Kaleidoscopic Pendants

I saw someone else's work on Etsy, and was inspired to try my hand and my kaleidoscoped images. I got a variety of materials to adhere the reduced kaleidoscopes to, and did the first batch last night:

The three large ones were hammered-look cheap metal pendants that cost 49¢ on clearance, the others are wooden beads, flattened ovals, about an inch long. Those were $2 for the strand. I used Inkssenstials Glossy Accents to seal the image on the bead after I glued them down. The images are printed on photo paper, then sealed with matte sealant (both sides) so the ink jet inks wouldn't run.

I am quite pleased with my first attempt. There are a few small air bubbles in the wooden pendants and some designs worked better than others, but they came out beautifully for never having done this before.

Trumpet Vine

Good morning, Sunshine!

Still More Fun

Front and back views (before the haircut) of another needle-felted ATC, this one embellished with Patons Cha-Cha yarn. This is "My Funny Valentine" because that's the song playing in my head. This is just ridiculously entertaining...

More Fun with Felt

So far (knock wood), I have only jabbed myself the one time. Here's a needle felted ATC I'm calling "Pearls". I was amazed how much fuzz was on the back before I gave it a haircut. (The snipped pieces will go into the center of another bead, so nothing gets waisted.)

It's rather a mindless activity - well, except for concentrating on not skewering your fingers - and kinda relaxing. I will definitely be doing more of this. Who knew (other than the spinners) now much fun wool roving could be??

Making Felted Beads

I have drawn first blood with the felting needles, trying to fuse a fold in one of my experimental beads. (Yep, they're sharp all right!) I'm finding the trickiest part is getting a uniform size, more than perfect smoothness, but the instructions couldn't be simpler.

(In case you're curious, I was thinking "pumpkin" when I made these, hence the colors.)

Eventually, this and mixed-media beads is going to become a wild Hallowe'en necklace. I have quite a collection built up of various components, and plan to make more. Right now, it's just a concept in my head, but it something I've had in there for a few years now, waiting to be born. Some of my favorite beads were actually made for me by a talented friend (Melinda Willis) working with lampwork techniques. She's a genius with ceramics, and her glasswork is exciting.

I have made and plan to do more shrink plastic pumpkins inspired by 1950s graphics. I'd like to experiment with paper/paper maché and fabric, as well. What got me thinking about the idea was this necklace I made from one of Melinda's ghosts:

This choker is just okay... The little ghost is darling and the lampwork beads are nice, but it's boo-o-ring! Then we (Melinda, Mom and I) went to the big bead show up in Milwaukee and I found lots more Hallowe'en colored stuff. On the way back home, I sketched furiously in the back seat (dunno what I did with those...) and the necklace just kind of exploded in my brain. *snort* Likely, when it's finished, it will look like it exploded, as well!

Two Photos, Same Veil (Both Not Great)

Here's the other veil I dyed. Colors are bronze, khaki, golden yellow, deep yellow and avocado. It's not a lousy photo, because it does show the brightness of the colors, but none of the detail in the spirals (of which there are many). Taken with flash:

Here's the exact same veil, in the same room, same camera, more or less same position on the same chair, but without flash, only natural morning sunshine from an east-facing window:

You can see more of the detail, but the colors are washed out. They will have to do until I can work out something better.

This one looked very much all brown when it was still wet from the vinegar steam bath. It wasn't until it was washed and dried that the detail appeared. This was done by taking a silk veil, folded into eighths, and twisting many spirals into the fabric (damp with a soda ash solution) and rubber banding it loosely for stability in getting it off the floor where I was working on the spirals.

I'll try to get a better photo...

Silk Dyeing

I don't have a picture of the one I did for myself yet, but here's the one I did for Mom.

This is what the folded, rolled and tied silk looked like before it got dyed. And this is what it looked like once it came out of the vinegar sauna:

Because there was a fair amount of white still in it, this was then overdyed with a diluted pink. Washed and dried, the colors aren't so bright, but you can see the pattern clearly. The rose window center is very nicely defined.

I love dyeing silk. It's messy, yes, but very satisfying.