I needed red earrings for a chorus performance. Hm. I went through my stash and found sparkly red beads, wire, and ear hooks.
I bent the end of the wire into a very small loop, strung on the beads, and made a larger loop that connected to the ear hook. Simple, sparkly, red.
These necklace pins are from September 2010. I like dual purpose pieces, and these pins that are also a necklace focal are some of the best I’ve made. I crafted the pins from sterling silver wire and Swarovski crystal beads; one represents a Bluebonnet and the other Queen Anne’s Lace wild flowers.
This is another favorite jewelry project I made back in January 2010. I used silver clay, some with cubic zirconia inclusions, to make unique beads, created custom wire elements, small chain link florets, and built links with end caps and beads.
This necklace did not do as well in the Fire Mountain Gems contest, which disappointed me because I thought this one displayed more technical skill. In hindsight, that is probably why it didn’t do well, it isn’t something easily duplicated, so wouldn’t advertise their products to the best advantage.
Live and learn.
In April of 2009 I made one of my favorite metal clay jewelry sets. Metal clay is fine particles of silver suspended in a medium to make it workable like clay. It is then fired in a kiln to burn off the organics leaving nearly pure silver in the slightly smaller shaped form, all without forging or soldering.
The metal clay does give options for designs that are difficult to achieve with traditional gold smithing tools, but requires its own set of specialty tools like the kiln.
Here is something from July 2008 that reflects most of the crafts I was involved with at the time: crochet, wire work, and glass fusing.
The rope was crocheted with copper lined seed beads (I think, I may have crocheted copper wire with clear seed beads, but the rope looks too even with a nice drape, which tells me I probably used silk cord, rather than wire, and the the copper color may come from a lined seed bead). I finished the rope with hand made wire cones and a purchased copper toggle clasp. The pendant is fused glass with a hand made chased copper inclusion in the shape of a four loop Celtic knot. I was experimenting with fused glass using a small kiln because I could set it up, let it run its program overnight, and check on it in the morning in my own time, very important when dealing with a young child and another on the way.
I attached the glass pendant using copper wire, and added five independent coils of copper around the rope. I must have done this for flexibility reasons, it would have looked better with a single longer coil, but that would have changed the drape.
These seed bead crocheted ropes do make me nostalgic for the times I could wear necklaces. They have a comforting feel in the hand.
Critters and Craft 