Rima Studio

Colorful Crystal Bracelet, Necklace and Earrings.

2009-06-23T15:14:00.007-05:00

Colorful Crystal Bracelet, Necklace and Earrings.

Beginning Wirework class.

No previous experience required.

Description: Learn the first simple steps of wireworking while making this lovely Swarovski crystal and pearl necklace, bracelet and earring set.

Tools needed:

Chain nose pliers

Round nose pliers

Flush cutter.

Tools will be available for purchase at the class

Date:July 10th

Time: 5Pm - 7 PM

Class Fee: $20

Kit Fee: $20 (Sterling Silver or 14K Gold filled wire and findings)

$ 15 ( Artistic wire; base metal findings)

Jewelry making classes - Mequon, Wisconsin

2009-06-23T12:39:00.003-05:00

I will be offering beginning beading, wirework, PMC and BronzClay Classes at my spacious, well equipped home studio in Mequon, WI.

Class schedule coming soon!

Call me (920) 698 0873 or email me rimajewelry@yahoo.com for details
and schedule.

Twisted Tornado Crimp

2009-04-29T21:00:00.002-05:00

LOVE this crimp.
The easiest and most secure crimp ever!
I have every different type of crimp and own every crimping tool ever created.
I really like the magic crimping tool, but nothing can even come close to how easy the twisted tornado crimp is to use and how secure the crimp is.
Use it and you will love it....definitely worth the extra cost.
I have heard there are generic versions out there; but I am not sure how good they are,I have yet to try them.

Minnie

First Annual Mequon - Thiensville Spring Artisan Fair

2009-03-12T14:12:00.002-05:00

Save the date!!!

Friday, April 24th, 2009

10 AM to 8 PM

Logemann Community Center
6100 W. Mequon Rd
Mequon, WI - 53092

We have a group of creative, talented artists and artisans participating in this event !

Here are a few :

Jason O'Connell
Stained Glass sculptures

Bob Mack
Wood Carving

Ritika Bhatia
Exotic shawls and scarves

Vaishali Wagh
Ceramics

Jeanne Selep
Cards, Photography

Aparna Datey
Glass

Sandy Zier
Quilts

Minnie Bhupathi
Jewelry

Raffle proceeds to benefit Logemann Community Center, Middle School Youth Program.

Beautiful Wire Jewelry - Irina Miech

2009-02-08T12:23:00.002-06:00

I visited Eclectica beads last week and picked up a copy of Irina Miech's latest work;
Beautiful Wire Jewelry.

I own practically every book written on wire jewelry and I admit when I picked it off the shelf in the store and leafed though it , I expected to see " more of the same".

I was pleasantly surprised! Just when you think you have seen and tried every single wire technique out there, this book shows you several, yes I mean that, several new techniques and ideas.
The photos are fabulous. The instructions are very clear and very remniscent of Irina's style of teaching. I have taken her PMC certification classes at the Bead Studio in Brookfield, Wisconsin and her teaching style is very to the point, very concise, not much wasteful chatter.

The book is written in the same style and the instructions are a breeze to follow.
The projects are divided into Begnner, Intermediate and Advanced and I found myself wanting to make several items from tbe book.
The last project in the book is a description of an interesting way to wire wrap beach glass and I have to say it is the highlight of the book!

Even if you have several wire wrapping books, go ahead buy this one, you will not regret it!

Minnie

Taking Photographs of Jewelry -MK Digital Direct Photo ebox II

2009-02-05T11:25:00.010-06:00

For all those handmade Jewelry artist out there who are struggling to get a decent photo of their artwork.....this blog post is for you!

Have you tried taking photos of your jewelry in the sun, indoors, under florescent light, used a light tent, made your own light tent and still not too happy with the results?

I went through all this and finally resorted to scanning my photos....this gave me a fairly decent representation of what my handcrafted item looked like, but I was never pleased with the flat somewhat two dimensional feel to the scanned image . The colors were never pleasing and realistic enough.

Then I discovered the Photo ebox II from MK digital direct.

Retailing at $995, it was bit steep in price but DH came through and it made a great "just because" present in late 2008.

It was a breeze to set up. The box is not too heavy, it looks like a microwave , much lighter though.

It took me a little while to understand what all the bits and peices that came with it were for.

Here is what the package contained.

1) The photo ebox II

2) a hanging unit for the camera

3) a mini tripod

4) Black , grey and blue acrylic background plates.

The hanging unit is awesome, I hitched up my Canon rebel Xti to it and it works great, not wobbly or anything.

The tripod is useless, I used my own.

After I had it all set up , I read the "how to set up your digital camera booklet.

This is Ok if you have the cameras that are on the website. My DSLR was not one of them, but still the basic set up steps are the same...and I called customer support with a few questions about setting up the custom white balance and I got a prompt knowledgeable response.

I also found that info in the Camera booklet.(Duh!!)

After I set it up, I took about 1500 photos with various items, various backgrounds and varied settings on my camere and they all looked awful...I was beginning to feel a bit tearful and wanted to send it back.

Gave up and packed it up and put it away in the corner of my studio for a few days....

Then went back to the website and looked at the amazing customer testimonials and photos from people who claimed to be novices and got a bit motivated to take it out and try it again.

When I put the box back on the middle of the kitchen table again, (to groans of annoyance from the kids and questions of "what is that thing, anyway?") I realized that it should work...I mean, it is a box big enough to hold my jewelry and the light is bright, I mean really bright ,but very diffuse and you see no shadows when you place your items inside the box, and I thought it looked like it should work...short of spening $5000 in studio quality photo lights, it is impossible to get a better lit space.

At that point I realized it was my handling of the camera. ( or mishandling rather)!

I'm your average mom who does double duty of being the photographer in the family and I have had pretty decent success at taking nice photos of my kids and hubby and the dogs.

But it is impossible to mess those up with the canon rebel xti, so I never realized that the Manual mode of the camera is such an amazing tool....seriously ..... you can do so much with it!

After a bit of internet surfing and reading other tips on how to photograph jewelry and armed with a little bit of wisdom from here and there, I tried again...and success!!!!

Not immediate, mind you, had some trial and error there as well but overall much more of a satifying experience..

Here are the settings I used:

Camera : Canon Rebel Xti. 10 MP

Lens : Canon L series EF 24 - 105 mm IS USM

I absolutely LOVE this lens and even though it probably sounds amateur, it is my all purpose lens and I have taken thousands of absolutely fabulous vacation pictures with it.

I set the custom WB by taking picture of the inside of the box with the florescent lights on.

Then I set it in Manual mode.

Auto-focus which is usually amazing for this lens, did not work, so I set it to Manual Focus

Then to the highest F - stop F 22 in my camera for greater depth of field.

Then came the shutter speed...adjusting that by increments and taking pictures and checking on my computer to see how they looked took forever...but the display on the camera is just not good enough and the histogram gives you some info but you need to see it on the computer screen.

I finally set the shutter speed at 0.3" for a white background and at 1/4 for black for a necklace and a pair of earrings and I am thrilled with the results.

I am looking forward to replacing all the scanned images on my website with photos taken with the photo ebox II.

Hope this post helps in your quest for that perfect photograph of you wonderful handcrafted item!!!

Bead on a wire - Sharilyn Miller - Book review

2009-01-29T22:05:00.007-06:00

This book is simply amazing...a thorough and comprehensive introduction to wire art for the beginning wireworker and a wonderful resource for a seasoned wire artist.
The pictures are great, the format is easy to follow with step by step photos. (my favorite part)

The book is divided into 2 sections, the first being a compilation of various basic to advanced techniques.
These are great because, once you learn the technique you are free to incorporate it into various creations of your own without being tied down to a project from the book.

Very few books out there go into so much detail about techniques, most just have the basics, how to make an eye pin, wrapped loop and not much more.

The techniques go into vivid descriptions of a variety of links, clasps, ear wires and loops.
There is a also a little blurb about oxidising your jewelry using liver of sulfur. If you haven't tried this before, this book will guide you with easy to follow steps.

None of the techniques involve a torch or soldering, so if you are a purist wireworker or just don't like the hassle of fluxing, soldering, pickling etc...this book is just perfect for you!

The second half of the book has an array of projects; most are based on the techniques described in the first part of the book.
There are also a few little tips that are unique to this part of the book.
The projects are great! I usually find that I can do or want to do only a few projects from each book, but this book has several projects you will want to try. I have made several projects following the instructions and Sharilyn's clear direction makes it a very simple and straight forward process. Even though I had a considerable amount of wireworkign experience and knowledge prior to buying this book, I still felt that I learned several new ways to approach things.
There is a main project idea with detailed instructions and several step by step photos; then at the end there are photos and a brief description of variations on the theme.

The tools and materials list is fairly basic and most wireworkers should have most of the supplies on hand.

The book calls for heavy gauge silver for most of the projects and I absolutely love how substantive each finished item of jewelry looks and feels!

Photos: plentiful, good quality, step-by-step photos for projects and techniques.
Instructions: numbered for easy to follow format. Clear and concise.
Project Quality/uniqueness: you will love the jewelry you make using this resource.
Suitable for : Beginners and experienced wire artists.
New technique that I loved: Fibulas and Abstract pins.
Author's website: http://www.sharilynmiller.com/
Looking forward to her next book!

Minnie Bhupathi

Jewelry Artist
http://www.rimajewelry.com/

Welcome to Rima Studio

2009-01-28T18:31:00.000-06:00

Hi all!

Thanks for stopping by!

This blog is dedicated to all jewelry artists who are passionate about the art of jewelry making.

My next few posts are going to be about something I have always wanted to do...write book reviews, honest, objective ones about the jewelry books that are available right now.
So many times I have been misled by rave reviews of a book and have found myself to be totally disappointed once I actually bought the book!

Feedback is welcome.
If you like what you see...tell a friend!!