Been on a Brief Hiatus

Or is it “long time, no blog”?

I have been caught up in a lot of other things lately, and sadly I have neglected my blog!

To make up for it, let me share one of my “in progress” pieces… another 3 wire woven cuff much like the 3 Wire, Unleashed I created last year. Same base, but I've gone in a wildly different direction with it! One thing I have kept very similar to the last cuff was the treatment on the clasp. That will be the same.

Like the twisty crazy wire? I’ve been obsessed with the sculptural wire jewelry for a few years, and I am determined to learn how to do it! Unfortunately, other than Remy Heath’s wonderful Woven Sculpture Pendant tutorial, and a few other very basic “rainbow weave” tutorials, there is very little in the way of documentation on how to do this. So, I am muddling through on my own just like everybody else that wants to learn this technique! It is a lot of fun, like a deranged jigsaw puzzle.

This piece has been in progress for about a year now. I pick it up, work on it until I get lost, then put it down again for a period of time. I haven’t decided whether I am near a stopping point or not. But it has been a lot of fun to let the mystery unfold!

Jewelry Photo Blitz

Most of the time I end up putting off photographing the pieces of jewelry I am working on until I have a larger quantity to photograph, then shoot them all in one big blitz. Here is the latest batch of pieces I was working on following a number of tutorials I had purchased to learn new techniques:

First we have a couple pendants made using the techniques in Donna Spadafore’s “Caged Bird’s Song” tutorial.

I really learn a lot about wire weaving from Donna’s tutorials. Here is a piece using her “Woven Wire Cage” tutorial.

And one from the “Odyssey” tute.

Abby Hook’s “Love Pendants” tutorial provided the technique for this Celtic knot pendant. I had attempted the other one in the tutorial, but it ended up residing in my “fail bucket”. It happens.

Had a lot of fun creating this bracelet using Donna Esposito’s “Etruscan Scale Bracelet” tutorial. The blue quartz beads really glow against the copper. Great dye job on those beads!

A large stone bead wrapped playing with the techniques in Danagonia’s “Nugget Bead Framing” tutorial.

Nancy Wickman, aka “Wickwire” share a lovely tutorial for a Woven Pendant on her blog. This is my result.

Last, but by no means least, a pair of earrings I designed and created to complement a bracelet I posted a while back.

The Fall Semester just started up this week, and I am taking the jewelry fabrication class again. I am very excited about what I will be learning in this class. I plan on doing a lot more bezel setting, some enameling, and hoping to start doing more metal shaping too.

In other news, I just started doing some part time production work for another jewelry artist. I am very excited about this because I get to work with a jewelry designer whose work I have been a fan of for a while, and gives me an opportunity to learn more about production work on multiple pieces.

3 Wire Cuff Unleashed

Jackie of Feeling Stone Gifts created this wonderful tutorial. She gave the basics of the technique, and then basically tells you to ‘have at it’ with the embellishment.
 
A great way to use a lot of ‘stray’ beads I have had around for a while.

My embellishments ended up manifesting themselves on the ends of the cuff. I added extra wire loops, which provided more foundation for the freeform part. Perfect place for one of these heart beads!

If you can't tell I love red, look again! Ok, purple is my favorite color, but red is a close 2nd! Every bead is some shade of red, even the ones that look black.

Even though it didn't call for one in the tutorial, I added a clasp. Even though I put it on to see how it would be without a clasp, I know it would be just one epic flail (haha! Thanks, Lyz!) away from flying off.

All I can say if you make jewelry, newbie or veteran, this is a fun exercise in creativity.

Thanks for looking!

The Wrapshody Continues…

A friend and fellow Clint Bowyer fan liked the coiled bangles so much she asked me to make her one in silver. She has wrists that are a bit larger than mine, so I made a “rough draft” in copper first…

Then made the silver one. Never ceases to amaze me that copper and sterling, while similar in softness, behave so differently. I’m pretty happy with the way it turned out. (Thanks again, Stacy of Hodgepodgerie for providing such an excellent tutorial on this technique!)

Decided to play with this a bit more and create one with some chunky carnelian beads I found a few years ago. Problem with stone beads is often they do not have straight holes drilled in them. On the entire strand I was lucky to find three that had holes large enough for 12 ga. wire. One still needed a little “persuading” with a bead reamer. Seriously considering an electric one.

I was so thrilled by this one, I had to design and create a matching pair of earrings. Necklace in the works, so stay tuned!

Bohemian "Wrap"sody

Last month I posted this copper coiled wire bangle and I've had a little more fun with it.
I decided that this was a little too plain for my liking, so I added jump rings to the end of the hook/clasp attaching it to the bangle, and a counterweight dangle. The bead on the dangle is one that I made a few years ago when I took a weekend class on lampworking. Tossed it in the tumbler for a bit longer, and this is how it looks now:

 

Decided to start exploring variations on the theme:

The beads are vintage, no idea of the era. Found them at this funky antique store many years ago. The bead in the center was on a necklace, the yellow beads at the bottom are a vintage strand that was strung on rawhide. I love how rough and organic they look, even the tiny bubbles in the glass. Named it "Bohemian 'Wrap'sody" as a tribute to the Bohemian movement, and that wonderful song by Queen.

More in progress, one in sterling, another in copper with carnelian. Stay tuned!

Copper Coiled Bangle

Its amazing what you can do with some copper wire, a few tools, and most especially an antique hand drill. Without that drill, I wouldn't even try something like this. Coiling teeny tiny wire over slightly larger wire by hand just doesn't scream "good time" to me. Still, I have to thank Stacy of hodgepodgerie.com for posting the instructions for this bangle on jewelrylessons.com. I've since made a few more that are waiting for their final antiquing and tumbling before photographing them.