Katalina Jewelry: road trip

Thursday, June 7, 2012

On The Road Again!

Those of you who check in on my blog every once in a while might remember this mixed media necklace I created last year called

ROAD TRIP

I created it from - what would be considered - unusual jewelry components. You can find out what those components are

and the process behind the creative journey here.

I'm thrilled to say that somewhere along the roadside

this unique piece was picked up and hitched a ride into the

Summer Issue of Belle Armoire Jewelry.

This issue is packed full of interesting jewelry articles including one by my good friend, Cat Kerr. Cat and her sister collaborated together to create a heartfelt necklace called

"A Sister's Bond"

Linked to: Six Sisters' Stuff: Strut Your Stuff Saturday

Thanks for stopping by!

Friday, October 14, 2011

Over the past several years the wonderful world of jewelry has been expanding its boundaries. Creating jewelry from found objects seems to be the new trend. One benefit of designing jewelry this way is that each item created is a completely unique piece loaded with character and most likely will never be exactly replicated. I love reusing old discarded objects - junk so to speak - and perusing through thrift stores, looking at unlikely items and wondering how I can transform them into wearable art .

I named this piece Road Trip. I think that's appropriate for a couple of reasons. First (and most obvious)...it reminds me of an old clunky pickup that has traveled many miles of road over its long, tough and dependable life. Second...it was my first mixed media jewelry creation and it represents a new journey and direction that I look forward to exploring.

This road trip began with the following thrift store finds:

denim overalls, a gauge, and old cash register buttons from a mechanics garage

The gauge was a little hard to disassemble. I removed the casing and discovered that the metal face was riveted to the lower metal piece. When I asked Hubby to cut it apart for me he replied, as any man would, "You ruined a perfectly good gauge!"

Once all the parts and pieces were disassembled, it was time to make them look like they had spent years out on the road. I added some "rust" with brown acrylic paint.

It looked good but still not quite right. It was perfect though, once I added a layer

of metallic copper spray paint.

I put all the bits and pieces together and filled the gauge/bezel with Ice resin. I used packing tape to back the buckle/clasp thingy, filled it with resin and added the gas, oil and chg buttons. After the resin was set, I added a zipper (from the same pair of overalls).