Pink Bead Soup

A couple of weeks ago I bought a mixed scoop of glass beads from a friend. The colour was lovely and after a play with them, sorting and mixing again....any jewellery maker will recognise that experience... eventually I began to think about how to use them.

I had made a mould for using with UTEE, small hearts which would be super as charms. So I mixed up a batch of glossy black and poured a set of black hearts which I then embellished with black glitter. There was enough left over to pour a heart pendant too.

I made a simple two by one chain for a charm bracelet and then went on a hunt for headpins with a fancy end for the extra large holes in some of the beads. A quick trip to Purple Butterfly Crafts in Hawarden fixed me up with some black vintage looking headpins. Then I began to create the bracelet...a real joy....the only problem was choosing from all the beads.

Once the bracelet was completed I turned my thoughts to a necklace.
I wanted to make a focal charm portion using three large twisted ovals but didn't want it to be too heavy so experimented with a partial charm section on wire...didn't like that effect at all...on beading thread...nope.....on chain......hmmmmm close but not quite what I was after. Eventually I settled on seed beads, a double row which would be good and strong to hold the charm portion.
A powerful magnetic clasp with a couple of pink mystic beads finished it off.

Finally a couple of pairs of earrings... black for a chic look and white glass hearts for a lighter daytime look.

Am pleased with this result...a bit of a departure for me.

Jewel Enamel UTEE tutorial

I have been asked many times how to make a link, loop or bail for a jewel enamel UTEE charm or pendant.
Head pins or eye pins work well to embed into the newly poured enamel.
You need to work quickly to place the pin and hold it in place for a few seconds until it is firm.

this faux amber butterfly has a head pin embedded in the back

Many of us have silver plated and cheaper  findings - this is a good use for them.

here you can see a rolled down head pin waiting to be neatened

this is the back of a face mould that was heated with the gun and then had an eye pin added
to the soft enamel relatively successfully

the back of a shell mould witha rolled down head pin ready to attach

heart charm with jump ring attached

Once you have embedded an eye or headpin into your poured piece you need to let it set properly and then it will be ready to attach a jump ring to make a charm for a bracelet or a pendant bail,

Some times you may not want to embed but actually create a hole.
This needs to be done while the enamel is still warm and soft but set enough to manipulate
I use a bradawl but anything that is sharp and pointed will work. Use a board underneath and try not to mark the surface of the piece. Any marks can be removed by heat glossing with the gun
Don't leave it too long - UTEE goes very brittle

holes made with bradawl while still slightly soft

A little update for you. Since writing this almost two years ago I have developed a better way to make a hole. I use an old soldering iron of my hubby's and melt my holes which gives me the ability to have smaller or larger holes and I can do it days after pouring.

hole made by melting with soldering iron

Added Bling!

I have a Facebook friend, Michele, who shares my jewellery making passion and loves experimenting with alternative media.
Together we have been working with jewel enamel UTEE and trying to push the boundaries of our skill and experience.
Last week Michele began to add craft glitter to her pieces with amazing results.
Craft glitter is not the classroom stuff of Christmas cards - it is very fine, made from a lightweight iridescent polymer that often changes colour with heat. This makes is easy to use with jewel enamel but as you will know if you have used UTEE the temperature is very hot ( 140C) which can distort the particles causing them to clump.
Following Michele's experimenting I had to try some myself so armed with mini taster pots of  lovely colours I spent a Saturday morning experimenting.

As Valentine's day is looming I thought I would try a red puffy heart with red glitter added to the pan - disaster - it was obviously too hot and just formed a gunge clump!
Next I decided to use a white powder that already has glitter in it so added a swirl - disaster - the white was so opaque that it over powered the red and made a sickly pink with very little glitter showing.
Romance be blowed!  By the way nothing is wasted - all scrap can be recycled!

I cleaned out the pot and chose blue - deciding to add a small sprinkle of glitter to the mould rather than the pot. This time success!

this lovely puffy heart has two colours of glitter-a blue and iridescent white

I have added a brooch pin to the back deciding to leave the simplicity of the heart

Next I went for spring colours and chose a light turquoise with peridot green, lightly swirling the two together so that they didn't mix but marbled. Again I added the glitter to the mould

this face mould reminds me of the Easter island statues

the puffy heart with green glitter added to one side

I still had some melted enamel in the pot so used a silver bezel to pour into

this time as I heat polished the surface I added a small amount of green glitter to the soft enamel

To finish my session I used a new colour Apatite Green which is probably more sludge green with dark gold undertones. So I decided to make a heart charm bracelet with gold findings.

I wanted to grade the colour from green to gold so after pouring two hearts I added a small amount of clear and let it begin to turn amber then poured again. The next pour I added a little gold which really began to alter the colour and then for the final pour it was almost all gold.

At the mid point of the colour transition I dipped a pair of earrings and with the final colour I poured a simple circle to be made into a brooch

I think this type of glossy finish simple jewellery is  my style.

Working on a piece like this gives me great satisfaction. 

Fusible Film - Dichroic-ish glass!

The amazing Liz Welch launched a product on Jewellery Maker TV a couple of weeks ago. Liz is an alternative craft media artist and as become the jewel enamel (UTEE) expert on the show.
The product was fusible film which when shredded is also known as Crystalina and Angelina fibres. When you heat the film it gives off a rainbow of oil slick colours which looks great embedded in clear enamel and backed in black.
Ever one for a challenge especially in an area of a craft I really enjoy, I decided to get the film and have a go.
Ha Ha - it was not as easy as it looked - Liz is a master of her craft.

The technique uses a melting pot with clear enamel (UTEE) and pouring a plain (rather than textured) mould.
Knowing I would never remember everything I took notes!
The first time I tried it I used a larger piece of film and popped it into the melting pot to heat in a little clear. It was supposed to shrink and curl changing colour and texture - it shrunk totally into a lump which I couldn't open out!
Take 2 - I didn't leave it in as long and managed to open it out.
Then I topped up the clear and poured into a plain cabochon mould and tried to add the film. Everything poured over the side - and it is HOT!!! Still undaunted I left it to set. Once cool I turned it out only to find the film had turned bright pink and stuck to the bottom of the mould and not got covered with enamel.
I did know that at this stage it might not look wonderful so carried on and melted black for the backing. Slight problem here - because the black is so hard to remove totally from the melting pot I had decided to use a project pan which fits over the pot but I couldn't really get it hot enough to give a smooth and quick pour. Black blobby gunge was all over the place. Still as a scientist I photographed the results

I think it looks like a wound!

The next attempt I used little pieces chopped up and sprinkled them into the clear after pouring.

once covered with black this certainly showed potential

so I poured a puffy heart with a forest green insert and poured a much hotter black onto the back.

It seemed to be successful but as I trimmed the black it all came away from the clear.

I decided to separate the two pours so hat I could get both clear and black really hot.

But I would use the heat gun on the back of the clear before pouring black

this is the square from above heat polished and smartened up.

I really like this heart

this looks super in real life - a friend has said it looks like an opal

Top right is a ring with a hand made shank embedded in the molten enamel

All in all for a first attempt I am very pleased. Half way through the process I was unsure but once the black was poured and the edges trimmed the true colours shine through.

amber experiment

I subscribe to Making Jewellery magazine which had a project using UTEE ( jewel enamel) emulating amber. The project was in the very popular vintaj style which isn't really me BUT I am a huge amber fan and have lots of pieces so I decided to have a go at creating an amber style UTEE mix.
The combination of clear with a little orange, tiny bit of copper and a sprinkle of pearl gave this lovely result

I poured the mix into a cabochon shaped silcone mould so it has a domed effect. The mould fits this silver bezel perfectly

Then I poured some into a plain butterfly mould and added a headpin so that I will be able to create a bail 

 I had a small amount left so decided to add more pearl which created an almost tigers eye effect. I poured a donut pedant using a mini donut silicone mould which gives a great result. This will be good with a simple brown suede cord

As a final experiment I used some of a new jet black with a little bit of left over gold/green/pearl  from a previous project. The result looks a little like golden obsidian with an inner glow that is quite beautiful.

The great thing about this hobby is that all your left over pieces can be kept and re-melted for use in other projects or used as a base for embellishing with mica powder, gleam or gilding flakes

pay it forward

Some Facebook friends have been running an idea of sharing hand made crafts by promising to make items for 5 people who then pass it on and on and on so eventually lots of people are receiving and making lovely hand made things for each other. It is a great idea in a world where nothing is for free - the crafter gets the pleasure of creating and the recipient gets a variety of craft gifts but then makes for others.
I have been making for my 5 people - some of them I know personally but most are virtual friends which makes the creating a challenge but also fun.
Here are some of my makes but I'm not saying who they are for because I want it to be a surprise!

a mix of real and shell pearls on a hand made chain

fresh water cultured pearls with a few shell pearls 

all natural pearls on a hand made chain

a little more jewellery enamel

Latest makes from my experiments with UTEE jewellery enamel...
the texture work didn't go quite as anticipated so I melted it down ( one of the joys of this medium) and made something else.

I had been playing with two lovely blues - a light sky blue and a deep midnight blue. So wondering if I could graduate between them I experimented - I also added some silver mica powder which gave a wonderful frosty look. 

I used what was left to make a matching pendant 

with a silver chain

this is a mix of the sky blue and a deep maroon which gave a two tone effect which really works

again I had enough left for a pendant

I am also making matching earrings to most of the pieces

I haven't given up on trying to create texture but for now I need to make presents!