Bead Peeps Swap & Hop 2015 : From A to Z

Finally, it’s May 2nd!!! The reveal day of Bead Peeps Swap & Hop 2015.

This time my partner is Nicole Rennell from USA. She mainly works with polymer clay and copper, in big and dark color palette. During our ‘get to know each other’ chat, she told me that her hobbies are jewelry making, reading, and traveling. 

It took me sometimes to come up with something special (at least I thought it’s special) for her. Her traveling hobby gave me an idea: I will send her something related with it. 

So I sent her some wire pieces I made. A wire train locomotive, a wire boat, a wire car and a wire plane to symbolize her traveling hobby. I added some green fresh water pearls, and azurite beads as coordinating beads. All in her favorite colors. I was so happy when she said she loves them, since I worried that it might not up to her likes.

A package from Nicole arrived just a few days after she told me she received mine. I opened it and was thrilled o see such combinations. She sent me two electroformed copper over polymer clay focals, some faux sea glass beads, some labradorite beads, and some copper beads.

 
Here are they. The labradorite rondelles, copper beads and white faux sea glass were not photographed because I misplaced them >.<

Silly me. I had a rough idea how to use them and put them aside for later but then I forget where did I put them lol.

Oh and here’s what I came up with this lovely things.

   
A simple necklace featuring one of Nicole’s focal piece: a labradorite in polymer clay.

I made the necklace out of a suede ribbon to enhance the copper color. For the clasp, I used solid copper wire adorned with copper beads and labradorite rondelle. 
 Closer view of the clasp. 
I still have some beads left and will work on them after I find a perfect design for them 🙂 — if you follow my blog or my  FB page you will see that the perfect design I’m talking about might come tomorrow, or maybe next year lol.

Now, please take your time and visit all others participants of Bead Peep Swap and Hop 2015 HERE!! 

Hope you enjoy hopping around!! ^^

Tulips everywhere!

Hello there!!

Lately I was flooded by ideas inspired by flowers, specially tulips. There are other flower-related ideas too but I haven’t get the muse to work on them so I just sketched them down and wait for the perfect mood 🙂

So far since I started making wire jewelries back in 2009, I’ve made 3 tulip designs: a jewelry set in late 2009 and two pins/brooches this year.
There’s almost 5 years gap between those designs, and I make a good progress (well, at least in my own opinion lol).
Let’s see them all ^^

First design & the beginner’s flaws
The first tulip design was a jewelry set made for myself. I wore it on the wedding of my husband’s (that time he’s still my boyfriend hehe) cousin.

My first tulip design

You can see so many flaws and that the designs were so simple.
That ring weren’t constructed very well. I only thought how to realize my design without considering its wearability. Maybe it’s a beginner’s weakness.
I have to admit that the ring caught on my clothes and bag. And I had to repair it every time it happened.

I’ve learned my lessons, and I try my best to improve the wearability of my designs.

Latest designs…
This year I make 2 tulip designs. Both are pins/brooches.

Black Tulip Pin

Tulips Bouquet Pin

Both were made with same methods. Every stones and wires wrapped all at once. No re-wrap or wire joints being woven twice.

I also made the pin by myself. This way I can control both the front and the back side of each brooch. Both wrapped neatly, no wire mess crossing behind the focal cabochons.

Can you see the improvement? Can you point my mistakes and flaws? And will you be kind (and patience) enough to tell me those mistakes?
I would love to hear what you think about these pins I made.

For more detailed pictures please visit my FB page

Thank you so much, and see you on next post.

xxx,

~ien

Eid Mubarak!

After 30 days of fasting, now it’s time to celebrate. Time to apologize for our mistakes and forgive others.

I wanna greet all my Moslem friends, wherever you are.
Eid Mubarak!
I hope this blessed day will bring you all love, joy and happiness along with your loved ones.

I made this wire mosque last night from raw copper wire.
It was made from a single wire.
I’m sorry for the clumsy shape 😦 I hope you all would love it: the art from my depeest heart.

Size approx. 65mm on its widest part.
other edited version of the picture I made. This one is in lighter hues

My Best Friend Wedding – Mo Anam Cara

Several hours left before my Best Friend’s wedding. At this touchy moment, please let me share a bit about the three of us.

We met almost 25 years ago in kindergarten and became Best Friends since then. As mentioned before, there are three of us: me -the most annoying one. Oh you can count on me to get into trouble faster than your eyes blink lol-, Retno -the bride to be, our singer wannabe lol-, and Inge -youngest one, but once she pretended to be the oldest, pfffttttt.

Lately I had a pretty big problems with Retno, and put Inge in a quite difficult position (I’m sorry!!!). I got mad at her over some problems but I can not say it assertively. Instead I kept it inside and it made me feel bad.
Few days ago, I wrote on my facebook status how I feel. Being a bad friend, I had no courage to tell her how I feel. That made me feel bad. And started to blame her, and then started to blame myself, and then started to blame other people. After I vent I feel better, much better.

I won’t tell you the details, I don’t wanna bored you to death with this thing. I just wanna say that after I vent I come to realize that I love her so much, that I don’t wanna let anyone ruin our friendship, and that I can’t keep my anger too long.

I decided I wanna give her a special wedding gift. Something I make with my own hand. Something to represent our friendship.
I came up with this design

Based on Celtic knots for friendship and it’s spiritual beliefs about soul bonding and connecting, this design incorporate natural gemstones and wrapped in 999 fine silver.

Mo Anam Cara (pronounced: muh ann-imm karrah) is a Gaelic phrase for soul-sister.
Celtic spiritual believe that actually soul radiates over physical bodies and it make contact with other souls around. When two (maybe more) souls meet and form deep bond between them, it is said that they have found their Anam Cara. (source).

In this design each dents and asymmetric parts are left as it is intentionally, as a reminder that our friendship might encounter troubles and differences, and that it’s not perfect at all. But in the end, I realize that I love her so much that it will top over every problems we have.

Peridot is her birthstone which is said enhances the healing and harmony of relationships of all kind, particularly marriage. More about peridot can be read here
I really hope she will live a happy marriage, ever after.

Happy Wedding Day, sis!!!!!

Mo Anam Cara Pendant

Materials:
Natural peridot, 999 fine silver, pre-made 925 sterling silver chain

Size:
Approx. 38mm height including bail and 23mm on its widest part

Until next post,
~ien

Bead Soup Blog Party (LATE) Reveal – part 1

On my last post I mentioned that I couldn’t join the reveal part of this year BSBP due to my health.
And if you remember I showed you some pictures of my first piece.
Can any of you guess what I made with that components?

+

=

My own treasure box 🙂

I received 3 sets of beads from Eni, my partner (please visit her blog HERE!!!! to see what she made with my odd bead soup)
Here they are:

1st row from left to right: a teardrop clay cabochon with red and turquoise coordinating beads, and a white round cabochon with ballerina figure plus some beads in pink hues.
2nd row from left to right: two pairs of unique clasps, and a heart shaped shell pendant with black and white fresh water pearls to match it.

Aren’t they pretty? Oh yes they are!!! Specially the ballerina cabochon sets.
Fortunately, I know the fellow artist who made that cabochon. Her name is Wulan, and actually I’ve been eyeing on the cabochon since she post its pictures on her FB account (see other beautiful clay creations of her here –> https://www.facebook.com/wulan.pelitacraft)
So you know how I felt when I saw it on my bead soup. I was kinda like this:

“Oh my GOD!!!! Thank you mbak Eni!!!!!”

And I really wanted to hug my partner that day (until now actually. I’m gonna hug you mbak, for sure. Beware of my hugs! LOL)

So, I started to work on that set, because there were 2 reasons why it touched me:
1. One of my dreams as a child was to become a ballerina. I don’t have to tell you that those beautiful tutus added extra temptation to me lol. But I couldn’t. Soooo, I might projected my dreams towards my daughter. I took her to a ballet class but she was too young to understand the instructions.
Instead of practicing cute dances with her classmates, she was hanging and swinging on the bar *sigh*
It’s okay, I’ll try again later *insert a very determined face here*

2. When I was little, my mom had a beautiful music box. It had small ballerina figurine which would dance around the music box when it was played.
That time I was so amazed with the music box, specially that dancing lady. I wonder how could she dance around.
Uhmm… Then I broke the music box in my mystery solving process.. My mom got mad at me lol… But hey! I knew how it works now lol.

So I decided to make a box with that ballerina cabochon to celebrate my memories. While I made it, I thought about my mom and my daughter.
If you see the letter ‘C’ I put on the back of the cabochon, it’s my daughter’s initial- Claire.

The process.

The most boring part was making that scrolls for the ‘wall’. Oh, and the coiling task.

The hardest part was attaching the base sheet to the wall. Actually I planned to solder them together but after some trials and errors, I failed. Yes, I failed (I really need to master this soldering thing more). And then I realized I ran out of butane for my torch. So that’s it. I decided to coil them.

Another hard part was making the hinge. I didn’t know how can I make it, or where should I put it, and what shape or what should I do to make it. So please forgive that clumsy hinge 😦

However, I managed to finish it on time later than it should be. But I’m proud with my first treasure box.

I still owe at least another piece for this year BSBP because I haven’t use the given clasps.
I’m working on it, so please be patient 🙂

Meanwhile, if you wanna see other gorgeous and beautiful creations of this year participants please click this link. It will guide you to the list of participants ^^

Have a nice blog hopping!

xxx
~ien

8th Bead Soup Blog Party : A to Z to REVEAL DAY

I should’ve posted this from few months ago: I’m participating (not anymore, and you’ll know why soon) in 8th Bead Soup Blog Party (BSBP) hosted by Lori Anderson.

In this annual event, lots of participants from all over the world will be paired and then they will have to swap a bead soup (well, it’s a package of focal beads, coordinating beads, and unique clasps plus anything you want to add into) with their partner.

This year Lori paired me with Diah Anggreni a.k.a Eni. I was so happy to know that she is my partner because actually I’ve met her before.
Yep. We live in the same region.

Here’s what she sent me:

3 sets of beads and 2 sets of beautiful clasp

All packed in a beautiful songket box

I was really thrilled because she seems to know what I love. I can easily pictured some designs from those beads.

Now the problem is, what will I send her?
At the swap time, I was hospitalized due to dengue fever. So I wasn’t able to pick my own bead soup and send it to her.
When I received her bead soup I was kinda “Oh my god. What should I send her? What should I give her which will be good enough compared to this?”

So, after a few quick interview with her, I decided to make my own focal piece(s) for her.
She said she’s in love with cats and butterflies.
So I made her these:

A few cat figures 🙂

I sent the package and thanks God, she said she loves it *big grin*

Now, all I have to do is just making the designs I planned.
Unfortunately, in the last days before the reveal day I was diagnosed with another dengue fever. There were red spots all over my body.
So I was told to take a good rest. I can’t make it in time 😦

I contacted Lori and Eni to tell them that I can’t make it on time. And that I have to withdraw myself from this year BSBP.
I’m so sad that I can’t fully participated this year. Moreover, I’m so sad I wasn’t able to finish my favorite design from the bead soup.

Just to ease my broken heart, here are some unfinished pictures of it:

Can you guess what I was making?

Anyway, even though I can not make it to the reveal day (which is TODAAAAAY!!!!!, Yeay!!!!) I’m still excited to see other participants finished pieces.
So, please don’t miss this event and be sure you visit other participants’ blog here

(I know I will do so too ^^)

See you!!!

xxx,
~ ien

Simple Hello and Much More

Hello,

it’s been a year since my last post (okay, it’s just 2 months after new year, but hey my last post was really in 2013.. So yeah I can say it’s been a year lol)

These last few months I’ve been being a bit non productive. I spent my days traveling to Jogjakarta -a beautiful city in Indonesia- for new year eve, and then many things happened. Long story short, these last few months are not the best time in my life.

It felt like I was having a mental block I can’t get through. I’ve tried to do something creative, tried to make something beautiful (at least in my opinion), but yet I did nothing.
I even got to a point when I thought that I won’t be able to create anything anymore. It was so horrible and terrifying.

Time heals any wound, I guess those words are TRUE. As time goes by I can see everything clearer than before. I can see some options I can’t see before, and I can see that I really have to fight for everything.

But the ultimate trigger came from my best jewelry making buddy, Renata.
She asked my opinion for her latest design series, and I dunno why but suddenly the mental block disappeared! I can discussed the subject with her freely and some pretty good ideas popped out continuously.
Then we decided to do another design challenge for both of us. We did it before: we picked peacock as our theme and we came out with our own interpretation of it. I already wrote a blog draft about it but then again, I forgot to finish it *sigh* I’m sorry 😦

Our challenge theme this time: REIGN OF FIRE VS SNOW QUEEN
After we decided to do the challenge suddenly I felt alive!
I felt like my old self came back and kick me in the ass and said: “wake up you silly girl! There’s no problem that can beat you, and no problem is too big if you want to overcome it. Wake up, lift your head, and walk straight!”

So here I am, try to stand tall against my problems and face the world 🙂

I really thank my friends who’s being there during my hard times, everything they did mean so much for me. Thank you!

So, before I bored you to death with my story I wanna give you a sneak peek of the jewelries I made since my last post 🙂

Here they are..

Selena Pendant version 2.0 🙂

Aquarius Pendant

Friendship Necklace – my first gold plated piece ^.^

Mora Earrings

Wings of Hope prototype

Big Taurinš Pendant

Belle and Bow studs earrings

Kaede Necklace – I really enjoyed making it

Taurinš Mini Studs Earrings

I will write about them personally next time 🙂

So, see you in my next post!!

Hugs,
~ ien

PS: meet them up close and personal on my FB PAGE
:-*

Friday Featured : Dance of The Phoenix Series

I love Harry Potter series. It really drives my imaginations gone wild!
These designs are the results.

There are many magical creatures in Harry Potter, among all Fawkes is my favorite. Not to mention unicorns 🙂
When I read the books, I always imagine how Fawkes flies, how he burnt into ashes and rebirth, his loyalty, his bravery, his song, and so on. I kept the ideas in my mind, and didn’t know what to do, until several weeks ago the designs came up.

The very first design of this series named The Path to Heaven.
It was made of 999 fine silver wire, soldered and hammered then oxidized to give it depth. Unfortunately it came up a lot like Keri Luiz from Pheonyx Art logo. When she mentioned it, I was shocked and feel bad because I don’t wanna offend anyone with my design.
However the problem was settled in a very civilized manner. I will have to modify the design if I ever make it again, which is a good thing to do so I can have my own design instead of something similar with someone else’s identity.

Here it is, the first design

And this is the modified design, in progress

The Circle Has No Ends is the next design I came up.
It shows a Phoenix in a circle pose, where its head and tail met. It represents the death and rebirth cycle of a Phoenix.

Here it is

The 3rd design was named Wind Rider. It was made of a single wire, without any soldered joint. I’ve created two version of this design: a copper brooch with handmade pin, and a silver pendant.

I really hope you like this series 🙂

Until next post,

~ien

PS: to see other art works of mine, please visit my FB Page
Many thanks!!!

Friday Featured : The unicorn

Last night I supposed to work on some personalized orders, but I really couldn’t get a thing out of my mind: UNICORN!!!
It felt like there was something knocking, and running, and stomping, and neighing inside my head. We’ll it might sound exaggerated, but believe me it did happened.

Long story short, a picture from Tweakster at DeviantArt stole my eyes. So I decided to give it a try with wire. My challenge was to make it out of a single wire.

About an hour and some feet of 16 gauge bare copper wire later, I came up with this..

Tarraaaaaaaaaaa!!!
What do you think?

It’s just about 5 cm from top to bottom. Well, smaller than my palm.

More details please visit my FB page

See you!!

~ ien

Happy Birthday Lee Min Ho :)

Happy 27th birthday, 민호.
Wishing joyful, healthy, prosperous and wonderful years ahead.
Thanks for being my inspiration.

❤