Another New Year

Some people may think I'm unusual but like so many other people I do use the start of a new year to make good intentioned changes and finish old projects.  Doesn't mean that it always sticks but some things are just tradition. 

I recently inherited a bunch of sewing stuff so in addition to cleaning my work area I had to find room for the new stuff I brought in.  To start I had to clear a space to fit an awesome sewing table built by my Dad.  He's a thoughtful craftsman and built this table with a recess to fit the sewing machine.  It makes a nice 4 foot square work surface.  That gives me plenty of work room and enough extra room for my other two machines.  I can just pull them forward when I want to use them.

Making room for the table, in my usual method, I made a mess on top of the mess I already had.  One thing besides making messes that I'm good at doing is finding room for new things and throwing away things I don't use.
 

 Isn't this a great table?  I did have to have help from my brother and his boys to get it from the upstairs at my fathers to the basement of my home.  Thank you brother and nephews!!

Dad even attached an electrical outlet to the side of the table so I don't have to crawl under it to plug everything in.  In this case my nephew earned that chore (plugging in).

This table was piled high with sewing, soldering and forming supplies.  I did take a before picture but it wasn't in focus.  The hanging bar clock belongs to my oldest son.  I'll be glad when he finally settles somewhere and can take it home with him.

This is another Dad built table.  It's taller than a normal table and wide so I can lay out material.  It also has extra support attached to the underside to stand up to heavy use. It's my everything table.  I cut material, hammer and solder metal, cut glass, paint, work polymer clay, do lampwork and nearly everything else on this table.  

Even though I didn't have to move my jewelers bench I did clean it off.  I find that the more I work the smaller my work space gets until there isn't a clear space left.  This table really needed cleaning.

Here's where I do my beading.  Not very clean and never is.  I usually have several projects going and plunked various areas on the table.  You can see a few strands of beads and a container of mixed beads.  Since I took this picture I did put the book away and finish the necklace I was stringing.  It was a simple necklace, just a lot of mixed seed beads strung on 3 long lines, then braided.  One of those mindless kind of projects.  Next to the beading station you can see a TV.  It's a great place to watch jewelry DVD's and programs such as Project Runway and Project Accessory.  I also really like the DIY home design programs.

That's my start of 2012 story.  Always the hope that the new year will bring inspiration and the time to follow it through.

2011 Christmas

It's been a long time since I've posted and I've been busy.  I've participated in a few art shows and added new items to my shop.  I've been hard at work up-dating photos and have initiated a coupon sale and free shipping for the Christmas 2011 season.  There are still a few photos to update but I didn't want to wait before starting the sale.

From now until December 20, 2011 I'm offering free priority shipping in the lower 48 states and 20% off on selected items.  Shop and enjoy.

Croatian Picnic and Art Show

Sunday, September 4, 2011 I will have a booth at the Art Show in Benld, Illinois City Park.  The Art Show is in conjunction with the Croatian picnic.  Ethnic music, dance and food will be featured at the picnic.  If you have any questions please feel free to contact me at llrodenjewelry@gmail.com.

Successful Experiment

I've been running an idea around in my head for a while and finally gave it a shot.  I bought a new bead loom almost a year ago and it was still in the box.  I put the loom together and warped it a little different than usual for a bead loom. 

I knew I wanted to make a bracelet so I started with a ladder stitch 12 cube beads long and 2 beads high for each end of the bracelet.  The length of the loom is 7" so that is just about the right size for a bracelet.  I attached the ladder stitched ends to the loom.  By doing the ends like this I didn't have a bunch of warp thread to deal with when I was finished. 

I warped the loom with a very long piece of 8 pound smoke fire line.  I attached the line to the loom in the usual way by attaching it to the body of the loom.  With a #12 needle on one end of the line I ran the line through the first row of cube beads.  Then I broke out the container of mixed beads that has grown with every project I've done in the past.

I strung random beads on the line until it was long enough to attach to the other set of ladder stitched cube beads.  I ran the line through the corresponding set of cube beads on the far end of the loom.  I tied a knot around the line running through the cube beads and ran it back down through the next set of cubes.  Again I strung random beads until I reached the other end, knotting each time and pulling the line snug.  That was repeated until I had a line for each set of 2 cubes.

Since I started with a very long length of line I knotted the line next to the last set of cube beads and was able to continue stringing beads for the weft of the loom.  This time I used only seed beads on the line and kept stringing beads until I had enough to go back and forth across the bracelet several times.  Instead of the usual beaded loom work of beads fitted between each line I decided to weave over and under the warp line like I was weaving material.

I worked each weft line as close to previous row as I could.  The warp lines had big, little and tube beads that made the texture very random.  I really like the look of the weave.

 

Once I finished the weaving I cut the cube beads loose from the loom.  Goofed a little there and managed to cut a couple of the warp lines.  Had to do a quick repair and restring a few beads and tie them off.

I hadn't really thought this all the way through since it was an experiment.  It was time to figure out the clasp.  The first clasp I tried was sterling silver wire worked through the last two cubes on both sides of the bracelet.  To anchor them I made a swirl on the ends and wire wrapped the wires together for strength.  The clasp was a piece of hammered sterling bent into a hook.  I hated it when it was finished. 

The "well duh" moment came when I walked away for a while.  Time to fall back on the very versatile peyote stitch.  On one end of the bracelet I attached seed beads two at a time across the end of the cubes by running the line back and forth through the cubes.  From there I worked in peyote stitch to make a tab with an opening for a button.  On the other end of the bracelet I again attached beads and stitched a plain tab.  I ran the line back through the beads on the tab for strength and attached a button I found in my button stash that is almost as bad as my bead stash.  Viola!!!! A closure I liked.

The whole thing took about 18 hours including the repairs and sterling clasp and replacement.

Upcoming Events

Fall Art Fairs are coming soon.  So far I've registered for two.  The first fair is Labor Day Sunday, September 4, at Benld Park in Benld Illinois.  This fair is part of the annual Croation picnic.

The second fair is the Staunton Art Fair in Staunton, Illinois.  That fair is at Duda Park and for the two days of September 24 and 25. 

I've been working hard to get many new items made for fall fairs.  If you're out and about, looking for something to do please stop by one or both of the fairs.

Christmas In July

ArtFire Christmas in July.  Beginning July 1, 2011 and ending July 31, 2011 many shops on ArtFire will be having Christmas in July, myself included.  During July every item in my shop will be 20% off.  Hope you can join us.

Crazy Month

This month has been totally crazy.  Started out sick and in no mood to visit my jewelry cave.  Then I had a day long meeting out of town for DAR the first Saturday of the month.  The next Saturday was the vendor/craft fair.  Now I'm busy getting costumes ready for a Women's Veterans parade in Mt. Vernon, IL, this Saturday.

We will have a float in the parade and have several women veterans that have volunteered to ride the float.  Some of them don't have period costumes so a few of us have been busy getting costumes made for them.

At the end of the parade there will be a dedication ceremony for a statue representing women veterans from the Revolutionary War to Present Day.  I've got my camera ready to go and hope to get a lot of pictures to post and remember this day.

Next weekend I'll be cleaning a house I haven't touched in a while.  We'll have several family members visiting from out of town for the July 4th weekend.  There is a flag dedication in Godfrey July 1st.  Then the rest of the weekend is going to be spent sight seeing.

Once July comes around it will seem strange not to be running every weekend.  I'm looking forward to it.  There are several new to me jewelry lessons I want to try.  All the stuff I've been thinking of trying has been put on the back burner while all this other stuff is going on.