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Monday, January 28, 2013

The Spoiled Master Of a Very Spoiled Cat



I want to introduce you to one of my Shop helpers.  Meet THE"Miss Priss", and yes she is a true Priss.  Priss is 14 years old and runs this house and guards my shop.  It is her job to keep our Maine Coon cat out of my shop;unfortunately Bitzy thinks everything she can get her paws on is a Play Toy for her.  Bitzy especially likes Earrings, she will take them an hide them and only bring them out after we are off to bed.  Just love playing "Hide and Seek" with her.  Bitzy is 11 years old and weighs 25 pounds and is forever walking in front of you so you trip alot.

Priss feels she only has a couple clear cut jobs in this house.  Her first job, and she does it so well, is to wash "Husband of Wonder" hair!  Her other duty is, once his hair is clean she can then use his head as a resting spot for her chin.  Poor "Husband of Wonder" has to put up with this every evening once he's home from work.

 
 
 
 
 
Now wouldn't you like to come home to all this ?  Sure you wouldn't and she only requires some food and free water as a fee.
 
 
Well enough of this foolishness, go have a great Monday and the rest of the week.  Create something that really makes you have. 
 
Creative Blessing to all:  CJ
 

Saturday, January 19, 2013

Wire Wrap Dragonfly Pendant Tutorial


As promised here is the latest tutorial for this lovely dragonfly pendant. So lets gather our tools and get started.
For this project I used:
  1. bent nose pliers
  2. wire snips
  3. round nose pliers
  4. 8 inches of 18 gauge artistic wire
  5. 20 inch length , and a 12 inch length of 24 gauge wire
  6. chain
  7. matching clasps and jump rings 
  8. complimentary brass finding or flower accent
  9. 6 glass pearl beads in graduating sizes
NOTE: This is just an example, not written in stone! I love happy accidents , and encourage you to experiment with your own colors and variations :)

Here's the note card sketch I did when I made the first one. I generally make a quick sketch afterwards to remind me of how I did a new design. If it serves as a reference for you, great!
 Starting with the 8 inch thicker wire, and using my bent nose pliers I bent a gentle 'v' shape at the 4 inch mark.


 I wanted the wings to be about 1 inch, so I measured and marked 1 inch out from the center on both sides.
 Then proceeded to gently fold the wire over my ring mandrel at that 1 inch mark, make the bend on both sides. you should wind up with a basic heart shape. ( you can also use a pen, dowel, knitting needle, etc to form what ever size curve you wish.)
 Bring the tails up until they lie flat and parallel to the tops of the wings. hold the tails in place at the 'v' point with your pliers and use your fingers to bend the tails down at a gentle angle. The tails are criss cross here. Looks like a bow now.
 At this point I measured and snipped both tails to equal lengths (1.25 inch) to start forming the bottom wings. 
 Using the round pliers hold the tip of tail up towards the top points of the pliers. ( I generally roll away from myself) roll the pliers until the wire forms the small loop, continue to to roll the loop until you have a small half spiral. Looking at the picture  the small loop will curve up towards the bottom of the top wings. 

 There the frame is formed, and we have 2 top wings and 2 bottom wings. 
 Now it's time to add the lacy look to the wings. Using the longer 24 gauge wire we are going to find the half point on the fine wire, and lie that center point over the top center of the wings, and fold the fine wire to the back of wings.
 Take the top fine wire and wrap one coil around the 'v' point going to the left, and take the bottom fine wire and wrap one coil around the bottom right of the top wing. 
 Just working on the right wing for now we are going to do that over under thing. Since the wrapping wire is at the back....up through the center over the front of the top, around and up through the center, and over the front of the bottom....continue alternating top and bottom until you reach the curved tip of the wing. 
 Around the curve of the wing we are just going to tightly coil the wrapping wire around and around until the curve is filled.
 Once filled with the coiling make sure the wrapping wire is to the back of the piece, and snip it close to the wing frame wire.

See the tiny snipped end. Use your flat pliers to crimp that end towards the inside of the wire frame. I always run the piece against my cheek (The cheek test) to make sure I can't feel any snags!
 From here continue on the opposite side and complete the left wing in the same pattern.
 Okay, let's bead this bad boy :) I was out of brass flowers so I flattened a bead cap to create one. 

 Next using the 12 inch piece of 24 gauge wire we are going to put the (large) head bead at about the 4 inch mark. bend the wire around the bead and pinch together under the bead.
 The tails of the wire should be one long, one short. Add the flower and pull it up close to the head bead.

 open the tails slightly (like a bobby pin) and slide onto the center wrap on the frame. One tail on each side of that center wire. Pull the head bead and flower up close and snug to the frame.
 In back separate the tails and bend the longer one up to the top of the frame, and the short one down to the bottom of the frame.
 Take the top wire and bring it to the center front between the top flower petals , and wrap it one and a half times around the base of the bead. So now the long wire is in front and pointed down
 Gently nudge the bead upwards towards the top of the petals. String the next large bead on the short wire and push up to first bead. Cross the long wire over the top of the short wire between the two beads, and coil the long wire around the short wire once. the long wire is now pointed sideways between the two beads.

 Holding the long wire on the right side of the second bead, wrap it around the short wire with one coil at the bottom of the second bead. String the next size bead on and repeat process between each bead down the short wire


 Now that each of the beads  have been strung and wrapped all the way down, your piece should look like the picture above. Now we are going to continue with the long wire and wrap and coil in the same fashion going up the opposite side.To 'tie off' the long wire I ended between the first and second beads and put the long (not as long now) wire through to the back of the piece and wrapped 3 coils on the heavy wing frame wire. Snipped and crimped to the inside like previously instructed.
At this point I gently nudged any slack out of the bead wrapping, by pushing the beads upwards along the short wire.
 To finish the short tail I trimmed the wire to 1 inch and used the round nose pliers to make a tight flat spiral.

To finish I chose to use double clasps to attach to the wings. My daughter likes to trade out her pendants, and this is an easy way to do that. 

Well I truly hope you find this helpful or inspirational! If I missed anything or if you have a question please leave a comment :)
Creative Blessings! T

Creative Saturday

Photo: This sounds good to me. Happy Friday everyone.

Now what Beader or Crafter wouldn't love to hear these words?  No I'm not fool enough to believe I will ever hear them but what a Great Thought.  

This is the first weekend in awhile that "Husband of 'Wonder" isn't working. He is now off to his shop to work on some new turnings.   I will be working in my shop, I have a long long list of things I want to accomplish. 

1. Doing the laundry.
2. Cleaning up around the house.
3.  Working on Pictures.
4.  Loading items into the two new shops.
5.   Working on a new pair of Black and Silver evening Mitts.
6.   Working on the Blog.
7.  Working on a New Wedding piece idea I have for the Flounces Shop.

All of the above are on my list for today and will spill over into tomorrow and probably the first of the week...Oh such big plans and not enough hours in the day to do it all.    If I can at least get half of this done I will be a happy woman and ready for a long nap.  Don't you just hate when reality walks up and slaps you up side the head?

Everyone enjoy you Weekend and find some time for your creative self.

Till later then, Creative Blessings!  CJ



Friday, January 18, 2013

The younger half of She Is

Hi all you creative goddesses. Theresa here :) (daughter extraordinaire) . I know my lovely Mum (CJ) has already introduced herself in her usual classy broad style. I thought I would hop on board and add my bit of sass to the mix. CJ has laid down the law and said to work on a tutorial to share. I just wanted to say PHHHT! I'm working on it already MUM!
 All sass aside I am working on a dragonfly pendant tutorial and have progressed through starting pictures and notes for write up. Are you ready? Barring any major catastrophies, or Husband of Wonder wanting massive amounts of attention, I will have it up and posted by Sunday!
Until then , Creative Blessings! T

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

All About New Feature on Blog

victorian lady

Good morning all!  Hope your day is going well, full of Sunshine and Creativity and lots of fun along the way.

I want to update you on the new Blog.  As you can see we have added a NEW PAGE.  Theresa did a Tutorial on a Wire Wrap Pendant, this has now been added to our New Tutorial page.  Both part one and part two are now in this section, please feel free to copy it off if you like.  We will be adding more Tutorials as time goes by, hopefully we will have another one ready in a couple weeks.  This new Tutorial will deal with a "Wire Wrap DragonFly".  If any of you would like just purchase this beautiful  piece you may go directly to She Studio. 

We will also be running some Features on differernt Shop on Etsy, hopefully this will be something you will all like.  If you would like your shop to be in a Feature please email me at  theresaandcj@gmail.com
 
Have Blessed and Creative Day.



Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Something Old Something New Again

Welcome all to the brand new Blog "She Is", hope you all come back for many visits. 

This Blog will be dedicated to Women out there of all ages.  My daughter (Flight Fancy) and myself (Baroness Bijoutery) are combining our work in two new shops on Etsy.  We started out years ago with onc shop that we shared and it worked out very well.  Over the years we have opened our own shops and did well there also.  We  have now come full circle and are combining our work together again in these two new shops.

The first Shop will be "She Studio" and have lots of Handmade Jewelery, Hand Crocheted Items, Hair Pretties, and much more. A Shop dedicated to the Simple Pleasures that appeal to Girls and Women alike.   The items in this shop will bring you a giggle, a smile, a memory from years past.

The second of our new shops will be "Flounces".   This shop will be filled with Indulgence, Elegance,  Bridal and  Master Craftsman Home Decor.  All the jewelery is Handmade  by myself and my daughter.  Flight's stunning wire work is so wonderful and a true piece of Art.
I (Baroness) do alot of Wedding pieces, Evening pieces.  Flight and I both do Retro Elegance pieces that will take you back to the time of your Mother and Grandmother and their pieces you wore when playing "Dress Up". 

Please come join us on this wondrous journey.   Creative Spirit, Feminine Creativity, and lots of Sassy in these two shops. 

We are now in the process of setting the stores and trying to put items in them as fast as possible.  I will announce the opening of both Store when they are complete.  We hope that our followers from our other Blogs, Flight-Fancy  and Baroness-Bijoutery will come join us here .


Creative Blessing to All