Men's Wire-Wrapped Buckle Ring

That's what I'm calling it, anyway.

This morning, I woke up wanting to create a wire-wrapped ring for a guy.  Something that I'd wear, as well as other men.  This is what I came up with.  I'm happy with the basic design, but I'm thinking there are some things I'd change before I started to sell it.  For one, I'll probably use a heavier gauge wire.

For those of you who frequent the blog, let me know what you think about it!  Is there anything you'd change on it? 

Wire Wrapped Pendant

A friend of mine asked Karla to make a piece of jewelry out of a stone she (the friend) picked up at some tourist spot. I have completely forgotten where it was picked up or what kind of stone it is. So, it fell to me to do the wrapping to make it a pendant.

This is what I came up with: 

I must say that I'm extremely proud of it!  I used the tutorial here for inspiration and the general know-how to be able to do it, as I've never done it before.  Karla will be finishing the piece, finding the perfect chain and other embellishments.

As this is a custom piece and specific order, it's not going on Etsy.  But, everyone take note!  Should you want something like this, all you have to do is Convo us on Etsy, or send an email to kelleyaccents [at] gmail [dot] com.

Having a clean Camera

This is SUPER IMPORTANT when you have an online store.  I realized earlier yesterday that it's been over a year since I've cleaned the lens on my camera, and during that year, the camera went on a vacation to Mexico, was loaned to my 1yr old son several times, and had an accumulation of saliva and dust.

Why is this important?  If you lens is dirty, you're not going to get a good focus on your items, and when you're photographing something close up, like I do for the store, you need a CLEAR and CRISP focus.  I cleaned my lens yesterday and am very happy with the results.  Check this latest listing out:

The focus is clear and crisp and the photo is beautiful!  There is very little noise in the black, the colors are strong and wonderful.

So, how do you clean your lens?  Very simply.  If it's a compact, turn it on, so the lens extends.   Get a cotton swab and wet one end with rubbing alcohol and then wipe the lens down with the swab, going in a circle starting from the outside.  Make sure to get as far to the sides as you can.  Depending on how dirty your lens is, you may want to dry it with the dry end of the swab, then wipe it down with the wet end again.

When it's clean, lightly blow on the lens to dry it.  DO NOT put your mouth too close to the lens.  The vapor from your breath can get into the lens and condense on the inner elements, making it impossible to focus.  Make sure to keep your mouth about eight inches away from the lens when you blow on it.  It should dry after a minute with no streaking.  If it streaked, clean it again.

And, there you have it!  Your lens is clean so you'll get cleaner photos.

Journals

If you're like me, and have a horrible memory, journals can be your best friends!  It annoys me to no end when Karla talks to me about something of which I have no recollection.  Recently, I've been writing in my journal a lot more than I used to.  I want to remember this stuff and want to have my feelings detailed so it can help me remember in the future. 

On a related note, I'm attempting to learn to bind my own books.  It would be lovely to make my own journals, with quality bindings and a covering of my own choice.

Browsing through Etsy, I found this wonder:  A Winters Journal
That is one cool looking book!  

Learn by Doing

So, I've spent the morning cruising the net, trying to promote our Etsy store and generally wasting time.

I did, however, have a learning experience.  Yesterday, I purchased a coil of copper wire to experiement with (since it's sooo much cheaper than sterling) and try out some designs.  After a wasted hour, I broke it out along with a couple jewelry pliers.  I started twisting, wrapping, and bending wire.  I came up with some cool spirals that I think I want to use in a pair of earrings.  I looked at them and thought to myself, "Self.  These earrings would be REALLY cool with some hammered copper!"  I don't have a jewelers anvil or an appropriate hammer.  So, I broke out the carpenters hammer and a pry-bar to hammer on.

It didn't work.  I finally ended up hammering the copper wire into the concrete of the patio.  It takes a lot of fine hammering to get a good look, yet you've got to know when to stop.  I was trying to flatten out the whole piece, eyering included.  The wire wrapped around the eyering cut the post and cut the eyering right off!  Oops.  Well, now I know not to do that again.

It was a wonderful experience, simply because, had I not attempted to do it, I wouldn't have learned that it doesn't work!  Now, I know, and 'Knowing is Half the Battle!'

Working with Wire

Since I've started making jewelry with my wife, I've been drawn to working with wire.  There is something that makes it a very satisfying pursuit.  I'm not quite sure what it is.  It may be taking something and using my hands to form it into something that looks (or tries to!) beautiful. 

As I was pondering what to write about tonight, I was browsing through Etsy and found this shop:  WireYourWorld

The work there is absolutely beautiful!  I especially love this piece!

It also appears to be a very successful shop.  Which is a good thing!  It means, if we do it right, we can reach that level as well.  We just need to figure out how.

I'm a big Stargate fan and have had an idea for a few weeks now to do some wirework based on the symbols of the different Goa'uld.  I think it would be great fun, but I'm not sure how well the pieces would be received!

No Sleep!

I'm not going to sleep tonight until I sell something! Or, until it's 1am, whichever comes first, but I want it to be a sale!

Help me out, peeps! If it's not going to be you, IM or text a friend and have them check the shop out! If the person who makes a purchase was referred by someone else, I'll even try to do something special for that someone! Who knows!

I'm feeling silly this evening and this is likely to be ONLY THE FIRST crazy thing I do all night!

So, come check out the store!  Give us a hand...

Headpin Tutorial

So, I finally finished the tutorial for making headpins.  It's in .pdf format and hosted on Google Documents, so you can read it directly from the net or download it to read it later. 

Making Headpins

If you'd like to see a finished piece where I used this technique, see this ring.

How to Balance Art and Life

If you're an artist, struggling to make a living off of your art, it can be really, really hard to dedicate enough time to your art while not neglecting the other facets of your life.  I suppose that can happen with any field of interest that takes time, but I'm going to concentrate on art, because that's what I love.

For Karla and I, it has gotten really tough to dedicate the necessary time to promoting the site, creating new pieces, keeping a regular posting schedule on the blog and store... ugh!  It is a nightmare of a balancing act.  Between the little boy, my day job, cleaning, cooking, going out... we've only got a few hours each night to work on this stuff.  But you know what: we work on it!  That's the only way to get it balanced.  Do everything you need to do to make life livable and confortable.  Then, take your spare time and go at it!  If art is what you love, do it, practice it. 

I, personally, think it's better to branch out, as well.  Let's say you don't want to do any jewelry tonight.  Pick up a sketch pad and draw out your next cool design.  Grab some polymer clay and work with that for an evening, instead of crystals and wire.  It helps clear the mind and, a lot of times, provides inspiration that you wouldn't have gotten otherwise. 

Another source for inspiration, at least for me, is always being observant during my day job.  It's always funny the ideas that come to me as I watch someone walk down the sidewalk, or push a cart in the supermarket or whatever! 

I think that art should permeate life.  Art is inspired by life and it imitates life.  Embrace it, think about it and you may be surprised what you come up with.

Polyclay Cuff Bracelets

So, I've worn the cuff off and on over the past couple weeks.  I've got to say, it turned out better than I expected.  That being said, I say there's room for improvement!  Polymer clay is a very versatile, and that's one of the reasons I love it.  But... it's not very comfortable!  Having that hard plastic press against my wrist for several hours a day got to be painful.  It felt like I had a bruise on my wrist. 

If I wouldn't like wearing it, I'm certainly not going to make it for other people!  That would just be... well, wrong.

So, I'm modifying the design.  I'm going to make large polyclay squares with stamped designs and I'll lace it all together with leather lace.  I think it'll be awesome.  I really do.

Well, that's that for the experiment.  It was fun and I learned quite a bit from it. 

A Brand New Item

We've just posted a brand new bracelet! It's a lot of fun. If you like ruby colored crystals, this one's got'em!


On a side note, we've been very busy these past couple weeks. Or however long it's been. I've had a bunch of work to do in my day job and Karla's been working in every bit of free-time she's had to create new pieces. She has a jewelry party scheduled for later this month. A lady from church is setting it up. And I'll get to stay home and take care of the little guy. I'm sure she'll have a lot of fun!

And, I still have those photos for the tutorial, I just haven't made time to write anything yet. Hopefully soon!

Polyclay Cuff Bracelet, Pt. 2

Ok, so I think I'm making progress!  I took the polyclay blank that I made the other day and tried to superglue some wire to it.  Yeah... not so much.  It didn't work as well as I'd hoped, mainly because the superglue took SOOOO long to dry.  So I gave up on that.

I rolled out another 'slab' of polymer clay.  This one was a little bit thicker than the base I made and with colors!  Of course, I'll put more work into this layer if these things actually get off the ground.  Into this layer, I embedded the two thin wires.  I learned that I have to just embed part and leave a curve to the wire, otherwise it blows out the topside of the fresh clay when I try to wrap it around the blank.

So I got it wrapped around.  It looked good.  I took a Bic pen and just made some knicks in the clay and some small slices with the blade to make it look a little worn... "stylish" if you will.  *grin*  I made sure the wire was bent so that the cuff would be a small size while baking.

Then I put it in the oven.

I let it cool for a half an hour in the oven after it was done cooking and then pulled it out to let it cool the rest of the way.  I'm wearing it right now.  I was afraid to put it on.  It was really small, but it bent very well to go on my wrist.  It's stayed on for at least 20 minutes.  The only thing I'm noticing is that, since it's plastic, my skin isn't breathing very well.  I'm not really concerned with that at the moment.  The thing is pretty comfortable.  It's gripping my arm well.  It even felt tight a little bit ago, but I think it's conforming a little to the size of my wrist.

So... this part of the experiment is done.  Now to see if it stands up to a weeks worth of daily use!  Stay tuned...

"Same Cuff time!  Same Cuff channel!"

 

Polyclay Cuff Bracelet?

Can it be done?  I'm determined to do it!  There has to be a way to get a quality cuff bracelet made from polymer clay.  I've seen quite a few people put the clay over a metal blank... but I'm too unique to do that! 

I began experimenting with it tonight.  I first made a form out of folded aluminum foil with some wire running through it to help it hold the shape I wanted.  I rolled out a sheet of polymer clay and applied it to that form, the baked it.  Once it cooled, I peeled the form off the inside.

I immediately saw that I've got a problem.  The Sculpey Premo that I used has a good amount of flex to it.  That's the reason I used it for this project.  It's too much.  I put the basic cuff on and it falls right off.  It's own weight makes it open and close.  I need some wire in it to help it keep it's shape. 

I see the wisdom in using the metal blanks.  But I'm still not going to give up on this and use them!  Not yet, anyway.

So... here's the plan.

1.  Roll out another sheet of clay to put over the basic cuff.  I'll stamp designs and such on it.

2.  Put wire in between the second sheet and the basic cuff.  This should help it keep the form I want.

3.  Bake it and finish it.

4.  Wear the darn thing for a week!  I need to see if it's durable enough.  If it breaks because the clay can't support the daily use then there's no point in going any further.

Ok, now.  GOGOGOGO!

Bunch Ring & Our First Tutorial!

Well... the tutorial is soon to come.  I've taken the photos for it and will write the text up tomorrow.  I'm so tired right now!

As I said in the last two posts, I've wanted to make a ring out of wire and beads.  A Bunch Ring.  And I've succeeded in doing that!  The design came out of 'Step by Step Wire Jewelry', but I made it!  I'm so proud of myself, can't you tell?

So, our first tutorial is going to be on making headpins.  I hope our readers will find it useful.  I hope to post the completed tutorial tomorrow.  If I get too busy, well, it'll probably have to wait until the weekend!

Art Supplies

Karla and I decided to go and buy some more art supplies today.  It was quite enjoyable!  Ok, enough with the proper English.  It was a ton of fun!  I grabbed some linseed oil for my oil painting projects and looked at some beads.  I also got some copper wire (colored silver, of COURSE!) to experiment with.  I'm going to try to make the ring I referred to in the last post.

Karla bought quite a few crystals and some stone and glass beads.  And some more silver.  It's all about the silver.

And, tonight, we're making time to sit down and work on some jewelry!  Well... that is after our son falls asleep and he seems to be taking his sweet time about that.  Sometimes I get so exhausted when I'm putting him to sleep.  It's amazing how much work it is.

Anyhow, that's the news for now!

New Ring?

Karla found this amazing HowTo article in a magazine she has, about making a bunch ring out of wire.  I love the design, it's so cute!  I'm going to try it.  I just need to get some wire.  I've heard that copper is in style now, so I'm going to get some of that and give it a try. 

For anyone who's curious, it's on pg. 25 of 'Step by Step Wire Jewelry'.  It appears to be the Summer Preview 2007 issue.

Feeling Bad?

Have you ever felt like you just can't do it anymore?  "It's just not working... so I'm going to give it up!"?  I can tell you that Karla and I have been getting a little discouraged.

Browsing through the Etsy forums, I found this wonderful post:

Yes, You Can!

Edit:  I found another good one!

2000 Sales on Etsy

Cool Pendants

I was browsing through Etsy this morning, as I usually do, when I found this store with really cool pendants!

ZephyrWood

I love the cool wooden pendants.  Especially "Hoot".  I think I might get that one for myself.

Inspirations

So, I've been trying to think of something that I love to inspire a piece of jewelry.  I'd like to make something with some kind of wire-wrapping and a semi-precious stone.  However, it needs to be different.  Something that makes you think.  Something that carries a message.  Isn't that what Art is supposed to do? 

Perhaps if I make a list of questions, it would help:

• What image does my situation in life bring to mind right now?
• What color do I feel?
• Do I feel fluid or solid?
• Do I feel free or bound?

Now it's time to get out the sketch book and think...

Jewelry Making - HowTo's

I found a blog on jewelry making thats name, coincidentally, Jewelry Making.  It appears that the authors stopped their jewelry making business in 2008 and also stopped updating the blog, but they do have quite a few HowTo articles on the sidebar of their blog.  I've only had a chance to browse through one of them, but it looks pretty well done, if I do say so myself.

I'm definitely taking the time to browse through them all.

Fan Page on Facebook

If you've never been on Facebook, you should definitely try it out!  It's a wonderful social networking site.  I've just created a Fan page for KelleyAccents on Facebook.  If nothing else, you should join Facebook just to become a KA fan.

Here's the fan page:  Link

Tutorials?

I've been thinking about how to drive more traffic to this blog and the store over the past couple days.  I read some tips on Etsy and they say that it's beneficial to make tutorials and other things that are interesting and that people want.  I wonder if that would work?

What kind of tutorials should we make?  Simple things, like, putting a clasp on a bracelet?  Crimping the end of a necklace?  Or, should we design pieces of jewelry and put up a tutorial to make the entire piece?  It bears thinking on.

I know that when Karla and I first started, tutorials helped a LOT!  Now that we're (a little) more experienced, maybe we should help pass on our knowledge...

Late Nite Munchies

Karla and I are both sitting in front of our respective computers, trying to get some more work done for the Etsy site.  *yawn*  Man, I'm sleepy!  It's hard to stay awake this late at night anymore (it's 10pm... Really!?) since our little boy runs us ragged during the day.

The worst part is that we're HUNGRY!  And we can't figure out what we want to eat.  Grrrr....

Karla learned how to make toilet seat covers during her recent stay in Mexico!  Over the next few days, we'll get some of the covers that she made posted up in the store for sale.  It'll be fun!  No... really it will! 

Item of the Day

Karla's had a promotion going for a while, called the 'Item of the Day'.  With this, she (or I) picks an item from the store, and that item is 25% off the listed price for that day only!

Today's item is this:

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=18798124

Amber and Silver

I just wanted to let you know about a clearance item that we've got to get moving.

It's a lonely Mexican amber and sterling silver necklace, just waiting to be adopted. Is it right for your home? Check it out and see...

Hiatus

So, our apparent and unannounced hiatus has ended. Our son has been born, beautiful Axel. He's almost 15 months old and is quite a handful!

Both he and Karla just returned from spending seven months in Mexico with her family. It was a wonderful time for them. Axel loves his grandpa and Mexican food. I've got to say, though, it's good to have them back!

Karla is getting all her jewelry stuff organized and cleaned up so we can start listing again. She's also decided to list some other crafts in the store, so expect new and exciting stuff! She's excited to get back to work and start selling some pretty little things.

So, if any of our prior readers are still around, give us a shout! We'd love to hear from you. Stay tuned for more!