Wire Wrapped Rings 'n' Things

I have been dabbling in wire wrapping for about a year and a half now.  I tended to focus mostly on pendants though as I have always found it easier to wrap around a relatively large focal object (stone, bead, shell, etc.).  Rings have never been my forte.  I have made a few here and there, but I find weaving on such a small scale quite awkward.  I challenged myself last night to overcome this avoidance of rings and to make a ring without a pattern or directions of any kind.  After a couple hours of fiddling, bending, twisting and binding, here is what I ended up with.

I'm quite pleased with the outcome. Very free form and asymmetrical. Depending on which angle you look at if from, or which way you wear it, it looks like a different ring. I've decided to put this one up for sale, and if you really like it take a look at my Etsy e-store. My ultimate goal with ring is to figure out a cool method of setting stones. I've got so many small ones that would look awesome in a ring. Now I just need to figure out how to do it.

Beaded Leaf Earrings Tutorial Now Online

Some exciting news!  My application to become a Teacher on jewelrylessons.com has been accepted, which means I can now post tutorials for some of my designs.  The first one is a smaller version of the shimmering beaded leaf earrings from my earlier post.

You can find my Shimmering Beaded Leaf Earrings Tutorial at http://www.jewelrylessons.com/tutorial/shimmering-beaded-leaf-earrings.  I like these because they tend to lay flat when you are wearing them, where as I've found that the larger ones I made earlier tend to fold in the middle.  Hope you enjoy the first addition to my tutorial library!

Christmas.....in March.....that I paid for myself

Today I had two packages of jewelry stuff arrive in the mail.  Isn't checking the mail so much more fun when you know fun stuff is coming?  I got a whole variety of seed beads as well as mixed lot of semi precious stones for wire wrapping.

So I ordered a 'mystery' lot of stones and I was very pleased with what I got. Lots of amethyst and labradorite, some moonstone, and many unknowns. I am going to have to go researching to figure out what they are. All in all, I am very pleased with what I got and will be dealing with that seller again.

OOOooo! Beads! So many colours! I finally broke down and shelled out for miyuki delica beads. They're consistent size will add a nice polished look to my pieces; especially those that have repeated stitch patterns. I'm excited to make something with them, I just have to decide what!

This is my favorite stone of my entire mystery lot. It is a large labradorite teardrop that reflects a beautiful blue-green colour. I don't know whether I'll keep the finished piece for myself or sell it. It's just so pretty I don't know whether I will be able to part with it!  It will end up making a beautiful wire wrapped pendant.

Shimmering Beaded Leaf Earrings

The finished product!  I love the way they turned out.  Pretty  yet not over the top.  I especially love the 'frillyness' of the leaf edges.

 The design was based on a diagonal peyote stitch.  I used faceted size 11 cylinder beads.  I think the faceted sides add a nice sparkle to the finished product.  These earrings measure about 2 inches long including the ear wires.


I really like the look of these so I want to make some variations on the theme.  I have a whole lot of miyuki seed beads coming in the mail... I went on a bit of an ebay bead binge.  Including some nice size 15 ones is multiple shades of green.  I think it would look really nice to have a cluster of smaller leaves so I'm going to give it a try.

Also, my favorite recent discovery: thread protectors.  They're the little metal loops at the top of the leaves that the ear wires connect to.  I'm always afraid of thread at important connection points, where there's going to be the most wear and tear, fraying over time and one just breaking such that I lose an earring.  These solve that and make it much easier to connect other components to beaded pieces.

Next post: exciting things that arrive in the mail!

Autumn Leaves Inspiration

Tonight I plan on making a pair of earrings inspired by the Autumn Leaves necklace patter in the book Creative Beading Vol.4. I love the natural motif embodied by this necklace, however it is far to extravagant to wear on a day to day basis.

I plan on using a variation of the leaves to make earrings. Also, the bead colours in the original pattern don't go very well with my colouring, so I plan on using some deep green beads accented with some medium green beeds. Depending on how they turn out and what size each leaf is, I may just use one per earwire or attach a small cluster. I'm more of a go with the flow kind of beader rather than planning it all right from the start. I'm excited to see how they'll turn out!

The Urchin Bead

My first beaded bead.  How exciting.  It was based on the urchin bead pattern from Marcia Decoster's Beaded Opulence.  The goal was to achieve something like:

 Eye catching isn't it?!

The pattern is based on embellished right angle weave with a variety of bead sized.  I had to improvise a bit as I didn't have the exact sized recommended in my seed bead stash so it was a bit of a gamble on how it was going to turn out.  Specifically, I used cylinder beads instead of the largest seed beads, and delica beads instead of the crystal embellishments.  Step 1: lots and lots and lots and lots of right angle weave stitches.  My goodness!  I spend an entire evening making this thing when I estimated it would take a couple hours.  So many tiny stitches!  After telling my friend about my many hours of bead stitching, he gave me the nickname 'the bead surgeon'.  I approve, haha.  So how did my bead turn out?

Not  to bad for a first attempt.  I will definitely be giving this another shot with the exact bead sizes specified in the pattern.

This one is quite large... about an inch and a half across.  I am also going to try making one half the height and with only three spines.  I hope that the results will be small and light enough to make earrings out of.

My biggest lesson from this experience is that beaded beads take lots of time!  It's amazing the amount of effort it takes to make something so small.  The results all worth it though!

My Newest Addiction - Beaded Beads

First of all...welcome to the first post of my blog.  I hope that this can be a way to share my hobby and creative endeavors, share my inspirations and just put my creations out into the world.  Now onto the actual subject of this post.

My jewelry making focus for the last year or so was wire wrapping and glass fusing.  I had pretty much put strict bead work aside.  A few months ago I was organizing all my supplies and I rediscovered my seed bead collection.  A box full of little shiny beads of all sorts of gorgeous colours.  I wanted to use them, but how?  I sometimes incorporate small beads into my wire wrapping designs, but it had been a while since I had made anything that showcased small beads.  Christmas was also approaching and my mom was asking for gift ideas. I scoured the internet and settled on two books that really caught my eye.

The first was Marcia DeCoster's Beaded Opulence.  Just looking at the cover I was impressed.  A beautiful complex piece made completely from seed beads and other small beads.  I looked through the available preview and I was hooked.  So many intricate patterns that were way beyond stringing beads on a thread.  The patterns looked challenging!  I find that I am disappointed with a lot of books these days because they don't push me to try something new.  That is not the case with this one.  I have decided to attempts the 'urchin bead' as my first project from this book.  My success or failure to be reported in my next post.

The second book that caught my eye was Creative Beading Vol. 4.  This book encompasses a wider variety of techniques and skill levels that Beaded Opulence does.  However, there are still many patterns in here that look like they will be challenging and rewarding to make.  I think my first project will be based on the "collecting leaves" pattern.  The one on the book is for making an embellished necklace, however I plan on incorporating the leaf 'bead' design provided into a set of long draping earring.  I'm excited to see how they will turn out.

Though I have rekindled my love affair with beads, I don't plan on leaving my wire wrapping ways and glass fusing ways behind.  I'm looking forward to producing a wide variety of pieces in the near future.  I always seem to have design ideas bouncing around my head.  I just need to force myself to sit down and take the time to bring them to life!