create Together Facebook group is "Happy Dance."  How appropriate for the month that brings us Cinco de Mayo, Mothers Day, and lots of blooming things in our gardens to have the focus be on colorful patterns and textiles!  After a winter that was WAY too long for this girl, I'm loving these happy brights and the riotous mix of colors and patterns!

The first thing my mind went to for this challenge were some fun new enameled components that I got from a de-stash event.  The charms themselves have tons of colors and textures... perfect!  First up, a pair of long skinny charms by Tina Piraino that I paired with some cute little drops by my friend Anna Pierson of Saga Hus Components.  I love the tiny touch of fiber on the drops!

Next up, an even wilder pair of charms by Marie Demico that are so crazy vibrant.  I'm so in love with the lime-y greens and pops of other bright colors.  Yummy!  I wire wrapped some coordinating Czech glass with copper wire to finish the look.  I've had these rondelles in a fun mix of greens for a while, but I finally found the perfect use for some of them.

Moving on from enameled charms, I picked a bright pair of charms from Happy Fish Things for this big, bold design.  I used some orange wire to hide the loops on the charms while bringing out the darker orange of the charms.  In a go big or go home moment, I added some turquoise wooden beads that are large but lightweight and some yellowy Czech glass.

Lastly, not a new design, but some new colors and new versions of old colors for my up-cycled beer can flower earrings.  Each of these pairs has a mix of different colors as well as the texture in the embossed copper blanks.  As soon as I can card these cuties, they'll be heading into Unearthed Arts.

I hope my post brings a much needed, happy dose of color into your day.  After a fairly quiet design month, I feel like I'm back on track and ready to make more fun jewelry!