All Things Superman

So I have this friend, you all have heard of her, she orders a ton of custom work from me (for which I am forever grateful for) and recently she asked me to make her a number of pieces for Comic Con.  I was all too happy to oblige and had a ton of fun with it.  

So first, let's talk about my new favorite medium in the world.  SHRINKY DINKS! Oh my lord I am addicted.  It allowed me to make a ton of custom pieces for my friend that I knew would be solely hers.  One this necklace and earrings, I did the Superman logo.  I also used my rivoli drop earrings in sapphire to make the earrings.  

I am so so happy with how these came out.  They have the wonderful sparkle of the Swarovski rivolis and yet are still playful with the logos.  

Next I moved onto the necklace.  I took a picture of Superman and inserted it into a bezel drop, then filled it with ICE resin.  When working with ICE resin make sure you have a number of pieces to fill at once.  You have to mix at least an ounce at a time and if you don't use some of what is mixed then you have to throw it out.

I made beaded links with Swarovski pearls in the gemstone colors line, which are coral and lapis.  I then used a silver plated chain to connect everything together.  I had another shrinky dink of the logo so I added it as a drop behind the pendant.  

You Can't Take the Sky From Me

So yes, I had more shrinky dink fun, in the form of a Firefly inspired set.  With shrinky dinks, you can pretty much do whatever you can think of.  Does anyone know what the symbols to the left are?  The bottom one was definitely the most time consuming, but was SO worth it.  

I wanted this set to be more earthy and simple, in keeping with much of the show.  The main pendant on the necklace is another ICE resin piece (this, like the shrinky dinks, will be a recurring theme) with our favorite captain's portrait.  

Using some mocca crystals and another couple line diagrams of the ship from the show, I also decided to make a simple pair of earrings.  The way the ship came out, I had to utilize it in another way.  

With the complexity of the line figure, I felt that the earrings should be simple as well.  I was really happy with how this set came out and may make more in the future.  

Flower Drop Earrings

So I recently got my hands on some acrylic flower beads.  I thought that they really suited being made into earrings, so with some Swarovski crystals in hand I thought I would see what they came out like.  

I really felt like the paddle pins would give a nice finish to the flower.  I had some mixes of crystals so I just thought I would see what would come of it.  I got the flowers in not only clear, but a number of other colors as well. 

The construction on these was pretty simple, but with the different colors of both flowers and crystals, some of them took on completely different looks.  

A number of these are available in my etsy shop, Just Another Symphony, so be sure to check them out! 

Object Obsession: Rivoli Drop Earrings

I know that it has once again been a while since I have posted anything.  This is for a number of different reasons.  One is that I am still dealing with the grief from my father's death.  It is not something I am likely to get over any time soon, but I will try to stop disappearing from my business and blog.  Another is that I had a huge custom order from a friend to make the jewelry she wanted for San Diego Comic Con.  This took up a lot of my time, especially considering I had a vacation in the middle of all of that as well.  Anyways, onto what I wanted to talk about today.  Rivoli drop earrings!

I just love making these.  They can be made in a number of different bright and vibrant colors and you can personalize them with really anything that you want.  I might have gone just a little crazy with them.  

The findings I used are made especially for the Swarovski rivolis.  I used a Loctite gel adhesive to secure them, though some people prefer an epoxy or other adhesive.  The loctite gel is just my personal favorite for when I don't want to have to mix 2 part epoxy and believe me, a little of this stuff goes a loooooooong way. I cannot tell you how many times I got glue on my fingers when putting in the crystals because I had used a little too much glue. 

You can do anything you want with these really.  I experimented with adding chain to them, as well as just a simple flower drop, which you will see in some of the pictures that follow.  The varying colors in the rivolis really lend themselves to a lot of different designs. The findings come in a a few different finishes, and most of those that I used were either a shiny silver or a gunmetal finish.  I especially love how the heliotrope and turquoise crystals look in them. 

The earrings in the next few pictures were made for a friend. She basically handed me the rivolis and told me to have fun with it, so I did.  Sometimes that is the best way to create jewelry, to just be handed an item and then let your imagination go wild.  I had some of these gunmetal keys in my stash, so decided to try a pair out with them.  I also have a heliotrope pair that is similar available in my shop. 

I also have a version of these pink earrings available in my shop.  Check them out!

Sometimes making this type of stuff ends up being the best, because it is just fun and you never know what is going to come out of it!