Fini Friday! Recreating the Wild West!

Hello Everyone! 

Welcome to the first Fini Friday of 2013!!! 

It still feels strange to type that! I imagine it will for a month or so! 

In keeping with the Fini Friday purpose of showing what has grown into completion; I've a new, completed design/creation and one re-design to show you today! 

Let's start with the newly-complete creation! 

You may remember a few Fini Fridays ago, when I showed you a few charms that I picked up while on Walkabout. 

I immediately knew that the stagecoach and cowboy boot charms were to be used in chunky, funky earrings and that the design was to be completely assymetrical! I added a few little details and voila! An earring creation! 

Title: Wild West 

Ingredients: lead-free pewter(USA), acrylic, silver-plated surgical steel earwires. 

The stagecoach and cowboy boot charms are a warm, old leather hue with burnished brass faux antiquing. This is a fabulous juxtaposition with the shiny silver-tone of the sheriff's badge (of course!) and horseshoe as well as the plated silver surgical steel earwires! All charms are suspended from the earwires by warm, antiqued copper coloured rings. I am really so pleased with how these turned out! 

FYI: They are in my Etsy shoppe now! 

This next creation is still growing into completion and is a re-design of an older Sprite Creation. 

The first photo is of the original design.

The second photo is the beginning of the ReCreation, starting with the pendant! I decided to keep the "Y" necklace design as well as the variety of small yet colourful beads. It is a simple concept, yet charming and cheerful! 

Again, I am so grateful to be able to work with better materials and techniques in the midst of this creation! I had no idea that the original beads I used for this necklace were not colour-fast! Yet, it appears that even sitting in a drawer all these years is enough to wear the colour off of most of the beads! Yikes! 

These are the things learned as one continues in their craft! 

Stay tuned to see what the original necklace grows into! 

That's it for this Fini Friday! 

I'll see you on Monday! 

Ciao!

Fini Friday! Re-Creation Redux!

Hello Hello! 

Welcome to Fini Friday and the work week end for many! 

I hope this week has been grand for you-all! My week has been busy preparing for the Arts Fest tomorrow! It would be fabulous to visit with you there, if you're in the North Branch, MN (USA) area! 

I've many re-creations to show you today, so let's get started!

First, more earrings that have been refined and re-imagined!

These are all single earrings.

Title: As Yet Unknown

Ingredients: Czech glass, Swarovski crystal, metal, silver-plated surgical steel earwire.

I left this design largely untouched and simply added better materials (the Cobalt Swarovski crystal and additional Czech glass). The simplicity of this design is belied by the compliment of delicate and vibrantly saturated colours. 

Perfect for a Sprite Creation!

Title: As Yet Unknown

Ingredients: Czech glass, Rose Quartz, Mother of Pearl, metal, silver-plated surgical steel earwire.

The golden-hued beads in between the chips of Rose Quartz and Mother-of-Pearl were added to give a sort of framing effect to each stone or shell. 

I think this adds more interest and a soft glow of life and beauty to this spare design!

Title: As Yet Unknown

Ingredients: Czech glass, Shell, lead-free pewter(USA), metal, silver-plated surgical steel earwire.

This was the most changed of the earrings featured in this post. The original creation had these shell chips simply stacked on top of each other. 

I love the colour and texture variations of the shell chips and wanted to echo that in the rest of the earring.  As with the Rose Quartz earring above, I framed each shell with a flower-like spacer above and below.  Additional colours and textures were lent by the ribbed silvered-metal round bead and finished with antique-copper-hued, tiny, plain bead.

And we'll wrap up this post with photos of the original design and materials and the re-creation! 

Title: Warrior Fae 

Ingredients: Czech glass, hand-made clay beads and claws, glass, sterling silver, lead-free pewter, steel cable.

The original design....

  

The re-creation... 

I can definitely tell the difference between the materials available for the original design and what I have access to now! I am extremely thankful for both the innovations in the bead industry and expanded budget that have taken place between these two creation points in time! It truly makes a world of difference!

So, there you have it! 

Another Fini Friday finished! 

I'll be at the Arts Fest tomorrow from 9am to 4pm! 

We'll have everything hand-made from fabric to jewelry, photographs to glass creations and absolutely everything in between! Much of the proceeds go back to the Middle and High Schools of North Branch, so this is a fabulous opportunity to support independent artisans and businesses as well as local schools!

Look for us in the Middle School Cafeteria! 

Spot 5E! 

North Branch Middle and High School

37775 Grand Avenue, 

North Branch, MN 55056

Have an awesome weekend! 

Ciao!