Jewelry

Before beginning project:

I decided that I wanted the common theme of my jewelry to be earth-centered. I wanted the main components to be natural and as little processed as possible. For this reason, I decided to talk to Mr Grey about me making some ceramic pendants. I also want seaglass to be a focus because it has sentimental value to me, as well as being earthy.

Day 1

I started by organizing all of the components. I am going to be using a lot of small materials so it is important that I keep track of it all. I plan to start drilling holes into the stones and seaglass next class

Day 2

Today I started doing stuff! I wanted to make my first necklace so I chose a stone that I wanted to drill through. I got a hand drill to start drilling and realized that I needed something to clamp the stone to the piece of wood I would drill onto. I thought that sticky tac would be the best bet because I could just press the glass or stone into it and it would hold it in place nicely. I didn't want to try a clamp because clamps are too big and bulky and would probably break the item I was trying to drill. Everything I want to drill is small and a clamp would be tricky. So I went to the paint studio to get some sticky tac, but Mrs. Caretti was teaching a class and I didn't want to disturb. So Mr. Brown and I decided to give a clamp a go. The chunk of stone broke off as soon as the clamp was tightened. In order to fix this, Mr. Brown got two pieces of wood to place on the inside of the clamp to absorb some of the force. We then taped the wood to the clamp to ensure it remained in place.

This worked well; the sacrificial glass didn't break and remained sturdily in place. I then got the stone I wanted to drill and drilled a hole through with no problems. It just takes a while to get all the way through though.

I then started to put a necklace together, using the supplies I had ordered.

Day Three

I continued working on the necklace that I started last class. The stone and seaglass were moving around more than I wanted so I used this glue to keep them together.

Attaching the clasps was harder than I thought. I started off with a smaller crimp than the one below but it wouldn't stay on the leather the way I wanted and expected. I tried gluing the crimp to the leather but it slid right off. I then tried a different crimp, the one featured below, and that style worked better. I added glue to it as an extra measure.

This is the final product of my first necklace.

Day Four

I'm realizing that I didn't plan or think this through as well as I thought I did and am noticing some flaws in my original plan. None of the beads I ordered fit the leather or nylon thread I have. I added thin fishing line and smaller crimps to my order list.

Looking again at the necklace I made on the first day, I despise the way I did the clasps. It was messy and too clunky. Luckily I had made the necklace a bit longer than was necessary, so I was able to cut off the crimps I had on already and can re-do it. I will wait for the new size crimps to arrive and use those to end it.

Then I started my next necklace.

Using a shell I had found on a beach a while back, I knotted two pieces of leather through the natural hole in the shell. I then used diluted wood glue to set it.

Day Five

Today I spent some time researching and figuring out the best way to harden an anemone shell to make it last as long as possible.

The first thing I came across when researching was to paint the shell with diluted wood glue.

I then started talking to Mr. Bell and Brown about more durable options, and Epoxy came up. I would fill the shell with an Epoxy mixture to make the shell heavier and harder to break. I experimented with Epoxy in a plastic cup that I fetched from the student center.

I then looked up what substances don't stick to Epoxy so that I can stick that through the shell before pouring in the Epoxy. Nylon came up, so I cut off a piece of nylon thread and stick it into the mixture, along with the wooden stirring stick. Once the mixture has hardened, I will see which substance, if any, remains unscathed by the glue. Hopefully the epoxy won't stick to the nylon, so that I can stick it into the actual shell

Day Six

Today is the first day I will be working on my project from home. The first thing I did was complete the necklace I started at school. I cut off the clasps from the shell and stone necklace and put on a different clasp design.

The epoxy that I tested out at school is now rock solid and stuck firmly to everything I put into it. This means it is going to be tricky for me to use because if I want to use it to cover a shell, what am I going to put the epoxy-covered shell onto while it dries?

I have some wooden beads but they don't fit around the leather that I wanted them to, so used the clamp and tried to drill a bigger hole through. It did not work; the bead wasn't strong enough and cracked down the middle.

I then switched to fishing line instead because I know that all my beads will fit easily around the line. I had previously drilled a hole through the white sea glass so it was easy to thread through. I knotted the glass pendant so it wouldn't slide around and placed a knot on either side just below the beads because I want there to be space between the pendant and the row of beads.

I read that epoxy doesn't stick to coconut oil so I gave that a go, rubbing it onto a paper cup.

Day Seven

It did not work. The epoxy stuck nicely to the glass, but also to the coconut oil.

I will now try just putting epoxy on one side of the glass at a time; letting it dry , then flipping the glass over and putting the epoxy on the other side. I really want to find a good way of covering the glass with epoxy because I am going to need to do the same thing with shells eventually.

Day Eight

I am so happy with how the paper clip method turned out!

I looped the pre-drilled glass onto paper clips and hung them over the cup I used for mixing the epoxy. I was still nervous about the glass sticking to the paper clip, so every few hours I checked on them and moved the glass around. This left a few tiny smudges on the epoxy covering, but that is okay.

I did the same thing with the shell, dunking it in epoxy mixture and then placing it on paper clip to dry, moving it around every few hours.

Day Nine

Today I started using the newly covered glass/shell in necklaces.

I realized today that I won't get to work with Mr. Grey to make clay pendants which sucks.

This is the next complete necklace. Those two silver things on either sides of the necklace were purchased with the intention of being used to cover up knots tied on the fishing line. Instead, I used them as a spacer to separate the beads. I spent a while experimenting with different bead types and patterns for this necklace, and this is what I eventually decided on. I wanted it to have a simple elegance about it so I didn't want to string on too many beads. Too many beads would detract attention from the glass pendant.

I may also use some epoxy where the fishing line goes through the glass pendant, so that the line doesn't slide around through the glass.

Day Ten

Epoxy has become my saving grace. In this necklace, I wanted to stagger the beads I chose along the leather. I did not, however, have any good ideas on how to do that without using shiny spacers; I wanted this one to be earthy and natural. Then came epoxy. I decided to just glue them on.

^^This was the contraption I came up with to allow the beads to dry. Before the epoxy dries completely though, it gravitates towards the bottom of the bead. So every hour or so, I used a stirring stick to wipe extra epoxy from the bottom of the beads. Then after about 4 hours of the glue drying, I flipped the entire necklace over so that gravity would help the epoxy dry evenly.

Day 11 - April 1, 2020

This is such a beautiful, untouched shell that I have so I want it to have the most attention on the necklace.

I tied a knot above the shell so it doesn't shift around and then put the brown wooden bead over to cover it.

This is the connector that I chose. It was very easy to assemble this clasp.

Day Eleven - April 3

More epoxy today. I used it here to secure the fishing line to the shell and prevent the shell from sliding around and to keep it secure. I hung it to dry.

I wanted to re-do the epoxy on the first piece of sea glass I did because I wanted it to look cleaner. I dipped the glass into epoxy and hung it to dry.

The issue with hanging it to dry is that the epoxy drips over time when it collects over time. To combat this I checked on it every hour or so and used a stirring stick to wipe excess off the bottom of the glass.

This was the clasp/connector I used for one of my pieces. It didn't quite fit on the leather, it was too big, so I used some good ol' epoxy to secure it in place. I then hung it over a chair to dry.

I then started beading this fishing line. I wanted a piece with lots of beads so I used a variety. It was hard to string the turquoise ones on because they are so incredibly small.

Day 12

I finished what I started beading. The pendant is a South African R5 coin that I had drilled a few months ago. I used 2 blue beads on either side of the pendant to frame it. I chose the screwing clasp because it is the strongest one I have and the pendant is heavier than the other pendants I use. I hope my knot doesn't come undone; I should've researched a more secure knot.

Day 13

I made another necklace today using glass that I had already drilled and coated with epoxy, as well as a pendant I had in my house.

I used nylon cord so that I could tie it together using a slip knot. I then used a match to burn the ends where I cut so that it doesn't fray.

Day 14 - April 15

I spent today browsing Pinterest, looking for more jewelry inspiration/ideas of what to do.

April 18

Today I went to Walmart and chose some fabric for my pinboard.

April 21 Day 16

This is my old pinboard cover.

I used a screwdriver to take it off my wall. Had no issues.

I tacked the old material cover to the board using flat tacks and I intend on doing the same for the new material. The tacks are easy to remove.

This is the pinboard without any covering

So far it has all been very easy, straightforward and self-explanatory.

The only tricky part was finding the holes in the wall from where they were drilled in previously.