New wire angel design

I make angels at Christmas time with sea glass, and various glass beads. Last year, I got on a roll…only meant to make a couple of them, and ended up with 30 or 40 of them. Well…my Gal Pal Christie wanted a couple of black angels. I haven’t been able to find the beads I wanted for them, so I started looking for different designs that I could do for her using an oxidized steel wire, and black beads. The design I found had two wings, and was a front view of an angel. I tweaked the design, and have a side view with only one wing. Her head is bowed…and I’m just thrilled with this design! She’s sooooo sweet.
She measures not quite 2″ long, and around 1 3/4″ from wing tip to the edge of her bowed head.

Practice angel...glass beads, and silver craft wire

Practice angel...glass beads, and silver craft wire

Practice angel...glass beads, and silver craft wire

Practice angel...glass beads, and silver craft wire

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And that’s what I’ve been doing today!

New ideas…rings ‘n things

I’ve been busy, busy, busy! Pics below of some new designs, including my mini Wild Women, and new Rock ‘n Women. I’ve been making wild women for a few years now…found two pins at a yardsale, and bought them. I took one apart so I could figure out how it was made, and began making larger ones for my GrandGirls, a few friends, and the Nieces and Grand Nieces. Those were probably close to 6 inches or more, and were meant as little wall hangings, or window sun catchers. They were made of glass beads, so would catch the sun nicely.

The new Wild Women are much smaller, around 2 (the smallest one0 and 3 inches long (the larger ones), and make perfect necklaces. I did simple finishes with leather neck pieces, some knotted, and some not. A few of them have added beads on the leather.

Wild Women Pendants on leather

Wild Women Pendants around 2 inches each

Coral, tiger's eye, brass, and Lampwork glass body bead Wild Woman

Copper, and bloodstone Wild Woman

Lt. Bone and brass Wild Woman, Rt. copper and bloodstone Wild Woman

Lt. Bone and copper, Rt. Bone and brass Wild Women

Shell, mother of pearl, pearl, and silver craft wire Wild Woman

The next group of photos are my Rock ‘n Women. They are truly a labor of love. My sister and I are rock hounds, and pick up rocks where ever we are. Both of us have…well…a LOT of varying sized rocks from all over the US, and Canada. I decided to do something with them, and made Denice’s first Rock ‘n Woman out of one of her cherished Lake Michigan stones…a very cool round, green stone. I was on a roll then, and made more…am making more of them.

They were challenging in that I had to figure out how to wrap these small ‘body’ stones securely, while figuring out a means by which I could could add a head, arms and legs. The hands came later. lol…As a matter of fact, I added hands to Denice’s Rock ‘n Woman today. Hers didn’t have hands! They measure from 2 1/2 to about 3 1/2″. These are unfinished, but I only need to add leather necklaces, and handmade clasps to complete them…piece of cake!

Rock 'n Women

Rock 'n Woman

Rock 'n Women

Rock 'n Women

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’ve been perfecting my ring-making skills, and adding a few twists to them as well. Some are a tad ‘fancy’ with very tiny peridot, and amethyst seed beads framing a couple of peridot stones. Lots of fun!!

Simple copper and brass Rosette rings

Rings using various techniques

Faceted Peridot, brass, and tiny peridot and amethyst seed beads

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I finished the crosses you may have seen in a previous post. They were oxidized, then hand polished, and strung on either chain or leather necklaces. I even wire wrapped some beads onto the larger cross.  Made nice pendants.

Crosses

Hammered, oxidized, hand polished, finished with black suede cord, and handmade clasp

Cross wire wrapped with red malachite, finished with suede cord and handmade clasp

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next three pieces are a combination of wire wrapped stones and chain. I’m really enjoying the look of brass and bronze when using certain colors of stones. The brecciated jasper (donuts and round beads, and bloodstone donut necklace was done with an oxidized steel wire. Phew! That’s some HARD wire to work!

Jade and brass Necklace

Brass, carnelian, and citrine necklace

Brass, carnelian, and citrine necklace

Brass, carnelian, and citrine necklace

Brecciated jasper, bloodstone, and oxidized black steel wire necklace

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’m really liking this concept of working within a ‘frame’. I make various sized and shaped ‘frames’ from wire…hammered, or not…some of which are oxidized for depth, and then wire stones within and on the ‘frames’. Lots of different results…as you can see. I’ve begun experimenting with some free-form shapes, and am looking forward to incorporating the beads within the frames.

Rock in a drop. Copper and stone strung on a suede cord.

Largish tree of life with small nest and bird within the limbs.

Largish copper heart wire wrapped with faceted red jasper beads.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And that’s what I’ve been doing with my days this past month!

Peace…Lu

Well, I haven’t been feeling well, so haven’t done much with my blog lately. However, I did work up some fun heart pieces for sale in my Etsy store for Valentine’s day. Thought I’d share them here.

Square copper wire hearts, red jade, and white mother of pearl beaded bracelet

Copper heart with mother of pearl beads pendant

Copper hearts and pale pink mother of pearl beaded bracelet

Copper heart pendant wrapped with small poppy jasper beads on a copper chain

Copper wrapped heart with pale red and pink coral and copper heart beads

Copper bead wrapped heart with pale red and pink coral and copper heart beads

Still playing with these. Left to right: Largish hammered copper heart, silver heart, and silver and amethyst wrapped heart

Silver heart and amethyst with silver wrapping around heart...in process still

Silver and amethyst heart still in process

I’ve had a lot of fun with these hearts. The largish hammered copper heart in the triple heart photo has been completed. When I get photos of that group of finished work, I’ll post a picture of the finished product.

Enjoy!

Making wire wrapped rings

I’ve been futzin’ around learning how to make rings for a couple of months now. I’d just been trying to do them on my own…no instruction, which is how I do most of my jewelry…self-taught. Sometimes I read books, or look at online instructions, but usually I just do it…try to figure it out on my own. Well, I found a new source for instructional learning…YouTube! Call me a dinosaur…lol…my niece Megan sure had a good laugh at my expense when I told her.

I’ll apologize in advance for not writing down the link to share, but if you go to YouTube and input “wire wrapped rings” (or a similar wording) in the search bar, you’ll come up with all kinds of instructional videos for them.

These are copper wire rings with various stones for adornment. Please click on photo to enlarge for more visual detail.

I used poppy seed jasper and copper for the  ring below, which was fairly simple to make. I just hammered 16 gauge wire (I want to try this with a 10 gauge…maybe 12 gauge wire, too) shaped on my ring mandrel, then wire wrapped stones added to the hammered blank. It didn’t take a lot of time…maybe an hour total. I’d also like to try this with the beads wired along the shape of the ring…centered.

16 gauge wire, hammered

Sized and shaped on ring mandrel

Finished...poppy seed jasper beads wire wrapped onto hammered blank

Finished, poppy seed jasper wire wrapped bead ring

Finished, poppy seed jasper wire wrapped bead ring

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This next ring is just the finished piece…no process pictures. It was simple…using a longish piece of 22 gauge wire (2 to 3 ft. maybe), I shaped/sized the ring (double wrap) on a ring mandrel, then just wrapped the bead onto it. This ring only took about 15 minutes, or so to make.

Wire wrapped copper and agate bead ring

Wire wrapped copper and agate bead ring

Wire wrapped copper and agate bead ring

Wire wrapped copper and agate bead ring

 

 

 

 

 

 

This one was fun to make, too. The 22 gauge wire was easy to work with when wrapping, but I’m not sure I like the double band. It has a nice weight and feel when worn.

Contest: Win a beautiful pair of garnet and copper earrings

Ok…I thought this would be a bit fun. I love finding ‘odd’ things to use in my jewelry-making. Found some really cool objects to use in these earrings…the copper ‘rings’. The earrings are made with garnets, oxidized copper wire, and the copper ‘rings’. The ‘rings’ were hand hammered for that very cool texture, then oxidized, and hand polished. The ear wires are also handmade, though I didn’t oxidize the copper wire prior to forming the ear pieces. (Click on the pictures for an enlarged image.)

Garnet and copper earrings

Garnet and copper earrings 2

Garnet and copper earrings 3

Here’s the contest! The first person to identify what the ‘rings’ in the earrings began life as prior to becoming earrings will win…the earrings! They began life as a fairly common household item prior to hammering, oxidation, and polishing.

What did these ‘rings’ begin life as? (see more pictures of hammered rings below…no oxidation…yet.)

Hand hammered 'rings' prior to oxidation

Hand hammered 'rings' prior to oxidation 2

First correct, typed answer wins the earrings. Good luck!! NOTE: Mom, and Denice can’t participate, as they already know my ‘secret’!!

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