As you can see, my lounge has been transformed – no not trashed – into my crafting studio today.
I’ve had a great afternoon making more felt jewellery. I really liked the turquoise wearable art set that I talked about yesterday, so I got all my bits and pieces out of the crafty kind and set about making some more wearable art sets.
I began with the green felt cuff and designed a necklace and set of earrings to match. I’m new at making jewellery and am still taking my time to bend the wire carefully so the earrings match each other. This means the project is taking longer than I’d like, because I’ve got a craft market tomorrow and really want more pieces than I have left. However, I was so pleased with how the green set turned out, I am glad I took my time.
Rushing something so I can see the finished result and start the next thing is a tendency of mine, but felting and creating generally is a great teacher of working methodically. Especially if you’re making two of a kind like earrings, you can’t rush the job because you might well end up with two mis-matched earrings and that would be frustrating.
So, I was very patient and acted my age instead of my shoe size, taking my time and not forcing the birth of my new felt babies.
Here’s the green set, which I think goes very nicely with the green cuff/bracelet.
I then turned to the maroon cuff with a view to making a set with that. The turquoise and green necklaces were made using pre-bought ribbon and thread pre-strung onto clasps. I had to undo the clasps and thread the felt and beading onto them. Easier said than done I’ll tell ya. The felt roll was okay because it had a big central hole, as were the two large glass beads on either side. But threading the smaller glass onto the green thread proved to be tricky. Each time I tried to thread a tiny glass bead onto the thread, it frayed.
To fix this, I got some sticky tape and wound it round the end so some stuck out over the end, which I cut into a point. That pointy end acted like a needle and made it easier to thread the glass seed beads onto.
Then I just had to re-attached the clasp and hey presto! One more necklace.
However, when it came to making the maroon necklace, I didn’t have a coloured ribbon/thread necklace as a base. I used some tiger tail instead and threaded the whole thing on there. However, I couldn’t leave the tiger tail exposed, so I threaded tiny glass seed beads all the way up to the clasp, which I added and fixed with crimps.
Considering this is a new creative avenue for me, I’m surprised at how easily I managed to put it together. I’m hoping it’s not beginner’s luck.
Anyhow, here’s a pic of the finished maroon necklace.
When it came to making the maroon earrings, I wanted to try something a little different. So I added a little dangly red bead at the bottom – a new technique which gave a cool finish – and I think looks lovely. The addition of freshwater pearls to the necklace and earrings give a nice richness to them, and ties them in with the handmade button on the bracelet.
While the photos don’t really do the work justice, (it’s raining here and inside’s a bit dark) I think you can see them clearly enough. Here are a few more photos, showing the maroon earrings and a few extra angles.
