Fruity bangles

I have been so busy of late that I haven’t blogged, and I’ve not felt inspiration to do it either, sorry! However a couple of weeks ago I did show you a WIP of a custom apples and oranges bangle I was making, with matching earrings. It took a lot of clay slices and effort, but I think it was worth it! I would be happy to custom make these again, but they are too fiddly to list in my shop on a permanent basis!

On another note, I went to the Festival of Quilts and spent too much money on fabrics. I cut a strip from one of them and embedded in my first tall bangle! It needs a bit of sanding but I think it will look great!

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Stuff I’m working on

I made these medals this week. After asking for feedback on Crafteroo I’ve decided they are a bit too big, so will be looking at smaller “medal” and thinner ribbon combinations because I think the proportion is just right. Also looking at a better way of attaching the ribbon, and after suggestions I think kilt pins are the way to go! I have a couple more designs up my sleeve too.

I also made this belt with a swirly resin buckle. I’ve decided to stitch the next one differently (I’ve ordered some plain fabrics) and also I invested in some denim strength needles for my sewing machine as things got a little hardgoing at times! I’ll be making buckles to sell alongside the buttons in my shop.

Also I blogged previously about the colour core bracelets. Whilst I have been busy with orders (an amazing thing considering it is January) I have managed to finish one of them which is now for sale!

Custom orders have been really popular and today I finished this bangle for textile designer Aisling Law using pieces of her canvas inside. I think it came out really nicely!

And here’s a peek at other stuff in the works, I have a couple of wholesale orders and a few fairs coming up so it’s a case of catching up with the inventory too, and I also want to use my new power tools to make rings out of pool balls and also get a set of boot bracelets completed and up for sale soon so I’d better take some deep breaths and break out the sandpaper!

Work in Progress – coloured core bangles

These are nowhere near finished yet, but this shows you some other plans for 2010. These bangles have coloured cores to make the outsides stand out. The lace is in clear resin with an opaque black centre, and the fish bangle is clear with bits of green wool with a transparent blue core. These need sanding and polishing, but hopefully soon they will be finished and added to the PennyDog shop!

Skint day

I’ve been a little bit strapped for cash today, so after paying some cheques in at the bank and posting out some orders I finished off some more bangles:

And I took the dogs for a walk and collected some autumn paraphenalia for embedding in some more jewellery. I’m thinking of moulding the acorn and putting a little sparkly resin bit back in the shells. Do you think this will work?

I’ve also lugged all of the furniture from my soon-to-be gallery shop area into my craft room, so now I can’t move in there. The reason being that we are getting new carpets monday/tuesday. We got new doorknobs on our wardrobes upstairs so now we can open them and move our clothes in, which I was *ahem* supposed to do today and got distracted. A job for tomorrow I think. On Monday we will be able to move into our proper bedroom at long last!

Make 50: Week 38, or how to create a mess

I’ve been making textured bangles and highlighting with colour, for example these resin bangles with metallic enamel paint…

 

However I wanted to create some with black recesses and bought acrylic paint, thinking this would work better. It didn’t. It was messy trying to wipe off the excess paint whilst still wet so I left it to dry and now I can’t get the stuff off! I left it soaking overnight in turpentine substitute and then attacked it with a toothbrush and it STILL won’t come off! I saw a video on YouTube where someone cleaned acrylic paint off resin figurines with Dettol, so maybe I need to go down the shop and buy some. I have TCP but not sure if that will work the same.

So back on with the enamel on a new red bangle and bad news again…. I was brushing the excess of with the very same toothbrush and spattered myself including my skirt which I had only been wearing for half an hour. It’s now in the bath covered in Vanish! Fingers crossed it will survive!

Yey I’m in the Storque!

Very happy to be in the Etsy Finds section today:

That’s my bangle!

http://www.etsy.com/storque/spotlight/etsy-finds-bangles-2644/

New to PennyDog

Added a bunch of new stuff to Etsy (http://pennydogaccessories.etsy.com) and PennyDog (http://www.penny-dog.co.uk) today, here’s a little gallery!

Recycled chain bubble ring – £8.00

Orange slice ring – £8.00

Recycled paper bangle – £16.00

Bansal Bangle – £17.00

Copper leaf earrings – £11.00

Silver leaf ring – £11.00