Another Sea Urchin

  I had no idea there was so much variety of design in a sea urchin.There is a wealth of creative inspiration in the uniqueness of each one.

  Also I am enjoying making squashy balls:))

This is steel, silver fill, gold plate over sterling, and gold plate over brass. 2.5Inch in diameter

Sea Urchin

  My first try at a sea urchin shell. It looks better in person because the eye does not pick up as many distracting details as the camera does.

  It's made of steel and silver fill wire with gold fill beads.

  I also wrapped a rock found in my driveway with steel wire. Very much a Lynne Merchant inspired design.

Sea Shells

  I'm completely out of the wire zone as I haven't made anything for about 5 weeks now.

I decided I wanted to make sea shells. A curious choice on my part since I have never been particularly drawn to them. But OK, that's what the muse wants.....that's what she gets:)

 I also bought some steel wire and worked with that for the first time. I think it makes a lovely shell

  These were challenging to make and I grew quite frustrated because the grace God put into the original shell spiral could not be equaled by me. Once I realized I could never reach so high a mark I was able to try one last time with more realistic expectations. To see the Masters work look here: http://naplesseashellcompany.com/turitella_sea_shells_seashells.html#seashells


There were lots of sad failures before I hit on something I could live with:

Christines Twining

  So far I have one brave taker to my offer to post your work to my blog. Thank you Christine!

  Christine has made some beautiful garden designs using twining. I am especially fond of her 'garden gate' concept. She made it for the musical challenge at the Jewelry Makers Forum and you can read more about it over here: http://jewelrymakers.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=challenges&action=display&thread=85

She has also worked a cuff. Isn't the overlay of leaves on top of the twining wonderful? I'm a sucker for bare wire paired with wrapped wire:)

I've Got Nothing...

  The past few years I tend to slow down on Blog posts over the month of December. It looks like I'm headed in that direction again. I may or may not making anything in the coming month.

 I do want to finish Year of Jewelry Project, but if I do I may just make some silly earrings to say 'Ha! I did it!!

  If you don't hear from me, you can be sure I will return in January as always.

  If you have purchased the Twining Lesson from me and you want to share your work, email me a picture and I will share it on this blog. If you have a link to a website I will include that along with your work. This offer is for the month of December only.

Waiting for the Sunrise Tapestry

 This tapestry was inspired by a song written and sung by my nephew. It was also part of a challenge over at the Jewelry Makers Forum. http://jewelrymakers.proboards.com/index.cgi

here is the cut and paste of what I wrote for the forum challenge.


The music this design is inspired by is written and sung by my nephew, It's called "Waiting for the Sunrise" and you can listen to it here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plRqXM8sFEQ

The song fills me with longing, and that longing was channeled into a wish to express it and its beauty with my hands by weaving a tapestry. I love the mystery in the songs theme and wanted to capture that in my design.

I feel the strength and courage of the writer to see things through to completion and wait for hope to rise even when it looks dark and appears to be long in coming.

I had no idea how to do a 'tapestry like' weave and did not have a clue how it should look, so I borrowed loosely from the song itself and wove a somewhat stylized sun rising along with a stylized mysterious type sky.

  I am very happy with it for a first try:) Also, the grey looking button at the bottom of the tapestry is actually blue and the same color as the kyanite, but sometimes plastics don't photograph well.

I Did it!!

  Ok, it's done. The twining lesson is here...http://www.etsy.com/listing/86259095/twining-with-wire-lesson-tutorial

  I'm as angsty and as nervous as a cat on a hot tin roof!!