Sun ring - Tackle that Art Elements challenge

The latest Art Elements challenge had the topic "summer solstice". Art Elements changed the format for the challenge, it's not an official blog hop anymore, but is in its own Facebook group now. So this is an inofficial post so-to-speak ;-)
Actually I hadn't intended to participate at all this month. I was so busy with my big projects, the box, the doll outfit, and the tiara that I couldn't even work on ideas. It is mere coincidence that this ring fits.

Some years ago a jewelry forum friend of mine made a pair of silver wire macrame spiral earrings and they were beautiful. I'd like to show you, but I can't find a picture of them anymore. I kept going back to the pictures to admire them.
I never learned macrame when I was a kid or teenager although it was the 70s and wall hangings or pot hangers flooded the neighborhoods. I had a little macrame owl hanging from my tote because a friend of mine made them enthusiastically and very well, too. Later I had it hanging over one of my cabinet keys, but eventually the cord broke. I'm absolutely sure that the owl is still somewhere, but I couldn't find it or I would have taken a picture it.
Anyway, when I saw the earrings, I told myself that one day I would try that myself.

Hey, it only took ten years!
Of course I have just learned one knot so far, the square knot, and made one ring with help of this tutorial by CSL Designs. I struggled a lot with getting the knots regular and I messed up about six times having single knots that were a little bigger or smaller and that wouldn't do.
I didn't give up, however, and am quite happy with this try. Joining the ends was a little difficult. That part is not as pretty as I would have liked, so I thought I'd hide them with a bead. I tried some crystals first, but then I went through my stash - yes, that's the Friday stash tackler part in this! - and found this bead with a sun on it that a friend once gave to me.
That's when I thought I could make a little something for the Art Elements challenge after all.

See, sometimes things come to you even if they haven't been planned at all or even inspired by a topic which is the reason why I only have to offer this short blog post.
Time to show my little ring :-)

Random Saturday - The Laurin mark

It was a Saturday night after dinner, my sister and I were hanging out in front of the TV when she showed me a silver ring of hers that she had bought at one of her favorite fleamarkets many years ago. She had got herself a loupe some time ago and was curious what the marks in her ring meant.

Of course we both knew the 835 meant the content of silver. Nowadays jewelry is usually sterling silver which is marked 925, but I still have 835 silver jewelry myself from my teenage days. It means that 835/1000 silver was used, the rest was copper and nickel.

Next was the F with the star which we found online as the mark of W. Frey & Co. from Pforzheim, a city which is famous for its jewelry manufacturing and is even called "City of Gold" because of it. The company itself does not exist anymore, however.

What was that last mark, though? It was hard to read and it took me several attempts turning the ring this and that way under the loupe, taking my glasses off, putting them back on until I suddenly had the luck to get just the right angle to see it was a cursive "Ln" with a semicircle around it.
You know how it is, once you know what you are looking at, it jumps out at you, and my sister saw it, too.
And what did it mean? An online search took me to several sites - and to the Laurin mark.

The Laurin mark was a seal of quality that was used on jewelry manufactured between ca. 1934 and 1938. It got its name from Laurin, the King of Dwarves.
The campaign was supposed to instill trust in the marked jewelry and thus animate people to buy. It was not meant for cheap jewelry for which buyers didn't expect a guarantee nor expensive pieces, but for those in between.
All German manufacturers who accepted the given quality standards were allowed to use the Laurin mark on their jewelry.

Back to my sister's ring. The stone in the beautiful blue of an aquamarine is quite probably synthetic which obviously wasn't unusual for these times and until the 50s. To be able to tell the date and place of the ring's manufacturing like this, however, was really something, and above all it's a beautiful ring after all.
Now I wonder what stories it would be able to tell us if it could speak .....



Sources

While I found several pictures and short mentions of the mark, on auction sites for example, this was where I have found the most information so far (thank you to Antikschmuck Hofer for that!). For those who are not familiar with German and don't want to use an online translator - there are two advertisements for jewelry with the Laurin mark - one of them depicting the above mentioned King of Dwarves - and an article from a journal explaining the meaning of the Laurin campaign.

I also found this thread in a silver forum, this one's in English.

If I can find more eventually, I'll update this post.

Tackle that stash - Snake ring

I'm still wire weaving. When I found this light bluish-greenish cabochon in one of my mysterious tins where I keep wire and extremely hopeless WIPs, all I wanted to do was make a simple pendant with it.
Before I had tried making it into the background for a willow tree with dagger beads as the branches, but as I didn't even like it after the third attempt, it just ended up in the tin.

Today I set it free from its crochet bezel and started weaving in a mix of light gold and silver. Pretty soon I decided it would be a nice ring. Then when I wanted to deal with the wire ends sticking out in all directions, I thought it would be fun to have some of them run over the stone.

That's when Sallah whispered into my ear "Asps ... very dangerous. You go first." Not for real of course, I didn't watch Raiders of The Lost Ark at that moment (follow the link if you don't know what I am talking about ;-)).
You might not see a snake moving over the stone, but I do now.

Tackle that stash - Entering the world of wire weaving

Due to a fall I haven't been able to tackle my stash in a while, but now that my wrist is starting to tolerate certain movements again, this has changed.
I had made two or three small attempts at basic wire weaving before to see if it was something I could incorporate in my designs.
The first pieces included a crystal and a faceted tiger's eye bead, now I wanted to see if I could also do something with a cab or a tumbled rock.
Doesn't look that bad for a start ...

Tackle that stash - Beaded ring with pearl

This week I thought I wouldn't be able to meet my personal challenge. I have been working on a series of bracelets. Although all of them would qualify for the stash challenge so far, I chose not to reveal them before all of them are finished.
Right now I am waiting for beads to start #4.

We are still in the tight grip of summer heat which is not my kind of weather at all, and the longer it goes, the more I feel my motivation dwindling to do anything at all. Without my iced peppermint tea I would probably be lost.
This morning I remembered that it was Friday and I had absolutely nothing to show. I went through a few old ideas in my head during the day, but none of them seemed exciting and quick enough to realize it.

So I have to admit I took the easy way out and chose something that didn't need too much brain power and went fairly quick, a beaded ring in brick stitch in two of my favorite seed bead colors, raspberry and taupe lined crystal AB which are pretty much a staple in my small stash of seed beads.
I topped it with a very pale pink freshwater pearl in a netted setting ... et voilà!

It's available in my DaWanda shop.

Tackle that stash - Wide wire knit ring with Biwa pearls

You know how you drag a WIP around for months? Work on it a little time after time, but somehow you are not quite convinced?
The plan had been to add three round faux amber cabochons to this ring. All that was left to do was weave in the wires, but somehow it didn't feel right. One of the amber cabs sat slightly too high and slightly crooked and it felt as if it was laughing at me every time that I tried to fix it.
There comes a point when you know you have to rip a piece up or it will die in your drawer unfinished. So I cut the wires, I ripped off the cabs - I will be able to use them in another piece, I hope - and set out to look through my stash for something I could use instead.

I love these Biwa pearls. I have used them in two bead loomed bracelets (one of which is still available) and have been thinking about other ways to use them.
This kind of ring is now one of them. How do you think about light golden or silver wire?

It is available in my Zibbet shop.

Tackle that stash - Wire knit ring with tiger iron

When I look through my supply drawers to find inspiration for the weekly challenge, I usually go through my lampwork and cabochon drawers first.
It is such a pity to hide those beauties away instead of making something with them. This tiger iron cabochon must have spent years waiting for me letting it out.

The other day I started combining double layer wire knit rings with beads, cabs, and gemstones (stay tuned for more), and I thought the tiger iron would make a wonderfully bold and modern ring.
 
I chose the light golden wire for contrast and feel it works great with the shimmering tiger's eye in the cab. Tiger iron is a combination of hematite, brown tiger's eye, and red or brown jasper which make for beautiful patterns.
At first I wanted to make the whole ring light golden, but then I went for even more contrast and made the band from a gunmetal wire using a very fine crochet hook which makes the band so smooth and nice to wear despite the size of the ring. This is not a ring to overlook easily!

It is available in my DaWanda shop now.

Tackle that stash - Faux amber and wire knit ring and earrings

A few years ago I got a little bag full of faux amber cabochons. They were different sizes, different colors, different shapes and over the years they have made for some big fun. I made earrings, rings, necklaces, pendants, in fine silver or in copper wire, in wire knit or crochet technique and sometimes I even mixed both.
Often when my muse was out of town I grabbed the little bag and matched pairs, sets or contemplated the best bezel for a unique shape like the little rounded pyramid.

Finally the bag is almost empty. There are a few last small round cabs left now after I took two of them to make this pair of starburst earrings.

Available in my DaWanda shop

And then there was the cab that had been haunting me from the very beginning. Shaped like half a circle it defied all my attempts to put it in a bezel. More than once I thought now was the time to show it who was the master and more than once I kept ripping up what I had made half way through. If I ever heard a cab snicker, it was definitely this one.
I don't give up that easily, though. Eventually the time comes when I put on my determined face and do the job, and that's what I did.
With this ring. Ha!

Available in my Zibbet shop

Tackle that stash - Black wire knit ring with acrylic cabochon

Is it Friday already? I completely forgot! Not only did I have to look after my Esme since last weekend who was sick and refused to eat even the finest snacks I had to offer, but I have also been working on a project for which I had to order the beads *gasp* It's a bead looming project and if I am missing one or more colors, there's nothing I can do. Now I only wish I knew where I have hidden my polymer clay ...

Oh well. I set myself a challenge, so I had to make something quickly, a simple design this time.

Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

I know, I know ... Sunday is supposed to be reserved for quotes (which I have sadly neglected), but let's make an exception for the Fusion Beads 30 Day Challenge this month.

You might remember that I like to play from time to time, and today's piece for the topic "Make a wire wrapped ring" is one of the results.
When I first started with the Twin Beads, I tried a few things, and I ripped up a few things. I kept this one around however because it looked fun, and I like fun. It's not what I was trying to do, but the little beehive in bee colors started to grow on me, and so I finally put it on a wire wrapped ring. Bingo!

Beehive ring

When have you been a bit crazy the last time?

Jacqueline isn't bald anymore

Good for Jacqueline, don't you think? You might remember she's my second doll head, and now she finally got her own hair. It was about time. I'm almost a bit jealous of her curls ;-)

What else has happened in the Cat's Wire universum? Let me check my desk. Ah, a cat. Keep sleeping, Greebo. What can I find beside him?

When I look at my latest pieces, it seems I feel a need for bling and color. None of these are listed yet, but you know if you are interested in something, you can always contact me. At least the pictures are taken already.
There's the Confetti Loops bracelet for example. I'm having way too much fun with those galvanized beads.

Then there's a knit cuff with gorgeous Miyuki cubes. At first all you see is the black wire and maybe a shimmer of gold. Then you turn it and bang! Pure bling. The picture doesn't do it justice. It's really the contrast that makes this piece.

It has a button hole and is closed with a lovely black matte agate lentil, by the way.

And if there are beads left over on the wire, then you have to make a ring. I'm sure it's a law that's written down somewhere. If not, I might have to write it down.
Just a little fun piece which would be great for a young girl (not just because I happened to make it pretty small ....).

Bauble ring

Patience

Patience is precious and doesn't come easy. Not to me, anyway. As you know the only exception is when I pick up the hook - or now the needle.

The following piece is one of those examples. It began as an experiment born from a childhood memory. When I was a child, I had a velvet ribbon with an embroidered colorful butterfly sewn to it. I don't know what happened to it. Now I can't embroider and I can't sew as you know, so I had to deal with this my way.

I'll cut the story short (just in case you don't have as much patience as me, hehe). I loomed a butterfly focal, I crocheted a wide choker (with a small hook because I'm weird that way) and then I brought those two together. It sounds short, but believe me, it wasn't.

Of course this idea didn't come alone, they never do, it brought along some pals that are waiting on my "inspiration list" now ...

And as I had worn out my patience, I then worked on my "Use up that stash or you will never be allowed to buy any beads again" project (don't mention the bead order I put in on Sunday) and made this ring with faceted stones left over from other pieces. Nothing like a little sparkle on your finger.

The ring is available in my shop now.

Fly me to the moon

Many years ago I watched a documentary about Picasso. He was telling, uhm, stuff that I have forgotten, all I remember is him painting on a panel of glass. He started painting and then he added a bit here and a bit there, then suddenly painted all over it, and although I'm not a big fan of his paintings, I was hypnotized by the painting changing like that all the time. I have forgotten what he started with and I don't remember what it looked like in the end. I do remember there was a rooster at some point.

The fascinating part was how the painting was in motion throughout the process, much more than I had expected.

I'm not Picasso and I'm no painter. I don't know what drove him to work the way he did, maybe I should have listened better.

What I do know is that I'm still fascinated by a design changing all the time unexpectedly.

The July challenge of the Starving Artists Team is "Fly me to the moon". My first thought was a carved polymer clay moon, the second one was moonstones. Half moon. No, full moon. Did I have enough moonstones left? A small full moon made of silver and moonstones. Yeah, with star charms dangling from it. A pendant. Where's my fine silver? Oh yeah, upstairs. Great, now I forgot to bring the charms as well. Wait, what's this? A few leftover moonstones, smaller ones. Stars. The full moon surrounded by night sky. Black wire with moonstone stars. A flat pendant. No, now that I started working with the black wire I feel a domed look is better. How about a double layer edge since the edge started curling so nicely. Hm, know what? Maybe this shouldn't be a pendant at all, it would be a pretty cool ring. Big, but lightweight, and definitely different. On a sterling silver shank.

See what I mean? When looking at the ring now, you won't even know of all the thoughts that come with it, or the time that went into it. I know and it's why I love so much what I do.

And there it is now - in my shop.

Bling bling

This was one crazy week!!

I feel as if all my energy is drained, but still I managed to got a little bit done. Let me show you my latest creations with Swarovski crystals. I will be blinded soon if I keep working with them ;-)

And that's meant in a good way referring to their sparkle.

Do you remember Tomomi, my little dragon (read up on her story here)? Here is a new nest of hers, a little different from the others. The "egg" in it is an antique pinkish faceted glass crystal and all around the edge of the silver colored nest are black Swarovski. The bail is not only coiled, but also twisted.

Next is the Magma ring, crocheted from fine silver wire, adorned with a dome of light siam and black Swarovski. The name was thought up by a Plurk friend and when I read it, I could see it myself, the way the hot red magma shines through the black rocks.

Mabel had her say again as well, this time it was her playful side.

"I am Leo, hear me roar ... and see me sparkle." There are crystals all over him, his face, in his mane, even the nose and his tongue!

I hope to list these pieces in my shops tomorrow as I have to go out to dinner tonight. Yes, it's true, I have to. I'd rather stay home to catch up on some seriously needed chilling.

By the way, for those who don't know yet, there is still a sale going on in all my shops, 20 % until the end of January!

Joan of Arc

I know I haven't written about my work for a while.
Yesterday I was being productive with listing a few things, two of which had been lying around for months, for whatever reason. I don't do WIP Wednesdays, it just happened to be Wednesday.
I also made something, though. It's something that surprised myself a bit, but I'm happy I have done it, also for myself. First comments differed and I was happy about that, too. This is not supposed to be a smooth and pretty bling piece.
The idea for it came a few weeks ago although then I didn't think it would turn out to be a ring. That's the fault of my wire order arriving and the fact that one of the "colors randomly chosen" 21 gauge wires was gunmetal.

I won't have to introduce Joan of Arc, she is famous enough.
My Joan of Arc is not a beautiful woman. She is tired, solemn, marked by the experiences she went through.
Her face is made from polymer clay in a mix of skin color and red. It's not smooth, it carries the traces of the battles Joan went through.
The "chain mail" that surrounds her face is from gunmetal colored copper wire, a color that fits perfectly.

It was a lucky coincidence that this month's Smoosher challenge is "Medieval" because it made me work on my idea. I love those challenges.
Joan is in my ArtFire studio now.

Romantic Sunday

No, it's not that I'm in a romantic mood, but I felt like making polymer clay roses again.
Probably Mabel was a Mucha lady again today.
One of them (rose, not lady) turned out much larger than I had planned at first, you know how it goes sometimes.

At first I thought about making a pendant out of it, but after I had crocheted the setting, I felt it might make a fun ring.
The wire goes through the rose bead, so that it doesn't move, and it's a very comfortable ring.
Yes, I think I am quite happy with this one! Not all my experiments work so well at the first attempt!


Which reminds me that I need to hurry to get the rest on today's list done ... wish me luck!

On a ring trip

From time to time I go through my stash of beads together with my muse. She points out beads that I had forgotten or some that I don't have many left of. Sometimes she will even find a half-forgotten WIP.
Perfect projects for those occasions are rings. They are fun to make because you can always choose a new combination of wire and beads.

This is what she came up with this weekend.
First of all she found a WIP I had made quite a while ago, then "lost" underneath something else. I hadn't decided yet if I wanted it to be a pendant, a collier or a ring. My first attempt at a ring had failed on a day when I was very impatient, so off into the box it went.
What I had so far, was a crocheted dome of sterling silver wire with faceted little moonstones. Too pretty to hang out in a WIP box with their blue flashes and sparkle.
I got stubborn and finally did it. One down, only one million to go. Yesss!


Then my muse (I wonder if she needs a name, time for another poll? Let me know what you think!) gave me some lovely frosted 4 mm amethyst beads that had been left after making the Winter Berries necklace.
Perfect for this ring in fine silver wire, don't you think?


I have only tried to spool knit brass wire once. It was not a success because it doesn't bend the way copper does. So I still had this ugly necklace lying around. It's always hard for me to throw something away, but there was no chance I could have saved it. Snip, snip, snip - welcome back, little jasper cubes.
I find they look much better on this ring (what you can't see in this picture that on this ring the wire is crocheted in a different direction than the others, I can be soooo innovative at times :-P).


When I wanted to take the pictures to list the rings, I found ... or rather, I didn't find (it was a very negative feeling) no charged batteries. Ten batteries and all of them dead? That delayed the listing a little, but I hope they'll be in one of my shops soon. The rings, not the batteries ;-)

Five gold riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiings ...................

Not quite, but I couldn't resist to quote from one of my favorite Christmas songs (Twelve days of Christmas).
Four silver rings would be correct.
I think it's amazing how using different kinds, sizes and cuts of stones make each one look so different although they are all pretty much made the same way (except for the fact that I don't think it feels so good to have faceted beads in the back too, therefore I chose only to use wire there).

Here they are (and if you have a great idea for what colors or stones would look good in that design, let me know!).

The big ones

Last night I was at a friend's house. It was time for a girly chat once again. Granted, those girls are not exactly teenagers anymore, but who cares? So when I came home in the afternoon today, I was tired. The laundry basket was full, but I walked around it very careful in case it would try to catch me. I also ignored the laundry upstairs that needed folding. I ignored the fact that the fridge was almost empty as I had bought some bread on the way home and this household is rarely without Nutella which means we can survive for at least two days. In case it goes faster than I think, I'll just go and raid my Mom ;-)

I checked my email, but I was even too tired to do much at the computer. Finally I turned on the TV and watched cartoons. Then I got up again to get my hooks and wire. I have a project I am working on the moment, but I didn't even feel like that. Under strict supervision of Esme I put some beads on the wire, took them back off, put others on there, played around with an idea I had had a long time ago, and wondered if the little hoops I had bought also long ago were sterling silver at all (I have to check on that tomorrow in the daylight), managed three stitches, cut the wire again - if you used a small hook, it's next to impossible to "unravel" wire - and did a lot of sighing. Then finally the moment had arrived when I gave myself one more chance before throwing in the towel. And like so often something started out as something totally different than it ended up as.

Fine silver, sterling silver (for the back) and garnet beads

Fine silber and multi-colored sapphires (the back is crocheted as well)


I am not sure yet what to do with these rings. They are prototypes and not perfect, but still I kind of like them. Keep them and try to go for better, maybe even planned versions? ;-) Offer them at a reduced price for the modern and adventurous woman? Put them on my cat's ears? Ouch, no - he is giving me the look of "Not funny, Mom. If you want some more scars, just go ahead and try."

P.S. Excuse my chubby hands in the pictures, they were the only ones I had handy at the moment ;-)

Long time no read

The last days I have been busy. Not only making jewelry, but also reading and some napping. I guess I had to sleep off my blog writer's block. I wonder if this is an acknowledged disease?
Also I started plurking a while ago. That was the right exercise for my mind. Short sentences for a short attention span.
The same it was for my creativity. I have been looking at my stack of things a lot lately and it is so not organised. I have a few storage boxes, but as I like to have everything in reach, most things are in small plastic bags on the table. My sister knows what my birthday wish is and I hope she won't forget till then :-D
Still I made a few things and I even took out some half-dead pieces to breathe new life into them.
That is what I done with these pearl wheels. I have a similar pendant in my ArtFire shop and really I wanted to make matching earrings. Although I had counted stitches the disks turned out different, though. One is slightly bigger and therefore also having one freshwater pearl more. Things like these make me nervous and the only way is to put them away for a while. Now I had the idea to combine both wheels to form a pendant. Both disks are adorned with peacock-colored freshwater pearls, the bail is handformed from sterling silver wire.



I can't say I am overwhelmed because the idea is not super original, but I am happy I found a way to use them without having to make 20 more disks (wouldn't even have enough pearls ;-)) just to find two matching ones!
Hm, just as I am writing this another idea crawled into my mind. I'll let you know what comes of it. I will wait listing the pendant anywhere hoping this idea will work out.

What else did I make? This little freeform silver ring was made in a whim of the moment, you could say. It was the rest from a string of wire and I had my ring mandrel in my hand accidentally and what can I say, I am thinking about keeping it as I always do when I try something new *lol* Strong, I have to be strong.



Also I bought a tumbler and hope it will arrive soon. I have been wanting to do that for a while and finally did it. A beginner's model. I am beginning to understand men drooling about tools. If you asked me, I would bubble over with a whole list. So don't ask me. I don't have time for bubbles, I need to put some teeth on a bunny pendant now. Can you believe I forgot the teeth?

Tomorrow I'll be off to a fleamarket. Hold your thumbs for me it won't rain again!