Spoon Bracelet

I really love spoon jewelry. I love that most of it's made from vintage silverware and you always get a unique one of a kind piece. I have never owned a spoon bracelet and while searching the Internet last night I came across one that I almost bought but at the last minute I didn't. Somewhere in the back of my mind I thought I might be able to make one myself and save me the 40 dollars in buying one. I went to bed planning out how you might go about doing .

This morning I got on the net to see if I could find  a tutorial for making one and I surprisingly couldn't find anything very helpful. So, I set out in search of a spoon to begin my experiment.

I knew the silverware had to be actual silver. What I wasn't sure of is if silver plated is ok or not. Do they make silverware out of pure silver??? I don't know. I stopped by my local Goodwill and couldn't find any silverware at all. Next stop was the Antique Mall. It's a super shabby place. Inside of a really old gymnasium with sagging water stained ceilings. However-it's awesome in my opinion and I did find a booth with a box full of antique silverware. Most of it was not silver or silver plated . I did find two silver plated ones that I thought might work and thankfully they were half off.

In case you are like me and love to make things-Here is how I did it:
PS-I started with the cheaper less pretty spoon in case I majorly messed up

*I put the spoon on my husbands small anvil and flattened out the head of the spoon with a rubber mallet. I had to seriously beat it to death to get it flat. It worked though... :)

*I then used my metal stamps to stamp the words. (There are a bunch of tutorials online for stamping metal if you want to see how it's done.)

* The stamping made it wonky so I beat it flat once again.

*This is the step I had to majorly guess on. When making a metal bracelet you are supposed to use a mandrel (it's a steel or wood round cone thing). I don't have one yet (next thing I am going to buy to make this way easier). I searched the garage for something round and hard and the only thing I could come up with was the handle of a hammer. I laid the spoon on the hammer and pounded it with the rubber mallet so it would start to curl. This part was not easy.  I probably could have done a better job but it's my first one so who cares!

*I used a wire brush and some soap and cleaned it all up.

*Used my Euro Punch to punch holes into the metal and then used some chain and trinkets for the rest.

Here is the finished product. I like how it turned out but I am definitely spending the money for a mandrel next time.

February 7th

I turned 29.
I had a great birthday. Spent time with my friend Ali and her new baby Amelia and Valerie and her two kids who I adore. We cut out hearts from construction paper and made a huge mess on Valerie's table.

  Valerie gave me my favorite cupcake from my favorite cupcake shop. I said I would take it home and eat it later but I ate it while we sat and talked. It was DELICIOUS.

I headed home on my favorite road. (there are often cows hanging out to the right over those bushes. I look for them every time I drive by)

When I got home I decided to get out my old journal and read it. I last wrote in it in 2005. It made me so thankful for my life today. A lot of things have happened in the past few years and the older I get the more I seem to like myself and my life. I don't mind getting older. I do however mind feeling older. :(

I had a nice evening with Christian, my favorite O'Charley's salad, and an episode of the Bachelor. It was a nice day.

Something a Bit New

I have been doing leather work for about a year now. I knew right from the get go that I wanted to come up with my own patterns and try and find my own style. At Tandy Leather where I buy my supplies they offer lots of pre drawn patterns. Most of them are more traditional designs that you might see on cowboy saddles or cowgirl purses. I totally admire this kind of traditional work but I haven't attempted any of it yet.

During a recent trip to Knoxville to visit family my mom and I popped into this cute store called The Village Tinker. It was all hand made items from local people in TN. There was work from one gentleman who did leather work. I wish I would have written down his name because it was amazing! I would have loved to be able to buy one of his purses. So intricately carved with flowers and really thick leather. That baby would last someone 5 lifetimes before it started to break down. Unfortunately I don't have 400 sitting around to buy it so I just sat there and held it for a moment. It inspired me to try a more traditional look.

I went home and got to carving and tooling. This is what I came up with.

I am really happy with it. It's different than anything I have done so far. It involved a lot more tooling than I usually do on a cuff. I also like the idea of sticking with two colors. I typically love color so this was a change for me.

Anyways, it was a fun little challenge. I am not sure if i will be selling it or not. I kind of want to keep it all for me. We shall see.

Peacock Bangle

I painted another wooden bangle! Lots of fun colors on this one. I will be putting it in my shop shortly.

PS-My nails look really gross! I had just dyed some leather items that morning a dark brown and I just noticed the dye had stained under my nails. Gross! Sorry!

Wooden Bangle

I just finished this wooden bangle and added it in my shop.
I love how it turned out!