Lynne Merchant – Ornamento

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Bohemian Style Bracelets

By: ornamento.blog September 10, 2015September 1, 2015

Art, Bohemian style, history, Jewelry Making Tutorialbohemian style, Jewelry Making, Lynne Merchant, Tutorial2 Comments

I learn more stuff from blogging than I ever would have guessed. Case in point: I am obsessed with the trendy bohemian style. I know that the region known as Bohemia is in Central Europe. I know that people labeled “bohemian” in this country are supposed to be individualistic, eccentric, artsy-fartsy and have a flamboyant sense of style.

What I did not know is that the hippy, beatnik bohemians got the name from the French who associated with this type of personality and style with Gypsies to wit, the “roving Romani people they called “bohemians” because they were believed to have arrived from Bohemia.” (Think La boheme). We don’t know there the Romani people originated, but medieval French referred to the Romanies as Egyptiens from which we get the English word Gypsy.

So, to recap, a real Bohemian is likely to be Czech. An individualistic, eccentric, artsy-fartsy person with a flamboyant sense of style is a bohemian and would have probably been known as a romani (small “r” because not referring to an ethnic group)if people had been more familiar with geography. But hey! There have been periods in European history where people went to bed in one country and woke up in another. (If they were lucky enough to wake up. Watch this video to see what I mean.)

I am fascinated with bohemian-style jewelry and the opportunities it gives for layering chains and ribbon and cloth and metal with charms, beads and Milagros. For these bracelets I have pulled out some ceramic beads I made years ago and have combined them with lamp worked and polymer beads and other components I have had lying around waiting to be used.

You can add as much or as little wire work as your like and make custom clasps that integrate nicely with the designs. For a tutorial on making the clasps you see in these bracelets press here.

And last but not least, two links to share: my favorite blog for all things bohemian style, ThatBohemianGirl. And here’s a find! Watch Lynne Merchant demonstrate how to make a perfect wire spiral here.

Wired and Inspired!

By: ornamento.blog March 26, 2015March 27, 2015

Art, links to free tutorials, Wire WorkingArt, Connie Fox, free wire tutorial, Lynne Merchant, Sharilyn Miller, Wireworking tutorial3 Comments

I taught a wire class at for first Greater Philadelphia Polymer Artists Meetup on March 15. I was actually substituting for Olivia Surratt, who developed the class, chose the tools and materials, and provided excellent handouts (illustrated by Trish Pfaff) for the students. I have learned a great deal about wire working from Olivia and also from Beading Yoda Jeri Schatz who introduced me to working with a torch and fine silver wire. But I have not taken any other classes and am basically self taught. And I know that not everyone has access to good teachers or the time or money to invest in a class. So here are links to information and tutorials I have found helpful. Wig Jig University has hundreds of free wire tutorials. This is the site I turned to when I became interested in working with wire. Connie Fox is another person whose web site I turned to again and again when I first started. She does not do much wire work anymore, so the gallery on her web site does not have a lot of examples. Fortunately, you can see several examples on Pinterest here and here. Along with the wire skills tutorials on her web site, you can check out her Garden Bangle Tutorial on Polymer Clay Central. Sharilyn Miller is another one of my favorites. Check out her free tutorials here. Miller has made four DVDs that are well worth the investment. (I wrote about the Ethnic Style DVD in an earlier post.). The other titles in the series are Tribal Treasures, Rings of Beauty and Bohemian Bangles. Each DVD contains more than three hours of information. You can purchase them here. Be sure to check out her blog here. Wubbers, the people who keep designing new wireworking tools that you never knew you needed until you tried them, have set up Wubbers University. You have to register for the site, but it is so full of free information that it’s totally worth it. Connie Fox, Sharilyn Miller and Olivia Surratt all studied with Lynne Merchant whose work is probably most responsible for the popularity of wire art jewelry today. See examples of Merchant’s work here and here. And watch this video of her demonstrating how to make a spiral.