BRU NOT BRUSH. BRU CAFE IN NEW HAVEN

Making some concrete skulls for a DAY OF THE DEAD art show at BRUSH CAFE in new haven ct. The end of THE month! Facebook me for details

Blog! Blah:)

Cape Cod Crafters in Mystic CT.

So ..........................
I went to the Cape Cod Crafters to load up my 1ft wall with my wares. I of course overproduced.
 It is a 1ft wide 7ft tall or so wall space with pegboard. i bought peg baskets to put things in as if it were shelving and had some real problems putting all of the jewelry that i Brought with me as well as all of the plaster and concrete hangings and my explanatory signage and my magnetic board with my magnets............whooo!
 so the manager decided to give me the extra almost 1ft to the right of my space (attached) to hang my bigger items as well as my signage, so that all of my jewelry could be hung uninterruptedly...yeah, it's a new word I made up...and the space looks great!
 I didnt realize till I looked at the pic that there is a gap in the center of the pegboard, but I have my bracelets hung on the top of it and the tags hang below and into it, that must be fixed!
 Well, bhope you stop by and check it all out live!, They allow crafters to do some hands on crafting there so maybe I will be there painting or jewelry-ing...yes another new word! LOL
 I am looking into purchasing pre-made hang cards for the jewelry, its not too expensive and will look tons better than my hang cards, it's just finding the right ones. ya know, sizes and printing and stuff. nite!
luvs!
ME

Cape Cod Crafters in Mystic CT.

Hey kidz! 

 As of the 16th, I will be selling my stuff at Cape Cod Crafters In Mystic CT. as well as on Zibbet! 

 so if you are in the area after then, stop in and give my stuff a look in person! 

 but as usual, on Zibbet, the coupon code THANKYOU42 will still get you 10% off your total ! 

 and online, I still have the REWARD POINTS PROGRAM! so add em up and get yer free stuff!

 Love yas!

Damiana

SITTIN AND CHILLIN ON A SATURDAY

sitting in a hotel room in Boston. bored out of my frickin skull. about jeweller-ied out! made 8 pendants and 4 pairs of earrings and 1 key chain. Here on a special ops mission as one of my co-workers would say. He is young and very cute, but so immature as to actually hurt your head if you are around him for too long. but he is a great kid. good hearted and just came back from boot camp.
anyway, special ops like i said. lol Not allowed to blog about it because it isn't about me, I just have to be here to help and to drive back.
 Everything I could possibly need is literally right around the corner.
McDonalds
shaws
rite aid
golds gym
h&M
Dollar tree
T-Mobile
a discount fabric place Sew Fabulous or something like that.
I bought tapestry squares! Gorgeous 14inch approx squares! I am thinking of satchel bags or messenger bags and some wallets. OH! they were 2 for  $! I got all of the good ones!

 So I have gone with the OLD SCHOOL wire wrapping on some stone geode slices ! The stunning colors are amazing by themselves but what to do with them? I have one in bright pink with white and clear it is kinda kidney bean shaped so I wrapped it long way in 3 strands of round 12 gauge aluminum jewelry wire which was then wrapped in 20 gauge silver plated wire to keep it together as one tract of wire. I tightly wrapped it around the outline of the stone, pulled a bail to the tippy top, stretched some prongs from the top and bottom wires to keep the geode slice in place then finished it off with twirlies on a diagonal very cute i think!

 The next one is  gorgeous shades of browns to rusts and clear. The colors just twirls within the stone so I kept the wire work soft and didn't pull it angularly the bail at the top is a double twirly, seperated  into a v and then decorated with curly twirls to one side and one to the other side that is larger. the center has a hanging dichroic glass square bead in the same earth tones with a hint of blues and greens within the dichroic  glass itself.

 There is a stunning blue one that looks like water so I did this one horizontally making the wire into waves all around it decorated with twirls abross the top length and adding jup rings to the sides to attach chain to. the stone is so beautifil. the edges are white to a dark blue center, but it has clear running through it on the shape of the stone with a little "island" off to one side. it sort of looks like a map very cool.

 One more very pink stone from the outside to the center. pink to clear/white i wrapped it with dual 12 gauge liver plate wire from the top bail, around it in an S shape then around back to the front again, back around and split the wires apart at the bottom and coiled them in opposite directions. Adorned the top with a silver dragonfly on an angle. sooo cute! love this one.

 I had some large amethyst flat oval beads about 2 inches maybe, drilled top to bottom I did one in gold and one in silver, the gold was pulled through and looped on each end then the tail on each end was roughly coiled from end toward the center. then dangling from the bottom is a Swarovski heart in Iris? I forget what the color is called but it is purple to green and multi faceted. LOVE THEM.

The second one is done in dual silver wires same way as the first, but the dual wires gives it a stunning look, plus the ends of each wire get twirled in opposite directions, giving it a more filagree look to it. plus the addition of the heart dangle. even my mom loves it!

 A giant MOP heart pendant factory glazed in blue with a butterfly wrapped in 18gauge silvered wire in to rough coils tornado wrapped at the point and a large white glass pearl in a wire wrapped cage dangling from the bottom. this one makes a statement!

 a large pink MOP bead in a rounded rectangle drilled top to bottom. I inserted gold wire through it beaded it with Swarovski bicones in ROYGBV then bent it into a triangle. at the top is a twisted and coiled S shape beaded with Swarovski large beads in multi AB and ROYGBV then another AB into the coil. Sweet!

 Speaking of sweet, lol, I found some beautiful Creamsicle colored Agate or Turquoise oval beads done top to bottom in dual orange jewelry wire with a single loopp at the center of the bead, separatedm then up the back into a coil. with a single clear AB disco ball bead at the bottom. very cute.

 EARRINGS! I have made some earrings as well! Dichroic glass rectangles mixed with discoballs and AB multis,

wire wrapped frosted green glass beads with green and copper ball beads and clear green spacers, hanging from silver french hooks

 Red wire wrapped glass pearls with clear red lentils and red bicones on silver french hooks

Silver plated suns with metal ribbed spacer beads and AB multis in the center on silver french hooks

 Hey, I even made a key chain. LOL its an antiqued brass bee shaped pendant with large golden acrylic rhinestones with three teradrop shaped dangles set onto a snake chain key chain finding. just playing with it. maybe some more ideas will come?

 I also started another green and black MOP lentil bead pendant. I attached a Silver butterfly charm to it that hangs off the edges with the wing tips, I am thinking maybe a clear bead at the bottom and two coils at the top like they were antennae? hang it from them? dunno. sounds cool. (this is what it turned into...)

 PHOTOS TO COME! (they came!) remember i am in a hotel room so i have to do things when i can

Damiana

edited sun jul 31

REWARDS POINTS

 tHIS IS FOR BOTH MY ETSY AND MY ZIBBET ACCOUNTS. ALTHOUGH ETSY WILL BE GOING AWAY SOON. THEY HAVE CHANGED SO MUCH IN SO LITTLE TIME AND DON'T CARE FOR WHAT THE SELLERS FEEL. ALSO THEY COULDN'T CARE LESS ABOUT THE RESELLERS AND IMPORTERS ON A "STRICTLY HANDMADE" SITE. SO AN AWFUL LOT OF US HAVE SWITCHED TO ZIBBET.
People have actually gotten MUTED on Etsy for complaining about all the resellers. How is it fair that someone working thier ass off making things by hand and putting time and love into everything gets scolded and in trouble for complaining about the resellers and importers? Etsy was founded to be just for handmade and vintage (20yr old) or supplies, with NO resellers allowed!. They still say that but do nothing to stop them and actually get pissy with us when we complain about it. BITE ME I SAYS!
 anywhooooooooo.....lol

Rewards Points Program! all of my listings have a point value.For every 100 points earned you get $10 off anything in the shop! always! for every 50 points earned you get $5 off anything in the shop! always! YES...you can use your points to buy things for FREE.
if Item costs $8...& you have 100 points... you can use them to get it free! if Item costs $20...you get it 1/2 off ETC..(no "change" back) once you use them they are gone. but feel free to start over again! POINTS AND COUPON CODES CANNOT BE MIXED! USE ONE OR THE OTHER PLEASE.
friend me on FACEBOOK for discounts and where to catch some shows!
http://www.facebook.com/people/Damiana-LaRoux/1481686245

TONIGHT!

HEY KIDZ! I WILL BE AT BESPOKE 266 COLLEGE ST IN NEW HAVEN TONIGHT
 THERE IS A BURLESQUE SHOW WITH REAL BURLESQUE DANCERS!
MYSELF AND ROBIN BANKS DOING OUR DARNDEST TO IMPRESS YAS!
 CIGAR GIRLS FROM THE OWL SHOP!
 THE WHOLE EVENING IS GREAT GATSBY THEMED! INCLUDING THE MUNCHIES AND DRINK SPECIALS!
 ONLY $15 TO GET IN AND IT'S ALL ON THE ROOFTOP!
GONNA BE A FREAKIN HOOT YALL!

Cigar Girls, Burlesque Dancers, & Cocktail Waitresses

what else to ask for?

$15 for entry
includes era-inspired snacks, drink specials, and entertainment
please dress accordingly
tickets available at bespoke and through the ShopNow tab on our facebook pagehttps://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=183363395053308

Wire wrapping pendants

Hey kidzz!
 I promised I would get on here and talk about wire wrapping jewelry so here I am.

 Theres a few ways to wrap things. you can do a free form wrap around a non drilled stone or glass or whatever you like. Simply start your wire on the back of the piece leaving at least 2inches extra. wrap around in any pattern you like, trying not to overlap the wire on the front or back of the pendant too many times, then it will just look like wire spaghetti .
 when you are happy with the wrap, finish it on the top of the stone where you left extra wire. tightly, wrap at least 2 times around the neck of the wire. (Or, you can just come up and finish with a hook of wire, the choice is yours)  flush snip the excess of the wrapping end and burnish it down with a plier, so the end doesnt stick out and catch on anything.
 Finish it off by twirling the leftover bit of wire into a bail. zig zag it or spiral or just simply circle it, it's all up to you.

  The other way is to make a design with the wire first, a spiral or square pattern or whatever you like. Hold it to the front of your piece and then wrap the wire around into a pleasing shape, again, keeping everything as flat to the stone as possible without overlapping too many times, or at all if it can be helped. follow the rest of the rules and finish with a twisted or twirled bail.

 

Then you can wrap a drilled bead. you tread the wire through the bead from end to end and you have a couple things you can do. either pull a simple ring at the bottom to stop the bead from falling off the wire, pull lots of wire through it and bead it, bend it twirl it etc, or mix methods. if you leave any twirly bits, hammer the design so it gets stronger and stays put.

 You can also pull extra wire through, and make a cool design with it and pull it up onto the front of the piece, wrap around a bit and finish at the top as described earlier. very cool look this.

 

 Now, the other way to wrap is OLD SCHOOL style and takes infinitely longer and is best done with

some type of flat wire. either square or half round etc, but I have only done it with full round wire. time and patients are absolutely needed for this because it will drive you insane, but it is sooooooo cool when you are finished.

 First measure the edge of your object and decide how many lengths of which gauge wire you will need to cover the entire edge., so, if your item is 1/2 inch thick, how many strands of wire will cover it from being seen. Leave yourself several inches extra on each end of the wires for bailing and decoration at the end of the process. measure from the center of the wire, depending on the size of your object, have at least 3 points to wrap smaller wire around your lengths, this will keep all of your lengths together as one wide piece of wire. when you wrap the smaller wire only use between 4 and 8 wraps always starting and stopping on the same side of the fat wires that will be the inside of the wires. use your flat pliers to pinch the thinner wires down and keep the ends flush with the rest. you will want to keep the thin wires as close to each other in the wrap as possible, practice will help.when you have all of your wraps done, CAREFULLY bend it all around your pieceand from the back of it, slide a butterknife or something like it, through the wires to pull a short bend in the back of the wires at a few spots. you are trying to make "prongs" to hold the back of the stone in place. do the same on the face of your piece as well, again...CAREFULLY.!

 the top of the pendant or whatever you are making with this process, is kind of freeform. Once you close it at the top and bail it, you can use the excess bits of wire as you like, i have pulled it down in curved crisscrosses and twirled it as well as made spirals etc.

 all of your ends can be sanded down to make them smooth if you like, but I find just tucking them with a needlenose or round nose or flat pliers works just as well. I use cheap felt to polish everything, it is just rough enough to scrub without marking up anything.

 (this whole tree of life has been glued together, the metal to the glass cabochon and the Swarovski crystals to the metal tree)

 you can also decorate your pieces with rhinestones and charms and things, but try to use good crystal not acrylic. E6000 or other jewelry glue works beautifully as an adhesive! WARNING...DOES NOT STICK WELL TO PLASTICS AT ALL!!! I use a plastic bed tray to do most of my jewelry, it's cheap and travels well, i also pull a glob of E6000 onto it to use for my rhinestones. when i get too much on the tray, I just peel it off, no problem. So be careful if you are using plastic items of any sort.

So, there you have it. This was a VERY condensed wire wrap tutorial, but all of the absolute basics are there. now get wrappin and let me know how it works out fer ya!

Damiana!

CHECK OUT MY NEW STUFF!

I WILL BE BLOGGING ABOUT HOW TO WIRE WRAP JEWELRY SOON! BUT CHECK OUT WHAT I HAVE DONE SO FAR!
http://twitter.com/#!/DamianaLaRoux/status/89830589640880128
WWW.ETSY.COM/SHOP/DESIGNSBYROXIE

 

HAVING AN ART ATTACK

OK SO HERES MY 2ND BLOG!

I have been very sick for the past month or so, turned out I had Pneumonia and Bronchitis together. that was fun. I was out of work for almost 3 weeks thank the gods I had the time to take otherwise it would have been horrific! but I started to craft a lot! I really got into the Plaster and the Concrete, started using the Patio Paints which are amazing! (they do not, however, adhere to tile at all! just a warning here kidz! use Permenamel or something made to adhere to non porous surfaces) anywhoo... I played with blending techniques while painting and they really do blend very well! I was able to paint make-up on a concrete Greenlady as if it were real!

 

NO Airbrushing!

and the metallic gold is drybrushed on in a very thin layer, but comes out amazingly well!

 then I got a tad OCD and started to dwell on the fact that I needed a new wallet. So of course I went on ebay and looked for wallets, aluma wallets are crazy, but kinda cool. leather wallets are expensive then I found felt wallets! very cool. but being a crafter i decided I could make one so i looked for patterns on the net

they were all asininely difficult, or at least looked that way from how they were put together. so i said screw it, i will just make one to look like MY wallet. and I did.  My very first one was made out of regular soft felt with an embossed pattern on it. I edged it with a satin stitch, for what I believed was going to be an easy and cool looking design feature. I hated that part but others liked it. so I added it to my Etsy store, I have several kinds of Felt in soft. Leather looking in several colors, red, black and brown- an "animal" looking embossed pattern in sevral colors as well and the original pattern in a few colors. then I have a couple of cool colors in glitter Felt! I am gonna play!

Then I started to feel better and made a voyage all the way to the craft store! they have stiffened felt there! Zebra, Cheetah and Tie dye! So I got some! and some plain black felt for the inside. Girl! that made the wallets POP!

With the stiff felt, they feel more like a normal wallet and I worked out the kinks in them, Considering I didn't use a pattern at all, I think the learning curve was pretty small! They are much easier to do in the firm felt, but I have more choice in the soft felt. Either way, they work beautifully. soft or firm folds, and handles equally like a mass manufactured wallet! and the card slots can hold 3 or 4 cards each FIRMLY. the stiff felt holds them in a tad tighter and I need to adjust the slot size accordingly or just put 1 less card in. LOL and the cash pocket can hold lots of cash and reciepts, just like a mass produced wallet can!

WHO NEEDS PATTERNS I ASK YOU!

so go check out my Etsy shop! 

www.etsy.com/shop.designsbyroxie

WELL, Thats about all for today.
gotta get going so, Craft away everyday!
Roxie

My Etsy store

Ok. This is my first time Blogging and Not sure what to say here.

 I have done lots of new items for spring and I love them all. I figure if I do things that I am proud of, then others will like them as well and that pleases me. lol We are amused!.lol

 I have been creating my little heart out these past few weeks as I have been sick and out of work, so a tad stir crazy!
moved from all Gypsum Plaster (which is very close to ceramic bisque) to concrete, which I assumed would be much heavier and harder to work with but all it really takes is a LONGER setting time. You can;t do thin pieces with it like with plaster, so some molds are NOT for outside use, they must be done in plaster.

 So the first item done in Concrete was a hummingbird hanging. so cute. i did it and was thrilled with the casting. painted it out in Patio paints so it would be element worthy and Viola' gorgeous for indoor or out!

My second outside piece is a Greenlady faeiry face hanging. I chipped away some of the edges to give it a more rustic feel and then painted it again with the Patio Paints and she is amazing even to me! (it takes a lot for me to really say something good about my own work. my worst critic!)

 playing with color is one of my favorite things to do and so I thought Pansies would be great to play around with it. so I have a large 14x12 Plaster wall hanging. love it and my mom doesn't want it to sell! LOL She wants the original  not a dupe!

 so, if on the site it says Plaster, It is Hydrocal gypsum Cement Plaster, veryhigh density and chip resistance, like Bisque. and if it says outdoor/indoor, then it is cast from concrete and painted with outdoor concrete paints to withstand the elements!

 www.etsy.com/shop/designsbyroxie
www.designsbyroxie.com  for my dress website (still under construction)


 Ok, so thats the end of my forst Blog. comments? feedback? let me know

Damiana