Challenge Aftermath

 wow... alright, the toolbox challenge was not only fun but very productive :)  I am truly impressed by what was created out of this :D

I'm going to be posting a gallery here on my blog where all the pieces made for this challenge will be posted, along with the links to the blogs. Anyone who wants to take up this challenge, even now that the hop is over with, is welcome to create something and send me a link to their work, and I'll include it in the gallery.

There were four no shows for the hop... Shaiha let me know ahead of time that she was having camera troubles and would post as soon as she could.  The other three, I've since heard from two, one of which posted a day late and the other forget to hit post before she left on vacation... she'll have hers up in July when she gets back home ;)  However, we also picked up an extra participant, Toltec Jewels who blew me away by joining up, finishing, photographing and posting all on the day of the hop :)

All in all it was a success and I WILL be hosting another one. Part of me wants to do it RIGHT NOW  lol.. but I think we'll wait until the fall ;) However, in the mean time, as I said, you're welcome to take up the challenge again and send me a link to your finished piece for the Challenge Gallery, and gee, if enough people are interested, I will certainly host another hop sooner ;)

At the moment however, we've come to the little surprise I sprung on my hop day post. I didn't tell any of the participants who signed up, or mentioned anything about it before signing any one up. I had a little pile of goodies for one lucky participant who finished the challenge and got their blog post up on time... so all of those who had their blogs posted on Saturday ( or let me know ahead of time about problems) were entered into a drawing.

Sarah  aka Poodledo , you're the lucky one :D  Send me your address through email or facebook and I'll mail these out to you :)

 A mix of Czech glass, porcelain & glass, with four crackled faceted agate rounds, and two vintage foil lined glass rounds.

Remember, the Chaos Challenge mini blog hop & reveal is June 30th :)  For those interested, I'll be posting sign ups for round two of that shortly, so keep an eye out ;)

~ Skye

ToolBox Challenge

So, welcome to my first jewelry challenge slash blog hop :D 

This was an open challenge and invitation to all,  to reach outside of their norm... and I saw an early pic of one of the pieces so I know just how good that can be... jaw dropping amazing.

The challenge was to take a piece of 'his' world and use it 'ours'...raid the toolbox, tackle box or hardware store and use something that you found to make some jewelry (tools and fishing line don't count since we use them all the time anyhow ;) lol)

I WAS going to do a Father's Day challenge to make a piece of jewelry for men... because I suck a making jewelry for men and I know a lot of others have that trouble too....BUT...

.......I suck a making jewelry for men and I know a lot of others have that trouble too ;) I didn't give a lot of design and work time for this challenge, issuing it towards the end of May, so I didn't want something TOO hard, wanting to go with more  quick and fun :)

I had plans for several different pieces.

I procrastinated as usual.

I finally chose what piece to start with...

this is my piece of  'his stuff'.

 A piece of brass hardware for a drawer... knob not included ;)

I found a bunch of cool brass pieces along similar lines a year or so ago, and they've just been shifted from drawer to drawer ever since. Figured this was the perfect chance to use at least one of them.

When I picked this out of the 'bin o' brass', I immediately thought it would be awesome bent into a curve and made into a bracelet.

But... when I hauled it out for this project, I saw a small bib-style necklace instead...

..So I procrastinated some more, idly picking through beads and findings, searching for what would be 'right' for it.

Inspiration cemented itself when I discovered one odd-man-out Czech Glass cat bead. All the other beads formed pairs except one that had a bit of red in him... that went nicely with my brass :)

Once I had it all put together and was trying to decide on the clasp....  I suddenly got hit by the urge to make it a bracelet after all... SO, I bent the brass and tada!!  A wrap bracelet :)

Kitty-Cat Love

There is a red glass heart with a black Czech  glass dangle on the left side, and a black glass heart with a red Czech glass dangle on the right.

The wrap is red and black spider web lace that I've braided , then added a piece of red faux suede that had been strung with a few black seed beads.

You'll notice there are no other pieces here... just the one.

The combination of procrastination and lack of final inspiration ( tons of ideas and supplies, though), delayed me on them... but I'd planned on at least doing one more small piece this afternoon. Crunch time designs seem to work not too badly for me, especially earrings.. and since that was what I was planning on...

.. but alas... 'twas not to be :(

While at work I had a 'duh' moment that left my fingers tips not in the mood to create. It's midnight now and they're feeling better, but it's time to type and post now. For those who want to know what happened, lets just say metal that has been heated to 375 degrees all day long should never come into contact with bare skin. Before you get worried, I should like to say that I've been doing this for far too long, and burnt myself far too many times that I now barely even wince.. and my fingers didn't even blister... and they should have, trust me... lol But nope...they were just a bit tender for a while. At the moment, aside from still having a slightly 'dull' feeling to them, they're fine.. no sign of them having grabbed a hot metal door. Aren't I lucky? lol

And don't think that my procrastinating over this challenge meant I wasn't making anything.. no..I got some work done on my Chaos Kit challenge stuff done too.. not as much as I'd like, but... I'm getting there lol

So, now that you've seen me transform a piece of kitchen/bathroom hardware into a bracelet, go check out some of the others. There's only ten more participants, but I'm thinking of having another toolbox challenge in the fall :)  So keep an eye out for the right bits of 'his stuff' to make your own and share with us on the next round :)

~

Blog Hop List

You are here -> Skye

Marlene Cupo

Pookledo

Julie Anne 

Shelley Graham Turner 

Leslie Wayment

Sherri Stokey 

ingetraud 

Shaiha 

Dyanne Everett-Cantrell 

Keri Lee Sereika 

~

Marlene Cupo says she'll have her post up but won't have photos of her piece... her computer had a very brief affair with a power surge during a lightening storm, and while she has access to another computer, her camera doesn't. She'll be hopping along with us though, and as soon as she gets her pictures up, I'll share them here too :)

 Oh.. and a little something none of the participants knew about... everyone that signed up who remembered to make something and get their post up in time...will be entered in a little draw for a prize :) 

Marlene counts since she let me know in advance about the problem and will still be blogging.

Hop on & enjoy!

~ Skye