The nice thing about a memory wire Bracelet is that you don’t need to worry about the fit, as well as, no need to fiddle with a clasp.

Start by using the right tools, memory wire sheers.
Cutters are not designed to be used with this product, they will not cut any longer if you use them on memory wire.
You will also achieve a clean safe edge when using memory wire sheers.

Memory wire is a spring like wire that holds designs snug against your skin.
Sizes of memory wire packs varies.

String your complimentary color of beads onto the memory wire until you are happy with the size you get.
I suggest you overlap a little.

Once you are happy with the size, use your memory wire sheers and cut.

Use round nose pliers to form loop at the end of the wire.

Twist against the curve of the wire to form a loop.

Check size again, add or remove a few beads if necessary.
Form a loop on the other end of the Bracelet.

You want the loop close to your last bead.

Have it snug but not too tight.

Your Bracelet can be done at this point.
You may want to add a charm to it.

Open a Jumprings with 2 pliers.
Remember, twist, don’t pull it apart.

Add your charm and attach to one of the loops on your Bracelet.
In this case Star of David charm that has a loop on top.
By attaching the charm to a jumpring first you will get more movement to your Jewelry piece.

Enjoy!

Let’s create something!

A behind the scene look, how to set up your booth for a craft show.

You’ll start off with a blank space.
Unless you order booth extras such as carpet, tables, table skirts, chairs etc.

Best to start off with hanging your samples/fliers on the walls of your booth.

Have gorgeous quilts? Use them as table covers.

Try out a few layouts as you’re spreading things out.

Use stands to maximize the table’s space.

Take boxes, flip them, cover with a pretty quilt and you’re got a one of a kind stand.

Play with placing your samples and wares.

Carousel stands are a great way to save on space.

Bring or rent a dolly, it will save you valuable time on trips into your booth.

Have a machine you want to demo?

Have everything set up in advance so folks can easily get a feel for the machines.

Bring your tools for any last minute adjustments.

Hang fliers so folks know what they are looking at and can refer to it.

Think about having enough clearance to walk around and several ways in and out of your booth.

Front of your tables is prime real-estate, use it!

A big thank you to ‘Always Quilting’ for letting me tag along!

Check out Always Quilting web site:
www.alwaysquiltingonline.com
To visit the store:
4230 Olympic Avenue
San Mateo, CA 94403
Phone: 650-458-8580

Bring fabrics to cover your booth at the end of the day.

The San Mateo Sewing and Quilt Show is FREE to attend!
You can find more information about the Quilt, Craft & Sewing Festival

Enjoy!

Celebration of Craftswomen took place in November 11-13, 2011, San Francisco.
Bask in the view of San Francisco when you come to this festival.

It began in 1976 as a small crafts show.
For the past three decades, The Women’s Building Celebration of Craftswomen has allowed Bay Area residents, along with visitors of San Francisco from throughout the world, to discover the work of the nation’s best female artisans and fine artists.
Celebration of Craftswomen is the largest event celebrating the craft of women in the nation.
www.celebrationofcraftswomen.org

To follow on Facebook:
www.facebook.com/celebration.craftswomen
Among the contemporary and traditional handcrafted items you can fine:
Functional and decorative ceramic and glass vessels.
Sculpted wood and works of metal.
Polymer  clay, beaded, stone and precious metal jewelry.
Women, painted silk, leather clothing and wearable.
Home Furniture and accessories.
Fine art sculpture.
Photography.
Watercolor and oil paintings.

Don’t miss the hidden treasures as you walk by them, such as, Greens Restaurant, Fort Mason in San Francisco for some beautiful bayside vegetarian dining.
www.greensrestaurant.com
The Oatmeal raisin cookie was to die for!

THE WOMENS BUILDING (TWB) is a multi-service community center whose mission is to provide women and girls with the tools and resources they need to achieve full and participation is society.
The Women’s Building is located at 3543 18th Street in San Francisco.
For information call 415-431-1180 or visit www.womensbuilding.org

Always ask the artist permission to take a picture of their booth and/or individual item.

A recap of select booths:

Rene Almon Woodworks, her inspiration comes from organic shapes and the wood itself. Building long lasting quality furniture, pleasing to the eye and inviting to touch.
www.renealmonwoodworks.com

Alexandra Von Burg, creating Fairy Tale imagery with soft sculptured dolls and fiber paintings
Look for her workshops to hone the art-making skills that enhance anyone’s natural talent.
www.alexandravonburg.com

Anne Klocko, produces different types of artwork, Vinyl Clay Artwork, Figurative Sculpture and Ceramic Sculpture are whimsy original works of art.
www.anneklocko.com

Margaret Grisz-Dow, passionate about art, her ceramic work & drawing she is integrating these by making incised drawings on the surface of her clay pieces.
Teaching  in a relaxed aesthetic environment, which is often in her own beautiful home studio.
Contact: mgriszdow@yahoo.com

Tess McGuire, hats are knitted on a knitting loom out of wool yarn and then felted using hot water, soap and friction to turn a loosely knitted fabric into a warm, solid, and virtually waterproof garment.
www.tessmcguire.com

Mountain Exotics, taking the beauty, texture of wood to form our unique products.
We create heirlooms from ‘Tree to Street.
www.mountainexotics.com

Monterey Fiber and Design by Margaret Thompson

Naoko, Creating botanically themed felt and glass Jewelry.
10% of sales are donated to humanitarian non profit organizations.
www.naokonojiri.com

Alchemy, Fine chocolate, pastry, & baked delicacies, Savory catering, Classes.
www.facebook.com/pages/Alchemy/130946720282942

Ruxton Designs, mixed media art, vintage buttons, metal hardware, felt all combined in a unique way by Nicky Ruxton.
www.ruxtondesigns.com
Sharing a booth with Laube photography, a joyful rendition of California by Nancy Laube.
www.nancylaube.com

Large Leather is a beautiful store in Sonoma, California.
Choose from in house designs to custom orders, by Paul Terwilliger and Jessica Zoutendijk.
www.largeleather.biz

JYC Arts, Fine Arts painter, Illustrator, Fiber artist as well as Jeweler and quilter.
Working with non traditional fabrics in traditional ways.
www.janecorich.com

Janice Cormier, functional and non functional ceramic art, sculptural vessels, figurative sculpture, small series of functional pottery, and Jewelry.
www.janicecormier.ca
Sharing a booth with Judy Beebe Designs, Merino wool scarves and gloves.
Creating elegant, comfortable, neck pieces with rich texture & color.
www.etsy.com/shop/judybeebedesigns

Theresa Honeywell, provocative imagery and macho icons are rendered into delicate and beautiful pieces of art.
Her inspiration comes in the contrast between art and craft, macho and feminine.
www.theresahoneywell.com

Booths 421-422 is a collaborative mixture of a group of women, a web site is in the pipe line.

To contact the artists directly:
Wanda Fudge, wfudge@peoplepc.com
Colleen Ehle Patell, mixed media figurative art, www.wildwackywomendesigns.com
Suzanne Duran, artist, miblu3@yahoo.com
Mary Porter Vaughan, fine art dolls, www.mpvdolls.com
Donna Perry, art dolls, mixed media artist, dreamandplay.blogspot.com
Zanaib Nia, artist, zniagreen@yahoo.com
Stephanie Smith, doll maker, smitharts@yahoo.com
Bonnie Hoover, Whimsical cloth doll creations, bondonhoov@sbcglobal.net

Tree Stump, Master wood artisans Christine and Ron Sisco prove Fine Art can be functional.
In addition to custom furniture, their most popular pieces are spoons and bread boards.
www.treestump.biz

Santa Barbara Felted Fibers, wearables fiber Art, soft and billowy, exciting and sometimes just wild and crazy.
www.sbfeltedfibers.com

Enchanted Burl, Burls form as an outgrowth on the trunk of a tree and/or within the root system transformed to tables, chairs, lamps, clocks, vessels and serving platters.
www.enchantedburl.com

A close up look on this gorgeous crafted chair.
The vessels have been used as food servers, three-dimensional wall art, center conversational pieces, and even spiritual baptismal vessels.

Browse the list of the entertainment schedule that was offered at the rear stage
www.womensbuilding.org/craftsfair/Womens_Building_Craft_Fair/ENTERTAINMENT.html

Zola De Firmian, Fine Art Ceramics and tile design, one-of-a-kind porcelain and stoneware pieces are hand-built, or cast, then carved, using simple molds of own design.
Project Greenheart, First, 10% of sales go to support programs that connect youth with art and nature.
www.zinfusionz.com

Dawn Mountain LeatherArt, creating and designing original Leatherart pieces.
Decorative techniques such as trapunto, pleating, weaving, and beading are frequently used on one-of-a-kind pieces
www.dawnmountainleatherart.com

FOR INFORMATION ABOUT THE SHOW CONTACT:
TEEVAN PRODUCTIONS
1557- 15TH AVE.
SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94122
PHONE: (650) 615-6838
FAX: (415) 731-6794
EMAIL: CRAFTSWOMEN@GMAIL.COM

Hope you enjoyed Celebration of Craftswomen!
Didn’t make it this year? Try and make it to next year.

All pictures were taken after approval by the artist.

Let’s create something!

 

You can find: How to: Polymer Clay beads Mokume Gane Style – Part 1

Take the colorful Polymer Clay slices you created and start wrapping your made beads, gently as to keep it’s shape.

Repeat for as many beads as you want.

Shapes are up to you, from larger pendants to your basic round beads.

You can also make imprints on your newly created beads.

Make sure you make holes in your beads so you can string it or attach with jump ring.
Use a skewer or anything size appropriate to create the holes.

Put your beads on a rack so your beads will retain it’s shape and have even heat on them.

Use oven thermometer to make sure the temperature is actually same as indicted.
Should the temperature be off you can easily burn your Polymer Clay beads.

We used an old toaster oven to bake our beads. It is not recommended to use your kitchen oven.
Put your oven outdoors, in the backyard or balcony if possible.

Now it’s time to sand our beads.
It is better to sand the Polymer Clay beads under water so you are not breathing in the dust.

Start of with a more coarse grade sanding paper.

Gradually work your way to a more finer sanding paper.

Keep working on sanding your beads on finer sanding paper for best results.

Notice the sides of the pendant are now straight and aligned.

While the top and bottom have a slight curve to them.
The design style is up to you.

Finish by buffing your beads on an old pair of jeans.

There are different methods to seal your beads.
We chose to use Pledge with future shine.

We used floral foam to put our beads on skewers and then using a brush coated them with two layers.
Check product instructions for drying time between layers.

Your Polymer Clay beads are now ready to be used. From Jewelry to decorative projects.

Your project is now complete! enjoy.

You can find: How to: Polymer Clay beads Mokume Gane Style – Part 1

My friend Catherine suggested we have a play day making beads from Polymer Clay in Mokume Gane style.
This was my first attempt and not too shabby if I do say so myself.

Start off by protecting the work surface. In this case we used Protecto film.

Pick a color and start working with it. We used Purple.

Choose another color you would like to use with your design. We used light Blue.

Want a shade of color but you don’t have it?
Not a problem, just mix two or more colors.
Start by cutting them into small pieces (we used a mixer to achieve these results)

Then start working the two colors together.

You will end up with the color you want. We were going for Lime Green.

Once you have all your colors it’s time to move on to the next step.
We used an old pasta maker.

Gradually make your clay thiner.

Cut your colors into 3 parts roughly the same size.

Then add Silver leaf on about 1/2 your color Polymer Clay blocks.
Make sure to cover at least 1 of every color.

Now it’s time to stack them.
Be sure to alternate between a block with Silver leaf and a block without.
As well as the different colors.

Once you have your block put dents it different sizes randomly spaced.
Don’t push all the way down (don’t create a hole).

Now it’s time to slice into your block at an angle.
You want your cut pieces to consist of several layers.

You can now create your base shape with a color you will cover partly or completely, it’s up to you.

You can find: How to: Polymer Clay beads Mokume Gane Style – Part 2

To create these gorgeous Silver Hoop with Purple Swarovski Crystals Earrings we will start with the hoop.

Use a hoop that you can open on one side by just pulling the bar out.

We start by stringing on the hoop bar various Swarovski Crystals in different shades and sizes.

By selecting a single Swarovski Crystal and mirroring on the either side, we create a pattern.

Once we are happy with the look, we will close the hoop bar by inserting it back into the slot.

To attach the hoop to the ear wire we will use a jump ring.
A jump ring, is a ring that has an opening and doesn’t complete the full circle.

We open the jump ring by using 2 round nose pliers. The first plier we use to hold the jump ring.
The second plier we use by moving it away from you.
Reverse the motion to close.

We attach the first jump ring to the ear wire.
Open and close the jump ring with the ear wire inside it.

We will attach a second jump ring to our already attached jump ring with the ear wire as well as to the hoop.
By attaching the second jump ring, we create more movement to our Jewelry piece

Make sure you attach it in a way that both the ear wire and hoop are facing the same way.

Your project is now complete! enjoy.