Valentine's Day Designs - Request for Submissions!

2009 Valentines Day Video Submits
If you're an independent jewelry artisan and would like to join me in the 2009 Holiday extravaganza video presentation for Valentine's Day, please submit your pictures! Keep reading!Your photos need your website location. You can add those to the description if you like, and I'll add them to your photos for you!DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS IS JANUARY 18TH,2009 - up to 5 submissions allowed per artistThe photos will be reviewed during my live radio talkshow event on the afternoon of January 18th!So having your information available for sharing with the audience will be very important if you want your work to be found!
Send your photos to me at: mhair@pdq.net with VDay Submission in the subject line of your email. In your email, include your name, city, and state so that I can announce them during the Live presentation of your submissions!
Photos need to be at least 300dpi resolution and no smaller than 450 x 450 pixels. Larger is better. I can always resize. Pictures need a nice border of surround so that they may present well in video form.
As I mentioned, submissions will be reviewed "LIVE" for my on-line radio talk show audience, which ranges between 3000 and 8000 listeners every Sunday afternoon. The video will be posted to YouTube, and a copy will remain as free soft advertising in my broadcast room until after the Valentines Holiday! There will be two copies made of the video. One with background music and one without. The broadcast room has music playing almost 24/7 so I use silent videos in the broadcast room. You Tube Fans get cranky when there's not music or background, so I make one for them as well, with sound! Please Join me in this wonderful soft marketing adventure!
Warmest Regards,Mona
****To review videos of previous events visit: www.youtube.com/mona77401 The Holiday Videos we produced for the Christmas Holiday Season of 2008 were a huge hit and did impact sales at websites in a very positive way! The submissions were so numerous that we produced Volume 1 and Volume 2 for this event!
To visit the home page of my on-line radio talk show The Jewelry Connection visit here: www.nowlive.com/mona77401
To visit the broadcast room visit here: www.nowlive.com/showid/63074 Slide the Open Audio bar to the far left upon entering the broadcast room. Hit F5 on your keyboard to reset the broadcast room if videos won't load from the media files. F5 usually fixes anything that isn't functioning properly for you! Click on the media tab at top left in the broadcast room to open a double panel of videos and pictures that are already viewable there!
Mark it on your calendars! The show will "GO LIVE" on January 18th at 12pm PST, 2pm CST, or 3pm EST depending on where you are in the US. In the Broadcast room of The Jewelry Connection - link listed above. You can watch and listen to the show without doing anything except showing up. If you want to participate with live text chat, you'll need a user id which takes less than 30 seconds, and can be acquired at www.nowlive.com/support It is also possible to phone into the show if you want to call in to comment, by clicking on the Call Show button and following the system instructions. Please remember to turn down your computer audio if you call in! Thanks!
This presentation is occuring on the deadline date for submissions. The finished video will be released during the following week and will appear at www.youtube.com/mona77401 It will be available in the broadcast room and at Youtube until after Valentine's Day. I'll hosting a review of the finished video in the broadcast room on January 25th, just before Dr. Gail Devoid starts her tutorial presentation.

The Calendar of Events for The Jewelry Connection

I've created a yahoo group called "The Jewelry Connection Now Live" to manage events scheduled for The Jewelry Connection - radio talk show for and about independent jewelry artisans! The location is here: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TJCNL/
I have to approve requests to join in order to keep the spammers out. Please pardon me for that! I initially want to leave this as an open group but that doesn't work.
There are rare emails out of this group. A couple a week. The calendar of events is open for you to review when you wish, but I also have special events set up so that reminder notices go out five or six days in advance of an event, and then again 24 hours before the event.
You're welcome to join this group if you want to stay updated on what's going to be going "LIVE" in the broadcast room and when!
Best to All!
Mona
Producer and Host of The Jewelry Connection

An Invitation - The Jewelry Connection Says Farewell to 2008 and Hello to 2009!

Wrapping up 2008 and Launching 2009 at TJC
Date:Sunday December 28, 2008
Show Time: 12pm PST, 2pm CST, 3pm EST
Type:Meeting Location: www.nowlive.com/showid/63074

You're invited to join The Jewelry Connection in wrapping up 2008 and find out what's coming in the New Year! Thankyou's and announcements. The broadcast room may be reached directly by cutting and pasting www.nowlive.com/showid/63074 into your browser window or clicking on the link above.
F5 on your keyboard is the reset button for the room to correct anything that isn't working properly(video playback or anything else). It completely resets the broadcast room for you. It doesn't effect it from my end!
Slide the open audio bar to the far left upon entering the broadcast room or after resetting with F5. This will correct distorted streaming sound feed!
Happy New Year to All!
Mona
Producer and Host of The Jewelry Connection

The Valentines Day Collaborative Project

The Holiday Christmas Jewelry Extravaganza video was a big hit so I'm planning to do it again for Valentine's Day.
You are invited to submit photos of Valentines Day romance themed jewelry for the new video. Submit up to five photos per person! If there are enough pictures, I'll produce more than one video. Make sure your website address is embedded on your picture in bold letters that do not encroach on the jewels.
Submission deadline is January 18. Release date for the video at Youtube is January 25th. This will allow for early exposure and allow for potential clients to hook up with those who have submitted work, order their Valentine's jewels and receive them in time for the big day! The video will be featured in the broadcast room of the Jewelry Connection. On January 18th the program will be devoted to announcing the video and a review of submissions will be done during the show.Minimum size on photos in jpg form must be at least 450 pixels. If they are larger, please don't resize. I prefer to do it myself in order to put jewels at their best advantage in video form.Looking forward to collaborating with you on this!
If you don't know how to add text to your photographs, send me the pics with your website and full name. I'll do it for you! No fees are involved in this collaborative project!
Send your submissions to mhair@pdq.net

Happy New Year!
Mona
Producer and Host of The Jewelry Connection at www.nowlive.com/mona77401

For the 2009 Calender of Events at TJC

I'm looking for independent jewelry artisans to present as featured guest artists at The Jewelry Connection for the 2009 Calendar of events! Live Shows present every Sunday afternoon at 12pm PST, 2pm CST, or 3pm EST depending on what part of the country you live in! I offer a script prior to the show for you to fill out and return to me! Contact me, send me pictures, return the script, and be there for your show! The interview may be conducted by telephone at the very least, or by webcam and headset with mic if you have a user id at www.nowlive.com!
To get a user id visit www.nowlive.com/support
To review the home page of TJC visit www.nowlive.com/mona77401
To visit the broadcast room go to www.nowlive.com/showid/63074

F5 is the reset button for the broadcast room and will fix any issues you are having with loading videos or with sound there.
The open audio slide bar needs to be moved all the way to the left to cure any looping sound.
Please contact me if you are interested in joining me for a spot as featured artist!
Happy Holidays to All!
Mona

What the Heck is Twitter? An answer for????

Imagine, building a network of people that you can share with instantaneously! Search for people with similar interests! Share comments, ideas, triumphs, failures, family news.
I recently signed up over at Twitter hoping to share news of my on-line radio talk show and bring new viewers/listeners inn to hear interviews and reviews of work with independent jewelry designers from around the globe.
After a couple of days of Twittering my head began to digest the ramifications of what I was observing there.
1. Yes, networking possiblities exist
2. Marketing possibilities...I don't know. I hate spam and delete delete delete regardless of it's venue of entry into my life. I prefer to seek out what I want. I despise being hammered continuously with people shouting buy here, buy here, buy here! Media hammers me enough already. A couple of promos per day I can tolerate and may even find interesting, but more than that and I believe I'll be inclined again to delete delete delete...and stop following. It's not always a numbers game. It's a matter of having something of value to offer, and helping seekers find what they are searching for...not pounding them with it until they run for cover.
3. Outside of commerce and it's dubious possibilities through this venue other ideas began to digest. What is this a symptom of? People from around the world twittering and sharing even subtle things in their lives...like I'm making coffee, I'm sick, my child is ill, I just got a paper cut, I'm making a new jewelry design, I'm blogging on how to be successful....the content runs on and on....some personal, some business related.

What does this mean?
Has the world become so productivity oriented that we, as people, have become lonely for human contact? Do we need interpersonal relationships with tweets that are missing in real time because we are so damned busy trying to make a living? Is our society so productivity oriented toward success, money, prestige, competition, appearance, pretention, having stuff, doing stuff, that we no longer have time to walk down the street and converse with the neighbors? What are the names of your neighbors? Not of the entire street! Just the ones to your left and your right?
How about getting together with friends for a dinner? Inviting folks over for a pot luck? Meeting with pals for Coffee and Brioche on a Saturday morning?
We are hungry for people....not just for sales. We want to talk about even the mundane with someone who will listen objectively, supportively, and reciprocate in kind.

I see Twitter as an avenue for sustaining those of us who are obsessed with success. To be successful requires 24 hour dedication and leaves no time for socializing. I have to actually work at it to find time to interact with friends and loved ones.
Working 16-20 hours per day leaves no life remaining to Be.
Twitter is a fast fix communication with some super fine people who have similar interests! It's a fix ... an injection of relationship, friendship, human interaction, into an otherwise lonely day.
Someday, if I ever become successful enough that I don't have to work so hard, I have dreams of moving back into a world where people do things outside of a studio, office, garage, where all of my hours of the day are consumed today. While I love what I do....I am lonely. Twitter makes me feel better and that's a good thing.

Adventures in Marketing for Independent Jewelry Artisans

In November of this year (2008) I had a brainstorm ...again! LOL I approached several independent jewelry artisans about creating a video of one of a kind wearable art devoted to the "Holiday Season". The response was overwhelming! The project moved from the development of one video to TWO videos and embraced the work of 33 independent jewelry artisans from across the US, Canada, and Portugal. Background music was provided by my dear friend Ed Rambeau and turned out very very nice as a first try at this type of collaboration! The videos provide a gentle and unpressured marketing experience through the home page of my on-line radio talk show and over at You Tube as well! You can visit all videos I've created for featured guest artists of the show at this link - The Videos
November 23rd I did a three hour show at the broadcast room where short bios were read on each designer, still shot pictures of their works were reviewed, holiday music was enjoyed, and we had drawings for prizes! It as a really fun show to do. I've had limited response from designers regarding success in this little marketing adventure as yet...it is still a bit early, but the response has been favorable with some artisans noting that traffic for their websites and their sales has improved!
Life is not easy for artisans who do one of a kind or limited editions of work. We cannot go to market and offer buyers thousands of pieces of the same work for resale. This is my attempt to help promote artists, get exposure for hand crafted work, and offer recognition of the importance of their work. Creating is a noble endeavor, especially when it is related to items that we will intimately embrace as worn ornamentation that is NOT MASS PRODUCED! Happy Holidays to all with lots of love, Mona of Mona Designs, Producer and Host of The Jewelry Connection

Videos and Live Broadcasting

Wow! It's been a while since I added anything to this site! It's been a very very busy year for me! In January of 2008 I began hosting a live on-line radio talk show at the link provided in the title of this blog! The broadcast is The Jewelry Connection at www.nowlive.com/mona77401 . I've been interviewing and promoting independent jewelry designers from across the US! Programs broadcast on Sunday afternoons at 12pm PST, 2pm CST, or 3pm EST depending on where you live. The range of mediums that the artists work in is amazing! Chain maille, polymer clay, french beaded floral work with jewelry application, fine beaded work, lampworked glass in jewelry design, fine metal and gemstone work...it runs the gamut in content! There's a pod caster there to replay previous broadcasts and the site is loaded with pictures videos, music files...I even have the good fortune to have a professional singer donating music for the website and I am delighted to have an opportunity to promote him there as well! Ed Rambeau, of www.edrambeau.com has been a tremendous contributor of musical entertainment for the program in the form of videos and MP3s. Ed's a veteran performer! As a singer, song writer, and actor, Ed has played broadway. Ed's been in the entertainment business for many years and is just as vibrant and shining today as ever. He released a new cd about 2 weeks ago and is almost finished with another one! He's also one of the warmest, friendliest, kindest, and most talented people that I have ever had the pleasure to get to know. Please visit his website! His list of cd's is quite impressive! A link to his fan club is there as well! He's the kind of person everyone is always very pleased to know. A genuinely fine man with an equally genuine talent!

It's been a great learning experience for me and a wonderful way to promote my peers in jewelry design! In the process of all of this broadcasting business I have discovered I have a talent for putting together some very nice video presentations by beginning with a lot of still shot photos, then panning and zooming the pictures to add "life" and motion to them! I'll post a few here so that you can get some idea of what I am talking about! These are some of the presentation videos that I created for guest artist for my live broadcasts! If you're an independent artist that produces one of kind inspired design work, I would love to interview you at the site! Email me and I'll tell you all about how to do it.

There are several things that prevent a solo artist from becoming successfull.

A few of those things are abscence of name recognition, inability to travel to shows, and prohibitively expensive advertising.

Several things about the process of doing these interviews aides in all of those problematic areas. First, the videos for the guest artists are posted at youtube.com in advance of the scheduled program to encourage visitors to the broadcast. The videos also provide long term soft advertising for the designer's websites because the point of sales web address is included in the credits at the end of the videos.

Second, the broadcast is audio archived to a podcaster that may be picked up and embedded any place that anyone might one to share the broadcasts with on personal website pages or anywhere else on the "net" that one might wish to place a podcaster. Those podcasters go Live during the Live broadcast, and then the broadcasts appear on the podcaster by date, as replayabe archives.

Third, the artist and the producer (me)promotes the upcoming program, notifying everyone he or she wishes to, about the upcoming live broadcasted interview. I also send out about 60-80 invitations for each broadcast to people that I already know want to attend these types of programs. I also announce the upcoming events at my blogs and other sites where I have a stream of public contact! So, in this brief nut shell description, you can see how this might promote fresh new traffic to an online designer's shop site, develop some name recongition, and develop a continuos soft sale advertising via continuous interest in the videos posted at youtube.com! You can visit all of the presentation videos at www.youtube.com/mona77401

The best part of all is this. Independent jewelry designers are fascinating people with fascinating creative minds. They pour their lives into producing inspired work that is very worthwhile of notice. Their inventive creativeness is a very fine expression of what is best in human beings.....to create, with contemplated, inspired, artistic expression. They make beauty...they create! They move society with inspiration, beauty, and entertainment. These are noble deeds and independent jewelry designers are not recognized nearly often enough! That's the primary reason why I launched the idea of an on-line radio talk show. The public deserves to meet and get to know who these talented people are and to discover what it means to create with vision, inspiration, and technical skill.

Wire Wrapped Floral Necklaces

Wire wrapping floral necklaces is a time consuming and humbling effort. Planning the design carefully with regard to color, texture, and weight pays off if some time is spent in the planning phase. This is true, particularly, if you are planning to work with fine metals such as Gold or Silver wire and gemstones, when waste and error can be costly! I recommend a book by M.T. Ryan titled, "Glamorous Beaded Jewelry". Instructionals in how to wire briolette shaped items such as glass or gemstones is very well presented here and while the projects in this style are very limited, the experience gained from those projects allow one to expand and develop the initial ideas into designs that are more personalized and more embellished! The necklace on view here is created with Sterling Silver, Moonstones, Amethysts, Cultured Pearls, and discs of Jade.

Working in Precious Metal Clay

Recently I have added PMC (Precious Metal Clay) to my repertoire of design work! Interestingly, working in Polymer Clay and lampworking hot glass has honed special skills sets that have readily transfered to work with this new form of expression in one of a kind, art quality, jewelry. With careful planning and selection of materials, it is possible to bring into reality those designs circling in my mind, trying to find a way out.
Natural gemstones have inclusions that cause them to behave very badly (cracking and exploding) in the high heat that is required to reduce PMC to pure fine metals of Silver and of Gold. With this in mind, turning to lab created stones is a natural step in bring nice quality faceted gemstones into play with PMC. Also, art glass and a wider variety of glass enamel work may be added to the palette of an artist to allow for a broader and more exciting enhancement of artistic self expression!
In this necklace, a stick of Oak, a fabulous dichroic art glass cabochon by Carolyn Relei, an Oriental Jasmine Leaf, and three lab created gemstones are used to create a pendant in Fine Silver with PMC3. The stick of Oak and Jasmine leaf were coated with PMC3 paste multiple times with a thorough drying between each layer, then fired in a kiln to burn out the organic materials. Once the organic materials have been burnt away, what is left is a Fine Silver (99.9: pure) .... highly elevated from what is available in the way of Sterling Components on the market, with artistic value, one of a kind embellishment, and much less tarnishing than found with Sterling Silver.

Leaves of Morning Glories from my garden made beautiful Fine Silver leaves. Lots of detail in strong veining and an elegant heart shape render enchanting components for jewelry design. The leaves are combined here as accents for color change Sapphires and Sterling Silver. Often, elements for design that can be used with PMC may be found as near as your doorstep or back yard! It is my feeling that when you open your eyes to the real world most near you, some part of that world will stroke a creative spark, offer a special artistic element, and offer what is an inspired work ( the best kind of work).







Using Textured plates above and below a layer of
PMC can deliver and interesting contrast that
adds excitement or at the very least more visual
interest to a piece of jewelry,such as a pendant.
Lab created Amethysts are used here in cabochon
and faceted ovals to a soothing color, and a round
faceted Cubic Zirconium brings additional texture
light refraction, and color to the overall composition.

Books
There are several resources available for
information about using PMC including
websites and really fine publications! I recommend:
1. "Creative Metal Clay Jewelry", by CeCe Wire
2. "Introduction to Precious Metal Clay", by Mary
Ann Devos
Websites that I have found valuable are:
1. Excellent resource for working PMC
http://www.pmc-conference.com/
2. A nice compilation of information and tutorials on how to use PMC in several different ways by a dear friend, Margaret Schindel!
www.squidoo.com/preciousmetalclay/

Ornamenting Polymer with Pearl Ex powdered pigments

As I develop a feel for the new polymer cuff bracelets
I am working on, more depth and color are developing.
The base of this bracelet was created by mixing black with green until I had a deep forest green color. The polymer was carefully mixed to a uniform color and rolled through a pasta machine at it's thickest setting. Next I rolled my leave roller stamper on a pad of jet black ink and imprinted the sheet of polymer with the leaf design.
After applying the sheet to the brass cuff base and molding polymer sheet to the shape of the cuff, I trimmed the edges with a sharp craft knife so that the polymer covers slightly over the edges of the cuff. Then gently stroked the edges with a gloved finger to create a subtle rounded edged effect. This creates a smooth comfortable finish. I was very careful to keep my fingers only in contact with the brass blank so that I didin't disturb the finely shaped edges . I had several colors of Pearl Ex powdered pigment set out for use and had preselected the colors before I began. Using a very fine, soft, eye shadow cosmetics brush, I stroked Pearl Ex pigments in different shades to produce a dynamic play of color in the foliage, while leaving the borders around the leaves their original deep green. As this was all Premo Sculpey polymer, I cured the bracelet in the oven at 275 degrees Farenheit for 30 minutes. Surface protection of several coats of "Future" have been applied to protect the beautiful colors and I had pre-plated the cuff with 24K Gold prior to starting the project. Each bracelet is a unique and exciting adventure. I hope this mini tutuorial is of some help! If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to email me!
Create something today! Hugs, Mona

Getting beautiful leaves from a press mold!

In the gathering process of my foray into polymer work, I have amassed a fair number of tools. Yes, I am a tool junkie. Always looking for leaf shapes, I have now accumulated a huge number of leaf cutters, and a small number of molds...you know...the large flexible vinyl sheets with attractive shapes that you are supposed to be able to press clay into, and get wonderful molded identicals of. Today I had a three step learning process that you will get a kick out of. I wish I had pictures to go with this, but am certain that when I share my experience, you will nod, smile, and/or laugh out loud....at right at me... yourself------ or both of us! I am still laughing. It is always such a rich pleasure when ingenuity wins over an obstacle.
I avoided those tray style press molds for months. I kept thinking, sure, conceptually the idea is great, but how am I going to get a lump or sheet of clay pressed into that wonderful leaf mold, get rid of the excess clay, and retrieve the clay from the mold that I am attempting to reproduce!
First, I rolled out a small sheet of clay...perhaps 3inches by 3 inches and layed it over the mold, pressed the clay into the mold, grabbed one edge and pulled the clay away from the leave mold and wow! The leaf is gorgeous...in the middle of that little lake of green clay. It has serrated edges, or ruffled edges, or lots of tiny curved edges. What the heck! Am I supposed to cut that with a craft knife...maybe..ok....I'll give it a go. A craft knife was not a good plan. Impossible to navigate all of the fine edged details, I got a less than satisfactory result and before I could even finish extracating my leaf, I switched over to a pair of scissors, picked up the leaf gently between my fingers, and attempted to cut my leaf out. This didn't work out either. Finger prints in the clay and still unable to negotiate all of those tiny curves and serrations with the scissors. I layed the whole mess down and had a major think.
Finally, I pressed the clay into the flexible mold: trimmed away the bulk of the excess around the edges with a craft knife, but never getting into the edge. Then, with a straight bladed craft knife, I held the flexible mold in my left hand and gently tented it so that without disturbing my molded leaf, I made the edges of the flexible tray bend ever so slightly away from the mold I was actually using! Then with a straight blade held on a flat plan, parallel with the surface of the mold, I carved the clay away from the edges of the mold precisely where the clay meets the edge of the mold. This worked perfectly and the resulting leaf was everything that I could have hoped for. As the mold is flexible (I keep reiterating this flexible part, cause if you try this with a rigid mold, I doubt you will have the same degree of success) I was able to very easily unmold the leaf, add some garnish of mica and pop it into the curing oven!
If you have been dodging some of those very elegant leaves and things because you had little confidence that anything lovely could happen with that type of mold, I hope this opens up new and exciting opportunities for expressing yourself!!! Thank you for visiting! ................Mona

Answer to Technical Questions on creating Polymer Cuff Bracelets

I received a few questions today from a jewelry designing peer regarding my previous post on polymer cuff bracelets.
The questions were:
Hey Mona, couple of questions for you on this (beautiful bracelets, BTW!)
first, did you place anything between the raw polymer and the cuff itself
before baking? To make sure it stays adhered? Second, the sponge you used,
what kind was it? I know most of my normal sponges have a very hard/stiff
texture unless they are wet down. Then I have sea sponges which are a little
softer to begin with, but a very uneven texture. So I'm curious as to the
texture of the sponge before you dipped it in the future.

The Answers Plus a Bit More/including at home Gold Plating for Cuff Interiors:
At the craft store I purchased a small bag of watercolor sponges. The bag contained 2 each of fine pore silk sponges, synthetic hydrophilic sponges, and coarse sea sponges. I used one of the fine pore silk sponges.
While I was curing the polymer I didn't use anything between the brass cuff and the polymer. After the polymer was cured and still hot, I took it directly from the oven to a dunk of cold water in a sink. This is supposed to make the colors more vibrant.
I haven't tried letting the polymer come to room temperature slowly, so cannot confirm this, but love the results I am getting, so will continue to manage the polymer with a cold dunking. After the polymer was cool and dry I removed it from the bracelet blank. With fine grit sand paper I cleaned the bracelet blank of any residue from curing, then rinsed it and wiped it dry.
Going back to my desk, I placed a very sheer coating of E6000 glue on the bracelet blank and also on the back of the polymer, then let both rest, separated for a few minutes, according to manufacturers instructions for the best and strongest bond. Finally I reapplied the polymer to the bracelet and sort of rolled it down onto the blank with my fingers from one end to the other with firm pressing strokes. This was very easily achieved.
Update on the finishing:
Ages ago I purchased a gold plating kit from Caswell Plating They are located online at caswellplating.com.
The kit is for 24K Gold plating. I sanded the inside of a brass bracelet blank to make sure it was good and clean, wiped the inside down with a soft rag and alcohol to make sure no fingerprint residue remained, and proceeded to try the kit this afternoon. What I got was a nice laydown of 24K Gold on the interior of the bracelet blank. I still need to buff the inside for a nice finish, but what I am looking at right now is pretty nice! This is the way I plan to finish all of my bracelets so that the brass bracelet blank won't leave green marks on the skin and I have a finish that will be long enduring and of beautiful. quality. You can see in the picture that the interior surface of the bracelet blank is a nice rosey gold in contrast with the exterior surface of brass.
When I bought the kits they looked so rudementary and unimpressive that I hadn't tried them yet, but with the new bracelets I am turning out with the polymer, I wanted to create a truly quality item and decided to drag out the plating kit and see if it really was worthwhile or just a hoax! The kit cost about 46 dollars and I bought the first one on ebay from this company, then later figured that the kit probably wouldn't coat very much metal, so even bought another one. I filled the cap from the plating solution full(it's a small cap) and had enough solution to plate the inside of 5 bracelets with a width of 2 inches, so the stuff really works, is economical, at least from my standpoint, and provides a practical solution for my desire to create a fine quality
finish on my designs without having to send stuff out for plating!!!!
Hope this has all been helpful for you!

Getting a Finer Finish on Polymer Cuff Bracelets

If you have read my first entry, you will see that my work is very diversified. Subjects will change depending on what type of work I am doing on any given day and sometimes more than one medium is working on the same day!
For this post I would like to share an experience I have had in trying to get a really fine finish on a wide polymer cuff bracelet.
Several weeks ago I purchased a large bulk of very wide blank brass cuff bracelets. These make fantastic bracelets when covered in custom blended or ornamented polymer. I made a couple in the past two days. Using "Future" liquid floor wax is pretty much a standard for getting a very durable protective sealant coat on polymer. The finish is very strong when matured and never yellows, lending to long enduring beautiful finish. Usually this is applied in mutiple layers with drying time between each coat. I was using a broad soft brush to apply the sealant to these new bangles and ran into all kinds of trouble getting a beautiful even finish! Mind you, this brush is very similar to what I use on all of my smaller polymer work with no difficulty at all! Here is the problem:
The bangle is large and oval. Future dries fast! By the time you are half way around the bracelet with even a large brush, your sealant is beginning to dry before you can finish your coat full around! This leaves uneven lines of demarkation where your first sealer went down and where your new sealer started, and if you try to go back and touch up, the situation becomes even worse. I was working very fast with my broad brush and still couldn't get my coat down fast enough to beat the drying time and distortion dilemma.
After an hour of putzing around trying to get my coat even and never achieving the beautiful finish that I was trying for, I finally dug out a bag of sponges from a drawer under my desk and chose the largest one that had a
fine, even, texture. Next I poured some future into a demitasse saucer(very small saucer) next to my work station, dipped in the sponged very slowly and dragged it against the edge of the saucer as I came away to remove any bubbles clinging to the sponge. This is the good part! With one smooth long stroke, the sponge applied a perfect even coat of sealant over the surface of the bracelet.. The layer of sealant was perfection. No bubbles, no running, and delivered a glass-like surface finish. I have eight hours of drying time on these babies but will post pictures tomorrow evening! The bracelets are very different in every way except for their basic shapes.
I achieved a very pretty mica shift on one of them and will hopefully be able to catch that with the right lighting so that you can see what mica shift is!
Thought for the day:
An artist does not create art. Art finds a soul willing to be used as a portal and spills forth. There aren't nearly enough volunteers!!!! Dream something, create something,.............anything! All things are possible with a willing heart and the help of a good friend. Will be back with pictures tomorrow! G'Night! ----------

M

Okay Here are the pics I promised!

Introducing Mona Designs

Welcome to Mona Designs..... Where color, texture, light, dimension, and mechanical composition evolve from moment to moment in an exciting and experimental way!

Most days you will find me in a pair of well worn jeans and a cotton t-shirt because they are don't flame up if hot glass pops onto them. Hair in a pony tail and a furrow of concentration between my brows, I concentrate on lots of small details and the safety aspects of my work.

An Introduction to My Multi-Media Approach:
The "Pear Corsage Brooch", seen above, is an excellent example of how I mix media to produce original wearable art. The leaves and flowers are a combination of Russian and Venetian beaded work. Tiny glass beads are worked with wire to produce floral components. The glass pears are a product of lampwork at my torch. Combined, these elements fulfilled the dream of a client residing in England.
The piece of work measured about 4 inches in height. The pear blossoms and leaves have an intriguing, slightly posable quality. This allows the wearer to adjust, to a minor degree, position of the components. A pin clasp is mounted at back, and high in the composition. This allows for balance and also for ease of use for the wearer. Contrast in color, texture, and dimension bring hot glass and beaded work together in a lovely and exciting way. I accept commissions for this type of work! It takes weeks to design and produce a piece of this type of work. The pear brooch sold by commission for two hundred and fifty dollars.

This particular design, "Kumquat Fantasy", is a combination of French and Venetian beaded work combined with Austrian Crystal elements. This piece now resides in Florida and was purchased by a world renown jewelry designer. Working in a monochromatic palette(same color family), the tension of excitement comes from use of different textures (or perceived textures) in glass, combined with faceted crystals, to satisfy the eye's need to find symmetry, texture, color, and dimension. Matte and shiny textures combined in shades of tangerine, outlines of iridescence, juxtaposed to matte textures, ....you get the idea by now I am sure! The eye demands to be entertained. When the eye perceives it's view as deficient in any aspect...one becomes intellectually bored and the design falls short of making a connection with the viewer. The work of a designer must entertain, in a complex multi-level way, regardless of the medium or the design fails.

Lampworking Intro:
I have been working hot glass for about three years now. I have a kiln and a dual gas (Oxygen/Propane) torch setup. Glasses I use are imported Italian glass primarily from the Moretti line of glass. I keep a small inventory of Bullseye glass as well for the special colors. Although I am self taught, I am well read in the field and have lots of hours at the torch invested in my experience! The four shells were a great accomplishement for me! They are all larger focal sized shells. Learning to work color, texture, and dimension into hot glass is much more difficult than working those elements into any other medium.

Introduction to Polymer Clay Work:
A couple of months ago I began to experiment with polymer clay as potential components for my design work! There are some artists in my jewelry designing group who do wonderful polymer work and those artisans stimulated my interest to the degree that I had to take the plunge! Small brooches seen here are created with foiled polymer, then ornamented with caviar and crackers on one. Gouda cheese, grapes, and bread ornament another. A large collection of pastries and sweets on display here are all being prepared to produce more "Faux Food" wearable art jewelry! All that you are viewing are completely created of polymer. The shield brooch, at left, is four inches in length. It is a joy and a pleasure to work with Polymer Clay. If you are not familiar with this particular medium try a Google search on it! Articles depicting use of this medium in designing jewelry are appearing in fine publications such as, "Lapidary Journal" and "Art Jewelry". Polymer is making it's mark on the timeline of jewelry history. You really want an opportunity to experience this!






















A link to my portfolio site is listed in the "About Me" section. There you can view many other designs in a wide range of mediums. I hope you find your visit stimulating as well as entertaining,!
Please fill free to leave comments or questions! Every effort will be made to give you the benefit of my experiences! Sincerely, Mona