Made jewelry after a long time.

Wirework contacted me for a tutorial on a pair of earrings I had made. I was really happy about that. But I had just returned from India, after visiting family - my mother crossed over. I was late for the deadline, and was not in the highest spirits. But I must say Wirework magazine people were very very sweet and patient with me, and gave me 2 extra weeks, and the encouragement to do this work. So I am happy to say, the piece is made, the tutorial is written...and it will be published in the Fall issue. This will be my second tutorial in a magazine - the first one was a woven bangle. I will be adding the pictures later.

My update comes after almost after a year, so I don't even know if anyone is still watching this blog :-). But here I am. :-)))

I have been wanting to work on making a sword and shield pendant - or two different pendants. This is an inspiration I get from the sword and shield of the Archangel Michael. Either I will do it purely through wire, or silversmithing, or a mixture of both.

Another piece in the works is a request from someone. It is a necklace based on the Hindu God - Lord Krishna. She loves him a lot...so do I :-). So I need to come up with a design that symbolizes him.

See you soon!

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.