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Loop dangle earrings in silvery blue

How-to and Give away

I trained as a metalsmith so I still think in terms of metal techniques sometimes. And sometimes...this doesn't work at all but other times it does, as in the case of tube rivets.

For those who are unfamiliar, a tube rivet is a cold connection for metal - meaning no soldering required. You drill a hole into two pieces of metal that you want to connect, line up the holes and put a small piece of metal tubing into the hole. Then you hammer into the tube, flaring the edges and sandwiching the metal pieces together.  I don't NEED this technique to connect polymer but you can use it as an interesting way to finish a hole.

Materials:

- polymer clay in colors of your choice

       I'm using bright yellow and medium grey for the tube rivet as it "suggests" sterling silver                    

- large needle

- pasta machine and roller

- cutters, patterns or templates of your choice

- flexible blade

1. Condition your polymer and make a base shape, cut out with a cutter or template or, as I did, just roll a blob through the pasta machine on the thickest setting.

2. Next make very tiny balls of grey clay - these are your mock tube rivets - they can of course vary in size but mine were about the size of peppercorns.

3. Mark a whole with your needle in the flat piece of clay to mark your opening.

4. Put the small ball of clay over the hole and CAREFULLY flatten with your acrylic roller. You don't want to squish the earring,  especially if you have any texture on it, and you don't want the rivet totally imbedded in the surface. Go slowly, you can always roll a little more if you need to. You want it close but not totally flush with the surface of the earring.

5. Re-pierce the hole with your needle and widen it further by twirling the needle.

6. Bake according to package directions. 

7. Enlarge the hole even more with a drill if you'd like. (I do.) The hole should correspond in size to the rivet - the larger the rivet, the larger the hole should be. 

Optional: if you like you can distress your earring with black acrylic at this point, wiping the excess off quickly. The little bit that is left at the edge of the rivet enhances the effect even further. Still too much paint? Buff with some steel wool. 

So here I've used this idea with some of my Shape earrings - I'm sure you can modify it to suit your purposes and style.

top: Grey Mountain earrings
bottom: Blue House earrings

The give away is now closed! Thanks to everyone who followed and commented. The winner will be announced Tuesday, Feb. 26!

I'm no longer posting to this blog but you can follow my new blog here...

How-to postponed

Feeling under the weather (cough, cough, cough...)

and the how-to I'm working on didn't get finished. I'll post  - How I make mock tube rivets with polymer - next Tuesday along with a give away for one of the pairs of earrings I made using the technique. Have a good weekend! 

Nothing comes from nothing

I love when something new comes from going back to an old design or just looking at something from a different perspective.

My Small Polygon earrings (shown in grey) are just made by tracing the top part of a longer Shape earring (shown in aubergine).

His name is my name too.

Shape series earrings in progress

Someone apparently already has my name as their username on Etsy because apparently...they have the same name. (I'm trying to find the humor here and find myself humming "John Jacob Jinglehimmer Schmidt, His name is my name too!" Do you know it? Hum along...) So although there is no Etsy shop called Genevieve Williamson, I can't use it as a shop name either.

So for now the best solution seems to be to leave well enough alone, continue with Jibby and Juna on Etsy and just link from my new website. So my business name will be Genevieve Williamson, and Jibby and Juna will just be my Etsy shop. Does that make sense?   Sometime in the next couple weeks/month I'll be switching over to my new blog - you can head over there now and click to follow if you'd like. 

Securing post earrings - how I do it

Although I've never had a problem with backs coming off of post earrings, I know cyanoacrylate
 glue (Super Glue) can break down with time. So I decided to start covering/securing posts by enclosing them with another thin layer of polymer clay. This is the process I've come up with. 

(Sorry for the blue photos - dang this winter light!) 

First, I glue the earring back in place with cyanoacrylate glue and allow to dry. This will hold the post in place still while I work.

My materials are...the earrings, small piece of scrap computer paper, small lump of clay the same color as the back of the earrings, tiny needle, tiniest circle Kemper cutter, blade and Genesis medium (you could use liquid polymer but the Genesis is thicker and does ooze as much). 

 I roll the clay very thin (second to the thinest setting on my pasta machine) and cut 2 circles with the Kemper cutter. 

I put a small dot, just as a marker really, in each of the circles of clay using a small needle. And I put a hole in the paper using the same needle. 

Next I put a thin layer of Genesis medium on the back of the earring.

 I put one of the circles onto the earring back and push it all the way down to the base. 

Then I put the paper right over the post, all the way down to the clay circle. I've shown it here in one hand but I actually use both hands, pinching with thumb and forefinger, pushing the paper down, turning the earring as I go, making the clay circle flatter and flatter to the earring. Pull the paper up, check the clay, push flatter if you need to. Until it looks like this... 

This is what they look like when they're finished, just about perfect circles, no texture, smooth against the ear. (I've already darkened the earrings so that the circles that I just made show up but normally I would do my finial finish with acrylic after they are cured.) It really doesn't take very long at all to do this extra step and I think it will increase the strength and longevity of my earrings going forward.

And I'm all about going forward.  

Connecting

I'm experimenting with ear wires and with hoop earrings in general.

This carved hoop hangs but is still technically a post earring. I'm wondering if it would be better with the wire coming directly out of the back of the polymer (which might be a logistical issue, getting the wire embedded, but not something I can't solve).

Let me know what you think... and have a great weekend!

Shapes in the Shop

Happy New Year - Here's to new beginnings! 

I'm really excited to start off the New Year working on a new line of designs.

The earrings that are coming out of my shape exploration are making it into the shop now. 

Level earrings in Mint

Mountain earrings in Black

Polygon in Warm White

Small is good too

I learned last year that a lot of folks purchase my tiny earrings as stocking stuffers so I've tried to stuff the shop with them this year. Some are even one of a kind - specialness in a tiny package.

Someone asked me not long ago why I don't stop making the tiny earrings and focus on larger pieces. Good question - I don't mind being questioned. Its me think about what I am doing. But my answer was simple - I have short hair and like to wear tiny earrings.

Sprout in aqua

So...tiny earrings will continue but many designs that I've had for a while will be gone after the New Year. Out with the old and in with the new.

Scrap of paper

The artist is a receptacle for emotions that come from all over the place: from the sky, from the earth, from a scrap of paper, from a passing shape, from a spider's web. - Pablo Picasso

So the truth is that I often don't have much of a plan at first.  I LOOK for a plan (or idea, or design or whatever you want to call it) and I figure, I'll know it when I see it. 

Thus my shape experiment. 

The shapes I liked the best are now patterns to cut thin sheets of polymer.  I put shapes together, some layered, as earrings. Larger shapes might become necklaces, parts of necklaces, they might expand to 3D bead. 

Wandering planet

I read a BBC report the other day about rogue, orphaned planets that wander the universe.  

Scientists don't know how they came to be and where they are going.  

I find it comforting that we don't have everything figured out.  

Awe and wonder are good for the soul. 

Fooling around with colored pencil on black polymer

Have a great weekend! 

Its so nice to find my work on wish lists like Vickie's over at Unusual Magic!

(Thank you for  making my Wednesday,Vickie!) 

I''m going to be working on several smaller drop earring designs after school this afternoon. From talking to customers, small earrings make very good stocking stuffers and small gifts for friends at work, teachers, even hostess gifts. (This particular design incorporates scrap clay as the bronze background. REDUCE/REUSE/RECYCLE) 

I've been working on some new earring shapes and custom wires to complement them. The last pair of earrings is my Lake design but with custom ear wires rather than with the pre-made hoops. This was at a customers request and despite the fact that they lose the movement, I'm thinking I might like them better this way. Let me know what you think. 

Winding down

Filling the shop with the rest of the new finished work that I have. The shipping continues but the making is winding down. As always there is so much "in the works" but it will have to wait until after the holidays.

If you have the chance visit my Etsy team's blog post today. I researched and wrote a short piece about freedom, shopping, fingerless gloves (?) and the power of purchasing from artists and small business owners.

Small and special

I've decided to end the Stone Upon Stone line and will post the last (and smallest) of the earrings this week. This design originated after I was in a huge rockfall in 2008. You could say it was part of my healing process and now...I feel like I'm done and its time to move on. Although the rings and earrings have been good sellers for me I'll be selling off the pieces I have left.

Ah..that feels good. Making way for new things.

I'm trying to keep lots of new stocking stuffers in the shop right now. Small earrings are my way of practicing new techniques, 3D sketching in polymer, so lots of the tiny earrings are one of a kind or limited edition. Small and special doesn't have to mean diamond studs.

Back in the swing

My Etsy shop is open again and I am slowly posting some of my new work. I've been working on construction, kinetic pieces and incorporating non-traditional elements (yarn, rope, antler...)into my work. (and polymer clay IS traditional? what?)

On another note, if you're new to Etsy or selling online in general, I really recommend checking out the new series on the Artisans Gallery Team blog - The Don't Do List. Part one was posted today and covers some important points about shipping.

Winter soul

I've been in a lot of treasuries lately. This one really says winter to me.

Who?

Yeah, that's my name and my earrings in a magazine. Surreal.




Yes indeed, I was Ronna Weltman's "lab rat" for her social media experiment and subsequent article in the Feb./March issue of Step by Step Wire Jewelry magazine. Over the course of several months last fall Ronna posted about my work on Facebook and Tweeted on Twitter while I watched my Google analytics and sales and reported back via email. The experiment concluded with a telephone interview.



I am very thankful to Ronna for choosing me as her guinea pig. The article in itself has been a great experience for me!

Carving

I have my first carved piece (earrings) finished and posted on my shop.

Part of the way through the process the design changed. The top photo shows my original plan for the drop (top left) and the bottom two show how the earrings eventually came out. This happens a lot with me. I sometimes think "it must look like I have no plan" but the truth is I always start with a plan...I am just very willing to change it if things head another direction.

Scoutie Girl Gift Guide

I happened upon my own earrings on the Scoutie Girl Gift Guide tonight! Hurrah for gray! So thrilled to be in the company of other talented folks including my good friend Lynn (UnaOdd).

Now I am considering if, at 41, I could get away with those leggings. Aren't they lovely?