necklace Archives • Jessica Smith Creates

July 7, 2014August 19, 2018

Embellishment

Now presenting my Belle necklace!

In fairness, I actually finished it awhile ago. Still not on time for my self imposed deadline, but I think I’m doing alright considering I don’t have a firm costume deadline anymore. I even photographed it the day after I made it, which is even more of an accomplishment.

However I’ve been procrastinating on posting it. I’m not entirely sure why. Perhaps its because I know that if I wanted to go to my place of choice for photographing the entire costume, makeup would melt off my face and my hair would flatten. It’s quite hot. Even in the evening.

I think I might have to remove the collar from my dress, anyway. Too much of the necklace would be covered if I left the collar on, so I’m thinking of leaving the collar stand, but removing the collar.

In other news I’m going to start a new project, as though I don’t have enough started. Have you noticed that I tend to start knitting or crochet projects, and then the entire thing disappears? I don’t like finishing these projects. Like the sleeve of this sweater I’m knitting. I’ve got one nearly complete, or at least I’m almost done with yarn ball on that side, but the other side needs to advance about five inches to keep up.

So I recently bought myself sock yarn with the intention of actually making socks. I even have a pattern, from a book called Sock Innovation. I’m going to make the Kai-mei socks, since they’re gorgeous, but the catch is that the library book is due in a week. I know I can renew it, but that spoils the fun. So in the next week I endeavor to make at least a sock and a half… and by that I mean the cuff and turning the heel on the second sock.

There will hopefully be daily progress reports in order to keep myself on track. And today is all about gauge.

January 24, 2014August 19, 2018

Sultan of Suckwad

So I finished my Claudia necklace over break!

Isn’t it purrrrrdy?

The back of the necklace is chainmaille. I only had one size of ring, so I was slightly limited by this in design options.

I don’t know if I made this pattern up, but I can say that I wasn’t inspired by anything I found online. There’s plenty of inspiring things to be found, but my fingers were itching to create, so my googling was shortened.

Then once I had the back formed, I decided that I wanted to integrate the clasp into the pattern in the front.

And then I just started stringing, kind of organically. I had bought this golden snitch pendant thing on Etsy, which I deconstructed and maneuvered into my design, because I always loved Claudia’s wing necklace. I would link to it, but it looks like the seller has taken down their shop.

So the completion of this necklace marks the completion of my Claudia costume. Now I’ve got to figure out the makeup and hair, and then I’ll be finished with my first costume for July!

September 10, 2013

Doo Dwee Doooooo Dah Do Dwooo

Ah, the Doctor Who theme song. It would be easier to title posts if it had words to it.

Well, after working on it off and on for the past six months or so… (mostly off, I should mention to clear up any confusion. I am capable of attaching more than an average of one bead per day. I’m just too lazy to.) … I have finally finished my time rotor necklace!

As a reminder for those of you who are just tuning in, I’m working on costumes for SDCC 2014, and one of them is a anthropomorphic version of the Eleventh Doctor’s first TARDIS.

Yes.

And for this costume, I still wanted to pay homage to many of the mechanical aspects of this TARDIS that can’t be easily incorporated into a human being costume… Like the awesome TV screen, and the gorgeous time rotor.

This is the time rotor in question.

And here is my finished necklace!

I created this necklace by covering round and oval beads with the clear ones visible. I used brick stitch, which is slowly becoming my favorite stitch to design with. It’s so convenient and visual both in its flat and 3D form.

The beads in question were two fake gold pearls, a hematite oval, and a large goldstone round bead, which was slightly larger than the gold pearls, but not really once it had been covered up.

Because this difference was negligible in the end, as I showed in the last post, I re-brick stitched over the second bauble.

It looks so much better now, and I’m happy with it. Yayayayayayayayay! One project done, five million left to work on!

September 8, 2013

Happily Beading Away!

So… It’s time for an update.

Since the last one, I’ve finished moving into school, gone to a wedding, and went through my first week of classes. Which is why it’s been a while.

But the show must go on!

I’ve been working on my necklace projects at the moment, as I work on getting my serger up and running.

Remember how I was working on my Belle necklace, getting the swoosh bits finished? The ones that look like question marks, without the dot?

Well I’ve got one of the two mostly done! Some strings to handle, of course, but its pretty much finished! Only one more to go, which I’ll likely be working on over the next week.

After finishing these swooshes, I’ll be then designing and creating the smaller versions, which will then allow for the real creation of the necklace!

Then I decided to work on the TARDIS time rotor. I finished making all the baubles, and made the loop to thread it onto a chain.

There’s still something missing from it, and I’m pretty sure that I have figured it out.

The second bauble from the bottom is a bit too small. On the time rotor in the show, one of the spheres is significantly bigger than the rest. I tried to emulate that by encapsulating a slightly bigger round bead, but it doesn’t show nearly enough. I’m going to put another layer of the clear beads on top, which should increase the outward appearance of the bauble, making it more like the actual time rotor.

Should be done shortly, so look out for a final post for the necklace this week!

Also, I finally got a picture of this nice leather purse I purchased before I got home from abroad.

Nice and sweet little cross body bag. If I don’t make another purse option for my Susan costume, this will be the purse for it.

It’s small enough to not detract from the awesomeness of what the costume will be, but large enough that I’ll be able to keep some money and small souvenirs or papers and stuff. It’s even something I’ve been using in real life, because it’s cute, and just enough space to for wallets and such.

I’ll see you soon when I finish the time rotor!

August 18, 2013

It’s back!

After nearly eight and a half months of hiatus, my Etsy shop is back up and running, featuring my handcrafted jewelry, and my hand-illustrated quotes!

I actually set it up a few days ago, but I was slowly adjusting listings and re-listing items, but I finally have fifty or so of my items back up for sale, which allows me to take a step back and breathe a bit.

My shop and this blog won’t have a ton in common, as I made this blog to highlight all of my craft hobbies, and the shop only makes up a bit, but when I have big news that I can’t believe happen with my shop, I’m probably going to share!

Like the day after I reopened my shop when I got an order! Thanks to Steph in New Zealand!

She bought my hand-illustrated Christopher Robin quote.

My excitement was hardly contained, until I realized that I had already packed all my supplies. That was no problem though… Just a little sifting time.

I got the quote off the next day, allowing me to work on finishing the re-listing of the shop!

It’s ready to show off, so I’m going to link to it again here!

August 4, 2013

T Minus One Year

In one year I’ll have a bachelor’s degree, and hopefully some sort of employment.

I’ll have had this blog for a year and four months or so.

I’ll also be going to Comic Con.

Which was the main inspiration for starting this blog in the first place.

I wanted to let you know what is to come in the next year, in a more updated and compact list than I have before.

Costuming:

TARDIS costume – Doctor Who

corded petticoat

bum roll

console skirt

bustled overskirt

underbust corset

high necked sleeveless shirt

sleeveless shrug with dangling pearl “sleeves”

time rotor necklace

hair embellishment of some sort

television monitor purse (which will attach to the corset

spats for my t-straps

Belle – Once Upon A Time

Lace and knit skater dress

embellishment necklace

Queen Susan – Narnia: Prince Caspian

white underdress

blue overdress

potentially a quiver – like object

Claudia – Warehouse 13

finishing off the vest – lining and a new zipper

necklace of some sort

Steampunk base costume – potentially for Halloween. Or life in general.

link

corset waist skirt

link

Short sleeved high necked button down shirt – emerald green? I like this simple version of the drawing

link

short corded petticoat

Sewing:

UFO #2 – Velvet and Lace Vintage Dress

Kaylee inspired dress – Firefly

Ballroom dancing gown

Refashioned Ready To Wears (so I’m willing to be ready to wear them.)

Knitting/Crochet:

Lacy slouchy hats

Thick shawl

Some necklace making, some quote illustrations, some cards, some leatherwork.

June 30, 2013

Whooshes and Swooshes

It’s been a month or two since I updated you on my TARDIS necklace.

It’s not quite my fault. Moving out of a dorm in another country to head home, then leaving nearly immediately to go to an internship practically just as far away. Things get away from you. I’m just happy I managed to remember to pack beading supplies for this leg of my travels.

But, I remembered to pack white thread this time, so I won’t be using clear beads and black thread. It was definitely on my list of things to not forget, in my whirl of packing and unpacking.

I’ve started again, this time with clear beads and white thread, and I’ve covered one faux pearl already. The faux pearls are how I am keeping the shape of the time rotor. I happen to have both silver and gold pearls on hand, but because the costume is mostly gold/warm toned, I’m sticking with the gold ones.

But the title of the post is whooshes and swooshes. We’ve gotten the whoosh, the sound that the TARDIS’s time rotor makes.

Now for the swoosh.

I’m working on part of my Belle necklace, a kind of beading muslin, much like the first time rotor necklace I made.

I already had some 15/0 seed beads on hand, which was my part of the original plan (in my head at least).

I began to work on the pattern I had created, but I realize now in hind sight that perhaps I should have started the planning on paper designed for peyote stitch designs. Because my hand drawings are not even or turning out very swoosh shaped…

I almost feel like I’m making a Pacman block.

I’m planning on printing out a sheet or two of peyote stitch paper, using this handy print out.

I’ll be working on these for the next few days, at least until I receive the thread for my serger! Then I’ll get to work on some of my other costuming and other sewing plans!

June 23, 2013August 19, 2018

Creative Process

Today I’m here to tell you all about my beadweaving process.

Welcome to my business notebook. My business notebook makes up for its lack of, well, business figures with lovely sketches of necklaces. Necklaces that I plan to make in the future.

Like this one! It’s a rough sketch of the necklace I’ll be working with for this post.

So this necklace will have a focal of a square metal worked flower thing. See, my grandmothers gifted me with some old earrings, mostly clip-on ones, but because I have little ears, most of these were too big for me, and the ones that weren’t clips won’t work for me because I’ve never pierced my ears.

My favorite ones are the sparkly diamond ones, but I’m saving those for some very special necklaces. The ones shaped like drops are probably going to be involved in my TARDIS costume.

Here are the beads I brought with me on my study abroad trip. There are definitely enough to make two necklaces, and I brought along a second pendant for that reason! The rectangular bead next to the square focal will be for the other necklace, and a number of the beads will be more involved with that one.

Here’s the plan. I’ll show you pictures of the in progress. My process is more visual than anything else.

Here it is about halfway through. This is still a testing phase, making sure all my plans actually look good in reality, instead of just in my head.

The problem with having a small workplace is that I can only do one project at a time, in the space. In the middle of the necklace making, I had to use the desk for something else, so here is all of the beads and the in-progress necklace packaged up in a small bag!

And here is the finalized necklace. Its a beautiful piece and drapes quite nicely.

When I return home to my other beads and necklaces, I’ll be putting the necklace up for sale! I’ll post the link when I get it up for sale!

April 21, 2013

Beads and Necklaces

If you haven’t noticed from my previous posts on costume plans, I have a minor obsession with jewelry.

I’ve been beading my own jewelry for years now.

Remember the craft packs for creating your own daisy chain jewelry?

Perhaps you don’t, but that’s really what got me started with beading.

I have my own shop for my jewelry, BeadsAndQuotes, where I also sell hand drawn and illustrated quotes. It’s on a break for the moment, until I return stateside in June.

I started out simply making stranded jewelry, mostly just eclectic one stranded necklaces and bracelets.

My favorite by far of my older jewelry is this one, which is well worn. I made it in 10th grade, I think, and honestly I’m surprised it has not broken yet.

Then I graduated into working more with seed beads, the super small and fairly regular in size beads.

And then I became obsessed with beadwoven necklaces. They allow me to use my creativity in a three-dimensional medium. It also puts restraint on my creations, knowing that it should still be able to be worn on a person’s neck.

This one is my master creation. It is my one creation, potentially ever, that turned out nearly exactly as I pictured it. I’ve got the idea drafts to prove it, as well. I modeled it after the sunsets I could see from my dorm room. At the time, I had a room that looked out over a hill. It was partly obstructed by trees, but the magnificence of the sight shone through anyway.

I brought some of my beading supplies with me on my journey, and am planning on making one of the beadwoven necklaces soon to both reduce the number of beading supplies that will return with me, and to add to my collection of necklaces. I’m going to be creating a post to show you how my process of necklace creation works. Any week (or day or month) now, I promise!