Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Handmade Paper Jewelry

Our featured designer for the month of April was Stephanie Loomis.  necklaceDSC_5812sqWith all the retreat hoopla I forgot to schedule her projects on the blog.  So sorry Steph!

Stephanie is a Southern Belle and makes her home in Georgia.  Stephanie has been around the PWA community for almost as long as I have!  She’s visited us here in the Seattle area for a retreat and I’ve have the adventure of visiting her and attending a retreat in Georgia.  Fun stuff!

Steph calls herself and accidental artist.  I’ll let her explain.

“I call myself an Accidental Artist because I came to art by a circuitous route--via literature, theater, photography, music, education, and rubber stamping. Now I fully embrace mixed media and altered arts as my expression and my therapy. I teach secondary school literature and composition two days a week which leaves me studio time. I frequently incorporate art elements into my literature classes to teach symbolism, point-of-view, and anywhere else I can combine literature aDSC_5570nd art. I've been married since 1987 and have three daughters born 1990, 1993, and 1996. God is good--all the time. That's the motto of my moments and the inspiration of my life.”

For her first project of 2011 Stephanie says,  “I was inspired by the March/April edition of Cloth, Paper, Scissors. There was an article there about making paper flower jewelry. I tweaked it to meet my skills.”

Steph Flower Necklace




This is one of the gorgeous paper jewelry pieces that Stephanie submitted for her assignment. 

There is a close up picture at the end of the tutorial where you can really see and appreciate her attention to detail.

How To Make The Paper Flowers

Supplies:

White Glue, old paper (newspaper, old books, whatever), fun foam (or felt, which is what the magazine used. I happened to have to foam on hand.), acrylic paint, water, alcohol ink spritzer (Shimmerz by Tsukineko; Walnut ink by Tsukineko; Glimmer Mist by Tattered Angels), micro beads from Pennywise Arts

Directions:

1.  Paint papers with watered-down acrylic paints. Be messy.

2.  When paint is dry, Spray with alcohol ink spray.

3.  Tear paper into strips about 1" wide.

4.  Tear strips into pieces 1/2" - 1" long. (The magazine recommended a barrel shape, but that was too hard for me to do consistently.)

5.  Twist each piece at one end and fan out the other end. This is a single petal. DSC_5569

6.  Cut or punch a circle from the foam.

7.  Assemble the flower by gluing one petal at a time,   beginning with the outside of the foam circle and working inward in layers.

DSC_5574 DSC_5575

8.  Let dry.  (Showing another color combo)

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9.  Apply glue to the petal edges with a toothpick.

10.  Dip in micro beads.

11.  Let dry.

How To Make The Necklace:

  1. Decide how the flowers will be clustered.
  2. Glue them to a base of felt or foam.
  3. When dry, trim the base so it doesn't show.
  4. Use a paper piercer to create holes in the base to add jump-rings, wire, and/or ribbon.
  5. Embellish as desired....

Here is a up close shot of Stephanie’s beautiful and beadiful necklace! 

Steph Flower Necklace close

Remember you can click any photo on the blog to see an even larger version!

Well done in an amazing way Steph!  And there’s more to come!

To see more about Stephanie and her art, photography and life all mixed together visit her blog:  

http://mrsl-dramateach.blogspot.com/

Hugs, Suzanne

3 comments:

  1. Shirley Salter in Ontatio, Canada Hi Suzanne!May 25, 2011 at 3:48 PM

    Oh my goodness, simply breathtaking!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Very beautiful, Steph! Amazing what can be done with paper and glue.
    Yvonne

    ReplyDelete

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