Repost (Originally July 3, 2009)
Another wonderful book I’ve come across at the library is The New Jewelry: Contemporary Materials & Techniques by Carles Codina. This whole ‘borrowing’ books concept is great! Okay, so I didn’t exactly run across it. I looked it up on the online catalog and ordered it to be delivered to my branch from one half an hour away.
This book is like a buffet… the author covers a whole bunch of different techniques and materials, including projects with complete tutorials. There are three main divisions: ‘Techniques with unconventional materials’ (which includes wood, paper, plastic & resin), ‘Creative Resources’ (things which most of us will only see in our dreams, like Computer Aided Designed jewelry and quick prototyping machines) and “Step by Step” (everyone’s favorite!). He also includes a brief glossary for reference. Of course, the photography is first class and the objects being photographed aren’t too shabby either! The jewelry depicted is modern, with bold, innovative shapes and great color.
Like I hope everyone already knows, I love to try new crafty stuff. There are things I haven’t tried and the reason is that they usually require more knowledge than what I currently posses or a specialized set of tools or a dirty-able work area.
I have always been curious about resin, but have never tried it because I didn’t know much about the subject, and didn’t want to clean up a big mess afterwards. This book gives an excellent introduction, tips with working with the material and for your workspace and presents projects and ideas for you to experiment with.
Once again, this is a book that I’d definitely buy… not only is it chock-full of eye candy, but it’s full of great information.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Monday, June 28, 2010
How To Project: Crazy Colors Card on CutOut+Keep
Just wanted to share some of my projects that I’ve posted up at CutOut+Keep! This first project, the Crazy Colors Card was born out of OCD’ness and was sent to the bf. There’s a full walk-through complete with pictures up at the site… hope you like!
Crazy Colors Card
Crazy Colors Card
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Lemon Creme Sandwich Cookies
My boyfriend’s favorite cookies…
Ingredients:
Cookies:
1 1/2 cups of flour, sifted
1 1/2 sticks of unsalted butter, cut into small pieces and chilled
1 tablespoon chilled lemon juice
1 tablespoon grated lemon zest
1 large egg white, beaten until slightly frothy
Sugar, for sprinkling
Lemon filling:
1/2 stick unsalted butter, soft
3/4 cup confectioner’s sugar, sifted
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon lemon juice
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
Preheat oven to 375 degrees, with a rack in the middle.
Place the flour into a bowl, and cut in the butter pieces, using the same method as biscuits. You want the butter pieces to be about pea size, covered in flour. It does not have to be perfect. You can also do this in a food processor or stand mixer.
Add the lemon juice and the water, a little at a time, while mixing. Stop mixing as soon as the mixture comes together.
Divide the dough into two balls and chill in the refrigerator for 20 minutes.
On a floured surface roll out the dough to a maximum thickness of 1/8. (Personally, I will roll it out the thinnest I can and still move the cookies, because I like cookies with more filling than dough).
Cut out the cookies with a 2″ cutter and transfer to a baking sheet. Use a pastry brush (or clean hands) to brush each cookie with the egg white, and then sprinkle granulated sugar over it. (The dough does NOT have sugar, so don’t be skimpy; the sugar also gives them a nice crunch).
Bake for 9-12 minutes, or just until the bottoms begin to gold. Remove sheet from oven, let cool 5 minutes and remove cookies to cooling rack (or dish, if you don’t have a rack).
You can prepare the filling while they bake or while they cool: Combine all ingredients and mix until smooth. I like to refrigerate it before assembling the cookies because it lets me have a thicker filling.
Do not assemble the cookies until everything is cool; if the cookies are still warm they will melt the butter in the filling, leaving you with a wimpy-filled cookie and a big mess. Use the fridge if you have to (but don’t tell anyone I told you that).
To assemble take one cookie, spread the filling on the underside and stick on another cookie, with the underside towards the filling. Store in an airtight container, in the fridge.
Ingredients:
Cookies:
1 1/2 cups of flour, sifted
1 1/2 sticks of unsalted butter, cut into small pieces and chilled
1 tablespoon chilled lemon juice
1 tablespoon grated lemon zest
1 large egg white, beaten until slightly frothy
Sugar, for sprinkling
Lemon filling:
1/2 stick unsalted butter, soft
3/4 cup confectioner’s sugar, sifted
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon lemon juice
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
Preheat oven to 375 degrees, with a rack in the middle.
Place the flour into a bowl, and cut in the butter pieces, using the same method as biscuits. You want the butter pieces to be about pea size, covered in flour. It does not have to be perfect. You can also do this in a food processor or stand mixer.
Add the lemon juice and the water, a little at a time, while mixing. Stop mixing as soon as the mixture comes together.
Divide the dough into two balls and chill in the refrigerator for 20 minutes.
On a floured surface roll out the dough to a maximum thickness of 1/8. (Personally, I will roll it out the thinnest I can and still move the cookies, because I like cookies with more filling than dough).
Cut out the cookies with a 2″ cutter and transfer to a baking sheet. Use a pastry brush (or clean hands) to brush each cookie with the egg white, and then sprinkle granulated sugar over it. (The dough does NOT have sugar, so don’t be skimpy; the sugar also gives them a nice crunch).
Bake for 9-12 minutes, or just until the bottoms begin to gold. Remove sheet from oven, let cool 5 minutes and remove cookies to cooling rack (or dish, if you don’t have a rack).
You can prepare the filling while they bake or while they cool: Combine all ingredients and mix until smooth. I like to refrigerate it before assembling the cookies because it lets me have a thicker filling.
Do not assemble the cookies until everything is cool; if the cookies are still warm they will melt the butter in the filling, leaving you with a wimpy-filled cookie and a big mess. Use the fridge if you have to (but don’t tell anyone I told you that).
To assemble take one cookie, spread the filling on the underside and stick on another cookie, with the underside towards the filling. Store in an airtight container, in the fridge.
Monday, June 21, 2010
New Blog!
Hello everyone! I'm moving my blog to this new one hosted by Blogger. Hopefully it'll be easier to use and give me more control over it, as well as being a better experience for the readers (the old one had scrolling problems!). I'll be re-posting some of the old stuff, and adding new stuff. I've decided to include other aspects of my life, not just jewelry, so you'll be seeing a lot of recipes, pictures from trips I've taken, as well as other craft-things that aren't necessarily jewelry. Hope you enjoy!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)