Wire-wrapped Big Jade Bead

My mum asked me to try to make something out of this beautiful jade bead she found somewhere. I am sorry I didn't take a picture with a coin or something else to show the scale, but when I see my mum again, I'll try to get a photo of her wearing it :) 

This is the pendant that I ended up with:

Fancy Clasp with Turquoise

A friend ordered a bracelet for his daughter (same design as here). I wanted to make a different style clasp this time, so I added a pair of small turquoise beads:



Sawing OHM sign - Mixed Metals

Sawing is so versatile - it can expand the possibilities of design for anybody working with metal. You can cut ANY shape out of sheet metal and add it to your creations.

It was my very good friend's birthday and I wanted to make something special for her. She loves yoga and works as a massage therapist focusing on energy work - so I immediately thought OHM....



I made a pendant of mixed metals: hammered aluminum sheet, copper sheet and brass beads and rivets. All that hanging on a brass chain. She loved it!

More Sawing - Birdie Necklace

Here is a necklace I have created after seeing an episode of Portlandia called "Put a Bird on it!" I guess all the hype about birds on bags/ pillows/ jewellery .... is because a birdie is non-offensive! The case of dogs and cats could be always up for a debate - if you're a "cat person", a doggie ring might not make you happy and vice versa, however a birdie is just fine. Haha. That was just a thought.

And totally by chance, the second design I tried with saw was a bird too (see it here)!

The bird is copper, chains are antiqued brass and the beads are small faceted peridots.

Turquoise Set - Viking Knit Technique

Another bracelet I made with the Viking knit - I just bought these adorable turquoise beads (it's actually dyed magnesite of a brilliant colour!) - hexagon rondelles - and I want to use them in a thousand of designs!

The bracelet looks really nice on the wrist.

...and it comes with earrings!

Earrings - beginning of 2012

Layering Necklaces

I like layering necklaces and always combine some vintage ones I own with some new that I designed and made.  The possible combinations are endless and include necklaces of various lengths, or all same length, but different textures/ beads... Yuo get the idea. It's the best thing you can do, if you have simply one too many necklaces:)

Here is just an example of 2 necklaces of same lengths that go well together.

Both necklaces are desinged and made by me.

Brass and Coral Bracelet

Here is something I made for my mum before Christmas! My mum loves coral, so here is an overload.

Just an assembled bracelet with 3 sizes of coral beads and brass chain and details.

Copper and pearls earrings

So couple days ago there were earrings with copper washers and pearls, here comes yet another design with copper and pearl combination. These earrings are wirewrapped - so far my favourite technique.

They were an order for my mum's friend - her ears aren't pierced, so I worked with leverbacks. The moment I put the photo on Facebook, another friend asked for the same design, for pierced ears. Nice networking:)

Copper Washers Are Great!

There are so many things jewellery can be made of - things considered junk (or at least "suitable for something else"). But as the saying goes, one's person's junk is another person's treasure.

I have first seen washers used by great jewellery maker Sharilyn Miller (http://www.sharilynmiller.com/,  here is her blog: http://sharilynmiller.blogspot.com/). The ideas Sharilyn has and the pieces she makes with washers are amazing! Following her recommendation, I have bought a kit of 110 copper washers (car repair shops have them, and they're on Amazon too) - that way you get 6 different sizes that you can combine. Hammering them and oxidizing afterwards makes the washers more attractive.

Here is my first pair of copper washer earrings! And they're certainly not the last, I'm already addicted!



Mixed Metals Earrings

It was time to experiment... steel wire, check... brass rivets, check... copper sheet and beads, check, check... MIXED METALS experiment!

I might patina them as well, have to think about it a bit.



Yet Another Take on Herringbone Weave - Necklace with Czech Firepolished Beads

I was trying to see what it wood look like if I had 3 beads in a row, all on one piece of wire and then wrapped them with the herringbone weave.
There are 3 Czech firepolished beads, the middle one just slightly bigger, and to add an accent I have used three 4mm beads on the last wrap for the middle bead. Those 3 tiny beads add some weight to the piece so it wouldn't turn when worn, so it's also a practical addition, apart from the bearing wire being slightly bent for the same reason.


The funny things about this picture is, that the wire I have used was BLACK steel wire, yet here it looks silver in colour. Note to self: have to do something about lighting for my photos...

Copper Bangle with Ceramic Bead (Variation to an Old Design)

A friend of mine recently saw this older design of mine and liked it a lot, but wanted the same thing done as a bangle. So I dived into my stash of beads (do you remember how Scrooge McDuck used to dive in his money in Duck Tales? Yep, that's what it looked like:) and found another of the Ceramic beads that I used a lot with copper.








So with the exact bead (can a human fall in love with a bead? Because that's what the friend of mine said about the bead and I was worried I didn't have any left...) I had no excuse not to try a different twist on the same design:

So I posted the bangle in my Etsy shop and tadaaa - SOLD! (Well to this friend and nobody else, of course!)

Liver of Sulfur

Oooh, this is fun! I have finally purchased Liver of Sulfur and I keep "livering" (or "sulfering"???) everything with it!
Here is the first pair of copper earrings I have tested it on - the one on the left is already getting antiqued, the one on the right is the original. I really like how it gives the wirewrapped design more depth...



Now it's the one on the right that's getting antiqued (just in the case you didn't notice they switched sides:).

Some Simple Earring Designs

I'm going to be traveling for a month now (so you won't see me around for a while) and I'm going to visit my family as well - so what better to bring to family and friends than a handmade gift! In my case jewellery :-))) - what else!
Most of the earrings from my previous post have somebody's name already written all over them. And here are just a few examples of SUPER simple designs that take just a moment to create - all you need is a wire, steel block, chasing hammer - and earplugs!

New Copper Earrings

My love-affair with COPPER seems to be never-ending! Well, there are several reasons for this - copper looks amazing, copper is in vogue right now and it's fairly inexpensive! And as if I needed another reason, I have lots of copper wire at home!
Remember my "trash stash" that I got from our Engineering? I got even more! Lots of discarded copper wire! It's rubber coated (like telephone wire) - so guess what I was doing for hours and hours while watching my fav TV programs? I think you got it: stripping my precious wires off their rubber clothes!

And here is what I've been working on recently:

Copper earrings with lots of copper beads.


Just wires - hand forged and hammered:


Swirls with copper beads:

And simple hammered swirls:

And this is just a bonus - next swirly earrings will be patina-coated! This is what ammonia with salt can do:

HOPE - Bracelet With Stamped Message

I was playing with the copper sheet more and more - I have already 2 products with similar design on Etsy. This is one of those - HOPE stamped bracelet.

I really like working with stamps a lot and was thinking to order a whole alphabet on Etsy - a few sellers have some unexpensive sets for sale. Don't laught, I have only a few letters that I had made on order in India, because before that all I could find were really pricey sets. Now after exploring Etsy closer, I have discovered more possibilies.

How do you like this bracelet?

Indian Secret - Necklace

This is a new item I made yesterday - and I put it on Etsy straight away!

Brass chain holds mother-of-pearl chip with photo transferred Hindi writing and a Rudraksh (holy nut from India that has healing powers and spiritual powers).
The red thread is Hindu holy thread that every Hindu person ties on their wrist for protection).

New Item On Etsy - Brass Key Earrings

This is a new listing I have added to my Etsy shop today!