Memorial Beads - Part 1

A friend inspired me to attempt making memorial beads using dried flowers from her late mother's funeral.  What a cool concept!

I used Fimo polymer clay in a translucent colour, crushed dried lavender & dried chamomile.  The toughest part is kneeding the clay by hand otherwise the clay is too brittle to hold its shape.  Next, I roll it out and sprinkle dried flowers and knead again until plyable.  Once again, roll out the clay to a rather thin consistency and use a tiny cookie cutter - any shape is fine.  This ensures each bead will be consistent in size.  Roll into a ball.  I'm using some of my 18 gauge silver wire and piercing a hole through the centre of the bead (easier said than done!).  Leave beads on wire and lay over an oven-ready pan to bake for 1 hr in a 265F oven.

Results to be posted at a later date!

Where did November go?

A busy month.  Have been preparing for an upcoming craft show at my former employer's.  There will be a number of creative vendors exhibiting glass work, pottery, natural skin care, repurposed wood and of course, jewelry.  This is where I come in.  I will exhibit a selection of wire-wrapped silver & vintage bronze rings, bohemian bracelets as shown previously in this blog, and a few jars of Stress Relief Smelling Salts!  These are fabulous & convenient little containers filled with Himalayan salts & a combination of 5 pure essential oils...inhale, and reap the calming benefits.  I could use some of that right now...sigh

Stabilized Turquoise Rings

Ah, the colour turquoise - my all time favourite. Brings back memories of our trip to Arizona a few years back - where turquoise jewelry was in abundance on every street corner.  I've incorporated stabilized turquoise stones into my latest ring creations - they inspire me.  The blue hue is attributed to copper content, while some turquoise gems lean towards shades of green right up to a white colour. Unfortunately, using genuine turquoise is not affordable, therefore, a stabilized version is a good alternative.  Stabilization is the process of using resin, water & crushed particles of unsaleable American turquoise & compressing into faux stones.

Enjoy today's little "gems".

 Embossed turquoise ring. 18 gauge silver, size 6

SOLDTurquoise tubular ring. 20 gauge silver, size 7

Turquoise oval ring. 20 gauge, size 7

Bohemian Bracelets

The inspiration for these boho adjustable bracelets came from a dear friend, Lisa.  Her free spirit & unconditional love infused itself in my latest little treasures.  Thanks my friend! 

 Hemp band with wood & glass bead.

Leather band with wood & silver beads 

 Leather band with wood, turquoise & glass bead.

 Expandable bracelet with wood & glass beads and a few turquoise chips.

(same as above) 

 Expandable band with wood & seed beads, crystals & brass.

 Cotton band with turquoise, wood & glass bead.

Adjustable leather band with black turquoise

New Rings

Silver (18 gauge) with black Fire Agate  - Size 6

In preparation for the holiday season, my handy new craft corner has been abuzz with activity, creating rings, rings and more rings... 

These rings are such fun to make but also fabulous to wear.  When I feel like glitzing up my outfit, I throw on a little sparkly ring to brighten my day.

Here are the latest:

 Silver ring with black/blue & clear crystals - Size 7.5

 Silver ring with 22 faceted cream-coloured beads - Size 4

 Silver ring with blue & clear crystals - Size 8

Silver (22 gauge) ring with periwinkle faceted bead - Size 6-1/4

 Vintage bronze (18 gauge) ring with greenish faceted glass bead - Size 7.5

Silver (18gauge) ring with round rose quartz - Size 8

Glitzy Cocktail Rings

The creative juices are-a-flowing today...starting with making a huge batch of homemade vegetable beet borscht soup (which, by the way, was delicious) then moving on to creating a few more rings.

Today's rings leaned towards the glitzy, using various coloured crystals, silver & vintage brass wire.   These would be lovely little cocktail rings.

Since I don't own a ring mandrel (used for sizing rings), I thought my use of a turkey baster was quite creative!  

Silver ring with 2 black crystals.

Dainty silver ring with pale pink & clear crystals.

 Bold ring with faux pearl.

Crazy beaded vintage brass ring. 

(crazy beaded ring - top view)

Rings for All Occasions

What girl doesn't like a pretty ring?  I love them but can't justify the price...so I made my own.  Great afternoon creating at my craft table overlooking the pond on a beautiful sunny day.

I mostly used 20 gauge silver beading wire for the blue & green ring, 22 gauge silver wire for the 5 pale blue Czech crystal, and 20 gauge non-tarnish Vintage Bronze for the other two rings.

Next project will incorporate semi-precious stones...stay tuned.

Today's creations!  Five great cocktail rings. 

 Bronze ring in front is adorned with Czech crystals.

Glass beads for these two rings.

Bath Fizz

It's that time of year, when the temperature drops and summer creeps into autumn.  I yearn for a cozy, warm bath and nothing tops it than the scent of fresh essential oil in the form of bath fizzes.  I found a great recipe from Karen Gilbert's recipe book Natural Beauty and made several batches until I found the perfect consistency & scent.  Although her recipe calls for Lavender & Clary Sage, which is calming & soothing, I've experimented with other oils.   Lemongrass (cymbopogon Schoenanthus) is my new favourite oil - refreshing & invigorating scent with Orange (Citrus sinensis) being the runner up.  

Drop one or two of these little fizzes in your bath water, sit back and enjoy the fizz & blissful scent!

Orange bath fizz

Lemongrass (left) & Orange (right) bath fizzes

Lake & Sea Treasures

Today's extreme heat & humidity forced me to play indoors.  In search of something to do, I came across some lake & sea treasures I've accumulated since I was a child vacationing in Maine.  Since then, my eyes are always peeled for sea glass, pottery bits, washed-up marbles, broken shells & driftwood.  Thought I would share some of my favorite finds.

 Assorted crockery?

 sea shells

 Love these colours

 Like to think these are archeological finds...ancient pottery perhaps?

Love these marbles!

Sunday Morning Inspiration

Finally completed the camping bracelets and with the addition to one more.  Melanie's cheerful yellow bracelet is adorned with an elephant, symbol of strength, wisdom & strong sense of loyalty to family - perfect reflection of her.  It's also deemed good luck if the elephant's trunk is facing upwards.

The spiritual OM symbol, also known as AUM in ancient Sanskrit,  meaning the soul, the self, the devine in the Hindu & Buddhist cultures,  was a good choice for Laura, as she seems drawn to the Indian culture.  I tweaked Laura's bracelet by removing the green beads and adding more blues.  I'm very pleased with the final results.

Melanie's lucky bracelet

 Laura's spiritual OM bracelet

Just an extra bracelet!