Painting Hummingbird Pendants in 5 Easy Steps by Dry Gulch

In today's blog post, we're excited to show you a little step-by-step about our painting process!  We hand-paint all of our pendants and charms, and then seal with resin for an enamel effect.  Let's get started!

Materials:

♦ A charm or pendant needing some color (any metal will do)
♦ Vintaj Patinas (you can find these on our website at www.drygulch.com)
♦ Resin sealer (we use Ice Resin, found on our website at www.drygulch.com)
♦ Paintbrush
♦ Paper towel
♦ Cup of water
♦ Sanding block (optional, this creates a distressed look)

Step 1:

Vintaj Patinas work just like an acrylic or watercolor paint; they mix well with each other and can be used with water to dilute and extend the paint.  We wanted our hummingbird to look like a traditional Ruby-Throated Hummingbird, so we started by mixing greens, blues and yellows for the body.  Tip: To get the effect of changing colors for the hummingbird body, don't mix the green-blue-yellow on your palette; instead load the tip of the paintbrush with the colors so that they can deposit onto the pendant in layers.

 

 

 

Step 2:

After we added the green to the body,we started to add red and orange for the throat.  This was treated in the same fashion as Step 1; red, yellow and orange were loaded onto the brush so they could deposit in layers onto the throat.

 

Step 3:

Next came the wings and tail base coats.  We used the Bronze metallic Vintaj Patina with lots of water for a more watercolor-like wash over the wings.  I also added some green and black.  We just wanted a translucent feel to the wings, so the more water added to the paint the better for this effect.

Step 4:

Now the fun part; details!  Using white paint and a tiny brush, we added a white eyebrow, belly stripe and tail tips.  A little black was added for the beak and eyes.  Touch-ups were added with more green, yellow and metallic paints.  There's so much color and detail to a humming bird, so working slowly in layers and adding water where a watercolor effect was wanted helps to build that illusion of detail.

Step 5:

Now this is optional, but we love to distress our painted creations for that vintage look.  Take a sanding block and lightly scratch at your hummingbird.  The underlying metal will shine through the paint and bring forth that dash of vintage flair.

That's it! 

Your painted creation is complete!  And dashing as ever, too.  The final step is adding a sealer.  This must be done because the Vintaj Patinas will flake off over time otherwise.  There are several sealers on the market; like Ice Resin or Vintaj Patina Sealer Glaze.  Now you have a bit of hand-painted flair ready to use in your jewelry designs!

Dry Gulch at the Tulsa Vintage Market Days

Dry Gulch Beads & Jewelry had a blast vending at the Tulsa Vintage Market Days this past weekend!  Vintage Market Days is an upscale vintage-inspired indoor/outdoor market featuring original art, antiques, clothing, jewelry, handmade treasures, home décor, outdoor furnishings, consumable yummies, seasonal plantings and a little more.  Dry Gulch not only brought our one-of-a-kind vintage-inspired jewelry creations, we also showcased our brand new lines of accessories and home decor!  We also created custom stamped leather message bracelets and did repair work on-site.  This show was definitely a lot of fun for us!

    

Our Dry Gulch mascot, Dave the Vizsla!  He helped Catherine and the rest of us set up.  He's got his work-glove!  This show was held in Tulsa, Oklahoma, at the Creek Country Fairgrounds.

  

  

All set up and ready and raring to go!

The event was packed!  Besides having our jewelry and beads/findings, we also had new handmade bohemian purses, birdhouses made from scratch, and remodeled shabby chic decor.

We also did custom stamping on pendants and leather bracelets!

It was a super fun time to be had by all.  Thank you to the gals at at Vintage Market Days for having us, and thank you to all the customers who came to see us!  We can't wait for the next one!

The Dry Gulch March Color Challenge

Design with color and inspire your creativity!

Welcome to the

Dry Gulch Color Design Challenge!

Every month Dry Gulch Beads and Jewelry will be hosting a challenge for creative artisans everywhere. 
Be inspired and unleash your creative talents!  What will you create?

 

{ spring tones }

  Use our colors to inspire your creativity!  Post your project using the color palette above.  Your design will be eligible to win either a $50 gift certificate or a $25 gift certificate to Dry Gulch Beads.
 
Anything can be created for this challenge, including;  finished jewelry pieces, headbands, wearable pendants/pins, handmade cards, lampwork beads, seed-bead art, sewing design, metal-smithing/art, paper crafting, clothing/fiber art, leather work, painting, even your favorite culinary delights (like cupcakes), etc.  Your project must be created newly and specifically for our current monthly challenge.  The sky is the limit!  Show us how creative you are with our color palette.
 
For this challenge, Dry Gulch is offering a $50 gift certificate to the Winner and a $25 gift certificate prize to the Runner-up.  The judges will be looking for adherence to the color palette, creativity of the project’s design and effort.  You may purchase and use Dry Gulch components in your project, but that is not a requirement to win.
 
Your judges will be the 3 generations of women who create at Dry Gulch Beads and Jewelry.  The judges may create and post their own visions of the monthly color palette also, but for inspiration and presentation only.
We’ll publish each created work on Facebook and here on this challenge page.  Add your photo in the comments on our Color Design Challenge Facebook Event or email us your photo to custserv@drygulch.com.  When uploading, you may add a description of your work.  If also Facebooking and/or blogging your Dry Gulch Color Design project, please add a link to the Challenge on your page.
 
Entries for the Dry Gulch Color Design Challenge may be turned in from now until midnight CST, Tuesday, March 31, 2015.

2015 Bead Peeps Swap N Hop Partner Teaser

We've mailed off our package of goodies to our partner in the 2015 Swap N Hop hosted by Linda at FromtheBeadBoard blog.  Our partner is ZestyFrog aka Annica, and we're shipping all the way to the Finland/Sweden area.  Below is the sneak peek of what we're sending her! 

2015 Bead Peeps Swap N Hop Partner Intro

Say hello to ZestyFrog, aka Annica Larsson.  She is our partner for the 2015 Bead Peeps Swap N Hop, and we are excited to have her!  

Annica blogs over at at zestyfrog.wordpress.com, and creates beautiful glazed clay beads.  Her specialty is metal clay and ceramic clay.  Her style is earthy and textured, and using techniques like carving and sculpting, her components have an organic aesthetic.  

• Annica currently lives on the island of Åland, an archipelago just off the coast of Sweden and Finland.

• She's been seriously making beads and jewelry for 10 years.

• She has an Etsy site and a Facebook business page.

• Her business name ZestyFrog was inspired by her love of frogs.  Having the symbol for her shop be a zesty frog with a love for life was something that she really liked!

We're very excited to be working with Annica during this Blog Hop, and we can't wait to blog about what we're sending her.  It's going to be a blast!

Quartz and Metal Leather Bracelets by Dry Gulch

Hi all!  This is Catherine here from Dry Gulch Beads & Jewelry!  In between moving our store to our new warehouse, we filled out a custom-order too!  Our client, the fabulous Allisson, an instructor at our favorite yoga place in Bentonville, Arkansas (Yoga Story!) commissioned us to make 20 stamped disc and long leather bracelets that say "Namaste."  After a few trial runs, I started stamping and photographed the creative process.  Enjoy!

I started with thick copper and nickel metal, using our disc-cutter I cut circles and then little circles out of the big circles.  After that came the letter stamps for Namaste.

Next up was the leather wraps.  I used a dark brown soft suede strap, 36 inches long, double looped onto the ring.  This length makes it so these pieces can be worn as multi-wrapped bracelets and anklets, or long necklaces.  I also drilled a hole into the top of the rings so I could hang a crystal.

Now comes the sparkly part!  These rock crystals are hand-faceted quartz drops!  These lovely dangles add the perfect amount of flair and organicness to these bracelets.  Quartz is said to have numerous metaphysical properties.  In ancient Japan, it was believed quartz was formed from the breath of white dragons, the stone thus gave its wearer great power and clarity.  The word Namaste is a traditional greeting/goodbye used in yoga, and means "I honor you" or "I honor myself".  So, while the quartz may bring confidence and positive energy to the wearer, also Namaste can bring humbleness and friendliness.

The finished bracelets!  Above shows them as they could be worn long, and below what they look like on a wrist.

These bracelets were definitely a blast to make!  I loved putting all of the elements together, and especially adding the quartz crystals.  These bracelets are custom, and can be made on request!  They are $15.  Thank you for reading, and namaste!

The Dry Gulch February Color Challenge

Design with color and inspire your creativity!

Welcome to the

Dry Gulch Color Design Challenge!

Every month Dry Gulch Beads and Jewelry will be hosting a challenge for creative artisans everywhere.  Be inspired and unleash your creative talents!  What will you create?


{ pink scooped }

Use our colors to inspire your creativity!  Post your project using the color palette above.  Your design will be eligible to win either a $50 gift certificate or a $25 gift certificate to Dry Gulch Beads.
 
Anything can be created for this challenge, including;  finished jewelry pieces, headbands, wearable pendants/pins, handmade cards, lampwork beads, seed-bead art, sewing design, metal-smithing/art, paper crafting, clothing/fiber art, leather work, painting, even your favorite culinary delights (like cupcakes), etc.  Your project must be created newly and specifically for our current monthly challenge.  The sky is the limit!  Show us how creative you are with our color palette.
 
For this challenge, Dry Gulch is offering a $50 gift certificate to the Winner and a $25 gift certificate prize to the Runner-up.  The judges will be looking for adherence to the color palette, creativity of the project’s design and effort.  You may purchase and use Dry Gulch components in your project, but that is not a requirement to win.
 
Your judges will be the 3 generations of women who create at Dry Gulch Beads and Jewelry.  The judges may create and post their own visions of the monthly color palette also, but for inspiration and presentation only.We’ll publish each created work on Facebook and here on this challenge page.  Add your photo in the comments on our Color Design Challenge Facebook Event or email us your photo to custserv@drygulch.com.  When uploading, you may add a description of your work.  If also Facebooking and/or blogging your Dry Gulch Color Design project, please add a link to the Challenge on your page.
 
Entries for the Dry Gulch Color Design Challenge may be turned in from now until midnight CST, Saturday, February 28, 2015.

The 2015 Bead Peeps Swap N' Hop!

Welcome to Part 1 of a series of blogs made specifically for the 2015 Bead Peeps Swap N' Hop!  We joined this fabulous event very recently, and would like to start off showing y'all what we do in Dry Gulch Beads and Jewelry.  In this blog, we'll be talking a little bit about us and how we got started, and then we'll showcase some of the jewelry we create.  Sit back and enjoy the ride!

1. Why or how did you get started making jewelry?

Dry Gulch Beads and Jewelry is a family-owned business having three generations of women designing and creating beautiful jewelry to be worn casually, professionally and formally. We are Deborah (Grandma), Jennifer (Mama), Catherine and Gianna (Cat and Bean - Granddaughters). Not only have we had a “brick & mortar” store located in Joplin, MO. for the past 10 years, but we also have a retail/wholesale website with clients and customers from around the world. We carry a large selection of crystals, beads, findings, chain and tools etc. and our finished jewelry is also sold in several boutiques. We also create torch-fired lampwork beads, hand-cut and stamped metal, painted and enameled components and many other custom pieces. We have a love of “vintage” and often incorporate that into much of our jewelry. We are a “work in progress”.

(left to top to right to bottom) Gianna, Jennifer, Dave, Deborah, Catherine

2. What style(s) of jewelry do you like to make?

Because there are four of us, our jewelry has a really big range of styles!  We create earrings, necklaces and bracelets, and occasional odds and ends like bookmarks and key-chains.  We love vintage and antique styles and often reuse vintage jewelry components in our works.  We also love mixed media, and incorporate leather, wire, metalsmithing, paper, paint/enamel and fibers in our work.  Deborah's works tend to be bohemian in style, Jennifer loves to break down and re-imagine vintage jewelry, Gianna creates intricate Victorian-inspired works and I (Cat) enjoy metalsmithing and playing with leather. 

Mixed media Faith Bird Trio necklace by Deborah

3. What materials do you prefer to use (and which ones do you avoid)?

We don't really shy away from odd materials!  The older the materials the better, and hand-fabricating from start to finish like in metal-smithing is a challenge we love tackling.

Seed bead earrings by Gianna

4. What techniques do you prefer (and are there any you don't like)?

We love all techniques!  We enjoy metalsmithing, leather working, lampworking, crocheting, and seed beading.  One of the things we really haven't tried is polymer clay, but we will remedy that soon!

Mixed media necklace by Jennifer

5. What colors do you use most, and which do you run screaming from?

Also the same answer as #4, we don't shy away from any color in particular.  While we tend towards the vintage styles, which includes colors like pastels and neutrals, we also love to break out of the box and create with colorful and bright palettes too!

Leather message bracelets by Catherine and Deborah