No Jewelry - but prize winners none the less!

I have been among the missing lately - have not made any jewelry nor posted to the YOJ2008 for the past two weeks - and these guys are the reason why. May I present Simon (on the left with the white patch) and Theodore, on the right.......nine month old Standard Poodle puppies (yeah, can you even believe they are puppies???)that came to live with us about two weeks ago. They are brothers and came to us through a rescue group that we were lucky enough to find in our area. After losing three of our dogs in the last year, we knew we wanted more dogs but wanted to get them from the Animal Rescue or a similar situation. Our eldest (16 years old) dog, that we lost in August of 2007, was a Standard Poodle - I got her as a 12 week old puppy - she is the reason we wanted more poodles. Besides being so darn cute, they are smart as a whip, they don't shed, they're loyal, love the outdoors and water (we live on a lake) and are very social. What's not to love? But being that they are only nine months old (they weigh 50 lbs!) and that they came from a kennel situation they have to be taught everything - from when and where to poop and pee to how to climb the stairs. And the fact that there are two of them keeps me running from morning to, well, morning. But it's a joy!

So, in case anyone asks, this is my story.........and I'm sticking to it! Luckily I am now able to work on my jewelry again and will post some pieces shortly. (unless the dog eats them!!!! hehehe)

YOJ Week 6 Aquarius Astrological Sign

Hello from the (extremely) snowy, windy, frigid Northeast!!! (I'm tempted to say something about global warming about now but will refrain....)

This weeks piece is a very industrial looking necklace crafted from 19 gauge steel wire and a sprocket (discarded and *gratefully* gifted to me)from a chain saw. I was lucky enough to be gifted 7 (or so) of the sprockets this past summer (prime time it would seem for chainsaw repair) and thought them intriguing looking pieces and have been waiting for the right project to use one in - and it seems it was this theme. The Aquarius zociac symbol (one of them anyway) is 2 wavy lines - which just happened to look fabulous framed out by the sprocket. I used 19 gauge black steel wire to form the waves and spiraled the ends and added some blue crackle cube beads to represent water. For the chain I made some 'spring coil' components and connected them with 'S' links - made with the 19 gauge steel wire. One side of the sprocket has a thin outline along inside edge of circle with no design and the other side has logo and size/part#. It had a definite personality and is not frilly, swirly or girlie but I think I really like it!

YOJ 2008 - Week 5 Mardi Gras

I had a blast making this mask for the Mardi Gras theme. I used 20 gauge brass wire which I cut into 8 equal lengths. I coiled some 16 gauge brass wire in the middle of the lengths to secure the wires and to create a mid point for the mask. I added some really bright colorful seed beads (8/0 gold, 11/0 green and some 8/0 purple triangle beads I liked for their metallic shimmer) and then formed the mask. I used a brass rod to anchor one side of the mask (the handle used to hold it to the face) - I coiled some 20 gauge brass wire around the rod to soften the look and to integrate the coils from the mask piece. On the other side I tried to keep the look freeform with curves, dips and coils that frame the eye hole as well as (once "on") the wearers face.
I may not make it to New Orleans for Mardi Gras, but I'll definitely look the part, even though I'm all the way up in Maine!

YOJ 2008 Week 4 - Blustery

This is the first piece of jewelry I've actually made, with intent, for myself.

I had some gorgeous dichroic seed beads, crystal and black, and I thought those colors really went well with this theme. I cut some jump rings out of 20 gauge silver wire, added a dichroic seed bead to each ring, connected all the bladk beads in a chain, then all the clear beads in a chain, twisted them together and added a silver handformed clasp. The chains stay twisted just enough that each color shows no matter how the bracelet is turned - and it glitters like nobody's business!

(very late posting this!!!)