Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Copper Metal and Fimo Beads

My Grandpa George used to wear copper and every time I see copper jewelry I think of him and smile.
He was pretty awesome. One of the many things he taught me was to have the patience to wait for good things. He taught my brother, our cousins and I, to fish. (There are quite a few of us.) He would get up at an ungodly hour (6 am is ungodly when your on summer vacation and your 9 years old) and he would make a heck of a racket getting his things together (to make sure we heard him and we would race to catch up with the big man). After we all clambered into the boat with him he would mock grumble about always having to take the rotten kids along.....  I never bought it..... he smiled far too big when we caught a fish for me to believe that he didn't want us with him.
I really really miss that guy.

I purchased all my copper metal chain and extra bits from gemplus24 . They had great prices and I'm happy to say their service was speedy quick and they sent exactly what I ordered.
The beads I made from scrap STAEDTLER fimo
I made a worm of all the left over clay I had lying about and covered the outside of the worm with a sheet of black. I cut 1/2 cm slices of the worm and shaped them into little square tiles. I pushed a hole into each with a needle tool and baked them for 20 minutes in a preheated 230 degree oven.


I coated each bead face with some STAEDTLER fimo gloss varnish to bring out the colours.




I did some wire work through each bead and created an eye at the top and bottom of each bead to attach the chain.


I used a split ring to attach the chain to each side of the wire. I added the beads at random spots on each pre-measured chain bit. The chains were just the right length to go around my wrist tightly not including the length of each bead.


I added a split ring to each end of each beaded chain and looped them all together through another split ring.



Then I added a lobster claw to one end and some beads on a decorative head pin to the other as a finishing dangle.



Here he is.......
Still fishin'