So what do I do with a summer that's all mine?

    I'll tell ya exactly what I do, I make stuff I have never attempted. What exactly is that? Jewelry. I've been on quite a jewelry kick lately (mostly rings) and have tried quite a few methods of making different little pretties. The various metal mediums have caught my attention. The two different styles are crazy different, kind of a pain in the ass to accomplish and frankly... pretty charming once finished. Slicing my fingers with the thin wire and later gluing them together with all purpose glue that is a total bitch to get off a are only two of the problems I encountered, but I think it was well worth the struggles to get to the end result.


    The first are a cute little bird's nests made with colored wire and little glass beads and sweet little pearls. Let me tell you... not stabbing yourself with the sharp end of the freshly wire as you create the nest is quite a challenge. I have more than my fair share of battle wounds from this evil wire. My fingers are not thanking me for undertaking this project, but my eyes are giddy about the outcome!

    The second are my steam punk inspired rings. This was also my first venture in casting with resin to seal in the gorgeousness. Let me tell you... DON'T try resin for the first time on something you find completely adorable BEFORE you pour the resin. I ended up with a bubbled mess... but I secretly love it still. Now before I even got to the point of pouring the resin I had to pick apart a million and a half innards from various watches and pocket watches. I greatly advise you to have a patient hat on while doing this. Some times the super tiny screws snap, they are rusted in and refuse to move, and looooove to get stripped (naughty little screws haha). This can make you the maddest you have ever been when you see a gorgeous cog or wheel inside and you just can't get to it. That being said, once your patient hat has been put on, make sure you have a trusty pair of tweezers and a dish handy. The innards are tiny, love to roll off the table and vanish under furniture, and stick to each other since some pieces are magnetized. Gluing them into place is pretty tedious too. Once the tweezers get any glue on them you can forget about a clean placement. Even though I had such a pain of a time getting the steam punk pieces together, they are really the most fun to do. Why is that? Who else has custom steam punk awesomeness?!


Here are some of the little ditties I created this summer =]