Art Charms All Finished

Finally finished up all my art charms for the swap I'm in this month. The theme was Blue, Silver, White/Clear. This wasn't too hard for me but I did sign up to do 2 sets like a dummy, so instead of only having to do 36 charms I did almost 80. That was quite an undertaking especially since I decided to use what I already had or could find around the house in found objects.

There are a couple that I really love, one is the crystal ladder charm and the other is the bullet charm. I had some steel bullet casings that I cleaned the primer out of and they worked perfectly. The crystal ladder charm is one of my own designs...you can find the tutorial HERE.

Today I created all the tags and tied them to each charm so that the person receiving them will know who made it.

Some of the other found objects I used were some old sales tax tokens from Washington State and some Transit token. I used what I had and I like them so well I ordered more from Ebay so that I would have more to use in a future swap. Other objects came out of my sewing box like safety pins, buttons and snaps. The snaps were fun to work with and they already have holes in them for the jump rings or to dangle other beads.

Another unusual piece I used was a glass fuse that I wrapped wire around (you can just see it in the basket). I played with wire creating my sun wrap, crystal ladder and butterfly as well as wire wrapping some beach glass.

This was a learning experience for me to not go out and just buy all the supplies I would need and instead reuse and re-purpose. That seems to be the new mantra these days. I know that my mother would probably say that is the way they used to make things and we are now just coming back around full circle.

Today was create day #18. Are you still creating?

BTW if you are interested in joining an Art Charm group to learn and swap charms here is the link to the one I belong to on Yahoo Groups.  http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ArtCharms/

Found Objects

I've been in an artsy mood lately and wanting to do more with my art (painting), so I thought the best way to get back into it was to start an art journal and to devote 30-60 min. per day to just creating with my paint, glue, paper, pens, etc. to see where I wanted to go with it. The journal would be my experiment with all different kinds of mediums such as watercolor, acrylic, pastels, collage and pen & pencil. I've taken a few classes in art drawing and watercolor, but other than that no other formal training so I guess I just don't know where to go. I've painted quite a few watercolors (I prefer florals) but wanted to venture into acrylics and so I did a few last December. I found it very forgiving unlike watercolor, so I'll play with it a bit more.

I digress as today's post is on found objects. As we pack our kitchen and other rooms for remodeling, I'm finding all kinds of things that would make great components in jewelry. Here is my latest pile.

As you can see I have some pop tops, wine corks, eraser, keys, old transit tokens and tax tokens, old pieces of jewelry parts, flower arrangement marbles some washers and nuts from my husbands tool chest and some old military ribbons.

The wine cork I make into a necklace component by sticking some 20 gauge wire through the middle and stringing a crystal on each end and then making a wrapped loop. The key I painted so far one coat of purple paint and I have glued a image on the back of one of the flat backed marbles and then added one of the washers (I think it will become a magnet). For the pop can tops, maybe I'll flatten them out and make earrings out of them. The eraser also had a piece of wire pushed through the middle in order that I could make a loop on top. I can see this becoming a cool necklace pendant with maybe a few other doo dads for a teacher.

Okay so what can you find around your house that you can use in jewelry design? You can't buy it, so no cheating.

For another idea to use with the wine corks, head over to Martha and check out her button stamps. I plan on making me some as soon as I can get all my craft room stuff un-boxed so that I can find my buttons. Pictures of the new craft room cabinets coming soon....hopefully Monday.

Cheers, I hope you are having a good weekend.