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Monday, February 28, 2011

Gemstones and wire

First day back at work after a month off!  I really did not want to get up this morning, but nobody is willing to pay me to stay home and play with my beads.

This piece features a charoite pendant (I think the colour  has been somewhat "enhanced" however) and some lovely sesame jasper.  I created the bail and the decorations on the jasper with some 18 gauge wire.  I haven't really done any wirework before, so was quite pleased with my first effort.


Sunday, February 27, 2011

"Wisdom" Charm set

I made this charm set from some 10mm cabachon mounts from Beads online and a selection of beads that had been lurking for a while.  The letters in the dangles are from a free image set also from  Beads Online  They spell out "Wisdom", which has a double meaning for me - to remind me to access and trust my inner wisdom and strength, but also as my name means wisdom, from ancient greek and roman.





These warm golden tones are not necessarily ones I have been wearing of late, but they were right for this piece, and it looks great on.  The "pearl" beads are really old, and have a really creamy tone to them, which went beatuifully with the images, once I had antiqued them a little with distress ink.

 

Saturday, February 26, 2011

Beautiful Turquoise

I got these beautiful beads from Fire Mountain Gems, and fell in love with them.  The magnesite is a fabulous turquoise colour, and I keep going back to them in my stash.


This necklace combines the large magnesite beads with small turquoise chips, black agate beads, black Czech glass, silver filigree and silver spacers.














This bracelet combines magnesite nuggets with two different types of gunmetal chain, with the finer chain woven through every second link of the larger chain. The nuggets are strung on Accu-flex, and again woven through the chain.











This bracelet combines a different magnesite nugget with a filigree centerpiece, and some matte gunmetal coloured glass beads.

Dragonfly Daze


This beautiful Dragonfly bracelet was a kit from Beads online who have the most wonderful kits, and at quite good prices.  I then made the earring, using spare images, and Tim Holtz fragments. I love purple, so these get worn often.




Thursday, February 24, 2011

Copper mixed media necklace




















This piece has been a work in progress for a couple of weeks now. The charms are made from Tim Holtz fragments, which have been layered with paper and alcohol inks, then coated with Glossy accents. Then, on three of the charms, I added a layer of thin copper sheeting (reclaimed from inside an old VCR player). The copper is alcohol inked, embossed with letter punches (thanks Michelle for the fabulous punches) and then joined to the fragment with a Tim Holtz rivet. I added some metal washers which were coloured with the inks, and some random lengths of chain. I am really pleased with the end result, although it has taken a little while to figure out how to approach it to get what I wanted from the piece

Bulk bracelets


These are some of the bracelets I have made recently. I will post some more images and details in coming weeks.

Lovely Labradorite


I love labradorite for its beautiful play of colours, and it soft silvery grey green tones. This necklace is choker length, and features a lovely labradorite pendant, which I set on a simple wire bail made from 18 gauge wire. The necklace is made from labradorite rondells and silver stardust and filigree spacer beads. I made a very simple pair of earrings to match with rondells and spacers. The gemstones for this piece came from Feeling Inspired Beads

Velvet leaves

This necklace is made from velvet beads and silver leaf charms, on two lengths of different coloured chain. The velvet beads are cute, but tend to collect fluff, especially when you live with cats. All of the components of this piece came from Spotlight, when they were having an end of season sale, with everything $1 or $2 per packet - ended up being a very cheap piece, but it looks great on.

This is Amber, the rather elderly, scruffy but very cute source of much of the fluff that adorns these beads.

Silver links


This necklace, made of a silver large link chain was incredibly easy to make, and looks very "bling". I work on a neck form when I am making a piece like this, and simply pin and drape the chain until I am happy with the arrangement. Then, I use "w"clips to join the chain where required, and add a fine chain at the back.

Woodland leaves





















These earrings and the necklace where made separately, but work together beautifully. The earrings are made from actual leaves, which have been electroplated, and combined with copper findings and beads in accent colours. The necklace is in brass tones, and features a Trinity calla lily pendant and woodland leaf charm. The czech glass beads are in toning colours, with an orange highlight. I am finding that I enjoy putting things together by pulling out a selection of bits and pieces that appeal, and playing until it all comes together. I often go to bed with an idea in mind, and puzzle it out before I go to sleep. The next day, it comes together when I sit down at my table.

Bluebird choker


This choker is made using a resin cabachon mount, with a sweet bird image and glass cabachon. The chain has a silk ribbon entwined through the links. It sits beautifully, and the image is very cute.

I have spent the day trying to take some decent photos of my jewellery (harder than I thought it would be), and trying to figure out how to make the image look good enough to publish

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Starting out

I hope to share some of my jewellery creations here, and show off my addiction!