New Interchangeable Jewelry

Here is a sneak peak of what we have been working on for this spring.  It is a jewelry collection that is interchangeable.  These sculpted flowers have genuine Swarovski crystal centres and can be interchanged in various ways.

It can be worn as a pendant and hung on a chain or cord.

Or worn as a focal bead in this necklace:

Or wear the same flower on a ring for your finger.

Vintage Style Jewel-tone Flowers

We have been making lots of "Vintage Flowers" in a variety of jewel-tone colors.  We create the flowers and bake them so they are ready to be used when needed.

The "vintage-like" centres are not metal but polymer clay.  They were created from a mould we made from a vintage button.  A Swarovski crystal is embedded into the centre and they are then accented with mica powders and baked.  We will generally make up a whole batch in different colors at a time so they are ready to use.

We like to use our vintage style flowers in various ways:

Shawl/Hair Sticks:

Brooch Stick Shawl Pins:

Scarf Charms:

  And Jewelry:

Gone Fishing

Dave and I have been doing a different type of fishing these days -- even though we live by the water we are sculpting our fish rather than catching them.  Every four years their are larger amounts (in the millions) of salmon returning to spawn in October.  This year is one of those times and so several hundred thousand tourist will be stopping by to see this spectacular event.

This will be our second time participating in the Artisan Market.  We know a little more what to expect this time round so will be better prepared and have already been in high production mode.  We have set aside several days each week where we try to make our "quota" of salmon.  With this plan in action we should be able to have enough made in plenty of time.

Here are some of the salmon ready to attach to various findings to create souvenir items like zipper pulls, key chains and such.

New Tutorial: Constructing Accent Pieces for Your Scarves, Sweaters & Shawls

I am excited (and relieved) to finally have finished and published my latest tutorial:  Constructing Accent Pieces for Your Scarves, Sweaters & Shawls.  In this 50 page pdf lesson I give step by step instructions on the basic construction of our most popular selling items -- our scarf jewelry and shawl pins.  We have been selling our shawl pins in local yarn shops for several years now and are a very popular item.

Our scarf jewelry is our main attraction in any of the shows we are in.  They are our best selling item and we have made and sold hundreds over the past few years.  My purpose for this tutorial is to teach the basic construction of these pieces so that nearly any technique can be applied and this way you can give them your own personal style.

You are welcome to sell any items that you create from this tutorial, just do not share any of our trade secrets, copy, share or teach from any of our published lessons.

My lesson is broken down into segments with plenty of pictures to make it easier to follow.  There are links throughout for easier viewing on a tablet.

This is a break down of some of the content:

-- The Shawl Pin - Supplies and Determining Size
-- Making the Shawl "Ring"
-- Adding embellishments to your Shawl Ring
-- Making the Shawl "Pin" or "Stick"
-- Adding a Decorative End to the Shawl Stick (3 different methods)
-- The Scarf Necklace - Supplies and Determining Size
-- Making the Scarf Necklace Bail
-- Working with Crystal Rhinestones
-- Making the Beads for the Scarf Necklace (3 different Methods)
-- Assembling Your Scarf Necklace including basic jewelry making Instructions
-- Making a Scarf Buckle in a faux "tooled leather"
-- Making Your Own Custom Texture Stamps
-- Making a Form for Baking the Shawl Pin Rings and Scarf Buckles

Also included is a two page photo gallery for design ideas along with supply references to help you find some of the materials we use such as scarves, etc.

The supplies needed to make all of the items in this tutorial are all easy to find and very affordable.   Most items you probably already have on hand.

I have had many requests to share what we use for the stick in our shawl pins.  We were not prepared to divulge this trade secret of ours but I not only share what the material is but a simple and effect method for covering it with clay.

The tutorial is available as an instant download in our Etsy Shop or in our online store where we will e-mail it out to you (please be sure to give the correct e-mail address and check your spam box if you do not receive it within several hours of paying.)

New Brilliant Blooms Jewelry

Every spring I get into a mode of making lots of flowers.  I am not sure if it is due to spring fever and all the flowers popping up that inspire me or more to the fact that when I go through our inventory, I discover that we have few flower designs left in stock and the need to make more.

This year I wanted to create flowers that were extra bright and cheerful.  I decided to use the Pantone Spring 2014 Fashion Colors for inspiration.

Whenever I make my flowers (shown above), I like to save some extra "petal" canes to make the sculpted flowers like the ones in the scarf necklaces and earrings (below).  These were made the same way as the "Daisy" flower in my Sculpted Flowers Tutorial.  I just used bright colored clay in place of the white and black instead of the grey for the outlining.

These are our new falling petal earrings

for our interchangeable earring system:

The colors I used to make the flower petals shown above (left to right) are:

Dazzling Blue (with more white added),

Violet Tulip (reduce the amount of white mix to 1/2 part)

Cayenne, Radiant Orchid, Celosia Orange, Freesia

Each earring comes with three "strands" at different lengths that can be worn individually or combined in various ways.

Floral Batik Necklace

Here are more of our new batik style flowers in a necklace and now available at Chum 'N Luba's Unique Boutique here in Chase, B.C.

Tie Dye Flowers

I have been experimenting with a new style of sculpted flowers that sort of have a tie dye, batik fabric or cloth look to them.  The brooch pendants below were my first experiments using cane slices from my "mini-mokume" that I share how to do in my Clay Color System tutorial.

These flower bead earrings were created using a different technique and in a combination of the Pantone spring 2013 colors Monaco Blue, African Violet and Tender Shoots.  I quite like the look of these and want to explore it a little further.

Vintage Floral Shawl or Hair Sticks

Here is a shawl or hair stick version of our vintage inspired sculpted flowers.  So far they have been a real hit with the yarn shops that sell our work and every time I make a batch, we end up selling out.  I love making them in all the different jewel-tone colors.  The centers are from a mould I created from a vintage button with Swarovski crystals embedded into the centers to add that little extra sparkle.

These are available in both the clay covered steel pin or the longer silver plated steel pin which are a better fit for those tighter weave or bulky knits.

These sticks also look great in the hair.  We tested one out in my friend's hair braid the other day.

New Scarf Jewelry

We've managed to take a few days out this week to visit several quilt and yarn shops in the Kelowna area (central Okanagan part of BC) and are back in time to prepare for my clay bead demo at the Fireweed Art Studio in Scotch Creek tonight.

I thought I would finally show you one of our latest designs we've created.  This is our scarf jewelry where you can turn your scarf into a necklace.

The flowers were created using my Sculpted flowers technique and then added to a large metal bail.  Our handcrafted matching flower buds and leaves dangle from chain strands with Swarovski or Czech crystals.

These pieces were a popular item at the Shuswap Lake Festival of the Arts show and right now they are available at Bead Connections in Aberdeem Mall and Electrictree Yarns in downtown Kamloops.  We also have several more styles and colors at the Fireweed Art Studio in Scotch Creek.

Floral Collar Necklace Prototypes

Whenever we create a new design I like to play around with making a prototype or two first.  Generally these pieces are added to my own jewelry collection.  When we are happy with the design we will create similar pieces to sell.

This is the first floral collar style necklace I made before I created the "Sunflower" one that was entered into the Shuswap Lake Festival of the Arts show.

This has become one of my favorite pieces to wear so I decided to make another one but this time in the colors to go with a new top I recently purchased.  

I always like to make a watch strap to match my jewelry pieces.  This one I made with only leaves so I can wear it with most of my floral themed items.

Forget-Me-Nots

I made some small dishes to go along with our flower theme this summer.  Dave came up with the name  "Forget-Me-Nots" which I really like!  They are perfect for keeping a ring or other odd jewelry pieces handy and I made them in an assortment of colors.  Of course I had to add my little lady bugs for that finishing touch.

Flowers for Mother's Day

I bought some large Swarovski rivoli crystals some time ago and finally put them to use last month when I made these sculpted flower brooch-pendants.  These large crystals have a deep and intense sparkle and come in a wide range of colors.

I managed to match the large rivolis with smaller flatback Swarovski crystals for matching flower earrings.

April Flowers

Here is one of my new floral necklace designs for this spring using my sculpted flower beads I showed the other day.

If you would like to make sculpted flower beads like these I have my e-book tutorial, "Sculpted Flowers"  available.  This 27 page lesson is packed full of instruction and photos and I walk you through everything from making your floral cane to finishing that flower into a piece of jewelry.  In this tutorial, I show how to make several types of flowers and two types of flower centers. 

If you would like to learn how to cover switch plate covers, I have my Switch Plate Cover-Ups tutorial as well and have a special offer right now where you get both the Sculpted Flowers tutorial and the Switch Plate Cover-ups for only $10.  Just click on the photos for the link to our ArtFire shop.