Jewellery Elements Project; Wall Hanging

By Leave a Comment

This article is written by Michelle Brown

Over the last few weeks we have covered the tools and skills you need to add jewellery elements to your Mixed Media Artwork. Here we bring all of those together to create this wall hanging.

mixed media jewelry elements

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Materials you will need:

  • Background card, decorated to suit theme
  • Eyelets (15)
  • Jump rings (19)
  • Chain (20cm / 8″)
  • Head pins (5)
  • Beads
  • Ephemera, tags and images to decorate

Tools you will need:

  • Ruler & pencil
  • Stamps & ink
  • Hole punch & Hammer with mat
  • Eyelet setter
  • Pliers – flat nosed and pointy nosed
  • PVA glue
  • Inking sponge and brush

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
1. Cut three panels of your decorated card (12cm x 9cm or 4 3/4″ x 3 1/2″). Put them in order and lightly number them 1, 2 & 3 in pencil; this will help keep them in order.
Mixed media art jewelry elements

2. Lightly mark where the eyelets will go. As they need to be in pairs, I have marked them that way. The exact location will depend on the size of your eyelets and jump rings. Here I can in 2cm from the outer edge and up 0.5cm.
Mixed media jewelry elements
Across the bottom where the beads will be attached, mark 5 places; one in the middle, in 2cm from each side and in 4cm from each side
mixed media jewelry elements

3. Punch holes using a punch and hammer or crop-o-dile

mixed media jewelry elements
Set eyelets, taking your time. Put the three panels back into order when finished.
mixed media jewelry elements

4. I decided to join the panel together before adding the ephemera and images. You can do it either way.

To join the panel together we need three jump rings; an odd number is needed to make sure both panels will sit parallel, as each ring will sit at 90 degrees

5. Insert the jump rings into the eyelets, in both sides of the two panels
mixed media jewelry elements

6. Take two panels, back to back to insert the third jump ring.
jump rings
Check it will sit neatly before closing it up and that you haven’t got the rings twisted. Close up jump with with pliers

Now we have the two panels joined.

Repeat with other eyelets pairs

7. Add chain arose the top of the hanging, using two jump rings to attach the chain to the eyelets

8. Now we can attached the beads across the bottom.

Prepare your beads on the headpins as shown previously. This is fiddly and frustrating, so make sure you have a few extra head pins in case you need to start again.

9. Attach the beads on headpins to the bottom panel with jump rings

10. The base of your wall hanging is complete. Now you can decorate it with ephemera, tags, stamping and images.

Here I have used:

Sepia ink was used to stamp manilla tag and edge the music and book page.

Frayed burlap was used to edge the images and brushed across scrunched tissue.

All elements were glued with PVA glue.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Now the wall hanging is complete.

We do hope you have enjoyed out series on adding jewellery elements to you mixed media artwork.

Happy Creating!

.

.

.

Filed Under: Mixed Media Project Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Jewellery Skills ~ Jump Rings

By Leave a Comment

Jump rings are those round metal findings that are used to connect all sorts of elements together in your mixed media artwork and jewellery projects. They come in a huge variety of colours and sizes.

The key to using jump rings is how to open them; the skills for using a jump ring are easily learnt and make your life much easier when adding jewellery elements to your work.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

1. To easily open, insert and close jump rings, we need both flat nosed pliers and pointy nosed pliers.
mixed media jewellery elements

2. Hold jump ring with flat nosed pliers, with split close to end on pliers
mixed media jewelleryUse pointy nose pliers to hold other side of ring. Look closely; the ring tends to already be slightly open, to one side. Twist ring open in this direction.
mixed media jewelry
We are opening the ring with a sideways motion; NOT opening up the ring – it must be sideways; this gives us the best chance to being able to close the ring again and not deform the ring out of shape.

3. Now ring is open, you can thread it through eyelet.
mixed media jewelry

4. To close the jump ring, take hold with flat nosed pliers again. Use the pointy nosed pliers to bend the ring back the way it came. You may need to over bend the ring to allow for the springback in the metal. Check the ring; if is still isn’t closed, bend a little further and check again.
mixed media jewelry

I hope this helps you to get started with playing with jump rings and jewellery elements. We will be featuring a project soon that will bring together all you have learnt about using jewellery elements in your mixed media art.

Happy creating!

.

.

.

Filed Under: Mixed Media Art Techniques Tagged With: , , ,

Jewellery Tools – Pliers and Wire Cutters

By 1 Comment

.
When I first started adding jewellery elements into my mixed media art, I really felt like I had started on a whole new journey; new terminology, new tools, new shiny metal things and wonderfully, wonderfully coloured beads, of all shapes and sizes.  Once I overcame the excitement and looked at what I really needed, it came down to three basic tools.

Flat nosed pliers
Flat nose pliers are needed for holding the metal bits while manipulating them with the pointy nosed pliers. The flat nose have a good surface area to firmly hold jump rings and other fiddly bits.

mixed media art jewellery elements

Pointy nosed pliers
The pointy nosed pliers are used for bending and twisting the metal bits while they are being held by the flat nosed pliers. The pointy noses makes it easier to hold the small area of the metal element and move or bend it. The rounded end is also good for making loops in wire and pins.

mixed media art jewellery elements

Wire cutters
For a while I refused to buy wire cutters as I thought the cutting section on the flat nosed pliers would be sufficient. I soon discovers that the wire cutters on the pliers aren’t as sharp as proper wire cutters and tended to squash the wire, rather than cut cleanly. Using wire cutters makes cutting wire and chain simpler and gives a nicer finish.

mixed media art jewellery elements

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Using the two types of pliers together makes opening and attaching jump rings an easy process. In our next article we will look at the basic jewellery skills we need to add jewellery elements to our mixed media art.

mixed media art jewellery elements

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Hope you are enjoying our series on adding jewellery elements to our mixed media art.

Happy creating!

.

Filed Under: Mixed Media Art Techniques Tagged With: , , , , , ,