The Impatient Crafter : jewelry making

Showing posts with label jewelry making. Show all posts

The Anatomy of a Necklace: DIY Necklace Tutorial

A few beads, some wire, some organza ribbon, a vibrant color palette...and you have a simply fabulous necklace in a flash. The anatomy of a necklace a DIY necklace tutorial brought to you by Madge. I call this Folk Art Chic(tm), it's the style of our home and a style I'm finding more and more appealing these days.

But wait...there's more!

Book Review: The Big Ass Book of Bling

Book Review
The Big Ass Book of Bling
Mark Montano
Gallery Books
November 2012
(Caveat: Mark is my BFF and he sent me this book to peruse. If I didn't love it, I'd never have written this review. If I didn't love it, I'd have shoved it in a drawer and pretended I never saw it. I really, really love this book, almost as much as I really, really love Mark.)

Mark Montano does it again with his latest BIG ASS book bursting at the seams with creative inspiration for craftinistas and fashionistas of all ages! Using everything but the kitchen sink, Mark turns ho hom, hum drum everyday items into show stopping runway ready wearables with techniques absolutely anyone can master. The book is so big, so bold, so beautiful, I will be perusing it for months before I fully digest all of the crafty goodness inside! Mark sees the world in a totally unique way and his vision is reflected in every quirky, creative, one-of-a-kind design in this book filled with ideas that are sure to launch a million 'pins!'

But wait...there's more!

A Touch of Grey for BeadsDirect UK

A Touch of Grey

Margot Potter for BeadsDirectUK

I’m a fan of big, bold, simple, striking jewelry (or if you’re in the UK make that jewellery.) Lots of fussy details and gee-gaws and doo-dads don’t really float my boat. You must make jewelry that floats your boat. So feel free to add more here, more layers, more beads, more mesh! Sometimes more is more, but in this case, less is more. I’ve combined soft jade green chrysotene beads with sponge coral and added some gunmetal mesh bows to keep it from looking to Christmas-y. I’m quite pleased as punch with how this turned out. And you could make a set just like this in under and hour, just in time to wear it out on the town!

And you can find everything you need to make this set at BeadsDirectUK online! Just follow the links.

Finished Length:

Necklace: 18”

Bracelet: 8”

Earrings: 2.5”

Materials

20mm Chrysotene coin beads

15x29mm Sponge coral teardrop beads

15mm width Gunmetal wire mesh tubing

BeadsDirect 19 strand .015 bead stringing wire

2 silver plated lobster clasps

2 6mm silver plated jump rings

4 silver plated size 2 crimp tubes

2 silver plated coiled ear wires

4 silver plated head pins

(Optional GS Hypo Cement jeweler’s glue)

Tools

Round nose pliers

2 pairs chain nose pliers

Flush cutters

Crimp tool

Scissors

1. These are basic designs that are quick and easy to put together. Play with the arrangement of the beads remove the mesh or keep it in the mix, the only rule is that it’s pleasing to your eye! Begin by gathering your materials. Use a bead board to plan out the design!

2. Cut off a 20” segment of beading wire. Attach the wire to a clasp using the crimp tube and crimp tool. To crimp, begin by threading the wire into the tube, through the clasp end and back into the tube. Use the front part of the jaw of your pliers to smash the round tube into an oval. Separate the wires before you crimp them, the crimp creates an indentation between the two wires. Compress the tube in the back part of the jaw creating a heart shape. Move the tube into the front jaw with the indentation facing forward. Fold ends over. Cut off excess wire.

3. Thread beads on the wire in the following order: 5 coral, 3 chrysotene, 1 coral, 8 chrysotene and 5 coral.

4. Keep necklace rounded to allow room for play between beads. Crimp as before attaching wire to a jump ring, cutting off excess.

5. Tie a 3” segment of mesh to the wire at the top top of the first chrysotene bead on the right side of the design. Use fingers to pull mesh gently into a bow shape. If you want to mesh to keep from unraveling, dab a little jeweler’s glue along the ends and allow to dry.

6. To make the bracelet, cut off a 10” segment of beading wire. Attach wire to the clasp and clasp with a crimp tube.

7. Thread beads on the wire alternating between red and green beads, five green beads and four red beads. Adjust length to fit your wrist.

8. Round bracelet before crimping and attaching the jump ring.

9. Tie a 3” mesh bow on the bracelet to the left or right of the center bead.

10. To make earrings thread a coin on a head pin, make a coiled top dangle. Make double loop dangles with a red bead. Attach an ear wire to the top of your red bead. Tie a 3” mesh bow around the center of the earring. Repeat for second earring.

This post was sponsored by BeadsDirectUK, but Madge does not promote anything Madge does not love. So trust me when I saw, this site is fabulous!

Hello Crafty Campers!

Here's a video from my appearance a few years ago on The Balancing Act with the lovely Ms. Kathy Peterson. I share a simply fabulous double needle stitch bracelet featuring Beadalon wire and SWAROVSKI ELEMENTS crystals. You can adapt this project to suit any day of the year as you'll see when you watch! If you'd like the instructions for this design, visit the Beadalon Website!

Happy 4th of July!

xoxo,
Madge

I Do Stuff. Yup.

Above are two designs using some delightfully simple and striking components from Beadalon called QuickLinks. These particular links are exclusive to Jewelry Television, you can find them here! I love these components because they're like a lovely little blank canvas for your creativity and they are absurdly easy to use. Each shape is connected by a small figure eight or peanut shaped metal connector you simply compress closed around the links using chain nose pliers. The links are then stationed in place and ready for your creativity. Wire wrap them, add beads, connect them to rosary style beaded segments...it's truly endless.

I like to add lots of kinetic movement to my pieces, jewelry that moves is sexy and playful. The first design features textured links and oxidized vintage rhinestone beads that were pulled from my bead stash. I love the simplicity of this piece, it has an Art Deco appeal, but still feels really modern. The second piece is asymmetrical with large faceted black onyx rectangles, hypersthene squares that have a lovely light play, black onyx teardrops that swing and sway inside of the links and one large turquoise bead for a pop of color. This piece is long and can be worn Opera length or doubled. These took hardly any time at all to construct and I think they're the kind of pieces you'd wear over and over again.

Fun...fast...fabulous!

And that's some of what I do here at Studio Madge. I do stuff. Yup.

Love
Madge

Tuesdays with Madge for Fiskars National Craft Month!

Three Ring Circus Jewelry Set Copyright Margot Potter for Fiskars 2012

The fine folks from Fiskars asked me to fabricate four projects featuring their fabulous tools for National Craft Month. Of course I jumped at the chance! The first project is the only jewelry design. I was so smitten with this circus font themed scrapbook paper, I simply had to turn it into jewelry.

And so I did.

And so can you if you follow this link to get the instructions on the Fiskars site! Stay tuned, I have a new Fiskars project for every Tuesday this month! Hooray!

Love
Madge

A Touch of Spring

Signs of spring are starting to appear in the Smokies. Daffodils, dandelions and other floral harbingers of warmer days to come have started blooming. From my studio window I can see the birds busily gathering bits and pieces to build nests. The spring peepers are in full voice in the ponds leading up to our mountain home. It's really quite exciting, this rebirth. I love this time of year, don't you?

I'm sharing a couple of designs I created for myself to wear. The things I make for me are a little larger than life and very whimsical. I've added some SWAROVSKI ELEMENTS to the mix with these vintage and vintage reproduction plastic flowers from The Beadin' Path. I am simply mad for the look of both of these. Adding the wired crystals to the edge of the filigrees reminds me of a very fancy cake and the red flowers dripping with giant crystals are divinely decadent. If I had a line of finished jewelry (and that might just happen one of these days), this is what I visualize. Big, bold, happy jewelry that makes the wearer and those whom they will meet along the way feel good.

Life is far too short to take it too seriously.

We are busily working on something new behind the scenes here at Casa de Potter! It's exciting stuff and much like spring, lots of things are happening beneath the soil preparing to peer through and unfurl. It's exciting and also just a little scary, which is the way of it when you take the leap, isn't it?

Storms are brewing in the Smokies, and the skies are changing minute to minute. It's fascinating living here. The other night a coyote howled right outside of our house, the dogs were none to happy about it. They're the only canines on this property, thank you very much. We snuggled on the couch together until that pesky coyote wandered away.

I will be back on Monday with a ''two for one" spring inspired project for iLoveToCreate Retrofabulous Crafts, so do stay tuned!

Until then, craft on with your bad selves.

Love
Madge

Brown Eyed Susan Necklace

Yup, one more design! There are more, but the lighting and focus gods were not with me. I shall share pics after the shows. This is a fun, simple design featuring FAB vintage reproduction German plastic components from The Beadin' Path. I used those and the bright orange faceted plastic beads as my jump off point for this simple, but striking, design. It's a mix of gemstones, plastic and Beadalon antique brass components. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy!

xoxo
Madge

Mud Pie Necklace!

Yup, another design for the shows. This was a rework of a design I shared recently on JTV's Jewel School. I decided it needed more color and movement. The faux DZI agate beads I scored for a song in Tucson last year. These are longer rosary style links and I'm pleased as punch with how this came out. I've added serpentine, smoky quartz and a judicious smattering of SWAROVSKI ELEMENTS. It's all put together with lovely silver plated Beadalon components.

Cheers,
Madge

Cheers Necklace!

Bubbly Necklace Copyright Margot Potter 2012

This is another necklace set I created to wear to the shows. Technically, I re-created it by adding more stuff to my original design. I used vintage faux pearls, SWAROVSKI ELEMENTS and Beadalon's fab polyester chain. The pearls are absurdly huge, which makes this a very fun design to wear.

xoxo
Madge

Evolution of a Design

I created this necklace for one of my design clients. I began with 10 gauge tinned copper wire, hammering and forming it into a simple choker, then added a sprinkling of SWAROVSKI ELEMENTS sew on stones attached with a thinner gauge of wire. (This is the design I'm wearing in the Create Your Style video.) I was really going for something simple, striking and primitive here with a big nod to Alexander Calder's wire jewelry work. Unfortunately the client didn't like the first version and asked me to cover up the wire wraps and the exposed hammered wire at the front of the design. I had to work and rework and rework the piece because it's all secured with tension and has to be wearable or it's pointless. Yes, I can be patient, though it usually involves a smattering of juicy expletives. The two arms of the thicker wire actually create the tension that secures the necklace around the neck, so the smaller stones had to be out of the way of that action. The large stone had to go, unfortunately, but that gave the design a more curvilinear feel. Honestly, I like both versions, but they're very different. Alas, after the rework and though the client genuinely liked it, they asked me to scrap this one and start over using different techniques and materials. So...I'll be wearing this at some upcoming events. This is part of the deal of being a freelance designer, not my favorite part, but one that can't be avoided I'm afraid.

What do you think, the first version, the second version or neither?! What do you think about editing your work? How do your designs evolve?

That's a prompt for you to converse with me! Be not afraid. Oh and, Tune in tomorrow, I've got a giveaway!

Cheers,
Madge

Beadalon's Wire Mesh

This is a design I created recently for Beadalon to showcase their fabulous new Artistic Wire mesh and their stunning antique brass finish chain. Oversized SWAROVSKI ELEMENTS polygon beads gave it a little sparkle to reflect the understated metallic color palette. It was a very intuitive design born from play. Some of my best work comes from not having an agenda. I'm quite pleased with how this turned out, very bold, simple and striking. These mesh poppies would work nicely on accessories: headbands, shoes, hats or purses. I used felt to back them and give them a little stability. (I'd sew around the edges with a 26 or 28 gauge matching wire to keep them from fraying if using them on a bag or shoes.)

Love
Madge

Valentine's Day Dollar Store Craft: Sweetheart Foam Necklace

Sweetheart Foam Necklace and Earrings Copyright Margot Potter 2010

I have plenty of romantic projects in my crafty coffers, so I'll be bringing them out over the next few weeks and introducing some new ideas as we lead up to the oft dreaded holiday of St. Valentine. This one is so quick and easy and of course, depending on which foam stickers you select, can be adapted to suit any occasion! You can find the step by step instructions with lots of pics here. What's not to love about that?

You can find these foam stickers at the discount chains, craft and dollar stores.

If you'd like the original set, it's for sale for a song in my Etsy shoppe!

Love
Madge

Wire Crochet with Madge

My new book plays with wire crochet and spooling and this is a piece I created for Beadalon while working on the book using a super huge crochet hook. Of course I had a super huge crochet hook handy because I am impatient.

Have I mentioned that?

The cool thing about using the super huge crochet hook with two 22 gauge colored wires is that you can pull the stitches taut after crocheting them so you get a long, lean, woven, two tone effect. I made four strands like that and braided them. Thusly, the piece is named Quattro. I then added some super awesome beads from the super awesome Lori Greenberg aka Bead Nerd. She makes seriously super awesome lamp worked beads in small production runs.

I really love how this design turned out and I'd forgotten about it until I got to CHA and saw it in the Beadalon booth. Then I remembered it again while poking around in my computer files just now. Apparently I need to start taking Gingko Biloba.

If you haven't started weaving your wire, you simply must try. You will have a blast with it! Also check out my new book for some other fab and different ideas for playing with wire. Yes, that is what you call a shameless self promotional plug. Tee hee.

xoxo
Madge

Anchors Away, Dahlings!

Sailing, Sailing Jewelry Set Copyright Margot Potter for Jewelry Television's Jewel School

Christian Dior Spring 2011

Many of you know that I have a long standing affection for nautical themed fashions. I can't say what it is about stripes and sailor pants that makes me so endlessly happy, but perhaps it is tied to my love of the ocean.

Nautical looks are hotter than ever this season and I made this swingy little necklace using QuickLinks, Artistic Wire, freshwater pearls and faceted blue goldstone beads all from Jewel School at Jewelry Television.

You can get the step by step instructions here at the JTV Blog!

Anchors away, dahlings.

(Click on the button to see the FAB projects from a bevy of talented crafters in this month's Fave Crafts Blog Hop!)

xoxo

Madge

Free Mixed Media Jewelry Project: Shakespeare's Garden for Art Beads

I received an email while I was in Cincy from the fine folks at Art Beads that a tutorial I'd created for them a while back is live on their site! The necklace above is called Shakespeare's Garden and it features beaded wire circles and stamped resin pendants in a whimsical and sculptural design. What I love most about this is that these circles have dimension, but also fluidity because the wire underneath is not stiff.

I've been playing with these beaded circles for several years and every time I think, we'll that's about all you can do with those, another idea pops into my head. I do love to explore a theme and the circle is such a powerful, archetypal and cross culturally relevant symbol. Endings and beginnings and the journeys we take come around and around and around. Each of us a point on the sacred hoop making our own unique way to the center of higher understanding and universal love. Even Einstein once postulated that if we stood staring into space and could see to the farthest reaches, we'd eventually see the back of our own heads. Round and round and round she goes...

Powerful stuff, that circle. And as for Shakespeare, I've had the pleasure and the privilege of playing some of his greatest female characters...including Viola from Twelfth Night.

If you follow this link, you can get the full tutorial with step by step photos for this design. Enjoy!

"O Mistress mine, where are you roaming?
O, stay and hear; your true love's coming,
That can sing both high and low:
Trip no further, pretty sweeting;
Journeys end in lovers meeting,
Every wise man's son doth know.
What is love? 'Tis not hereafter;
Present mirth hath present laughter;
What's to come is still unsure:
In delay there lies not plenty;
Then, come kiss me, sweet and twenty,
Youth's a stuff will not endure."
William Shakespeare-Twelfth Night

Love
Madge

Free Jewelry Project #2 from Bead Chic by Margot Potter

It's Week #2 of the four week bonus Free Projects from my new book Bead Chic! Here's the one from the Make Jewellery feature I showed you last week. You'll need to get the book for the step by step photos.

Enjoy!

Leave a comment for a chance to win a free signed copy of the book!

If you left a comment last week, stop in on Saturday to see if you won, I'll announce this week's winner next Saturday!

Cheers,
Madge

Chaos in Pearls Necklace
Bead Chic
Chapter One: Scale
Copyright Margot Potter and North Light Books
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Crystal pearls, faceted plastic rounds and gun metal chains are clustered in a chaotic mass at the front of this daring, delightful and decidedly different necklace design. The less you map this one out, the better. You can opt to vary the chain lengths even more dramatically to give this an ‘haute couture’ design flavor.

Materials
13 8mm black plastic faceted rounds
14 12mm SWAROVSKI ELEMENTS cream pearls
39 1.5-3” lengths small gun metal curb chain
18.5” section gun metal oval rolo chain
27 gun metal head pins
1 large silver plated swivel lobster clasp
15 4mm gun metal jump rings

Tools
Round nose pliers
2 pairs chain nose pliers
Wire cutters

1. Cut 39 1.5-3” sections of small gun metal chain.

2. Create looped dangles for every pearl and faceted round.

3. Cut an 18.5” section of rolo chain. Attach a pearl to one end using a jump ring.

4. Attach the lobster clasp to the other end using a jump ring.

5. Starting on the 32nd link in your chain, attach a pearl, a faceted round and three varied lengths of small chain with a jump ring to the link.

6. Move down every link and continue attaching a pearl, a round and three varied lengths of chain on a jump ring. There are 13 pearl, round and chain combos.

ILoveToCreate Pink Splash 3-D Flower Bangle

ILovetoCreate Teen Crafts Pink Splash 3-D Flower Bangle
Copyright Margot Potter
“Mom crafted, kid approved.”

I designed a chain and bead necklace a couple of years ago featuring a similar hot pink die cut flower on it for a class proposal. At the time, this kind of look hadn’t hit mainstream fashion hard and I think it was just a skootch ahead of the curve. Flash forward to 2010 and dimensional floral accents are EVERYWHERE! I’ve re-imagined it attached to this pretty painted pink bangle design using fabric paints, fabric markers and Aleene’s Liquid Fusion glue. I think this is one of those perfect ‘Back-to-School’ accessories for the teen fashionista. It’s flirty and fun and girly and right in step with what’s happening in the fashion mags.

PLUS the flower spins around like a pinwheel, so it’s a kinetic design too! When those crystals get spinning, it’s really quite mesmerizing!

This requires using an electric drill, so a little assistance from mom or dad may be required. You could opt to do smaller flowers and have them circle the wrist, but I’m a big and bold kinda gal and so is Miss Avalon, my resident teen. Take this idea where you like, express your individuality! That’s what crafting and fashion is all about.

Materials
Grungeboard sheet swirls pattern
Tulip Soft Fabric Paint in azalea
Tulip Metallic Dimensional Fabric Paint in white
Tulip Metallic Dimensional Fabric Paint in metallic silver
DIY Bangles small wooden bangle
Inkadinkado lourish stamp
Aleene’s Liquid Fusion glue
Tulip Glam-It-Up™ crystals
Crystal bead for center
Pink or silver-plated head pin
Sizzix Bigz Flower Die

Tools
Tulip Glam-It-up™ tool
Sizzix Big Shot machine
Electric drill with 1/16” bit
Paintbrush
Foam brush or foam applicator
Flush cutters
Round nose pliers

1. Paint several layers of azalea paint on inside and outside of bangle. Allow to dry between layers.

2. Stamp flat oval areas with flourish stamp and white paint. Apply paint with a foam applicator or brush to surface of stamp. Allow to dry.

3. Mark center of one flat oval segment on bangle and drill.

4. Die cut flower out of Grungeboard using the Big Shot and the Bigz flower die.

5. Paint both sides of each layer of flower with azalea paint. Allow to dry.

6. Use foam applicator and flourish stamp to apply metallic silver paint to surface of flower layers. Allow to dry.

7. Use a thin paintbrush or your foam applicator to edge the flowers with the metallic paint. Allow to dry.

8. Glue flower layers together with Liquid Fusion. Allow glue to dry.

9. Use Tulip Glam-it-Up crystals and wand to apply crystals to edges of flower petals.

10. Thread head pin with flat side facing inside of bracelet through drilled hole, hole in center of flower and a crystal bead. Use round nose pliers to turn a loop and secure. (If the head pin head is too small, use a small button to secure it to the back of the bracelet.)

Madge Goes Global

Imagine my surprise and chagrin while leafing through Make Jewellery magazine from the UK and spotting a full page feature with a project from my new book Bead Chic! I did a double take, a Danny Thomas coffee spit take and let out a gleeful little giggle.

Okay really I just said, "Hmmm...that project looks familiar"...and let out a gleeful little giggle.

The rest was just what you might call, artful embellishment.

I'm a Leo, we like to decorate everything. Yay for international press! Yay for people who buy my new book, I heart you! Yay for my birthday month! Yay for exclamation points!

Yay for too many cups of coffee!

Love
Madge

ILoveToCreate Teen Crafts: Playful Pom Pom Necklace

ILoveToCreate Teen Crafts
Playful Pom Pom Necklace
Copyright Margot Potter
"Mom crafted, kid approved."

Pom poms have a habit of proliferating in my studio. I just keep buying big bags of them with vague thoughts of projects to come. This idea has been rolling around my brain for a while now and yesterday, with a lot of help from my wonderful husband, this necklace was born. Kooky? Yes, yes it is. Fabulous? Well, of course! It's also lightweight, soft and fluffy. It's not for stuffy, stodgy, conservative folks, this is for the teen with a sense of fun. Much like the designer, who, while not a teen, likes playful accessories with a heaping helping of whimsy.

This is so easy and fun to make and you can take it in so many directions. Pom poms come in all sorts of sizes and colors, so if neon isn't working for you, change up the color palette! A nice black and white story would be striking! These pom pom circles can decorate purses, t-shirts, jeans, headbands, flip flops...where you put them is entirely up to you. After trying this on, I added a final layer of pom poms to the back of the earrings. So you can decide how you prefer to wear it. I'll be sporting this at CHA (a big craft trade show I'm attending this week) and Avalon will take it over afterward. She thought it was adorable and her opinion, as a stylish and fashion forward teen, is the one that counts. This is so affordable, so easy and so fun to make, it's the perfect antidote to the mantra of summer, "Mom...I'm bored."

Materials
Black craft felt
Multiple sized neon pom poms
Aleene's Fabric Fusion glue
11 10mm silver plated jump rings
QuickLinks Oval Chain
2 silver plated swivel lobster clasps
2 silver plated ear wires
2 2" silver plated head pins
(all jewelry making supplies and tools provided by Beadalon)

Tools
White fabric tracing pencil
3 round objects (1.5", 1.75" and 2" diameter)
Fabric scissors
Crop-a-dile or other 1/16" hole punch
2 pairs chain nose pliers
Round nose pliers
Flush cutters

1. Trace circles on felt using white pencil and your round objects. You will need four small and two of each of the other sizes.

2. Lay out circles to finalize pattern.

3. Glue various sizes of pom poms to circles using Fabric Fusion glue. If you make a small puddle of glue and dip the pom poms in, it makes quick work of this step. Allow to dry.

4. Reinforce outer edges of outer circles with a second small layer of felt, this will keep the felt from tearing when you wear the necklace. Allow to dry.

5. Turn circles over to determine placement of jump rings. Mark with fabric pencil. Rings need to completely connect each circle.

6. Use punch to place holes for jump rings. Make sure you aren't right on the edge of your circles to prevent felt from tearing when you wear the necklace.

7. Connect the felt segments using your jump rings and 2 pairs of chain nose pliers.

8. Attach a lobster clasp to the jump rings on the outermost circles on your bib section. Connect chain to clasps.

9. To make matching earrings, thread a head pin into the center of a small pom pom, coil and loop on each end. Attach this to an ear wire and a pom pom circle with jump ring. Repeat for second earring. (For more information on the basic jewelry making techniques in this project , please visit my YouTube channel and look for my Crafty Quickies videos!)