All that Bling

As I have mentioned in previous posts, I like to de-construct vintage jewelry to use in my sun catchers. I like the added effect it can add to a piece and I'm a big proponent of Up Cycling. So over the last couple of years, I have amassed a fair amount of jewelry pieces and parts,  which led me to the idea of trying to make a sun catcher completely out of  jewelry components combined with bevels.

                     

 Well, it was a big hit at my next show, everyone kept looking at it and Oohing and Aahing over it. Finally, a lady walked into the booth, said "I have to have that." and it was off to it's forever home.

 I figured I was on to something good, so of course, I had to make another one. Again, nothing but jewelry pieces and bevels. 

   And again, after a lot of attention, it was another "I just have to have that." and off it went with another happy customer. 

Since then, I have made two more, and they both have sold as soon as I have put them on display. 

They are fun but time consuming to make, and I have decided to only do one at a time. When one sells, I will then make another one.  

These add a lot of interest to my show booth although they are not the main focus of my art, but they add a lot of fun and a lot of BLING. And we can all use a little BLING in our lives.

Three's the Charm

Commissions are always a double edge sword. At least for me. On one hand I'm always flattered that someone likes my work enough to want to have me make that extra special piece, something that they will live with hopefully for a long time. 

But on the other hand, I always worry that when it's done, it will not live up to the clients expectations, no matter how hard I worked on it.

This was the situation when a retired co-worker of my life partner,  Dave, asked me to make, not one, not two but three cabinet doors for their kitchen.

Now these are beautiful Quaker made cabinets but they had this amber plexi-glass with an aluminum metal cross hatch thing as the inserts. Not very appealing. And did I mention that their home is a century Farm House? Turns out they have been unhappy with the inserts for quite a long time.

So I started by showing them a couple of designs. 

 

 

Something that would work in a Farm House.









 Something that was not too ornate.

 Once they decided on a design, we then moved on to colors of glass.  Oh by the way, did I mention that they did NOT want to be able to see through the glass into the cabinets? So that meant I had to work with opaque glass only.

Beige and Green? Beige and Blue? Cream with Green & Blue? Shades of browns? Mixes of Blues and Greens? Nothing was making them excited until the wife asked if I could get a Pinkish, Mauve kind of color. With maybe a little Rose for accent. Well I found the perfect light Pink/Mauve wisp glass and the most beautiful Rose, but there was one element that I just could not find the perfect color for, so they experimented and mixed up a jar of their own color of paint for me to paint on the back of a clear Bevel.....and as they say, the rest was history.

 

They chose the single diamond pattern, with a Rose inner boarder and a one of a kind, painted bevel center diamond.  To be honest, I was nervous having to make three identical doors which would be sitting side by side. Any mistake or miscalculation would stand out for all the world to see. But in the end, they turned out perfect. It was great to have the client so involved with the project and they are truly thrilled with the outcome. And I have to say, seeing them installed, I'm pretty proud of myself as well. 

This commission was a challenge for me, and I felt as if I pushed myself and my skills, but I now have just a little more confidence and faith in my abilities and skills. I guess that is the essence of learning.