Charming

I've decided not to wait until the end of the year to post what I've made for the other artists but instead post more frequently throughout the year. The art group I am part of are doing a round robin necklace where each participant is making a charm for each artist's necklace. This idea was inspired by an amazing artist that I met in Paris with Catherine Moore's art group. She goes by the name "Z" and her necklace inspired all of us! So thanks Z!

I decided to use my antique white button collection to make a chain for my necklace.  I added a silver jump ring to each buttonhole to connect to the next button.  For a few buttons that had four holes instead of two, I added an extra jump ring so one could add additional charms.  I made two charms for my necklace before sending it on to the first round robin player.  I stamped my image onto shrink plastic and then coated it with clear UTEE.  I embedded a tiny fleur de lis and then applied another coat of UTEE.

I used a Tim Holtz glass vial to hold an antique calligraphy nib.  I wrapped the glass vial with small strips of Washi paper and then sealed using Claudine Hellmuth's gel medium.  I melted beeswax and painted around the cork.  I use a designated paint brush for my beeswax applications.

This view shows my necklace with only my charm.  After the round robin, I will attach the other artists charms for the best balance taking in consideration the weight and size.  I can hardly wait....

The above charm is for Jan's necklace and it is an antique poker chip.  I added a Paris theme and sealed it with Diamond Glaze.  A few sprinkles of micro beads were added to the top.

 This is the back of the chip which I colored with brown ink and then heat sealed.  I applied gesso to the charm and then wiped some of it away to create a worn look.  Of course I had to add a French message for Jan which is embossed in gold ink.

 Marsha's necklace was my first package received in the round robin group.  I used an antique crystal from a dismantled light fixture for my image.  I used Glossy Accents to adhere the image to the crystal using all the Tim Holtz tips.  The image came from ARTchix Studio.

This is a terrible camera photo!!! I didn't realize the details do not show until the necklace was sent off to the next artist.  The backing is a paper towel that had so many layers of blues and purples inks...really.....I think is rather stunning.  The Viva paper towel was used to clean my craft sheet of extra inks from previous projects.  The colors looked so wonderful when dried and the texture of Viva looks like linen when the ink dries on it.  The remaining napkin was used in Marsha's birthday project.  Yummmm....I should figure out why I can't throw anything out!

The final thing was sealing the paper towel with Claudine Hellmuth's gel medium so that the colors wouldn't bleed onto clothing or skin.