Finding Ideas

This week, I've been trying to decide what kind of earrings I'd like to make next. I have a pair of earrings that I bought from a global gifts store last year that were made from recycled newspapers & magazines. I really like the way they look and thought the idea would be a good one for my project. I haven't started making any yet, but I've been looking into different techniques and types of paper beads you can make. I still want to make dangling earrings but I want to know all the different styles I can make before picking one. Hopefully I'll find one I like soon and can start on them within the next week.

Another thing that I like about this project is that it's using materials that I readily have available. Instead of throwing away a magazine or newspaper when I'm done with it, I can turn it into something beautiful and useful. After going to the panel discussion on "green" art last week, I decided this would be a good project to do because it will allow me to do my part, recycle, and further the "green" art movement. People go through so many paper products even in a single day, so this is one way that I can make use of some of these discarded papers.

So for this next week, I'm going to continue to look through online tutorials and websites to try and find a style of paper bead that I like. If I can't find one that sticks out to me, I think I'll try just messing around with it on my own and seeing if I stumble upon anything that works. I'm looking forward to this part of my project and hoping that I'll be able to make some really cool recyclable paper earrings.

Another task completed

This week I continued to work on the pair of black stone earrings that I wanted to paint on. Last week I had sketched out the design onto the beads & just needed to paint over them. So this week I got out the thinnest paint brush I have and some white paint and got to work. I was nervous to start because I'm not a good painter and didn't want to mess up the earrings. I had to wash it off & re-do it a time or so. Even though I had a really small brush, the lines were too thick for what I wanted so I had to figure out another way to paint them. I ended up using a head pin as my paint brush. It worked out much better and was able to make the smaller lines that I'd wanted. So after a few frustrating attempts and some problem solving, I came out with two little tree designs:












I'm still waiting to get some clear nail polish or something like that so I can glaze it to make sure the paint won't peel or chip. Then I'll put some head pins through them and complete the pair of earrings =).

I like how the paint is white and the lines are straight so it gives the appearance of snow covered branches in the winter, drawing inspiration from the current landscapes of the season like the romantic period.

Next week, I'll finish up these earrings start trying to come up with other types or earrings I can make to expand the styles I have. One person suggested looping beads on string rather than head pins so I can make hoops & things, which sounds like a good idea. I also want to explore making my own beads at some point, maybe from rolled paper or something like that. I haven't quite decided which I'll do next week but we shall see.

Trying Something New

This past week, I worked on making my earrings more unique by using the beads as a canvas for my own art. I have a few square, black, stone beads that I thought would be perfect for this project. I decided to find a design to paint on them with thin, white paint strokes. I haven't completed it yet, but I've gotten most of the work done. I decided that I wanted to have some sort of simple, nature design on the beads. I really liked the idea of something to do with trees, so I searched different designs for tree roots. I found one that I liked and used it as a guide to draw my own tree roots onto the stones. I'm not much of an artist when it comes to drawing so I was hoping not to ruin the beads with my scribbles. I used light pencil marks to draw out the design I wanted and was actually quite pleased with the outcome.

This part of my project correlates well with what we've been discussing in class about the idea of romanticism. My inspiration for the earrings came from nature and the simplistic beauty of bare tree branches in the winter. As with many things from the romantic period, the design is based on nature and its simplicity. I'd thought of the idea for the earrings before we started this section, but they just so happened to go hand in hand.

For next week, I'm going to break out my paint & try my hand at filling in the design. I'll put up pictures next week, since this week was sort of hard to photograph due to the pencil marks not showing up in the pictures. I'm excited to paint over the pencil lines & see the project come together.

Working with Wire

This week, I tried to add some aesthetic value to the wire that I used to attach the beads to the fish hooks. Instead of simply wrapping the wire around once or twice to make it secure, I tried making a design with the excess wire to add to the look of the earrings. For my first try, I think it went really well. I wrapped the wire into a spiral pattern and then looped it around itself at the bottom to keep it secure.

One of the difficult things of this technique was that since you need two earrings to make a pair, I had to make the wire decoration the same on both earrings. It was sort of hard to make the designs look like each other, but after a bit of messing around with it I learned how to manipulate it enough to get it to do what I wanted it to do. I think the finished products turned out really well:





















I have really enjoyed making earrings so far. As mentioned in Gelber's Crafts, Tools and Gender article, crafts give people something to do in their spare time to help them feel productive. Even though I may still be sitting around in my room, I still feel like I'm accomplishing something rather than wasting time watching tv or being on facebook. This way, I come out with a finished product that I can be proud of instead feeling as if I've wasted my day. I feel that this is a common reason and motivation for people who spend their spare time making crafts. It's not considered actual work so they can still enjoy what they're doing and relax, while at the same time avoid feeling idle.

Next week, I want to take the level of individualism and uniqueness of these earrings to the next level. In order to do that, I'm going to use the beads as a canvas for my own art work rather than have the beads be the center of the art themselves. I'm excited to expand my horizons as an artist and try something new.