A Sky Full Of Stars

(Looking for my BSBP reveal ? go here ! <3)

'Cause in a sky, 'cause in a sky full of stars
I think I see you
I think I see you

This piece is a bit personal for a few reasons, the first of which being because it features a bead by my very talented lampwork artist friend, Donna Millard. I remember her making this bead a few days after she saw an aurora. I fell in love with that bead, but I did not have the money. And so that bead was gone, slipping in between my fingers.

Some time later, Donna made another. Again, I did not have the money. But that one bead, for some reason, sat there.It sat there and it waited, for months, until Donna had a sale. Then, I was able to bring my little dream of a bead home.

And I could not have been happier. There are no photos that can give that bead any justice. It is breathtaking. A sky full of stars, indeed. I had a really fun time trying to replicate the glow and iridescence with the shattered fire opal from the iced enamels line. It's far from the same, but it is still such a lovely effect ! I did the bowl of the two spoons as well as the round part of the handles, then poured resin on top. They all just glow ! I fear I am even more addicted to the medium than I once was... Please send help more of it, yes. I will have most of the new colors soon, minus one - they're still a bit hard to get !

The beads are blue goldstone, which is actually a man-made material rather than an actual stone. I always thought it looked like a starry sky to me, so adding a few was a given.Then I made a tassel with my star chain. The tassel addiction continues, ever and ever <<;

So I had the focal part done. I had no idea what to do the neckline with. I thought about just using more star chain, but it didn't seem to fit for some reason. This is the proof that an idea can happen everywhere and nothing is laughable... I was at the bakery, getting a tart for dessert. It was being boxed, and that box was then being wrapped in lengths of black ribbon. That was my AHA moment. As you can see this is not cheap plastic ribbon. This is a very nice fabric ribbon that worked perfectly for this purpose and provided the final touch.

When You Wish Upon A Star...

...It doesn't matter where you are.

So, hey, long time no actual... stuff, right ? Well, that is not really the case - just that most of it is tied to reveal dates. This piece is not, though, so I can actually share it. Yay yay.

This piece started as a simple entry for Brenda's march challenge - about kitchen sink jewelry. What in the ever loving hell is kitchen sink jewelry ? Well, I'll leave that for the master to clarify.

Then it kind of ran away from me. I didn't expect kitchen sink to be so addicting. I had issues with the mail that delayed the completion a lot, for one (thank you, Canada Post, nearly failing me as always). Brenda's geisha was a definite inspiration, but I wanted to put my own spin on it.

And so resulted a monster that did not even attempt to pretend to fit on the form. Hope none of you are too badly shocked.

The necklace wraps around, as you can see, to show off the lovely handmade clasp from Catherine Pruitt of BooBeads. Love love love love LOVE these claps. I want all of them, ktnxbye. It says 'Follow your own star', and I wired an opalite star to it. Some ribbon is looped though the lower part of the chain, and you can see the little rounds peeking on top.

I basically threw on everything that I liked on this. Blue beads, opalite, star beads, little bottles, keys... You know, everything but the kitchen sink ! My first attempt was too ambitious - it was too heavy to wear ! So I had to take everything off and start over.

The focal is a bezel that I painted with the vintaj inks, scattered some of my star chain and some of my spacers on, then poured resin into. The moon maiden and the wish charm where glued on at the very end, when my maiden finally decided to show up in my mailbox.

So what did I do with all the extra crap ?

Heh. :P That's not even all of it... I've got some things to unwire still.

Galaxia Insomnia ~ Astral Domination

It started with one woman, and one bead.

Lampwork bead by Jennifer Cameron.

Part of her Nightmare Insomnia line <3

There was a party, the the bead changed hands. It changed countries, in fact ! The second woman saw the universe, a nebula, trapped in glass.Infinity in something that could be held in the palm on one's hand.

Add some more inspiration...

Nightmare Imsomnia became Galaxia Insomnia.

The galaxy sways, trapped in it's bottle, to the backdrop of more distant space. The purple stone is an agate, but it was the patterning of it that made me decide to use it. It sadly has less purple in it than the seller's photos showed, but it still works well all the same. The lone pink star is cat's eye. The open beads are metal beads that I rescued from a broken piece I found in a thrift store, and painted with vintaj patinas.Those beads are framed by tiny glass ovals. The clasp is likewise painted in the same manner. Yes, that is a sideway clasp ! My first, in facr.

The stone is much more loosely wrapped than I usually do, because I did not want to steal focus from the lampwork too much. I painted copper bead caps black with the vintaj patinas to help complete the bottle shape. As you can see, Jen's lovely bead had  copper undertones itself. <3

I dyed the chain with swellegant dyes. The dyes in the swellegant line are very liquidy and less opaque than the vintaj line (which are more like enamels, really) so some of the silver base peek through. It's an extremely interesting effect that I plan to revisit later on.

And I knew that somehow, I could find my way back...

Have you ever seen Donna Millard's amazing lampwork ?

No ? Well, go for it. I'll wait.

Try not to spend all your money now !

...

...

Oh, you're back ! Well, let's continue this, shall we ? This story starts with Donna posting some of her amazing bead sets in the BSC (or was it the CBC ? Hmm. One of those two.) and I was hit right in the head by the clue fairy. With a 2x4.

BUY THESE BEADS !!!! BUYTHEMBUYTHEMBUYTHEM !!!!! She yelled at me, all happiness and excitement. THIS IS WHAT WE WILL DO WITH THEM !!!!!

(or maybe I need to lay off the pepsi. Both options are extremely valid)

And so, since I am known as a woman of extreme willpower and good with saving my money (HAHAHAHA).... I brought them.

Before I get to the end result, however, I want to share a little something with you. Most people probably already know this, but I figure I might as well share it with everyone else.

Thanks to the lovely B'Sue, we know that one can use alchool ink pens on metal... But does it work on anything else ?

Hmmmm, I did wonder.

I have a bunch of very lovely white silk ribbon that I've brought some time ago, with the intention of dyeing it. Well, turns out I have no idea where my dye went, and I live in a tiny little hole where I have to drive an hour away to The Big City to have a chance to get some. (No joke)

Eff that noise, I thought. Being the artsy kind, I own copic markers... And I went to town.

So you can, in fact, color ribbon with alchool ink pens. Blending colors is pretty easy, too, and once dry the color won't wash off !

I just happened to have the copics on hand, but if you are buying pens just for colorizing metal/ribbon ? Go with the spectrum noirs. You will get a lot more for your money that way.

And what did I use this for, you ask ? Well, glad you've asked !

This is where I figured out an easy peasy way to string lampwork on chain. You just do a bunch of little links with beading wire, then attach the individual chain segments to make your finished chain. I did not want to use wire for this to keep the piece as light and flexible as possible... And the jump rings also gave me the perfect opening to thread in my ribbon. Looks kind of sunset-y doesn't it ? At least that was what Donna's lovely beads reminded me of <3 The star is actually brass chain with tiny little star link. I resisted getting this chain for a long time, but when I did finally start to use chain more and more in my work, I finally did cave in.

How Predictable.

<<

MIEN.