Moonlight FantaSeas - ZnetShows Key Chain Lightning Round

"Some men See things as they are and say "Why?". Others Dream of things that never were and say "Why not?" 

 - George Bernard Shaw 

    ZnetShows has challenged me to a lightning round. I picked out 2 Tiaria Crystal items from their vast collection, and I was sent 3 silver plated key chain clasps.  

    I picked out these awesome giant star-burst shaped crystals.
    If you recall, these are the same crystals I picked out for my partner Hope Smitherman, in ZnetShows Summer Challenge and Giveaway. I just couldn't resist. They're just too cool.
    I also picked out these coin shaped crystals with a star-burst etched into the side.
    The larger star-burst shaped beads are mainly green. The smaller star-burst etched coin shaped beads are mainly purple. In bright light the pieces all seem mainly purple. Yet, they both dance, with a dazzling array of watery blues, vibrant greens, and mystical violet purples that enchant the soul.

"Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has Genius, Power, and Magic in it." 
  -Goethe 

I added a few goodies from my collection. 

     The Amethyst nugget beads that Hope picked out for me from ZnetShows for the Summer Partner Challenge. I still hadn't used them. They matched perfectly with the colors of the crystals.

    Fresh water pearls with a brilliant peacock luster. A few larger Baroque Pearls. and a few diamond granule finished glass beads with cut circles and an iridescent rainbow finish. 

    Two gorgeous hand-carded wool batts from Crochet by KA. One titled "Purple Peacock" , and the other "Moonlight Beach". The latter deserves credit as part inspiration for the title of this collection. 

    Hand dyed Coopworth locks in marine blue from Froggy Fibers.

    Hand dyed Wensleydale locks in a wine country palette by Herman Hills Farm. 

    When I first began this blog, it was with the intention of sharing my textile experiments. Though I've just realized I've yet to post anything fibery. I hope my current followers will enjoy a change of pace as we mix things up a little bit with some felting fun today.

   My package of goodies from ZnetShows, arrived on a Friday evening and I immediately got to work.

     A quick photo shoot and we're off.......   

     I hand spun some cool funky art yarn with lots loose curly locks for texture, and Angelina fiber for bling, and a beading wire core for extra strength. 

  I enameled some pre-cut stainless steel donuts on my torch. First I hammered them out to give them a little bit of an irregular shape.
    I layered many different shades of blues, greens, and lavenders and then over-fired them. What happens when the enamel is over-fired is, the glass starts to boil and the under layers bubble up through. It does leave some charred and darkened spots, so this isn't the technique to use if you want perfect enamel. I happened to like the character that irregularity gives each individual piece. No two will ever be the same.
    Then I dipped them in "Pixie Dust" and fired one last time to achieve this awesome shimmering iridescence.
    The perfect fairy finish!                                           

     

    Now this is a key chain challenge, but I really am an out-of-the-box kinda girl, and well, frankly a key chain sounds kinda boring to me. So, what else can I do with these clasps .....hmmm....

    First off, I was struck by the incredible brilliance and elegance of the crystals. So I started out with a simple pair of chandelier earrings.
    A pair of balled headpins were twisted into parlor hook style ear wires. They are shorties so clear rubber stoppers have been added to the backs.
    A large pewter colored Baroque pearl with a  peacock luster, a star-burst etched coin bead, and a large star-burst shaped crystal, all dangle, with my signature fiber wrap for a bit of texture.
 
                      Simple and Elegant!

    Next, I decided to make a bracelet to match and use one of my key chain clasps as the closure. I dressed up the clasp with some sari silk wrap. The hinge no longer spins freely but it does still have some movement to allow for a comfortable fit.
    A large star-burst crystal as the centerpiece. Flanked by a pair of star-burst etched coins, a pair of Amethyst nuggets, and a pair of diamond finish glass rounds. All spaced by iridescent luster gunmetal pearls.
    Closes with the sari silk wrapped key chain clasp, and large silver jump ring. Finished with a Baroque pearl and Czech glass crystal dangles.
    Can't forget a little fibery bling, with a metallic eyelash yarn wrap to dress it up.

    Now I'm thinking outside the box. Let's really get creative..........................Fanny Pack!

    Here's where the wool comes in. I make fabric, from scratch, using wool locks, dish soap and water.
    The wool fibers are barbed like a fish hook, causing them to tangle and mat with agitation. The dish soap acts as a lubricant to facilitate and speed the process. Hot and cold water can also shock the fibers into tightening. This is why when you throw a wool sweater in the washing machine it comes out much smaller and thicker.
    The beauty of felting, is that I can create my fabric in any shape I would like by using a resist. It doesn't have to be flat. It can be three dimensional. It can have layers and folds. The possibilities are endless.
    What this means is, I can make a purse, with a front and back, with sealed seems on each side and the bottom, and a flap closure, all in one complete piece, eliminating any need for sewing. No raw edges to worry about. No need for any lining.

              I Can sew!

    I took my first sewing class and made my first dress at age 7. I studied fashion deign at UCLA. I can even draft my own patterns, but I tend to work, "cut and paste" style without them. Even making ball gowns in this manner.
    I think sewing, however,  requires a precision that I don't have the patience for these days. I find that felting allows me much more freestyle work, and is also much more forgiving to errors, as it can be changed and re-manipulated. When something doesn't work out as planned, I can do something else with it.

    I started by felting two long cords for the belt with lots of loose locky texture and plenty of bling.
    I made the belt in two parts to insert the pouch in the middle.
    I attached each cord to one of the enameled donuts, and used some of the  hand spun art yarn with a wire core to connect the two donuts. Then I wired up lots of sparkly dangles to hang in the space between the belt and the bag.
    The ends of the belt are finished with  dangling beaded tassels of Pearls and crystal and Amethyst nuggets as well.
    I then used the two remaining key chain clasps with a little bit of sari silk wrap, to attach the pack to the belt.
    The pack is removable. The belt can be worn with or with out the pack.
    The belt is a little over nine feet long it can be wrapped multiple times in multiple ways, or worn with long dangling tassels.
    The pocket itself, is seven inches wide and eight inches tall. It has been completely beadazzled with pearls and crystals.

    The color combo inspired a Mer-Fairy theme. Who doesn't love to delve into the fantasy world from time to time. though, I'm probably guilty of indulging a little more often than most. 

  

Mer Fairy - 

Deep below in unexplored regions of the ocean you may happen upon a beautiful creature, half mermaid, and half fairy. She is very difficult to spot because with her delicate wings and powerful tail she can move out of sight in an instant. Here we have a glimpse of this mysterious beauty relaxing and playing with her companions the seahorses who themselves are equipped with fairy wings.    - Josephine Wall

Any one of these fair maidens would look absolutely stunning, beadazzled in my fancy festival Mer-Fairy Fanny pack.

     I took the most interesting of the enameled donuts and used it as the centerpiece for the necklace. This particular donut had a crater that opened up in the enamel as I over-fired it. I love the effect it left as the pixie dust settled into the hole. Like looking through a portal into deep space. 

    I hung one of the etched star-burst coin crystals in the center of the donut, and hung the enameled donut from a silver jump ring. 

    I then hung it on the remaining piece of the textured hand spun art yarn, and wired it up with an array of Amethyst and and Pearls. 

    I didn't have any more of the ZnetShows key chain clasps to use or I would have finished the necklace off with another one of those. I dug out the most similar clasp I could find in my stash, and I finished the silver jump ring with a Baroque Pearl and a Czech glass crystal dangles to match the clasp on the bracelet. 

   I used the last two enamel donuts to make a matching set of earrings. I centered an etched star-burst crystal in each enameled donut,  hung them from silver jump rings, and embellished the ear-wires with a sari silk wrap and small fresh water pearls. 

Can't forget the hands.              I can never resist putting a little bling on those fingers. The bands are hammered 16 gauge galvanized steel wire. 

    The two larger crystal rings were made as a tension setting and then reinforced with a wire wrap. The tension settings required a rather wide stance. On the etched star-burst coin shaped ring, it left a cavity on the underside, so I got creative and decorated the empty space as well, with some small fresh water pearls, for a very unique look. 

   Of course all my rings are finished with my signature fiber wrap detail. It just wouldn't be perfect with out some awesome texture and a proper Pyxee dust finish. 

Spell to become a Mermaid

1 conch shell (In which you can hear the ocean in.) 
1 Bucket of sea water. 
2 Dead star fish 
2 Witnesses 
Now wait until the next full moon. 
Go outside on your lawn. Lay the 2 dead star fish on both sides of you. Have your witnesses, sit in front of you. Put the Conch shell to your ear. Keep you left index finger in the bucket of sea water and recite this spell. 
Complete and utter integrity, 

I am clean and full of innocence. 
I do understand the consequences. 
All the barnacles, and all the beasts. 
I know the immense heat. 
But I wish to be one with the sea. 
I will live to 3 hundred. 
I will then become just sea foam. 
For I have given my soul to the depths. 
I am prone to the fishers nets. 
I wish to be one of the sea. 
Grant this wish, I wish I plead. 
Let the sea come to me."

After this dunk the sea water onto the lawn. 
Bury the dead starfishes in the yard. 
Take the conch shell and place it on your dresser. 
Do not let your witnesses tell anybody, or else this will not work. 
In exactly 3 days your legs should feel painful, and they should start to itch, soon you will notice scales on your legs. 
Immediatly go to a place where the is salt water. 
You chest should burn and it'll be hard to breath, you'll go into a deep sleep, when you wake up you'll have your tail. 
And you'll have become a mermaid. 
What color your tail will be, I don't know. 

Dive into the inspirational realm of water, and discover the healing powers of mermaids, magic and the marine environment with Lucy Cavendish and Serene Conneeley's "Mermaid Magic".     

Connect with the energy of the ocean and the healing power of water

I just discovered that there is actually a Fae Magazine. I don't know how I've missed this.....

   Please click on any of the mer-fairy photos for links to the incredibly talented artists who created them.

    Thanks for sharing the adventures.
                          Have a mer-magical day!              
                                               -  * PyxeeStyx *

My My How Time Does Fly............... Double the Fun...................... bogger/non-blogger challenge #9

   Welcome to the reveal of the blogger and non-blogger challenge round #9. A huge round of applause for our gracious hostess, Rita of  Toltec Jewels  is definitely in order. She really sweetened the pot this time and managed to entice with loads of goodies to give away, and making this a "Double the Fun" event with 2 inspiration photos. 

   When I first saw this  Frida Kahlo  photo titled "Time Flies", it really spoke to me. I could almost immediately see an image of what I wanted to make. A statement piece with a pocket watch as the pendant, a die cast toy prop plane wired into the side. Complete with all the textures in the picture, red silk rope, tassels, and white lace, included. 

  I immedietly started my blog post, complete with video of one of my favorite Enya songs called "My, My, Time Flies". I was all excited and ready to go. 

Well I looked, and looked, and looked for that toy plane, to no avail. They sure don't make toys like they used to. Even match box cars are made out of plastic these days. Cheap, breakable, disposable..... piling up in land fills. It's a shame really. What ever happened to Tonka trucks. "Tonka Means Tough". That was their slogan, and boy did they stand up to the claim.
                 Sigh.

     I finally gave up on the plane and moved on to plan B. 

   I participated in Tresori Trovati's  Challenge of Travel  last weekend. I did my post on my family vacation home in Lake Tahoe. I put a lot of work into that post, and I really waited until the last minute to start this. I wasn't sure that any of my ideas would work. I've only torch enameled beads and small pieces until now. So, I said a little prayer and dove in head first.

    I set out to try and replicate the "Teal Goddess" vase. I have a whole page of doodles trying to figure out HOW to shape it. I was first thinking it would have to be made in multiple pieces, and attached in the enameling process. 

    I started with small pieces of annealed copper sheet and hammered and folded and played. This is actually the second shape I came up with. The first was also very blossom like, but it wasn't quite right for this piece. It did however lean nicely toward another idea I have, so you will be seeing it eventually. 

As you can see, my experimenting was a success. Yippee!

    I started rolling the copper into a cone, so the seem runs right up the throat of the blossom. The seem sealed perfectly with the enamel. Unfortunately it's not quite water tight. There is a very small seam between the vase and the curly Q tail. A pinhole size, but it does drip  :(  It could, however, be used with fresh flowers and a damp cloth.

  I used many different colors of enamel. White, a fern green, Sea Foam and transparent Nile Green to encase it all. Then I rolled it in glass frit in array of colors; cobalt and aqua blues and emerald green. I got it really good and melty, so the colors started to bleed together and morphed into the perfect shade of teal. Little bits of sparkle peep from under the collar. On the back side the frit leaves a speckling pattern near the tail that makes it feel quite organic. 

    Thank you for everyone's comments on the photos, praising my talent and brilliance...
  
 Some days I am.

    In this case, I experimented and got lucky.

    Moral of the story is:

                 TRY NEW THINGS!

    Even if you don't think they will work.

    Even if you don't think you'll like them.

    Cause you just never know.........
                                        until you try.

          Some days you come up with.............

                                                                                             BRILLIANT!!!

       I had plans to string the vessel for the challenge as well. There is a ring in the center to attach and string of charms. My intent was to hang it sideways with the magic spilling out, with a string of crystals dangling. 

    While working all weekend, I couldn't find the time to finish it. I couldn't possibly improve upon the vessel itself anyway. I have decided to quit while I'm ahead and submit the component as is.

    ~The Tale of the Teal Goddess and the Fairy Goblet ~

    The Teal Goddess is the secret protector of the Fairy Goblet.
    A Cornucopia of Magic flows, eternally from the goblet's mouth.
    This sacred elixir is the life force of all the little elfin people.
    It nourishes,              heals,            creates,          all things.
    A very powerful magic.
    It could also be very dangerous in the wrong hangs.
    That's why the "Teal Goddess",  the goddess of white magic and sacred wisdom, has been entrusted to keep these divine secrets.
    The safety of the little magic people from the Dark Wizard, and all the evil in the world, depends upon it.
    So please, don't tell anyone where, if you have seen us out and about.
    It's for the greater good of the fairy world...... and all the world.

    Sprinkling some sparkling white light in your direction.
                                   Use it well.
                                  *~*

                      The End 

    I hope you have enjoyed our little jaunt through Fairyland. 

    Please head on over to the facebook photo album to see all the awesome submissions. It really is mind blowing to see how we each interpret the inspiration differently. Many, many talented artists in this bunch. The results are a must see. 

Please be sure to check back on October 27 for all sorts of yummy fall goodness. I'll be participating in Toltec Jewels' Octoberfest Blog hop as well. 

a little Grey Bird flies from the Isle of Skye

    A much anticipated package arrived today, having flown all the way across the ocean from the Isle of Skye in Scotland.
    An amazing artist I recently discovered. Rey of Grey Bird Studio, lives on the beautiful Isle of Skye in the Hebrides of Scotland.
    When I first set eyes on her work.........      Oh!      
                                                            Be still,                                                           my Heart!                 I think it was love at first sight.
    What I love about her ceramics, is that her shapes are raw and chunky, with great textures, but they are each hand painted, with  layers of color, in such a way that inanimate objects are brought to life. My adoration of her work and appreciation of her attention to details has just grown more and more each day.

     Even her packaging is magical. Besides the group of handmade ceramic buttons and beads I ordered, she also threw in all sorts of little bits and pieces to go with it. A collection of little beads and stones and  sea shells, all drilled and ready to use in my creations. All this cocooned in a nest of her spinning fiber. She even threw in some of the little organic bits that she speaks of using for inspiration. What a marvelous potpourri! I just had to take pictures before I touched anything.
    Rey has a fine arts background, but has turned to fiber and clay as her mediums of choice these days with fabulous results. Just look at this gorgeous yarn.

She can paint a landscape in fiber as well as any VanGogh ever could on canvas.

    The more I see of her glorious landscape......

    and her harmonic interpretation of it..........

  

    I love reading all the beautiful stories she writes in her listings with little tidbits about her magical life along the Scottish shores.
    I even came across  "The Fairies of Skye"  while looking for pictures of this place. How much more magical could it possibly get......



    Well, Rey definitely packed up some of that magic in this little box, cause it spilled out all over my studio and influenced my work.
    The piece I was working on near by, suddenly called out for some crochet work.

"Wings of the Sea and the Skye"

      I use a lot of fiber in my work , but I've never done anything quite like this before.
     The bracelet bar turned necklace bail is adorned with a sea urchin, a wire wrapped wing shaped sea shell, an awesome scroll-work ceramic bead with an hombre glaze by Natalie Pappas of  NKP designs, and one of my cultured sea glass mini conch seashells from Znets Show (more on those coming - challenge reveal soon).
    The bracelet bar was bought as a plain bisque piece and has been gussied up with Rub-n-Buff and Gilder's Paste. The sea shell and urchin got their share of gilding as well.
    Gilder's paste is another thing I have to thank Grey Bird for turning me on to. I started with 2 colors; Pinotage- a rich wine red, and African bronze- a green gold. Pretty much covers my favorite colors. I've been having a blast trying to "gild" everything in sight.

    I had the focal done and was working on stringing it on my usual sari silk. It wasn't quite working out right. That's when I took a break to open my package. Grey Bird inspired me to try something new.
    I do some crochet, but I've used very little of it in my jewelry. My initial attempt left me with a very fine cording. I wanted something a little bit bulkier, so I tried doing a series of knots in a braiding fashion.
    In hindsight I think it was some sort of Macrame I did. It came out in sort of a twirling pattern. I wove in 2 of Grey Bird's handmade ceramic buttons and finished off with a vintage shell button and loop toggle.
    I just finished it and was anxious to photograph it and share. Now I'm thinking It might looking better with the copper patina-ed to blend a little better. I may spritz a little salt water on it to do that. The verdigris wouldn't hurt either.

    Another nearby grouping of beads (not quite cohesive enough to be considered a project yet; not really sure where it's going, but they look good together) also benefited from Grey Bird's magic.

"Mist on the Moor"

The pendant was a bonus gift with an order from Moriah Betterly of Blu Mudd. All the other beads were unfinished clay beads that I spiffied up with Rub-n-Buff and Guilder's Paste.
    Boy, am I having fun with this stuff. I do a lot of upcycling, so anything that helps turn trash into treasure............WOOHOO!!!


               

 Thank you Auntie Rey, for sharing your beautiful beach.............. I so want to adopt her. I think I'm a little envious of her real life niece Ragged Robin, who is yet another amazing ceramic artist by her own rights. Robin even has a degree in ceramics.You can read more about that on her new blog. 

Lot's of great artists to check out. Have fun exploring. 

Here's a little themed music for your journey.