What a Difference a Day (Off) Made

I had a day off and wated to do some earrings - very simple and cheap earrings, just for the sake of playing with easy designs.

Steampunk-inspired Key Earrings


Lavender Briolettes Earrings

Copper and Czech Beads Earrings

Indigo Firepolished Bead Earrings

Baby-blue and Lime-green Earrings

I Just Love Making Copper Bracelets

Ahhaaa!
After making a bunch of seedy-beady bangles there was another thing awaiting - bangles with not-so-seedy beads! I admit - I like a cluster of bangles on a hand all together, maybe that's why I always make a few to compliment each other.
But hey - they're good on their own too! No bangle should be ashamed on its own!

Sorry, I'm in a silly mood today...

Copper Bracelet with Blue Ceramic Bead:

Another simplified version of Copper Bracelet with Blue Ceramic Bead:

Copper Bracelet with Red Glass Beads:

Copper Bracelet with Lampworked Beads:

Yellow Briolette Pendant (With Copper)

Honestly? When I'm trying to experiment with some design that's sleeping in my head, I find it easier making pendants than earrings - like this pendant.
If I wanted to make earrings, they would have to be exactly the same size, shape, same everything. So I play with pendant and then decide if it would turn into an earring and get a sister, or if it will stay a pendant...
I have already mentioned that I adore very big earrings, so turning a pendant into an earring is certainly not an issue for me :-)))

A Lemonade Award

A Lemonade Award – sounds delicious even in winter!
I have been nominated by Kathleen – a wonderful glass artist. I feel really honoured . Her blog was one of the first I started following when I “signed up” for this madness called blogging and have since found lots of inspiration in her design (and you should have a look at her blog and Etsy shop too!).
Thank you, Kathleen, you’re so kind!

Now an explanation, WHAT IS A Lemonade Award:
A Lemonade Award is given to bloggers that show a positive attitude and gratitude.
Sort of a list of bloggers who not only write for their own fun, but share the sunshine, help others in the cyberspace.

Here are the rules for the award:
1.Put the logo on your blog or post
2.Nominate at least 10 blogs that show great Gratitude and/or Attitude.
3.Be sure to list and link your nominees within your post.
4.Let them know they have received this award by leaving a comment on their blog.
5.Nominate your favorites and link to your post.

Here are nominees I have chosen (most of them have something to do with jewellery making):

Kecia can show you how somebody’s junk can be another person’s treasure!
Pippi makes not only jewellery
Perri will amaze you with how very tiny tweeny small things can be made with wire
Reverie – you might not understand her blog if you don’t speak Polish, but if you’re looking for very beautiful jewellery, you will understand the pictures
Gosia has her blog in Polish too, but again, the pictures speak any language – beautiful jewellery with antique feel
Dawn makes very different colourful designs to light up your day
Eni – a jewellery artist and teacher who made it possible to so many people! Find her also on http://www.blogger.com/www.jewelrylessons.com
Bobbi is a great teacher and inspiration
Franchezka has always kind words for those who are learning. Although her blog is a baby now, make sure to return to it!
Vin is a real blog doctor – see him with all your blog ouches
Kathleen – not as a thank you for nominating me, but for the inspiration and kind words!

Ringa-Ding-Ding, It's a Ring!

My first ring! I haven't tried a ring before, but I was eyeing up some tutorials and really, really wanted to give it a go - but I didn't have a ring mandrel.
The ring madrel is actually a big thing - trying to form a wire ring on your own hand requires lots of craftmanship, because you essentially lose one hand to work with! Plus you might lose you finger if your wire gets too tight :-)

I was trying to form the wires in my hands as I was going... not the best idea either - the rign ended up being a tad bigger than I needed.
Nevertheless - here's the ring.

But the next ones will come once I actually buy the mandrel. Yep, the tools are important. Point made. Full stop.
Materials:
copper wire (16g, 20g, 24g)
4 Czech firepolished beads

Copper Earrings With Lilac Glass Flowers

This is just a little play with copper wire and some beautiful Czech glass flowers.

Simply Red (Very Looong Earrings)

Coiling two twisted wires resulted in pretty loooong earrings, that I have adorned with some Indian and Czech beads.

BTW, I like long earrings - that's why...

Copper Frame with Amber

Once upon a time there was a beautiful copper wire-wrapped frame.
http://designbymisa.blogspot.com/2009/02/copper-pendant-project-in-progress.html

Misa couldn't bring herself to finish it. There were so many ideas and so many designs... and so many ways to spoil the frame.





Sometimes the simplest solution is the best solution. I didn't want to over-combine the design, didn't want to play with colours and -------- of course, I didn't want to regret the outcome.


I am really still not sure if this was the best I could do with the copper frame, but I'm satisfied that it is at least finished, it just seemed like a waste having the frame and thinking too much about it.

And Now You Don't Have To Imagine The Earwires!

I don't know if you've been waiting to see how these earrings would look like when finished, but I can assure you I was waiting for my package full of beads (and copper findings) like craaaazy! I have made a few other pairs of earrings with copper, but I didn't have any copper earwires and I was feeling like this shouldn't really be happening to me. I am missing one thing and it's stopping me from finishing a project.

So I have ordered not only the earwires, but also some headpins and different gauges of wires so I am 'covered'...

And the earrings? To remind you what they looked like:

And this is what they look like now!!!

What Did I Do When The Copper Earwires Arrived...

Well, what else -I have finished all those poor earrings that were waiting for the wires!

Circles with copper beads:

Copper circles with pearls (done on order - yes, my first customized order!!!):

Silver Tearshaped Earrings

Just a play with wires on a busy day.
These are little sisters of the copper earrings I happen to love so much, only the beads are on the outside rather than the inside. And next I will try to put the beads on the inside - the silver beads are hammered cubes and would look different.

Silver Version of "Hangin' In There" Heart

Here is a silver version of the heart I made earlier in copper; http://designbymisa.blogspot.com/2009/01/hangin-in-there-copper-heart.html
Making the same design the second time around was much easier and faster - and I've just received an order for 2 of the copper ones!


Here are pictures of the heart from sides and top - this will give you a better idea how it is made. It's basically a modified loop with beads added. Oooooh, I'm making it sound so easy...

Hindi Prayer

I haven't done anything with photo trasfers in a while .... OK I actually can explain this, as I really do not like the word lazy in connection with me and I have already used it in my previous post. Our appartment isn't big and I don't have a fixed jewellery-making spot yet. No workshop, no designated area.
I like working in front of TV, because I like having sound around me while working, but radio lacks the visual stimulation. (Can you believe that we lived for a little over 4 years without TV and now all of a sudden I like it???) So my tools, wires, all that jazz is on a little table in front of the telly. When we have visitors, I try to clean it a bit and stock it in shoe boxes. When the visitors are gone, I take out the shoe boxes and spread everything around again.
I think people like us, because we had a lot of friends for dinner in past few weeks... and I just keep cleaning up and "down" again and again.
And the photo transfers are the messiest (water is involved too), so I don't take it out of the box as often as I would like to.

BUT! Solution is on the way: I'm getting our friends used to the idea that I have started making jewellery and that I need some work space. Some of our closest friends have already seen the "mess", as I didn't clean up. And it actually turned into an improvised house jewellery party! They wanted to see what I'm making, what are the tools and some of them picked what they liked! AWESOME!
So now when this hobby is slowly becoming a part of me, I won't have to clean up that much anymore (still talking only about the jewellery mess, of course :-))) and instead of looking through those shoe boxes I will spend more time making my pieces!


Oh, did you want to know about the 'Hindi Prayer'?
So this time I have added bits of gold leaf to the transfer and it came out very pretty. I would say the leaf adds a touch of antique feel to it.
I have to apologize as the photo transfer doesn't photograph very well (the irony!), because it is shiny and also because the base is mother-of-pearl. I'm thinking that bigger distance and macro on the camera will give a better result - next time, ok?

The text isn't actually a prayer, it's from a calendar, but the name sounded so nice. And most people will not understand anyway...

Earrings As I Promised - Just Pretend You Can See the Earwires!

As previously mentioned, I was working on earrings that would complement the style of the copper frame. Although the frame isn't completed yet (I was a bit lazy about it in past few days, although I have a few ideas how to finish it now), the earrings are done! Well..... almost.....
I didn't have any copper earwires, nor a wire of the right gauge to make them myself. They are on the way now and should be here in a few days (this sounds like the wires are on a road trip or something :), but I just couldn't wait to post these earrings here!
I hope you share my excitement!

Wire Ohm

This is crazy!!! I have put a big stone on my shoulders to carry! I thought an OHM design would be very cool and 'in vogue', but the execution was.... well like an execution! Uh, oh, I did it!
And next time it will be better - I played with this a lot and learned a lot.

The dot in Ohm is a square turquoise bead. If I'm able to make a few of these (I know there is a trick to it, and I WILL find it!), I can customize the dot - choose your favourite gemstone or your birthstone in the place of the dot!
The dot-bead is gently swinging as you move, so it will look nice on a long and short chain both.
Think zen, think OHMMMMMMMMM!

Bye for now, I have to catch up on some yoga...