Hand made lightbox - Made easy! :)

Over Christmas my other half got me a new Macro lens for my SLR. I've been wanting of one for a while so it was a dream come true! After playing around with a few shots and struggling with lighting or suitable background I decided to make my own light box. Since we only just moved into a house, boxes weren't difficult to find! I have chosen a box of suitable size (after being quite picky over which box is suitable and which isn't.. :D ) and went on to "design" and make the light box.

So first of all I have cut off any pieces that I don't need. Like the sides that fold over the box to close it. I used a sharp pocket knife for this but I am sure any razory blade thing will do! The sharper the better but watch your fingers! :)
After this step was completed I have measured out suitable windows. Mine are approx 12x15cm. The difficult part to get them in the same spot of the box but nothing simple ruler can't help you with! Once I have traced the shape for each window, I have slowly started cutting out the shapes with the pocket knife. I have made 3 windows. 2 on either side to prevent from shadows on pictures and one on top of the box for shots with different effects. I sort of only decided to start taking pictures of it once the cutting out was done but hey. I am sure you all get it. :)

So once all the windows have been cut out, I needed to ensure the whole box is smooth and evenly surfaced for painting. I have used masking tape for this. I have thoroughly gone the whole way around the box and taped over the whole thing. This step takes probably about half an hour to an hour. And here is the finished taping result:

Next step is painting the inside of the box to prevent any lighter/darker edges. Even though pictures aren't taken directly on the box background, it's important to paint it white so it reflects the light better. For this I have got some white acrylic paint and a big wall paint brush. "Fine artistic quality"... Oh yeah! Only the best! Haha it was only £5 so wouldn't break the bank! :) Make sure that you paint all the corner and really go into any little dips. Then let it dry over night to be on the safe side. Once that is done, get some tracing paper sheets and place them over each window and tape them to the box using masking tape... And you are done! Get some coloured card to put on the bottom of the box and on the behind wall for effect. Play around with different colours for desired outcome.

So total time spent on this project: Approx 2 hours. Cost of the project: less than £10. Don't think it's all that bad considering professional option would cost you anything from £30 upwards. Total save then is £20 or more! ;) Give it a go!

The end of 2012... and new hobby!

I have loved playing around with wire for the past few months though recently I have been trying out something new.. Something that I recon should go great with wire wrapping. At the moment I am just experimenting with some basic techniques. So this new mysterious hobby is........... Resin jewellery!

What I love about resin is that it is really versatile and is great to use with different little bits and bobs.. If you have a favorite flower, picture or symbol you can easily "drown" it in resin and it will for ever stay in there. You can also use different techniques to colour the resin and make bracelets, cabochons or lovely pendants.
So far I have only finished a couple of pieces which I am very happy with.. But it seems about right with me, as I am never completely happy with my pieces of work. Having more time to perfect the craft would be useful though.

Recently I have been looking into steampunk style jewellery and got a couple of ideas of how to combine different techniques to create some cute little items. I have taken some cheap pocket watches and opened them up to remove all the parts inside. By using some watch spares and combining them with resin I have created this beauty. I've been wearing it to work and got a few compliments from my colleagues and friends. Definitely need to stock up on more pocket watch shells to make some varied designs.. Here are some pics.

Today after a trip to The Range (Shop in the UK which sells some random bits of arts & crafts related stuff, as well as other things for home, etc) I purchased some new items that I can incorporate into the jewellery. Some art paper with Steampunk style prints and some fabric dye for resin colouring. After playing around with some blanks here is another little item I made:

After taking pictures of both necklaces I have realised that there are quite a few bubbles in each though.. So next time I will look into using blow dryer to hopefully get rid of them.. Watch this space! If anyone wants any tutorials on this please let me know! My other half also got me a Macro lense (Yipeeee!) for my camera for Christmas so I will be using it to take some higher quality pictures of the items. Also considering making a light box to properly light them as well.

More importantly HAPPY NEW YEAR! Hope 2013 will bring you guys a lot of happiness and creative inspiration. I sure hope it will bring me some! ;)

Tree of Life

Recently I was looking to try out some different designs that I haven't attempted yet. Tree of Life pendant looks interesting and really effective. It would always remind me of a little Wire Tree that my parents had back home. That tree was meant to bring luck and money.

So anyway, I have looked on Youtube again to see any tutorials. Though I must admit I am guilty of never fully following tutorials and tend only get the jist of the whole project from the videos. The rest I work out myself to make it work for me. On the video I have watched for this, 0.3mm wire was used for branches and the actual tree. At the time I only had 0.6mm wire but it does the job. For future attempts I have ordered some 0.3mm wire and will look into smaller beads as these seemed a bit too big. Especially considering the whole pendant is about 4is cm in diameter. So is pretty big as it is.

In my opinion, the good thing about this design is the fact that you can fit it any season. Mine is green as I love spring and summer but for this time of year mixing in red and orange beads would create lovely autumn leaves. I will also look into creating different shapes within the round pendant and expand the idea. So maybe use symbols, etc. Like the "Peace" sign perhaps?

Here is my take on Tree of Life! Hope you like it. :-) V. x

Herringbone Wire Wrapping

Here is a video I have come across today. I have seen Herringbone Wire wrapping on several forums and blogs and really liked how it looks however never quite knew how to make these beautiful little links. Here is Youtube video with exact instructions:

Watch "How to Create a Herringbone Wire Wrapped Bead" on YouTube

Wasn't all that difficult, was? :-) Now give it a try and see if you can get it up to scratch! Below I'll include a picture of my  first attempts! I am really chuffed to find out the correct way of making these. :-D

Rings

Internet and magazines are full of different ring designs. At first I have attempted some simple basic designs such as simple wire wrapping rings. I am aiming to make some Herringbone weaved rings. Haven't really quite figured those out yet but practice makes perfect!

The two rings above are my most recent attempts. I have combined copper and silver plated wire in order to create the bottom design. I have used simple wire weaving and then spun the ends around in order to create fastening with spiral ends. You could have a play around with longer pieces of wire and create different shapes. You could use some beads to make them more unique.

Now the top ring is my favourite! I have started it off by platting 3 strands of wire to make it big enough for my ring size. It's a simple plat that you'd use in your hair. Trying out 4 strands of wire should work perfectly too and make the ring a bit thicker. Once the sizing is perfect I have twisted the wire ends and pressed them down to form little spiral effect over and over until about an inch of wire ends were left. Then I have wrapped the ends on either side of the ring band. It has that celtic look about it and looks so great! I am definitely wearing that one soon!!!

The power of Grey

The great thing about beads is that they come in different shapes and colours! This provides us jewellery makers with inspiration and ability to create unique pieces of work. Even though I love brightly coloured beads, pastel coloured and natural looking beads are my weakness! So while at Hobby Craft I could not resist getting some white, silvery and grey beads. Combining with silver plated wire I've been using for the last couple of months I thought they'd make a nice piece.

Finally I have found some time to make some jewellery! A bit ironic considering I am off sick from work...
So anyway.. I have used 0.8mm silver plated wire and 6 beads from the chain. I wanted to create something very simple and elegant but with a little bit of detailed. I used simple techniques to achieve this look and pretty sure anyone can attempt this!!!

I just love how silver wire makes the beads look brighter. This item is very wearable as it doesn't really need to match any of your clothing. That's the great thing about natural coloured beads such as these! And even more importantly, the whole bracelet cost about £1!!! BARGAIN! :)

Cabochon Wrapping

As I have mentioned in previous posts, I have invested into a couple of magazines which I have been scrutinizing for a good few weeks now. n one of the magazines I have discovered a great way of wrapping cabochon beads. The cabochon that I bought is a turquoise howlite from eBay. I wanted to try out the techniques and experiment with wire.

The design in the magazine had a slightly different finish. Instead of curls in the middle part of the pendant, it was crossed over and wired around the back. I must admit I have run out of wire length by that point so I had to improvise which I don't think turned out too bad. Especially for a first attempt... :) It's delicate and very wearable and I can't wait to wear it to work next week.