Question!

[webmyrcury.livejournal.com]

Does anyone happen to have a recommendation for an air-drying sculpting medium, that can be used to sculpt onto something pre-existing, and hopefully that doesn't require baking of any kind?

I've been using Crayola Model Magic for stuff like my modified yardsale find ceramic animal knick-knacks (barnyard superheros!!) but as you can see if you look at those pics, it does have its downfalls. Kinda hard to sculpt details with, for one thing, as its kinda foamy and doesn't really bend well. Also really fine details just break right off at the slightest touch...

I need a type of clay or otherwise, which will adhere to pre-existing ceramic or wood things, and doesn't have to go into any kind of oven that might cause damage to the original makeup of whatever it is...

I hope this makes sense!! Any help is AWESOME! :D

Cabochons & other items

[melissadowell.livejournal.com]

I'm looking into combining my artwork with jewelry and I was thinking of getting some cabochon bases or other picture frame jewelry that I could glue in prints of my work, cover in resin & turn into some really neat things.

Unfortunately, I can't seem to find anywhere good. A lot of places are selling sterling silver or other expensive metals, when what I'm doing probably doesn't require such fancy pieces (until I get really good or something). Any suggestions for online wholesale/retail?

(no subject)

[stolenmilkcrate.livejournal.com]

( Things with wings! )

Earrings without tools?

[distorted-eyes.livejournal.com]

Hey everyone, I'm in need of a little advice.

My coworker and I are teaching a jewelry making after school class for 3-5th graders. So far we've done friendship bracelets, stringing beads on stretch magic, and sewing beads to fabric cuffs made by cutting up old socks. We haven't done anything involving using any tools, and hadn't really planned on it. Hemp jewelry was our inspiration for the class, so we started from that idea. But, some of the girls are begging to do earrings, and I was wondering if anyone knew of any techniques for making earrings that doesn't involve wire cutters or pliers?

We are on a tight budget, $1 per kid per week, so $15 a week, and even if we could buy just one set of tools, I'm not sure the logistics of sharing one tool between 15 kids would really work out. Alternately, as a result of doing so much research to come up with project ideas for the kids, I've been inspired to get more into jewelry making, and I may invest in some tools myself. If I did that, does anyone know of any projects that had minimal tool use, like, the kids could do everything that didn't involve tools, then bring the project up to me to finish it? Even if we could get a decent number of tools, this is what they would probably do anyway, because they don't trust themselves to even tie a knot half the time. 3rd-5th grade has a wide range of maturity and patience levels :)

And, to share a little bit of my own, here are some pictures of some hemp jewelry I've made lately. I'm crossing my fingers and hoping on getting a part time job soon (my full time job is an AmeriCorps position, so I have a looow living stipend), so I can get some new beads and start trying more designs! I always tell myself that applying at craft or yarn stores is useless because they probably already have enough people - who wouldn't want to work there? But yesterday I decided to ditch that attitude, write up a resume that highlights my knitting and jewelry experience, and then apply to every yarn shop and bead shop in Minneapolis. It couldn't hurt, right? Anyway, sorry for all the babbling...here are pictures!

edited to add: If you'd like to see the friendship bracelets I made to test out my skills before teaching the class, check out my blog

( hemp jewelry )

yet another bag

[chasingthenuns.livejournal.com]

I feel like I do nothing but make these. This was a kid's shirt so it's a small hand bag.




( more photos and bonus bag )

Sherlock Holmes charms

[ldhenson.livejournal.com]

Fake cut: ( More pics at my LJ )