Latest foray to the op shop.

On a recent op shop trawl I found a few little treasures. I was actually dropping stuff off but it is impossible to go into an oppie and not have a "quick look"!

What could be better - a jar of buttons, a willow pattern saucer, a brass buckle, rhinestone ear bobs, vintage black beads and some old pearls! Oh and the little bakelite dolly with articulated limbs!

She has rally blue eyes and is a bit sad looking but I thought she was pretty cute! The pearls washed up ok although plenty of them lost their coating and are now lovely milky white glass beads in my collection! Ah the joys of treasure hunting!

Gooodeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

The middle nest flyer arrived home from the UK today and I am beside myself with unadulterated joy! I was a little unprepared for just how overwhelmed with happiness I was to see her beautiful face after a year! (there were BIG tears - more than when she left ...). Suddenly, all feels right with my world and I think I might even be able to exhale now! I may have to stop gazing at her, following her about the house and patting her fairly soon or she will get cranky with me! Just for now though I plan to remain velcroed to her side! Welcome home baby!

Art Bazaar!

A few weeks ago AC Arts in Light Square held an Arts Bazaar. Students past and present came along to sell their wares! There were some great things - prints, painting,jewellery,ceramics and these cute handmade books. The covers are made from leather clothing from the op shop!

These badges were made from old comic and advertisments - just had to have a few of those!

Some of my fellow artists and their work - screenprints, sculpture and painting.

The foyer was abuzz with activity and goodies! I took home a couple of etchings from both these girls!

It only went for four hours and was terrific fun! Great way to buy some quality art at good prices. It is an annual event so next year I will give you all the heads-up prior to the actual event

Charmed I'm sure!

These are some bracelets I made for the recent Art Bazaar. The charms have been cut from old trays etc and then embelisshed with rivetted brass, text etc. Sadly, I forgot to take photos of a dear little owl and a birdy (with the word "Fly" riveted on) befor e I sold them! Glad I got my act together for these! The mushroom is my fave - might be the spotty beads I used though!

("Arty Farty" went to a woman whose partner is a man of science and always refers to her as being "arty farty"!)

I domed or folded all of the charms to give them a more 3D effect. They look great hanging so that they fall on top of the hand but cute hanging under as well!

spotty dotty!

The thing with obsessions is that they sart innocently enough .... I needed a bead - it had to be round, black and spotty. It had to be a certain size. Of course in the vastness that is my bead stash this bead could not be found. So, I decided I would MAKE the exact bead required and happily it turned out well. However it soon became evident that just ONE spotty bead would not be enough - and so they multiplied and multiplied - now I think they are taking over my world as I am starting to see spots EVERYWHERE!!

Drumroll please ...

I am ready to announce the winners of the give-away - sorry it is a bit late - Sunday melted into Monday which just kinda up and became Tuesday! Anyway, we used the good old names-in-a-hat method to draw the two winners who are : Pam at Get Silvered and Laurel over at Miss Muggins . So ladies if you would like to email me your postal address I can send your pretties on their way! Congrats - hope you have as much joy from wearing them as I did making them!
Yay for blog pals!

Finally the Siren call of the studio has lured me in to get to work! These are part of a new "range" I am making for a local boutique - a litle up-market store that sells lovely and mostly handcrafted items. I was hoping to be a bit further along by now but ah well!



This one is made from recycled silverware ( a tray ), sterling silver and the beads are yellow turqouise (eventhough it is more green than yellow!) and olive jade.

This one is also meade using a recycled tray but instead of using semi-precious stones I have collected up a bunch of brightly coloured glass, acrylic and wood beads. There are a couple of lampworked beads in there too! This one is full of Festive fun and looks so bubbly when it is on!

Cutting out square things is always a bit of a challenge for me - I am just not that good at "straight" - so there was a bit of filing to do on these! It was wonderful to be back at the bench though and I loved making these!

Giveaway!

Everything has seemed a big effort lately and of course the blog has been the first thing to go by the wayside. Despite being a remarkably slack blogger I have in fact clocked up 50 posts! Yippeee! To celebrate I would like to give away some earings. I have 2 pairs to go to two people ( 1 pair each!) and all you have to do is leave a comment here and if you are so inclined,a link back here on your blog. I will announce the winner next Sunday.

These are a new design I have been working on and are made from crockery shards and sterling silver. The red ones were a vase and also have a little bead on the front. The blue ones are made from one of those sweet little noodle bowls. Both were sourced from the op shop - of course! They have a little hook at the back that acts as a closure - you will have seen them in this post http://divajools.blogspot.com/2009/10/hang-it-all.html - which makes them nice and secure. I have made them a little shorter than the originals so they hang about 3cms below your lobe.

Here's Cheers to another 50 posts!

Welcome home ....

One of the more interesting aspects of having your semi-adult (in this case 20 year old!) children move back home is the amount of stuff they bring with them. Of course their pets have to come on home too!

Let me introduce Mooshoo - the bearded dragon!

" Oh yeah - work it Baby!"

"Blue Steel"!

"Look at me, look at me..."

"I told you this was my best side!"

Generally, he lives in a vivarium in the lounge room - so I really do have a Lounge Lizard now! Now that the days are sunny and warm we have been taking him out for a spot of earwig and slater hunting - he is pretty fast! He really seems to enjoy catching his own lunch - well it is a bit more challenging than being fed a dozen crickets in a confined space where they have no chance of escape! When he is in his house he provides endless amusement for the kitten who likes to keep a close eye on him!

Let there be Light!

How hard do you think it is to find a lamp that is groovy, funky and at a price that doesn't require a second mortgage? Well let me tell you, it is REALLY tricky! I had a big old hunt for one to give to my 16 year old friend (who has just revamped her bedroom) for her birthday and there was just NOTHING about that I liked. Well I did what any self respecting crafter would do do - I decided to make one myself! I hunted up a stand at a second hand store and luckily for me my darling father-in-law who is a retired carpenter was happy to give it a proper sand and undercoat! Then it was out with Jo Sonya paints and it was slowly transformed. I couldn't resist some gold highlights for a bit of extra ooomph!
I bought a white shade from Target and recovered it by joining lots of different lushy fabrics and then embelishing with braids and ribbons! Some of these fabrics were from things my Mum had made and are over 30 years old. The final touch was a beaded ribbon around the bottom. I think it looked great - just right for the new BoHo look my friend was aiming for! Unfortunately I didn't get to see her unwrap it but the feedback was good and she is just the kind of girl to really value something that has been handmade. Yay for DIY!
Why bother shopping really?

Here are some before and after shots!

I'm baaaaack ...!

It has been a little while - I have been unwell - but now I am on the mend I hope to keep up a bit more regular blogging! A few week-ends ago we trundle off to the beach with a bunch of dear friends for an annual get together. We have so much to catch up on - kids, families, jobs, endeavours etc because we are all only in the same place at the same time once a year! Add liberal amounts of alcohol, great food ( have discovered new found love of Arancini balls - sorry waistline!!), music, and crazy games and you have a recipe for a memorable week-end! My face ached from laughter! The lovely Jan made us all yummy Liqueur Coffees and the menfolk provided great bbq brakfasts! It reminded me of just how important it is to nurture those relationships that are with people who make you happiest!

Ah! Good Times!

Hang it all!

Last week a friend was wearing a lovely pair of ear-rings that she bought in Tassie. I was fascinated by the hanging mechansm as it was a single piece of wire and had a secure closure as well as a great shape. Naturally, I had to have a go at making a similar one. It took a few goes to get it right - glad I didn't launch into the sterling wire straight away - and I am pleased with the result. I have quite a few applications for this style of hanger burbling away in my brain now! Sadly the pics don't really demonstrate the lovely curve of these ear-rings - you get a better idea of the shape from the last photo.

The discs are some I cut ages ago from a brass planter and were close at hand!

I love that the back closes securely. I will probably make some kind of jig to form these in the future, for the sake of uniformity. Despite this pair being a little odd, I am really happy with the way they turned out.

Acid test!

Despite having a self-prescribed sanity break from the studio I just had to have a little play ...I actually popped this piece in the acid to see if there was any life left - I thought the old ferric might have lost its juice - and promptly forgot about it for two days! It etched beautifully over this extended time so I guess the acid is on its way out but at least I was able to recover this! The last thing I forgot in the acid was a brass washer and it disappeared completely!

Pixie boy.

Today I was dropping some stuff off to the op shop for a change and came across this little guy. At first I handed him straight back to the op shop lady 'cos I thought he was just too malevolent looking. Then I reconsidered because I thought this sprite might be offended by my attitude and would really haunt me! So he has come home with me. The family are less than impressed - they think he is an evil little gremlin ( thanks son!) I am reserving judgement - if I wake up tomorrow and he has moved about the room he may have to go back to the Oppie!

Oh I am really not sure ...

Creepy or cute?

Here he is - put to use !

So, I haven't posted for a while ...

I have been chained to the leg of the chair in my studio for so long I had almost forgotten I had a blog! I have been madly preparing for a bi-annual 3-day event as well as the regular making for the jewellery parties! So I have been a slack blogger I'm afraid!

My darling pal Melissa was on hand to help set up and run the show over the three days as well as feeding me ( gotta love all those home grown vegies!) and giving me a roof over my head! It was great to hang out together for the whole week - big thanks to her and her darling hubby who took the invasion in his stride!

This was my stall at the Paskeville Field Days - this event takes place in the middle of an enormous paddock! Being a rural event there is often a predominance of navy, khaki and pink - my little stall looks quite exotic in comparison!

I had a lot of "repeat offenders" who had purchased goodies from me two years ago and sought me out first thing! They sent hubbies off to gaze longingly at enormous farm equipment whilst they gave their credit cards an airing!

All these pics were taken on the first day - after that the stock dwindled and we spread things out - at this stage though it was a riot of colour and choice!

This was my favourite pair of ear-rings - in fact I think it was the only pair of "fancy" ones I made for the Field Days ( well the trouble with ear-rings is that you have to make two!) and they were snapped up really quickly! The new owner was dead delighted with them so that made me happy too!

I caught up with people that I literally only see at this event every two years and I met loads of new and interesting people too! All in all it was a great week - heaps of fun and succesful to boot!

Favourite Pendant.

This was Debbie's favourite piece that she made in yesterdays workshop. She learned how to saw, forge, file, planish, rivet and apply patination to complete this beauty!

Workshop Wonders!

Today I conducted a workshop for the lovely Debbie - an aspiring jewellery artist who wanted to learn a bit more about metal and working with reclaimed materials. It was a great experience teaching one-on -one and I am not sure who got the most out of it, student or teacher!

Busy hands getting the hang of saw-piercing.

Debbie had never used a jewellery saw before today!

This was Debbbie's first sawing effort - cut from a copper penny - and she didn't even break a blade!

The heart takes shape.

This a spoon that we made into a pendant - there was sawing,filing,stamping,eyelet setting and wire wrapping involved - oh and adding patination!

Debbie also had a go at sawing material other than metal - the black butterfly is a vinyl record. She had just enough time to have a bit of a play with the doming block!

All in all Debbie was as proud as punch of her acheivements and I feel I have empowered another artisan to get out there and CREATE so I am very satisfied with that feeling! We handcrafters will take over the world one day! (insert evil laugh here!)