A fine silver Viking Knit necklace

I love making these, and still have to finish a thicker fine silver chain and a gold-filled filled chain with end cones and clasps. I love how this turned out, and I love how my clasps are getting better and better! :-) Great to wear by itself or wear it with a fine silver pendant.

3 Wire Sculpted semi-precious stones pendants

Here are 3 wire sculpted pendants I have done. These are all semi-precious cabochons. I am sure only about the Aventurine. The black one is either Black Onyx or Black Jasper or Black Agate. And the last one looks like Unakite to me. They are all wrapped in 14K gold-filled wire.

A Bracelet Watch

This is my first bracelet watch. Made of 16, 18 and 20 gauge Sterling Silver wire and Rec. Turquoise. I like it quite a bit :-). But I have to get better at taking pictures. LOL!

Drove alone for the first time in California

Yep! I did it! Yayyy!! Drove to Natasha's school to pick her up. Mission accomplished.

My online Jewelry shop!!

Wooohooo!! So I have opened my online jewelry shop. The link is:

http:// PurpleFlowerSwati.Etsy.com

Etsy is a place to sell all your hand made stuff online. I made the banner:

I hope that this is a wild success!!! :-))))))))

Rockin' Girl Blogger

So Namu has passed the title of "Rockin' Girl Blogger" to me. Now I need to find someone to pass it on to. Hmmmmm....who can be it?

I'll pass it on to Melissa!

How to seal Copper for saving it from patina

This is what I read somewhere:

If you want to seal copper from additional oxidation patina, I would recommend the following product:Permalac. You can purchase this product by the gallon or in spray form from Peacock Laboratories.

And here is where you can buy it. The EF type is environmentally friendly: https://www.sculptnouveau.com/Details.cfm?ProdID=46&category=7

Must give this a try....after I patina my pieces so that it does not patina anymore.

Another 5 lbs gone!

Yayyy!!! Today is Friday, my weigh-in day. I have lost another 5 lbs this past week. 10 lbs in 2 weeks of WW. Down from 176lbs to 166lbs!! 67 lbs more to go :-).

Meanwhile Melissa is making a banner for my Etsy shop. Soon I'll be selling jewelry!! Wooohooo!!!

Melissa's angel.

I love the angels Melissa makes. It looked simple enough to see. But I realized when I was doing it that I am fine with making tight coils, but when I make loose large spirals, then the flow is just not there. Need much more practice there. And yes, I know, I need to file the wire ends in all these pieces I have done. LOL! I will do it a little later. I will practice my large loose spirals on brass wire before I attempt another sterling silver angel.

The main part is in sterling silver, the head is a Rose Quartz bead, and the belt is in gold-filled wire.

Spiral bracelet

My first silver piece I have patina-ed (LOS). At first I thought I liked my silver shiny ONLY. But I think I do like it antiqued too :-). The big spirals are not as good because I realized that 18 gauge sterling wire could not handle very large spirals. For spirals as big I'll need 14 gauge. Next time I'll do it with 14 gauge. However, I do like it, and it looks great when worn too! I was VERY happy to make it yesterday.

It is made of sterling silver, wrapped in gold-filled wire.

The Egyptian Coil necklace

I made this one in Copper, and this is the first piece I have ever used Liver of Sulphur on...the first piece I have antiqued. And I must say I like it! I can see that the coils need more practice, and the clasp needs to be redone.

I am happy.

A friend on my ATP forum asked me how I was doing now after the move. And I replied:

---

Thanks for asking . So far so good. I often miss my old house a lot. I knew I loved it a lot...but now I can see just how much it means to me. I can't explain it...but I do love it as I would a beloved person...a family. I love it lots...lots...

But apart from that, all goes well. The neighborhood seems great so far. It is LOVELY....mountains all around...I can see mountains from almost every window! Many parks lined up...trees, fragrant flowers all around. Walks in the evening are awesome!! Its cool...nice fragrant breeze (because of the flowers). Beautiful houses, dreamy street lights. We are still unpacking...the house is still in the dumps but we are getting there slowly and steadily. I make time for jewelry making too which keeps me entertained and happy.

Overall...I must say I am happy. I am actually very happy. I don't know why I am happy, but I feel like I am going through a re-birth and feeling better.

Move into my neighborhood...we'll go for walks together .

---

I was surprised at my own reply...I can honestly say I am happy...and not because my life is perfect...I lead a very normal life like anyone else. My share of problems, joy, excitement, illness, good health, laughter....everything. Nothing really has changed in my life apart from becoming more dependent on Swami for driving (for now), and a really messy house which is an obstacle course with all its boxes...lol. But I am happy, feeling light.

What changed is my attitude I think which made all the difference...and I have Abraham to thank for that (http://www.abraham-hicks.com/). A simple strategy....heard it for ages, but clicked finally when I read his books...especially his kiddy book: Sara book I.

I hope you are happy too! :-)

Ooops! One more earlier piece :-)

I made this one too around the time I made the sets for my mom. This is made of sterling silver wire and gold wire. I made this before joining metalsmithing classes.

Another early piece I forgot to add: RA

This is a pendant made in honor of the Egyptian Sun God - RA. I call it "The Glory of RA". I feel a great connection to RA...and happen to see "RA" written just about everywhere...especially on car lisence plates. I've made this pendant with polymer clay, gold-filled wire, genuine Citrine and genuine Emeralds.

The chain on it -- I still have to add that to my blog. I have made it with 28 gauge gold filled wire...with the technique of "Viking Knit". Quite proud of it. But I still have to finish it with a clasp etc. After that it will have its own blog entry :-).

Puffy ring

Another piece made at school. This is called a puffy ring because it a hollow form. Two strips of roller printer, domed fine silver made the shank. And the setting is tube setting. The stone is a fake diamond. Many techniques learnt here :-).

The Lotus

This is made in school too. My first resin-inlay work. The pendant is made from sterling silver sheet, the bezel is fine silver, and the inlay is epoxy resin. I am very pleased with the gradient coloring I tried. Our instructor gave the best compliment ever...she said I should have taught this class. LOL!

The chain is made of Amethyst stone, fresh water pearls and sterling silver links that I made. Again...the pictures are bad because my table top studio was packed away, I was in a bad mood (selling the house etc), and not much patience. I'll re-take these pictures later with my new EzCube table-top studio.

Woven bracelet

Oh...I forgot to add this. I had made this before I joined metalsmithing classes...when I was still beginning my work with wire. This is Brass wire and fresh water pearl. Very bad wrapping job...but so what...its a beginning :-).

Hollow bead pendant

This was made at school too. It is made from fine silver sheet. Learnt how to drill a hole in a stone. The stone is blue Onyx. The picture is bad because I had put away my home-made table top studio. We were selling our house and moving from MA to CA...one of the most heart breaking things I have experienced. I had lived in Shrewsbury, MA for 12 years...all of my married life. And got that house made ourselves (almost). It hurts even now to think of it.

Coming back to jewelry...the fine silver sheet was first roller printed, cut into circles, domed, soldered, and then the stone was set by soldering a silver wire post inside the hollow.

Turquoise Ring

I made this one at school too. My first ring using sterling silver and a Turquoise cabochon. This is the first piece I have soldered, and my first bezel setting too
:-). I gave this ring to Dad.

And then I joined metalsmithing classes at...

... Worcester Craft Center.

I made many more things than I am posting here. I didn't take pictures of all...some got lost :-P and some I gave away.

These earrings are made with Copper and Brass circles that I cut from sheets which I hammered for texture first. It uses the technique of cold connections...rivetting. No soldering used here.

First brangle

A "brangle" is a bangle and a bracelet. This is a term coined by Connie Fox. This was made sometime when I was making the rest of the stuff I have posted till now. I have made all this last year I think....and decided to make my blog only now -- inspired by my friend Melissa who is a FANTASTIC jeweler! See her blog at http://design.kcjewelbox.com/. Yeah, she's a class apart, isn't she? :-)

My swan clasp is getting better. Yayyy!! Aventurine, hand-painted glass beads, cloisonne beads, copper wire and brass wire.

Polymer clay donuts

I made the donuts in both these necklaces with polymer clay, and embellished them with copper wire, semi-precious beads, and regular beads.

I like the clasp in this one quite a bit. I was so amazed when I first made it...that I could actually make the pretty clasps! Of course, its still far from perfect, but I'm happy with it anyways.

Hug ring I made for Dad

This is made with Sterling silver and gold-filled wire.

Another set for mum

This was the second set I made. Made of some beads I bought from Michaels and fresh water pearls, gold-filled wire and vermiel spacers.

Progress with wire

I made this set for my mom. This is gold-filled wire and fresh water pearls. My "S" clasp has improved so much :-).

Then came wire

These are my first attempts at wire jewelry. Everything is far less than perfect, but I'm very pleased I made them all myself. Connie Fox has been a huge inspiration.

My first "all home-made components" earrings. My first wrapped beads, and first earwires. The wire is Brass and the beads are Tigers Eye.

My first bead and wire bracelet. Learnt how to make bead links with my practice Brass wire. The beads are Amethyst and Rose Quartz. It also has my first ever swan and hook clasp. My "S" links are pathetic. The swan is not made correctly...but I'm proud of it nevertheless :-).

This is the first all wire bracelet I made. Made with Copper wire. I am proud of each coil link I made ;-). They have been hammered. Divya took this one from me.

The first "S" clasp I ever made. This is made with Copper wire. I have coiled Brass wire around it.

Earliest efforts at jewelry making

These are some of my earliest work at jewelry making. Beaded bracelets. All components here are bought...I just put them together. Bought the beads, bought the wire, bought the clasp, and strung them together.

I love semi precious and precious stones. These bracelets are made in semi-precious stones. I believe that stones have healing/metaphysical properties...apart from being simply beautiful!

Serpentine & Cloisonne beads:

Sodalite and fresh water pearls:

Citrine, fresh water pearls & gold plated beads:

Aquamarine & fresh water pearls:

On weight loss and jewelry making...

Losing weight and gaining it seems to be the purpose of my life...and the other purpose is eating. And while eating is AWESOME....I saw that I got so fat finally that everything was hurting and I was not even able to climb stairs well. I became 77 lbs overweight. My weight as per WW should be 99 lbs. And yeah...I reached an all time high of 176 lbs. So I congratulated myself on this record breaking achievement, bowed and took in all the applause the world had to offer...then decided to set another record....change my life purppose a little bit. After all I had already set the world record in eating and weight gain.

Joined online WW (no...not short for WWF...I mean Weight Watchers) last week. In my first week I lost 5 lbs, and was 171lbs. Now this second week is going good too. Today I seem to be 168lbs Will not rejoice too much till I find my final for the week on Friday.

Trying to change my focus from living to eat to eating to live ;-).

Now that you all have been blessed with all information about my weight and its changes, I'd like to write about about another interest of mine: Jewelry making. I used to bead bracelets for a long time...sold quite a few too. Then I got bored of just stringing beads. Wanted to do more, so I picked up wire working and metalsmithing. I joined a crafts center at Worcester and took 2 metalsmithing classes: Jewelry I and Jewelry II. And I LOVED it!!! There is something about changing a sheet or a piece of wire to a piece of jewelry. I have pictures here to show my progress. The first pictures are my ealiest attempts...and goes on to the latest ones I did. I don't have pictures of some of the pieces I made because I gave them away, and some I haven't photgraphed till now. Hopefully one day I'll have a smashing jewelry business!!!

Hmmm...can't figure out how to post pictures...let me figure it out.

Etsy

So I got inspired by my friend Melissa to start an Etsy store for my jewelry. And I did. The url is: PurpleFlowerSwati.Etsy.com. Of course, there is nothing there right now. I have to take pictures of the pieces I made...price them and then add them. Melissa said she'll make a logo for me. She does a lovely job with graphics.

Meanwhile, unpacking is going on. We moved into this house....moved to California a few days back...on the 31st of July 2007.

Thats all for now, cuz Ujjwal is creating a racket.

My first post

Hi dudes and dudettes...this is my very first blog. I have no clue what to write. But my daughter is standing here with the gun pointing towards my head and says if I do not write, she will spray me with colored water. So I am writing. Now she yells, "Stop making things up". She is beating me up. HELLLLPP!!!!!!