A Completed Necklace!

I love you to Pluto .... and back!

I wrote about the inspiration behind this pendant in my blog post I love you to Pluto .... and back!.  I also wrote that I would show you how I turned this pendant into a necklace.  So ...... here goes!

1  Gather all your materials and tools.

I wanted the pendant to be the focus of the necklace so I chose materials that would compliment the colours within the pendant.  I used a thick black suede as the stringing material and included some handmade blue beads to enhance the colours of Pluto.  Now, my intention was that the blue beads would represent planets in the solar system of my necklace.  To achieve this I made these beads using polymer clay mixed with acrylic paints, silver leaf and lots of swirling .... but I will leave this for another blog!

2  Stringing the pendant.

When I made the pendant I turned one of the craters into a stringing hole.  I had a fairly good idea how I was going to make the necklace before I started so I made sure the hole was fairly large. 

This pendant would look good as either a long or short necklace but I like mine long so I cut 19 inches of suede and strung it (equally) through the crater/hole.  I know, you are thinking ..... mmmmm that is a VERY long necklace but I needed to ensure I had enough stringing material for knotting.  It will all become very clear as you continue reading ......

I needed to give the pendant some stability before I strung on any beads so I tied a knot in the suede at the top of the pendant.

3  Stringing Beads!

I placed a knot in each thread at slightly different heights and threaded a bead onto each one.   I had two smaller beads and thought these would look really good as two orbiting moons! I didn't want them crashing into one another which is why I slightly offset them.  I placed a knot above each bead to keep them secure.  I don't want them whizzing off into outer space .....

 

I placed a knot in the same place on each thread because I wanted the next set of beads to be in exactly the same place on the necklace.  I threaded the beads and added another knot to keep them in place.  They look like this ....

I didn't want to stop here .... I added another set of beads on top and finished them with a knot so they looked like this .......

ooops .... after the photograph ..... I added the knots on top of the beads to stop them moving around on the thread.

I placed the next two knots (one on each thread) at an equal distance from the set above and added one bead on each thread.

4  Finishing the necklace.

I cut each thread so that they were exactly the same length.  I then took my cord ends (centre of the photograph) and placed one on each thread. 

Then, very gently (using my pliers) I squeezed the cord ends together to meet in the middle and trap the thread ..... see photos ......

5  Adding open jump rings!

When I first started making my own jewellery I had a lot of trouble with these tricky little blighters until I read all about them in a magazine.  My biggest mistake was to try and pull them apart to attach onto things like cord ends and I couldn't get them back together again without distorting the ring and leaving a huge gap.  Well, I now know there is an easy way ..... all you need to do to open them is grip each side of the jump ring either side of the opening and slide one side forward and one side back ....easy when you know how! To close, all you need to do is the reverse and they slide together without leaving a gap!

I attached a large junp ring onto one cord end and a smaller jump ring onto the other.  No, I haven't lost my marbles .... there is a method to my madness! 

I attached the trigger clasp to the smaller jump ring and used the larger jump ring to attach to .... like this ....

6  A finished Necklace!  ...... Hooray!

When I am at craft fairs a lot of people like my beads but don't really know what they can make with them or how to go about making jewellery so I hope I have given you a few ideas.  My future blog posts will have some more ideas on what you can make using my glass beads. 

 

I have also been asked what you could make using my Enchanted Tree Beads.  I am thinking about writing a tutorial to share a few of my own ideas.  Maybe my next blog post?

Sarah xx

www.beadscrumptious.co.uk

Hypersmash.com

I love you to the pluto .... and back!

I have been very busy over the last couple of weeks designing and making this pendant.  I have had the idea for a long time and I have to say I am really pleased with the result.  It looks exactly like I imagined it would ... which doesn't always happen, believe me!

Anyway .... where did this idea come from?

Source: amazon.co.uk via Sarah on Pinterest

When my eldest son was a toddler he used to love it when we read, Guess how much I love you by Sam McBratney.  It is a lovely story about a little Nutbrown Hare competing with Big Nutbrown Hare over how much they love each other.  On one of the pages little Nutbrown Hare opens his/her arms as wide as they will go and says "I love you this much" so big Nutbrown Hare opens his/her arms wider and says "I love you this much".  Little Nutbrown Hare replies with "hmm that is a lot" and so the story continues until little Nutbrown Hare says "I love you right up to the Moon!" and Big Nutbrown Hare says "AND BACK!".

So, one day I was reading this to my son and (typical of him) he says very smugly "Well, I love YOU to Pluto!".  You can guess what my answer was .... "Hmm that is a long way ... I love you to Pluto and BACK!"   This has always been our special joke and now he is growing up (too quickly), I wanted to capture that memory in a piece of jewellery.

I have tried before ... Last Christmas my husband bought me some Precious Metal Clay and I decided I would use the clay to make three silver charms that would remind me of my three children.  I started with this idea and made a silver pendant in the shape of a heart with "to Pluto" written on it.

Whilst I enjoyed making it, there was something missing.  It was far too plain and didn't represent all the fun and giggles we had with the story.  So, I put the idea to the back of my mind until a couple of weeks ago when I was sat doodling on a scrap of paper.  Suddenly the idea emerged into this design!

I hadn't thought of using polymer clay before and with a few tweeks to my original design the pendant took shape.  I know, just in case there are some planetary boffins out there that Pluto isn't really this colour but I think I can excuse myself and use my artistic licence to change things around a little.  I wanted the pendant to be bright, bold and lots of fun! 

I definitely think I have captured the memory for my son because when he saw the pendant (and I didn't say anything ...) his face filled up with an enormous beaming smile, he grabbed hold of me and gave me the biggest huggle EVER! There were no words!

I have been asked a few times, how to turn my beads into jewellery.  So,  in next weeks blog post I will show you (with lots of photos) how I have made this into a necklace ... or a piece of "wearable art" as Chrissie would say. 

My youngest son likes the story about Aliens in Underpants!  Not sure how I am going to do this one yet!

Ooops nearly forgot ... the earrings to match!

Sarah xx
www.beadscrumptious.co.uk

www.Hypersmash.com

The Beach

I don't know why but I love visiting the coast when it is pouring with rain and blowing a gale.  I don't think you can beat that feeling when you step out into the fresh salty air struggling to walk against the wind, the sea spray stringing your face and hearing the sound of the waves pounding against the rocks.  It is very invigorating!

My children LOVE the beach.  They love just being able to run along the sand, splash in the water and collect every single shell off the beach.  I mean EVERY single shell......mind you....who doesn't?  My husband is just the same...my poor little rucksack was full to the brim of salty, sandy shells.....but what inspiration they all found.....

I was absolutely captivated by these Limpet Shells with the abandoned remains of the Barnacles looking almost sculptural on the surface.  A piece of art in itself!

Now, sometimes I make things without consciously thinking about where the inspiration has come from.  Obviously I have been inspired by something that I have seen but I haven't realised that until I have finished the piece of work.  Does that make sense?

I sat down at my bench with all my clay thinking about what I was going to make for week 3 of the 52 Earrings a Year challenge (52 Earrings in a Year). I knew I wanted to make some bright and happy earrings this week because the weather has been so miserable I thought it would be good to bring a little 'summer' into my work.  I picked three very bright colours .... turquoise, mint green and lilac.

But what to do with these colours......I decided to make a Skinner blend using the turquoise and a little white but I deliberately didn't blend it in perfectly as you will see.  I rolled this up into a jellyroll cane and even though I covered it with black clay it still didn't look finished.  So I took the mint green and lilac clay and made a striped cane and wrapped this around the jellyroll, added another covering of black and was much happier with the result ....much better I thought....

As you can see from the picture I made a flat sheet using the remains of the Skinner blend.  I reduced the finished cane, cut thin slithers and added them to the sheet.  I put the whole lot back through the pasta machine on the thickest setting and cut out a round pendant.

Without consciously realising it I had taken the idea of the Barnacles and used this as the main theme for my pendant.....and my earrings for week 3.....because of course you need matching earrings!  Thank goodness I haven't started making bracelets too.....this could end up becoming 52 jewellery sets in a year!

I made some nice big round beads using the cane and decided to string them all onto black suede for a contrast to bring out the turquoise in the beads.  I do like a sparkle....so I also added a wrap around of pale blue seed beads almost mimicking a trapped fishing line glistening in the water....

....and of course my earrings for week 3.......

Sarah xx

52 Earrings in a Year Challenge!

I feel as though I have been away from my blog for ages ...... I have been incredibly busy lately catching up with a million and one things I had put aside to make beads.  Then I ended up in that vicious cycle where I couldn't concentrate on beads until I had sorted out all the other things....but enough of my gibberish....

I actually started this challenge two weeks ago after reading Chris Pellows Musings and following Cara Jane but rather than try and catch up I thought I would start it fresh today! The challenge was started by Anke Humpert at Anart Island Studios to make a pair of earrings for each week of the year.  This is my week one.....

I made these earrings using a Klimt cane, the first one I had ever made. So I was very pleased with myself.  I used Premo Sculpey Clay (not glass this time), Gold, Alizarin and a pale green that I made myself from mixing colours.  The gold has given the surface a nice pretty sparkle but unfortunately I rushed taking the photo which I slightly regret now because you can't see the sparkly bits sparkling in the beads....oh well....

Sarah xx