Week 4-Ayudhia Bangle

The tutorial for this bracelet is by Achmad Irfan, Borneo Pahlevi on Jewelrylessons.com. I bought this tutorial because I thought it was one of the most beautiful bracelets I'd ever seen. My plan was to make it in silver with a silver druzy center. But since there is almost an ounce of metal in this, I thought I'd better try it out in copper first and I'm so glad I did. First because my weaving needed some practice. It got better as I went along and you can tell by comparing the two sides. Secondly, the tutorial as written turned out too big for me so now I'll know to shorten it when I make it again. This one probably took me at least ten hours to make but, hopefully, it will go quicker the next time.

Assorted Earrings

I've been busy this week trying to get stuff listed in my Artfire shop and also trying to come up with some new earrings in the under $30.00 price range. The first pair are little ribbons of copper sheet that I textured, drilled and folded before adding a dangling pyrite briolette. I was happy with how they turned out.

The second pair are gorgeous seafoam green hydro quartz briolettes that I coiled and wrapped in fine silver.

Last are some impression jasper beads that I've had for ages in a simple wrap of fine silver with balled ends.

Week 3-Leather, Macrame and Silver

The theme for this week was Mixed Media so I decided to try working with leather cord. Forty years ago in college I made the obligatory macrame plant hanger but haven't done it since. Thanks to the internet I was able to refresh my memory on how to do a square knot. I started with the silver center which is a doodad that's been hanging out in my spare parts box for ages. The challenge was doing something with four cord ends on each side and the web wasn't much help there. I was able to weave a couple of them in and I used the other two to knot the clasp on. I did end up using some Duco cement to secure the knots. So far, so good.

Tourmalinated Quartz Earrings

I was trying to think of something a little bit different to do with briolettes for earrings than the standard wrap. I wanted these quartz briolettes with black toumaline needles to be fancied up a bit. These are somewhat inspired by Erin Patton's Vintage Briolette Cap but on a smaller scale. I used 24 gauge square half hard wire, 2mm beads and tiny daisy spacers for decoration. I don't know that I will try these again- the PITA factor was high.

Week 2-Aqua and Lemon Quartz Necklace and Earrings Set

The theme for this week is Eclipse so these don't really fit the theme, or I'm not up to the stretch needed to get them to fit the theme. The song Blue Moon? Nah, never mind. These earrings are not for the faint of heart. They measure 2 3/4" long and 1 1/4" wide. They're composed of aqua hydro quartz, lemon quartz, apatite, moss aquamarine and keishi pearls. The stone in the pendant is slightly larger and the pendant is about 2 1/4" long

Earrings for Donna

Last month I had a little open house at my home and Donna, one of my best customers, picked out this necklace and wanted earrings made to go with it echoing the center motif. So after much messing around this is what I ended up with. The orange beads are mystic quartz and the blue ones are iolite with little tiny pearls. I'm going to drop them off this afternoon and hope she likes them.

Week 1 2011-Etched Copper Necklace

Happy New Year! I'm excited that we have a new platform for the Creative Wire Jewelry Year of Jewelry. Thanks to Micki Bleily and Dianne Karg Baron for setting it up. Everyone is welcome to participate but, if not, bookmark the link and check in regularly to see the new posts.

So here is my first submission. This was a new beginning for an old etched copper rectangle that's been hanging around the house and was pretty blah on its own. So I added lots of spirals and scrolls and paraiba quartz beads in a beautiful seafoam color. Then I created a complementary spiral link chain. Like it or not, at least it's not blah any more. :D

Holiday Gifts

I hope everyone had a great holiday, whichever one you happen to celebrate. For the last couple of years, I've done a Christmas gift exchange with Deb and Sue, my two best friends from the Creative Wire Jewelry forum. I always look forward to opening those small packages on Christmas morning because I know it's going to be something special. Now that the holidays are over, I can finally post what I was working on for them. Sue's necklace and earrings use whiskey quartz gemstones. I forgot to get a picture of the necklace for Deb but hers was the same only with a turquoise briolette. Since she lives in Albuquerque (I can now spell that by heart!) I know she's a fan of turquoise. Today I'll try and get some pictures of what they made and get them posted.