Old Design/ New Design - Reworking a Finished Design

More copper washers! Don't say you didn't see it coming (especially after I blogged yesterday how addicting working with washers is).

So there are two different designs on the following pictures. If you think that they look very much alike, you are completely right, because it is one and the same pair of earrings. First photo shows a combination of three different sizes of washers bound together by a copper wire - that was the original idea. I have added some silver coloured wire as an interesting detail, but then I noticed, that the washers are slightly turning while being worn, which caused irregularity in the detail (you can see the silver wire at a different position on the second photo).
I gave it a thougt and as much as I hate reworking a finished project, I wanted it to be 'perfect'. In order to stop the washers from turning, I drilled holes into them and secured with a piece of the same wire used for the contrasting detail.

I hope you like the "upgrade"!

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!

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...

For The Love of Coils

This is my first try at coiled coils. I like the look of the coils (handmade, by the way - I yet have to get the coiling gizmo!) and I will definitely try more designs with them.
Here I have combined steel wire, antiqued silver spacers, seed beads and a firepolished bead to add more red to make the seed beads pop.

Detail of closure:

Materials - and My First Miserable Mistake

SOooooo… Beginnings are always hard. I bet you already know this. Not different with making jewellery. I have to admit, I was lying a bit in my first post. I have already received my first batch of supplies 3 weeks ago. I’m sorry. But I’m eager to share the journey and the tips, so bear with me – no more yapping anymore, just the real deal. Promise.
Beginnings are always hard. I said it already. But keep that in mind. There will be a lot of frustration before you taste the sweetness of the success – and I’m not there yet, so I definitely know what I’m talking about.

Where to start… Study some materials and MAKE UP YOUR MIND what kind of projects you would like to focus at the beginning. Buy a magazine or a book, or just use internet which has enormous resources and information totally for free. Now when you see what all possibilities there are, decide where you would like to explore your talents first – the choices are enormously endless.
You can start stringing, which is really easy and you can play with different beads and findings and create your first designs.
You can work with wire, seed beads or do chainmaille (chains with jump rings)...

Decided? So now you need materials and tools.
Don't make a mistake like me - I wanted to try a bit of everything and so I bought a bit of every material only to find, that I can hardly finish a project, because I keep missing some vital findings or don't have the right pair of pliers! My next order will be better!

Here are the main mistakes to avoid when getting your first order (and which I didn't avoid):
Get the right colours! If you're getting i.e. beads, you want to get colours that are coordinated, not just beads that looked pretty! Also get them in right sizes! Sometimes beads that are too small and beads that are really big don't look good together.
Pay attention to the metal finishes when buying wires and metal findings: i.e.silver and antiqued silver can look good together, but not always. If you're trying to make your order small or are on a budget, get one or the other first. So see if you want to coordinate things in silver/ antiqued silver, gold/ antiqued gold, copper or other metals... have a look on-line or in your local bead shop at the different metal finishes. I wanted to save money and bought some cheap gold-plated beads - they didn't look like gold at all, and worse, I couldn't combine them with copper either, it just looked too weird (not WIRED, seriously weird)!

But otherwise ordering materials and findings is FUN!