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Jewelry people!
I found this Japanese kanzashi site, which seems to be someone's personal site where she displays (and maybe sells) kanzashi she makes. She includes a lot of photos of each piece, sometimes of the back, which is REALLY NICE so I can see the construction. :D
The actual question: On some of them, she attaches small beaded dangly things with a little clasp. (hook clasp thing: look here and click on the far right picture for an enlargement.) If I wanted to buy similar components for the dangly parts, what do I get? I haven't spent a whole lot of time exploring the chain/ring section of jewelry so I'm not sure if those little components are sold separately, in chains, or if they're those long stick things I see that need to be formed into rings myself. :/ (I also like the ones with little butterfly danglies on the ends. XD)
I'm hoping to hit the craft store today (preferably at lunch, since I didn't pack mine and have to go out) to get a few components to experiment with and hope to have for A-Kon next weekend, to see how they do.
ETA: Especially because Hobby Lobby has metal jewelry findings 50% off this week! XD
The actual question: On some of them, she attaches small beaded dangly things with a little clasp. (hook clasp thing: look here and click on the far right picture for an enlargement.) If I wanted to buy similar components for the dangly parts, what do I get? I haven't spent a whole lot of time exploring the chain/ring section of jewelry so I'm not sure if those little components are sold separately, in chains, or if they're those long stick things I see that need to be formed into rings myself. :/ (I also like the ones with little butterfly danglies on the ends. XD)
I'm hoping to hit the craft store today (preferably at lunch, since I didn't pack mine and have to go out) to get a few components to experiment with and hope to have for A-Kon next weekend, to see how they do.
ETA: Especially because Hobby Lobby has metal jewelry findings 50% off this week! XD
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:)
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Also, http://firemountaingems.com/ > Hobby Lobby if you get into this. And if you don't already have them, make sure you get pliers that are round and don't have stripes or ridges (like I did back when I started making jewelry :P). My mother-in-law says pliers from the hardware store are better-made for the same price as the lousy ones sold in the jewelry section at Hobby Lobby et al. (You know, because they're for GIRLS :P)
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Well, there are a couple more kinds of pliers that are useful for the chain things--I forget which ones. Brain no worky right now (pre-Fanime houseguest cleaning panic). Fire Mountain may have a howto page.
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Along with the clasps, once you pick whether it's going to be gold or silvertone you need headpins for the beads on the end, eyepins for the ones in the middle (or you can shape your own from wire, but having precut bits with one formed loop already saves a lot of time), jump rings, and the beads of course. Along with the pliers you already have, I highly recommend adding a little jump ring tool like this (http://www.instructables.com/id/Make_a_jump_ring_tool/) or this (http://www.suncountrygems.com/Jewelry%20Making%20Supplies.html#1107) -- you wear it like a ring and use it to hold one end of the ring while opening/closing it with your pliers, it's a much more secure grip and better leverage than trying to hold the tiny rings in your hands and more efficient than having to use two sets of pliers. If your pliers tend to mar the metal findings, you may also want to get a jar of plastic dip to coat the tips -- the baby-food-size jars sold in craft/bead stores are way overpriced compared to the hardware store versions, but the stuff does dry out and go bad, so it doesn't make sense to get the big jars unless you can pass it along to someone.
(Oh, and if you've been wanting to see more examples of kanzashi backs and finishing, I can take pictures of some I got from a Japanese eBay store last year...)
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(Oh, and if you've been wanting to see more examples of kanzashi backs and finishing, I can take pictures of some I got from a Japanese eBay store last year...)
Yes please! :D
I also every now and then remember your offer of buttons and things from months ago and keep intending to go back and look at the message, but you see how successful I've been with that. XD
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And here are the kanzashi pics -- click though for bigger versions:
The gap in the petals in front are finished much like you've been doing with some of your kanzashi, there's a little metal filigree piece topped with a bead. On the backs, the centers are covered with a sort of star-shaped piece of heavy foiled paper/very light cardboard, cut and folded and positioned so that the tips of the "star" show from the front like shiny silver-foil sepals peeking out behind the flower. The wires are all wrapped in thin white paper -- I suspect they might have been wrapped before cutting/construction because it's such a thin, even layer with none of the tackiness or variable bulk I'm used to seeing from corsages and flower arrangements covered after-the-fact with florist's tape. The clippy barrettes have a long metal piece on the top for attaching wires, and then the bits where all the wires join and are attached to the barrettes is tightly wrapped with glossy white thread, glued in place at the ends.
As for the bead-and-chain dangles on the ones you're looking at, Fire Mountain Gems has some helpful guides -- simple loops (http://www.firemountaingems.com/beading_howtos/beading_projects.asp?docid=691E&doccat=tutorials), opening a jump ring (http://www.firemountaingems.com/beading_howtos/beading_projects.asp?docid=652U&doccat=tutorials) and using a jumpring tool (http://www.firemountaingems.com/beading_howtos/beading_projects.asp?docid=690S&doccat=tutorials) might help here. If you're working with pre-shaped headpins and eyepins, you can skip a step in the "simple loop" directions since one end of the wire is already formed into a loop or stopper head, so you can slide a bead right on and only have to cut and loop the remaining straight end. Then you can attach the bead-and-loopy-wire assemblies to each other and the clasp with jump rings.
And hee, no worries -- I still have all the buttons and stones bagged up around here somewhere if you still want 'em!
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I wonder how those particular styles of kanzashi work with modern hairstyles?
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I may have to see if any of the people I know in Japan right now can find some kanzashi suppliers - Zipangu-Treasures, who I use, doesn't have the clips with pins like yours, but ones with flat round places to glue them on, and being able to wire them on would be more secure. Right now, I mostly use alligator-clip types, which seem to be the most popular.
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I haven't seen flexi-clips like these with the separate little "tongue" for wire attachment anywhere, but Fire Mountain Gems has a few different sizes of similar clips with holes on the end (http://www.firemountaingems.com/shopping.asp?skw=KWFNBARRETTES) that you could sew or twist wires through easily.
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I've just made a beaded dangly for a comb - am about to download the pics from my camera and post them. :D It's got its warts, but it's pretty damn good for a first try, I say! XD
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