Pink Optic Fiber Turquoise Brooch Pin with Felt & Crochet.....

Apologies. My 9-5 Mon-Fri office job seems to be getting in the way of things and all I want to do in my spare evening time is knit!  Knitting is my latest addiction. But it is fabulous to have some cash coming in on a regular basis and some warm woollies......

I finally got around to finishing this piece which incorporates optic fibers with a pink LED. The LED is hidden inside the felt on the back and is powered by a small, flat  3V coin battery.

The beautiful, multicolored piece of turquoise (purchased from Heart Of Stone Studios) (size 42.5mm x 33.5mm) comes from right over the Tibetan border in China. It is the same source of turquoise that the Tibetans have used and worn for centuries.

I have also used oxidised copper, UV resin, vintage shards of pink glass, brass eyelets, merino wool (needle felted), beads, crochet thread, conductive thread, bamboo, bone & craft wire.

About 10cm long by 8cm wide.

Coral Creature returns...

I just got back my 'Coral Creature' who was holidaying with a friend in Kaukapakapa [cow-capa-capa]. I love NZ place names!

I live in Whanagaparaoa [fang-a-pa-ro-a] and it took me over a year of living in NZ to learn how to spell it out when someone asked me on the phone. More 'a's than one would think was actually necessary in a word?

In NZ 'Wh' is generally pronounced 'F'. So I still chuckle when the TV weather guy/gal mentions 'Whakatane' etc, etc.  Maybe that will go away if I ever get citizenship here?

 

Purple Parasite

I have finally finished this little creature!

I've had this lovely piece of plume agate (black puffy clouds in milky white) sitting around for a couple of years - in fact it was one of the first cabs I ever purchased (from the family run www.DesignerCabochons.co.uk).

I set out to do this in black and white only, but it ended up purple as I also have some gorgeous merino roving that I wanted to use from www.treetopscolours.com.au

 

Exotic Fossil Oolite & Diamond Brooch / Pendant

Yay! I finally finished this jewellery piece that I have been working on for a while.

The gemstone is a gorgeous spotty piece of fossil oolite from Wyoming, USA.

Oolite describes a sedimentary rock formed with ooids (meaning "egglike") - spherical grains in concentric layers.

I bought this from one of my favourite cabochon websites www.DesignerCabochons.co.uk



The metal is titanium sheet which I heated up to get the different colours of heat patina. I don't think I will be using it again - I found it so hard to saw! Took me ages.

The fibers are an exotic mix of merino wool, sari, silk, bamboo, firestar & glitz - needle felted.

The oolite organic gemstone is secured to the purple plexiglass (which I sanded) via resin, stainless steel microscrews & sewn threads of tiny fine silver oxidised cubes (handcrafted by the Thai Karen Hill Tribes).

Other materials: natural raw diamonds (they are so rough & sparkly!), amethyst cubes & fine silver beads.


Its about 8cm (3 inches) wide. Can be worn as a brooch or pendant.

AROUSAL Brooch with Optic Fibers

I have been playing around with fitting fiber optics with LEDs into a piece of jewellery. This is my first attempt, which I'm excited about - but I'm hoping to make my next one more interactive. With this piece the optic fibers are either on (pink) or off. Which is a bit boring.

'Arousal' - because I bought this fab piece of wonder stone (from www.designercabochons.co.uk) to do a piece for an exhibition called 'Erotica' - which was unfortunately cancelled so I never made the piece I intended to. But the gemstone reminded me of something quite female!?

AROUSAL Brooch - featuring a large collectors Wonder Stone. This is a stunning bright piece of Wonder Stone with perfect detailed bands & a high shine (55mm x 18mm, 5mm thick).

Also featuring tiny pink lights when 'aroused' (i.e. the battery is fitted to the holder on the back!).

The brooch looks cool without the lights on too - as the fiber optics are hardly visable, being transparent!

Other materials: Faux bone, UV resin, glitter, merino wool (pinks, cream, green), copper, mixed metals washers, micro screws, fine silver snow rings (Fair Trade from the Thia Karen Hills Tribes), fiber optics, conductive thread, coin battery & holder, pink LED, sterling silver brooch pin, sterling silver wire.

The battery is easily replaceable & removeable when not in use.

Approx size of center part (without tendrils): 11 cm x 7.5cm

Eye Cry Pink Pearls Necklace/Pendant

Just finished this one - she is crying natural, freshwater pearls!

With Faux bone & merino wool, copper, 1940s blinking dolls eye, sterling silver, UV resin.

Eye Seem Blue Pendant

Fun & quirky (if a little creepy!) - & managed to get some merino wool into this one so I'm happy.

It features a vintage 1940s 'blinking' dolls eye. The eyelid 'winks' when moved from horizontal to vertical (just as in a doll). I'm getting low on my Ebay 'find' of these unused vintage dolls eyes (all my Eye pieces are humanely created - no dolls faces are slashed open in the process). I found soem modern ones, but the quality is just not the same. Sigh.

I set the eye in glittery resin in Faux bone which is surrounded by needle felted merino wool fibers in turquoises & blues and antiqued sterling silver.

It can be worn as a brooch pin or as a pendant.

Approx 7cm wide.

Blinking Eye Brooches/Pendants

I've managed to tear myself away from my woolly things long enough to make some Blinking Eye pendants/brooch pins.

I must go and count my Eye stash - I think they are multiplying there in my dark drawer.....yay!

Crinoid Cube Brooch/Pendant

This one has been sitting on my desk for a while and is finally finished! Its another piece using a funky fossil crinoid cabochon which I purchased from Heart Of Stone Studio in the US.

Crinoids are lovely and graceful-looking sea creatures that resemble fern-like plants but are really animals. Commonly called sea lilies, they're Echinoderms, relatives of sea urchins and starfish, and they are one of Nature's success stories, having been around for 530 million years. Ancient Crinoids sported feathery arms sprouting from a stalk anchored on the ocean floor, while their modern descendants mostly don't have stalks. Their soft , filter-feeding bodies are supported by a framework calcium carbonate segments called ossicles, and it's the ossicles that you see in these fossils.

I set the fossil crinoid into Faux bone using glittery purple UV resin. The outer frame is needle felted merino wool in greeny/blue shades with a crochet surround of thin argentium sterling silver wire, amethyst cubes and tiny fine silver beads handcrafted by the Thai Karen Hills Tribes (purchased Fair Trade).

I found crocheting the wire quite tough on my fingers this time around so I must have been doing something wrong.

This piece can be worn as a brooch or pendant.

Size: about 5cm square (approx 2 inches)

Floating Opalina

This is my third (and final) piece made for the 'Melodious Art Exhibition' (31 July to 13 Aug 2009) at Uxbridge, Howick's Creative Center (www.uxbridge.org.nz).

It features a stunning Opalina gemstone which I bought from the fantastic Heart Of Stone Studio. Opalina is unique to Peru and the colours are very intense turquoise accented with deep teals, rich greens and mustard yellows.

Other materials that I have used are - merino wool, silk thread, plexiglass, copper plate (with heat patina & prismacolor), resin with glitter, tiny sewn beads and Swarovski crystal bicones in pale blue.

'Floating Opalina' may be worn as a brooch or as a pendant.

Length: 11cm

Width: 8cm

Carnivore Crinoid Brooch

I sold a piece! Yay! This was my entry to the Regal Castings Contemporary jewellery competition - which was part of the NZ Jewellery Show, Auckland. I didn't win anything but my piece actually SOLD!

This brooch features a piece of fossilised Crinoids that I bought from Heart Of Stone Studio. Crinoids are lovely & graceful-looking sea creatures that resemble fern-like plants, but are really animals. Commonly called sea lilies, they are Echinoderms - relatives of sea urchins and starfish.

They are one of Nature's success stories, having been around for 530 million years. Ancient Crinoids sported feathery arms sprouting from a stalk anchored on the ocean floor. Thier soft, filter-feeding bodies are supported by a framework of calcium carbonate segments called ossicles and it is the ossicles that you see in this piece of fossil.

I created a man-eating, parasitic, Triffid-like base structure for the Crinoids to happily live and lurk within (even though Crinoids don't actually have teeth).

Other materials used: brass sheet, bronze sheet, patina (green & heat), prismacolor, plexiglass, sterling silver, merino wool roving, microscrews, fine silver heishi (Thai Karen Hills Tribe - Fair Trade), brass heishi, pink natural freshwater pearls, brown pearls, thread, craft wire & plastic aquarium plants.

TANIWHA - First Place Winner!

YAY! Lisa-Jane Harvey of Born To Bead NZ and myself collaborated on a piece for the annual Step by Step Beads magazine competition. We just heard that we won first prize in the 'Other' category for our entry called 'TANIWHA'.

TANIWHA is the Maori word for 'Fabulous Sea Monster' and this piece can be worn as a pendant or brooch.

Lisa-Jane is an amazing lampwork artist and made the gorgeously coloured beads. I did the felt stuff. Her website is at www.lisajane.co.nz

You will be able to read about TANIWHA later in the November issue of the Step by Step Beads magazine and it will be also announced on their website.

Very exciting!

Just to note, the other material used are Faux bone, sterling silver, Thai Hills Tribe fine silver beads (Fair Trade), merino wool (wet felted & needle felted), various metal washers, stainless steel micro-screws, tiny seed beads & vintage (1940s) 'blinking' dolls eye. The silver discs are stamped 'Taniwha'.

Varisite Parasite Brooch & Pendant

This one turned out with very jolly colours! It reminds me of a parasitic plant form - and will live on its 'host' as a brooch &/or pendant.

The focal gemstone is a gorgeous piece of variscite from Heartofstonestudio.com, in various shades of soft seafoam green. This stone is unusual as the variscite is running like a river through interesting shades of matrix.

This piece also features merino wool roving (in shades of yellow, green and blue), copper (etched, prismacolor, heat patina), clear plexiglass, silk threads in shades of pink, sterling silver, brass micro-screws, fine silver heishi (purchased Fair Trade from the Thai Karen Hills Tribe), spotty wood bicone, recycled glass disc and a vintage soda cap (on the reverse) 'Sun Drop Citrus Soda'.

Leopard Skin Sundew Brooch/Pendant

Hmmm - I've been pondering this one for a while and it came together this weekend when I decided to needle felt some "sundew" bobbles onto what I had already wet felted. Now it looks right so I will call it finished!

Its a really cool piece of 'Leopard Skin' Jasper - olives, yellows and peaches outlined in rich black. This jasper is a cross between 'animal print' and abstract art - I love it! I bought this cabochon from www.heartofstonestudio.com.

I wet felted around some Faux Bone (with merino wool in deep green) and then cold connected the jasper with some micro-screws and fine silver heishi (Fair Trade from the Thai Karen Hills Tribes) to the woolly base using a bronze frame for the stone, which I etched and then gave an antique greeny patina.

I had wet felted the green/pale pink/shocking pink tendrils at the same time as the base. Then I needle felted in some bumpy spots - I've just got a book on how to do needle felting so that helped me immensely although I still end up sticking the needle in my finger occasionally - its v ouchy.

Anyway - its a cross between a leopard and a sundew. It has a brooch and pendant fastening on the back so it can be worn either way. Its quite large - about 21cm diameter.