Leather Feather Blog Hop

to paraphrase Bugs Bunny

"It's here, it's HERE
Let the bells ring out and the banners fly
feast your eyes on me,
It's too good to be true.
But it's here , it's HERE."

do you remember that episode of the Bugs Bunny cartoon?
OK I guess I am dating myself here.

well, all that preamble just to say welcome to my blog and THE VERY FIRST  Leather Feather Blog Hop.
Our hostess and creator of the wonderful leather feathers is Rachel Mallis http://www.mintmonarch.com/blog

She made 11 sets of feathers and sent ten of them to us (keeping one set for herself of course) so that we could participate in this hop.

I asked for funky colours and I got them . gorgeous purple feathers with an iridescent shimmer  that is green in some angles. and black in other angles, however they don't seem to photograph that way.

so what did I make with these  2 inch long pretties? 

I made earrings of course. 



I first tried using bronze-coloured wire for the spirals and links but, although they looked ok, they were NOT speaking to me. So I tried again with silver and that seemed to be a better solution. Using silver added more sparkle to the earrings. But if a little sparkle is good a LOT of sparkle is better.  so I added some chinese crystal beads with a similar purplish cast. 
In the photos they look solid black but at certain angles they shine like gas on water. 
And just because the feathers are leaf-like and we are heading into fall I decided to add the grapevine-like  spiral coils. 

I have started making my own ear wires so it was easy to add another crystal to the top of the attachment loop, just to tie them all together. 
By the way these have a finished length of 3-1/4 inches; not for the faint-of-heart, or the short- necked either.



NOW , because I finished these ahead of time, instead of the last minute, I started wondering if that length was going to work for me, hmmmmm, ..... so I reworked them
 (smacking myself on the forehead). 

here is version #2   
 (only 2-1/2 inches long btw.)

I removed the silver springs and used a simple jump ring to attach them to the ear wires. But that looked too plain so I added three more in a loopy connection to fill in the gap. Of course while I was doing this the darned crystals kept falling off the ear wires even though I had hammered the curved parts to prevent this . so I added some coils of 24 gauge silver wire to the top of ear wires to secure the little suckers. You can just see them peeking above the crystals.
I don't know if they will remain this way or not. 
Time will tell.

 That's the great thing about making your own jewellery , if you get tired of how it looks you just remake it.

Well it's time for us to part for now. 
Before you go please leave a comment about which version You prefer. 

I hope you enjoyed visiting my blog today and I look forward to seeing you again. 

Don't forget to stop by all the other bloggers to see what wonderful items they made
 with their feathers

just click on one of the links below 

Rachel Mallis (host) http://www.mintmonarch.com

Lori Blanchard alainnjewelry.WordPress.com

Deb Fortin www.mhotistudio.blogspot.ca  ***you are HERE***






Comments

  1. Linda A.September 5, 2015 at 2:33 PM

    Deb - I LOVE LOVE LOVE the springs! SO smart and creative! And how funny that both of us, used rondelles in our handmade ear wires! =) BEAUTIFUL!

    Linda
    http://fromTheBeadBoard.blogspot.com
    http://cherryOnTopDesign.co

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownSeptember 5, 2015 at 3:08 PM

    Deb! I love what you did with the feathers! I think I like version two better. The hole is covered up more and the earrings look fuller. I also like version one too though... I love love love the coils! I've never thought to do something like that before! Thank you so much for participating in my feather love! I hope you had fun!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Deb FortinSeptember 6, 2015 at 12:09 PM

      thanks for the feathers, I too think i like the second version better. I think if I had LOVED the first pair I wouldn't have bothered trying another way to attach them. I love making coils. I have a line of bracelets i make with only coil springs as chain.

      Delete
  3. AnonymousSeptember 6, 2015 at 8:05 AM

    Very pretty earrings. I like the second pair a little better too.

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousSeptember 6, 2015 at 8:06 AM

    Very pretty earrings. I like the second pair a little better too.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Deb FortinSeptember 6, 2015 at 12:09 PM

    Hi Inge thanks for stopping by . I hope your travels are all you were hoping they'd be.

    ReplyDelete
  6. UnknownSeptember 6, 2015 at 8:55 PM

    I love that little grapevine look you gave to the wonderful, funky feathers you got. I like the second version a little better. I agree - the great thing about making your own jewelry is that you can customize it at any time!

    ReplyDelete
  7. fanciful devicesSeptember 6, 2015 at 9:08 PM

    I liked both versions- maybe the second a little bit more, but either way looks good. I can't believe the first picture show the same feathers as the last two tho! Must have some crazy light effects to photo that differently in different shots. I was sure you were going to say that you distressed them thoroughly with black acrylic paint!

    ReplyDelete
  8. anafiassaSeptember 7, 2015 at 11:19 AM

    I absolutely love those coils! What fun! I think I also like the second pair just a little more... But, honestly, they're both gorgeous. Wonderful work! :)

    ReplyDelete

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