Vintage Travel Baubles Collection

 

Inspired by a road trip across America, my vision was about forward movement - momentum, so to speak. How we get from point A to point B in ALL aspects of our life. Coupled with the fact that we all need to be reminded at times to keep on moving forward. Being sedentary is never good. The patterns are based on Vintage Travel Transporations Images, so be it via a bicycle, hot air balloon, airplane or wood-paneled cruiser - keep moving forward with a little inspiration from kon-tent. .  

 

Necklaces are $10 (priced from top to bottom, left to right) and the 5-paneled bracelet is $20.  Mix and match your mediums or have a central theme - it's up to you.  I can provide you with sample images to choose from as well. 

Vintage Travel Baubles Collection

Women Racecar Drivers $10.00 Sepia Roadster $10.00 Helicopter $10.00 Umbrella Couple/Hot Air Balloon $10.00 Woodie Station Wagon $10.00 Scooter $10.00 Orange Airplane $10.00 Nuclear-Powered Motorcycle $10.00 Red Vintage Bike $10.00 Bracelet $20.00

Beading - Image Transferring

Recently I came across a new technique to me, Image Transferring.  You can use wide variety of materials to transfer to, here I used copper to transfer images of fish onto the metal.  I have also done this to resin, metal, even wood!  Coupled on this piece with fresh water pearls and crystals that I have wire-wrapped to form a bracelet for my daughter.  She loved it and I am so happy with how easy it is.  You will need to get the solution to transfer the image and obviously the foundation you are going to transfer your image onto as well as choose one of the numerous images availabe out there.  

As always, I get my beading supplies from The Bead Monkey, OR you can contact Mitch at The Bead Monkey via their website and he can get the necessary supplies for you. Finally, if you are not in the Minneapolis/St.Paul area I am sure you can find them at your local bead store.

Beading for guys

I think there is a popular misconception out there that beading jewelry is for girls, and although I would hold to the belief that it is mainly a female-oriented industry there is a lot that us guys can do too.  I find that most casual necklaces and bracelets out in the market for men (when you can find them even) at retailers are not manufactured very well.  Going to the bead store and picking out beads that are closer to my personality and style, coupled with the fact that I am going to take care to make sure it stays together makes hand-crafting your my own jewelry have added value.  I really don't have many rules when it comes to beads outside nothing with facets and no crystals (ahem, I think this should go without saying...)!

For the top piece I chose jasper tubes and strung it with leather, tying a simple knot in between each piece.  I was inspired for the tiger-eye piece below, because I am a collector of faux bamboo.  I simply took the beads and strung them along common beading wire and finished it off using a hematite-colored clasp.  Each one of these pieces took no more than ten minutes to make and I will get years of use out of them.  I think my total investment in each necklace was around $15-$20, so easy on the pocketbook too.

As always, I get my beads from The Bead Monkey.  They have to brick and mortar locations as well as a wonderful website, their kits make great gifts.