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Post by rockjunquie on Jan 2, 2024 8:36:09 GMT -5
Not only is it a new month, but it's anew year, too! susand24224 has come up with quite the new challenge!Thanks Susan and looking forward to seeing some of your inspiration.
Remember, as always, this is not a contest, but a challenge to test our skills and learn new ones. We all WIN, no losers.
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Post by drocknut on Jan 2, 2024 10:39:17 GMT -5
That definitely sounds like a challenge. I am looking forward to seeing all the creativity.
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Post by liveoak on Jan 2, 2024 15:59:36 GMT -5
Yes, Thank you 
Patty
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Post by susand24224 on Jan 2, 2024 17:36:22 GMT -5
I'll get some photos/directions posted tonight--lots to do before dark, and then I'll have some free time. My thought here is to get people thinking about what they can do with "leftovers." It's okay if you just want to play around with wires, they don't have to be attached to a finished product unless you have time to do both, so I'll post some photos of pieces I've made with "reconstituted" parts and also some instructions for the spirals.
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Post by hummingbirdstones on Jan 2, 2024 23:14:36 GMT -5
If you all saw my scrap wire bag(s), you'd scream in fright!  |
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Post by susand24224 on Jan 3, 2024 0:12:53 GMT -5
I believe the only thing that needs instructions are the spirals, and they will wait until tomorrow because the hammering scares my dog and he has had a rough day. The beauty of scrap is that if you want to do *something* but don't feel like designing anything, just pick up a piece of scrap wire and play with it--for me, most of the time this is a mess, but every now and then I come up with something I like. And Tela, you often do paddles and side pieces, which are easy to do with scrap, so I won't put any of those in. Scrap makes wonderful clasps and closures for necklaces, and also for certain bails. I make a lot of earrings, so many photos are of earring parts, but some (not all) would be perfect accompaniments to bails; others make great components for necklaces. Here goes: 1. The bottom part of these chandeliers are from 5/8" pieces of scrap with a ball melted on the end--these are kind of messy, but it was my first try so please be kind!  2. These can go anywhere and can be as organized or disorganized as you like!  3. All of the parts (except the ear wires and the beads) were made with scrap:  4. Here's several pieces of scrap wound together:  5. A very simple drop earring--if you want to "improve" it, you can file the balls into triangles and add eyes--or add a bead or three.  6. The bottoms of these earrings are "paddles" where one simply hammers a bit on the ends of the wire and then files a bit.  7. A very simple pair of earrings:  8. All of the frame wires on this pair were made with copper scrap--I use the horseshoe a lot when making a necklace to hold the bail of the pendant.  9. Here's the spirals I keep talking about--they can be made as large or small as you like, 20-gauge on down:  10. One of my friends picked up a piece of scrap and made this design--and I made it again:  11. Entire pieces are scrap:  Tomorrow I'll tackle the mini-tutorial and add some scrap designs that I've used on pendants. |
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Post by rockjunquie on Jan 3, 2024 9:05:34 GMT -5
Great examples! The first pair is gorgeous. How did you do the square holes? Solder snips?
If only this was last month- I made sooooo many earrings from scraps. Maybe I'll just have to make more. |
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Post by liveoak on Jan 3, 2024 10:21:19 GMT -5
Thank you, susand24224I get it (I think)- the idea being to make something out of the scrap pile.
Your earrings are very inspiring.
The first ones are quite nice - even the ear wires stand out to me.
I love your paddles, I've seen elements like them before, but never made any.
Good idea.
I look forward to seeing your pendant examples.
Patty
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ThomasT
has rocks in the head
Member since June 2022
Posts: 616
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Post by ThomasT on Jan 3, 2024 15:11:36 GMT -5
The little bird's nests with eggs are really cool.
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Post by susand24224 on Jan 3, 2024 15:52:53 GMT -5
Great examples! The first pair is gorgeous. How did you do the square holes? Solder snips?
If only this was last month- I made sooooo many earrings from scraps. Maybe I'll just have to make more. I didn't do the chandelier parts, although a square punch would do it, but I only have round ones. The chandeliers are Greek in origin. Incidentally, I discovered a few days ago that Mykonos is selling on its own website, but it's wholesale, so you have to order $100 worth or more. Was I able to do that? You bet! (It's peanut butter and jelly for a month, though.) |
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Post by susand24224 on Jan 3, 2024 15:55:14 GMT -5
The little bird's nests with eggs are really cool. Thank you! |
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Post by susand24224 on Jan 3, 2024 15:58:14 GMT -5
Thank you, susand24224I get it (I think)- the idea being to make something out of the scrap pile. Your earrings are very inspiring.
The first ones are quite nice - even the ear wires stand out to me.
I love your paddles, I've seen elements like them before, but never made any.
Good idea.
I look forward to seeing your pendant examples.
Patty
Thank you, Patty. Two ideas: we have all that scrap sitting around and it's the perfect way to "fiddle" with designs or anything without further waste. I think that's what I like so much about it. As for ear wires, we can easily do much better than the commercial ones, especially adding to the design in some fashion, whether it's a bead, a coil, or anything else that enters your mind. Maybe I'll go back and pull out ear wires. Problem is, when I finish a pair of earrings sans wires, I'm usually ready to move on and just attach some commercial ones. |
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Post by rockjunquie on Jan 3, 2024 16:19:27 GMT -5
Thank you, susand24224 I get it (I think)- the idea being to make something out of the scrap pile. Your earrings are very inspiring.
The first ones are quite nice - even the ear wires stand out to me.
I love your paddles, I've seen elements like them before, but never made any.
Good idea.
I look forward to seeing your pendant examples.
Patty
Problem is, when I finish a pair of earrings sans wires, I'm usually ready to move on and just attach some commercial ones. That's me- I get tired of making earwires even though I know mine are better. |
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Post by rockjunquie on Jan 3, 2024 16:21:53 GMT -5
Great examples! The first pair is gorgeous. How did you do the square holes? Solder snips?
If only this was last month- I made sooooo many earrings from scraps. Maybe I'll just have to make more. I didn't do the chandelier parts, although a square punch would do it, but I only have round ones. The chandeliers are Greek in origin. Incidentally, I discovered a few days ago that Mykonos is selling on its own website, but it's wholesale, so you have to order $100 worth or more. Was I able to do that? You bet! (It's peanut butter and jelly for a month, though.) Not sure what Mykonos is.
What's a few pb&j in the pursuit of beauty? |
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Post by susand24224 on Jan 3, 2024 16:42:27 GMT -5
Okay, here's a few pendants with parts that were scrap, including a few clasps that I particularly liked. Most of the wrapping on the pendants is NOT scrap, but it's added here and there--some of these you may have seen before: 1. The "orbit" around the top with the copper ball "planets" was made with scrap wire and added after the pendant was basically completed, as was the circles at the bottom. I don't remember if the earrings were made from scrap wire, but they certainly could have been.  2. The bail on these was made with scrap--very easy. Take a 26-gauge piece of scrap and use your bailing pliers to make the circles to guesstimate how much wire you need, then add about an inch and a half or so on to accommodate the melted wire to make the balls and the thicker gauge wire, make your circles then use the bailing pliers again. PS: The bottom smaller circle is single, the top is double, but there is no good reason to make it this way!  3. One of my favorite clasps:  4. Another clasp. The entire necklace could have been made with scrap, but I don't think I had enough!:  5. Here's an example of the "horseshoe" I make to hold the bail on some. Actually, I "discovered" this because I screwed up one of the necklace links and a lightbulb went on:  6. Want to add some accent to your pendant and not just add a chain? This one doesn't have a pendant, but a small length of 20-gauge (or similar) can hold beads then form the loops to attach your chain. This can be as short or as long, or as linked as you like. BTW, The neck belongs to the guy that repairs my lawnmower--he's quite accommodating.  7. This is Jason's Frankencab which I promised to put barbed wire on. The barbed wire is of course scrap. More important is the close up of a 16-gauge (square wire) jump ring at the top. This jump ring will not budge *ever* absent gorilla intervention.  8. This was my "add a dangle" entry--but more important is the swirl at the top. The center of the swirl is a heavy gauge (I don't remember what for sure but likely 14-gauge) round wire that was slightly hammered, then curled around small bailing pliers, then hammered again. It is surrounded by more swirls of left-over bail wire. This is also the start of the cones which I will do a tutorial on tonight.  9. You've also (probably) seen this one before, but this time the scrap wire is the clasp. The remainder of the necklace was cut and ruined my cutters.  |
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Post by susand24224 on Jan 3, 2024 16:45:01 GMT -5
I didn't do the chandelier parts, although a square punch would do it, but I only have round ones. The chandeliers are Greek in origin. Incidentally, I discovered a few days ago that Mykonos is selling on its own website, but it's wholesale, so you have to order $100 worth or more. Was I able to do that? You bet! (It's peanut butter and jelly for a month, though.) Not sure what Mykonos is.
What's a few pb&j in the pursuit of beauty? Mykonos is the primary maker of Greek beads. Talk about forcing one to get creative! The website is their U.S. distributor, and it doesn't have all of their wonderful creations, but it still causes me to stop and think "now what could I do with that?" mykonosbeads.com/product-category/sales/matte-sale/mns-sale/ |
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Post by rockjunquie on Jan 3, 2024 16:48:22 GMT -5
Not sure what Mykonos is.
What's a few pb&j in the pursuit of beauty? Mykonos is the primary maker of Greek beads. Talk about forcing one to get creative! The website is their U.S. distributor, and it doesn't have all of their wonderful creations, but it still causes me to stop and think "now what could I do with that?" Man, so earthy and cool! |
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Post by rockjunquie on Jan 3, 2024 16:52:45 GMT -5
Okay, here's a few pendants with parts that were scrap, including a few clasps that I particularly liked. Most of the wrapping on the pendants is NOT scrap, but it's added here and there--some of these you may have seen before: 1. The "orbit" around the top with the copper ball "planets" was made with scrap wire and added after the pendant was basically completed, as was the circles at the bottom. I don't remember if the earrings were made from scrap wire, but they certainly could have been. 2. The bail on these was made with scrap--very easy. Take a 26-gauge piece of scrap and use your bailing pliers to make the circles to guesstimate how much wire you need, then add about an inch and a half or so on to accommodate the melted wire to make the balls and the thicker gauge wire, make your circles then use the bailing pliers again. PS: The bottom smaller circle is single, the top is double, but there is no good reason to make it this way! 3. One of my favorite clasps: 4. Another clasp. The entire necklace could have been made with scrap, but I don't think I had enough!: 5. Here's an example of the "horseshoe" I make to hold the bail on some. Actually, I "discovered" this because I screwed up one of the necklace links and a lightbulb went on: 6. Want to add some accent to your pendant and not just add a chain? This one doesn't have a pendant, but a small length of 20-gauge (or similar) can hold beads then form the loops to attach your chain. This can be as short or as long, or as linked as you like. BTW, The neck belongs to the guy that repairs my lawnmower--he's quite accommodating. 7. This is Jason's Frankencab which I promised to put barbed wire on. The barbed wire is of course scrap. More important is the close up of a 16-gauge (square wire) jump ring at the top. This jump ring will not budge *ever* absent gorilla intervention. 8. This was my "add a dangle" entry--but more important is the swirl at the top. The center of the swirl is a heavy gauge (I don't remember what for sure but likely 14-gauge) round wire that was slightly hammered, then curled around small bailing pliers, then hammered again. It is surrounded by more swirls of left-over bail wire. This is also the start of the cones which I will do a tutorial on tonight. 9. You've also (probably) seen this one before, but this time the scrap wire is the clasp. The remainder of the necklace was cut and ruined my cutters. Thanks for the eye candy and inspiration! I really like the barbed wire. |
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khara
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2022
Posts: 1,979
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Post by khara on Jan 3, 2024 17:27:32 GMT -5
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Post by susand24224 on Jan 3, 2024 17:43:21 GMT -5
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