Peach Pit Beads

As if I didn't have enough beads, I saw these on eBay a week or so ago and thought they were wonderful.  Now I am convinced - they are wonderful.  Don't you love the deep convolutions, the lovely ruby color and the aurora borealis finish?  Yep. Me too.  I saw the heavy brass vintage bead caps on another pair of earrings on Etsy.  Then I spent probably 6-7 hours searching the Internet for some like them.  Were they worth that investment of time?  Probably not, but I love them too.  And the lady that sold them to me said they were the last she had.   I think they were found in an old warehouse in NYC. 

Time now to get into my work space and put together a few more.  My house needs attention, and I could cook a meal, but "Nah", this will be more fun. 

And, that's whats happening in my world.  What's happening in yours? 

Something New with something Old

Since my Etsy Shop sales have been slow since Christmas, I decided to do some house cleaning, so to speak. A few days ago I looked at each listing to see if I still wanted to sell it. Sometimes, after a while, I don't like a piece of jewelry and I will take it apart and stash the components for later. I did that with 3 pieces - they looked tired and old to me.

Then I began with the fuzziest photographs and made new ones. As I worked my way through the 94 pieces I had listed, sales began to come it. I sold 9 pieces over the 4 days it took me to complete my task. Every piece that sold had a new picture.  Can you see the difference at the left?


Long story short, good pictures sell merchandise.

Now I will begin to go back again and fine tune my process. I've already noticed a few picts that are just not "up to snuff".

Now, when will I have time to make "new" jewelry???

Once Upon A Time

I'm so excited to introduce my newest line of jewelry called "Once upon a Time". I'm delving deep into my stash of treasured watch/clock faces and turning loose of a few to make these elegant pendants. Each is embellished with a vintage rhinestone piece and accented with crystals or pearls. The bezel is created by shaping and hammering wire to hold the watch dial in place, and also to compliment the over-all design. I just love the lyrical way the wire holds everything together.

Since this is my first piece, I hope to improve my technique over the weeks to come.  There just isn't enough time in the day to bend wire!  As soon as the hubby leaves for his exercise class at the Senior Citizens, I race to my studio, back bedroom and begin the work fun.  How is it that some days, I can complete 3-4 pieces, and other days I spend all day and have nothing new by night time?

Wired, Again.

After a bit of success with the Rainforest Jasper, I was wired ready to try another piece. Since my inventory didn't include anything else quite that wonderful, I chose an oval chunk of adventurine. It is beautiful to me, but without the wonderful variations of color and design like the jasper.  After wrapping and weaving and polishing the wire, it was still a bit plain. I added a few very tiny dragon veins agates at the bottom. They gave it just a pop of color.

If you are a jewelry maker, or would like to be, leave me a comment.  I'd love to hear from you.  We could learn together.

Woo Hoo, I'm Wired!

I spent a good part of yesterday wrestling with wire!  Oh, but what fun it was.  Here is my first  attempt to wrap a stone.

I've been learning to shape jumprings, links, and closures for several weeks.  Today I decided to see if I could weave and wrap some smaller wires around larger ones.  I admit most of the work on this pendant was bending rather than weaving, but I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out.  I wanted to enhance the beauty of this wonderful Rhyolite Rainforest Jasper stone rather than cover it up.  The little cubes at the bottom are new jade and the red bead is carnelian, one of my favorite gems.  I used some shiny gunmetal headpins to wire them. 

AND, several days later.....

Well, the one day project was greatly sidelined when the flu took over my life for a few days.  But I've finally finished and am ready to present the final version of "You Hold the Key to My Heart" Necklace.  Although it isn't traditional Valentine red, pink, and white, it still would be a nice way to celebrate the day. 

This lyrical link became my favorite piece of the necklace as soon as it was finished.  It serves as a neat way to connect the pendant to the main body of the necklace. 

Then the closure turned out pretty nice, too.

I love the combination of hand forged steel elements, the white agate beads, Czech glass fire polished rondelles, and Turquoise Jade Cylinder beads.  Lots of elements to catch the attention.

Day Two on a One Day Process

The stones on the left are freeform Amazonite. I just love the color and think it will go well with the turquoise jade I used yesterday with the hand formed links.  Also in the foreground, wired and ready to go, are three lovely Czech glass crystals in a deeper shade of blue with a bit of green.  The small white beads on the right are white crystal gemstones.  Also today I finished the steel clasp.  It was formed around an old brass bullet casing my friend gave me, since I don't have a pair of bailing pliers. 

Here are three of the freeform Amazonite stones wired, the end of a string of white crystal beads, and a cross I may work into the design. 

So I have worked about 4 hours already on this necklace. 

Whew!

A New Day a New Benchblock....

Who would have thought it could take 2-1/2 hours to pound out this tiny 6 inch length of necklace.  I thought I could do it in 30 minutes.  

For the S-links I started with a length of #22 dark annealed steel wire.  It is first unwound from the spool, then it is straightened, cleaned, polished, cut, the ends were hammered, bent, hammered again, polished again, and maneuvered into the final shape.  That is ten steps.  Looks simpler doesn't it? 

The wired beads are made much the same way.  Unwind, straighten, clean, polish, cut, bend end loop, hammer, thread on bead, bend other end, hammer, wrap each end, polish.  Whew!

Then each jump ring is made.  Wind wire around the old crochet needle, cut, polish rough ends, polish sides, join beads and s-links, bend together.  Done.

Love it!

HALF PRICE SALE ON SEVERAL ETSY ITEMS

I fell in love with these stones when I found them on eBay.  They are called dragon veins agate.  Being a fan of Anne McCaffrey's dragon world Pern I couldn't wait to see them.  They look just like I think a dragon egg would have looked before hatching. 

And to celebrate the New Year (22 days into it) I'm putting a lot of my Etsy earrings on half price.  Check it out!

Looking Back over a wonderful year and Looking Forward to another.

Here's a great way to start off the new year.  Stop by these two great blogs.  Both of these ladies are so very creative and have been a great source of inspiraton for me.

Rebecca Sower:  Life. By hand.

Deryn Mentock:  Something Sublime

They each had a wonderful mosaic of their work over the past year.  So, to be in good company, I decided to try my hand at a mosaic of my work.  Here it is.

2010 Attempts at Creating Jewelry

I had so much fun in 2010 putting together jewelry.  This year I want to learn about creating pieces from just basic supplies, and move beyond being an assembler to a maker.  I know that's a big leap, but it's my goal for this year.