Thank you Mandy for featuring robayre on Something Monumental.
I love Mandy’s blog and I always look forward to her updates. I especially enjoy our shared love for roadside attractions and unique touristy stops which she features frequently.
Tag Archive for 'jewelry'
Back in February, during Thing-a-Day, I designed a bow tie ring made from fabric. I’ve finally come back to those and created some specifically for my shop. They are now available here in a variety of colors and sizes. If you see one you like, but not in your size, just send me a message and I’ll create a custom listing for you.
I’m playing catch-up again. We were out of town for the funeral for the last couple of days. As sad as funerals can be, it was also so wonderful to be surrounded by so many people that loved Nikki and it really made it feel more like a celebration of her life, rather than a mournful experience.
For my Day 15 Thing-a-Day I created this ring display to hold all of my favorite rings. I have jewelry boxes, but all of my favorite rings end up being set on a bathroom medicine cabinet shelf. A while ago Rosa posted a tutorial for making a ring display and I thought “Aha!” Now I can have my rings out and see them and they aren’t just getting piled upon each other. Now these little pieces of artwork will get the viewing they deserve, other than when they are on my fingers.
Rosa used cigar boxes, which were brilliant and go so well with her own style of artwork. I was searching through the closet in my studio to see if I might have any cigar boxes, when I saw an IKEA Ribba shadowbox frame and figured it would work just as well. Rosa also used upholstery fabric, but I didn’t have any that would work with this project, so I just went to JoAnn’s and bought some inexpensive acrylic felt in charcoal gray. Less than $5 bought me a yard and I was able to complete this project.
For Rosa’s tutorial click here.
And she also had a follow up tutorial here where she made another using PVC piping.
That girl, Rosa, she’s so clever. A real superstar in my book :)
Ever since I posted the picture of my favorite necklaces, I’ve wanted to do one with my favorite rings. I just realized after looking at the necklaces that I could do an update because I have bought so many awesome necklaces since I took that original picture years ago.
I’m not into your “standard” jewelry shop jewelry, meaning gold, platinum or the like, with lots of bling and sparkly diamonds. You are more likely to find me wearing a ring from a gumball machine than a ring from Tiffany’s. It’s not a price thing, but an aesthetic thing. To me, those “luxurious” rings looks no different than the junk mass marketed knock offs that you can buy at any department store for $20. They are just so AVERAGE, and they have no personality. What I’m drawn to are unique pieces that have a story behind them, and each one these rings does. You can click on the image to go to the flickr page and if you hover over some of the rings you read about their unique stories.
So, for Thing-a-Day 11, I am sharing this collection of my absolute favorite rings. I probably have another 30 in my ring boxes, but the ones pictured here are the most special to me. Oh, and that reminds me. I’ve been wanting to make a display ring box, like the one Rosa made. Here is her tutorial.
I’ve been meaning to share some finished projects for a long time now.
It’s no secret. I’m a yoyo fiend. Back in August I got the idea to make some zipper pouches covered in yoyos and I have finally finished and added three to my Etsy shop. I love how they came out. My favorite is the one above. It was by some weird luck that I found a zipper that matched the fabric perfectly and now I want to make more with solid colors. I think it displays the texture of the yoyos so much better. Something like that would be perfect for a wedding.
My sister gave me the idea to add wrist straps. This makes them a perfect size for a clutch or wristlet to use all alone, rather than to keep inside your purse. The straps are attached to the zipper pull and are easily removed.
I quilted all the yoyos by hand, then sewed the purse itself by machine. I anchored the yoyos to the pouch, so they are on there sturdily.
And then last month I showed a progress shot of some jewelry pieces I was working on and forgot to show the finished product. Here are the rings. The one of the left is made from a retired library book’s pages. The one on the right is made from a vintage world map print.
I loved the one on the left so much I wanted to keep it for myself. It occurred to me to just make one for myself, so I did that this week. It’s funny how excited I was to have one for myself. I wear handmade all the time, but it’s almost always from other artist’s work.
I love it when customers come to me with GREAT ideas for new products. Like earlier this year Claire wanted some of my notepads, but on a larger paper and then asked if I had envelopes. Ta-Da! Why not turn my bunting designs into stationery? Then for the above commissioned piece - a customer asked if I could make one of my treasure boxes but with “you are my favorite” on top. Brilliant! Why didn’t I think of that before? I’m sure I will be making some more of these.
Lastly, a friend recently got a puppy. He’s a maltipoo. He was so tiny (under 2 pounds) and when they took him outside he’d just start shaking from the cold. So tiny, in fact, that they couldn’t even find any pet coats or sweaters that would fit him, so I made this little coat from some fabric I had on my shelves. It’s a red and white print of skulls and cross bones :)
I made it at home, just guesstimating his size and I was amazed that it fit him like a charm. It just has a strap underneath and they loved that because then when they take him out to to the bathroom he doesn’t accidentally “go” on it, like he would if it was a full bodied sweater. It wasn’t until after I made it that I realized they could probably also make some really stylish sweaters for inside just from old patterned socks. A hole in the toe, a couple slits for his legs and he’d be super cozy.
Inspired by Rosa’s most recent post “On My Desk”, I’m posting some recent camera phone pics from my own work table in my studio.
Here’s a little sneak peek at Grass & Stars No. 2
And some paper spiral stratum pendants.
And I’ve been cutting out bajillions of envelopes in the last few days, for my repurposed envelope and stationery sets.
I had an order for one of these button sets earlier this week, so I decided to make a whole bunch more. I got through them a lot because I personally wear them on everything, give them to friends and occasionally give one as an extra here or there in Etsy orders.
There are many things I really enjoy about Google Reader and one of them is being able to bookmark posts by “liking” and “sharing” them. I’m posting today to share a few things I’ve collected over time in my google reader. I’d love to turn this into a weekly post, but I’m not going to promise, since regular posts on my blog never end up being very regular. Pre-twitter these are things I would have shared here, but now I post them on twitter and forget about posting them here as well, and I miss that.
This cartoon is sweet and a pretty common theme to my life since becoming an adult.
I discovered this project (Ring A Day 2010) earlier this year when I was participating in 2010 Thing A Day. I love rings, but only creative and artistic pieces, meaning I basically loathe your typical jewelry store jewelry, ugh. It’s been a long time since I’ve been serious about metalwork, but a project like this makes me miss that time when I had more focus on just one area of art at a time.
Speaking of awesome rings, here is one that looks like a tree stump (scroll down below ads to see it).
I love this post on art zines at Doodlers Anonymous.
Here is an awesome project, as I’m obsessed with all types of vending machines. It’s a Doodle vending machine, also from Doodlers Anonymous. It reminds me of the postcard machine from Renegade that I wrote about years back.
And wait, while we are talking about my obsession with vending machines I might as well mention how I’ve long wanted to buy my very own coin machine. I think it stems from my obsession as a child to get things from gumball machines. Heck, it was the only reason I’d go with my mom to the store, so that I could beg for a quarter. For years I’ve had a machine bookmarked to buy. I promise myself it’s one of the items I’ll buy when I have my credit card paid off, which will be very soon, wooot! Anyway, earlier this year I discovered the Itty Bitty Art Committee (which just about blew my mind because I am also obsessed with little art). I read how they bought a little coin slot machine to vend tiny lucky origami paper cranes. This reminded me of a vending machine I saw at the Renegade one year where an artist was vending mini silk screen (or were they relief) prints from a gumball machine. And naturally, there is Artomat, which I occasionally contribute to, which vends original artwork through old revamped cigarette machines.
okay, one last link:
Crustless Quiche in a Cup! Yum, I love quiche.
Okay, that’s all for now, but I have tons more to share, so hopefully I’ll be back next week with more.
Today I added 4 new leaf style rings to my Etsy shop. I also have a few more rings in the paper spiral/coiled style that I’m going to add tomorrow. I’m excited. They are so pretty.
How was your weekend? I had one of those rare weekends which are packed full, and yet seem long, stretched out and productive, as opposed to rushed and stressed. A relaxed, stress free weekend. I got to visit with my brother and sister in law and their new addition, I attended a wedding, AND made it to my friend Tom’s birthday party. Oh, also, I’m very excited that I scored a bike on ebay, just like my old one that was destroyed last year, but the female version. I was even able to test ride it around our cul-de-sac a few times before the snow hit this weekend.
I’m so so so excited for spring. I even got to walk home from work on Thursday. It was so nice to just get sun and fresh air. I carried my camera with me and took a bunch of pictures. After hectic months like February, it feels like such a blessing to be leisurely and take the time to enjoy the simple things. Last week was a perfect sample of what’s to come, temps in the 50’s even reaching the 60s a day or two. Saturday we woke up to a snow covered ground. No one was happy about that, but it’s pretty typical for spring time in northern Illinois.
The countdown to spring is on! 19 days left. If the rest of those 19 days are as nice as today was, this should be a breeze. The snow was all melty and I was able to drive around with my window rolled down half way.
Today was one of my days where I have to go in to work at 2 a.m. so I had the daylight to myself. I got a lot done. Grocery shopping, cleaning, cooking, etc., etc. I also finally got around to listing the rings I made last month for Thing-a-Day.
The circle Paper Wrapped Spiral Stratum Rings are a new offering for my shop. I love the pendants that I make like this so much that I had to make some as rings as well. Dare I say, these rings are even more beautiful than the pendants?
Other rings that have been added are more collage based, similar to other rings that have been in my shop previously. I love this abstract piece above. It is very much like something I could see myself wearing all the time.
Here is a ring dedicated to my love of Polaroid. When I was in college I used to incorporate a lot of the polaroid shape into my artwork, printmaking primarily. This was about 10 years ago now and before Polaroid was becoming extinct, so I don’t think my teacher understood or appreciated it very much. It warms my heart now to see the Polaroid image in so much artwork nowadays. Each time I see it, it’s like me sticking out my tongue and giving a big raspberry to that teacher and saying “See, other people get it, why couldn’t you?”
And finally, here is the last ring. Picture it as a whisper of the spring to come. It looks like the underside of a leaf, but it’s actually a real leaf skeleton, with a green cardstock paper visible from behind, all encased and preserved in resin.
Today I received some new ring blanks I purchased recently. I was very excited to make some paper wrapped spiral rings, like the pendants I’ve made and had success with before. They will take about 24 hours to harden and then if everything goes well, I’ll be adding them to my Etsy shop.
Once they were all assembled, I was so thrilled with the circle ones that I almost gasped at how beautiful they were.
Onto last night. (Mim and Rachel, you might want to brace yourself)
(picture by roll_initiative on flickr)
My brother, sister and I went to go see Neil Gaiman speak at a nearby high school. If you are not familiar with Neil, he is the author of Stardust and Coraline, as well as many other books, graphic novels, his blog and even twitter. I love seeing and hearing creative people talk. It always inspires me to much that I just want to rush home to my studio and start working madly at my own art. Listening to him talk filled my inspiration well.
He first read from Stardust (which I read some years ago) and then Anansi Boys (which I want to read now after hearing him). Then he did a Q&A with the audience. I just want to share a couple things from last night.
(Let me preface this by saying that it might not have really played out like this, but it sure sounded like it to me)
Audience Member: What is your favorite thing?
Neil Gaiman: What is my favorite thing or theme?
AM: Thing
NG: I’d have to say my favorite thing is Amanda Palmer
Audience: Erupts, goes wild
AM: Actually, I said theme
NG: Oh, I really liked that question, what’s your favorite thing
hehe, I just found a twitter referencing it :)
He spoke of how, growing up, people like to do things until they are informed by others that they can’t do those things. It’s a topic close to my heart. One of my favorite quotes is “Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.” Pablo Picasso. Neil shared an anecdote that each child is born with the ability to be a tight rope walker, and it isn’t until people tell them that they can’t, they wouldn’t be able to do it.
I could have listened to Q&A with him forever. Girls, now I can understand your crushes. Plus, I just read he’s a bee keeper. sigh.
