Artisan Jewelry by Susan Roper

Art Show Last Saturday

2011-10-18T09:15:00.000-07:00

I participated in an art show with both paintings and jewelry last Saturday. My twin sister, shown in the photo, likes to come and sit shows with me since that is the only time we seem to get together for "just us" sister time.

I had a good day overall, meeting many people who appreciated my jewelry, but people certainly are not buying at this point! This was a much different sale than those I have had in the past.

My next jewelry/art show will be on Thanksgiving, hopefully people will be in the buying mood for Christmas!

Nice to be listened to...

2011-10-13T07:10:00.000-07:00

...by someone I admire so much for her wire-wrapped jewelry style! I stop by Tela's Formosa's blog daily since she often posts her work and it speaks to me so grandly. She adores working with cab's, I do too, and always am inspired by her wrapping style. I am sure my "style" has improved greatly since following her excellent blog.

I stated that I was looking forward to see how she wraps a square stone since I have a parallelogram-shaped cab that is begging me to create something for and I have not come up with any good designs. The tips she offered for creating new design shapes is priceless to me and the sample she wrapped because I asked is wonderfully original and absolutely gorgeous.

What an honor!

More Turquoise and Copper

2011-10-08T10:19:00.000-07:00

I have had all of the components for this design floating around in my head for awhile and finally got it executed. I am trying to decide whether to patinate the copper or not, I find it difficult to get away from enjoying the copper while it is shiny but appreciating its vintage look as it oxidates. Still pondering!

Fun Assortment

2011-10-08T10:14:00.000-07:00

This is just a fun assortment I have been working with in getting ready for an upcoming art show. The Dancer on the left is from a tutorial by Tela Formosa.

The next earrings to the dancer's left is a pair of clip-on earrings I made as a gift for someone who doesn't have pierced ears (imagine that!).

The rock fellow sitting to the left of those earrings is holding a sign that say's "Hello". I thought that would look cute on my display table amidst the jewelry for sale. I got this tutorial by Feelingstone Gifts, LLC, provided in the jewelrylessons.com website.

Zipper pulls

2011-09-24T13:31:00.000-07:00

These are the latest zipper pulls I have finished. they will be offered on sale at the upcoming art club Oktoberfest here. I like the idea of fancy zipper pulls and it will be interesting to see how popular they are. I think these will look great on jackets and vests this Fall and Winter.

Copper/Jasper/Carnelian

2011-09-12T12:24:00.000-07:00

This is my latest creation, made up as I went along and without a tutorial. I started out using 12 g copper wire, which I hammered and fashioned into a textured free-form pendant. I then decided to use that as a frame for a jasper cabachon I had. I decided I liked it and made it into a necklace, matching the cab with some carnelian beads I had. I had a great time "designing" this.

Darlene's Druzey

2011-09-08T07:38:00.002-07:00

Darlene was referred to me by a beading friend who does not do wire wrapping. Darlene had this stone and wanted it wrapped with silver wire to hang from her omega. She sent the omega and stone to me and this is what I did, pending her approval. I received the approval (she loves it!) and will send it today.

I don't like this photo as much as the one I sent her, but now cannot find that one so this is what I got before I sent the package to her. This angle makes it look sorta wonky, which it isn't.

9/11/11

Darlene called me today to let me know that she had received the pendant and necklace and was so very pleased, in her words "it is so much more than I expected!". How encouraging were those words to me!

I have started working on some free-form/my own design pendants using undrilled stones and cabachons, great fun and will start photographing them as I complete them.

Three-Wire Bails

2011-08-20T09:47:00.000-07:00

I downloaded a tutorial by Abby Hook at jewelrylessons.com the other day and immediately made these simple pendants. I love the simplicity of this design, even though I added the spirals they are very clean and simple.

Big Sister Necklace

2011-08-08T06:28:00.000-07:00

Aubrey saw this cat pendant in my bead stash while visiting last year and admired it. I told her, then, that there might be a special occasion when I turned it into a necklace for her sometime in the future! Well, when her little brother, Zane, was born I tucked this into the package of onsies I sent for him as a big sister necklace. I think she was very pleased, hooray for being a Grandma!

New Workbench!

2011-07-25T07:20:00.000-07:00

Okay, how many other old ladies do you know with a hardwood workbench in their master bedroom? Hmmmm? For my recent birthday, my husband decided I should have one to work on with my jewelry. We do home hemodialysis for him in the master bedroom and I usually work on jewelry there while he is dialyzing, so it makes sense to us! I got it at Harbor Freight and think it makes a real nice furniture piece in addition to being so functional.

I will soon take a photo of it after I got it loaded with my equipment, supplies and tools. So far, I like it a lot!

Stromatolite Wrap

2011-06-17T07:25:00.000-07:00

This cabachon is of stromatolite, sent to me by Bob Hale. I finally got brave enough to wrap it and like the resulting pendant. I will attempt some more of the stones he sent soon as they are all just gorgeous.

Here I torched and hammered sheet copper to make this dangly necklace. I made the chain by making bead connectors and wiring them together to form the links.

This is a pendant I made from a piece of jasper I rock-hounded in Deming, NM and then tumbled and polished it. I then wrapped it in antiqued copper wire to suspend from a simple wire neck ring. I love the colors in this stone!

All Wired Up Beads.com

2011-05-05T11:12:00.002-07:00

I want to mention the recent wonderful service I received from All Wired Up Beads.Com. I had been eyeing the Wubbers bail-making pliers they offer for awhile now and heard from Sharilyn Miller's blog that they were offering one of her latest books and DVD's as a bonus when you order three pliers from them, for a limited time. that very day I sent my order in and within four days I received it! I have only had time to glance at the photos in Sharilyn's book, but the projects look fantastic and the bail-making pliers look to be just what I need for the many pendants I am wrapping right now.

Especially appreciated was the care with which my order was packaged, this is sadly lacking in some mail order companies and their special touch of a hand-written note, wishing me "happy Wubbing" on the invoice by the person packing it was a very nice touch!

New Mexico Stone 3

2011-05-02T09:17:00.001-07:00

I am surely having fun using my New Mexico stones I have polished and wrapped. This one has such nice color streaks. As in the pendant below, one cannot do a classical, traditional wrapped frame around it as it is asymmetrically-shaped. But I like the organic nature of these stones; especially since I collected, tumbled and wrapped them myself!

I will start wearing these to test the market and road-test them for comfort and see how well they do. I have lots more raw rocks to tumble!

New Mexico Stone 2

2011-05-02T09:13:00.001-07:00

This is another of my stones I collected, tumbled/polished and then wrapped into a pendant. Since it is smooth and has no drilled holes it is a challenge to wrap well, but I am getting better at it! This stone is not cut and shaped, it is what it is as it comes out of the tumbler, so I decided to go with a funky, asymmetrical wrap since that is what the stone seemed to need.

I apologize for the reflection on the stone as it is much richer in color in real life than is shown here.

I received my order of square and half-round copper wire from Parawire and was very pleased with their service so will order from them again. Here, I used their antique copper square wire for the frame and wraps. Nice stuff!

Stone Duo and Purple!

2011-05-02T09:09:00.000-07:00

While shopping at Gem World in Quartzsite, I found some of these luscious purple drilled cabs. When at art shows I frequently hear "do you have anything in purple?" So, I jumped on a few of these and like the combination of purple base with magenta flecks.

These are such fun drilled stones, they go together nicely and seem to be popular at sales. I am glad I stocked up on the wire neck rings while in Quartzsite!

Definitely hand-made, all the way!

2011-04-19T12:58:00.002-07:00

I can't remember whether I mentioned that my friend, Bob Hale (with whom I share a "rocky" relationship) recently sent me a care package with five wonderful cabachons for wrapping. I promise I will show you all these as I get them wrapped, but in the meantime I have to practice more with wrapping very smooth, sometimes asymmetrical stones to be able to do justice to the ones he sent.

A couple of years ago Tom and I discovered a place in New Mexico where the jasper stones are prevalent, particularly red and yellow jasper. We collected them, hauled a box of them home and I tumbled and polished them. I have chosen a few of them to work with for simple pendants. This one has some red jasper inclusions in the yellow jasper base. It is a very smooth result from the tumbling and polishing and I liked just holding it in my hand! It is about 2-inches long and had no rough edges at all to start my wrap. But, I found that by using half-round brass wire that I was able to get the basic wraps done for security and form the bail and then twist the "tails" together to form the simple swirl for accent. I don't want to overdo the wrapping on these as I want the stones to speak for themselves, as I think this one does.

PS...To my friend, Woodie, who recently challenged (he may prefer the term "inspired") me to do something more artisinal than just buying stone pieces and beads and then wrapping them, here you go! Can't get much more hand-wrought than rock-hounding the stone, tumbling and polishing it, then hand-wrapping it. I will give credit to God for the raw stone itself as I had nothing to do with that part, but from there on it is all mine!

SOLD

Turquoise Pendant 2

2011-04-19T12:49:00.000-07:00

During a recent quick trip to Quartzsite, AZ I picked up some more turquoise donuts, pendants and cabachons (plus a few) other goodies! This was one of the donuts I saw and liked. I have lots to work with, gotta get busy now...

Arrowhead Trio

2011-04-18T13:56:00.000-07:00

Due to home circumstances of either me or my husband's unhealthful state (mainly blaming my broken leg!) I have not been able to go back to Quartzsite to Gem World since before the holidays in 2010. When calling them last Friday I learned that they would be closing the following week...for the summer! So, we did a spontaneous trip to QTZ and Gem World so I could feed my inventory of good stuff before the summer. Tom noticed a basket of jasper arrowheads that I had missed seeing and I am so glad he did. I bought ten of these, now I wish I had bought the whole basket! They are rough-hewn and lovely pieces of jasper. I am going to try for a very minimalist wrap for most of these since I want them to speak for themselves and have only enough of a frame to be securely wrapped.

Now, to see if there will be time to sneak back down there again before next Saturday. I can always use a few more goodies..yikes!

Newest Neck Rings

2011-03-28T12:47:00.001-07:00

At my recent jewelry sales, I am becoming convinced that my "bread and butter" pieces will always be my copper earrings and my neck rings with simple pendants, such as these. After my last weekend's sale, my inventory of both pendant neck rings and copper earrings is sorely lacking so I am dreaming up new designs and looking for more stones.

I think many ladies like to wear pieces that are of natural stone, but dislike the heaviness of a complete necklace made of the focal pendant piece and stone beads. Also, these are interesting and make wearing jeans look like you are being somewhat elegant, but casual. I am hooked on them myself! Casual but cool.

These last two are made from turquoise stones and embellished just a bit more on the neck ring. The earrings with this one were just hooked onto the ring for the photo, they are not placed there when wearing!

As I said, elegant but casual, too.

SOLD

Gettin' Ready for a Show

2011-03-14T16:01:00.002-07:00

I am adding to my inventory of jewelry for an upcoming show at the Sun City Grand Art Faire this coming weekend. I am going crazy over these neck rings, I just think they go with everything, from casual to dressy.

I have had this glass focal bead for awhile and found that I had a strand of smaller beads that just matched it perfectly, so voila!

These are from a piece of copper I torched to bring out colors, and unexpectedly got such an amazing array of reds and silver tones. torching copper is like Forrest Gump's box of chocolates...you never know what you are gonna git!

I had made a beaded-on-beading wire necklace out of these stone beads which were admired by quite a few customers, but when they tried it on they all felt it was a bit too heavy for their comfort. So, after considering what to do, I decided to take it apart and repurpose the beads into this neck wire ensemble. I like the lighter look now, too.

This set will not be available for sale, it will go into a private collection.

The necklace below was another one of the torched copper pieces that, as it was turning interesting colors, I finally said stop! I just loved the dark blues, violets, greens and reds that happened when torching this one. I don't think the true colors show up as well in this photo as in real life, but truly it is gorgeous. As Forrest said above, ya just never know!
SOLD

Finally, new jewelry

2011-03-06T09:31:00.000-07:00

I know I promised to start posting more of my jewelry projects as I create them, but I foolishly fell down four weeks ago and broke my leg! I have not felt very creative as I have been starting to heal. Anyway, here are a few of what I have been working on.

The copper triangle earring on the right is convertible in that the gold tone portions of the earring are on a post which can be removed from the copper triangle and worn as a dangle by itself or with the copper piece behind the dangle.

You should try using a sawhorse in the master bedroom to pound copper while your leg is propped up and you are sitting in a wheelchair! Interesting visual, huh?

My twin sister has requested that I make her a necklace and earring set with red beads, not warm color red beads but cool color red beads. I had coral beads that matched this request so used them, although in the photo they show up as being a bit orange; which they are not in real life.

These are some earrings requested by my sister to match a shell necklace she bought from me earlier. It is great to have a twin who likes what I make and requests specific pieces be made! Yes, I am giving her a family discount.....

Three New Pieces

2011-01-16T13:39:00.001-07:00

As promised (at least to myself) I have photographed three newer pieces that I had finished but not posted. I need to improve my posting of jewelry pieces to this blog! I am preparing for an artwalk at Toscana at Desert Ridge in a few weeks and wanted to have some new special pieces for my display.

This is another of my copper calla lily pendants. This one has silvertone accents. The others like this I have made have had turquoise beads for accents and I wanterd to do something different.

SOLD

This pendant is a stone I have had for awhile but didn't have what I wanted to use to make a necklace from. I did find some howlite stone beads and used those, linked together in sections, to make this necklace.

This is something really funky I decided to try. I downloaded a free tutorial by Judy Freyer-Thompson from the ArtJewelry online website. It involves patination of metals using a process that in different steps involves the use of Kosher salt, white vinegar and ammonia. I really love the free-form designs on these discs, which I will use for some earrings. I am not sure how I will design them, but I do know I don't want to cover up this patination with anything fancy, it should stand on its own! I am thinking ahead now to pendants using this method, how cool is this?!

SOLD

Jewelry Give-Away

2011-01-08T05:06:00.000-07:00

I am always interested to see the generous nature of those who give paintings or jewelry away on their blogs. Right now, Tish McDermott is giving away a lovely pair of earrings to the lucky one chosen from the comments section of her blog. Just click on over to her blog and enter...her pieces are lovely and so imaginative.

I promise to start photographing the pieces I am working on and begin posting them here again. I have neglected to do that for far too long!

Aubrey and Grandma Time!

2011-01-02T10:40:00.000-07:00

We had the pleasure of a few days' visit from our youngest son and his family. This included my Ms. Aubrey! After raising only sons, it is such a pleasure to have a girly-girl to play with and have her participate in our activity planning! She came with her plans of what she and Grandma could do together. This included painting, bracelet-making and I surprised her with a chocolate chip cookie baking session. We had to have the energy to do all of these activities together!

She is developing a sense of design, whether it be painting or jewelry. She wanted a bracelet that matched the poorple in her pretty new dress. Of course Grandma had just the perfect beads in her growing stash. We both had a great time and created more wonderful memories together.

Vintage Treasures!

2010-11-30T10:21:00.000-07:00

This past weekend, the ArtChix had an art and artisan jewelry sale. During some of the down time, one of the ArtChix brought out two huge bags of vintage beads and jewelry to sort through. What fun! She is a member of the DAR and they are involved in a service project, working with the schools, and selling this donated jewelry/beads is part of their fundraiser for this project. So, for a donation, I had the extreme pleasure of sorting through both bags and choosing lots of treasures to turn into modern jewelry with vintage charm. We sat for two hours remarking things like "look at this...I can make three pairs of earrings from this one bracelet", etc.

I am always torn, when receiving vintage jewelry, between leaving them as they are or tearing them apart to modernize them to be worn today. I usually lean towards making them wearable today since I think these treasures deserve to be worn instead of stored in boxes in a closet. Add to that the fact that I (and I think many others) cannot bear the discomfort of wearing screw-back earrings with my pierced ears so something has to be done about that! The workmanship, even in the costume jewelry, is amazing by today's standards and I just marvel at that.

Here are the first few I have been working on, I just could not wait one day past the weekend! I might also add that I don't think these will be available on my sale tables since I like them so well I want them for myself. I will have to be less greedy than this as I work through these treasure bags and make more jewelry from them since I do want to sell (I mean share!) them with others who enjoy the vintage looks as much as I do.

This is a lovely old brooch, all metal settings, done in black metal of some sort. One of the larger stones was out of the setting, but it was found in the bag of mixed beads and jewels (phew!) and I repaired it, cleaned up the brooch, removed the brooch pin, made a bail for it and hung it from a black neck wire ring. Cool, huh?

These were my fav's before I even got them home! Look at that filigree on the long drop earrings! Do you see why I am keeping these?! The rhinestone earrings were taken from a choker necklace where these were some of the focal pieces. Thankfully, I was able to snap them from the rest of the stones cleanly and add the posts to them without incident. These are now all on posts. Lovely filigree silver in these.

Stay tuned as I continue to work my way through these bags and make these treasures from the past into Fav's for Today!

Got the Book!

2010-11-12T06:13:00.003-07:00

I want to show you all that the book I won on Lisa Crone's blog arrived and I am now perusing it. I want to try some of the projects she provides as they look like such fun pieces of jewelry. She is a very inspiring person!

Some Days You Lose, and -

2010-11-02T19:03:00.001-07:00

- some days you WIN!!!!! A few weeks ago, I entered a blog give-away offered by a blogger I follow every day...Lisa Crone of A Bead a Day. I love her daily blogging because it always contains the latest news of beads and things that everyone is trying now. She was giving away one of her new books on beading and jewelry making, so I entered a comment on that day. As Fate would allow, I was the winner! So, I am now excitedly awaiting the shipment of my great new book. I'll post a review of this when I get it and read it. It is so exciting to have your name drawn above all the others who entered!

Copper Piecrust Pendant with Chain

2010-09-26T15:31:00.004-07:00

I decided to turn this pendant into a larger piece by using turquoise beads with chain and some silver pieces. I like this and hope that someone who loves large jewelry will like it also!

SOLD

Copper and Silver Two-Tone

2010-09-24T14:38:00.006-07:00

I just got back some of my jewelry from Chama and will start photographing it. I want to be prepared for the Oktoberfest sale at Sun City Grand on October 9 and wanted some of my inventory from there. It is like seeing old friends to go through my stash of finished jewelry now.

Copper and Turquoise Links

2010-09-16T10:25:00.004-07:00

I made this pendant a few weeks ago and have been mulling how to suspend it until yesterday when I found I had some matching turquoise beads to pair with it. I like to separate the stone beads with hand-made links since it cuts down on the considerable weight of these natural stone beads when wearing. Plus, that makes for more copper to show!

SOLD

Copper and Sodalite Pendant

2010-09-16T10:23:00.004-07:00

I cut and hammered this pendant base yesterday and added the beads this morning. I like the pairing of the copper with its complementary color of blue beads.

I am mulling taking off that bale component and trying something a bit different for that part of the piece. I have some more ideas, anyway.

Copper Calla Lily

2010-09-09T10:15:00.004-07:00

I felt compelled to get out my torch the other day and start bending copper to make this cone which I paired with turquoise beads. Lots of bending of metal and wire went into this one! I like it and hope that others will, too.

SOLD

Copper and Turquoise Pendants

2010-09-04T11:19:00.002-07:00

Once again, I feel compelled to make pendants, reaching for my favs of turquoise and copper components to make some. I have quite a collection of copper components and turquoise beads so they sort of speak to me when I start putting them together. I like the simplicity and lighter weight of using the natural stones to make pendants rather than heavy beaded necklaces.

Glass and Copper

2010-09-04T11:15:00.003-07:00

I have had these glass beads for awhile and hadn't decided what to do with them. Today, when I looked at them I decided to make a chunky bracelet with them and it feels good on the wrist. Love those colors, each bead is a bit different.

Pie Crust Cabachon

2010-08-25T12:07:00.004-07:00

I spent the morning trying to figure out how to make a free form cabachon wrap with sheet copper. I saw some examples of "pie crust wrapping" and decided to make it work for myself. This is a very free form piece and I love the organic nature of it. This could also be termed as "crude", but I like the fact that it is a unique piece. I also love how torching the copper brings out so many colors!

Finally, Jewelry!

2010-06-19T10:04:00.005-07:00

I must apologize for ignoring this blog for over a month. We were on a planned monthlong vacation, during which I made lots of jewelry in the motorhome but neglected to photograph it. Plus, I was taking it up to the RV park office for their display case to sell it and that was my main concern, greedy person that I am. At the end of the summer, if there is anything left I will photo it and show it here then. My jewelry items do seem to be selling.

These are among my fav earrings I have made. I started with a sheet of copper that I flamed to bring out the colors, cut the blanks out, punched the holes in with my metal punch and then textured and domed the discs. I then beaded them with brass beads and hung brass dinosaur bones from them. I just love them and may have to keep these for myself. The other earrings here were made with brass and copper blanks I cut and then put them together in this fashion with the suspended dino bones. I hung the tiny copper blanks on both sides since these earrings have so much movement that they need to be reversible. SOLD

These are just some fun earrings I made from some of the strand of red glass heart beads I bought some time ago just because I thought they looked like such fun beads. I still do!

Art/Jewelry Sale Yesterday

2010-05-03T18:42:00.004-07:00

I participated in an art sale yesterday to raise funds for the Arizona Artists Guild new building fund for operating expenses, maintenance, etc. I "bought" my table and was allowed to keep any proceeds I made. I had mainly artisan jewelry for sale, but also a few racks of unframed, but matted prints and original paintings. It was an okay day; not the worst jewelry sale nor the largest jewelry sale I have done, so that is okay with me. AAG seemed to be doing very well with table sales and donated items sales, so that was good. I do wish the traffic could have been more, but this was our inaugural event so we will have to see how this evolves in the future. But, at any rate, this is my table(s), my buddy, Carol, had bought a table and then was too sick (respiratory virus, yuk!) on that day to participate so I inherited her table as well. I was situated in front of the wall containing a few nudes in Conte, etc. That was either a boon for my table or not, I don't know. I do know that those who did not even bring a cloth to cover their tables, nor organize their wares well remarked that my table was the best in the room. Jewelry displays necessitate their own display formats! So, here it is, warts and all....

Latest Projects

2010-04-09T10:29:00.005-07:00

I found this Butterfly at Confetti Beads, locally last year and didn't know what I was going to do with it, I just liked it. In January I found these delicate glass beads at Gem World in Quartzsite so thought they would look together. I made individual bead units and connected them for the necklace. I made earrings to match.

I also found this copper chain at Quartzsite at a gem show and saved it for this charm bracelet made from pure copper beads and silver. I love making dangly little charms like these!

After helping with a kitchen plumbing job recently, I was inspired by the unused brass compression washers that were left. I thought they would look good to make bead units paired with some carnelian beads I had in two sizes so I made a necklace and bracelet set. I love the look of copper and brass together!

I have been wanting to make a fan necklace but hadn't found the fan beads I wanted until I saw these. I paired them with silver-toned cubes, nice look I think.

SOLD

Eyeglass Chain 2

2010-03-28T10:10:00.004-07:00

This is another eyeglass chain I made for a friend's approval. I like making the eyeglass chains with wired bead components instead of out of beads strung on beading wire, I think they are stronger, which is important with eyeglass chains.

Copper Blossom 2

2010-03-28T10:06:00.002-07:00

This is another of my copper blossoms necklaces. I so enjoy hammering and shaping these discs I cut out from the flamed sheets of copper. I am also enjoying making more necklaces with hand-twisted links, forming bead components. I feel they are stronger and I just like the look over that of beads on beading wire.

Deming Stone - Polished

2010-03-26T15:41:00.003-07:00

This is one of the stones I found while rock-hounding near Deming, NM. It was tumbled and polished and I wire wrapped it in copper wire with brass half-round wraps. I love this stone and found quite a bit of it while at this place. I will start another tumbler full of stones later this month. I wore this all day yesterday and most of today, road testing it, and found it to be not very heavy and was comfortable.

Turquoise and Copper Eyeglass Holder

2010-03-22T18:48:00.004-07:00

I made this pending the approval of a friend who requested a turquoise and copper eyeglass holder and wanted a finer touch than the copper tubes and turquoise beads shown before. We'll see if she likes this one. I do like to do the connected bead units for eyeglass holders, they are much more secure than those beaded on wire.

SOLD

Earrings for Carol

2010-03-16T06:37:00.004-07:00

Last year a good friend, Carol, purchased one of my copper and calsilica bead necklaces from me and now wanted earrings to go with them. I was able to match the coils and washers and designed these for her. Both the necklace and earrings were oxidized using Liver of Sulfur.

SOLD

Latest Fun

2010-03-01T11:16:00.005-07:00

I have spent the last few days working on these two projects. I want to work on designs for eyeglass holders. I know many people who wear their "readers" hanging round their necks and I think I should design some funky and interesting designs that will be sturdy and worn well. This is my first one.

While I was cutting copper tubing for the eyeglass chain, I decided I would also work that idea into a necklace design. I used calsilica beads for the necklace and like those a lot.

I am so pleased to announce that these two necklaces were among the many of my pieces that sold during the Art Faire at Sun City Grand on Saturday. They went to good homes!

SOLD

Green stone Cross and Beads

2010-02-22T07:58:00.004-07:00

I was asked to restring a friend's necklace since it originally came on a wire neck ring that was too small. I wanted to keep with the simplicity of the nice green stone beads and cross and make it a simple, yet longer necklace. I like this look, pending approval from my friend.

SOLD

Copper Rectangle

2010-02-17T10:35:00.006-07:00

This is a another copper pendant I finished this morning. I am having fun with the dapping and doming set and my hammer! I added a macro shot of the pendant for a closer view.

I wore the Copper and Brass pendant (below)to the Arizona Artists Guild meeting last night and the pendant was noticed quite a bit. I think I am on to something with these copper pieces, I know I sure enjoy wearing them when I road-test and market-test them!

SOLD

Artisan Jewelry Sale

2010-02-16T14:50:00.004-07:00

Last Saturday I participated for one day in an art sale at the Sun City Grand Art Club. I was pleasantly surprised with my successful sales that day and even more that I sold more of the mid to high end pieces than the less expensive line of jewelry I had on display also. I met so many people who were interested in hand made jewelry, and interested in the process of how it is created. It was a good day!

The Valentine's Bear was one of my presents from my honey for Valentine's. I thought he added such a fun air to the scene!

Copper Blossoms

2010-02-12T06:32:00.003-07:00

This is one of the pair of earrings I made yesterday to go with the copper and brass pendant made earlier this week. The other one did not show the colors well and was in shadow and, rather than retake the photo, I decided to just show this one. I do love the colors that the torch brought out on this sheet of copper.

I road-tested these yesterday afternoon and they are comfy and have lots of movement; which I like for earrings.

Note the almost rough edges on the bell, I am inspired to make them more so to suggest petals of a blossom next time. These are filed smooth on the edges and I like the dips and flares, for some reason, instead of hammering them smooth in the doming block. Next time, I think I will make the disks larger and just hammer the center of them and let the edges be what they want to be. Interesting!

Copper and Torched Brass

2010-02-09T19:50:00.002-07:00

Wow, this one was fun! I cut out a rectangular shape from the torched copper sheet from before, then cut out a smaller rectangle from a torched brass sheet I had played with. I cold-fused them together with a copper grommet and then added a dangle of copper and brass. I loved doing this, it was great fun and seemed to speak to me while I was making it. I love it when that happens!

First Domed Piece

2010-02-09T19:45:00.002-07:00

About a month ago, I purchased a doming and dapping set at Harbor Freight. I knew I wanted this but hadn't thought through just what I would do with it. Well, I found out what! A few days ago, assisted by my husband, I torched (yes, I was trusted with my handy-dandy butane torch) a sheet of copper. I brought out the lovely reds, greens and gold from the copper and dropped it immediately into a cold water bath. I loved it. I got out my Harbor Freight tin snips and cut out an approximately round shape. I domed it with the tool set and it formed this lovely, petal shape. I paired it, today, with some pure copper beads from A2Z Beads and...wa-la! I love this piece! This is such fun! What do you think?

SOLD

2010-02-09T19:42:00.000-07:00

When I found this lovely leaves chain in copper at A2Z Beads I loved it and imagined it in flowing earring dangles or something like that. In taking it apart in this endeavor, I found that the individual leaves were with rings that would make them lovely on their own, albeit tiny. So, these are the dangles I made from this chain as well as the simple, small earrings...maybe for a young girl?

2010-02-09T19:40:00.001-07:00

This is a bracelet I have been working on for months, literally! I made the original bead components from 1/4-inch copper tubing with spiral silver wire, but hadn't quite decided how to finish it. It is finished now and I like it!

2010-02-09T19:38:00.000-07:00

This is a bracelet I formed using charms formed from the beads bought at A2Z Beads. I had thought, originally, of making only earring dangles from these beautiful beads, but saved five of them for this bracelet....I am glad I did!

2010-02-07T13:23:00.002-07:00

While at the Quartzsite show, I found a great deal on beautiful turquoise beads so indulged myself and bought quite a few strands. One cannot have too much turquoise, especially when one lives in the Southwest! I like this design for its simplicity.

SOLD

Quartz and Jasper Pendant

2010-02-07T13:18:00.001-07:00

I found this stone while out rockhounding near Deming, New Mexico. I suspect it is quartz with jasper inclusions. I tumbled and polished it and think it is such a pretty color. I wrapped it with twisted copper wire and suspended it from a copper neck ring.

SOLD

Cloisonne Earrings Again

2010-02-07T13:16:00.003-07:00

I wanted to show you a close-up of these earrings. I have now used all of these special beads I bought. I will miss them! Aren't they beauties?

Turquoise and Copper Swirl

2010-02-07T13:14:00.002-07:00

This turquoise pendant is another I found at the Quartzsite show. I thought its simple shape demanded a simple swirl of copper. I still love these neck wires, they keep things securely simple.

SOLD

Mauve Set

2010-02-07T13:11:00.001-07:00

I made this set of mauve-colored stone beads and a stone pendant from the Quartzsite show. I have a mauve cotton sweater in this color so I decided to try it on with that. It makes a nice look when they are the same color. I hope someone also has an outfit that would match this, I love the color!

Bracelet Trio

2010-02-07T13:06:00.005-07:00

This is a trio of bracelets I recently completed. I found these pure copper and sterling beads at A 2 Z Beads and loved them, now I am sad that there are so few left! The two copper bracelets are an experiment. I love the oxidized look and the one on the right was dipped in Liver of Sulphur to speed the oxidation and the other one has been left to oxidize on its own. In the photo, they look to be much the same color, but you can see the darkened little nooks and crannies in the LOS bracelet, which is nice. I may polish the non-LOS bracelet or let it oxidize more.

The bracelet on the right has what I believe are either magnasite or howlite beads. They are a gift from a good friend's mothers things after her mother passed away. They are very interesting and very appreciated.

Center bracelet SOLD

Pendants and Earrings

2010-02-01T09:52:00.003-07:00

When in Quartzsite in January, I visited my fav bead store there during the Gem and Mineral Show, Gem World. George, there, has so many great beads and findings, all at super prices for the show. I bought many pendants, both drilled and plain for wire wrap like cabochons and have had fun making some of these pendants. I also bought, there, some wire neck rings that I think set off the simplicity of these pendants well. I like the size and flexibility of them instead of the stiffer, wider Omegas that I usually use.

While spending my gift certificate at A 2 Z beads in Glendale I spied these lovely, almost cloisonne-looking beads and bought enough to make a few pairs of oriental earrings. They just spoke to me!

I'll post more later, I have been happily painting and making jewelry, doesn't get much better than that!

Green jasper arrowhead SOLD

Sunset Rainbow

2010-01-29T05:59:00.004-07:00

I just love this simple necklace. I found these red stone beads at A 2 Z Beads a few weeks ago and wanted to pair them with simple silver beads and a silver pendant I also found there. No wire wrap, no intricate design, just the red and silver. I hope nobody gets dizzy looking at this photo, but I elected to take the photo inside and the sun came out at just that time and shown through the blinds. I looked at the photo and decided I liked the almost abstract effect it gave so will go with this, at least that's my story!

I haven't been wrapping much wire lately, but will soon start some pendants with my tumbled stones since I bought three colors of neck rings when we were in Quartzsite this week. I am thinking the neck rings (made of stranded wire) can either be beaded or left as exposed wire since they are in colors of copper, silver and black wire. Fun!

Copper Pendant

2010-01-06T09:01:00.004-07:00

This is my latest project. I cut the back piece from a sheet of copper, hammered it for texture, then folded the top to form a "shelf". I drilled holes for the dangling pieces to slide through and then hammered both ends to form paddles after adding various copper and silver beads.

The copper chain was bought at Western Traders in Las Cruces, NM.

SOLD!

Operation Warmheart

2009-12-18T06:08:00.001-07:00

I wish to announce some exciting news. I belong to the Sun City Grand Art Club, as well as to one of their sub-groups called Grand Artist Jewelry. This Grand Artist Jewelry group has taken on a holiday service project to raise money for Operation Warmheart. This is a charity sponsored by the Luke Air Force Base First Sergeants, they raise money to assist deployed military and their families. This includes providing food, emergency shelter, airline tickets for the family of a severely injured airman, and many other worthy services.

As artisan jewelers, we have offered many hand-made pieces for sale today, Friday the 18th, at the Concierge desk at Sun City Grand's Sonoran Plaza. This sale will run from 8:00-4:00 today. The Concierge desk is across from Zuni's, where you will find lovely pieces of hand-wrought jewelry. There will be pieces that will be for sale, with 100% going to this worthy charity and others with percentages of the sales going to Operation Warmheart.

After today's fund drive with jewelry sales, I will also be involved in an ArtChix sale at the Sun City Grand Art Club. I will carry over my participation in today's sale benefiting Operation Warmheart where I will have designated pieces available for sale at my table at the sale. I will also accept donation to the cause.

I offer credit card convenience at my table, so if you would like to leave a donation it would be appreciated by so many!

Turquoise and Copper Necklace

2009-12-12T09:01:00.003-07:00

I found this beautiful copper chain at A 2 Z Beads last week and knew it would be perfect for this necklace. It is beautiful, with three-strand, fine chain segments between copper loops. Since this may be a heavier-than-normal "pendant", I thought the clasp might be uncomfortable on the back of the neck so decided to attach the chain to the pendant with pure copper lobster clasps on both ends of the chain (accommodating either right or left-hand user). I think this will be more convenient and comfortable.

I am pleased with this necklace, as well as being pleased to have finished it! This took more patience than I normally have, but it feels like more of an accomplishment that way.

SOLD!

Newest Project

2009-12-01T12:59:00.003-07:00

I recently bought Sharilyn Miller's new book on contemporary copper jewelry. In this book, she invited other jewelry designers to contribute designs for using copper. This one was by Dale "Cougar" Armstrong and for some reason it just spoke to me. I don't know if it is something I would wear, but I sure like the looks of it at this point.

You begin with a free-form wire support which is work hardened and hammered for permanence. Then, you create cages with smaller gauge copper wire to hold the turquoise stones (not drilled beads, but chunks of turquoise) and then wire them onto the frame along with thousands (don't know that for sure, but it sure seemed like it!) of tiny beads.

I will next either buy or make the links for a copper chain to hold make this into a necklace. At the sides are two loops for attaching the chain so I am still thinking about whether to make my own links or see if I can find some that I like for this piece.

I worked on this both days of our ArtChix sale last weekend when I wasn't talking to customers. It sure involved a lot of wrapping!

Beading Session

2009-12-01T06:04:00.002-07:00

When I found out that Aubrey and her parents would be here for the Thanksgiving holiday, she and I planned on painting and beading together. Here, you can see her excellent skill in threading beads onto memory wire for a bracelet. Note the proper placement of the tongue to make that bead go onto the wire!

I held the wire for her so it would not spring back at her and she placed beads, very carefully, and in the suggested alternating color pattern, onto the wire. As it was almost completed, she announced "I am making this bracelet for you, Grandma"! I was so touched, I thought she was making it for herself. I will cherish it forever. Our step-granddaughter, Destiny, was making one for Aubrey so she got one, too. It was a fun day of painting and beading with my fav peeps.

Now, back to lone beading, it won't be the same! But, wait until you see what I am working on now...a necklace that will be more like a breastplate and will not be for the demure and dainty!

2009-11-19T07:59:00.003-07:00

This is a bracelet/necklace set I made with beads found on my first visit (I will return!) to a local bead store. I loved the rich Fall colors of these dyed stone beads and added a few interesting wooden beads I had. I like the look.

SOLD

Tribal Set

2009-11-13T08:59:00.003-07:00

While at my favorite Las Cruces bead store, I found these very tribal-looking beads and bought three strands of them that I thought would look good together. Yesterday was the day I made them into this set.

I am moving away from the pastel colors into the more Fall/Winter colors now that it is finally cooling off here on the desert.

SOLD

2009-11-10T14:30:00.002-07:00

I have been making lots of jewelry but it seems I am not taking the photos of them. Well, today was a day of experimentation so I will show this selection now. I have been working a lot in copper and these are a few pieces I tested out aging in Liver of Sulfur (I know, a disgusting sound for a simple solution). I will next do some more polishing of these, but I do like the aged look of them, especially for the pieces with lots of nooks and crannies for the dark to settle into.

I'll get the camera out more frequently now and keep up with the blog better, I promise.

2009-10-16T14:24:00.002-07:00

Here is my latest piece, created from stone beads that I believe are dyed quartz. I do love creating these bead units that link the components together. I think this would look good with a tan turtle neck this winter.

Oktoberfest Art Sale

2009-10-12T18:11:00.004-07:00

Thanks to Jim Greenwald, one of the art club's photographers, for supplying this photo of me at the art sale. I was manning, along with Sue Bulgrin, the artisan jewelry table in the art club. I also had paintings for sale, but this crowd was apparently not buying much, especially of paintings. But, a few bought jewelry. As an artist who participates in sales, I always hope to sell more than I do, but in this case I feel grateful that I did as well as I did.

I truly was not wearing all of those necklaces...they were on black velvet busts on a day when I was wearing a black top! Oh well, won't do that again! Anyway, the necklace (please click on the photo to see a better detail version) that I was the most happy to sell and sorry to lose was the one that was at my right lower chest. I had taken apart lots of vintage pearl necklaces and a silver brooch and hooked the clasps from these necklaces onto the triangle-shaped brooch. A lady, who was approaching her sixtieth birthday, saw that and just had to have it. She said when her husband got there he would make up the difference and she would consider this her sixtieth birthday present! I told her that the price, then, would match her birthday years and held it for her husband's return. They both came back, she put the necklace on, they paid me for it and she was one happy person. She told me that several people had noticed ti on the way out of the room and she was so proud to have this. I am always happy to have my time and materials covered when I sell something, but then sometimes the rewards of matching a customer's wishes trumps that and the warm/fuzzy feeling that comes from pleasing someone with a design makes it more worthwhile than the money.

Since this necklace was a one-of-a-kind and never-to-be repeated design I would not have minded keeping it for myself, but if I am going to be in the business of selling jewelry I cannot let sentiment rule the day. So, I am happy it went to a happy home.

Contemprary Copper Jewelry

2009-10-06T05:07:00.002-07:00

I really must post here about my newest jewelry book I received from Amazon yesterday! I have been following the wonderful designs by Sharilyn Miller on her blog for a few months. She makes jewelry that speaks to me like no other...she loves copper and found object pieces and is so innovative with how she mixes her materials. The book title is Contemporary Copper Jewelry and just scanning through it last night had me drooling and wishing I could reach for my pliers. Alas, I was too tired after a very long day, but today I will try one of the more simple designs she offers. I am so pleased about having this book!

Soapstone Necklace

2009-10-05T10:49:00.004-07:00

In addition to wanting to share with you my latest necklace design, I am trying to experiment with jewelry photography and effects to do that better. This is a baby step toward that. I like the diffused light but will position the bust differently next time. Always something to learn!

This is a necklace designed after finding these soapstone beads at Western Traders when I was last in Las Cruces. They are of such an architectural design that I did not want to overdo the use of them, so decided to separate them in bead units of copper beads and copper wire. I like the effect! I had planned on showing earrings to match but found, when I "roadtested" them that they were a bit too heavy and uncomfortable when they bumped against my neck. That is why I always roadtest prototype designs before trying to sell them.

This, along with many other of my pieces will be available at the Sun City Grand Oktoberfest. I will have my jewelry in the Art Club as well as another artisan and I will be sharing a table in the Chaparell Center. Stop by and see us!

Red Jasper Set

2009-09-28T10:06:00.004-07:00

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

2009-09-28T09:59:00.003-07:00

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!

2009-09-26T08:04:00.002-07:00

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

2009-09-26T08:02:00.002-07:00

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

2009-09-12T12:08:00.004-07:00

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

2009-09-12T11:56:00.004-07:00

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!

2009-08-04T13:04:00.002-07:00

This is a medical bracelet I made for my husband's medical emblem. I wanted something that looked more ruggedly masculine than just beads and he suggested copper links. I hammered very heavy copper wire into "dino bone" links and drilled holes to hold the connecting jump rings. That was a lot of hammering! I had thought of making enough links to make a necklace for myself but after doing just enough links for this bracelet thought better of that idea! I love the look of copper, even after it oxidizes it still looks so richly warm in color.

Swarovski Crystal Medical Bracelet

2009-08-04T12:59:00.003-07:00

Several members of my family, as well as many of my friends, wear the medical bracelets to alert medical personnel of their medical problems. I discovered a way to make these bracelets more attractive, as well as easier to remove and put on. This is one I made for my friend and fellow artisan jeweler, Carol. It contains Swarovski crystals and is easily attached to her gold medical emblem. I even guessed correctly her size and it fits well, and really improves the look of her bracelet now without losing any of its vital functionality.

I have many more ideas for great designs for these and will begin working on more of them.

The Blogging Gods are not allowing Carol to comment on this post this morning so I will post her comment she e-mailed to me mainly because it warms my heart to hear it and also validates that these are a great idea!

I'm the totally lucky recipient of this beautiful bracelet link for my medical bracelet. So many of us have allergies and other issues that require us to wear a Medical Alert bracelet. Many of my friends agree that it feels like you have been "branded" and the world believes you have a hideous disease instead of an allergy to penicillin. The addition of Susan's wonderful crystal bracelet makes such a difference. I now see my alert bracelet as a piece of jewelry and wear it proudly instead of trying to hide it under my watch.

Thank you so much Susan... what a difference !!!!

Carol

Hematite Heart

2009-08-04T12:55:00.003-07:00

This necklace/earrings set was made from some hematite beads I found in Albuquerque. The heart pendant I wired from a hematite heart found locally. This was an interesting material to work with as they are truly magnetic. I had beads stuck to every jeweler's pliers on my worktable and the earrings stuck together when placed too closely to each other! They make a fun set if you want something dark but not jet black in color.

SOLD

Red Necklace for Kristi

2009-08-01T06:35:00.003-07:00

A friend commissioned me to make a necklace for her, the only stipulation was it had to have red in it. I chose these red branch coral beads because I love their deep red color and the interesting shapes and textures of each bead. I hand-made the beaded clasp. She loved the necklace and wore it well.

Hammered Copper

2009-07-18T09:40:00.004-07:00

A few days ago I read on a blog I follow by Sharilyn Miller about using copper washers found at Harbor Freight to make interesting copper bracelets. I just happened to have found these, on my own, at the Las Cruces Harbor Freight store while we were there and bought them just because they were so pretty and so interesting. I had no idea what I was going to do with them but I could not leave them there! As we returned home, there was this daily entry to Sharilyn's blog explaining how to make this bracelet from the copper washers found at Harbor Freight! This one was meant for me, I am sure!

I hand-hammered these washers and made the wire components, including the toggle bar, for the closure. This sure was a fun one and such an interesting design. I love working in copper since it is such a warm color.

SOLD

Industrial Chic

2009-07-17T13:35:00.003-07:00

I was inspired by some designs using found objects by Tara. Since then I have been on the look-out for objects to mix with the beads I have and have had fun creating some of them. The earrings here are some I used from hardware store finds and some of the copper pieces are from there, as well. The orange bead bracelet is one I made for myself to match a necklace and earring set I have of the orange beads.

By the way, I spoke with my favorite jewelry store guy in Las Cruces (Western Traders) and he said these brown and turquoise beads are calcilikite. Who knew?

I started tumbling some of the many rocks found on our recent New Mexico jaunt. Even just rinsing them off to prepare for the tumbler revealed their beauty, so I am hoping for spectacular results with these. For all the sweat and effort my husband and I put into gathering these, they had better be spectacular! Rockhounding is a tiring hobbby!

Watch Band

2009-06-26T11:55:00.004-07:00

I wanted a watchband for this spare watch that was light and airy for summer. I made this in the size of a bracelet to fit rather loosely. I used a random assortment of gold beads and had a fun time creating.

June Earrings

2009-06-26T11:53:00.003-07:00

I found myself in the mood to make some fun earrings this morning. I made these, I think they look light and summery, especially the shell ones!

Woven Wire and Beads

2009-06-22T14:03:00.001-07:00

This is a new technique I am learning, weaving wire. It is great fun and I foresee many projects using this. I will try this in smaller beads and wire, etc. in the future...lots of possibilities here.

Mystery Beads

2009-06-20T10:33:00.005-07:00

I finished this set this morning. While I have vowed to learn more about gem and mineral identification for the beads I have, the farthest I have come is "oh...those are pretty"! Such is the case with these beads. The beads are various shades of brown with turquoise inclusions in them of varying shades of blue and green. The beads are 18 mm size and so attractive! They were purchased at Western Traders in Las Cruces, NM. The owner of this store saw me peeking in the windows of the store an hour before opening time and offered to open the store for me! How is that for customer service? While I was not that desperate for beads, it certainly added a lot of convenience to our day to not have to return during regular store hours. Needless to say, he probably felt I made it worth his effort. He had wonderful beads inside the rather large store! I will return to his store on our next trip through Las Cruces.

The coiled copper components are a nice complementary color to the blues and lighten the weight of this longer, natural stone necklace quite a bit. Copper jewelry has such an inner warmth, I think.

I made the necklace long enough to slip easily over one's head and I like the look!

After more research, I have come to the conclusion that these are either natural Chinese Turquoise or natural "enhanced" Chinese Turquoise stone beads. There seems to be some controversy by beaders about the value of enhanced over genuine, as-is, stones. Since I don't know which these are, all I will say is it goes back to what I said in the beginning, "these are pretty beads"!

First Cabochon

2009-06-16T18:05:00.003-07:00

I am including this here to keep myself honest. Today, I for the first time wrapped a cabochon. The tutorial called for square wire either 22 g or 20 g but I decided to go with 18 g because I thought it needed to be stronger than the lighter wires. Wronnnngggg! It needs to be lighter to hug the shape of irregular cabs....duh! I also chose round craft wire since I did not want to chance ruining the more expensive square silver or gold for my first try at this.

At any rate, this taught me to follow directions, as directed, as well as the basic techniques needed to wrap cabs. I bought some lovely ones and interesting ones in Las Cruces so it is important for me to learn to wrap them properly for pendants. I even have a cab that is of "landscape jasper" that I think will be gorgeous.

I am embarrassed about the flaws in the overworked front wraps, but it was an enjoyable, though hard-on-the-hands effort today. I will continue on with my quest to do this properly, but make better wire choices next time. Onward!

Bracelets for Aubrey

2009-06-10T14:26:00.002-07:00

I made two stretchy little bracelets for my granddaughter, Aubrey, and sent them to her in a package with some goodies we found for her on our recent trip. She models one of these bracelets here. I guess she was pretty excited to get them and even recognized it was her package since it had her personalized pink address label with the bear on it, so it was from Grandma. Cool.

Even more cool is the fact that after opening the package and rifling through the contents, she asked if when Daddy gets home they could Skype Grandma and talk to her. A true child of the millennium! This is so cool being a grandparent in this age of easy communication with those who don't live close to you, they are but a mouse click away!

2009-06-09T13:03:00.002-07:00

These were a fun group of bracelets to make. The beads for the two china bead bracelets were imported from....well....China! They really are delicate and lovely beads.

The gold bracelet on the left was made by drawing elastic bracelet thread through links of hardware store chain and gathering them together in these super little bundles, interspersed with lightweight gold beads. I am next going to try this method using regular beading wire and see if that will work, also.

The charm bracelet started with a chain made of interlocked swivel hooks...yup, got them in the fishing department! The real work came in making all of those dangles and then installing them on the swivels. Each dangle has a slightly different wire wrap design and all are made with clear beads for maximum sparkle. How cool is this?!

2009-06-09T12:58:00.002-07:00

While on a recent trip through New Mexico I "happened" upon a "few" bead shops. Okay, I planned on stopping at many bead shops there. I found wonderful beads shops in Las Cruces, Albuquerque and Santa Fe. The beads for the two silver Bali bead bracelets to the left here were found in a large store in Las Cruces. I like the upper left one so well that I am keeping that one for myself, as well as the earrings that I made to go with them. I also found in this store these wonderful orange stone beads that perfectly matched several of my summer tops so I will keep this one, also. Hmmmm, I see a trend starting here!

I had enough time to bead while DH was on the dialysis machine and enjoyed the relaxation of beading and bending wire in the motorhome.

B/W Necklace

2009-05-13T09:09:00.003-07:00

I found the large, striped beads and knew I wanted to create dangles with them for a necklace. This was so much fun I have started a bracelet which will have 50 dangles connected to chain, of course they will be made from smaller beads.

This is a shorter length necklace that would look good with a round or V-neck top.

Patty's Pearl Pendant

2009-05-10T10:55:00.002-07:00

This is a pendant made to hang from a silver omega, requested by a friend to make for her using her shell. I loved the graceful swirl of holes down the right side of this one. Shells make beautiful jewelry, I will start looking through my small collection, hmm......

Heritage Necklace

2009-05-05T10:00:00.004-07:00

While disassembling a lot of the family pieces to refurbish and reuse I was struck by the beauty of the oldest clasps and chains that were used years ago to finish and secure necklaces. I had this brooch we removed the soldered pin from, the triangular filigree centerpiece of the pendant, and decided to hang an assortment of these great clasps from the pendant. I like pendants with lots of motion and this one has that! I used some antique silver beads, mixed with my late mother-in-law's Swarovski crystal beads and made this necklace. Since it is comprised of family pieces, I will proudly wear this one myself so it won't be for sale. However, if it gives anyone an idea to do something similar with their older pieces, I thought I would show it here. I would be happy to redesign someone's treasures like this into something more updated yet charming, sentimental yet fun.

SOLD

2009-05-01T07:07:00.000-07:00

These are my latest designs. I have ordered more beads and findings and am waiting, anxiously, for them to be delivered. Kinda like Christmas!

Red and Crystal

2009-04-24T13:11:00.005-07:00

The centerpiece of this pendant was refurbished from an antique brooch I have had for many years. I bought it to wear on jacket lapels and always enjoyed it. After leaving it in a drawer for quite awhile, I decide to bring it back to life in a newly-styled necklace pendant. The necklace is below.

The beads used in this necklace and pendant are Swarovski crystal beads and gold beads. I have no idea of the center stone in the former brooch. I am quite sure it is a rhinestone, but may also be a lab-created ruby. I do know that the filigree surrounding the stone is well-designed and nice metal.

I often have wondered about who these belonged to and how they wound up for sale in an antique store on Whiskey Road in Prescott, AZ where I purchased a few of these pieces.

Blue and Silver

2009-04-24T13:07:00.003-07:00

The necklace at the left is made from silver beads and blue jewelry wire. The blue coiled "beads" were hand coiled by yours truly over a two-day period. The term "handcrafted" truly comes into play with this one!

For a close-up of the centerpiece pendant detail, please see the macro shot to the right.

C Earrings

2009-04-24T12:59:00.002-07:00

This grouping of earrings includes more detail, higher-priced beads and Swarovski crystals beads. Most of these will match any color you are wearing and would look just as good with denim as dressy.