Time Flies!

Here is my first creation with the swag batch I received for cleverly winning the Rings & Things Blog Partner Contest! As you know, these packages are put together by Dave Robertson, R & T Web Optimizer, and the man really takes the Optimizer part of his job description seriously! Who amongst us has not enjoyed at least one Twitter or FaceBook interaction with Dave? Anywho, he's also, ummm, a bit, uhhh, well, unconventional in his selections....check my last post to see what I'm talking about! (Okay, lazy, he sent Tim Holtz Ideology scrapbook embellishments with the jewelley making stuff! *whirls finger beside head*).

Ha ha Dave! Using scrapbook stuff is all the rage in the funky mixed media jewellery in the spotlight lately! It's so Steampunky! That's the vibe these vintage styled pieces gave me anyway and above is the result! Let me walk you through my process here a bit...the 'why' of my design.

I started with the Hammered Oval Cable (Antiqued Brass Plated) chain. I was already thinking Steampunk because of that crazy little embossed brass corner piece and the watch hands. At this point, on an unrelated craft emergency, I had to go to Michaels, the Arts & Crafts store near here, to get some 12 x 12 paper. Like most of you, I go into craft stores knowing exactly what I need, head right to it, check out and leave...I'm sorry; my lies sicken you, don't they?! Suffice it to say, while getting the paper, I was distracted by a nicely sized, coin shaped piece of Opalite, which is Chinese glass with a haunting glow to it....to me, a very Steampunk type of glass.

(Sidebar: I learned all about Opalite from R& T years ago, and it was their truthful Opalite info that made me their fast friend!).

I also found those sweet little leaf and word tags dangling off the bottom and the little bird at the top of the opalite bead. Rings & Things has similar danglies. I used brass wire to make a double eye-pin to put through the opalite bead and then I did something heretofore never even considered...I glued the Opalite bead inside the brass cormer frame!!!! (Have you noticed how its okay to glue things to things now in jewellery making? So I did!) I had to manipulate the frame a bit, but it knew it was being manipulated, and it didn't seem to mind, so I quickly had the large coin shaped Opalite snugged inside the frame.

Disoriented and dizzy from the glue fumes, I now had a rather visually heavy pendant, which meant that I needed more chain to balance it.(More, not less chain, is all the rage right now!) Having 2 kinds of such brass chain, I quickly attached them to each end of the length of oval chain. I then attached the watch hands together with a link from one of the smaller chains, and made them into half of a toggle clasp, sliding them easily through one of the oval links. I like it and prefer it when necklaces close in the front.

Isn't it beautiful how the Opalite seems to change colour?! The tag dangly says 'bloom', the bird and the watch hands remind us that time flies and to live for the moment and the entire necklace, I think, evokes a delightful memory of a past that hasn't happened yet.

What do YOU think? (I know you can hear me!).