Chiyogami Paper now in bigger sizes!

Just listed in the store, your choice of Chiyogami Paper, now in 10x10cm pieces!  A lot of the designs below are available - click for a bigger view. 

To choose, just click on the picture below to make it bigger, make a note of the numbers on your favourite designs, and order them here. 

Friends' Makes - Petits Bijoux

Check out these gorgeous new makes by the lovely and talented Emma from Petits Bijoux:

 Seeing the Royal mood we're in,  I expect the Union Jack earrings will be popular!

 

Absolute gorgeousness.

Emma is busy getting ready for craft shows, so her glass tile jewellery is not in her online shop yet, but she has a beautiful choice of wirewrapped jewellery on Folksy, see it here, just look at this stunning example of the jewellery she makes:

So pretty.

New In The Shop - More Earrings!

I love love love these, a quality earring fitting with a beautiful finish, available in silver and antique bronze - gorgeous european style earrings with sprung arm fitting and a 12mm bezel to house your creations!  They come with matching glass at £7.50 for 10 pairs.  Available from the shop.

Friends' Makes - Cockburn High School

I recently got chatting to the lovely Kath who works in the art department at Cockburn High School in Leeds.  She promised me she would send me pictures of the items that she and her students had made using some of my items.  Little did I know I would be in for such a treat...   just look at these works of art:

Make sure you click on the above picture for a glorious close-up (click twice and it gets even bigger!).  Any one of these pieces could happily sit in the window of a jewellery boutique.  The colours are beautiful and the combinations remind me of the work of Kandinsky (though they remind Kath of Klimt!)

And this is how they did it - carefully moulded canes of polymer clay in stunning colour combinations.  The ones with multi coloured circles are extruded through a square die and then stacked into 4x4 or 5x5 squares, then the canes are cut into slices, placed into some of my pendant settings, baked in place, and varnished for a gorgeous finish.

Just beautiful.  I really look forward to seeing what Kath and the girls come up with next!

Loving the stickers

I do love these epoxy stickers - as if you hadn't noticed.  I'm putting them on everything!  I think that for those who struggle with the glass and the glaze and the bubbling and the waiting for the thing to dry, these provide a superb alternative.  

Admittedly the resin is a plastic so a piece made using an epoxy sticker will feel different to one made with glass - it's very light in comparison whereas glass feels very solid, it's domed also but not quite as high as the glass, and it has a definite, um, plasticky feel in contrast to the cool smooth glass. All those things are to be expected.  What is unexpected is the clarity of these little stickers!  they are superb over any images.  

I made some pendants with the stickers, to show you the differences:

Glass (l), sticker (r)

 The two glass pendants (l), two sticker pendants (r)

Slightly different effect of the two materials - glass (l), sticker (r)

This close-up shows the sticker (r) is also domed, but not quite as much as the glass (l).

I think for all their qualities, these stickers are particularly suited to projects where you need a lighter end result that is tough and unbreakable, pieces such as charm bracelets, keyrings, magnets and all other things that can suffer from knocks and where being dropped could be disastrous!   And they are so easy to use, they would make ideal first projects, easy enough for even quite small children to make their own (with grown-up assistance of course!).

Find the stickers in the shop:  http://jasminstudiocrafts.bigcartel.com/category/epoxy-stickers  Currently available in 25mm round and square, plain or with a light dusting of glitter.  More sizes coming soon!  Or try the amazing quality stainless steel dogtags.  

Bracelet Kits Now Available!

Just listed in the shop - bracelet kits in round or oval, silver, bronze or copper finish.  Love 'em!

Making a Key Ring using Epoxy Stickers

I have just made some excellent keyrings using my new epoxy stickers.  I had been coveting those epoxy stickers ever since I saw someone make some amazing cufflinks with them, and then I realised that the keyring that came with my own car (back then when it was new - a long while back, ha!) also was made using one of these epoxy stickers over a metal base.  A revelation.   So imagine my excitement when I found a manufacturer of them!

Having recently received my order - I quickly put them to good use on a couple of keyrings.  Here is what you need to do:

First, pick your image according to the size of the sticker you want to use.  I have here 1 inch stickers and I'm using the round ones.

Once you are happy with your image, peel back the protective sheet on the top and the sticker sheet on the bottom of the sticker and apply your sticky resin dome to your image, pressing well so that every little bit of the paper is touching the epoxy.

Then cut around it with sharp scissors to the shape of the sticker.

Finally, coat the back of the paper with a sealant, here I used ModPodge which is a sealant and a glue in one,

I used this also to glue the image into my keyring bezel.

Press it in well as you want all the edges to sit insize the bezel and be level.  Some glue may come out from the sides but with most glues you can just wipe away the excess (ModPodge is especially forgiving here).

Once it is pressed down and secured you can wipe the resin sticker with a damp cloth and buff gently to a shine ...and that's all there is to it!  A beautiful handmade keyring made in about two minutes!  Of course you have to let the glue dry, but you are free to admire your work to your hearts' content straight away!!

These are oval-ly good!!

I've long debated with myself whether I liked ovals as a shape - and after seeing these...  I do!!  I have big plans for these babies - the connectors are going to go in a ready-to-make bracelet kit, and the pendants - well, let's say Christmas planning came early at our house!

Connectors in antique silver...

....and antique bronze

Ornate pendants in antique bronze (and silver!)

 And clear glass pieces to fit!

All of which are available in the shop! 

Rectangular pendant trays now in the shop!

I have finally managed to list the new domino tile pendant trays from my previous post.  Find them here or click on the photo.

Still here!

I know I haven't been around much - goodness knows I have been busy busy busy.   I had my munchkin's fifth birthday, which required lots of baking and lots of get-togethers, we also went to our cousin's wedding back home in Barcelona - a beautiful sunny day in the hills to the north of the region, and so we took advantage of the occasion and stayed a few days in the warm sunshine (for a while it looked like I brought it back with me, huh??), and then on returning to the UK I received not one, not two, but THREE new deliveries of gorgeous items for the shop. A little taster of what's to come...

And much much more...   I'll try to post updates here on all these items as they get listed, check back for updates!  :)