Granny Charms

Saturday was spent at French General, learning to make bracelet charms with instructor Robin Howes.
 
There are few things more satisfying than spending time with good friends, pretty things, and some really big hammers. 
 
We learned to solder (scary stuff), drill holes, punch, wire wrap, beat metal into submission and more. I'll admit that I had to be talked into taking this class, but it turned out to be a lot of fun.
 
The vintage bingo tokens became my inspiration. I dug through the box until I found 13, 18 and 21 - the little girls' birthdays. 
Leanne's name was too long to stamp, so I just used her initials.

Then it was just a matter of adding things that had meaning for me - their names stamped in metal, buttons and bells and bits of tape measure;  
 
sparkly rhinestones and pennies for luck. As you can imagine, everyone's project came out very differently.
 
I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out - even after I almost set fire to the bingo chips with the soldering iron. And I think the little girls will have fun playing with it, finding things that have meaning for them too.

     

French General Necklace

Friday afternoon, Melinda and I braved LA traffic and headed to French General for a jewelry making class.
  
I've taken several classes there - and enjoyed them all - but the necklace and bracelets workshops are my favorite.
  
Maybe because, after just a few hours playing around with beads, 
 
I come home with a pretty-pretty all ready to wear and admire.
 
Not bad for 3 hours work.

Stitch Markers

Thought I'd try my hand at making crochet-friendly stitch markers this holiday season. My LYS stocked a new brand of commercial markers recently and they were awful. Pretty colors - which is why we all bought them - but soooo dull and difficult to use. Which got me thinking about why crocheters couldn't have pretty, functional stitch markers like the knitters do.
 
So, I did a bit of research and bought several colors of pretty, metal, sharp, coil-less safety pins.
  
I added some beaded trinkets from my ever growing jewelry-making stash (enhanced by a visit to French General just the day before . . . ), attached them to seasonal gift cards and voila - 
 
holiday presents for my students and pals*. And maybe one or two just for me. 

* Sorry for the dull pictures - trust me, these sparkle in real life.

Bracelets, Round 2

A friend gave me a set of vintage elephants after I admired them in her collection of estate jewelry. (Ok, after I drooled on them . . . ) 
Talk about love at first sight - I knew exactly what I wanted to do with them as soon as I saw them.
 
 A quick trip to French General with an enabler pal and I had enough to finish my Pachyderm Parade, make a flower bracelet that now graces Marie's wrist,
 
and have enough 'must haves' left over to make a few more wrist charmers.
 
Can you say "addicted"? 

F.O. - Bracelet Edition

These have been gifted so I can now show them off. 
 
I like making jewelry, but don't do a lot of it. Part of that is lack of time and part is thinking I'm not perfect very practiced. 
 
Gotta get over that, 'cause these are seriously fun to make.
 
Both were from kits I purchased at French General and came with everything except glue and plyers.

 

I'm already planning my next one - which is not from a kit. Just need a few more goodies to finish it off . . . .

Jewelry Makin'

I swore I wasn't going to get into jewelry making. Too many crafts already and not nearly enough time to do them well enjoy them. But then I started reading about French General, 
 
found out they are just a few miles down the road only 45 minutes away (or 2 hours, depending on LA traffic), and somehow let a friend talk me into taking a class there with her.
 
So. Much. Fun. Three hours, 72 charms and much laughter later, we both had finished bracelets. 
 
The shop is tiny but packed full of fun charms, beads, fabric, kits, and much, much more. The only thing that followed me home, though, was a giant pincushion. Simply could not resist it.

 
We're already planning on taking more jewelry-making classes, along with the felted bunny class in March. Yeah. So much for 'no more hobbies'.  

Division of Labor

While Dick did this - I did this -

Byzantine bracelet in a class from my new favorite crafting store, Cottontail Creations.

I definitely got the better end of the deal. Just to make sure he knew how much I appreciated all his work, I brought home a *big* box of pastries from our favorite bakery.

Also finished my first knit shawl last night. Still need to block it, but I had a willing model today (thanks, Bre!) so I took some photos. This is handspun-by-me yarn; love the color and the little threads of sparkly that are all through it. I see this shawl getting lots of use.

Socks and Metal

This is my standard sock pattern (bits of this and that from a variety of patterns I've tried) made with Austermann Step yarn. Not that crazy about the wide stripes but they're warm and comfy. Love the handmade socks.

I took two jewelry classes this weekend. Friday was resin and wire for beginners with Tracy Stanley, the author of several books on resin and metal-work. I definitely qualify for the 'beginner' part; this is the first metal work I've ever done. I ended up with 8 pieces total and Marie has already laid claim to one. Don't have a strong desire to work with resin again, it just isn't my thing, but the class was fun.

On Sunday, Dick and I took a metal bracelet class with the same teacher. He got sick and went home at lunchtime, but I finished my project by the end of class. I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out. It's definitely a beginner's piece but I plan to wear and enjoy it. Thursday I'm taking a jump-ring - aka chain maille (examples here) - jewelry class and I'm really excited about it. Think I'm turning into a metal-head.

Punked Out

I'm blaming this on Rachel. She told Dick about Steampunk, which basically supposes where we'd be if the world relied on steam power rather than electricity. You can get more of an idea of the genre in pictures found here.

Guess who loved the idea? Dick has been buying old watch parts, gears, and small gem stones, with the idea of making steampunk jewelry.

It's hard to photograph the tiny, intricate details.

This one's mine. Wait until you see what he's making for Rachel and Marie.