Blu Mudd Bracelet Bar Design Challenge

Go HERE to vote for your favorite.  But first please read about my design and journey.
Yipee, I got to play again with one of Moriah Betterly's Ceramic Bracelet Bars in her current Design Challenge for Blu Mudd Design Group on Facebook.  This one was a butterfly and is so cool.  Here is the bracelet bar I received.

I decided I wanted to do a stretchy bracelet with it and just needed to figure out what beads to use.  I love Carnelian and decided it would go great with this. So I picked out some Carnelian chips, some Hematite ovals and some Heishi White Shell discs to finish it out. The Heishi is a little whiter than I would have liked, but I couldn't find anything with that off-white look. I think with the other colors around them, they work. Then I went in to another bead shop closer to where I live and found these great orange-brown glass faceted squares that went great with the rest of the beads. I also wanted more than one strand so finally settled on a 5 strand stretch bracelet. I had some Dark annealed Steel wire that was great to make my own jump rings to attach the strands and decided that I wanted the 2nd jump ring to be something other than round, so used my new Triangle Wubber pliers to make the 2nd jump ring on each side. I love the look, although this is only the 2nd time I've ever worked with the stretch cord, but I don't think it turned out too bad. What do you think?  I love comments and suggestions so be sure to tell me what you think.
My friend, Karla of Texas Pepper Jams (they make the best pepper jams and fudge on Etsy) had come up for a couple of days to play so we used each other as sounding boards for our designs. And then of course decided that I needed earrings and a simple necklace to match.  So out came the toggle bar clasps and chain for the earrings. My Daughter in Law showed me how to make these a couple of years ago and I love the look. (By the way, Karla is her mother. LOL)  So I made some dangles out of the beads for the bracelet, attached them to 3 pieces of chain and hung them from the toggle bar which was attached to black earwires. I love them.  Then I wanted just a simple necklace to go with the set, so strung the Carnelian, Black Hematite, White Heishi shell discs and the Glass beads on some beading wire, making it long enough to just slip over my head.  I also added 3 more dangles just like the earrings for a focal for the necklace. I love the way the set turned out.  I'm still trying to decide whether to keep it for myself or put it up for sale.  How do you like my Blu Mudd Bracelet Bar Design set?  There is a contest on the Facebook group for the best design, so be sure to go there and vote for your favorite Bracelet design.  Plus let each of us know what you think of our designs.

And if you're looking for some Stained Glass, Mosaics or Fused Glass Kreationz for your home or garden or more of my Jewelry check out my shop, KayzKreationz.  Thanks for looking. 

Pine Ridge Treasures Seasons Blog hop

If you're looking for my ZNETshows Summer Challenge and Giveaway, click here
But first check out my reveal for the Season's Blog Hop below. Thanks
 Recently I signed up with Lisa Lodge from Pine Ridge Treasures for her 'Season's' Blog hop.  We were sent a package of beads to imitate either a season of the year or a season in our life and had to design something.  I fell into my usual forgetfulness and forgot to take a picture of the entire package of beads. However, here is what I have left and you can see what I used in my pieces. 

 I had the hardest time with this.  I couldn't figure out what to make, although the soft purples, white, some black, dark purple crystals, clear and muted white crystals and teardrop beads all evoked 'Winter' to me.  There is also some snowflake charms, some wings, a couple of great purple focal/pendant beads and some grayish/mauve smaller beads along with a couple of silver/pewter keys and a toggle clasp.  I haven't gotten anything to work for the purple focal/pendant beads yet, but for some reason I also kept thinking of when I was younger and how much I liked the 'hippie' look with all the fringe and dangles. (I still do and wear a lot of fringe and dangles) so I decided I needed a 'hippie/fringe/dangly' bracelet.  I really challenged myself with this as I have never done any chainmaille before, but I wanted to make this a chainmaille/hippie bracelet. So I ordered some enamel jump rings in colors I felt would also feel kind of wintry and match the beads and set to work. I picked a very simple/basic chainmaille piece called WiggleMobius as it looked fairly easy for my first piece. While the chainmaille part of it wasn't a problem at all, all the dangles like to drove me insane.   I can tell you, I'm really tired of wire-wrapping right now, but I got all my dangles made with the seed beads (which I don't use much), the white muted teardrop beads, the dichroic clear/purple square beads and the black pearls.  Then I had to start reopening jump rings to attach all the dangles without messing up my bracelet. But I finally got it all done.  I added a simple clasp so as not to detract from the chainmaille and dangles.  This took quite a bit longer than I figured.

Finally I made a wintry pair of earrings with the Snowflake charms and some more wire wrapped dangles using some of the clear crystals with the purple/mauve seed beads, the muted white teardrops and the black pearls.  I attached them to some silver plated earwires. 

 I'm still working on the purple focal beads and the wings.  I have a great idea for the wings, just haven't quite gotten it to work yet.  Hope you like my 'Winter'/'Hippie' kreationz for the Seasons blog hop.  Be sure to check out Pine Ridge Treasures blog for the full list of participants in case the links don't work here.
Your Hostess: Lisa Lodge, Grateful Artist
 
Kathy Zeigler Lindemer, Bay Moon Design

Cassi Paslick, Beads: Rolling Downhill

Stephanie Sanner Haussler, PixyBug Designs

Leah Mifflin Tees, My Beady Little Eyes

 

Karin Slaton, BackStory Beads

Audrey Belanger, Dreams of an Absolution

Lori Jean Poppe, Lorillijean Creative Corner

Karla Morgan, Texas Pepper Jams

Christine Stonefield, Sweet Girl Design

Eleanor Burian-Mohr, The Charmed Life

Alicia Marinache,  All the Pretty Things

Veralynne Malone, Designed by Vera

Kay Thomerson, Kayz Kreationz

Mary Govaars, MLH Jewelry Designs

Toltec Jewels, Toltec Jewels for Jewel School Friends

Lennis Carrier, Windbent

Erin Kenny, Beadifultherapy

Tanya Goodwin, A Work in Progress

Cilla Watkins, Tell Your Girlfriends

Renetha Williams Stanziano, Lamplight Crafts

Christie Searle Murrow, Charis Designs Jewelry

Sierra Barrett, Giraffe Can Has

Melissa Trudinger, Bead Recipes

Shirley Jones Moore, Beads and Bread

Dawn Horner, Northern Adornments

Charlene Bausinger Jacka, Clay Space

Tara Plote, The Newbie Beader's Blog

Candida Elkins Castleberry, Spun Sugar Beadworks

Miranda Ackerley, Daze and Days

 

For more of my Beaded, Wire-wrapped Jewelry, Stained Glass, Mosaics and Fused Glass Kreationz for your Home or Garden, check out my shop, KayzKreationz.

New Zibbet Listing-Purple, White, Mauve Fused Glass magnet

Since I'll be shutting down my Artfire shop, KayzKreationz, shortly, I've started importing my Artfire items into my Zibbet shop.  I'd opened it up a while back, but hadn't done much with it.  So now I'm trying to get it going and see how it does.  This cute Mauve, Purple, White Fused Glass magnet just went live in my Zibbet shop, KayzKreationz.  I'm working on getting more magnets listed, because they're so cute and useful.  So keep watching KayzKreationz on Zibbet.

"Roses" Fused Glass Garden marker-Saturday Blog Shoppers feature

In honor of Spring/Summer, my feature this week for the Saturday Blog Shoppers is my newest listing.  It's my "Roses" Fused Glass Garden marker.  It's an adorable little pink rose fused glass oval that can be hung from a hook or stake of some kind to mark the roses, either in your garden, or in a pot, if you have one of those miniature roses.  The hook that's fused in it has been dressed up a little with a green ribbon to hide the hook.  If you love gardening and plants, this is a cute addition to either your garden or your potted plants.  You can check it out here or in my shop, KayzKreationz, with the rest of my glass kreationz/creations for your home and garden.
And for some more great handcrafted items check out the other blogs in the Saturday Blog Shoppers group by clicking on the button to the right.
Happy Shopping.

Tutorial-Mosaic Fish Bead Birdfeeder

When I first applied for the set of fish beads from sbsupply on Etsy, she wanted some ideas about how you might use them to make her choice as to who received them. I knew immediately that I wanted to do a mosaic birdfeeder. After all, fish and birds just go together, right? So now the problem was, what did I want my birdfeeder to look like. While waiting to see whether I was chosen to receive a set of beads, I mulled it over and started making some rough drawings of what I wanted. I can’t draw, but at least I got an idea of how I wanted it to look. Finally I got the news I was chosen and got to pick which set/color of fish beads I wanted. When I got them, they are adorable. Now to get to work, getting my final picture drawn out, although it may change as I start applying the glass, but it’s basically what I want. Here’s a picture of how I want it to look, more or less.

Next, I needed to decide what size clay saucer to use as the base for my birdfeeder. I decided for everything I wanted and to look right, it needed to be a 10” clay saucer. So here’s a photo of all the supplies you would need to make a mosaic birdfeeder out of a clay saucer. There’s:


1. Clay Saucer

2. Fish Beads (from sbsupply at Etsy)

3. Miscellaneous glass to use to fill in. (These are all scraps from my stained glass projects.) Plus on this project, I will be using Glass Globs to glue around the sides of the saucer, to decorate.


4. Glass cutter for the more precise pieces, like the bird and clouds. Breaking pliers to break off the pieces of glass you’ve cut.


5. Glue to glue everything. I use E-6000.

6. Grout to fill in when all the glass is attached. And masking tape to tape off the top edges to keep from getting grout on them. I will also use it to tape off the half I’m not grouting, if I decide to use 2 colors of grout. Something to mix the grout in, a rubber spatula to mix with and scoop out on the feeder and a sponge to wipe off excess. Also a soft cloth to polish off the haze of the grout.


7. And finally some sealer to seal the grout and protect everything with once it’s good and dry. I use a general all-purpose sealer from Wal-Mart or Lowe’s.


So, I’ve got my drawing, the saucer and I start gluing the fish beads down. I want to place them first, so I know where to start my water pieces. I then draw off my pattern for the bird and the clouds onto my glass and take my glass cutter and cut them out.

Cutting glass takes a little bit of practice. You need to make sure it scores (cuts) well. You can usually tell by the sound. With pieces that have lots of curves, I only cut a little at a time. I break those pieces off and then make another cut and break it. Since I want the bird and the clouds to be more precise, when I’m done cutting them I use my glass grinder to smooth out all the edges, so there’s no sharp edges on them and they have a clean look.


Once they’re done to my satisfaction, I glue them in place.

Now I know where to put the water pieces and sand pieces. I take my mosaic cutters, my scraps of glass and start placing the pieces for the water. If the scraps are too big or won’t quite fit where I want them, I can nip off pieces or edges of the glass with the mosaic cutters to get them to fit. This part is basically like a jigsaw puzzle. I just take a piece and put it where it seems to fit or follow the curves/edges of the other glass that’s down. When I’m satisfied with the look, I glue it down. Also, I’ve already glued the little pieces for the bird legs, since I want it to look like the bird is standing in the water and I can glue water pieces around the legs.

Next I glue the pieces in for the sand. I also glue the beak and the final fish down so I can start on the sky pieces. I decided to go ahead and put the branch and leaves in, so they’re next. That way I have them specifically where I want them. And the final part of this process is to start gluing the blue pieces for the sky. I have a few little pieces of a blueish-gray, that I mix in to make it a little more realistic. I also used a little bit of green and blue-green in the water to make it more realistic. Keep in mind while you’re gluing all your pieces down, it will look really bad. You’ll see all the extra glue that squeezes out as you push your pieces down to make sure they’re attached well. (You want them completely glued down so no grout or anything can get under them and lift them later.) Plus it just doesn’t look like much until it’s all filled in with grout. Next I glue the glass nuggets to the sides of the saucer. I use some blue around the water edge and white around the rest of the saucer. This is the tricky part. Since they’re on the sides, they want to slide down. So you have to press them in really hard and then keep going back for about 10 minutes moving them back up into position until they finally start drying enough to hold them in place. Viola! All the glass is in.

Next we tape and grout. Although it’s a lot more work, I’ve decided to go ahead and use 2 colors grout. I’ll use black on the water area and then white on the rest of the birdfeeder. I like my grout to kind of match my glass and blend in (most of the time) so it doesn’t distract from the scene. To tape off the edges, just tear little pieces of your masking tape off and fit it around the edges. Next I’ll tape off the top part of the feeder that will have the white grout so I don’t get any of the black grout in those areas.

Now it’s ready to grout. I just mix my grout basically according to the instructions on the box or bag. You want it to be about the consistency of peanut butter. I do only add a little water at a time and mix to make sure I don’t get it too wet. I scrape the grout on with my rubber spatula and spread/push it down into all the areas between and around the glass. When I’ve got enough spread on, I start scraping off the excess. (It’s good to use rubber gloves if you have them, so the grout won’t stain and dry out your hands.) Once I’ve gotten most of the excess off, I take a damp sponge (damp-because you don’t want to put more water into your grout) and start gently wiping off the excess grout that’s still on your glass. I define the edges of the little fish beads, by wiping a little harder around them so they’ll stand out.

Once I feel I’ve gotten most of the grout off, I let it stand about 10 minutes to start drying out. Then I take an old sock or other soft rag, and start wiping gently and polishing the glass to get the rest of the grout off and shine everything up. (If you knock a little piece of grout off, just take some of the excess you scraped off earlier and refill the spot. This is why you don’t throw your excess grout away until you’re completely done.) You will have to go over it at least 3-4 times to get it polished up and the grout haze off. Now I’ll let it stand for about 24 hours before I retape the bottom part and do the white grout.

           

It’s the same with the white grout as the black. After about 10 minutes or so, carefully pull all the tape off the edges and bottom. When I’m all done, it will set another 24 hours or more and then apply the sealer with a small brush or sponge. Once it’s dry (about 24 hours) you can polish your glass back up with a soft cloth.

Viola! You have a mosaic birdfeeder. Now all you need is a hanger. I make macramé hangers for mine.


(P.S. Sorry if this post is disjointed. I've spent over an hour trying to get my pictures to line up with my posting and it's just not working, but I think you can get the idea.) This birdfeeder will be available in my shop KayzKreationz as soon as I figure out shipping.

Purses-What do we do with them and What would we do without them.

Purses! We have to carry them. But boy do they get in the way. Go out somewhere to eat or something and where do you put it and feel safe about it or keep it clean? Have I got the answer for you. This Fused Glass Purse Hanger! Small enough to carry in your purse, but whip it out, hang it on the edge of your table and hang your purse from the hook underneath. Out of the way, off the floor and safe where you can see it.

Check it out at http://KayzKreationz.artfire.com

New Featured Shop of the Day

Good morning, the new shop of the day is http://threadedgoodness.etsy.com/

She's got some cute crotcheted items for adults and babies. Love this red:

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=16595497

And the baby mittens.

Also, just listed, cute fused glass magnet at: http://kayzkreationz.etsy.com/

Cute glass magnet

Just listed the cutest little fused glass magnet on Etsy. White glass with blue, teal and mauve polka dots swirled all around.

And check out this Teal magnet with French Vanilla polka dots swirled all around.

They make great little add-on gifts.