A tiara is just an upside-down necklace

Posted on October 28, 2010 by J. Feathersmith

So a couple of weeks ago, during Building the Asylum, I walked in on the end of a conversation between a couple of people – I caught the words “diva” and “need a tiara!” and had to ask one of the participants who it was who needed a tiara, her or him.

At that point, I was merely amused.

She said she needed one.

Then part of my brain had a flash of inspiration, and so I asked, “Really? Because I could make you one,” and decided to interpret her response (uncontrolled laughter) as approval and encouragement, while simultaneously trying to work out how to actually make it. It seemed like it shouldn’t be that much different than wire necklaces, right?

Eventually I did get some actual words, to the effect that sparkly pink was Right Out, but stainless steel and black were good ideas (we have Internets in the space; I pointed her to some photos on the blog).

So I did some sketches at StrowlerCon, and took a couple of hours a week later to put it all together. I am always surprised by how long it takes to wind wire around other wire; the main structure took about an hour, but all the fiddly bits to finish it up took almost as much time!

A final sketch - on paper towels, because I forgot to bring trace paper - with some beads laid on top of it to see how those might look.

Completed tiara, formed by bending stainless steel wire and wiring glass and lava beads to it.

The completed tiara. The large bead is lava; the small ones are glass.

I used 20 ga stainless steel for the main structure, and 22 ga stainless for the windings around the structure, and to attach the big bead. The 22 ga was too heavy to attach the small beads, so I ended up using some 24? 26? ga tinned copper to attach those. Note to self: Order some smaller gauge stainless!

Closeup image of parts of the tiara, focusing on the small gauge wire and beads.

I really like how the thin wire, repeated enough, becomes an additional decorative element, background to the beads and general overall form. It keeps surprising me when that happens.

Success!

Conclusion: really not that much different from the necklaces, though forming the base into the right shape was a lot trickier.

StrowlerCon post-con report

Posted on October 11, 2010 by J. Feathersmith

This is supposed to be a project journal, where I write about what I am making and keep track of process and stuff like that, not a more diary-like blog, but dammit, it’s MINE and I make the rules, so I’m going to write something long and not really project focused.

Hey, wow, I’m also really tired, so it might not make sense, and if it weren’t for the automagic spelling error pointer-outer, this would be filled with typos.

So, the con.

There was a con! And it was small. But it was really, really awesome. If nothing else, I think it wins “best dressed con goers” award for the fantastically high percentage of people who were dressed in interesting/funky/weird/fantastic clothing. Oh my god the eye candy.

Even at Arisia, where hall costumes and funny clothes are kind of normal, I feel a bit odd dressing up or putting on a costume. Not here! Here I felt totally normal! . . . wearing feather ears all weekend.

I stepped out of the elevator at one point and there were two girls, perhaps 10 and 12, waiting to get on. They both did a pretty amazing double-take when I stepped out. I managed to not double over laughing, but I probably smirked a bit. Sorry, kids.

I missed most of the music acts, because I volunteered to do volunteer work, and that ended up being watching the doors of the performance space on Saturday and Sunday. So I did get to hear most things, though filtered through the doors.

Friday night, I caught far too little of the Gypsy Nomads, who totally rocked, but I made a point of being there for Cat Valente and SJ Tucker’s “Monsters Ball.” They alternated readings by Cat from her written work, with songs by SJ inspired by Cat’s writing. Really awesome. Only disappointment is that the music inspired by Palimpsest isn’t out on an album yet.

I set up my jewelry Friday night. Turns out I was only one of 2 people who signed up as “Maker” – everyone else signed up as vendors. So I gave some thought to it, and ended up writing up prices for the pieces. People kept asking! And it was only Friday! No, the Mechanic’s Collar is not for sale. Unless you want to pay off my student loans and free me from the necessity of a 40 hour-a-week desk job so I can do more art. Then we should talk.

I’ve come to the conclusion that I need to come up with some designs that are more accessible than the ear cuffs, but not as expensive/time intensive as the necklaces. Sunday night, while sitting at the door, I did MANY PAGES of sketches, trying to come up with some ideas. And now I am really anxious to get some time to try them out, but, hey, desk job.

Saturday was the busiest day – there were a lot of people there just for Saturday, plus all the whole-weekend people.

I went to the contact juggling workshop! It was wonderful! I dropped the ball a lot, but I got better about not dropping it. I even, eventually, found a spot on my arm, near my inner elbow, where the damn thing can balance (everyone else there found a spot in seconds; I had to lift my arm a lot higher than I thought was necessary for the muscles to move right). I think that I could actually become good at it, and the instructor said so as well. (He is not nearly as spooky as his picture might lead you to believe.)

He came by my table later on and said some very kind and encouraging things about my work, and how to do some better marketing (omg, I have to do marketing. For myself.). I really appreciated it a lot – thank you!

Sunday was pretty slow. I developed cabin fever and a fear that I was about to start climbing the walls, I don’t care how tired I was. If I’d been at home, I’d have gone on a mad cleaning binge. Or raked ALL THE LEAVES. And this was after spending a couple hours playing with wire and making some new ear cuffs. Yes, I got bored even with that. I think it was all the sitting.

One of the nice things about it being slow was having time to chat with the other people in the room about what they do, hearing about their techniques, and more about the business end of things. It was like our own little mini-con!

So, I am terrifically tired because it has been many days since I went to bed at a reasonable hour and got enough sleep, but it was a really good weekend. I think it was a really good way to get a gentle introduction to having a vendor table (even if technically I was there as a “maker,” people coming by were treating it pretty much as a dealers’ room), because the crowds were, um, not really heavy enough to be a crowd, and the people were really friendly.

I don’t know if I necessarily want to do a table at a high-traffic event, but I have some idea what to expect, without associated bad memories.

Anyway. I was glad to have the time to get to learn more about what other people are doing, and meet some people who are (mostly) local to me and making/selling awesome things:

Purpleshiny, a local jewelry artist. I really love her beetle-wing earrings. Perhaps because they sort of look like feathers. And they are so shiny!

Behind the Mask, a local mask maker I first met at Arisia earlier this year, who works primarily in paper mache, and makes masks ranging from incredible ornate pieces for theatre and simpler (and affordable) masks for mortals.

Goth Fae, who had clothing and accessories that I looked at a lot, and have a mental note to look up in a few months when the shirt I wanted might be around in my size.

Dark Siren Designs, sorta local (New Hampshire, I think), jewelry and accessories. A lot of really pretty things made from lace that have had shiny bits attached to them. Some of the chokers looked like metal filigree, except more comfortable.

The Uncommon Facade, another local mask maker (leather work) – who makes masks that can be worn with glasses!

The Red Fork Empire, the other Maker, and sorta local (RI). Fortunately not in a room-conquering mood. Though I was well armed with pliers . . .

Lennon Studio, paintings and block prints – I remember the dragonfly and raven prints the best; another local. Okay, you know what? I think everyone was local, except Goth Fae, who are based out of New Orleans. She’s also a dancer, but unfortunately I only caught one of her acts.

Parrish Relics – exquisite jewelry, and a really wonderful table setup.

Auntie Arwen’s Spices, tempting spice mixes and fudge; not local, though they were also running a table for Silver Owl Creations (jewelry, including some really gorgeous hammered copper wire pieces), who is.

Also, Artisan’s Asylum had a table there, which was next to mine (not a coincidence). For most of the weekend, the person actually at that table had a Makerbot there that got a lot of attention. That thing has the deceptive LYING NAME of “Cupcake CNC” – it DOES NOT MAKE CUPCAKES. CNC or otherwise. It might able to frost them, however.

I was sad to miss HONK!, which was also this weekend, but I am glad I went. It was a pretty nice pace, I liked the people, and next year, I might be well enough prepared to actually do a workshop.

And now I could really use a nap.

Mitsuro jewelry

Posted on September 29, 2010 by J. Feathersmith

I learned about mitsuro earlier today, browsing the jewelry section of the website of the man scheduled to teach a workshop on contact juggling at StrowlerCon. (CONTACT JUGGLING OMG. ahem)

It’s a technique that uses wax to form a piece, but instead of carving the wax, you warm and stretch and pull it and.

Wow.

Wow, does he make some amazing work using that technique. I love the organic look, and I would be hard pressed to pick a favorite, because I could hardly stop staring at any of them long enough to click “next.”

Contests! Jewelry and hackerspace craziness

Posted on September 20, 2010 by J. Feathersmith

A friend pointed me in the direction of a contest being held by Happy Mango Beads, with a “Trash to Treasure” theme.

I spent about 5? or 6? hours working on my entry, and I am delighted to announce that my entry was one of the alternate winners! Which means: FREE BEAD MONEYS. Also: fame and notoriety.

Maybe not.

Anyway, here it is, the Machinist’s Collar:

Collar made from stainless steel wire, glass beads, and found objects

"When I aimed my flashlight toward the back of the machine shop, an unexpected blue glint caught my eye. I was not expecting to find this: a collar made from stainless steel wire, woven into a framework for broken watch bands, rusted washers, and other metal objects I could not identify, accented with glass beads. Was this completed by a bored machinist, waiting for a necessary part to arrive? The result of finally emptying the jar labeled “Shiny! or might be useful some day”? Or a symbol of office, abandoned when the shop closed? Perhaps the number of washers hung from the front indicated levels of seniority. I may never know; I visited only days before the wrecking ball arrived."

I raided my collection of random metal objects for this. I knew they’d come in handy someday! VINDICATION!!

The collar turned out to be taller than I originally planned, and for a while I felt pretty bummed out that it was not matching my original concept. It was going to be terrible! And then it started to come together, and I am more pleased with the result than I was with my original concept.

Also: check out the photos of all the entries on Facebook – there are a lot of really gorgeous entries. I think this necklace is my favorite.

On to something less wearable:

Back in August, Artisan’s Asylum had the opportunity to participate in a hackerspace competition. We had 3 weeks to complete a project. Which would be videotaped. The process and the final result. For the purpose of being shown on VIMBY.

The first hour of the show is up, which introduces the competition and very briefly introduces the 5 groups participating. We will get our very own hour in an upcoming week.

Much like the project itself, this both terrifies and excites me.

Swapfest loot

Posted on September 20, 2010 by J. Feathersmith

I haven’t been to Swapfest since last year, and realized recently that I needed to remedy that. This is what I came home with (also a pair of pliers, but they are less exciting and photogenic):

On the left, a bag of EMF shielding; on the right, some really lovely bearings.

The shielding is stuff I have experimented with before, but I only have a small quantity left, so I now I feel free to do more experimentation, and have plenty for good results, too! It has an adhesive strip on the back, which is not particularly useful for me, I think.

I did not buy out the bearing seller’s entire supply, but I was tempted. They’re so pretty!

Some of the bearings have tiny springs in between the balls; other have more rigid spacers.

More fun teaching! (I’ll be at StrowlerCon)

Posted on September 19, 2010 by J. Feathersmith

Which is a con with a lot of performance stuff at it – music and circus-type performances of the type that I have seen at Arisia and elsewhere.

Also, they will have a Maker Showcase, which is like an art show. But (or so I am told) also demonstrations going on in the same place at the same time.

I learned about this maybe a month ago, at an Asylum meeting; one of our wardens had been asked by the StrowlerCon people to help with the Maker Showcase, and we all thought we should try to get an Asylum table there. With work by some of us, and propaganda I mean fliers and fun things like that.

And then I looked around at the website and decided to write up a proposal for putting some of my wire things in the Maker Showcase (hey they said they were looking for costuming sorts of things! not just whizzy electronics). And also maybe I could do a workshop on making feather ears (or paper, or fabric, or whatever), or wire fish to hang from trees . . .

Time passed.

I began to wonder when I would hear back, but it had been less than a week.

More time passed!

I began to panic worry, because depending on the specifics, I might have to be all kinds of prepared and I didn’t want to get prepared and then find out No, but also I didn’t want to not be prepared enough and find out OMG TOO MUCH TOO LATE.

To make a boring story short, I learned last my proposals have been accepted, and I think I pretty much get to choose how to display things, and how much time I want to spend doing demonstrations/workshops, right there in the Maker room, which is lovely and much less terrifying than “Hey, here’s a two hour slot! In the program and in a room that holds 20 people and everything!”

So now I have but a short time to sit down at my desk visit the Abyss and work out a lot of details. So that I don’t find myself trying to find the right words to explain to other people how I do what I just know how to do (like the Bazaar Bizarre).

Things I am thinking about demonstrating:

feather ears, though possibly with paper instead of feathers (or starched fabric?)
simple ear cuffs, because hey! I finally sat down and worked this out myself! and they are relatively simple and quick
wire fish and birds and geometric shapes, for sticking in lawns and hanging from trees

I toyed briefly with the idea of paying for a vendor table, but realized that I do not have the time to make enough items to make a table worthwhile. However, there is apparently some way I can sell things, but it sounds like it is more complicated than if I had a vendor table. So that is an intriguing option that bears more thought. And also requires I make some more things (but not SO MANY).

Simple to make, simple to teach, can have dangly beaded bits hang off them for more fun.

Bazaar Bizarre aftermath

Posted on September 3, 2010 by J. Feathersmith

So I worked at a craft fair (the Bazaar Bizarre, in its first-ever summer occurrence) for the first time ever, and it was only slightly less terrifying than I imagine it would have been if I’d actually been selling my own work.

I was there at the Artisan’s Asylum table; we were there to pass out flyers and show people how to make simple crafts. A couple of people were making neat hair decorations, tiny hats, and bags out of ties. We had bookbinding, and someone showing off Sumobots. Our coffee making demo had to cancel on account of it being too windy. And we had two people doing jewelry demos (the other person was showing knotwork).

Jewelry display, plus duct tape head with feather mask, plus flyers, beads, wire, etc.

I brought a lot of glass beads, figuring I could show people how to make simple dangly earrings. I even sat down and practiced by myself, so I would know how to talk someone through the process while demonstrating it.

No one was interested in learning how to make them.

People were interested in making ear cuffs, which I had on my big display board.

And of course I didn’t have any of the really simple ear cuffs there. Fortunately, I did have my brass wire, because at the last minute I decided to bring it so I could amuse myself if nothing else was going on.

I know now how just how poorly I know what I am doing, because I found myself flailing a lot trying to explain how to hold the wire and the tools – and honestly, I don’t know that -I- always follow the same process, so there was a lot of ad hockery (ad hackery?). I figure that explaining that teaching this was all new to me might be reassuring to people who were confused by the process a bit. Well, I got some laughs at least. And my victi- er students did end up with wearable ear cuffs.

Also, I got some really nice feedback about some of the wire work I had on display (the stainless steel necklace, which I finished off and now – of course now! – want to make some edits to. Guess I’ll have to make another. OH NOES.), like encouragement to make more and sell it.

I did loads of research earlier this year into Etsy and good places to buy supplies (bulk wire, especially), but time going elsewhere, and massive terror at the prospect of taking this semi-seriously, have conspired to keep me from actually setting up a shop and making items to sell. But I think at this point (and then there was a coworker this morning, who I showed some photos to), I have no choice.

If for no other reason than to subsidize my bead buying habit.

Stainless steel wire necklace, finished

Posted on August 29, 2010 by J. Feathersmith

I finished the ends of this off over a week ago, and wore it a couple of times, because I couldn’t quite figure out what else, if anything, needed to be done with it. Also, I wanted to display it at the Bazaar Bizarre, which reminds me I have a draft post about that I need to publish. Oops.

Anyway, I figured out what needed to be added, and here is a not very good picture of it:

Stainless steel wire necklace with jasper pendant

The stone is jasper. I think.

Close up of the jasper (?)

(Additional pictures on Flickr.) I wanted to move on to a new project more than I wanted to take more/better pictures. The new project is going somewhat slowly; I’m having some difficulty weaving the horizontal wires through the vertical pieces. I may have to rethink my strategy; it’s much more difficult than the necklace above.

Some early bends of a wire choker/collar in progress

Some early bends for a wire choker/collar

We shall see how this goes.

Stainless steel wire necklace (in progress)

Posted on August 15, 2010 by J. Feathersmith

I finally felt caught up enough on stuff, and also too tired to do much else, to clean off my desk yesterday.

Seeing all that surface again kind of felt like gazing into the abyss. If, you know, you knew the abyss might possible have cake in there somewhere.

This evening I sat down and worked on another necklace, which I sketched up, er, some weeks ago. It’s not done; I need to add thinner wire to strengthen it a bit and add detail.

Originally, I was going to add some sort of dangly thing – like a biohazard symbol or something – in the middle, like I did with the brass necklace I made previously, but now I’m reconsidering. It might not actually need anything there, and I quite like it as-is.

Also, I have decided that from now on, I will say “I’m going to spend some time in the abyss” whenever I am retreating to my desk.

Long overdue post full of ear cuffs

Posted on July 16, 2010 by J. Feathersmith

I seem to have a bit of breathing space, so I am catching up. ZOMG TWO POSTS IN ONE DAY.

So.

Have some ear cuff photos!

Love the simple shape. Need to redo this to fit right.

It all started so simply.

: And it fit!

Then there was a variation. With a bead.

Several feather/leaf ear cuffs, all slightly different

And then there were more. (These are just some of the non-rejects.)

Ear cuffs in a row. Silver with feather; brass with beads (and without

A favorite pair.

Ear cuff with thinner wire wrapped around it, making a vining look.

Adding some thin wire wrapped around the main frame added some additional viney leafy bits.

Ear cuffs with multiple, layered leaf shapes

A friend suggested wrapping some excess wire back up the shape, and creating layered leaves. Needs a little refining (I dislike the indentation along the edge), but I really like the layered look.

With bonus not-ear cuff wire work:

Wire necklace made from "weaving" wire together.

This was inspired by the wire mesh I made for the sink, as well as Elise Matheson's fabulous necklace-crowns.

WordPress hates when I try to put links in captions, apparently, so let’s try that again: here is Elise’s blog (go find “new shinies” and “shiny sale” posts for jewelry goodness); here are photos of a necklace-crown.