The tangle of telephone wire

The wires were free. It was in a box at a garage sale and the person asked "Are you sure you want that?"

It looked like it started in some sort of order, there was a nice fold, a nice twist, but half of it was tangled.

It became tangled worse. I had promised myself years ago that I'd straighten it all out but it was such a huge job. So instead as we needed bits of wire for projects, we found the colors we wanted, and pulled loose a long enough piece. Sometimes pulling from the middle and just cutting twice.

Straightening it all out is like doing a jigsaw puzzle in reverse- in 3D. Finding an end, and untangling just that piece. Sometimes it's short. A few inches. Those are the smaller coils wrapped around a finger or two.

Sometimes it's 5 yards or more. Carefully teasing the whole thing out, working it through the labyrinth turns.

Even when it was a tangle, I could make pretty things from it. But once it's all straight, and I'll be able to see what's there, I'll be able to work with a plan.

It just has to get all untangled and sorted. This bundle of wire life gave me.

Each piece I pull free loosens up the rest, makes it easier to see what's going on in that tangle.

When it's done,the things I make will be for me and my family, or they will be gifts. There is no way I can get what my time is worth in terms of money for this kind of labor.

But I will value the pieces that I make with it. The brightly colored bangles and other things made with something that started as only waste that someone asked "Are you sure you want that?" And if I give a piece to a friend, it will be a friend who will value my time and thought.

Life's lessons are where you find them. Today I'm finding them in the quiet unpuzzling of a tangle of wire.

Wire Sun Mandala to color and life update

This wire sun mandala started with the looped outside- then it got stuck. I liked the shape, but wasn't sure how to fill in the rest. Nothing I tried looked quite right. My husband asked "Are you making it more complicated than it needs to be?"

Exactly. So then I started adding the rings. Decided that looked sort of like complicated wire work and went from there working inwards to create something like a sun.

I hope you enjoy coloring this mandala! You can click the images below for larger versions to print and color.

Small JPG version:

Large transparent PNG version:

So right now I have a lot of craft projects lined up for this month, but some of them are crochet projects that I need to count stitches on because i forgot to keep notes . Other than that, I've been contracted to do another coloring book for Dover!!! YAY! and finishing up a set of stamps for a stamp company. They needed a lot of images in a hurry so most of what I've been drawing as been for them. It's the first time I've had a line of rubber stamps though so I'm terribly excited about the project. 

I'm going to post two hats to Facebook and let my readers choose which pattern gets posted first. Don't Eat the Paste on Facebook

Darn Good Yarn has some limited number of kits available for my sunshine shawl-  Here's the free sunshine shawl pattern

Upcycling Soda Can Flowers

These tiny flowers are so easy to make. My arrangement is in a tiny bottle.

You will need:
A flower punch- I recommend EK Success Paper Shapers Retro Flower Medium Punch
1/16th inch hole punch
Empty and rinsed soda cans
Wire- The wire that I used is also upcycled. It's part of a big bunch of telephone wire that I bought at a garage sale for 50¢- it's a tangled mess of lots of colors. If you don't have telephone wire handy, regular crafting wire, about 18-20 gauge will work.
Round nose pliers

Please exercise caution. This project is not appropriate for children because of the sharp edges of the cans.

Start by cutting open your can. The best way that I've found to do that is to use the tip of household scissors (not good scissors) to poke a hole just under the sloped top of the can. Cut off the top, repeat on the bottom, then cut down the length of the tube carefully. Flatten out the sheet.

Punch flowers from the can. You can get a lot of flowers from one can! Then use the hole punch to punch a small circle from the center of them. Just as they are now they would make fun sequins for decorating things like lamps.

Use the round nose pliers to curve or fold the flowers for a bit of dimension.

Cut 4 inch sections of the wire, and make a small leaf in the wire by making a loop and twisting it. Add a small loop with the round nose pliers a 1/4 inch from the top of the wire. Thread on the flower, and use the round nose pliers to make a spiral with the top of the wire to hold it in place.

Repeat until you have as many flowers as you'd like for your miniature arrangement. Trim them at different lengths to arrange them. For the wire around the neck of the bottle, I wrapped it a few times, twisted, then spiraled the ends around a knitting needle. I'll probably add more spirals to the arrangement to fill it out a bit.

Tuna Can Baskets

These are so very easy to make. If you're doing them with small children, you'll need to drill or punch the holes in the cans and bend the wire. Lots of ornamentation possible. Get out the button box, plastic beads and stickers! These are plain. 

To make them you'll need empty tuna cans that have been washed well. Hopefully you're already using a safety can opener for all your cans. I love mine so much. The kind that breaks the seal instead of cutting the can so there are no sharp edges?

This will also work with wood brie boxes to make more shallow boxes.

To punch the holes in mine, I used a two hole metal punch, but I also tested with my hand operated craft drill and that went through just fine. A motorized rotary tool will work as well, but as much as possible, I prefer using human powered things. 

You will need:

Tuna can

punch, drill or nails to put holes in the can

paper, fabric, ornaments, braid, anything you want to decorate your can with

scissors

1/8 inch hole punch for paper

glue of some sort- heavier fabrics like the pink paisley do best with hot glue, which my daughter also used as a design detail. A bit of glitter makes it shiny, with the paper version I used PVA glue which adhered fairly well. More on the flowered version in just a bit.

12 inch piece of wire- the kind I used is aluminum 17 gauge wire. (see note at bottom)

wire cutters

pliers

cylinder form of some sort, I used a salt container.

If you're using fabric, you'll wrap it around the can and cut it to fit. 

To put the seam in the back and the wire handle in the middle between the front and the back, you'll fold your fabric to find the right spots. Fold it in half, then fold each side down to meet the fold in the middle. Those second folds are where you want the holes for handles. Mark them, and pierce holes. If you're using a two hole metal punch like I did, make sure the holes aren't too far down for the throat of the punch.

If you're using paper, just print my template. It's 300 dpi and 10.5 inches long, so you need to print it at exactly 300 dpi with 1/4 inch margins. Punch the holes and use it as a guide for your scrapbook or hand stamped papers.

Glue the fabric or paper around the can, then use the holes you punched as guides for where to pierce the can using the drill or metal punch. If you're using a nail to punch the holes, you'll want to punch them before you glue the paper or fabric into place. To do that, wrap the fabric or paper around the can and use a permanent marker to mark where the holes are. Punch the holes then very carefully line up the holes on the paper or the fabric and glue it into place.

To make the handle, curve the middle of the wire around your cylinder form, and turn up the ends of the wire at 90 degree angles about 2 inches from the ends. If you want to add beads, now is the time. Don't bead the whole wire though, you'll need about an inch of bare wire on either side.

Now put the handle into the can, and put the ends of the wire through the holes to the outside. Use the pliers to wrap the wire ends around the wire.

Add whatever decorations you'd like, and I used tulle circles leftover from another project to line the baskets when they were done.

Click the images for the full sized versions. I printed out my example on card stock because it's not as sheer as paper. The first image is the template.

Printable! I could fit 4 on one page easily, so I did. And a black and white version for Liberty, or for anyone who likes the scrolly swirly design but wants to color it themselves.

Notes: The flowered version was the easiest. I used Japanese self adhesive cloth for that one that Abigail from Abigail's Crafts How To sent me a few months ago. I've been hoarding it. The fabric punches easily with hand punches and there are some people on Etsy who sell it. Really awesome stuff. The back is marked with a grid in centimeters which makes it easy to cut very straight, then you peel up the back to apply it.

The wire comes on a 250 foot spool. If that's too much for you, you can usually find smaller spools of different kinds of wire at the hardware store, ask the clerk. However, you may find you use it as much as I do. The stuff is perfect for quick wire crowns or to make bubble wands with. It's also made quick sword holders for costumes, and gets used as armatures in dolls. Plus my husband has a habit of asking me every so often if I have wire he can use for something and aluminum costs a lot less than copper. 

Spiral Wire Ear Cuffs

I posted instructions for these spiral wire ear cuffs at Beadwork at BellaOnline.

My wire came from my copper stash, but I stopped and checked the price of copper wire in the same gauge at Rings and Things and found out they charged less than the hardware store I bought my wire at.  *adding copper wire to her next order from Rings and Things*

This is a good thing. My son has learning to work with copper. They carry 14, 16, and 18 gauge which are really nice sizes to work with. 

Turquoise Donut Necklace

I love turquoise. It's the alternate birthstone for December which when my son was born. The greenish blue color of it goes with jeans, to the office and with some dressier clothes. It's down to earth. 

Auntie's Beads sent me these to use for a project. They have a wonderful selection of gemstone beads in all sorts of colors and shapes. The beads used for this project are 

Blue Turquoise Rondelle Bead Strand

Blue Turquoise Medium Nugget Strand with matrix

and the Turquoise Pendant Grab Bag

I also have to admit right now, I have a weakness for grab bags. The wonderful surprises in them. This one had 2 donuts, a pink pendant, a cross, and a blue round pendant. The round pendant has a bail on it that I made from wire for part of another project.

Instructions assume basic wireworking skill like wrapped links and making simple bails.

You will also need chain,  10 inches fine chain and 20 inches of heavier chain, sterling was used in the example. 22 gauge wire, headpins and a clasp. I used a toggle.

Cut 1.5 inches off the heavier chain.

If you take a look at the example above, I attached the clasp in the front of the necklace making it a design element, as well as having it in a place it won't get tangled in my hair. The clasp is attached with wrapped links  to the long chain ends. One side on each end. Then the smaller piece of chain is attached to the jump ring that came with the toggle to the circle part of the toggle. I like the asymmetric look of having the polished smooth rondelles on one side and the nugget on the other.,plus it makes it easier to close the toggle. 

Then the fun part. Make a bail for the donut using the wire and attach it to the end of the 1.5 inch chain. Then cut the 10 inch fine chain into 4 equal length. Cut a piece of wire 2 inches long and turn a small spiral on one end. String on one rondelle, 2 of the chains, 1 rondelle, the other 2 chains, 1 rondelle and turn another small spiral on the other end. This can be modified if the center of your donut is larger. Just add more rondelles to the ends. Thread the 4 chains through the donut. Now, add beads on head pins to the ends of all the chains. Because of the size of the nuggets, they won't pull through. I used nuggets on 2 chains, and rondelles on the other 2. 

The holes on these are a nice size, they aren't drilled impossibly small like a lot of gemstone beads are. Which makes them great for stringing and other projects, but if you find the hole is a little big for the headpin, just put a seed beads or a 2mm round bead on the headpin first.

It's done. A nice necklace with a lot of visual and textural interest that's still very wearable.

More photos and a shawl pin project

The rose was taken today, the eagle a couple days ago. If you click on the images, you'll get the full sized version. You have my permission to use the image for scrapbooking and other non-commercial uses.

I posted a new shawl pin project at Beadwork at BellaOnline. This is what it looks like.