Winter Skies

Well the snow has finally disappeared from our part of the UK, and the temperatures are definitely milder! It made for a very pretty and festive Christmas and New Year though - I hope everyone had a good break! :)

My first job after the holidays was to give the workroom a bit of a spring clean after all the frenzied productivity coming up to Christmas. I often start projects and then lose interest or get distracted by something else - I found these long teardrop frames in one of my storage boxes and decided to finally finish them!

I've coiled round the frames and added a swirl of fine silver and some tiny sterling beads. We had a little hint of sunshine this morning with the palest blue sky, which inspired the soft colour combination. I've used scapolite beads in a diamond shape which have a beautiful cut and subtle pale gold colour with lots of sparkle, tiny mystic blue briolettes and black diamond Swarovski crystals.

These should be up in my Etsy shop soon!

Winter Snowdrops

I always seem to have huge problems photographing anything with a lot of shiny silver - these in particular were incredibly frustrating! I started these a while ago, I have quite a few unfinished projects that I'm determined this year to complete.

I wrapped a fine silver 'art nouveau' style motif to the coiled wire frames, with peridot briolettes, and fine trace chain drops with tiny seed pearls, and vibrant green chrome diopside. Very shimmery and glamorous!

Black Magic

I have come out of hibernation finally... looking forward to getting the rest of winter out of the way! I made these earrings back in November, then hit a bit of a wall as far as creativity and inspiration goes (blame the weather!), which is why I haven't been around much.

But... I have lots of projects on the go, and lots of ideas to kick-start the New Year - I am determined to make more, and post more!

Back to these earrings, wire-wrapped on hand-made frames, lots of fine gauge sterling with tiny Hill Tribe faceted seed beads, and wonderful black faceted onyx which have a great sparkle and contrast beautifully against the shiny silver. I've selectively oxidised just the centre of these earrings to show off the twisted wire.

Persephone Earrings

I thought I'd take the plunge with some gold-filled wire... beautiful to work with, and the colour seems so warm after working so long with sterling silver!

I'm really pleased with this colour combination - I've used pale blue chalcedony and aquamarine, with some rich ruby garnet to contrast.

Periwinkle Earrings

It's been far too long again since I last posted any new jewellery! I have lots of gold-filled wire and findings waiting to be played with too....

Some lacy earrings edged with faceted sapphires, gorgeous denim-blue colour! I've added some tiny peacock freshwater pearls, Hill Tribe seed beads, and mystic blue topaz briolettes.

Lemon Merengue

That's merengue the dance, not lemon meringue... (a play on words, I'm not really that bad at spelling!).

Phew... not especially difficult these ones, once I'd worked out how I was going to do them, but quite simply a lot of careful coiling and wrapping several times to get the effect I wanted!

Gorgeous sunshine yellow citrine, with lemon quartz and freshwater pearls. How fab would these look with a suntan?!

Orange Grove Earrings

Something fresh! The simple, but very effective weave round the soldered circle makes a really pretty, lacy frame for these summery gemstones!

I've added clusters of vibrant faceted sunstone that has a gorgeous iridescent shimmer, leafy green peridot and faceted vesuvianite drops.

Ivy Leaf Project

Remember this? Originally made for a challenge on the UK Beaders forum, I was asked if I would submit a project for this beaded wire pendant to Step by Step Jewelry Magazine.

Check out the current Summer Preview 2008 issue - step by step photos and instructions to make your own variegated ivy leaf pendant! I'd especially love to see what other designs anyone comes up with, based on this tutorial - do email pics to me :-)

Blue Wave Bracelet

Last one for today....

This was fun! I wrapped some little blue goldstone nuggets with sterling wire, adding a little swirl on the top. Hammered rings, lavender Czech glass beads and a twisted wire toggle.

Dreamcatchers

I thought I'd play with some fine silver on these earrings - balling up the ends of the wire shapes. This was quite a fiddly design as there is no soldering, I really need an extra hand sometimes!

I've used some rich golden hessonite garnet beads in the centre and on the dangles, and some tiny goldfilled beads - I really like the look of mixed metals, it's quite subtle on these though. The beer quartz briolettes are an amazing colour - I've found it a bit of a challenge to know what to put with them, but I think this works!

Forget-Me-Nots - Sapphire and Pearl Bracelet

I decided that this year I would try to diversify a little and do some different pieces, rather than just earrings! This is quite a simple piece design-wise - but involved many, many hours of patient coiling and wrapping!!

I made the links with sterling wire, soldered together, then coiled with fine wire and wrapped again with tiny peacock freshwater pearls. I attached chain in between the links with more wrapping, then added clusters of peacock pearls, white Swarovski pearls, and gorgeous faceted sapphires.

I have forget-me-nots growing wild in my garden that keep self-seeding each year, I'm never quite sure where they're going to turn up! I'm hoping this piece has the same humble charm :-)

Japanese Rose Earrings - Week 5 - Amari

A few days ago I spotted this sunshine yellow pompom on the kerria japonica shrub in my garden. A very early bloom - normally this doesn't start flowering until late March/April, so a real taste of spring! Alas it wasn't to last... just as I was thinking maybe it was time to dig out my gardening gloves and grab a trowel to do a spot of weeding... along came the frost and the fog! So out came the woolly gloves instead... :-(

So my lovely spring-inspired earrings are a little premature... but I still like them! I've soldered twisted wire filigree shapes to half-moon frames, added fine trace chains, faceted lemon quartz marquise drops and sunny yellow citrine.

Pearl and Labradorite Bracelet

Behind with posting again! So a couple of completed projects here that I just haven't got round to showing.

A bracelet for a change this time, I made the chain and clasp too, which were fun to do. The shapes that make up the focal were soldered together, then wrapped with silver wire, tiny white freshwater pearls, silver beads and faceted labradorite in the centre.

I have oxidised the whole piece, which was then tumbled and polished. I've noticed some people leave their pieces quite dark, which can be a great look - but I chose to keep on polishing this. I love the effect - hard to tell from the photo but it turned to have a lovely soft antiqued finish. Like a piece of old silver from your grandmother's jewellery box ;-)

Azure Skies - Sapphires and Kyanite

I have to take a step back occasionally and look at the pieces I'm making to check my range of colours. I think I'm drawn to certain shades when buying beads and gemstones without even thinking about it! I like to look at the latest colour trends for inspiration, but I do my own thing too.

I've had these vivid blue kyanite drops for a while now, so I got some little faceted sapphire beads to go with them for these earrings. I've soldered the frames between the shaped scrolls for a little more stability, and coiled around with fine gauge wire and tiny Hill Tribe faceted seed beads.

Sherbet Lemons

Sometimes I like to just do some swingy, dangly earrings - these are my own soldered rings that I've coiled first, then wrapped with tiny faceted prehnite beads - the colour is quite subtle, very pretty!

The silver beads in the middle are Karen Hill Tribe 'Lotus' beads - I really liked the look of these, quite exotic and unusual.

Finished off with faceted lemon quartz marquise beads, for some sparkle!

Labradorite Earrings

I really tried to capture a good blue flash on these beads... but they just weren't playing nice!

More filigree work - soldered square frames with shaped twisted wire wrapped in between, quite a lot of coiling went into these, and as I used very fine gauge (0.2mm) it took a while! I prefer to use as fine as possible on this filigree style as it's less visible.

Blue flashy stones (really, they are!) - faceted labradorite rondelles and faceted moonstone briolettes, with the silver they look quite mystical.

I'm quite enjoying designing these filigree pieces... I get to doodle! :)

Victorian Lace - Spinel Earrings

These took me twice as long as they should have done... oh, the joys of trying out new techniques!! ;-) My original idea wasn't workable (maybe when I've had more practice!), so a lot of adaptations later and these are the final result!

These are actually part-soldered, mostly wrapped! I am at least practising my soldering skills, which are getting better. I just need to set myself some limitations sometimes, and not try to run before I can walk!

The filigree work is made from twisted wire jump rings - I've had some for a while that were very soft and not really strong enough to be useful! I've been contemplating putting them in the tumbler to harden, but then decided to try this idea first. I know what to do with the rest of them now.

The beautiful stones in the centre are faceted spinel - the colours are gorgeous. I was waiting for the right project to come along to use them in, I'm happy with these! :-)

Iolite and Aquamarine Pendant

Another soldered pendant - this one a little more complicated (for me!). I made the three wavy shapes separately first, then soldered them together before coiling the entire frame.

I then wrapped across each section with Hill Tribe silver beads, amazing indigo-blue faceted iolite and pale blue faceted aquamarine.

Lemon and Lime Earrings

No soldering here of course - these kite-shaped earring frames have been wrapped with fine gauge sterling wire, faceted Hill Tribe silver beads, peridot, faceted citrine and pale green amethyst briolettes - lots of sparkle!

Pink Tourmaline Fan

I'm finding a lot more inspiration and freedom with the option of being able to solder some of my frames, although it's still only a very small part of the process - there are still hours of wrapping and coiling to follow! That's the bit I like best, the 'colouring in' :)

I made the frame from sterling silver wire, soldering joints in the design before coiling with fine gauge wire. I have used tiny faceted Hill Tribe silver beads in the top section, and for the picot edging, then lots of polished tourmaline buttons in countless shades of pink!