8 posts tagged “bracelet”
It's been a long time. We just came back from vacation yesterday and we had a wonderful time. Look at how many little stars I created in our family down time ie. when baby was napping and we weren't on the go and when the little guy wasn't destroying our very schwanky cottage.....
There are 24 of them and the Halloween coloured one (black and orange) is available in my store now. Other colour combos may become available but most of these are destined for my fall craft shows.
I also haven't introduced my caterpillar chainmaille titanium bracelet yet. I named it caterpillar because I actually scared off a colleague when I put just a small piece of it over my finger and put it under her nose... I love the slinkiness of the box chain and the coloures of the anodized titanium. I'm a fan of variegated colours in my knitting so I also love to randomly arrange colours in my jewelry creations.
And last but not least, this blue heart pendant had been burning to be made into a necklace. It just took me a while to get it all put together. A simple blue enameled copper and stainless steel 2 X 2 chain turned the pendant into a necklace. I'm so pleased with it....
These are my latest and greatest in the store. While I was away, I got two lovely supply envelopes. :-) So let's see what I can come up with next. I'm a bit behind on posting about my affection with large kidney ear wires and cubes.... that shall be next up. Right now, my 18 month old is single handedley demolishing a kleenex box. I guess a sign I should stop.
I've been busy to say the least. I committed to do my first craft show ever. It's not even until November but I'm going crazy thinking about what to make, how much to have on hand for stock, what to concentrate on, how much variety etc. etc. It's a 2-day show, at my church - I feel comfortable in that setting at least as I know many faces etc. So, I'm planning out what supplies to buy and order and I'm easily sidetracked and led down the path of spending way too much money. More than I'm sure I need and then of course, I forget about the basics like needing headpins and eye pins and ear wires and lobster clasps..... :-) If anyone has any tips, I'd be more than grateful to hear them.
The other thing I really need help with is getting organized and how to find the ideal storage solution for all my beading and chainmaille supplies. Right now, nothing is working for me and last night I couldn't find my gold filled ear wires. Okay, I only have 3 pairs in stock right now and they are in a little 2X2 zip lock baggie so they can easily be missed but come on...... I made a pair of earrings and I want my gold filled ear wires. So I'm probably just going to run to the LBS and grab a pair which will cost me more than double compared to those that I have in stock. I knid of know what I want and my Dad would laugh if he knew. In his working days, when he ran his artistic ironworks business he had this great wall unit that had all these little flip out containers that he used for washers and screws and nails and all the little things that someone like him would need in his shop. It's that wall unit I'm after. I'm sure he's sold it by now and if he hasn't, then he's still using it plus it would take a whole lot of cleaning to get it up to snuff for use with fine jewelry supplies. It came all the way across the water with us when we moved to Canada from Germany many years ago. I think I need to talk to him. Maybe he knows where I can get one just like it.
Well, what's new in my store? A hodge podge of goodies. Some aren't brand new but I just haven't blogged about them yet and others are in the store but I don't have pictures handy here, at the moment. So it's always a good idea to pop on over and check out everything that's in store.
First of all, I'd love to show off the set I made for my daughter's Kindergarten teacher for the end of the school year. I combined some chalk turquoise with some mother of pearl and created a bracelet and earring set. I think she really liked the set and I love the combination of the colours. It's just so summery.
I've also been a bit on a cross kick. I've always loved crosses and for many years, all I would ever wear for a necklace is my sterling silver cross and a sterling silver "God Bless You/Guardian Angel" charm (text in German) - the only thing I own that was given to me by my grandma. It tarnished and I never cleaned it up (silly me and now I've got some great tarnish remover so I should get to it). After learning the persian weave and making some lovely basic key chains and a very pretty sterling silver and copper bracelet, I wanted to learn how to extend that weave and make the crosses so I did and I've been enjoying making them. I love the key chains but I'm especially fond of the small, dainty cross I made from niobium and sterling silver and attached to a sterling silver chain.
Aren't those kind of cool..... of course, if you're not objected to crosses.
And, of course, I'm forever making earrings because if I have no time for anything else, I still have enough time to let my creativity be and make a pair of earrings. I am so very fond of these funky glass beads that I got in pink and blue.
And then here are a few other random earrings that I made. The flower spheres remind others of eye balls which I think is hilarious. I didn't see it until others said it to me but I still don't totally agree but I guess if you want to see eyeballs instead of flowers, be my guest. :-)
Time to be off now. I have more catching up to do later. All these things are available at Sparkles & Fuzz, my Etsy store.
It seems I only get to create anything on the weekends............. so here are last weekend's creations, all listed on Etsy by now:
I love this moebius flower bracelet. It's made from stainless steel and enameled copper in pink and amethyst. The closure is a silver plated lobster clasp. I'm also working on a similar one in a combination of blues.
I call these topaz coloured ear threaders "simple elegance". A simple tear drop shaped Swarovski crystal and looooong ear threads - they are 5 inches long made from sterling silver box chain. These ear threaders are really comfortable to wear and are fun and elegant at the same time.
I like basic, plain things and these little pink drop earrings are also just that:
A simple Swarovski pearl paired with a plain crystal.
And just for fun, here's a pink crackle glass bead anklet for capri and sandal weather........... it will arrive eventually:
Another very simple design but yet, very effective in my opinion.
I have a blog special.............. if you come to my store via this blog and make a purchase, I am offering 10% off the purchase of any one item or 20% off a purchase of two or more items in the same transaction. Indicate to me in the "comments to seller" that you saw the special on the Vox Blog and wait to pay until I send you a revised invoice.
Even though this weekend seemed to go by in a blur, I did get a couple things finished.
I played with this Helm's Chain bracelet in silvered enameled copper:
And these earrings. I tried to make something different but the little rings turned out too little so I changed direction and came up with these earrings:
All available in my shop as of this morning. Stop by for a visit. :-)
For the sake of keeping track of all my creations, here's a necklace that I didn't get around to showing off last week. I think this necklace is a lot of fun and just a bit different. Very simple and very casual but the pendant is quite big and so not necessarily for the faint of heart. :-)
Yesterday I had a bit of unexpected time. I dropped my little girl at a birthday party just 2 doors down the street. I've never left her at a birthday party by herself but all the Moms were dropping the kids and so did I. What a freeing moment..... In less than 2 minutes, I was back at home. The baby went for a nap. The husband went to do some work in the basement and I said............ housework.............. not for me, not with 2 1/2 hours of unexpected free time. So I decided to play with some of my sterling silver earring components that I bought some time ago. I can show you my first pair today. My second pair already sold at the office and I never got a photograph of it. I don't have a picture of my third pair yet and the weather is terrible so maybe I'll try my scanner tonight. So here is pair #1, listed this morning:
I love the colours. All the components are sterling silver and the crystals are 4mm Swarovski bicones in aquamarine and a colour whose name I can't remember at the moment.
I also played with this bracelet:
The beads are fun lampwork beads that I picked up some time ago. I also created a necklace to match and will create some little earrings to make up a set. For the necklace, I just need to attach a clasp and I've set some beads aside for the earrings. I'm just trying to figure out whether I should try to list necklace, bracelet and earrings as a set or individually. I haven't created any matching pieces yet so I'm not sure what would be more attractive. The word is still out. Any thoughts or opinions would be appreciated.
I haven't updated here in a long time but I have been creating........ except for maybe the last week or so. I hope to get back to it and want to update this place with all my recent jewelry attempts. One of my favourite earrings right now are these spring inspired flowers...... I made them quite some time ago and already showed them off over at Uli's Needlework World. So it's nothing new but I do hope to come back here more to keep this more for my jewelry stuff and the other blog all about life and knitting. We'll see if I can keep it up:
While I was at it, I added a few more. At the top are my spring flowers, next is the crystal amethyst bracelet combining amethyst sliders with some Swarovskis in amethyst, light rose and clear and on the bottom are my chain mail Helm's Weave earrings. Those have sold but the other two are available over at Sparkles & Fuzz
My newest creation:
I created this bracelet this afternoon while my Little Miss was painting popsicle sticks - a cheap, cheap project from the craft store keeping her busy for hours. The bracelet is made with memory wire, a string of amethyst chip beads and some Blue Moon silver spacer beads. Amethyst is my birth stone and since purple is one of my favourite colours, this bracelet is perfect for me. It loops around my wrist three times. One lesson learned........ with these chip beads, I have to be careful not to pick any chips where the hole is drilled too close to the edge of the chip or might break and fall off the bracelet.
So, everything worked out with the bead show and the course I was registered for. They received my cheque just in time and I was set to go. I didn't really know what to expect from a bead show so I left home so that I would have an hour to look around before my course started. I brought some cash. Well, an hour definitely wasn't enough to carefully look at everything, nonetheless, the cash that I did have with me was spent very quickly.
I happily scampered over to the classroom after an hour of browsing and was ready to learn something new. Here is the bracelet we made:
The beads and wire were part of the course and so they are basic. The wire is a non tarnish brass (20 gauge) and the beads are just some simple glass beads. The main technique we learned was how to make wire wrapped loops to attach the bead links to each other. I had practiced some wire wrapped loops before using the instructions from a book or a magazine and I managed to be fairly succesful in making them but what the course really taught me were the techniques to get them the same size every time and where to place your pliers to make it all work with the beads. The instructor was Ania Kyte who has a studio called Turtle Beads Studio. The last step was to learn how to make the clasp. That was the course. 2 hours well spent and very enjoyable. I definitely want to practice and make more but first I need more wire. After the show, I had no money left nor had I any time left to go and buy some wire. I had to run and get home. I ordered some wire yesterday. I think bracelets are in the Christmas present future for people like my Little Miss' teachers. I've already planned all my other knitted Christmas gifts.
Right now, my favourite book to flip through and think of the possibilities is this book:
There are some great things in it. I don't like a lot of the jewelry she has created as projects but I love the techniques described. I experiemented with the basic fibula pin type shape yesterday with the little bit of wire left from the course. It worked. I'm so excited as this will make the perfect shawl pins I've been longing to create. Of course, I need heavier wire to make a good shawl pin. I'll get a picture of the one I made yesterday but I could probably only use it for a very light scarf because the wire is too soft.
And more beads........... I got some pearls at the bead show. I also got some other lovely faceted glass beads that work with the pearls as well as a great glass pendant. I've been laying out all 3 in a combination on my bead design board (yup, all these new things) for a lovely necklace. Big problem......... I don't have much stringing material. But I think it will make a beautiful necklace.
Better run. Gotta pick up kiddo from school.
