New blog...

I had/have a blog on another site, but haven't found any 'current' jewelers on that site, so I've moved all my blogs here. As it's a relatively new blog, it wasn't a huge deal. Anyway...I'm looking forward to checking out other jewelry artists here on this site.

Ciao...Lu

New wire angel design

I make angels at Christmas time with sea glass, and various glass beads. Last year, I got on a roll...only meant to make a couple of them, and ended up with 30 or 40 of them. Well...my Gal Pal Christie wanted a couple of black angels. I haven't been able to find the beads I wanted for them, so I started looking for different designs that I could do for her using an oxidized steel wire, and black beads. The design I found had two wings, and was a front view of an angel. I tweaked the design, and have a side view with only one wing. Her head is bowed...and I'm just thrilled with this design! She's sooooo sweet.

She measures not quite 2" long, and around 1 3/4" from wing tip to the edge of her bowed head.

And that's what I've been doing today.

New ideas...rings 'n things

I've been busy, busy, busy! Pics below of some new designs, including my mini Wild Women, and new Rock 'n Women. I've been making wild women for a few years now...found two pins at a yardsale, and bought them. I took one apart so I could figure out how it was made, and began making larger ones for my GrandGirls, a few friends, and the Nieces and Grand Nieces. Those were probably close to 6 inches or more, and were meant as little wall hangings, or window sun catchers. They were made of glass beads, so would catch the sun nicely.

The new Wild Women are much smaller, around 2 (the smallest one0 and 3 inches long (the larger ones), and make perfect necklaces. I did simple finishes with leather neck pieces, some knotted, and some not. A few of them have added beads on the leather.

The next group of photos are my Rock 'n Women. They are truly a labor of love. My sister and I are rock hounds, and pick up rocks where ever we are. Both of us have...well...a LOT of varying sized rocks from all over the US, and Canada. I decided to do something with them, and made Denice's first Rock 'n Woman out of one of her cherished Lake Michigan stones...a very cool round, green stone. I was on a roll then, and made more...am making more of them.

They were challenging in that I had to figure out how to wrap these small 'body' stones securely, while figuring out a means by which I could could add a head, arms and legs. The hands came later. lol...As a matter of fact, I added hands to Denice's Rock 'n Woman today. Hers didn't have hands! They measure from 2 1/2 to about 3 1/2". These are unfinished, but I only need to add leather necklaces, and handmade clasps to complete them...piece of cake!

I've been perfecting my ring-making skills, and adding a few twists to them as well. Some are a tad 'fancy' with very tiny peridot, and amethyst seed beads framing a couple of peridot stones. Lots of fun!!
 

I finished the crosses you may have seen in a previous post. They were oxidized, then hand polished, and strung on either chain or leather necklaces. I even wire wrapped some beads onto the larger cross.  Made nice pendants.

 

The next three pieces are a combination of wire wrapped stones and chain. I'm really enjoying the look of brass and bronze when using certain colors of stones. The brecciated jasper (donuts and round beads, and bloodstone donut necklace was done with an oxidized steel wire. Phew! That's some HARD wire to work!

I'm really liking this concept of working within a 'frame'. I make various sized and shaped 'frames' from wire...hammered, or not...some of which are oxidized for depth, and then wire stones within and on the 'frames'. Lots of different results...as you can see. I've begun experimenting with some free-form shapes, and am looking forward to incorporating the beads within the frames.

 

And that's what I've been doing with my days this past month!

Peace...Lu

Hearts 'n more hearts

Well, I haven't been feeling well, so haven't done much with my blog lately. However, I did work up some fun heart pieces for sale in my Etsy store for Valentine's day. Thought I'd share them here.

I've had a lot of fun with these hearts. The largish hammered copper heart in the triple heart photo has been completed. When I get photos of that group of finished work, I'll post a picture of the finished product.
Enjoy!

Copper wire crosses

Ok, one of my gal pals wanted to know if I could do wire crosses, and I could only find one that I'd done some months ago...not a good one really. So I did some research and found several examples of really nicely done wire crosses, and made up a couple of them for Sus to look at. I'm posting them here because she can enlarge the photos and see details more easily than in other venues, but it also gives me a chance to show what I did last night, too.

Make sure to click on the pictures to see enlarged image with more detail.

The first one is the largest (all measurements are approximate), measuring 2 3/4" x 1 1/2". I used 18 gauge copper wire for the cross body, and 22 gauge copper wire for the wire wrapping.

This next one was made with 16 gauge copper wire that I hammered for added texture, and to get that 'paddle' effect at the ends of each cross point. I wrapped it with 24 gauge copper wire. It measures just over 1 3/4" x (just over) 1 1/4".

I made this next one with square 21 gauge copper wire, and it measures approximately 1 1/2" x (just over) 1". It was the first one I made, and I forgot to make the bail for it to hang on a chain, or ribbon. I think I can use the middle wire at the top, and simply turn it toward the back for a bail.

The next one was simply done with round 18 gauge copper wire, wire-wrapped with 24 gauge copper wire, and an 18 gauge copper wire heart added, though I've not wired that onto the cross yet. I'm thinking I want to hammer the heart for some added texture, but not sure just yet, because I'm also thinking I want to make a smaller heart.

This last one is the smallest measuring about 1 1/4" x 1". I made it with 18 gauge copper wire that was hammered for more texture, and did a simple wrap with 22 gauge copper wire where the cross meets.

I didn't add beads, or any other adornment because I wanted to get the wire wrapping down first. Though it would be easy to add beads to these, I'm going to leave them as is, and make a few others with beads added at the cross points, and in the center of the cross.

Sorry about all the largish empty spaces, but I had a horrid time aligning text and photos in this post.