I finally finished my shawler. It’s a pattern by Shelle Hendrix. It’s kind of a shawl, kind of a sweater. This one is crochet, but I knitted the cuffs.
Front and back views. I made the glass button on it but I forgot to take a close up picture of it. Dud…
I finally got them done!! I still want to make more. They are addicting. I was to try adding other design elements to them. I’m still designing the necklace these beads will go into. Hopefully it won’t take me forever to get it done.
The fronts and backs have different etched or embossed designs on them. I’ve lined the beads up so all the holes are horizontal in the picture.
My cousin’s quilt club has a quilt show in the spring. My cousin showed some of my beads and buttons to the guild members and they want to sell my things at their next show. Here’s the first batch of beads and buttons I made for it.
These have glass shanks on the back.
They want buttons to sell in pairs. I can’t make a pair of anything so I’m not sure how that’s going to work – yet.
I’ve been working on a couple of new things. Copper box beads for one thing. I’ve assembled several of them but still have to patina them and give them a good tumble to shine them up. In the meantime, here’s some of the copper I etched.
I dug through the fishing tackle in the garage to find some hooks that I could use. I didn’t find that many silver colored ones and most were too small to use. I cut off the barb and end of the hook and filed it down so it’s not sharp. Using the hooks, I can assemble these without using glue but it’s not that easy. The feathers seem to get all over the place.
Probably won’t be making very many more of these. They take too long to assemble and I’m running out of hooks.
I wanted to try to make some “real” fishing lures but I’m still trying to figure out how to attach hooks. In the meantime, these are just decorative.
The top one ended up with a short tail. It was the first one I made and I was trying to figure out the best way to attached the feathers.
Nothing too exciting. Just strung disc beads onto rubber cording and added a clasp.
I started out making purple/pink disc beads for a necklace. Here’s a picture of them:
Then I realized I already have a necklace made with purple beads. Not disc bead but purple none the less. So, I went towards blue and aquas, even some green – gasp!!
I probably have enough to make one and a half necklaces. I see some of these being used in a future bracelet.
I asked one of the guys at work to get me some bullet casings. He brought me a big bag of them. He was wondering if I could put a piece of glass in one of them to make a glass bullet. I never thought of doing this but thought I’d give it a try. This is what I came up with.
I added the brass loops on the tops because I’m thinking they aren’t of any use unless they can hang from something. I also cut the last one down to make it look like a cabochon is stuck in there. These are still in the experimental stages. Still trying to figure out the best way to do them.
Hope everyone had a nice holiday. My sister is here and she wanted to make a porthole pendant. She has never worked with most of the equipment, nor soldered so it’s been doing all the teaching. Here’s her first two pendants:
Both porthole pendants are the same cat, Sonny.
Then she had to make tags for her other kitties:
Pictures are of the front and back of the tags.
Then, I made this:
It’s a picture of my kitty, Marley. The picture is of the front and back of the pendant. It’s a little different than the ones my sister made. They have mica covering the picture and the whole thing is held together with wires threaded through the pendant.
I also finished up this one I started before my sister arrived:
I’ve used this picture before but I liked it so much that I made another one.
Mewkittie Creations 