The Sea and Me: A Story of Blessing in Disguise

May this year, I misread my plane schedule on my flight back home from Seoul to Jakarta. Fortunately, the real flight schedule was a day after my assumed date, and not the previous. The horror it will be to miss the plane.

I booked a room at Incheon Airport Hotel Oceanview which is about 20 minutes from Incheon Aiport. It's a a bit far, but they had shuttle service to and from the airport so it was still okay. I chose that place because not only does it have shuttle, but it was also very close to the beach. Just about 2 minutes walk.

Because my room was not ready yet, I decided to kill some time by strolling at the beach. At first, it looked so bleak. It was cold, windy, not many people around-which is actually perfect, a bit of some garbage in the corner, and many broken seashells. I decided to take a stroll at the beach and to my surprise I found sea glasses!

Sea glasses are basically glasses that are tumbled by the sand and sea water, giving it a very frosty look. I have been to many beaches in Indonesia (including ever so popular Kuta in Bali) but I have never ever seen a sea glass before. I was as ecstatic as a kid given ice cream upon this discovery. I ended up collecting as many as my hands could bring.

Last weekend I tried being productive and thus it resulted in this necklace. It is very much inspired by Halcraft's Beach Keen Necklace, but tweaked to suit my supplies.

 First sea glass spotted at a Eurwangni Beach, Incheon

 

Broken sea shells by the beach 

Sea Glass Necklace

 

 

 Close up

Tools:
Round nose plier
Flat plier
Wire cutter

Materials:
Sea glass

Plastic beads

Seed beads

Sea shell

Sea-themed charm

Pearl

Chain

26g gunmetal wire
Jump rings 

Blue cord

Violet suede cord
Cord stopper

Necklace clasp

 

Cherry Blossom Ending: A Layered Rose Quartz Necklace

Back in May, I received a lovely chunky rose quartz (at least I think it's rose quartz) bracelet from my dear friend, Alice. We both attended Language and Culture Training for Diplomats sponsored by Korean Foundation in Seoul from March to May 2016. The training was held exactly during spring. I was lucky to have chance to see lovely cherry blossoms blooming in April. And Busker Busker's Cherry Blossom Ending (벚꽃 엔딩) seems to be the eternal song of spring.

Back to the bracelet, I feel like this represents the lovely pink hues that the cherry blossoms bring. Unfortunately, it was a bit too big for my wrist. Since I could resize it due to the wire string, I figured out that it would better be a necklace.

Fortunately, I have everything that I need including the shocking pink stone and assortment of rose quartz beads. After all, rose quartz is one of the two Pantone colour of 2016. :)

The chunky lower layer is the former bracelet

Cherry Blossom Hues

Tools:
Round nose plier
Flat plier
Wire cutter

 Materials:
Chunky rose quartz bracelet
6mm rose quartz beads

Stone chips rose quartz beads
Shocking pink beads (what is the name for it?)
Chain
Jump rings
Pink cord
Plastic cord (for the pink beads)
Cord stopper

I got the eye of the tiger!

Tiger eye stones makes me wanna sing Katy Perry's Roar but also at the same time reminds me of Rocky Balboa.

I happened to find nice tiger eye chips in a craft store in Semarang, Toko Satria, for Rp 15k/string. That is less than a dollar. I just had to buy two strings.

At Toko Satria's sister store, Ratu Paksi, I found round tiger beads in different sizes. I bought a 6mm tiger eye beads string for Rp 35k and also-if I'm not mistaken-a 14mm one for Rp 75k. It is way, way, wayyyyy cheaper to buy tiger eyes in strings because once it becomes a bracelet or any other jewelry, the cost of it is equal, or maybe more expensive than buying it in strings. I also bought assortments of other natural stone beads. It's so darn easy to spend money in those stores. Bead hoarder I am!

I turned the tiger eye chips into a ring, which looks a bit too big and messy for me but somehow my senior. who lives in Yangon, Myanmar, loved it and wanted one. So then I made one for her and also added another ring (which the stone she gave me from Yangon) and a dangly pair of earring.

Oh, funny thing is that although tiger eye beads are abundant in Yangon, my senior said that she can't find tiger eye stone chips. I guess Indonesia has more variety than Myanmar.

Here are the pics of the jewelry and way down is the tools and materials used. Enjoy!

My tiger eye ring. I haven't used it yet because it feels rather bulky.

The ones for my senior.

Tools:
Round nose plier
Flat plier
Wire cutter
Ring mandrel

Materials:
Tiger eye chips
4mm tiger eye beads
6mm tiger eye beads
Random green natural stone
0.8mm wire
Chain
Headpins
Earring hooks

Pretty in Pink

Some things that I made for a friend who adores pink stuffs and also shabby chic thingamabobs.
These are a mixture of origami, decoupage, a little beading, claying and everything else in between.

O yeah, this post will be writing heavy but I'm gonna list everything I used just in case someone would like to make something similar. If there's any question, just holler at me. :

Materials:
 Flashdisk
Shabby chic metal container
Craft foam
Origami paper
Glossy Accents
Crackle Accents
Origami paper
0.5mm wire in Gunmetal
Masking tape
Pink acrylic paint (I mixed red, white and a bit of Ranger Ink's Liquid Pearl in White Opal)
Gold acrylic pain
Memento ink in red (don't really remember what exactly)

Dreamcatcher Necklace
Round wire (I used a thin wire bangle wrapped with sticky tape to poof it up)
Pink satin ribbon
Pink acrylic paint (see above)
Water spray (for the ombre effect)
Nylon thread
6mm Rose Quartz
4mm Indian Agate
White stone chip
Metal butterfly
Salem lace
Cord closures
Eye pin
Jump ring

Binder clips
Binder clips in different sizes
Colourful masking tape (or washi tape, you use what you have)

Paper clips
Metallic paper clips
Hot glue/epoxy clay (epoxy clay is much more safer and neater to me than hot glue)
Acrylic paints
Glitter
White glue
Liquitex acrylic sealer

Tools
Round nose plier
Chain nose plier
Wire cutter
Scissor(s)
Needle
Paint brushes
Mod melt molds
Glue gun (if you're using hot glue)
Nail file/sandpaper (if you're using epoxy clay)
Silicone/non-stick mat
Rubber stamp

The Owl...

Pussy said to the Owl, “You elegant fowl! How charmingly sweet you sing! O let us be married! too long we have tarried: But what shall we do for a ring?”
Edward Lear - The Owl and the Pussycat

I have no idea what focal stone that is being used here. I think, in Indonesian, it’s a “kecubung karang”. Kecubung is amethyst and karang is coral. But who knows, I’m no geologist.

For the wire, I used 0.8 Artistic Wire in gunmetal, another gunmetal coloured wire size 0.4, and two other type of wires for the tail and the branch. Other stones that I used are un-named pebbled stones, tiny cat eye stones and two yellow crystals.

The idea originally came from Nancy Wickman. I like it so, so much that I have to make one of my own. Do you believe that this is my first try in making this owl? Not bad, eh. Hehe.

Also posted here. 

Materials:
cabochon
small cat eye beads
two yellow crystal beads
white pebble beads
0.8 mm Artistic Wire in gunmetal
0.4 mm wire in gunmetal
0.8 mm soft rose-gold wire
1 mm copper wire
eye pins
toggle clasp
gunmetal chain

Tools:
round nose plier
flat nose plier
wire cutter
nylon hammer

Cherry Rose Earrings

“Even the cherry tree, swaying through time
Will eventually blossom”
Utada Hikaru - Sakura Drops

So, this is a bit of something that I made during my night of insomnia. You'd think with one whole night I'd made a flock of these. But no, I could only manage a pair.

Materials:

Paper

Gold pen

Rose quartz beads

0.4 Gunmetal Wire (I think? Or 0.5? Can't remember)

Eyepin

Earring hook

Paper glue

Glossy Accents 

Tools:

Round nose plier

Chain nose plier

Wire cutter

 

Also posted here.

Faux Rutile... Sort of

This is my attempt on making a faux rutile using glossy accents.

The earrings didn't turn out exactly like real rutile - the "strings" in my faux ones being too many and too chubby - but this pair of earring has its own charm.

 This is the end product

This is how it is made

MATERIALS:
Glossy Accent (or resin, but I don't have resin)
Gold Acrylic Paint
Sculpey Cabochon Mold
Wire
Pliers
Blank ear hooks

TIME:
Days and days.... Patience is your friend

Hi, I'm back!

And I try to make this as permanent as possible.

Lately I've been obsessed with making faux opals out of glue. The original tutorial states making faux opals out of resin or polymer clay, but all I had was glue, and why not try? Turns out that they kinda work.

I use two types of glues, white glue (my brand is Fox) and Glossy Accents. Sometimes I use them separately; sometimes I mix them up by using them layers upon layers. The shine is achieved by using iridescent glitters. I didn't buy them pre-made; I made them by cutting iridescent sequin leaves.

The drying time takes literally days. I put them near heat to speed things up a bit, but only by a bit. With craft like this, it's better to be patient to achieve that transparent look.

Maybe next time I'll make one that clearly has colour, like black, or baby blue, or baby pink.

This is made purely out of Rangers Glossy Accents

The left is made out of white glue while the right is made from Glossy Accents

This is what the pendant look from different angles. No flash is used here.

Note: I made the lovely dangly herringbone wrapped bead from Heidi K's tutorial at earthbreathedesign.com. Go check it out!

Memory Wire... added with Paper Beads

After months of being neglected, my paper beads have finally come to use. It looks cheesy tho and I still can't really remember whether or not I have varnished it. But oh well, at least now I have one new bracelet. :)

Chunky Grunge Bracelets

When I was browsing for diy toggle clasp, I found this interesting page about cool jump ring trick. Considering that I had heaps of jump rings, I thought why not give it a try? And it was also a perfect project to remake one of my bracelets.


This purple one is the first that I made. I used purple stones. I think it's amethyst but I can't be really sure. It's a trial and succeed project. Hehe.




Now this red and yellow one is my bracelet before the remake. My auntie gave it to me last year and I only wore it once to a wedding. That's the problem with this bracelet. It's too flashy that I can only use it occasionally. Not to mention that it's rather too big for me and the elastic string gave me the impression that it could snap any time. I only used the red crystals for this project.




This is the bracelet after the remake. It looks more gloomy but that's the way I like it. It can fit for both casual and special occasions which make it more to my liking.




This is how they look on my wrist. Not bad eh?




This last one was a request from my sister. I used pink beads and green seed beads.



Those are all that I made but I am definitely attempted to make more. :D

Bead Necklace (from an unused tasbih)

Saturday two weeks ago (16072011), one of my besties, @nisa_interisti, had a sleep over at my over. She brought stuffs which (she thought) I could recycle. I couldn't recycle all but at least I did make her a necklace out of her unused tasbih.

Tasbih is a like a Rosario, but it is used by the Muslims. It usually has 11, 33 or 99 beads on it (always odd numbers). Some prefer to use tasbih, but Nisa and I prefer to use our fingers. That's why her tasbih was unused.

Most tasbih are made out of very very pretty stone. I had ones made out of cat's eye stones while Nisa's is made out of brown stones. I think the Big Boss wouldn't mind if we turned it into something which people could appreciate more. :)

Things needed:
1. Beads/stone beads
2. Cord (1,5 m)
3. Transparent nail polish - to glue the cord
4. Scissor - to snap this and that, of course.

My Purple Stone - Finders, Keepers!

Being born in February, whenever I hear the word "amethyst" my ears perk up. That's why, when I saw amethyst pendant being sold at Kinokuniya, I badly wanted to buy it. But alas, it cost around Rp 90 thousand something which roughly cost around US $ 8 till US $ 10. I don't know whether that would be expensive or not for US range, but it sure is in Indonesia.

Fortunately for me, I somehow found this purple stone in my drawer in my room in Jakarta. It has a unique shape although it's rather chipped on the bottom. I guess it belonged to the previous owner (she moved to a room next to mine) or the previous owner's previous owner. Anyway, being petty as I am, I didn't tell my neighbour about the stone and decided to claim it as my own. Finders, keepers people! :p

As soon as I got back to Semarang, I turned it into a pendant. The wire cage is more or less like the one I used in my cage pendant and the string is made from suede cord. It's not as good as the ones found in Kinokuniya, but it sure looks ethnic enough for me.

It's cheap, it's pretty, it's limited = it makes me happy! :)


You can't really see the chipped part, can you?


Resting prettily on my neck.

Bottle Cap Galore

Last year (and also earlier this year) I went into a bottle cap crazy stage. I first saw it here and suddenly became addicted. These bottle caps make really cute necklace pendants. And the good thing is, you can use anything media that you like. Some people even use food - preserved with resin of course!

Anyway, here are some stuffs that I used to make my pendants:
1. air dry clay
2. PVC glue (fox)
3. fabric
4. stickers
5. glitter glue
6. sequins
7. nail polish
8. permanent pens
9. acrylic paint

Here are some of the results of my bottle cap charm. They don't really look like bottle caps once being painted and decorated, ne?


This is my first bottle cap pendant. It's my lucky shamrock charm. I got the inspiration from cutout and keep.


These are what they look after being painted.


They look cute, don't they?

I *HEART* ART Ring

I found this ring at teenage accessories shop. I love how it says and I also love that it fits my middle finger! Normally the rings that I like are way too big. So, I bought it without hesitating. And it only cost IDR 3k.

*happy* *happy* *happy*