I Rocked the 30 Days of Infinite Possibilities!

Infinite Possibilities Project Week 5

Day 26 Put your skills to work. Manifest something - make your desire known to the Universe and then do your part. Want a smile from someone, put a smile on your face first and have a happy attitude - watch how quickly that brings smiles from others.

Day 27 Write an I Rock Because list. This sounds fun! Feel free to include things you aspire to rock at. Even more fun! So fun it became this weeks blog title!

Day 28 Look ahead 5 yrs in your life. Write a letter to yourself from there and tell yourself of all the successes you’ve had. How your life and the lives of your loved ones have changed because of it. What surprised you and what dreams do you aspire to now?

Day 29 What 5 things would your future self want you to know? example Be more forgiving, Spend more money, spend less money, Don’t be so afraid etc

Day 30  Look over your entries and reflect on the past 30 days how do you think this will help you in the coming months/year?  

A few of these I did off blog for a couple reasons, one my posts would be a mile long lol and two some of them required a little more thought and time than the quick line or two I had going on here and there are a couple I really think are worth revisiting.

This was a really fun way to start the year! I hope you followed along either informally with me or with the daily e-mails from TUT. As a reminder you can find all 30 days on TUT’s website along with Mike’s videos for each day.  

http://www.tut.com/index/infinitepossibilitiesproject

Year of Jewelry Project Week 5

While I was cleaning up my studio a few days ago I found the missing hollow bead from week 13 of last year 

My first hollow beads - well second and third. The first flew across the room when I was polishing. This time I left the pretty red patina or most of it

It was actually not across the room, just a foot or so away hiding in plain sight in Lola’s chair. I moved my old office chair into the corner and she curls up and naps there while I’m working. I probably never would’ve found it but I had set some photos on the chair while cleaning. Ha! Too funny! But perfect timing for me as I was scratching my head for an idea for this week. I have all my UFO’s pulled out as I intend to finish many (if not all of them) during Year of Jewelry. Including the heart I started several years ago! 

I'm trying to be mindful of what I make this year in that it can be worn with any number of other pieces I have already made. So far so good!

Speaking of mindful cohesion, this years Build a Line Master Class had their first hop this weekend. If you’d like to swing by the B’Sue badge on the right here will take you to Brenda’s blog where you can find this years participants. I’ve peeked at a few of their blogs already and I’m looking forward to the next two hops!

Well that makes for a busy post this week!! Whew! 

Thanks for Stoppin by!

How to Make Ear Wires or How Lefties Make Them - Me Anyway

Hollow Bead Earrings by Wind Dancer Studios

There are lots of ways to make ear wires and I use several of those methods myself. This is my go to method - it’s very basic and assumes you have some knowledge of working with wire and don’t need me to tell you cutters cut people too, files ruin manicures, and hammers hurt when you smash a thumb or fingernail.

I made a pair of hollow beads for the Year of Jewelry project  and thought hey! why not share how I make the ear wires for these? If my fingers look a little dirty that would be why, that and the glitter nail polish lol So I just grabbed the camera and shot photos as I worked. 

DISCLAIMER!!! I AM A LEFTIE, I use both hands when making jewelry so I don’t always realize when things might look backwards to you - if it looks backwards just mirror it and it should work out just fine! If you’re a leftie HI! isn’t it nice to know there are more of us?!

OK Let’s get started!

Step 1) Cut two pieces of 20 ga wire two inches long.

I use Tronex Razor Flush Cutters I heart my Tronex!

Step 2)  Debur your ends on both ends. You can use a bur cup, fish hook sharpener or a nail file. Just file them smooth, nothing worse than sharp wires poking you in the ears. (ok maybe a few things..but…)

Deburring with a cup bur
got mine at Fire Mountain Gems

Demurring with a nail file 180 grit

Step 3) Straighten and work harden your wires. You can use nylon jaw pliers for this or use a bench block but I like rolling the wire between the anvil and an altoids tin or the ruler, whichever is closest at hand. There’s no curve to the wire once you’re done and it has a slight spring to it.

Don't you love my baby anvil! It's so tiny!
Hubs found this one at a yard sale, my other one is 15 lbs
cast and sits on my other desk.

Roll wire between anvil and ruler to straighten and work harden.

Step 4) On one end of each wire form simple loops, this will be where you add your dangle etc.

Form a simple loop on one end.

Simple loops, I didn't center the loops but you could.

Step 5) Take your bail making pliers and wrap both wires around the larger barrel leaving the tail longer.

You can use wood dowelling, a sharpie or a pencil, anything smooth and round.

Forming wires on bail making pliers - large barrel side.
These are Bead Smith pliers.

Form both wires at once so they match.

Step 6) Most people stop there but I like to go one more and slide my wires onto the smaller barrel and tuck the dangle side in for a tighter curl.

Slide both wires onto smaller barrel for a tighter curl on the backside.

Step 7) At this point you can slide a bead onto the wire if you want. I like to add a little matching detail to my wire so they match my earrings.

Adding a bead for color.

Step 8) Now grab the wire just behind the bead and give a little bend to help hold the bead in place. This also balances the wire a little bit so your dangles hang straight down.

Securing the bead in place.
I'm using Wubbers Chain Nose pliers.

Step 9) Place your ear wire on the anvil or bench block and give the backside of the curve a little tap. This hardens the curve and helps it keep its shape. Some people don’t like the flattened wire, especially with a heavy earring, to keep the wire round use a rubber mallet or a leather mallet instead. Both will harden your wire without distorting it’s shape.

Hardening the back edge. I'm using a finish hammer,
it has a slightly domed smooth face with no hard edges.
Sometimes I steal the hubs MAC chasing hammer
for auto body work, it has a much smaller head, great for
precision work!

Step 10)All that’s left is to add your dangle and voila you have just made your own ear wires.

TaDaaa!

Hollow Bead Earrings by Wind Dancer Studios

Please excuse the stacked trays in the background, I just realized they were there lol I was using those to keep my components together as I worked on my Muchas Musings Lines. They allowed me to keep components with the sketches so I wasn't constantly looking for where they went. Take out tubs are AWESOME for this, lids and see through.

I hope you enjoyed seeing me make these and if you did please leave a comment. 

Comments will encourage me to retake those photos for the rose tutorial......

Thanks for stopping by!

We'll see you next time!

Prepping For Fridays Post!

Quickie post today. I've been snapping pics of most the new pieces I've gotten made for this weekends reveal and impending launch of my new line! Most because my batteries died ..... thankfully I keep some rechargeables on hand just in case! They're charging as I type this and I thought I'd round up some pics for todays post in the mean time. Yes I know I'm late....

Count Your Lucky Stars
Corky pulled together this gorgeous treasury for team LACWE today

Week 10 - Year of Jewelry  Aquamarine

Week 11 - Year of Jewelry  Hinged

I've had my nose to the grindstone all day and it's time for some family time, NetFlix and Hawaii 5 0. Last week I found the original show on NetFlix and watched an episode with my son. I'm pretty sure he thinks the new Kono is much cuter lol   Don't forget! Next weeks post will be early === Friday!!

Thanks for stopping by!

We'll see you on Friday!