Mountain Shadow Studio

Vintage Italian Bead stash

2012-02-07T10:07:00.002-07:00

The stash of vintage Italian beads can be viewed at my web site. Should you like any more information about the little German doll pieces please feel free to ask.

2012-02-07T09:12:00.006-07:00

The above photos show some of the new things I am currently working on. The first piece is my experiment with crazy quilt beading. I used one of the patterns from the book "Allison Aller's Crazy Quilting" as the base. In order to keep the piece from getting too busy I decided to go with some of my white opaque vintage Italian seed beads. The little porcelain doll figures are pieces that I made from molds taken from old porcelain doll parts from Germany. I modified the mold so that the dolls are flat on the back and have sew holes to attach them firmly to the background without glue. after I finished the seams and and attached my porcelain pieces I made strands of beaded flowers and leaves on a length of wire and couched the strands into place so the dolls seem to be lying in a bed of flowers. The lovely teal beads are also vintage Italian and you can find out more about them on my web site.
The following photos show how I am trying to use the images from vintage postcards that I had printed onto fabric. My plan is to use some mixed media along with embroidery and beads.

Fabric-Beads-Jewelry

2012-01-16T13:11:00.003-07:00

I recently purchased some wonderful silk neckties. The fabric is wonderful. I like fabric and beads and jewelry so decided to do a piece of jewelry combine everything. I made made a fabric sandwich with the silk, lightweight batting and a backing fabric. The fun part was embellishing the piece with some of my old stock Italian seed beads. I selected one of the several mixtures that I have and did a floral motif then followed some of the design and finished the beaded fabric part. I mounted the fabric onto a metal cuff bracelet and I am quite pleased with the results.
You can view the various mixtures of the old stock Italian beads on my website www.mountainshadowstudio.net
I am anxious to do more with the fabric beads and quilting in interesting ways.

Porcelain German Doll faces and flowers

2011-11-04T10:15:00.002-06:00

Yesterday Allison Aller e-mailed and told me about the article she wrote for the crazy quilt on line magazine and that she had used some of my porcelain flowers. I made lots of them and they are still a bit of an experiment. However I will get some more photos to post here on the blog. Should anyone need more information or have any questions please feel free to contact me either through the blog or e-mail smrouleau@rap.midco.net .
I have also been working with some German doll heads and bits and pieces that I got from a German source. Some of the pieces are wonderful and I am adapting them for crazy quilting and jewelry. I made molds of the front half of the piece then cast with porcelain clay and added a flat rim and sew holes. Some of them are posted on the blog just scroll down and keep scrolling a bit and you will see them. I really like the flapper.
I will look through my photo files and see what I have there and then take some more photos. One of these days I hope I will become more adept at blog posting.

B'sue's Sari Ribbon Blog Hop

2011-10-14T08:35:00.003-06:00

Somehow I did not push the right keys and did not get close ups of tue of my pieces onto the blog earlier.

Bsue's Sari Ribbon Blog hop

2011-10-14T08:33:00.001-06:00

Lady With hat

B'sue's Sari Ribbon Blog Hop

2011-10-14T07:21:00.002-06:00

I had many ideas written down in my sketch book but when I sat down at my workspace to make a piece for the blog the materials that we laid out from a previous session just seemed to speak to me. I started with a piece of metal screening ( the acutioneer at tne auction said it was copper screening and there was a roll of several fairly large pieces so I bought the stuff, cheap!!!) After cutting a rectangle from the screen I crimped back the raw edges, bent the screen to resemble a ruffle . The sari ribbon was ironed and cut to size to cover the top of the screen. I used Fabri-Tac to adhere the fabric to the screen. The fun part was using beading thread and embroidering the piece with the beads. I have not completed the piece and hope you can see where I am going with this. I plan to continue the fringe along the bottom edge, fold back the two ends, attach a finding them a neck chain that will join the focal piece to the chain or such. I think this piece will be lovely worn just at the top of say a tee shirt type of top.
This is my first time doind this sort of blog hop and I will spare you the horrible details of my limited computer skills. Enjoy the blogs and I hope to continue posting things that i have made using B'sue's lovely goodies.

B'sue's Sari Ribbon Blog Hop

2011-10-14T07:17:00.002-06:00

A few months ago B'sue sent me a few pieces with interesting finishes and the colors in this piece perfectly matched. I ironed the ribbon then added fabric stiffner to form a sort of rosette around the flat metal piece. I think this would look great on a blazer this fall as the colors in the piece echo some of the lovely colors on the leaves this time of year.

B'sue's Sari Ribbon Blog Hop

2011-10-14T07:12:00.002-06:00

I love dolls and dressing dolls so sari ribbon and my porcelain face made from antique dolls was a great jumping off point for me. I ironed the ribbon then glued the ribbon to the face to resemble a hat. The hat is finished with embroideded seed beads. I am not sure about the neck details and I am also not sure it . I want to color the face or not. Color would make it easier to photograph. I will think about it as there so many creative options.

B'sue's Sari Ribbon Blog Hop

2011-10-14T07:08:00.002-06:00

to close this is a photo of the group of pieces I mad for the hop. I think you can see where I am going with them and I look forward to posting the completed pieces and others with the list of ideas I have for using sari Ribbon in jewelry.

B'sue's Sari Ribbon Blog Hop

2011-10-14T06:29:00.002-06:00

The list is in the following post. Doing this sort of backwards is still a bit awkward for me. At least I got up early at 5:30am to get this done and will post the photos.

B'sue's Sari Ribbon Blog Hop

2011-10-14T05:41:00.002-06:00

The following is the Blog Hop List
Vickie Wells
http://www.Jewelrybyvee.blogspot.com

Susan Kennedy
http://.suebeadsblogspot.com

Michelle Mach
http://www.michellemach.com/blog/

Michelle Lee Houdy
htt.://fireflyvisions.blogspot.com/

Ruth Crawford
http://www.home-with-ruth.blogspot.com

Hilary Frye, Frye Style
http://fryestyle.blogspot.com/

Diana P.
http://www.sugurbangirlstudio.com

Brenda Sue Landsdowne
http://www.bsueboutiques.typepad.com/

Elizabeth Owens Day
http://www.clarityofpurplesage.blogspot.com

Connie Rios-Relyea
http://www.JewelsDesignsCreativeCorner.wordpress.com/

Jennifer Justman
http://soulsfiredesigns.blogspot.com/

Deb Davis
http://www.naturaltreasuresbydeb.blogspot.com/

Beanzie
http://www.thevintageheartcharmbracelets.com/the-vintage-heart-charm-b/

Cathie Carroll
http://www.cathiecarroll.com/

Rosemary Cowit
http://www.gemrosedesigns.blogspot.com

Georgine Lockwood
http://sylvanvintagedesigns.wordpress.com/

Cathy Buckley
http://cathybuckleycatsmeow.blogspot.com

Harry /wood
http://www.oscarcrow.blogsp0t.com

Sonya Stille

http://dreaminofbeads.blogspot.com

Mary Deis
http://mdeis.blogspot.com/

Heather Goldsmith
http://asibeadit.blogspot.com/

Susan Rouleau
http://mountainshadowstudio.blogspot.com

Terry Matusyk
http://pinkchapeau.wordpress.com

Pam Chesboro
http://afortunatesoul.blogspot.com/

Mary Sahnnon Hicks
http://uptwnsh-fallingtothesky.blogspot.com

Janice Everett
http://JLynnJewels.blogspot.com

Davinia
http://www.daviniadesign.com

Kristina Johansson, Maneki
http://wildrosesandblackberries.blogspot.com

Kirs Binsfeld
http://www.cherishdesigns.wordpress.com

Mandy
http://www.beadsborbrains.blogspot.com

Charlene
http://thebeaddreamer.com/blog//

Catherine Jeltes
http://www.galleryzooart.com

Jackie
http://kydojewellery.blogspot.com

Sharon Palac
http://www.sharonsjewelrygarden.blogspot.com

Deb Beechy
http://beetique56.blogspot.com/

Jean Yates
http://prettykittydogmoonjewelry.blogspot.com/

Patrice Pfeiffer
http://treesatreasure.blogspot.com/

Doris Midkiff
http://wondrousstrangedesigns.blogspot.com/

Lynn Perry Bennett
http://designsbylynnea.blogspot.com

Linzi Alford
http://www.magpieintheskyspoilheaptales.blogspot.com

Deb
http://greenshoot.blogspot.com/

Cynthia Wainscott
http://www.exoticjewelry.blogspot.com

Marie- Noel Voyer-Cramp
http://skyjewels.blogspot.com

Alice Craddick
http://alicesbeadsandbaubles.blogspot.com

B'sue Boutiques Creative Group
http://www.flickr.com/groups/bsueboutiques/

New Jewelry/ porcelain focal

2011-08-03T08:39:00.002-06:00

This week I made a new piece of jewelry using one of my porcelain "pouches " that B"Sue's Boutiques carries.. This charming little piece is a bit over 1" square and the little pocket neede to be filled with flowers or other little goodies. I decided to do this one with flowers and vines meandering up the chain and training down over the front. The lovely tiny pink trumpet shaped flowers are also from B"Sue's The small dragon fly at he bottom right is a final touch of whimsey.

Jewelry porcelain and beading

2011-07-27T09:00:00.006-06:00

I just finished this necklace. A while back I mad one using different colors. B'Sue's Boutiques carries the porcelain pieces with the pocket on the front. Honeysuckle pink is sort of "the" color of the day so I decided to really go with that. The bottom of the porcelain piece did not have any holes and I wanted to embellish that area so I glued on a plated finding with E-6000. I had a few other bits and pieces on my bench from a previous bit of work so I incorporated them too. The flowers are very simple to make and one does not have to be and experienced beader to get great results.
The middle photo shows a work in progress. When I took this china painted piece out of the kiln I was not sure I liked how it turned out but finally I came up with a plan and I think I will be able to make a nice finished piece.
The last photo is a piece that I made a few years ago and I have included it to show the variety of things I have done with this porcelain piece. Please e-mail me with any questions.

Porcelain German doll pieces

2011-07-27T08:47:00.005-06:00

I love dolls, I love jewelry, I love porcelain, and also art quilting and crazy quilting. The result is that I made some molds from a few of the German doll bits and pieces. These are from the first batch and a few need new molds. I am going to use no-fired finishes on many of them. I wil use some for jewelry using a sorts of collaged technique where the doll piece will be surrounded by beads flowers etc. This idea will probably work well as a neck piece or brooch. I can see some of the pieces on a bit of crazy quiting surrounded by delicate embroidery and lush ribbon embroidery. Many of the pieces have holes for attaching to a background. The area of porcelain on which the doll lies could be painted to blend into the background.

Porceain and non-fired finishes

2011-07-27T08:39:00.002-06:00

The fired , glazed and china painted finishes on porcelain are lovely. Sometimes need a piece right away and do not have enough pieces to justify a firing in the kiln. The options for non-fired finishes are endless and the results are excellent. There are lots and lots of acrylic paints, pearl powders, glitters, micro-beads and varnishes that it is hard to choose what to use. The photo shows tryee of my porcelain heads with a sort of copper metallic anf a bit of green accent. I used a product similar to the Guilders Paste carried by B'Sue's Boutiques. It is really nifty stuff. The metal finish was sealed with an acrylic gloss varnish. In the future I think I will try a satin of semigloss to give a more aged effect.

Jewelry-Porcelain Flower

2011-07-27T08:33:00.002-06:00

I want to use porcelain flowers in some of my work so I am experimenting with using molds and hand sculpting. This is one of the molded flowers. I am going to finish it with non fired finishes.

Jewelry- porcelain pieces

2011-07-27T08:26:00.002-06:00

I have been trying to get the correct size of porcelain piece to fit into a particular size bezel.. The challenge was to compensate for the shrinkage of the porcelain when fired. After a trial run of making blanks of several sizes I have the cutter that will work very well. I am trying to make the pieces with tiny doll heads from my collection of German doll bits and pieces. The photo shows the wet pieces before drying, cleaning and firing.

Jewelry embellishment of metal findings

2011-07-27T08:19:00.003-06:00

I have a rather large stash of metal stampings and I finally found a way to embellish the rather plain flat pieces. I wanted to get a sort of enameled look. Using only thick acrylic gloss varnish paint and glitter I got these results. Not bad for the first try.

Jewelry technique

2011-07-27T08:04:00.002-06:00

I have been experimenting wit some of my filagree findings and trying tofind a way to do a sort of faux plique a jour. This heart turned out rather well and the glitter and varnish fills the one open areas .

Art Doll

2011-07-20T08:28:00.003-06:00

A few years ago I made this fully dressed and embellished gypsy doll. Each item of clothing is a piece of art to wear. Of course she has lots of jewelry. I raided my stash of buttons and bits and pieces of costume jewelry to find just the right accessory. The topmost pin on her blouse is a single Miriam Haskell earring. She is a bit over 20" tall and was great fun to make.

Art Quilt

2011-07-16T19:30:00.002-06:00

The Brush Gallery in Lowell,MA accepted this art quilt to hang in their gallery during Art Quilt Lowell 2011. This year's theme is the sea. The image in the center of the quilt was taken from a glass plate negative done by Nettie Clark, a New England photographer in the 1890's. I purchased some of her glass plate negatives some years ago. I scanned the black and white negative into my computer and with the scanner the negative was then turned into a positive. I did some adjusting of the negative using Adobe Photoshop. The image was completed using delicate digital painting techniques. The finished image was sent to Spoonflower for printing. Now what was a 4x5 image is now aprox 16"x20".
I added a four inch irregularly appliqued border using mostly hand dyes and batiks to bring the image forward and to combine the past and the present. The there is a 1/2" border of metallic Fairy Frost fabric then the dark final border. I thought this really ties the past to the present and I am further pleased that the original photograph was a female.

Welcome to my studio

2011-07-15T14:38:00.005-06:00

My studio is what used to be a small horse barn. Needless to say I love it. It is indeed a place where I work and I have the materials I might be using close at hand

Jewelry Design for B'Sue's five and dime challenge

2011-07-15T14:19:00.004-06:00

Now that B'Sue Boutiques is carrying some of my porcelain focal pieces I decided to make some samples using the pieces in the five and dime challenge. I knew that I wanted to use one of the glazed face pieces as the focal point and it was to be a neck piece. I found a nifty vintage brass stamping all ready to use chain and all. I am sure that any stamping or base with lots of holes would work equally well. I used just a small amount of glue to hold the face in place as I wired it into place. This piece did not have holes to use for attaching but I was still able to wire it into palace easily. The faces B'Sue has already have several holes to use for attaching or adding embellishments. The base stamping is sort of triangular so I wired some slightly cup shaped Russian finish filigree stampings into place. The three stampings were perfect places to attach the three flat backed dusty pink roses. I went into my stash of bits and pieces of vintage scrap and found a couple of lovely pieces to put around the face and wired each piece onto the base. Now the fun part. I got out my seed beads and used the fine wire to "sew" the lacy beading around the face and pull the whole piece together so it would not look like a hodgepodge of bits and pieces. I really enjoyed making this piece.
I have other pieces further down on this blog so you can just continue to scroll beyond the recent entries and see some of my earlier pieces. Some of the focal pieces are for sale via www.bsuebotiques.com and some are available from my website www.mountainshadowstudio.net

2011-07-15T13:52:00.002-06:00

Above is the second piece is a brooch I made for B'Sue's Boutiques five and dime challenge. I started with a vintage metal stamping that was half of a belt buckle. I used one of my porcelain face pieces. Then I uses wire and seed beads to embellish around the edge. It still needed a bit more so I wired some of B'Sue's delicate pink flowers and finished the piece off with a few more goodies from my stash.

2011-07-15T13:45:00.002-06:00

This is the third piece I made for B'Sue Boutiques five and dime challenge. I started with a rose colored metal bracelet blank and one of my glazed porcelain faces which are available from B'Sue.
I glued the face onto the bracelet and centered it into the area that I had previously punched holes. I used wire and seed beads to surround the face with beads and hold the face in place. I finished the piece by adding some flat backed acrylic roses and some of the lovely tiny pink acrylic flowers also from B'Sue's. Wearing this piece will be great fun.

2011-07-15T13:30:00.002-06:00

As I have mentioned in a couple of the above postings B'Sue Botiques offers a few of my porcelain focal pieces. Presently the pieces she has are glazed and china painted therefore the color selections are limited. I decided to experiment with fired but unglazed pieces and try products similar to B'Sues to see if I could achieve a satisfactory finish and thus customize each piece. I painted the background with a couple of coats of irrid. acrylic finish. This stuff can also be added to any other acrylic color. The flower is painted with Lumire acrylic paints. The gold trim is also an acrylic paint. I think the results are equal in looks to the glazed pieces. B'Sue has a few of the glazed and painted pieces in similar color. the pendant only has one hole so I glued a long narrow metal stamping near the top of the piece so I would have some holes to used as I added the beaded finishing. Should you like to see more of my porcelain pieces and what I have done with them please just continue to scroll down and you will find a nice variety of examples. I have some pieces for sale on my website www.mountainshadowstudio.net

Recent Jewelry Design

2011-07-15T13:20:00.003-06:00

I had this lovely wide brass cuff the needed embellishing. A few holes were punched and I attached the heart stamping that is available from www.bsuebotiques.com . I colored the ribbon inside the heart wit a product similar to Guilders Paste. This is the first time I have colored any of my metal findings. This could get addictive! Using the same holes I use to wire the heart onto the cuff wired on the maroon glass flowers. to finish the piece off I glued the vintage Swarovski crystal cup chain. This piece went together quite quickly and was fun to make and I it will be fun to wear.

Jewelry, my latest designs

2011-07-15T12:58:00.002-06:00

I love getting goodies from B'Sue Botiques. The above can either be a pendant or a brooch. I started with one of B'Sue's neckpeice blanks that has lots of holes. I attached a pair of earrings that I rescued from a costume jewelry Christmas Tree. Just about everything is wired onto the base. I sort of embroider with wire. I could not resist adding the dangles. The blank dangles just seemed naked so I wired on the tiny pearls.

2011-03-09T12:44:00.014-07:00

A few years ago I started making porcelain focal pieces that I could build a piece of jewelry around using wire, beads and whatever interesting things from my stash that struck my fancy. The above pictures show how I have used pendants, faces beads etc. I have made my own molds and created lots of fun pieces. I work in porcelain and fire it to a cone 10 for the maximum strength then follow with glaze firings then I color using china painting (overglaze techniques) to finish the piece. Sometimes I add a final firing with gold trim. I also make porcelain buttons. Just scroll down through the previous posts and there are pictures of some of my buttons.

2011-03-09T12:40:00.004-07:00

Lately I have been doing "art doll" jewelry with all sorts of bits and pieces of scrap and stuff from my stash of metal goodies I got from a supplier in Providence ,RI.

2011-03-09T12:34:00.003-07:00

This really over the top set of necklace and ear rings was made with bottle caps that I sprayed with metallic spray paint for cars. I glued on the flat back glass stones then beaded embellishments and connected the pieces. Made a set in red for a dear friend and we both wore the sets to dinner at a costume jewelry regional convention in Iowa.

Jewelry ,beaded

2011-03-09T12:25:00.006-07:00

Over the years I have made lots of interesting jewelry and I have grouped some of the different styles. The above photos are some of the beaded jewelry mounted on a base that has lots of holes and is almost embroidery using wire.

Fabric and Jewelry

2010-11-15T10:43:00.002-07:00

While on the topic of fabric art jewelry I remembered that I had combined some of the large enameled pieces of vintage costume jewelry with fabric. The enameled pins are rather heavy and would be difficult to wear on many garments. In addition to being heavy sometimes the pin can be rough on fabrics. I decided the I wanted to wear these old pieces and made a pendant onto which I attached the pin. I covered an oval piece of "timtex" (really heavy pellon type product)with a batik fabric that blended well with the pin. Then I beaded around the edge and added an old chain to complete the necklace. Another feature is that the pin can be attached in such a way that it will not come out therefore it will not come off and get lost. The pin with the bird has a necklace that I partially beaded with colors to compliment the pin. It is always interesting to see how various interests can crossover.

2010-11-14T13:41:00.006-07:00

These are a few photos of my booth at the Black Hills Quilt Show last June. Some of my images on fabric have bee hung up for display.

Vintage Photos on Fabric for Art Quilting

2010-11-14T13:16:00.006-07:00

I have collected lots of lovely vintage glass plate negatives and film negatives. I have a scanner that can turn the negatives into positives. The first images I worked with were images of the Black Hills of SD taken in the 1920's. I selected about a half dozed of the negatives and worked with them via photoshop and then had the fabric printed at Spoonflower. This first series is black and white. The images on the fabric can be colored lightly with crayon and heat set. The resulting subtle coloring brings to mind the old hand tinted photos. I experimented with one image to see how well I could intergrate it into the art quilt. The image I chose is one of the old Sylvan Lake Lodge in Custer State Park, SD. The above photo shows the first sample. There a couple of other photos that show some of the varieyt of image and size that I have been experimenting with.

Fabric jewelry

2010-11-14T12:51:00.010-07:00

The above photos are of some of my fabric bead necklaces. The black beaded necklace was done with a piece of black fabric from Sew Batik and I just put the beads on the dots which formed the pattern on the fabric. some of the others were done with various batik fabrics and alternated with large beads that complimented the fabrics. There are a couple that I used bead caps sewn to the openings on each end of the bead.
The turquoise necklace is interspersed with lampworked beads. I found the string of beads at my favorite bead store in Bismarck, ND. I did not want to use all of the beads on one piece and I decided to try using them with the fabric beads. Several times I have been asked it the necklace was heavy. The person asking the question is amazed when they find out that the big beads are fabric. One of the sort of glitzy beaded necklaces has a layer of angelina fibers over the fabric before the beading. I hope that these examples inspire some of you to come up with your own spin on fabric and jewelry.

Celluloid Belt Buckle Now a Necklace

2010-08-20T19:37:00.003-06:00

I have a lovely celluloid sash closure in perfect condition. It is too good to keep hidden away and even with its age it looks quite modern. All I needed to do was attach it to a chain and make a necklace. I like to incorporate my neck chain to the focal piece so I added just a hint of yellow and green beads where I attached the chain to the celluloid piece. There is no damage whatsoever to the vintage piece. The following posts describe a few different things I have done with creating unique jewelry designs.

Bits and Pieces Necklace

2010-08-20T19:28:00.003-06:00

I came across one delightful little white bead with tiny added embellishments. It is in a style of which I am very fond. I just had to do something with it so I used an old metal stamping bow pin that no longer had the pin and added the precious bead and some dangles to complete the necklace. Some times it can be the smallest of things that will be the catalyst for a finished piece.

2010-08-20T19:20:00.002-06:00

I have fun with costume jewelry and I sometimes incorporate some of my own hand made porcelain pieces into my art work. This piece has a porcelain head I made from a mold of a figurine. I wired the head onto half of a metal dress buckle and added beaded leaves and flowers around the head. I added the dangling white beads to tie everything together. The pin back is wired onto the back.

A "jewel" of an Art Doll Pin

2010-08-20T19:06:00.002-06:00

I have also been making little art doll jewelry pins. I cannot seem to discard any broken piece of jewelry. I am an avid vintage costume jewelry collector and have a rather nice stash of old and damaged bits and pieces in addition to my really nice costume jewelry. This pin started out with the head that I think was an earring. I wired it to a nice large round finding to give me the means to attach the head to the body which was another damaged pin. She has Swaroviski cup chain for legs. The cup chain is new old stock that I got by the roll at an auction last year. I used wire for all the attachments so as not to damage any of the pieces in any further way. I think this is a wonderful way to recycle old bits and pieces. I call these gals "Darling Divas". I never break up a piece of costume jewelry when I do a remake or makeover. Also if it is an undamaged piece such as a stamping or say dress clip I attach the embellishments in such a way that the original piece is not damaged and could be removed.

Assemblage Art Doll Pins

2010-08-20T18:59:00.002-06:00

I have been creating a few new things for the past week or so and thought I would share some of my new jewelry projects. I have lots of metal stampings and scrap jewelry bits and pieces and also some new goodies. The above piece was made with mostly all metal stampings. I have a small hole punch to make neat and tidy holes where I need them. Everything on this little pin is wired together. I used a pearl bead from my stash for the head. Once I got started I saw dolls made out of all sorts of things as the above photos show.

Artist Made and Designed Jewelry

2010-08-09T08:52:00.003-06:00

This is another one of my creations using one of the many porcelain focal pieces that I design and make. This piece had the holes made for the attachments. The piece is completed with new and vintage beads and dangles. I have made several of these pieces and one is now available on my web site. www.mountainshadowstudio.net

One of a kind jewelry/ porcelain and vintage elements

2010-08-06T08:59:00.006-06:00

This necklace was made using one of my custom made porcelain focal pieces as the base to build the piece. I have not used holes on this porcelain piece rather I wired a sort of cage to make the loops for attaching beads and the loops to hang the piece. the rest of the loops make up the setting. After I had decided that this was the piece of porcelain I wanted to work on I selected a damaged vintage dress clip to use a an element to join the pendant to the necklace. I have already worn this a few times. When I made the porcelain piece I made several to finish up in other colors. This is just one way that I use my odds and ends from my costume jewelry collection.

vintage costume jewelry makeovers

2010-08-06T08:51:00.002-06:00

I have been having a great time doing make overs of vintage costume jewelry. The pin in the above photo shows a makeover of a vintage metal pin. In this instance there was nothing damages on the pin but I thought a makeover would perk it up a bit. Without doing any damage to the pin I added acrylic flowers, glass beads and wired leaves. I always try to leave the original base the same as I found it and just add goodies.

Fun Fabulous Fabric Beads

2010-08-05T08:17:00.004-06:00

Over the last year or so I have been experimenting with fabric beads. The ones I like the best are the round ones as they can be embellished with beads , embroidery or both. They are fairly quick to make and I can design them to perk up any outfit.
Almost any fabric will work and I usually make a couple of sample beads to see how the bead will work out. I have also found that charm packs are great because of the coordinating of the prints and colors can give lovely variety to a necklace.
The necklace can be all fabric beads but I often like to use vintage beads from broken necklaces or any other source for beads. I am a costume jewelry collector and while gathering up a nice collection I also have a good stash of scrap pieces that I have used in fabric beads, remakes of vintage pieces , and additions to my hand crafted porcelain focal pieces for jewelry.
Today I have rambled about the soft beads and in future days will post about my other creations. I have published a pattern using the fabric beads. Please check my website.

2010-07-06T14:56:00.000-06:00

One of my new buttons.

2010-07-06T14:43:00.002-06:00

Chocolate is always good so why not have a button and have chocolate all the time!!

Entering Cyberspace

2010-07-06T14:22:00.002-06:00

Finally I am back to blogging after a rather long delay. I have opened my website www.mountainshadowstudio.net I have some very interesting porcelain buttons and many more styles and colors to add. I have a few more categories to add to the site. I will have my porcelain focal pieces for jewelry designing.
Vintages images taken from the original negative and printed onto fabric will be a new offering and posted the weeks ahead. Plus I will have goodies for crazy quilters.
I have had a grand time designing my things and the computer stuff is finally falling into place.

Landscape in progress

2008-05-28T12:09:00.002-06:00

This is a work in progress that I am just getting around to finishing. It was started in a class taught by Sharon Malec at the 2007 Badland Quilters Guild Retreat held in Dickinson, ND.

Crazy Quilt block

2008-05-28T08:04:00.003-06:00

I am working with one of the larger advertising lady prints that I hand tinted. The block is strip pieced and embellished with machine stitches. I am planning on some silk ribbon embroidery and perhaps some beading as well.

Pendants

2008-05-26T07:00:00.001-06:00

I have been working on a few new pendant designs....

Mermaid tails

2008-05-24T07:00:00.004-06:00

A quilting friend saw some of my beads and thought they looked like mermaid tails and asked if I could create a few just for her.....

Beaded Crazy Quilt

2008-05-21T12:08:00.002-06:00

Last fall while up visiting my daughter, Amy and her family, I joined in on the bead embroidery class she was teaching at the Bismarck Quiltfest. I am still putting on the finishing touches. The block is construced with all silk fabric and it is loaded with beads...

More finished necklaces...

2008-05-14T09:00:00.001-06:00

Some days when creativity hits it is oh so good...

Porcelain Faces

2008-05-09T09:00:00.000-06:00

I have been experimenting with various porcelain faces, paint in the details, leaving white and various glazes.
I don't have these up on Etsy quite yet, but if you are interested in either face let me know. They are $10 each plus $2 for shipping.

Latest Quilts

2008-05-05T12:26:00.003-06:00

Here are two quilts I recently finished up. The one on the right was from a Debbie Bowles class on a pieced border technique. The quilt on the left started out as an art quilt group challenge

You begin with striped pieced background and then cut out circles and move them around. I took it a step further with free motion embroidery around each circle and used some of the built in embroidery stitches from my machine.

I also added bits of Angelina as well as beads to balance out the design and add a bit of shine.

Lastest Work

2008-04-29T16:00:00.002-06:00

I have been experimenting with a few new porcelain pendants and creating some finished necklaces

Porcelain Jewelry

2008-04-22T07:29:00.006-06:00

I have been creating my own jewelry for years. And a few years ago I combined my love of jewelry making with my knowledge of porcelain (from years of making dolls) and started creating my own beads and pendants to fit my jewelry style.

This porcelain pendant is further embellished with wire strung seed beads, twisted into flowers and leaves.

This pendant has bits of fused glass...

Sorry for the fuzzy photo, but this shows how to use the Porcelain Pouch Pendants that I have for sale in my Etsy Shop.

The Pouch is filled with beaded wire twisted into flowers.

Postcard

2007-07-08T14:50:00.000-06:00

This is the postcard that I made for the Art-2 Mail swap. Again I used the hot glue for the main embellishment.

Daughter's handsome cat "Borus".

2007-07-08T13:32:00.000-06:00

Too cute!!!

ATC

2007-07-08T09:54:00.000-06:00

This is an ATC that I made for my daughter's birthday. The embellishment was made with hot glue.

Beaded Crazy Quilt Postcard

2007-01-31T10:23:00.000-07:00

Beaded Crazy Quilt postcard