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Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Yoi!

I live in Pittsburgh and if there is one thing that all Pittsburghers agree upon, it's the love of the local sports teams. Of all the cities I've visited, I haven't encountered anything like it - strangers will initiate conversations and truly bond over their shared appreciation of their teams. I think this speaks to the friendliness of Pittsburghers, in general, but that's another story for another blog.

This blog is about jewelry and this specific post is about these awesome PMC charms I created using the Cool Tools AlphaDisc system. I had been struggling with finding an efficient, uniform way to add lettering to my pieces and, on a whim, decided to purchase the AlphaDisc. As soon as the package arrived, I opened it up and started to experiment!

The two pieces pictured above are in raw form - they had not been sanded or polished at this point. However, you can clearly see the lettering. I was impressed with the ease of use and the clarity of the type. After viewing a short YouTube video I was able to use the system with no problems.

After shaping sanding away all of the imperfections, the lettering is much clearer. I used two different fonts - Typewriter (shown left) and Nile (shown right). I love them both! This is what the charms looked like pre-fire. I am pretty crazy about sanding because I like my charms to have a mirror-like shine...I'm not kidding! I like to see my face in them after they are completed.





Voila! After torch-firing and an application of patina, the charms are finished! I was very pleased with the results, thanks to the AlphaDisc. Although I don't like to consider myself a spokesperson for products, I have to say that this was an excellent purchase! My PMC work will definitely be enhanced by the ability to use uniform lettering. I can't wait to play with my new toy some more!

Oh, for those of you who don't know, "yoi!" was the favorite phrase of the famed Steeler's announcer, Myron Cope. These necklaces are just another way to display your Pittsburgh pride!

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Tila, Tila, Twin!

Now that I have a brand new work space with brand new beads, I wanted to experiment with some fresh designs. Of course, I cannot abandon my beloved Tila beads but I wanted to play with the *NEW* Czech Twin Beads. In my Tila obsessed mind, I thought that they would be a perfect fit for one another.

Coming up with a design was not quite as easy as I thought. While I love the shape and colors of the Twin Beads, they are not as uniform as Miyuki beads, which I primarily use. I knew I wanted to use Tilas in combination with Twin Beads but I wasn't quite sure how to make them fit together without awkward spaces. Miyuki seed beads seemed to be my best option. At first, I attempted size 8/0, but they were too large. Next, I tried size 11/0 and they worked perfectly!

Once I squared away the sizes, I had to come up with a color scheme (my favorite part!). For this bracelet, I used a combination that I have never tried before - mustard Tilas, AB bronze Twin Beads, and vermilion galvanized Miyuki seed beads. I must digress - the seed beads are such a wonderful color! I can envision using them in so many future designs.

At first I was unsure about the color combination because it was out of my comfort zone, however, a friend assured me it looked Aztec. That made me happy.


I'm a huge fan of the ladder stitch for two reasons:

1) it's easy
2) it is nice and symmetrical (I value symmetry)

So, this bracelet was created using the ladder stitch. I treated the Tilas as an individual unit and stacked a unit of Twin Beads/seed beads above it. I repeated stacking the units until I reached my desired length. And, of course, I finished the piece off with a hand-stiched Tila toggle. Easy as pie!