The other night Walker and I stayed in and cooked dinner. We’ve been on the go a lot lately so it was really nice just to stay in, relax, and cook a somewhat healthy (but so tasty) meal. Oh artichoke hearts!
how do you make that tiny heart?
May 17, 2012
I thought it would be fun so share just how I saw my tiny hearts into each pendant I make. It is often assumed that I have some sort of a heart stamp or jump but the truth is I don’t! I make each and every heart by hand, free hand that is! Here’s how:
I start out by marking where the hole will go, I then hammer the spot to create a dip. This makes the drilling go much smoother, otherwise the drill bit would have a hard time catching in one spot and scratch up the metal (I learned this the hard way). Then I drill the hole. The drill shown is a hand drill and it really helps to have 2 sets of hands when drilling holes but since I only have 2 hands that got old, fast. After a year of using this hand drill I realized I really needed a jewelry drill press. Wow! Has that been nice!
Once the hole has been drilled in thread the super skinny jewelry saw into the hole and tighten the loose end of the saw into the clamp. Now I’m ready to saw!
I get a feel for which way it up depending on what shape I’m adding the heart to and I cut the first side of the heart.
At this point it pretty much just looks like an oblong shape. I saw another oblong shape at the opposite angle.
Now I have a heart! I inspect for flaws and fix them where needed. Now all that’s left is a bit of sanding, polishing, and adding the jump ring and chain. Then off it goes to the hands of one of my amazing customers. Of which I have the best. (hehe)
wiww-making an old dress new
May 16, 2012
I have had this dress for years, probably at least 5 years. I just couldn’t get myself to get rid of it since I had only worn it once and there was nothing wrong with it. Recently I revisited getting rid of it yet again but this time I decided if I couldn’t make it work it was outta here! I put it on and tried to figure out what I like and didn’t like about it. I didn’t like that the style was out of date, it was kind of see through, and the waist sat kind of low. I liked the shape of the skirt and that was really it so I thought, duh, turn it into a skirt. I chopped the top off, sewed the top together where the buttons met on the soon to be waist, folded down the excess to make a tube, added elastic, finished it off and done. I had a finished skirt. Here it is 2 ways.
old dress-Delia’s years ago
blue “top” (actually a dress)-target
newly made skirt from dress
belt-vintage
navy t-shirt-j.crew
newly made skirt
belt-vintage
necklace-gift from a friend
