Work Table Wednesday for 5/29/19

Another Wednesday and a new worktable to share!

I'm working on a necklace design using the coral beads for the two peach cameos at the top, the green flower cabochon is a printed cloisonne style design and I've finished the beaded part of the necklace, but still figuring out the rest. 

Below it is a stone cabochon I may or may not put in that frame - the frame doesn't really fit with a natural stone I think. in the middle is a vintage cat filigree and I'm going to center it on the round one then curve the piece below it for a bracelet to which I'll add chain to finish.

At the bottom is an assemblage piece with black finished brass flowers and leaves and a black and white cameo. There will be embellishment added just working out what I'll do. 

The last necklace is a beautiful vintage Guilloche rose on a copper plated pewter. I tried just a jump ring to attach to the chain but I thought this piece deserved more. I pulled out the connector piece and then realized I'd have to attach it with a jump ring and wasn't thrilled with that idea. So I thought I'd give wire wrapping the pendant to the connector and voilà! Here's a close-up; it was really easy to do!

Connector, Guilloche rose, Victorian-style pendant frame
all purchased from B'sue by 1928

Lastly I have the little earrings on the bottom left. These are steampunk/Victoriana style Hot Air balloon earrings. The gold balloons I got at B'sue Boutiques but I made the silver ones myself when I discovered that two filigree beadcaps and a tulip beadcap were the basic components of the balloon shape. I just happened to have those items in silver! 

Here's a closeup of the earrings I've finished - I have more colors of the Swarovski cubes but the square spacers (Swarovski Squaredelles) are really hard to find in the right size. I think they might be discontinued, which makes me very sad as I think these earrings might sell well.

The little balloon ones on the far right aren't my favorites, so they may get remade with the larger size balloon.
Problem is that the little ones match the tulip bead cap color better and I have more of them. If I could find smaller Squaredelles and use a smaller cube bead maybe then they'd work.

I did finish some pieces since I last posted - the bracelet is done it's a bit large for my 6.5" wrist but can be sized to fit whomever buys it.

Vintage brass cat from B'sue with faux pearl also from B'sue

Czech fire polished red cathedral bead in cone bead cap with leaf
Design is a homage to a Firefly/Serenity quote
"I am a leaf in the wind, watch me soar"

Sodalite (for self-esteem and confidence) stone pendant
with small sodalite bead and chain fringe. I love how the little bail
really adds to the finished look.

Some pressed purple glass disks (other side is darker) and
iridescent lavender cathedral beads.
I've had those disk beads for years, got them as a gift
and never used them so I figured it was about time.

Will try to post my Finished Up Friday work. Only one more week and a couple days until WhedonCon so this weekend is my last one for making new pieces for the con.

I try to get out to the studio after work since the sun is still up when I get home these days. Wednesday I played around with a few ideas and posted them to the creative group's WTW Pinterest board and in Facebook.  I finished up a few pieces from the 5/8 WTW that I shared a few posts ago, the gear pendant was re-worked a bit and the red bow with cat charm is done. I also finished both pairs of earrings in the lower right and have the clock face and Blue Willow birds nearly done but not photographed. The copper chain is proving a bit challenging but I will probably finish it tomorrow.

moved the gears up the necklace and put triple strand of chain in the middle

took some steel wool to the cat and bow to bring out highlights

Come see my collection at WhedonCon (June 7-9 LAX Hilton) which will have a lot of these plus other fun designs for cosplay and fandom.

The "Finished Up Friday" Challenge

Each week the creative group on the B'sue Boutique's Facebook page posts the work they finished up that week. It's called Finished Up Fridays but we get until Saturday as a concession to those of us with day jobs during the week. Here's what I posted today - some of it might look familiar from the Work Table Wednesday.

I finally finished the winged filigree piece and the clockwork pendant on the lower right is still in the maybe/maybe not stage as far as the necklace goes.  The cat cameo with the copper bow and kitty charm is probably my favorite piece this week. I had to use copper paint on the cameo, it comes in that Wedgewood blue with white and I just didn't like how it looked. I'm pretty happy with the copper color. Will need to seal it tomorrow after the paint has had 24 hrs to set.

What's on My Worktable This Week?

I've been very busy lately in the studio working on new pieces for the upcoming WhedonCon as well as my online shops. Thought I'd share some of the work in progress.

The pendant below is a great graphic under a transparent yellow domed vintage Lucite oval about an inch long. I'm going to work up a nice crystal and gear piece to connect it to a necklace - still working on that design.

Here are a couple of cat charms that will have necklaces - they were originally very bright pewter but I darkened them with a solution from Swellegant that's easy to use and doesn't smell up the room like a lot of darkening solutions. The bow is colored with alcohol ink pens and will be sealed. The other pendant has a vintage glass piece and two glass pearls on a vintage filigree bar. I plan to make a collar length necklace with pearls to attach it to.

of course the cats look like they're judging you, they're cats

This piece is an epoxy clay base that has been embossed and colored with mica powder pigments. It will get a glossy seal when the clay is fully set. I love the bamboo frame, though it would be perfect for the cherry blossom design.

Another necklace in progress - I took a domed filigree piece and using more epoxy clay adhered some vintage silver wings. The silver circle to the right will be the back of the pendant, it's the back piece from a vintage watch. The piece is my homage to a certain magical sport.

'Til next time,

Dawno