Cut 'n Paste

Painted Lady Necklace

Thank you so much for all the support for my post earlier this week. Anniversaries are always difficult, and it is great to have the encouragement of friends to get me through tough days. Thank you for sharing my burden.

Last week I had the pleasure of having a creative play day with my friend Rochelle and I used our time together to finally make a necklace with one of the treasures I purchased in Italy last summer. Oh, how I love this hand painted pendent. It has a beautiful sterling silver case whose age is told by the broken clasps which keep the glass in place. While you might think that painted brooches or pendents like this are plentiful in Europe, the truth is that I had been hunting in antique stores and markets for four years for a piece like this. I have certainly seen similar ones over the years, but either the price was always much higher than I was willing to pay, or the price was fine, but the focal colors were not ones that I wear very often. There was always something just not right. So, fast forward to my European trip last summer, and I was on the hunt again. To my utter surprise, I found, and bought, not just one, but two pieces at the Milan market - I was SO happy! But, it just goes to show, that sometimes treasures don't come easy. 

This is truly an international necklace as most of the bits and pieces were purchased during my travels. The focal point pendent and pearls are from Italy • The moss aqua gemstones and pyrite were from Thailand • I found the smokey quartz, labradorite and amazonite in Istanbul • And the prayer beads, rhinestone disco balls and rondelle spacers are all vintage from the US.

Wee Italian boy necklace

One of the things I actively hunt for at the antique markets I visit in Europe are old brooches, pendents, photos or jewelry pieces that I can use as focal pieces in the repurposed jewelry I design. I found this beautiful vintage photo at the Arezzo, Italy antique market in 2013. I was immediately drawn to the soft, blue, purple and grey colors in the image and so bargained until I managed to procure it a good price.

Once I got home, I didn't actually get going on making my necklace until several months later. To make the necklace I combined labradorite and sterling silver links which were sourced during one of my trips to Istanbul, black quartz and some beautiful blue chalcedony beads.

I am not 100% certain if I will be keeping, or selling this beauty. If you are interested in purchasing it, please send me an email using the 'email me' link at the top left of this page, under my photo.

Tintype necklace by Whatever Lola Wants

There is something encouraging about finding a tribe of likeminded women who support, challenge and inspire you. I feel lucky to know so many women who are embracing their creativity and living their dreams of being makers, designers, instructors and creatives. 

Two weekends ago I headed to North Vancouver to a local vintage market to support my friend Rochelle Gaukel, who was exhibiting her beautiful soldered jewelry designs. I have purchased a few of Rochelle's pieces over the years, and was looking forward to adding a new one to my collection.

Rochelle had a series of three necklaces which were all very similar - featuring the same color scheme and a tintype photo in the bottom soldered glass piece - and although it was tough to choose (I kept going back and forth between two of them) I ended up purchasing the piece you see pictured here.

Rochelle will be at several more Vancouver area holiday vendor shows, if you are interested in seeing where she will exhibit, please visit her company Facebook page by clicking here. You can also purchase through her website.

 

Porcelain 'C' shield necklace

Before leaving home for Europe this year, I decided that it was past time that I used some of the treasures I had bought last year while I was in Italy. So, when I was at Terri Brush's Art Camp last month, I designed and put together this simple, neutral necklace. The focal point, the shield with the porcelain 'C' letter were soldered into a 3D shadow box. For the chain, I took mother of pearl beads from a rosary I purchased in Milan and combined it with Pyrite and Labradorite to make a necklace which, with its neutral color scheme, will be a versatile addition to my jewelry wardrobe.

Mini Frozen Charlotte necklace

This past weekend I had the pleasure to attend Terri Brush's Art Camp in Lincoln City, OR. This was the fourth time I have attended one of her camps and it is always such a highlight for me. I LOVE the women I have met at camp and the relationships I have formed. This year there was also a little reunion as seven of the ladies who came to the retreat Terri and I hosted in Italy last summer came to Art Camp too! It was so great to see them again.

If you are looking for a US based Art Retreat, I strongly urge you to consider Terri's camp. It is truly an amazing long weekend with great food, new friendships, and inspiring workshops in a stunning location.

Today I am sharing with you one of the projects I made while at Camp. During the weekend, there are always projects designed by the teachers but we also have a lot of freedom to work on our own projects. My goal this weekend was to finally use some of the goodies I purchased at the antique markets in Italy last year. This necklace used a beautiful mother of pearl rosary as the main part of the chain. To that I added pink beads which I bought in Turkey over the past two years and some sterling silver links which I made.

The focal point of this necklace is the most amazing tiny mini frozen Charlotte. My friend Shawna Davidson (who designs and sells beautiful jewelry) gave her to me at Art Camp and I immediately knew that I wanted to make something with her. I used some great domed glass that I bought from Joy and then soldered around it to create this thick pendent. (Truth be told, my new friend Lori Dams soldered it for me after I copper taped it. Thanks Lori!) In this photo it looks like the necklace has a double strand, but it doesn't. It's actually quite long and the part you see doubled over in the image at the top of this post, is really the back part of the necklace which is draped down for the photo. Here is a full shot so that you can see what I mean...

I LOVE this piece, and I love it even more because it represents so many friends and great memories.

Home from Terri Brush's Art Camp

Last weekend I attended my third Art Camp, a women's art retreat in the Pacific Northwest, hosted by my friend Terri Brush. Once again I had way too much fun laughing, sharing and creating with the other attendees. Terri puts on an event that totally spoils, and it was nice to get away and create - just for me, just for fun.

There were 3 workshops over the weekend. I only completed 2 of them - I was too busy visiting and creating my own project to work on the third class, so I won't be able to show you what it looked like. The first workshop was taught by Terri, and students had the choice to make a necklace or to make a shadowbox frame. I decided to make the frame and I changed the orientation of mine from the class sample so instead of being an arch (meaning that the point was at the top of the frame), mine was more of a shield shape (with the point at the bottom). Instead of using a vintage photo as the class sample did, I used a Junior G-Man sheild that I picked up many years ago at an antique store. Given that my hubby is a police officer, I kinda thought it would be a bit of a cute piece to hang in my home. I am really happy with this piece - oh, and it's a lot bigger than the photo makes it look. It's about 6 inches high or so.

The second project I want to show you from Art Camp was from Ilona Steelhammer's workshop. Ilona is a talented artisit in so many different mediums, and in this class she was teaching us to make a Santos doll. We started with a little face that had already been cast for us, then we built the head and body and base. We ended the first class session by baking the doll (to set the sculpy). On the second workshop we then were challenged to paint our doll to give her personality. I wish I had our se It was challenging as it was something I've never done before, but I am satisfied with what I made for my first try.





If any of you are considering attending Art Camp in the future, please take my advice and DO IT! You will be happy you did!

A necklace for Ellen

Hello friends, I am writing to you today from under cold and grey skies in Strommen, Norway where I am currently wrapping up a teaching trip at Bikuben scrapbooking store. I have had a wonderful time reconnecting with friends old and new during my workshops.

Jewelry art has been one of my more recent crafting passions, and the necklace shown above is one I made for my sweet friend Ellen. She has been such a blessing to my life over the past 7 years and I wanted to give her a little something to show my appreciation. The necklace features sterling silver handmade links, pink quartz, freshwater pearls, some other pink beads I bought in Istanbul last year, and a little silk fabric and lace accent.

I have a few more days here in Strommen before heading to Stavanger, Norway to teach at Papirfest. I hope to see some of you there!

A Victorian necklace

Happy September! I can hardly believe that we are already 3/4 of the way through 2013! The older I get, the more quickly the year seems to fly by.

A few weekends ago I headed down to Chehalis, Washington to attend the Cowgirl Campout event hosted by my friends Terri Brush and Tiffany Kirchner Dixon. As with anything those two ladies touch, the weekend was a tremendously fun time.

While there were three awesome event/class projects, this necklace is one that I worked on after finishing my class projects. The focal point of the necklace is an old glass button with the image of a Victorian lady on it. I glued the button to the center of an old shoe buckle and then created the rest of the design with beads and loops from my stash. I find that about 90% of the jewelry pieces I make feature the same or similar color palettes, so on this necklace, I really made an effort to design something that was outside of the norm for me.

My newest necklace creation - 2

Over the past few years I have become more and more interested in jewelry making. Every time I pin a new jewelry project onto my Pinterest board, I feel my creative fire being stoked. In each antique store that I visit, I take a peek at their jewelry case just in case they have something that I could use for a project. Jewelry making has become a major form of creative expression for me.

I made this necklace over the Christmas holiday. It features the same photo of my mom and her sister that I used when I made this necklace for my mom. I soldered it in round glass, and as there is a button on the other side of the photo, it made a deep bezel. For the chain I used some sterling silver chain that I had custom made in Istanbul, parts of a mother of pearl rosary, some pink quartz, fresh water pearls, some vintage pink lucite bead and some rhinestone rondelles. And, as I've always loved mulitlayered necklaces, I decided to make this one a double strand.

You can see me wearing this piece in the photos near the bottom of this post. I love it so much, and look forward to wearing it for many years to come.

Pink Quartz Necklace

Hi friends, the CHA trade show finished yesterday and today I am enjoying a much anticipated creative day with some friends.

While here at the trade show, I gave my boss and friend Melissa Frances a necklace that I had made for her. I had already made and given her jewelry featuring green and cream, so I thought that she needed to round out her collection with something in pink.

I made this necklace using some beautiful pink quartz beads (some of which I bought while in Istanbul last month) vintage rhinestone rondelles, and pearls. For the focal point, I used a large, vintage rhinestone brooch which I found antiquing in Seattle a bit ago.

Have a lovely day...and thank you for visiting my blog.