Red Jasper Set

When I was in Las Cruces, NM several months ago I found these red jasper beads at my fav bead store - Western Traders. I made two pairs of earrings from some of that strand and hoarded the rest for myself. I immediately sold both pairs of earrings so I thought others must like them as much as I.

When we returned to this store on our way back home to Phoenix from Chama a few weeks ago, we stopped by this store and he had sold every strand of this red jasper but one. He stated he could not get any more of them, so I decided to be really greedy and grab the last one for myself. I am so glad I did that. I decided to make a set of these for display and, hopefully, sales. However, if they don't sell, I think they look perfectly fabulous on me! I still have about six beads left, so I will really go into hoarding mode if these sell!

For a design, I wanted to wrap them somehow, but did not want to do a heavy or ornate wrap since I believe these wonderful beads can stand on their own in the beauty department. I like this simple design and think it lends itself to the beads. As usual, for a better view of detail you can click on the photo to enlarge it.

Copper Rings

I had not gotten into making rings at all up to this point; no reason, I even have a ring mandrel; I guess I was just having so much fun making everything else that I neglected to start making rings. My artisan friend, Carol, showed me some of her rings yesterday and I decided to make some for our jewelry sale table we are sharing for community Oktoberfest show we will be participating in. Hers are very delicate, tiny and fine; mine are much chunkier, larger and made of copper (my fav metal to work with). I have had these two dark glass beads for awhile, but since I only had two and they were a bit much for earrings I wasn't sure where I would use these. Well, they called out loudly to me when I was looking for beads to incorporate into this design.

I used a design for the rosette rings from a tutorial by Wendy Sue. They were such fun I decided to incorporate some beads into the design and make a few changes. I like them all!

Lookee, Lookee!

These are the stones I finally finished tumbling and polishing. This was a five-week process and I am not a patient person! But, it brings such a feeling of accomplishment to have these made jewelry-ready all by myself....from the finding the stones off a mining road near Deming, NM (thanks to Tom for driving me back there in 4WD and helping me find these!), to tumbling them and then polishing them....like I said...all my own labor and love. I have some ideas in my mind about how to wrap some of these and make pendants for necklaces. Stay tuned for anything that comes about from those ideas.

I am sorry that the true reds and yellows don't show in the photos. I took photos in full sun but the cast shadows were too distracting and then in the shade they don't show the true colors. Most of these are red jasper and yellow jasper, with a few rhyolyte with jasper inclusions and a few pieces of rose quartz. My fav's are the yellow jasper with red jasper inclusions, I can hardly wait to work with those!

Auntie's Earrings 2

This is the second pair of clip-on earrings I have made as a choice for a gift for a friend's aunt. It is hard to wrap my mind around earrings other than for pierced ears! Unlike my other earrings I make to sell, I cannot try these on and road test them since my ears are pierced and these are uncomfortable when clipped over my earlobe. I hope they are comfortable for non-pierced ears!

More Jewelry

These are the medical bracelets I worked on while in Chama. They each have "lobster claw" clasps on each end to make it easy to attach them to the wearer's medical alert emblem. I plan on making many more of these, both for men and women. My husband is road testing several prototypes currently to see what works best for men.
















This necklace and earring set is made up of bead units I made with silver color wire and Unikite tube beads. They are a natural stone and since they are separated by wire they are not too heavy to be comfortable when wearing.

SOLD















I loved these bead when I saw them at Western Traders! They looked so Autumnal. They are natural stones and such fun to wear. The bracelet is made on memory wire.

SOLD













These earrings were commissioned as a gift for a customer's aunt, who does not have pierced ears and prefers clip-on earrings. I love the turquoise tube beads!

SOLD

Long Time No See

While on our five-week trip to northern New Mexico, I made so much jewelry that I didn't want to take the time to photograph it. So, here is a sampling of what I have made. While staying in our favorite RV park in Chama, NM I was offered the opportunity to display and sell my jewelry in the RV park office. This set me to making more and more pieces as I sold them. What great fun!

These are silver-color dangles made from beads purchased from my favorite bead store in Las Cruces, NM....Western Traders. I always find such interesting beads and findings there.





This is a rework of one of the retainer ring necklaces I did earlier. I wanted more motion in the dangles and also needed to change my wrapping pattern so there would be no loose ends to stick anyone when wearing this. I've have "road tested" this myself and have to say it is very comfortable to wear.















This is a twisted copper cuff bracelet I made for a man, but liked it enough to keep it for myself. I am going to try some torch techniques to bring out the colors in the copper, I have read about how to do this and will try it on this bracelet. My husband helped me twist long lengths of 12-gauge copper wire and I then bent/twisted/struggled/shaped this into a cuff bracelet. When road testing this one I was asked if I wore it because I had arthritis, I replied that after working with 12-gauge wire I certainly would have arthritis! That stuff is something else to bend!




This is a memory wire bracelet made with magnetic hematite beads and silver-color findings. It really is magnetic!