Triple Letter Score-Scrabble Tile Pendants Part 2-making bails!

I know you’ve all been anxiously awaiting this, so here is part two of my post on scrabble tile pendants! Once the resin had cured on the scrabble tiles, the next step was to add the bails (or, pendant-hanging thingers, as I would have called them a couple of years ago before I started making jewelry-I’ve learned a lot of new terminology!) There are a lot of pre-made glue-on bails available, mostly by Aanraku. But being me, I wanted to make my own bails from wire. I had some idea as to how it might be done, and I looked around online for examples to see if anyone else was doing something similar. I didn’t find any, and I started wondering if handmade bails would even work! Luckily I asked around to a few of my jewelry-making ‘tweeps’ on Twitter, one of whom has made her own bails in the past and she reassured me so I got started!

I made the bails themselves with 22 gauge half-hard wire.  I made a small wire spiral, and made a large wrapped loop on top. (That was especially exciting as I got a chance to use my new wire looping pliers!)  I’m sorry I don’t have any pictures during this part of the process-I got excited and made a whole bunch before I remembered I wanted to blog about this!

I hammered the spirals flat figuring that that would make a more surface area for the glue to adhere to.  I also hammered the loops to harden them.

I then sanded both the wire spirals and the backs of the scrabble tiles to make a rough surface for the glue to adhere to. 

Then I was ready to glue! After doing some reading online I’ve found that a lot of people use an adhesive called e-6000. I’ve heard mixed reviews of it, though, with some people saying that their creations fall apart using this glue! My friend Meredith of TilleyJewels suggested something called Crafter’s Goop, which I think I will try out next.  My fiancé has a quick-drying two-part epoxy that he’s used for wire projects, so I tried that first because we already had it. You have to mix the two parts, then use it quickly before it begins drying.

Here is what the finished product looks like, both front and back. I’m pretty happy with how it looks, and just about ready to list them in my shop. The glue (and the results of my resin spills that I mentioned in the last post) are visible, but only on the backs of the pendants. My main concern with these was sturdiness-would the handmade bails stay on? A friend of mine has been wearing one of them and has had no problems so far. On top of that, when I was trying to take pictures of the pendants, I dropped a wooden board that I use as a background right on top of them, and the bails didn’t separate from the pendants. The adhesive wasn’t even fully cured at that point, so, I think they’re going to work pretty well!

As usual, thanks for reading, everyone! Please leave me a comment and let me know how you like the pendants. Would you buy one?

I was included in a treasury: City Life!

Wow! One of my scrabble tile pendants was included in this lovely 'City Life' treasury by Shroompers on etsy! Check it out!

Triple Word Score-Scrabble Tile Pendants

Hello readers! For the past few days I've been working on scrabble tile pendants. This is the first time I've tried working with resin and I'm having so much fun! I thought it'd be even more fun to share the process with you guys. I bought some individual scrabble tiles at a flea market (the Fremont Sunday Market) while I was visiting Seattle. I also got some other cool stuff while I was there-watch backs, old coins-but those will have to wait for another project.

Scrabble tile pendants are pretty popular-as are variations like glass tile pendants. To put my own twist on the whole scrabble and make it a bit more 'me' I thought I'd try using my own travel photos for the designs. I also did one using some Japanese paper scraps that I bought on etsy. Scrabble tile pendants are NOT for the impatient-they take days to make if you do them this way.

Day 1: Computers, cutting, and glue (oh my!)

First I had to crop photos to the right shape, and make tiny versions of the pictures I wanted to use. I used GIMP for that-good free software! I printed them on photo paper and cut them out with an x-acto knife.  

The size came out pretty close to the tiles; I might make them slightly bigger next time as I'm not sure I want the white border.

Next I glued the photos to the tiles with mod podge and waited them to dry before trimming the photos closer to the edges of the tiles. 

Then I 'sealed' the paper with more mod podge-covering the surface and cut edges of the photo and let them dry overnight. Oh yeah-I should mention that our power went out mid-way through this step and I had to finish by the light of a flashlight and candles!

Day 2: Resin time! 

This was the exciting part. I used Ice Resin which is a two-part epoxy meant for jewelry, it dries clear and is supposed to resist clouding over time. It also makes a dome shape by itself if you're careful. I mixed the two parts of resin carefully and began dripping resin onto the pendants. (I had to open the windows-it's a bit stinky once mixed!) As I kept dripping resin onto the pendants it naturally went to the edges and domed in the center-so far it seemed to working great-at least until I bumped some of the pendants and spilled it down the sides-boo!

Here is what the pendants looked like when coated in resin before I covered them up and left them to dry for 24 hours-no peeking or moving them, as you could ruin the dome! I covered them with a box top weighted down with some books to keep curious cat paws away!

They're already forming a dome, as you can see. This is only about 10 minutes after I finished putting the resin on. William the hippo plush snuck into this photo somehow . . . 

24 hours later I was finally able to take a look at the pendants! I think they worked out well, despite the spills. The doming effect seems to be intact from the side view. 

You can see the effects my bumping and spilling did have here. I'll have to try trimming or filing the excess resin off the side, because I really like the design on this one!

Now that the resin has dried, I think I'll try out some bail designs while I'm waiting for them to cure completely (this takes 3 days!) I think the hardest part of this is all the waiting. LOL I've bought some ready-made glue-on bails, but I'm determined to try making my own bails. I love hand-making as many bits as possible.

So, what do you think of my first attempt at these pendants? Has anyone else tried doing this? Please leave a comment and let me know!

Copyright 2011. See more at Voyage of the Hyperspace Hippo

The Hippo's Quest: My Etsy Finds, Dragon Edition!

Hello readers, and welcome to the long-delayed and long-awaited (by me, anyway) second edition of The Hippo's Quest, my 'etsy finds' series. This edition's theme is perfect for the pre-Halloween madness. Halloween conjures up themes of myth and fantasy, and one of my personal favorite myth/fantasy creatures is the dragon! Dragon-like creatures were found in both European and Asian folklore. Their image and meaning varied widely from culture to culture. They could be winged, snake-like, scaly, or feathered. They have sometimes been seen as intelligent, as benevolent and powerful or as evil and destructive. Today they continue to fascinate fantasy-lovers, and are found everywhere from Harry Potter books to plush toys, so it should come as no surprise that I sorted through TONS of dragons on Etsy. Here are a few of my favorites. Please click on the caption below each picture to go to the actual item listing on etsy

Lately I've been fascinated by all of the different scrabble and glass tile pendants on etsy. (I think I want to try them out as my next major project) There are a ton of different ones, even just counting dragon-themed pendants. I thought the ones made by mrooart really stood out from the crowd because they were made using her original artwork. And not only that, the tiny artwork is gorgeous and detailed:

Dragon Tile Pendant

Also on the jewelry front were two stunning wire examples of dragons. (I admit to having a bias towards wire, as I love to work with it!) First this little silver dragon, intricately wire-wrapped and suspended in a wire circle by ylfdragon:

Silver Dragon Pendant

And then this example made of copper wire complimented by a green amazonite bead, by serpentsdancedesigns. Just loving all the spirals in this design!

Copper Dragon Pendant

I also found lots of cute (or scary!) handmade dragon figures, in every material you could think of. The polymer clay dragons were all so colorful, it was hard to pick a favorite but I really liked the ones I found at DragonsAndBeasties. This shop has dragons of just about everyc olor or description, along with unicorns and other beasties. This cute little orange guy holding a gem (makes sense, as dragons have sometimes been described as hoarders of treasure in some stories) looks kind of cuddly. The listing notes that it can be made in other colors, too!

Orange Dragon with Gem

This second one, by the same seller, is a little more edgy, in black and orange for halloween!

Halloween Dragon Figure

And last but not least, some examples of glass dragons from a shop I've had my eye on for some time. The glass figures by Glasmagie are some of my absolute favorite etsy items. They're attractive, detailed, and just have personality!
The mini dragons are my favorite thing in her shop but she has several dragon figures, a dragon pendant, and dragon orchid rods.

Mini Glass Dragons

That's it for this edition of the Hippo's Quest. Hope you enjoyed looking at the finds, please check out these lovely etsy shops! I haven't decided on a theme for the next Hippo's Quest. Is there a theme you'd like me to cover? Just leave a comment and let me know!

Copyright 2010. See more at Voyage of the Hyperspace Hippo

Handmade From Top To Bottom

Hi all! I haven’t made any new jewelry in a while, so I’m pretty excited to have something new to show you today! I bought these interesting beads with a blue and white bulls-eye pattern quite a while ago at my local bead store, and hadn’t come up with any good ideas to use them. So, I was staring at them and trying to get inspired again a few days ago until I got a whim to combine them with some of the Swarovski pearls I have left over from custom-designing a friend’s wedding jewelry. The blue and white combo is perfect! I played around with a few combinations until I had a combination of beaded links that I liked (made from 22 gauge sterling silver wire).I’ve also been determined to create something that was completely handmade, apart from the beads, that is. I used a couple of books I have on hand to get ideas on forming the chain and clasp. I connected the beaded links, and created the chain using small, simple figure-eight shapes made of 20 gauge sterling silver wire. Then (and this is the part I’m most excited about) I figured out how to adapt some of the hook-and-eye clasp designs to make this necklace expandable! (I do this for most of my necklaces and bracelets, but using store-bought lobster slasps). I started out making a regular hook-and-eye style clasp, but instead of simply making a hook and a wrapped-loop version of the eye, I made a short extra length of chain with larger loops by creating three links similar to the wrapped-loop eye. Now the clasp can be fitted into with any of the larger loops, to adjust the size of the necklace for the buyer!So, what do you think? It’s definitely a more complex and time-consuming piece than the others in my shop, but I’m pretty pleased with how it came out! If you’re interested, click here to see the Etsy listing!

If anyone’s interested in what books I am currently using for inspiration, they are: Teach Yourself Visually: Jewelry Making and Beading, and Inspired Wire, by Cynthia Wuller. I got them both at the library!

Also, a quick update-I know I told you all quite a while ago that I was working on an 'etsy finds' post featuring dragons! I'm going to try and get moving on that this week, so you can let me know on twitter (@HyperspaceHippo) if you know of any listings anything you think I might want to include!

Copyright 2010. See more at Voyage of the Hyperspace Hippo

Who doesn't love MAIL?

Anyone who uses Twitter has seen a million posts along the lines of "retweet this post to win a . . ." or "Follow me for a chance to win . . . " etc. Usually I ignore them, I mean, what chance do I have, honestly? Well, a few days ago one of my Etsy "tweeps" did a slightly different giveaway, and I WON! Her contest was for the next person to do . . . something unspecified . . . would win a surprise! Luckily she gave hints, and as the next person to favorite her Etsy shop, I was the winner! My surprise, from Tubby Tabby's Jewelbox arrived in the mail yesterday. I was so excited, I just had to make a post about it here :D

Everything about the packaging was beautiful (yes, I'm building the suspense on you, deal with it :-p . . . ) I opened the envelope (which looked as thought it was being reused-very green!) and found a little box tied with ribbon.

Wrapped along with the box was a kitty tag, made from plantable paper, that reads "Plant me, Water me, watch me grow!"

The two Tubby Tabby's Jewelbox cards inside were absolutely adorable, and so professional!


And . . . inside was a gorgeous necklace! It has a very dark red pendant, which is a color I absolutely love. There are silver swirls on the bail and also two separate swirls on the string. And you'll see, it looks gorgeous when worn! I've been wearing it all day, I love it so much!

I just can't even say how much I loved getting this little surprise in the mail. If you like it too, check out Tubby Tabby's Jewelbox, it's full of beautiful things, including more necklaces like this one, and beautiful pendants made from upcycled dominoes or scrabble tiles. You can also check out Tubby Tabby's SquawkBox (blog) and the Top Cat graphic design shop, or follow her on twitter.

Copyright 2010. See more at Voyage of the Hyperspace Hippo