YOJ Week 15: Nicole Hanna tutorial pendant

 

Nicole Hanna (http://nicolehannajewelry.blogspot.com/) wrote a lovely tutorial on earrings, and I decided to make a pendant from it. Of course, if I had stuck to the instructions, it would have been a better piece, but I wanted to get adventurous :-P. Here is the tutorial I used: http://www.etsy.com/listing/93410770/twisted-tear-drop-tutorial-advanced. Her tutorials are very well written...in fact the pictures themselves explain the process well.

The wire is copper but bronze colored and then antiqued and enamelled. I have used two lovely almost perfect spherical fresh water pearls on the pendant, and fresh water rice pearls on the bronze chain. It has a lobster claw clasp. The chain is 18 inches long.

YOJ 2012 Week 13 & 14

So this lovely couple contacted me...each one separately. They have their 25th wedding anniversary today. First the husband contacted me and asked me to make a spinner ring for his wife. A few days later the wife contacted me and asked me to make the same spinner ring for her hubby! And they were both doing this as a surprise for each other. It was a LOT of fun keeping their secret from each other, conspiring, coordinating, sneaking behind their backs to make sure they had the right messages on the rings, and that the rings looked very similar :-))). The 831 on their rings is a code that has a special meaning for them both. The gold spinner and the silver spinner symbolize the masculine and the feminine...thereby signifying them both.

This is the wife's ring:

And this is the husband's ring:

Both are made with Argentium Sterling Silver sheet, sterling silver wire, and 14K Gold-filled wire. And I have stamped the messages on them.

Hubby also gave his wifey a pair of earrings...these are made of absolutely clear quartz crystal drops, and sterling silver. I antiqued the silver black and tumble polished it for high shine.

 

YOJ 2012 Week 12: Picasso Jasper heart pendant, fine silver

This is a Picasso Jasper heart that I have wire wrapped with fine silver and sterling silver. I have added a small Ruby bead to it. The stone got a bit scratched while wrapping....and I read later that this stone is very delicate and soft, and can get damaged easily. Next time I'll be more careful. It took me a long time to make this, because the stone and the wires were not in any mood to cooperate with each other. However, I do think it turned out nice. After taking pictures I can see that I need to file the wire ends on the curls more...and I'll do that before listing it on my Artfire store.

YOJ 2012 Week 11: Citrine fluted wide sterling silver ring

To buy this ring, go to link below:

http://www.artfire.com/ext/shop/product_view/4537556

This is a US size 8 3/4 (8.75) ring. It is is 1/2 inch wide. I have bezel set a dark Citrine on it. The ring is fluted for comfort fit because it is wide, and also because fluted looks nice :-).

YOJ 2012 Week 10: Amethyst ring

To buy this ring, go to link below:

 http://www.artfire.com/ext/shop/product_view/fleurviolettejewelry/4537368/Amethyst_sterling_silver_handmade_ring/Jewelry/Rings/Metalsmithed

 

 

 

Continuing with my stint with metalsmithing, I decided to use a sterling patterned wire I had bought eons back. And created this bezel setting for an Amethyst cab. Then I antiqued it with LOS to bring out the pattern, and tumbled polished it for hours to get a high shine. This is a US size 9 ring. I love the ring. And because I have not made such a thing forever, no one in my family believed I had made it....they thought I bought it. LOL!!

Week 9: Spinner ring with 3 spinners

This is a size 5 ring. The main shank is made of 18 gauge sterling silver. It is 1/2" wide. The  words stamped on it are, "love and angel blessings". It has 3 spinners on top on it. Two are sterling silver 16 gauge, and one is 14K gold-filled 14 gauge. 

I hadn't done silversmithing for a while, and really enjoyed making this! There is going to be a few spinner rings even after this, and a couple of bezel set rings.

YOJ 2012 - Week 8 Mrs. Nigam Earrings! :-D

 

Its been several weeks since I made a complete jewelry piece. I have been working on one rather slowly. There is just so much to do, so much running around with two kids, then a long round of sickness for the entire family...I couldn't do much.

And then came a sweet message from my friend Mary of The Angsty Artist, who inspires me so much with her own work. She said that she knows I am trying to do YOJ this year, and that she noticed I hadn't made anything from the past several weeks. And she said that even if I am very busy, sometimes its just OK to make a really simple pair of earrings and call it a day. She added, that I could call it Mrs. Nigam Earrings or the Dumb Earrings of Mercy. LOLOLOL!!! I liked the name "Dumb Earrings of Mercy", but because I made these yesterday for me (it went well with what I was wearing), I named them "Mrs. Nigam Earrings". Then I wore to my son's Tae Kwon Do class, and guess what? These earrings were noticed and called "sweet". Sometimes the simplest of things catch people's eye. I wanted to make these because my cousin Ruchi had made a pair like this with Amethyst for her SIL. And I had loved them.

These are made with Sterling silver, fine silver, and Swarovski pearls.

So thank you Mary for inspiring me again, and getting me back on track. I mean..I still haven't caught up, but I will with simpler pieces, and with an order I need to complete.

Just playing with Photobucket

Someone took this really nice picture of my baby, my 5 year old son Ujjwal (and me in it). I cropped myself out, and was playing with his picture. I love him soooooo much!!

YOJ 2012 - Week 7 Pottery from the past

To buy this, go to:

http://www.artfire.com/ext/shop/product_view/fleurviolettejewelry/4386346

To buy this, go to:

http://www.artfire.com/ext/shop/product_view/fleurviolettejewelry/4386346

I made this using the new wire my new friend Nicole Hanna told me about (her blog link is in my blogroll). It is copper wire, painted with antique bronze, and then enameled. I LOVE how this wire looks. It is a lot harder to make this kind of pottery with it because it is not as soft as pure fine silver wire. But I sure do love its looks, and the price doesn't hurt either :-).

This piece is based on the earthenware pots we used to have when I was a child, growing up in India. We stored water in them to keep water cool. We called this kind of a pot "Surahi".

I couldn't find any ready made chains in this finish/material. I was trying to find those to keep the price of the piece down. As it is, this type of weaving and shaping with this wire took a long time and plenty of blisters, I didn't want to add more to the labor cost by hand making the chain as well. However, I found no chain that looked just like this wire, so I created my own with 24 gauge wire of the same kind, and cream colored fresh water pearls. I have kept the chain long because this kind of a pendant does not look nice on a short chain. I have not really measured the chain, but the pendant falls around the heart or just below. The chain is so long it does not need a clasp, so instead of a clasp, I added a BIG white fresh water pearl, and made a scroll on it with the wire I am so in love with.

So...what you think?

I have been wanting to learn pottery for ages now. But no time for that. So I will use wire to do my own pottery :-).

Oh...and the last 2 pictures...that was just something I was playing with in Photobucket edit mode after seeing Nicole's black and white picture with color splash :-D.

In case you are wondering where I got this lovely wire from, I got it from Etsy...this store: http://www.etsy.com/shop/UnkamenSupplies?ref=top_trail  The owner Ralph is a really nice and friendly person. Very helpful too! :-).

YOJ 2012 -Week 6 Auction piece for animal rescue work

Before I talk about this piece, I must scream, "Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh!!! I'm having the hardest time photographing this piece!". It looks so sweet, divine, in person. The Rose Quartz, and the shiny silver give it a very peaceful, divine feeling. But the photographs I have been taking suck royally! This is about the best I could do so far.

I am donating this piece to a really sweet animal rescue worker who will auction this piece to raise funds for animal rescue work. I really want her to be able to raise enough funds...but for that, the picture should do justice to the piece. However, the picture sucks. I don't know how to bring out what it really looks like. And that is so important for an online auction.

The pendant is a Rose Quartz heart, to signify the big loving hearts that animal rescue workers have...all those who work to save an animal from gas chambers, all those who try to raise funds, or will participate in this auction, so that the money could be used to save animals. This piece is in your honor. The metal used is AG silver wire. And I have made the chain using dyed fresh water pearls, and sterling silver wire. The clasp is handmade as well.

YOJ 2012 - Week 5 Romero fold form leaf

 

 

To buy this set, go to:

http://www.artfire.com/ext/shop/product_view/fleurviolettejewelry/4351743 

In keeping with my resolution to complete all unfinished projects, I fished out this Romero fold form leaf I had made in 2009. Yes...that long back! I was in school, doing a semester of metalsmithing. I had done some metalsmithing before. Most other students were very new to it, so I was making these leaves and showing off :-P. Hey, its only sometimes that I get to show off, so I did :-D. After that I did nothing with those leaves. Last year I made an ear cuff that had these three hanging things made with garnets, pearls and copper. I knew I wouldn't really ever wear an ear cuff. So I took that apart. Used the cuff part to make the bail for the leaf pendant. I hung one "hanging thing" (for the lack of a better phrase..LOL!!) to the leaf, and used the other two to make earrings. 

The earrings look really good actually. The pictures suck -- they look dull. My daughter has been drooling over all of this and is trying to lay claim over it all...the necklace and the earrings. I was hesitant to make the earwires in this design, because I know someone (forgetting who now...but I know I love her work) uses this design as her signature design for earwires. But then I saw this earwire taught in the "Visually Teach Yourself Jewelry..." book. So I am guessing its ok to make this kind of earwires.

The leaf is copper, and is flame colored. I'm quite proud of this leaf actually (hence the showing off in class).

YOJ 2012 - Week 4 Fine silver woven trinket box

 

 

 

I had intended this to be a long bottle shape, somewhat like the first one I did, only longer and narrower, with a pointy bottom. You can see the first one here: http://fleurviolettejewelry.blogspot.com/2010/07/message-in-bottle-necklace.html But I had forgotten how I had shaped it, or how I had woven it. So I ended up messing up the shape and the weaving. 

I knew this will not turn into a bottle...and I had to turn it into a lidded box.So I thought it was time to be brave and try the hinge and clasp shown in Mary's trinket box tutorial here: http://theangstyartist.blogspot.com/2010/08/trinket-box-101.html I was quite terrified, but this was going to be no bottle...and if I had to salvage my fine silver, I needed to get brave and try the hinge and clasp. So I did. Thank you Mary for your fantastic tutorial!! I made a lid, and when I started making the lid, I remembered how I had woven the first bottle. So the lid weaving is different from the bottom weaving. 

The hinge alignment is not perfect.The box and the lid don't fit too good.

Many mistakes, but I still love this tiny little shiny box. Just looking at it makes me happy. It has a very happy feeling about it. I will keep doing this till I do it better. Because I love vessels, doors and windows! :-D I don't know why. Maybe because each holds within or beyond it, the promise of something probably fun, exciting, beautiful?

The box is made entirely of fine silver (pure silver). The bead on the clasp is a Ruby. The chain is sterling silver. The clasp is handmade.

YOJ 2012 - week 3 Agate pendant with woven bail

This time I did not pick up an old unfinished project. Instead I picked up an old bead I had bought years back. I had this woven bail in mind for it, but the bail turned out a tad too big for my liking. However, I decided not to undo it, because first, it doesn't look too bad, and second, I am still trying to get back into the flow of jewelry designing and creating once again. It is really easy at this time for me to just give up and stop. So I am going to keep it as it is :-). The bail is made with fine silver wire, and a sterling silver Sea Horse charm hangs in front. The tiny beads on the bail are Carnelians. the main focal bead...I think is an Agate. I bought it so long ago, I don't remember what it is. If you have a clue, let me know. I am guessing Agate because of the banding.

YOJ 2012 - Week 2 Goldfilled wire and unknown beads bracelet

In carrying on with my "Turning a New Leaf" resolution, and finishing all unfinished projects, I fished this piece out. Someone had given me these beads some 3 or more years ago to make a bracelet for her. I know...shameless of me :-((! But what happened was, I had these beads in my purse. The purse got stolen. Then the purse got recovered. Then I started to lose all interest in everything possible, including jewelry making, and even though I had started this bracelet, I never finished it...just like many other pieces. Now that I have solemnly resolved to hereby complete everything, I dug this out too. I hope the owner of these beads is not too mad at me. Of course I will not charge her a dime for this. But I sure do want her to have this. And I hope she likes it, and receives many blessings. I don't know what these beads are. They look really pretty though. And they are quite light. So this is my YOJ week 2 project.

Turning over a new leaf in 2012

I haven't been making jewelry for the longest time. And when I would try to, I would end up leaving projects incomplete. I have a whole graveyard full of stuff that need to be completed. So I decided to turn over a new leaf this year...and decided to get back to making jewelry again, and completing all my past projects. So I joined YOJ to motivate me. I had made this leaf with PMC, and then did nothing with it. It was made from a leaf from a tree just outside my home. So I fished out the leaf, and added a Ruby brio, and several Peridots to it. Added a chain, and made a clasp for my first piece for YOJ 2012.

Click on the picture to see it enlarged and clearer.