Category Archives: Color

Bezels, Color, Metal Work, Necklaces, Pendants, Philosophy, Torch Work

“When I Am An Old Woman . . .

August 16, 2010 Karen 2 Comments

. . . I shall wear purple . . . “ Those are the initial words of a poem called Warning by Jenny Joseph. The poem appears in a book by the same name edited by Sandra Halderman Martz. The contents of this collection include both poems and short narratives such as The Trouble Was Meals, Late Autumn Woods and Reaching Toward Beauty. Years ago when I first bought this book, I thought the pictures of the elderly woman throughout the book were frightening. But after so many trips to the mirror and the nursing home, they look quite normal now. Reading it now for the third or fourth time Warning remains my favorite entry. Not only does the woman in this poem say that she will wear purple, she’s also going to make up for the sobriety of her youth by picking flowers in other people’s gardens and learning to spit. In the final part of this piece, author Joseph suggests that she needs to practice now so that people won’t be shocked when she really is old and starts to wear purple.

I say “hurrah!” I think we should all wear a little purple now and not wait until we’re too old to get a kick out of it. I’ve actually been practicing for years now. Once while shopping with my young adult daughter we saw a rather rotund lady going in a store with curlers in her hair and an orange housedress on. I asked my daughter to not ever let me do that. Then, on her wedding day as we rushed around with our preparations, there I was with curlers in my hair and my lime green and orange housedress on. I went to the nursing home to pick up my Mother in that garb. I’m thinking that when I’m old no one will worry about what’s in my hair or what I’m wearing. I guess I was just practicing on that wedding day.

Today’s jewelry pieces fit with all this practicing. They’re PURPLE! As I looked around at my products and caught up on what had sold at the stores, I realized that purple goes out the door pretty quickly. See what you think about these two new pieces. The pendant at the right hangs from a lightweight strand of amethyst chips and sterling rounds. The bezel is one of those for which I became brave enough to use all sterling silver. Other pictures are in my etsy store at the following address:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/53924047/sterling-and-amethyst-pendant-necklace

The second piece is based on the colors of a specific garment at one of the boutiques. The amethyst is highlighted with just a few olive colored Czech crystals. You can see one of the larger stones best in the side picture blowup. http://www.etsy.com/listing/53963222/amethyst-and-sterling-necklace?ref=v1_other_1

Now that I’ve got my purple to wear, the poem also says I can gobble up samples in shops and wear my slippers out in the rain. It sounds like I’ve got all sorts of things to practice for when I’m an old woman. Does anyone out there want to join me?

Color, Hair Adornments, sewing

Counting Flowers on the Wall

August 12, 2010 Karen

From 1966 on, you could hear the Statler Brothers singing these lyrics,

“Counting Flowers on the wall, that don’t bother me at all

Playing solitaire ‘til one with a deck of 51”

It seems that each time I’ve finished a ribbon or felt flower that song pops back up in my head. I’m beginning to dislike it!

I started making the ribbon flowers after the Renegade Craft Fair that was held several months ago in Austin. One of the vendors, the Stitch Lab, taught how to make ribbon flowers and attach them to headbands. I was hooked! These are great fun to make and I just keep making and making and making them. I have a slew of them on clips and headbands at Paper Bear in San Marcos, Texas and have given many away to friends. Now I’m seeing flowers everywhere I go. I’m trying not to accost every little girl who walks by me with a flower in her hair, but it’s been fun to notice the many ways they can be attached to hair.

My daughter told me that felt flowers would be good for fall and I was off and running again. I’m amazed at the beautiful colors of felt that can be located and had fun creating numerous rosettes for the pins below on the left. The flowers on the right are flatter and I haven’t decided what they will be. The smaller ones may be added to ribbon to become bookmarks. Do you have suggestions? I’d also be interested in vending opportunities for these little beauties. Ideas?

By the way, I wait until after I leave the house to put a flower in my own hair. The concern on my husband’s face about whether or not at my age I’ve really lost it is just too much to bear.

Bracelets, Color, Metal Work, Necklaces, Pendants, Techniques

Fall

July 11, 2010 Karen

Don’t you just feel that Fall crispness in the air? No . . .? Unfortunately, I don’t either. It’s rapidly approaching 100 degrees here in South Texas and I’m wondering why in the world I am working on Fall design pieces. Could it be because the summer merchandise is rapidly clearing out of the boutiques and the Fall clothing will start arriving in August. If I don’t start thinking Fall right now, I’ll be behind. So, here I sit with the Fall color predictions on one side of me and a boutique’s Nomadic Treasures clothing brochure indicating what she has purchased on the other. I’ve also turned the ceiling fan in the studio on high and am trying to think about cool weather and darker colors. (This is a BIG stretch!) Since I’ve been making the etched cuffs, it was a fairly easy transition to use more Fall-like designs on them.

I used a Fall leaf stamp to make this copper on copper bracelet. Sticking with the metal, I also finished a copper leaf pendant shown below. I torched the metal until it was black and, following cleaning, the leaf offered a beautiful red color. Then I soldered the little dragonfly on to one side. The challenge came in digging deep into my bead drawers to find the right Fall colors. This was made easier by spending time at a boutique yesterday.

There, I was able to match the colors to a Fall wool vest that was in stock. I find it much easier to design with a garment in front of me. Both of these pieces are currently available on my etsy shop @ www.dreamcatcherdesigns.etsy.com Fall is definitely here in the studio and I should be ready when the real deal comes along outdoors. Think COOL.

Color, Metal Work, Necklaces, Techniques

Coloring for Fun

June 7, 2010 Karen 2 Comments

Remember when getting a new box of crayons was exciting? Did you like it when you were old enough to get that big box of 48 colors? I always liked to color, but not necessarily in a coloring book. Just give me a big piece of paper and I was happy. I wasn’t an artist and didn’t try to color anything in particular; I just liked to run the colors back and forth across the paper.

I don’t think I’m the only adult who still likes colors. Working as an educational consultant, I carried large containers of colors and markers that were used for various projects during the workshops. I particularly remember one group of high school teachers who got so excited about getting to color that I thought I would have to put them in “time out” to settle them down. Most of their workshops just required note taking; so coloring while learning was a treat.

I could hardly wait for my grandson to come for this past visit because I knew he was finally old enough to work with color. We chose watercolors instead of crayons and had a great time splashing it on the paper. We just worked with one color using the Driscoll Lipscomb approach from The Gift of Driscoll Lipscomb by Yamaka. In this children’s picture book, an artist gives his little friend a single color pot of paint each year on her birthday. She spends an entire year exploring it. I think it’s a good approach for little people and am reminded that “less is more”. Don’t ask who had the best time when we painted.

Color again burst forth over the weekend when I was torching some copper sheet for a necklace. I inadvertently left the torch on the piece too long and before I knew it, the piece was solid black. Yuk . . . another mess up. Since the piece was too hot to throw in the trash, I quenched it in water. To my happy surprise, the copper was a nice shade of red and following an hour in the tumbler it was quite useable. Who knew????? I used the red copper for a disc necklace like those described in the January 27, 2010 post. There was enough copper for earrings and I used some dried corn from an old Native American necklace for the chain. I also used Renaissance Wax to help preserve the color of the copper. I like this kind of coloring. Staying with the single color idea, my grandson and I did have one other experience – painting with pudding. This was even more fun than finger painting with shaving cream and with pudding, you get to lick your fingers! Yum! Did you know you can even finger paint your face this way?

It’s really a shame that we have to grow up. I want to go back to childhood and let someone else do the clean up. Unfortunately, I think using the torch to color is about as close as I can get to being a kid again. Yet, I could just go get my own new box of 48 crayons!

Color, Necklaces, Wire Work

Bursts of Spring

March 14, 2010 Karen

Hooray! I think it’s Spring and time to use all those pastel beads that have been patiently waiting through the winter months. The first photo shows shell coin beads that I’ve enjoyed working with. In other pieces, I’ve strung them with wire links, made a four strand necklace of many colors and used them on silver chain. Putting them against garments, they seem to work with most of the summery things, even those that don’t contain these specific colors.

Dyed magnesite is vivid this year and I must silence my mother’s words when she asks “isn’t that pretty heavy?” Using chain with these colorful nuggets helps to lighten them and they are fun to wear. In addition to the necklace shown, I strung these with wire connectors and leather and also wired individual colors to go singly on neck wires. I’ve also made both short and longer versions of the one pictured. It’s been fun to make my own chain out of 18 gauge wire.

While it seems I should go to the bead store to find the “hot” colors for summer, I go to the boutiques. It doesn’t really matter to my customers if the bead is “hot” it really matters whether or not it compliments their new outfits. Looking at clothes and THEN going to the bead outlet makes much more sense. There is, however, a catch to this process. How do I go to the boutiques without wanting to buy the clothes? I guess I’ll just have to work on that one until my ship comes in.

Color, Metal Work, Necklaces, Pendants, Techniques, Wire Work

New Pieces

January 19, 2010 Karen

I’m short on time and short on words today, but wanted to put up some pictures of completed necklaces. The copper pendant with the sterling silver cross was born of my efforts to put more movement into pieces. The cross hangs from a hammered figure 8 piece of wire that allows it to swing inside the copper piece. The bumps on the outer edge of the copper were made with my doming set.

The butterfly pendant is atop a domed and stamped piece of copper. I used the torch on the butterfly to give it a bit of color.

This piece is made of ruby zoisite (large chips) and kiwi. I used plated silver beads and added some blue rounds to the necklace. I regret the color doesn’t show very well in the photo

This piece took several days because I didn’t know what I was doing. I wanted to do a layered pendant and use rivets, but in the end I just have layers and fake rivets. The oval is copper and the diamond shape is brass that I stamped with Ranger brand alcohol ink to add a bit of color.

The seed bead pendant has been close to completion for quite a while. Now I can check it off the list of UFOs (unfinished objects. . . check . . . Hurray!)

Color, Metal Work, Necklaces, Pendants

Back to the Blog

November 21, 2009 Karen 2 Comments

Many weeks have elapsed since I last wrote and it’s time to get back to the blog. We held our annual cattle sale here at the end of October and it has taken this long to get a good grasp on all the shipping, registration transfers, etc. With only a few more to complete, I can see the proverbial light at the end of the barn.

We enjoyed having our family with us to help at the sale. Grandson Gabriel certainly encouraged us to keep the proper perspective letting us know when we needed to eat and sleep.

Fall brought beautiful leaves and I became intrigued by the possibility of capturing their great shapes. The first picture is of the real leaf I picked up and you can also view my attempt at replicating it in copper.

I also liked the shape of another leaf and achieved a different color for it using a shorter dip in liver of sulphur. This picture was taken before I added a few bead dangles to the leaf where it attached to the necklace. It has already left home and I can’t take another pictures; so you’ll have to imagine it with the embellishment which gave it more personality.

It is good that I captured the leaves before the current rain storm. Most are now gone and today looks like the bleak mid-winter. Thankfully, this atmospheric condition will be temporary here in South Texas. We’re seldom too far away from another sunny day. I hope you’re making it a sunny day wherever you are.

Color, Necklaces, Techniques, vendors

Summer Colors?

June 24, 2009 Karen

Finished! I’ve been working on this piece for several days and it finally came together this afternoon. It was ordered by a store in Fredericksburg that sold one in similar colors earlier this summer. I’ve always thought of the browns and blacks for Fall, but mixed with the light teal and a touch of yellow and gold, this seems to work for summer. This peyote necklace has a nice Turquoise Jasper cabachon (Magpie Gemstones) in the center and I backed this stone with ultrasuede. I also added an extra row of beads completely around the neckline at a right angle to the peyote stitches. This should help the piece keep it’s shape while it remains supple and comfortable. The piece is stitched with 6 lb test Fireline fishing line.

It was amusing that as I was finishing this piece, the ping of my computer alerted me that I had received an email. It was from Barry at Caravan Beads. This is my main source for wholesale seed beads (Miyuki) and the vendor from whom I purchased the beads for the above necklace. He was offering to trade the cloudy, rainy northern weather in his neck of the woods for some sunshine. I offered to take the deal and said I would throw in some feral hogs from my pasture to boot. He replied that he wanted the weather, but not the hogs. While both he and a store I deal with in Maine were sharing that customers were hard to come by due to their too-wet summer weather. The merchants I talked with close to San Marcos and the Hill Country had much the same concerns with our too hot summer weather. Either way, I guess it’s summer and we’re all dealing with one thing or another.

Just as I’ve had to keep an open mind about those dark colors and their appropriateness for summer, I’ve got to keep an open mind about the weather. When it changes (for the better) people will be ready to get out and will definitely need to shop. I plan to have plenty of options for them to see. As I’ve heard Suzie from Aunties Beads say “you’ve got to have product!”

Bracelets, Color, Necklaces

Spurts

June 17, 2009 Karen

Most of us are well aware that things come in spurts. There are growth spurts that are usually good for children and bad for adults. There are spurts of energy that may result in good things such as getting that closet cleaned out or rearranging the desk.

It seems lately that the jewelry designs I sell come in spurts also. For example, I first made the peyote necklace in the picture shown and a similar bracelet about five years ago. At that time, I sold several, more bracelets than necklaces, and then the sales slowed. Now, after about three months of not making any, I’ve filled three requests in the last two weeks and have another on the queue. Since there is no pattern for the pieces, each of these is different, yet, the technique and colors remain stable. Some of these pieces have more browns and golds while others, like the one shown, use black as the dominant color. All of them, however, use turquoise and red/coral. It’s rewarding to know that a design can endure for several years.

There has been another spurt of folks wanting the wave bracelet. I use recycled copper for most of this piece. Sometimes I embellish it with turquoise and pearls as shown here. I’ve also used turquoise and carnelian and think a variety of other choices would work.

Spurts are certainly welcome in the jewelry design business. I just wish I could predict what the buying spurt will be in time to more quickly meet the demand. Unfortunately, sometimes by the time I round up the needed supplies, the spurt has passed.

Oh well, if I could predict the future I might be tempted to enter some less reputable occupation.

Here’s hoping all your spurts are good ones.

Color, Necklaces, Pendants, Wire Work

Medford is Coming

March 2, 2009 Karen 1 Comment

I grew up in Medford, Oklahoma near the border of Kansas. When my family purchased our first home, my Daddy planted a redbud tree just outside my bedroom window. The winter was really cold in Medford, but the first harbinger of Spring was the blooming of my redbud tree. Upon moving into our current ranch house, my husband planted the redbud tree pictured at the left just outside our den window. Although I’ll take the South Texas winters hands down over the Northern Oklahoma winters, I’ll keep the redbud tree as my sign that Spring is coming. When that tree blooms it still says “Medford” to me.

In honor of the beautiful color of the tree, I made two necklaces. While neither can truly capture nature, they were a pleasure to make as I thought about days long past.

Dreamcatcher Designs