Recyling, Crafty Style

This is something I've done a handful of times over the years and found myself needing to do it again, only this time I thought - why not make a blog post out of it?

Behold...  (haha)


As I may have mentioned before, I'm all about maximizing my supplies and wringing all the use I can out of them.

One group of items I've been making for over 12 years now are cross necklaces made out of horseshoe nails.
 

Historically, they have actually been my best seller and I've given away as many or more of them over the years too.  I learned how to make them from one of those "assemble jewelry at home and get rich" type of companies.  The whole assemble-at-home-and-send-to-them-to-get-paid thing didn't work out like they had promised, no big surprise there I guess, but I also received the rights to sell them wherever and however I wanted to.  So that's the direction I headed off into.  I've made a ton of them over the years.

Every now and then I decide to recycle some of them, that is stripping off the wire and changing colors.  The nails are the hardest supply to find for the whole deal - they are actually pony nails - so I have reused several sets of nails over the years, stripping off old wire and replacing it with new.

One of the most popular color combinations that I've come up with is one that I call "Buckskin Copper".  (inspired by buckskin colored horses, of course)

Today I decided to do a small restock my inventory of this color, after selling a couple and receiving an inquiry on more of them.  I opted to recycle the nails from a few of my personal necklaces, converting them to Buckskin Copper crosses.

I started with three of my patriotic Red, White, and Blue necklaces that I've worn over the years.

First, I gather the supplies and tools, new wire...

...and the needed tools.

First step is to cut off the necklace cords, leaving just the crosses.

The colored wire here is in pretty rough shape after a lot of use - the white is dingy, the colors are faded and chipped.  They've had a rough life, each being worn 24/7 for a long time, and then bouncing around in a drawer together.  These crosses are at least 10 years old.

Then comes disassembly, unwinding all the wires and being left with a pile of nails and crusty wire.

The wire is thrown out, there's just no saving that... and the nails will be used to make new crosses. 

After stripping the wire off, it's time to prep them, sanding off any old clear coat, rust, etc.  Clear coat applied when they are new prevents rust on the nails, but after so many years it can be worn off.  New nails don't need prep, but after so long, these nails were a bit rough.  Nothing a little sanding can't fix.  As with a lot of things, prep work is so important to the finished product!

New wires, measured, cut, and ready to put on:

A short time later, three shiny brand new Buckskin Copper crosses!

 After wire wrapping, they will be clear coated to protect the wire and nails.  When dry (tomorrow), they'll be strung onto new necklace cords.  Finally, they will be ready to ship out!

I really like reusing as many craft supplies as I can and this is a neat way I've come up with to recycle some of my old cross necklaces into new ones.

We're Not in Kansas Anymore

Today is our third straight day of high winds.  I'm waiting for the house to be swept away at any moment and go swirling off to Oz.  I haven't been able to get much of anything done outside of the house, so I've been busy listing items for sale.  I'm slowly working on a plan for the three craft sites that I belong to, as far as what to list where.  I think I've got a plan figured out.

I took more pictures yesterday of a batch of bookmarks I'd missed.  I also took pictures of my new original Nail Necklace designs and used the pictures to design a large avatar picture for my Nail Necklace Facebook fan page.

Here is the avatar pic I put together (complete with sneak peak of the new necklaces!) :

This is the link to the Nail Necklace FB page if you'd like to check it out:

Nail Necklace on Facebook

I was contacted tonight through my Nail Necklace online store about designing a cross for a special cause.  I hate to be so secretive (like I kinda was about the Spanish Mustang resin horse a couple days ago!) but I'm not even sure myself what the details are on this yet either.  I've been invitied to call the gal tomorrow to discuss it.  I'm looking forward to talking with her.  From what I've learned so far, this is a very worthy cause and I'd love to work on a piece for it.  As before, I'll reveal more details as I know them myself.

For now I'm going to get back to listing some things as I listen to the wind roar outside.  I wonder when it's going to let up??

New Designs!

I've had the idea rattling around in my head for a week or so... Why don't I start playing around with some horseshoe nails and see if I can come up with some new necklace designs? The Disciple's Cross design has been very popular over the years. Lately though, I've been toying around with the idea to make some brand new, original pendant designs - still using the horseshoe nails and colored wire as a base. I think those materials are so cool together - and apparently so do a lot of other people! *wink*

Anyway, I'm pleased to report that between last night and this morning, I've created not one, not two, but THREE original horseshoe nail necklace designs! I'm very pleased with how they have turned out - and I'm not done yet. I've got ideas for possibly two or three more and who knows what else might come to mind. I'm not sure what the next step is. I'm thinking I may make a few of each in different colors and see if there is any interest in them.

We created the Nail Necklace site to sell the Disciple's Cross design, but now I think Nail Necklace will become its own product line!

I'm very excited!! :)

Uploading frenzy

I had a sale this morning at the online Nail Necklace store so that was encouraging! Someone bought two cross necklaces. I've been in an uploading frenzy today, putting more and more items up in the store.

I've also started populating my Etsy shop at long last. Here is the URL:

HorseTender on Etsy

I've reading posts and replying to several of them in the Etsy forums. I've also been surfing around, checking out some of the other shops there. It's amazing to see the items that some people create!

I'm still chomping at the bit to start on some new work, but I'm trying to hold myself to the "deal" I made - to get everything I have done so far uploaded to the stores and the dusty Studio site. I think putting pictures on the Studio site will be the most time intensive, but it's got to be done!

Well, I'd better get back to work!

Pictures, pictures!

I spent yesterday in a photo taking frenzy. I've never been quite happy with pictures I've taken of my cross necklaces - and I've tried taking a BUNCH of them over the years.

I went to work in the photo tent and after a few more failures, I think I finally figured out the magic formula for capturing my crosses in pictures!



I'm really starting to like my photo set up!

After the marathon of dreamcatcher creating and the marathon of photo taking, I'm chomping at the bit to move onto another project. However, I've a deal with my A.D.D. crazy self. I'm going to try really hard not to lose myself in another creative pursuit until I have the pictures of all of the dreamcatchers and crosses firmly uploaded to my online store! I'd like to get them all uploaded to the Galleries on my Studio site as well, and maybe even put into my Etsy shop for good measure, but we'll see...

Right now I'd better get back to uploading items at the store!

Oh and by the way, here is the link to my online store:

Nail Necklace - Online Store

For now all of the items from Horse Tender Studio will be hosted at my Nail Necklace store. Nail Necklace is the first online store that I set up. It has been the sales location for my cross necklaces. Until I have TIME to create another store for the Studio, the majority of Horse Tender Studio sales will go through Nail Necklace.