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:)

Coiled Coils

This was one of the projects, that were not properly planned in advance, where I didn't know what I was looking for and just experimented and went with the flow...

It's one of my older works that I never saw worthy putting on the blog (that was until somebody bought it:) - please note that all the coiling was done before I discovered the "Coiling Gizmo".

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"!

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.



First Wirewrapped Cabochon

My first wirewrapped cabochon ever...
It's not the greatest, not as good as I imagined it to be, but - there is a first for everything and this blog is a collection of firsts. That's how discovery works - a series of firsts. Wait for number 2 (oh no, not that, you dirty minds:), it ought to be better!

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!)