Just updating everyone, there is a sale on my Etsy store
Free shipping on any order $15 and up
Use the coupon code: OCTOBER
Some samples of what I have there – all things you have seen here on the blog:
Sale – Free Shipping
Tag Archives: Jewlery
Spiralling into Art
I hope this has been a good week for all of you, it has been for me
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I have several pieces to show today, a couple from this week and a couple from last week but all online for the first time today.
The first one I posted is Teardrop in the Rain, a medium length drop steel spiral on a woven copper wire with a silver and turquoise teardrop. Etsy
The second is a wire-wrapped spiral pendant in a very steampunk fashion reminiscent of a coil. Etsy
And the final listing for this morning is a long dropping spiral that curves around the neck and encloses a set of gears at the intersection of the steel spirals. Etsy
Steampunk Spiral Drop Necklace
This piece is the primary piece this week:
Starting with machine shop scraps, an old necklace I made years ago, and a box of beach glass and random bits:
First step was to weave the copper wire and gear into a long steel shaving:
Then I moved on to create the center mount with the 3 squared stones and the polished stones
Then I finished the piece, mounted the clasp and tried it on.
Then I was ready to post it on my Etsy store:Â 
Glass and Wire
Life is slowly attempting a return to something resembling normal for us and time to work on art and design is returning as much as it ever was. Primary this week were 2 pieces of jewelry I made.
The other piece is a Wire wrapped coil-like piece with blue glass, scroll work, and a silvered base.
Writing and Painting
Writing is back in the forefront this week. As a trial, I published a Kindle Cookbook. It is simple and focuses on using storage and space in cooking for 1 or 2 people. The only illustration is a drawing I have previously posted here, I used on the cover.
I am also working on a new book that is more elaborate and contains hand drawn illustrations and maybe some of my photographs. This one is on organization and space planning in the home. I studied interior design and architecture and was assistant designer for many years at a small construction company and space planning fascinates me.
I did also work on another pendant painting. Copper wire from an old CRT monitor has been woven into a mounting for an acrylic painting of a Hawaiian Sunrise silhouetting the scene. I pulled the copper gun mounts apart and unstrung one, wove the wire together and shaped the mounting for the picture. It is pure rich color copper not the art wire I usually see, I love it.
I grouted the table but have not yet sealed it or but the glass top or trim on.
https://www.etsy.com/listing/199515276/original-painting-hawaiian-sunrise? I forgot the link at first if you wanted to see the other pictures of this one.
Painting, Tile, Jewelry, and Furniture
Jewelry and furniture are the major pieces in process this week. I also have a 5 painting set in a single wood frame I am working on, and a larger canvas acrylic I started. Painting and mosaic have been the major focus this week.
My first wearable art original painting pendant is now finished and posted.
Initially, I began 2 oil paintings on canvas to use for this project, but the humidity recently has prevented my first layer from drying for over a week and I cannot proceed on those yet. So, I did an acrylic. Big Bend National Park is a favorite place for my husband and I; the image I painted is a sunset there. I love the colors in the sky and desert there.
Mosaic work was on the wormy wood desk I started last weekend. I laid the tile, though it is not grouted yet. I also decided to cut a piece of heavy tempered glass to cover the top when complete and that will be framed in.
The painting series is a 5 part set sunrise to evening, each of a different tree around Texas. I have finished the sunrise and started another. I also have the frame and matting ready for the 5 postcard size paintings in acrylic.
Nature vs. Mechanicals
Well, I had several projects to post today but a couple were fudged when my computer crashed a few minutes ago. but here is the first of those I am posting.
Wrench in the Works
Seemed appropriate…someone threw a major wrench in the works of my life right now.
Locked Gears
Steampunk Triumph
I want to redo this and some of my others when I have a way of making good rivets that allow functioning gears and precise placement. However, I like this one using a Triumph pin my husband gave me when I had my Bonneville some years ago. The magnifying glass is free enough to be used on things if needed and focuses on the Coin. It swings a bit more than I would like, I would fix that if I redid this one with the riveting. All connections are copper, as is the back gear. The others are brass and bronze. The pin is silver. Not sure what the stone is. I also like triumph cars, so the gear on the left serves duel purposes for me. Setting the gears so they fit together and spin was a challenge lacking the rivets, they are held motionless for the picture.
Key to Steampunk
Art for Art’s Sake
Sometimes it’s nice to make art just for art’s sake. In this case, I used the images of several of the jewelry pieces I have made recently and turned them into art through Photoshop and GIMP. I also know that when I have my shop set up I can recreate any material or treatment I like in my editing.
14 Square for Luck
Copper wire wrap and decorated gear connect the sprocket gear, the red diamond, and the Chinese coin. A leather cord runs through an additional gear to hang the piece. I started with a green piece left from one I made the other day but the red is better for my mood today. The possibility of something different, of something better, of creating working wonders from available material and style appeals to the sentiment of the day. Steampunk is cathartic. It is the feel, the concepts, the art, the style, the work itself, the act and image of creation that give you strength and focus. Creating and building something electrical or computerized may be neat but it doesn’t feel like creation, it isn’t beautiful in itself. I love working on motorcycles, engines, and mechanical things; Steampunk offers a similar but more aesthetic catharsis. The style and aesthetic reaches a different part of you than the modern engines and electronics. IT is related to why we work on old motorcycles, vintage gearing, mechanicals, and aesthetic have an elegant practicality with unnecessary beauty in a modern view. Is it really unnecessary though? What part of us and the world is not being reached? Would the world be as disposable if we still strove to touch those parts of a person with the simple and the elaborate, bringing out the beauty in each function?
Steampunk Alice Prototype (13)
Today’s piece feels like one of the 24 hour Rogue-like competitions in a way. I am happy with the piece but it is rather a prototype awaiting the equipment I don’t have yet. I envision the gears mounted through posts in a rivet-like format to spin and mess properly in multiple layers with a brass or wood back-plate. Again, this is a mixed metal pendant I designed beginning with the key and the large ornate gear-like piece in the back. The hanging loop is a copper wrapped steel ring, the gears are bronze, brass, pewter, and copper I think. the pearl is not attached, it hangs above. The card markings are silver. I didn’t have just the gear I wanted for the space left of the lock and it looked better without what I tried.
As I work on these pieces with short time, I am pleased as much by the ideas and plans I develop as the pieces I create in the moment. I am developing a real plan for a direction in some areas of the art. I am also starting to see more ways to incorporate my ideas into the motorcycles as we build them.
Alice, Alice Quite Contrary
Jewelry, gears, hearts, cards, metal, and wood – the beginnings of a beautiful friendship.
As I work I begin to see that I really want to make gears and models and such. I want to try and make the from both wood and metal. The idea of wooden gears and functioning mechanicals using them fascinates me.
The jewelry trend continued another day today. Meant to be a pendant, it could actually be an earring as well, it began with an earring. At this point is probably obvious that my husband and I tend to own and wear earrings in singles and unmatched sets. Creating jewelry from random bits and broken jewelry began with my mother and I sitting on the bed talking. When she would get to sick to be up, we all gathered at her bed to play or talk. Mom and I would make stuff and do projects. We also did stories, made games, sang, and drew. As I got older, she loved I would make her furniture or jewelry out of bits left over from special places, jobs, and people involved in our lives. This has heavily influenced my art and work and blends beautifully with steampunk genre creation.
Enjoy one more Steampunk Alice piece, this one fairly simple.
Day 11 Steampunk Jewelry
Steampunk Jewelry time again! I love actually making things. I got home very late today but had new bits to work with. I made two pieces because I fell behind a bit in having to turn yesterday’s into a two part delayed project. I did get some metallic paint on the way home though.
I almost have a story in mind these inspired, maybe later in the week it will be a full idea.
To the left is a Steampunk Alice Pin. Again, I used bits of broken, old jewelry; removed and added things. The bow was my mothers so I didn’t want to hide it. I used a Chinese coin, same one as in the earring to the  right. The gear also sort of reminds me of a steering wheel or wheel, so it has several things in common with the earring.
To the right is a Steampunk Travel Earring. I had a piece left from what I made the other day, some new bits, and an idea. I was thinking of the Victorian love of bringing things home from around the world and the influences you see in the design. I love travel and have been a lot of places, so this appeals to me. I used the Chinese coin and the passport to represent travel and the chime to represent the places you enjoy, and the gears and bits to represent the airships and travel machinery in my mind.
First Action, First Day!
Well, here goes. Having never done a blog, a year long project, or publicly posted myself and my art, I am starting today on my one year journey. Taking advice from a book (I’ll post the link tomorrow to the book, it’s late) I started with a small project using things I already had on hand. Because most of my available time today was spent creating my internet presence and finding the battery for my camera, I went with an earring. As I stated In my profile, an medium or project is fair game, if I think I can do it one day or the portion of day available. Day after my first wedding anniversary seemed a good day to start.
Steampunk has been a passion for some time and it crosses into many areas of interest and life as will be seen as we progress. Some examples are motorcycles, cats, weaponry, Alice, and science fiction. As I journey through this process, I will examine steampunk, what it means to others, what it means to me, how various mediums impact the ideas, how various topics and genres impact the ideas and lead to medium choices, and how in depth is the concept in my brain. I will also learn how to work the blog site better as we go 🙂
Today’s piece is a Jewelry, found object piece. An earring made from object on my dresser. Just a small thing to get me started and show the idea.
Art's Folly 