Sea Foam

I had so much fun making this pendant, it combines my two favourite types of jewellery techniques of silver-smithing and wire wrapping. I can see this being a bit of a theme in the future, especially as I have a page full of designs just waiting to be created! :)

After hand sawing the 'wave' out of sterling silver sheet, I soldered and then wrapped the wire part of the pendant with tiny white seed pearls and silver seed beads, and faceted aquamarine along the edge.

You can find this in my Etsy store - Amari Jewellery :)

Mermaid's Tears

Quick little pair of earrings here - these gorgeous turquoise-blue apatite briolettes caught my eye, maybe a bit too early for such a summery colour but I kept coming back to them when deciding which stones to use!

I love the wrapped jump rings at the top, they are just over a centimetre in diameter and remind me of little daisies. I've added a freshwater pearl in between, along with tiny freshwater seed pearls at the bottom of the coiled tear drop frames. I'm really enjoying wrapping again! :)

Black Onyx Earrings

Some more sterling silver earrings, again hand sawn and pierced. These have black onyx - I love the contrast between the deep black of the cabs and the shiny silver! I was hoping to give the appearance of the stones being 'held' at the bottom - I *think* I've achieved that! :)

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.

Renaissance

Something a bit different from me - and oxidised for a change! This sort of evolved really, from the basic cross shape I originally had in mind I added lots of detail - balled fine wire swirls on the inside, and picot beading on the corners of the cross ends.

In the centre is flashy blue labradorite, with sterling beads and mystic quartz briolettes. Pretty as it looked all shiny, it was crying out to be oxidised, so after much deliberation I took the plunge and dipped it, then polished to a soft antique finish.

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.

Cluster Earrings - Hearts Revisited!

Oh, I know - Valentine's Day coming up and all that. Everyone's doing hearts! These are an adaptation of the heart pendant I did previously -these were just as much fun!

I've joined the two heart shapes with woven wire this time instead of silver beads, for a more airy, delicate look. The cluster is made up of faceted iolite and pink tourmaline, with a pink amethyst briolette drop.

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 ;-)

Verdantis Earrings - Apatite and Green Onyx

I've decided to go back to basics since I have been out of action for a while. I'm sticking to quite simple designs and just enjoying the beads and the wire again!

Green seems to be gaining in popularity all the time - I'm especially liking these rich emerald shades at the moment. Think lush green meadows in the summer.. (I know I am!).

I've wrapped the soldered rings with the teeny white freshwater pearls, and faceted apatite beads in an amazing colour. The silver beads in the centre are Hill Tribe 'lotus' beads, and the briolettes are vivid green onyx.

Scalloped Fan Pendant

I really enjoyed making the pink tourmaline fan, so I thought I'd make another! I shaped the frame from sterling silver wire, including the scalloped edge along the bottom. I then did some soldering to create the framework for decorating.

The top section has been filled in with tiny Hill Tribe 'bamboo' beads. I then added some gorgeous deep teal-coloured apatite beads. The centre of the pendant took me quite a while to figure out, I wasn't sure if it was going to work until I got to the bottom and tightened up the wirework and beads, so there was always the possibility I would have to take it all off and do something different! I'm pleased with the way it turned out though, and because the wire is so fine it almost looks as though the silver beads are floating in mid air. The gemstones underneath are faceted citrine.

For close-up pictures, see my website, or Etsy store! :-)

Narnia Earrings

Almost time to get out the tinsel! I needed some for these photos... that's my excuse anyway ;-)

The sky blue topaz briolettes on these earrings are so sparkly, and the blue is very subtle, as is the aquamarine. As you can imagine - very hard to capture on a photo! I've added some filigree details, and as usual lots of coiling!

Desert Rose Pendant

I forgot to post this! I made this pendant a couple of weeks ago - another one that differs quite a lot from my original idea... but I'm very pleased with the result!

I soldered some heart shapes a while ago for this project, when I actually put them together into the flower shape I realised I'd need something else to strengthen the shape. I put a large closed jump ring underneath, but then actually quite liked the way it looked so decided incorporate it into the design!

There are some more twisted wire filigree details, and the beads are faceted andalucite with Hill Tribe seed beads and a pale pink freshwater pearl.

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! :)

Tanzanite Earrings

Some more filigree work here.. this time not soldered, I've just wrapped the wire shapes in between the two pear-shaped frames. Still a little bit fiddly, but much better than the last ones!

I got some new goodies in the post too... so I used these amazing faceted tanzanite beads (the colour is just gorgeous!), and pretty pink amethyst briolettes in the centre.

There are more pictures on my Etsy store, although you'll need to look in the 'sold' section now ;-)

Silver Spider Web

This was fun to make, despite a few creative blocks along the way! I had a sketch of how I wanted the pendant to look, but had to adapt a few of my original ideas to make it work. That seems to be happening a lot just lately... as a result it took me twice as long as it should have done! All part of the learning process ;-)

I made and soldered two frames to form the outer beaded section, which I wrapped with Hill Tribe seed beads. The spines into the centre were added next.. what on earth possessed me to think it would be a good idea to coil 0.3mm wire with 0.2mm wire I'll never know... you can imagine how long that took!!

To finish I added some faceted silver beads, tiny faceted amethysts, and a frosted sterling bead in the centre. I guess it looks quite seasonal in the pic, but it's quite sparkly and pretty in real life, so you could wear it any time really!

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!