Earrings - beginning of 2012

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...

Low-cost Metals - Cheap or Just An Alternative?

Browsing through my blog you cannot miss that I like using copper in my pieces. I have also started using some brass in my jewellery. I'm definitely not discovering anything new here - read this article from Beading Daily on low-cost metals in jewellery:
http://www.beadingdaily.com/blogs/daily/archive/2009/06/17/brass-copper-amp-pewter-using-low-cost-metals-in-jewelry.aspx
This article touches the use of copper, brass and pewter in jewellery. Also in spring 2009 issue of Step By Step Wire Jewelry (which I highly recommed for anyone learning to work with wire) an article called "Affordable Alchemy" recognized low-cost metals including steel and telephone wires as an alternative material for jewellery makers. (Here is the cover page and contents:
http://www.interweavestore.com/store/p/2509-Step-by-Step-Wire-Jewelry-Spring-2009.aspx)
Articles like this helped me feel better about not using precious metals while making jewellery (at least for now, I hope to introduce sterling silver line one day).
I really like when jewellery looks antique and worn. I am a bit old fashioned and like things with stories behind them. So I have attempted to recreate something I thought might have been in my Grandma's treasury box. I used brass, pearls, Czech firepolished beads and glass beads.

You can combine and layer these long necklaces - and that's another thing I like!

Herringbone Weave

It's snowing like crazy here in Jackson Hole, so I'm hoping to hop on the skis one or two more times before the mountain closes for the season. And mext Monday (ohhhhh, it's only in 3 days!!!) we're off to India - I'm so excited! I hope I would be able to find some nice beads or maybe more! And the food! And the weather! And the colours! And the jewellery! And I will stop right here, cause I don't want to break the exclamation button!!! !! ! !! !!!

But that's not what I wanted to write about - this blog is about jewellery (if you want to see pictures from India, you have to go to our travel site misandeep.webgarden.cz) and I wanted to tell you about my new discovery:

Herringbone weave!
To be precise, I didn't discover herringbone weave right now, I had a tutorial for it for a while, just didn't try it out... so the discovery is that I CAN DO IT!

I tried one pair of earrings - and then I just threw myself into it. So this can essentially be called Earrings Craze no. 2!

If you like the weave, you can try it too - Eni Oken, an amazing jewellery artist and teacher, is offering the technique free on http://www.jewelrylessons.com/jewel/node/370
Warning: you might like it too much!


Just a simple combination with pink freshwater pearls - I made these also with black pearls (even nicer), but didn't take a pic, because I was wearing them at the moment... lame excuse, you'll see them some other time anyway, because they're MINE!


Pink freashwater pearls again - this time with silver beads added:



This pair is for my Mum, she likes coral and bought a necklace and a bracelet, but didn't have earrings to go with that:


You might have noticed that I really like Czech firepolished beads (well, I'm Czech after all, it's a matter of pride for sure), and they look really good with the weave too!


Lava Stone Earrings:


Black Peas in a Pod:


Silver Square Beads - trapped in the weave
(the beads are rounded squares sizes 4mm and 5mm):


The possibilities are limitless and by choosing different gauges of wire you can modify the look from very polished and smooth to chunky and bold.

Earrings Craze - Another Day Off!

My Mum, being my biggest fan, asked me if I could make a few pairs of earrings for her friends - just something simple and easy.
I made a bunch, so there are mixed styles and I was trying to make each of the pairs a bit different, so everyone could find something to their taste. All pictures are taken while the earrings are hanging on a string on the wall in front of a tissue paper, and now I realizing that most of them were hanging 'downhill', so some look like one earring is longer than the other - which, of course, isn't true! *Sigh* Everything is already packed in mail, so I cannot take new pictures, but hey - you get the idea what the earrings looked like...

Here they are:

Pearl Ovals
- silver-plated wire, freashwater pearls


Amber and Copper Falls
(why does one look bent??? Next time I have to post pictures before I give the produst to the postoffice...)


Light My Fire
- Czech firepolished beads (again? one looks bent...)


Pink Glass Barrel
- Indian glass beads and Czech firepolished beads (and yes, they ARE the same length)


Mellow Yellow
- two tones of yellow briolettes


Pink Bunny
- pink(ish) briolettes and silver-plated wire
This design deserves to be worked on and perfected - something is in there and can be developed!

Cross I

- pewter crosses and Czech firepolished beads

Cross II
- pewter crosses and Indian glass beads

Marsmallow Powder

- Czech firepolished beads

Ceramic Bead and Copper

I think I have to find a better way to take my pictures. It will be inportant if I open an online store one day.... until then I'll be perfecting my designs and training with the camera!

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

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