Week 5-Solar Quartz and Copper Necklace

This isn't the project that I was working on for this week. I had prong set a beautiful stalactite slice and had a vague vision of what I wanted to hang it from. So I got out the copper wire to play around and instead found myself channelling Gosia Domanska and Mary Tucker and bending little leaves in the wire. It wasn't what I had in mind for my stalactite slice so I added some green tourmaline and vessuvianite beads, and hung a cool solar quartz pear briolette from it. I'm not sure about the addition of the keishi pearls but I felt like it needed something to echo the white.

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

Week 41-A Couple of Silver Necklaces

I haven't been very motivated to challenge myself lately so I made a couple of fairly simple necklaces. The circles are fine silver wire that has been balled up at the ends with a torch. For one, I wove the circles togther with some smaller wire and oxidized it.

Week 40-Lapis Necklace

You know I really want to be Iza Malczyk when I grow up even though I'm already old enough to be her mother. :D So this is my latest attempt. The big stone is a 25mm lapis. The small rondelles are blue iolite and I added a pyrite because the lapis has pyrite inclusions. I had a really hard time getting both sides the same, and I had wanted two wires to meet at the bottom but I obviously got them too short. I tried a couple of different ways of attaching the chain and I'm still not satisfied with that part of it but that can be changed if anyone has a better idea.

Week 35-Woven CZ Rings

I made some of these rings a few years ago and I've been wearing the last one almost daily for about three years until someone bought it off my finger in Brighton. I missed it and had to make myself a replacement as well as some to sell. The basis of this ring is a tutorial from Kingfisher Designs. I used three 18 gauge round wires instead of the two 20 gauge square wires in the tutorial, as well as using a bigger stone. I also changed the weaving to the pattern used in Iza Malczyk's cross tutorial. I love these rings because they're big and bold but also comfortable to wear. But now I can't decide whether to oxidize them all or not. Opinions?

Week 34-Titanium Druzy Pendant

This blingy titanium druzy is from Magpie Gemstones. The first loopy row and base of this setting is a cool technique I picked up from www.riqzmiecreation.com. She does offer a free tutorial for it if you email her for a password but I was able to create a version of it by looking at the pictures.

Week 33-Labradorite Pendant

I found a source for some really nice labradorite-my favorite stone-at the G&LW Show last month. I set this one in a Viking knit bezel accented with some coils of tiny wire. I had it for two days. I made it on Thursday and it sold on Saturday. :D

Week 32-Coiled Silver Hoops

Another flower motif-this one tiny. From it I suspended a hoop of tiny coiled wire and then added the beads along the edge.

Week 31-Bouquet Plume Agate Pendant

I bought this bouquet plume agate cabochon from Stones That Rock at www.cabochon.ws along with several others equally as gorgeous. I didn't want to use the traditional cab wrap or anything that would detract from the stone so I tried my hand at a woven bezel. When I started I had no real plan as to how I was going to secure the stone in the bezel from the back. I though about netting it in but I was able to figure out a way to use the two back bail wires that looks good and seems to be secure.

I had some requests to see the back of this so here it is. As you can see I ran a little short of wire or I would have made larger spirals on the back. But that's what happens when you don't have a plan. :D

Week 30-Copper and Crystal Necklace

This is another flower motif necklace. I don't use crystals much but I thought this needed a shot of color and sparkle. It's a fairly large pendant-1 1/2" wide and over 4" long-so I put it on a 30" chain.

Week 29-Copper and Sunstone Scroll Earrings

It seems I've been in a bit of a slump the last couple of weeks and all I've accomplished is one pair of earrings. The metal is copper and the really sparkly sunstone briolettes are another one of my finds from the G&LW Show. I'm going to start describing these as "scroll", unless someone can come up with a better description, because of Google. If you want your products included in Google's Product Search, you have to learn which words they'll reject. One of the words they won't accept is "vine" along with just about any of the words used to describe different colors of quartz, such as "champagne", "whiskey", "cognac" and "beer". "Free" is another no-no word. So if you want to offer free shipping, or free gift wrap, be sure and refer to it as "complimentary". :D

Week 28-Another Copper Bangle

Another copper bangle with lots of coiled wire and a saucer shaped bead that I picked up at the G&LW Show. I can't wait for the next one in October! In spite of my vow to use what I have, there's nothing like some new supplies to kick your muse into gear.

Week 27-Copper Bangle

This bracelet was made from some more cool beads that I picked up at the G&LW show. They started out with a pretty torched patina on them which I, of course, ruined when I dunked the whole thing in liver of sulfur. I haven't made bangles in a while and forgot how long to make them, so this one was a little big for my wrist, hence the short clasp (or I was just too lazy to fix it).

Week 26-Brass Bangle

My friend, Rodene, and I went to the Gem and Lapidary Wholesaler's show in Livonia last Friday. Let me tell you, that was an exercise in self restraint. Although I hadn't yet worked in brass, I fell in love with this Tibetan naga shell bead and the diamond cut brass beads and even better, they were in my budget. This turned out a little small for my wrist hence the longish clasp. I'm still trying to decide whether to age the brass on this or not. Opinions?

Week 25-Sunstone, Garnet and Citrine Earrings

A bit Emily Gray inspired, these earrings have sunstone, citrine and garnet briolettes as well as sunstone and mandarin garnet rondelles. And lots of coils!

Week 24-Status Link Bracelet

I'm two weeks behind but I've had four shows in the last five weeks so I've been restocking but haven't had much time to create anything new. Last weekend was a three day show in Northville. It was beastly hot and humid but Northville is a pretty town and the people were extremely nice. Sunday was shaping up to be a really good day until the tornado sirens went off and many vendors started frantically packing up their wares. Since there is no way I can tear down in under an hour anyway, I decided to hang in for a while. No tornado materialized but we did get thunderstorms. By then most of the vendors were closed so I had to admit it was over. That's Michigan for you.

Anyway last week I decided to do extreme housekeeping, for a change. While sorting through old magazines, I ran across a picture of a Prada handbag in a 2008 issue of Elle. The strap on that bag was the inspiration for this bracelet.

Week 14-Silver and Crazy Lace Necklace

Lately rice-shaped beads have really been appealing to me. I don't usually wear pink but I bought a really cute dark pink top from Anthropologie and it really needed something bold to fill in the neckline. These beads are from Limabeads and they're dyed crazy lace agate. The shape of the links was inspired by a reproduction of an antique necklace that I saw in a museum catalog once upon a time. I made the headpins by hammering the ends of 22 gauge wire.

Week 50-Woven Silver and Labradorite Necklace

I'm still playing around with forming woven wires into shapes. This started with a gorgeous 18mm x 13mm AAA labradorite cabochon that was netted onto a soldered frame. When I wove the 18 gauge wires together I attached the cab frame to the weaving in several places as I went along and then carefully worked the woven wires into shape with mostly my fingers. I applied a liver of sulfur patina to the whole piece to enhance the details.

Week 49-Poppy CZ Pendant

This is the only thing new I that I managed to make this week. At a recent show a lady really liked the red CZ pendant that I posted in a previous week but when she came back to buy it, it had already sold. So this is a special order for her because she's in love with this color. This particular CZ measuers 22mm X 30mm. I hope you enjoy it, Lynn.

Week 48-Winter Vine

I'm the vice president of the Genesee Area Bead Society (noone else wanted the job.) :D At our meeting tomorrow we have the show and tell for an inspiration challenge. We passed out envelopes containing paint chips. We could either use the colors for inspiration or the name of a color. My paint chip was a palette of greens and one of the colors was called Winter Vine. I used copper and sterling silver along with rondelles of rock quartz, moonstone and a green mystic quartz. The tiny green briolettes are tourmaline and the dangles are moonstone.