Week 18-Victorian Key in Bronze

This was made on request from my Victorian Key Pendant tutorial only with bronze wire and silver beads with amethyst gems. It's been so long since I made one I had to get out my own tutorial to do it. :D Since the bronze oxidizes a lot faster than silver, it got very dark in the crevices. I wish I knew of way to remove some of the patina from the bronze without removing it from the silver.

Week 6-Amethyst Stalactite Necklace

Here's the stalactite that I got stuck on last week. The stalactite is set in a Margo Farrin O'connor style. I had started this at metalsmithing class trying to solder all of the wires together. But I wasn't happy with my solder joints so I ended up wiring them together with half round wire. Quicker, easier and just as strong. The necklace is somewhat inspired by Emily Gray. I used amethyst and labradorite rondelles above the stalactite, and the larger rondelles holding the chain are paraiba quartz. I ended up cutting off a couple of the rice pearls after I took the pics. I'm not sure about the pearl drops on this. It's one of those things I have to look at for a while before I decide if I like it that way. The pearl drops are actually a natural lavender color although they look a little peachy in some of the pictures.

Week 46-Vine Earrings

These are some soldered shapes that I pulled out of my spare parts box. I embellished them with fine silver vines and added a small amethyst briolette and a larger mystic quartz briolette as a dangle. The mystic quartz has a purple reflection in the right light.

Week 37-Wigjig Earrings

The earrings weren't exactly made on a wigjig but I did make the loopy trim around these on a Wigjig Delphi. Bigger holes so much easier to attach than chain. The frames are 16 gauge wire that was soldered, then shaped and hammered. The earwires on the labradorite pair were inspired by Sheridan of Joslin Jewels. The posts on the apatite and amethyst pair were connectors. I cut off one of the rings and soldered a post on the back. I liked the way they echoed the loopy pattern of earrings.

Week 28- Druzy and Amethyst Pendant

Ava's recent postings motivated me to dig out this little piece of druzy that I've had for years. The stone is 15mm X 20mm and it changes color from purple to peacock depending on the viewing angle. I usually wrap with dead soft wire but since I knew I couldn't tumble this I used 22 gauge square half hard instead. I find it frustrating to shape half hard wire around small pieces so I used one of Rick's Bezelforms which helped a lot in getting the the top and bottom joins even. The dangles are amethyst.

New tutorial-Victorian Key Pendant

I swore I would never make this again but never say never because I finally got motivated to do the tutorial for this. It took about 40 hours of labor for this baby to be birthed. It ended up being 33 pages long with 96 high resolution pictures. This is similar to one I posted earlier but I've changed the shaft and simplified the construction just a tad-although it's still an advanced project. This one measures 2 1/4" long by 1 1/4" wide. It requires some patience to complete but the result will be a romantic pendant worthy of becoming an heirloom. You can see it in my Artfire shop

Week 21-Copper Flower Necklace

Uh oh, late again. This is something from my odds and ends box that I decided to do something with. It was shaped from 14 gauge copper wire, soldered together and hammered. The lilacs are in bloom here so I decorated the center with little CZ, amethyst and sterling silver 2mm beads, and added a chain. I made a flattened spiral and wired that on the back to cover up the wires and make it look neater. Of course, it was given an LOS bath.