Crocheted Cuff Crazy

red cotton and smoked natural bone beads

Blog Buddies--A loud call for feedback on a new idea!!

It's all just a wonderful experiment--I added some cotton to my crochet palette this winter (to join silk and linen) and from there, I've just mixed it up. Sometimes it's wondering what certain colors & materials might look like; other times, it's trying new structures out. A couple of the ones here can be found in my Bracelets and Cuffs section and others are still trying to happen.

So I've got a new idea and would love some feedback from all my blog buddies (and any other interested readers, of course!) I was thinking that maybe some of my crocheted cuffs could be sold as KITS that include the fiber, clasp, beads, and instructions etc. to then be crocheted and assembled by the buyer? Below & above are examples of some simple designs that could work this way for beginners.

brown cotton and "mustang magnesite" beads

gray cotton with metallic thread plus Czech fire polished crystal beads and larger seed beads

black silk, white bone beads and black "cat's eye" glass beads

I could sell these for half, or even less than half, of what the finished ones cost. Finished ones can take two or three hours to make, and so this time and labor, of course, shows up in my final prices. But I practiced putting a couple of "kits" together this weekend (I was clueless so just had to try it and see what it looked like!) and it wasn't too bad!! In fact, they can be kind of cute.....

So later, more advanced structures I have in progress are below. These require a little more experience in crochet, but may not be super difficult....

silk and mixed beads with my original ceramic heart and copper clasp
I like the way these heart designs can be worn with the clasp up or down

Silk with amazing Czech glass extra large seed beads in a metallic finish
I have not figured out how to write this pattern in words quite yet--it was kind of difficult but looks cool!

silk with mixed beads including glass, coral and copper with my original ceramic and copper clasp
(similar to the one above.)

I tried some (re)searching on Etsy for DIY, crochet kits, jewelry kits, etc. just to see what was already out there. Check it yourself--offers are all over the map and I was a bit overwhelmed as it was too much to take in all at once. Since I haven't quite seen anything like mine yet, not sure if there's any kind of interest? Besides being my own designs, part of the "pitch" could be to just compare pricing on the kit vs the finished piece?? Of course, that is based on the assumption that folks want to own these cuffs for a cheaper price.....hmmmm......

So everyone, voice your opinions: is this a good idea or not? Who has sold kits before? Who has purchased kits to make something special? I'm very curious about this.....

OK! Everybody YELL at once!! THANKS a million XXOO!

Carried Away

Silk Cuff with Stitched Bone in Black and Bright Colors

Embroidered Bone and Coppery Pearls Silk Cuff

It's been the best ride, just seeing how far I can take this idea of the crocheted chain cuff. They seem to get more and more embellished, more rich, more detailed with each try. Feeling free to make one of a kind pieces instead of editions is also quite wonderful, although some of these could be made 2 or 3 times, if the need should arise.

Frankly, it's just been a thrilling exploration: my recent month-long fixation on "The Cuff." And it's good that I'm finally finding time to focus and to concentrate on creating new pieces--the holiday gallery exhibitions and markets are now just 6 to 8 weeks away and it's always just great to have a rich, wide selection (as there is no accounting for tastes--shoppers' tastes, that is--which seem to change from year to year.)

We're down to the final 2 weeks here at WillOaks Campground. It will be quite busy as the last few events take place, but the air has such a nip now, the leaves are changing color, geese fly overhead with such regularity, I can find no sign of the frogs and toads that were plentiful earlier, the soybean crop has been harvested. All signs of the season's change. I must stay on guard this time of year...somehow, with the transition to dormancy, melancholia is always a distinct possibility. A little bit is to be expected and is bittersweet...too much can be crippling!

When Silk Has a Mind of Its' Own

Aqua and Green Waterfall Silk and Pearl Cuff

Gray River Silk and Pearl Cuff

Embroidered Bone, Silk and Pearls Cuff

OK, well my title may be a bit overstated, but readers of my blog who may have paid attention to the evolution of my work with crocheted silk over the past year will notice a new wild abandon.

These new cuffs give up any pretense of being straight, orderly lines and instead, act a bit like a bramble bush or hedgerow as strand after strand of silk with captured pearls and other materials jostles for space.

In fact, in the gray and the aqua pieces, over 10 feet of crocheted silk chain is basically organized to fill a space that's about 8" x 2", leading to a look somewhat dense, free and chaotic effect. The silk fiber is attached to and fastened with a pin clasp in all of these new pieces. And since these are primarily of silk, they are really soft and comfortable to wear and I like the way the luster of the pearls and mother of pearl is echoed by the luster of the silk.

In a later version, I embroidered a bone medallion with silk and then fastened it (sewed it) to the center of a cuff much like the ones described above, but made with fewer strands and generally smaller pearls and beads captured in the chains. Last summer, I began collecting various carved bone pieces, primarily coming from India, with the hope of using these for new Fall pieces. I've just begun to introduce some of these elements into the new cuff pieces. They are so interesting to me and have proved to be quite a challenge to work with...which is a good thing! (I like challenges.)

Meanwhile...it's suddenly cold around here and signs of autumn are appearing everywhere at once! I'm loving the crisp cold air and although my dreadful head cold is still lingering, have been regaining some of my energy, thank goodness!!

Have a great Sunday everyone!

New Additions to "Made With Silk"

I'm still enchanted with the crocheted silk chain that includes pearls and other beads and objects. Most of the pieces are at least 56" long and some of the new ones are even longer. Some of the recent ones incorporate some cool mother of pearl shapes and disks I recently found. All still can be used as either a versatile necklace in different arrangements or wrapped around the wrist as a cuff bracelet. This pinkish combination of salmon, mauve and very pale pink will work with a lot of different clothing colors.

The images here link to their actual listings in my Etsy shop for more information.

I love to wear linen in warmer weather and I have a few shirts and other pieces in unbleached linen. Wearing neutral colors is something I'm drawn to in the summer so I did a few designs that I think will work very well with clothing and colors schemes like this.

This collection, called "Darker Neutrals," uses brown with beiges and ivory and combines large and smaller pearls with different shapes and sizes of mother of pearl.

And this is a lighter version of my neutral palette that incorporates beige, ivory, taupe and white. All of the pieces in this series are limited editions, typically between 3 and 6 pieces per design due to limits of materials. Exceptions to this tiny edition size include the "Pastel Rainbow" and the new "Rainbow of pearls" where the edition size is between 20 and 25 pieces.

Over the next couple of days, I'll showcase a couple of wonderfully dark versions as well as the three new "bright" versions. These pieces are already listings in my Etsy shop in case you would like a sneak preview!!

Good weather here predicted over our weekend so I hope we make some serious progress in the gardens around here!! Wishing you all a terrific weekend, too!!

Not Irish, Love Green

I just realized the other day that the approach of St. Patrick's Day happens to coincide with the time I begin to reach the breaking point in yearning for the sight of green outside....imagine that, I just figured it out. (Insert a duh here.)

So I dug out a bunch of the greens that tend toward "emerald green" from my big green collection here...and voila, another addition to my new crocheted silk series. I posted the piece this weekend and it garnered a lot of hearts...cool! You can click on the picture here if you'd like to read more details...otherwise, have a green dream sort of day! (It helps lift the spirits a bit...'cuz here, it's warming up some, melting some and oooooh, getting muddy out there. Thanks for tracking in tons of mud, Dakota! But nope, nothing is green yet.....)

Happy Sunday!

Rich Flamingo Pink Crocheted Silk and Pearls

Pink Crocheted Silk and Pearls

Coral Pink Crocheted Silk and Pearls

True confessions, I have a check list here in front of me of interesting odds and ends that I want to get up here on my blog. And I thought I would do it today, but I'm just a tad under the weather and having trouble focusing long enough to actually do anything "of consequence."

However, I did catch an amazing sunset last night. One of those where the undersides of the clouds are bright flamingo pink, may hues of orange, pink and purple evolve in the shortest interval.

It was amazing; it was very, very fleeting. I wonder what it is about the amazing skies recently? Any meteorologists care to comment? I don't recall any volcanoes of late (I've seen what they can do to sunsets.) At any rate, I was quite delighted to see how this palette was echoed in a part of my new "Silk and Pearls" collection. So for fun, I paired it all up here.

Well, not lookin' a gift horse in the mouth....so I'll just share! Enjoy your Sunday.

New Ad Designs

New Blog Avatar

New Etsy Ad for the "Made With Silk" series

My pretty new rock! Mainly, a new photo prop.

Trial layouts, experiments for new ad designs.

I'd be curious to see what you guys think about these new "tiny ads." That's what I call the 125 pixel square--tiny, very tiny. Earlier, I didn't list all the photos that I was fooling around with of my new series and I also didn't show photos of a new beautiful rock I was recently given....yes, you read that right, a rock. A druzy, to be precise. A white druzy. Why do I feel like I'm speaking a foreign language here? It's kind of a goofy word that my friend said means "tiny crystals."

Anyway, the two self-selected ad "winners" are up top. The "druzy" portrait is next down. And a few new "runner ups" after that....whew, I'm exhausted!! These computer days wear my eyes out more than working at my jewelry bench (yes, time for an eye exam!)

Now and Back Then, Art Evolution

This new series has been dubbed "Made With Silk" and over the next couple of days, many new pieces will be listed in my Etsy Shop. This one, in particular, is a sort of pastel rainbow.

A craft technique called "Copper Enameling" was widely taught in junior high and high school art classes back in the '60's. This is a pin I made in the 7th grade using this process.

Another pendant, made at about the same time, also with "Copper Enameling." A bit worse for wear as the layer of glass that was fired onto the copper base has gotten a bit battered and chipped over the years.

Later, in high school, I spent 4 years with my art teacher Mr. Pearson. He was an amazing teacher and we tried a lot of different media and projects over all those years. Another old jewelry piece that survived from that time, probably about sophomore year: lost wax casting. With this process, a wax model is made, invested in plaster, fired to remove the wax and then molten silver is injected into that cavity to reproduce the wax model in silver. This was my attempt at a hair barrette. It actually didn't work too well because it was pretty heavy and I didn't have a good clasp for the back. But I really loved this design.

I really enjoyed reading Amy's childhood reminiscence about camp and making jewelry back in her teen and pre-teen years the other day. Amy went on from these years and projects to pursue a career in fine art including making original jewelry, pursuing photography and other creative endeavors. (Amy Lilley Designs)

For me, it was a wonderful flashback because I remembered that I also did some of those projects in junior high and high school art classes, and I had forgotten all about it! I couldn't find this really "strange" pair of earrings I made for my Mom, but did find 2 pins and a barrette.

So as is evident in both a very recent pearl and silk piece and in a pin made in junior high school, organizing colors has been a favorite activity since I can remember. I was one of those kids who dumped out the whole box of crayons or colored pencils in order to organize them by color, like a rainbow. I used to get so excited by the way a box of watercolor pans was organized and when I set up my palette for oil painting, I really did organize my blobs of paint sort of like is shown on this pin.

The palette pin was made by me in 7th grade. That was a year when I also began to take special lessons in oil painting after school. My teacher at the time, Mrs. Hiltey, chose me and about 3 or 4 other kids for this special opportunity. And I continued to paint, and then to study painting all the way into the 2nd year of college! Discovering sculpture and printmaking about then helped me grow in different artistic directions, but I still do water color paintings for myself when the mood strikes me.

And in the present day, working with silver, although not with "lost wax casting," has truly become something I have rediscovered with much joy! At this point in my career, working in metal is a whole new frontier.

Thanks for dropping by and have a great weekend!!

Those Darn Cats & Purty Pearls

OK, so I'm too cute by half, but I'll blame it on my boy cats here. They just do some of the goofiest things and most of the time, my camera is nowhere near. Well, I got a sequence today that taught me something, besides being very entertaining.

When Red Kitty drinks from the faucet (which he loves more that anything except eating food) he actually lets all that water just sort of run over his face before he actually puts his mouth into the act. I wondered if he was sort of feeling his way over to the right position, or if he's using this chance to sort of wash his face? Today I realized that cats actually don't mind water too much, on their own terms. I made some video clips of Purrmeister playing in a running faucet that was filling a watering can. I hope to edit and post it when I get a chance because he's very enthusiastic about playing with that stream of water.

Purrmeister's new napping spot--a metal basket used to store magazines and catalogs. It's my fault--I sometimes drape a sweatshirt or fleece over the edge and he turned it into a little nest.

Crocheted Brown Silk with Dark Ivory Pearls Bracelet or Long Necklace

Crocheted Blue Silk and Dainty Teal Pearls Long Necklace or Bracelet

Crocheted Purple Silk and Variegated Purple Pearls Long Necklace or Bracelet

I'm starting to post some of the new pieces with silk and pearls in my Etsy shop--I can't get over the colors I came up with and I still have nearly a dozen to post yet! These are just so much fun because they are so versatile. I also love how soft they are where the crocheted silk chain rests on the neck or is clustered around the wrist. You quickly forget you're even wearing them--so if you are into looking good AND being comfortable--give this little invention a try!

Bass Ackwards, Maybe

A clump of new silk and pearl necklaces
--do notice Purrmeister's little image reflected in the glass vase on the right....
he's always got to be in the thick of things.

I wasn't really watching the calendar, I guess. I totally forgot yesterday was Fat Tuesday until it was too late. I could have used today's post to celebrate Carnival and used yesterday's Haiti updates to begin Lent. I go into a zone sometimes and just kind of lose track of time: days, dates, even weeks-usually not seasons though, lol!

So this image is more new work in progress. After a long weekend, continuing to explore and test my new silk direction, I wanted to see what would happen if I kept a clump of really long necklaces all together. It's pretty bright, eh? I'm in the process of doing the photos one by one, of course. Each piece is about 56" long and closes with a springclasp. Later photos will show them as either necklaces or really nice bracelets. But I thought this photo "of the clump" really suggested Spring.

Uh, oh...I just realized it's Wednesday and I forgot that....more evidence of my tendency to zone out, I guess....

Treasury & Another New Silk Experiment

A new, lovely treasury featuring the "peach color" and including one of my signature pearl necklaces. It was curated by Kim whose shop, Queen Heron Creations, is great to visit. She creates beautiful and warm looking neck warmers and cowls in lovely colors and does felting pieces that are so natural and sweet--take a peek now!

And a quick peek at another of my ongoing explorations of crocheted silk. Of course I'm trying to figure out where pearls fit in--I adore pearls (it's my birthstone and was one of the first "precious jewels" I ever got as a kid) and after I try just a few more ideas in these direction, I hope to commit to some of these new structures to list in my Etsy shop soon. So it's a great time for feed back from everyone!!

Along these lines, I really appreciate all of your comments on these new silk crocheted pieces I've been dripping out here all week, and in case you missed any, here's Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday - all different experiments with crocheted silk.

Antidote to Gray

Jumping the gun here? You betcha'! I've got Spring in my heart even if the only flowers blooming here are the orchids in pots in the studio (and the carved jade ones in these new pieces!) So crocheted silk with lots of goodies still has my attention and I'm waiting for an order with more colors of fiber. Meanwhile, I'm experimenting with what I happen to have on hand. I'm pretty sure I got this pale greenish yellow silk some years ago to coordinate with the same color in jade that I was (& am) crazy about---because it's that wonderful slightly greenish shade of yellow...I've mentioned how much I love this color before.

OK, so I'm reaching here for a palette that is maybe just a bit bright....and Springy!! An antidote to gray (and white and brown and yuk!) I'm almost ready to put a part of this new series up on my Etsy shop starting today, and intermittently through the weekend...

Hope everyone is getting dug out--if your temperatures are anything like here, all that white stuff is not going to melt for awhile!! Oh well, it actually IS still winter!

Cabin Fever? It Could Be Worse.....

It seems like it's snowing all over the place--and the blogsphere is loaded with snow photos, so, I had to add a visual from the WillOaks Farm. This was before we got 6 to 8 more inches early Wednesday morning AND the wind really picked up speed.

Green silk with olive jade, millefiori, glass, serpentine, green jade, yellow turquoise---
another in the "silk experiments series"....

.....all designed to be "multi-wrap" versatile.

Meanwhile, now it's Mariah's turn to teach Purrmeister how to
drink from the faucet, like Red Kitty taught her....

....and Purrmeister is a willing and able student.

And remember that "numbers thinking" I mentioned earlier? Well, this weekend, my shop on Etsy hit the 1111th "heart me" which was a good feeling, and as we have approached Valentine's Day, I took a few more orders. (I try to imagine what it would be like if every heart equaled a sale....not gonna' happen, but it's a cute fantasy.) Not to be ungrateful, it's neat to know WillOaks Studio has been "tagged" by both shoppers and other artists.

And while I still haven't quite reached my goal of raising $100 for Haiti relief and rebuilding, through my 10% donation from my sales on Etsy, but I did hit $93 as of Wednesday!
...and I'm keeping this up through 2-14-10, Valentine's Day.