Twined Coin Pearl Necklace

  I started this weave about 6 weeks ago. It's one of my many 'big ideas'. Disappointment is always a threat when working with 'big ideas', because too many things can go wrong when designing outside of your skill level.

  I tossed this weave aside because it was not perfectly centered and I knew in my heart that that would ruin it for me. What I did not realize was that once the entire weave was in place, the small off center issue would disappear, because the eye cannot make the same tiny spatial assessment once the weave had filled in all the air gaps.

This came out way better than I hoped it would! I love how the weave goes right up to the edge of the frame. It has an excellent feel of luxury and expensiveness due to the weight of all the silver in the pendant.

  It gives me hope for some of my other 'big ideas'  :))

Mystery Labradorite

  This is my old and well loved 'roots' themed design in a new form. The end goal being, if one day I can use the roots at any time and in any shape or form I want. This is a step in the right direction I think.

  I showed it to my daughter and she called it 'confusing' ..  LOL!!  I said 'Let's call it mysterious instead"  :)

Double sided pendant.

OH, and I updated the Etsy shop for the first time in 6 months. You might enjoy looking.

Crayon Designs

  I've been stringing necklaces all week. Using up supplies from the bottom of the bead barrel.   You know, the stuff you don't like as much as the beads at the top:)

  It's been such an interesting challenge to turn something I don't really love into something that I actually care for as an end product.

 I began doing this because I have an intense desire to declutter at the moment. Also, because I feel so creatively empty lately. When I look inside myself I just see gray nothingness... or rather I did at the beginning. Stringing these necklaces has primed the pump so that I feel I'm creatively coming back to life.

  I only had two rules for myself. Whatever strand of beads I chose, I had to stick with that strand until I had accomplished a design. All of these strands took at least two hours to design them into something cool and interesting. Assembly did not take nearly as long.

  The second rule was that there were no rules as far as the mixing of components and materials. There is base metal mixed with sterling, and vintage buttons mixed with plastic buttons and gemstones. Hemp and or silk or chain is used on any and all of them.

  I call them my 'Crayon Designs' due to the fun and playful factor and not really coloring in the lines:)  Here they are in order of creation.

Reconstituted turquoise, carved wood, hematite,  and hemp.

Banded agate, vintage glass, plastic button, hemp, seed beads

Snowflake obsidian, plastic buttons both vintage and modern, sterling, silver base metal, vintage glass, hemp. Can be worn long or doubled.

TIP: When the back of the button is unattractive, just add a second button to the flip side of the component.

Vintage cobalt glass, wood beads, brass, and hemp

This last one was supposed to be a strand of opalite. Took forever for me to design it and at some point I realized I had designed the opalite right out of the necklace lol

Bone, copper, gorgeous rare vintage glass pearls, vintage mop buttons. base metal chain, vintage venetian glass bead. The pink vintage mop buttons on this are a stunning fuchsia, but alas they didn't photograph well.

Copper Torque Necklace

  A fairly simple project finished in one evening. The most exciting thing about this project is not the design itself, which I find boring. But it's this....

  If you look closely at the braided part, you will see it is very lightly hammered. The hammering of the braid gives it a lovely spring and strength for curling around the neck and keeping it's shape over time. This made me very happy:)

  Now I just need to come up with a more interesting design. I'm flush out of ideas at the moment.

A Brief Detour

   I have been redecorating my bedroom all week. Over the years the changes in furniture has caused my room to be a mismatched horror of white wicker, dark woods and now a new/used bed in maple.

  I woke up one morning and decided I had had enough and launched myself into a rather big project which has taken me away from wire for a short time.

  I found a gorgeous spray paint called 'Oil Rubbed Bronze". Doesn't that sounds cool? And it really looks cool too, and so all my furniture is getting painted and that takes awhile.

  I've always played it safe decorating with very neutral colors, but now that I have been at this creative life for more than two years.... I find the old ways no longer satisfy:) I find I want more red and orange and bright colors in my home and I'm doing alot of shopping to find some bargains to add color to my room. It's definitely a budget redo:)

  In the meantime my friends, I have found two more wonderful artists who work with copper metals and wire to make lovely vessels or sculptures. I'm sure that you will enjoy them!

Eventually I will get back to my own wire projects.

http://www.francessolar.com/pages/home.php

http://www.maryhicksmetalarts.com/

Abalone Button Brooch

  Experimental design. Meaning that I did not plan out, or know what it was going to look like, before I began the project. ****shudder*****

  Not my favorite way to design but I think it's important to break out and try different methods sometimes. You never know how it might affect your future work.

  When my sister-in-law reads this blog post she will email me privately and say "Why did you put a nipple ring in the center? "  LOL!!  I'm so sure:)

  What do you guys think? Should I change the center dangle appearance?

Twined Carnelian Necklace

  Another design that was 'not as planned'. I'll be doing another necklace soon that will include the mistake part of this design:)

  I didn't want to redo the other component so I changed my design to something easier. I think maybe it turned out better this way:)

  My photography is pretty bad, I know, but I'm too lazy to fix it. Sorry!