Week 7-Eni Oken Style Bracelet with Pearls

The last week has been so busy I haven’t been able to get any new pieces made. Between metalsmithing class, Euchre club, a retiree's dinner, going to Ann Arbor to see my favorite band, and the death of my best friend's mom, I couldn't get much done. One thing I did do was sort through old work and inventory. Some things got recycled for scrap, some taken apart for the components, and a few things got donated to a charity. This bracelet is a rework. I made the centerpiece of this bracelet years ago early in my wire adventures from a tutorial by Eni Oken. I orginally made the bracelet with some purple jasper beads. But I never liked the way it laid so about a year ago I took it apart and replaced them with these large pearls. Then I didn’t like the closure on it plus it was too big. So this time I made a new hook and eye closure for it. It’s a pretty huge bracelet, measuring about 2 1/8″ wide so it needs to be a little snug to keep it from flopping around. I probably could have made a fancier closure but I just wanted to be able to finally wear it after all these years. So what do you all do with your older inventory?

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.

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 18-Aquamarine and Citrine??? Bracelet

This bracelet turned into a disappointment. I thought it was really pretty when I made it. I used big round aquamarine beads and soft yellow faceted citrines along with the spiral links that I hand forged and soldered. The colors were summery and reminded me of sun and sky. Then I put it in the tumbler. When it came out I dismayed to find that the citrines had lost all their color. They were dyed! I wrote to the supplier and he confirmed that the citrines were very pale so they lightly dyed them. I told him that citrines listed as AA+ quality would be heat treated, but they shouldn't be dyed. So now I don't know if I should remake this with natural clear quartz, or just tell people that the beads are very, very pale quartz since citrine is a form of quartz. Or tell them it's citrine with no color. GRRR.

Week 17-Kazuri Bead and Pyrite Bracelet

I really like using Kazuri beads in my work. They're not only beautiful but the factory in Kenya provides good wages, child care, and health care to disadvantaged women and individuals with special needs. I've combined these with double rows of faceted pyrite beads and oxidized the sterling silver.

Free Tutorial #3-Woven Wire Bangle

Woven Wire Cuff Bracelet Tutorial
This is the third project we completed in a series of classes I did for the Flint Schools. This is the bangle that I posted for Week 9 if you want to see additional pictures. The only thing I did that wasn't in the tutorial was wire a bead on either side of the focal bead to kind of fill that space. You could also put a small bead directly on the core wire if it has a bid enough hole. I used some 26 wire for this and ran the wire behind the bead a couple of times to keep it from spinning. I hope you enjoy trying this out.

Week 29-Coin Pearl Bracelet

A simple girly-girl bracelet this week as I've been too busy decluttering the house and garage to do much else. This is made using sections of purchased chain in between the coin pearls with blue chalcedony and pink amethyst rondelles added.

Week 25-Copper Prolong Knot Cuff

Last week I had the pleasure of taking a two day workshop from Loren Damewood. We finished our silver bracelet by noon so after lunch he gave us some copper wire and let us make another one. I just decided to bling this one up a bit by wiring on some 4mm silver Czech beads. The workshop was a lot of fun and I recommend it if you ever get the chance to take it.

Week 18-Skeleton Key Jewelry

This bracelet and necklace are made from part of a collection of old skeleton keys that belonged to my grandfather. The metal is coppper with a little sterling thrown in for interest. But what I'm really excited about is that I learned to create an embossed watermark in Paint.Net. That took longer than actually making the jewelry. :D

Week 16-Sunstone Bracelet

I'm still trying to use up the ton of little beads from the bracelet I took apart over two months ago. So here they are in their latest incarnation with sunstone nuggets, a Hill Tribe bead and an Israeli silver toggle.