My first try...

My mother and patron-of-my-art commissioned me to create a pair of earrings as a birthday gift for her friend.  I experimented with a couple of designs, but none seemed to capture Kim's essence.  That's the fun part of designing for someone I know:  I know her general style, her face shape, her hair color, the types of accessories she gravitates toward, etc. 

Figuring she'd like something bold, and knowing she likes black, this is what I came up with.  I wire wrapped onyx beads onto sterling silver tear-shaped frames that I created. 

Both my mom and the birthday girl were very pleased with the end result.  This was fun and I'll certainly do it again. My mind is swirling with ideas and variations.

Fun with wire!

Dainty bow rings.... I had a blast making these out of 22 gauge wire (14K gold filled and sterling silver).   I'll be listing these in one of my online shops soon.  Stay tuned....

A Little Bird Told Me...

One of my latest creations....

It started when I was trying to create something out of sterling wire - I won't even say what because it's embarrassing that I ended up so far off my original mark. I wasn't pleased with my progress and in a mini-fit of frustration, I smashed it. Being rather frugal, I couldn't just throw the mess away so I considered how I might be able to re-purpose it.

It looked rather like a bird's nest, albeit a rough one. And so yet another inpiration was born. As the saying goes, there are no new ideas ... so a quick search of the internet revealed (googled 'birdnest pendant').

Nevertheless, I like the way it came out. It's more organic (read: messier) than some of the more structured wire birdnest pendants I've seen online. The "eggs" are cultured freshwater pearls that are woven into the nest.

I wore my creation a couple of weeks ago to a class I attend and one of the other women in class asked me to make one for her. I've also made a pair of birdnest earrings.

Leave me a comment and let me know what you think.

Beaded Spheres

Last fall I posted about a beaded ball (for lack of a better term) that I bought in a bead shop that was going out of business. I've been enthralled by the silly thing ever since. I tried searching online to find out how they're made - no easy feat, when you're not sure what they're called. I did finally find some printed instructions that, for me, were way too complicated.

I more or less put the idea aside while I'm took care of my computer issues in December. Since then, I found a brilliant tutorial on a blog called My Daily Bead. The author's technique is so much clearer than anything I've come across.

The photos above are a few of my creations. The gray ball is made from 6mm bicone Swarovski crystals. It's a tad 'disco-ballish' for my taste, but it's easier working with larger beads when you're just starting out. It's made with 30 crystals.

The small white ball is made with tiny seed beads and is smaller in diameter than a dime. I modified the instructions so that I used 3 seed beads for every one bead used in the tutorial (a 3 to 1 ratio = 90 seed beads).

I followed the instructions to created the ball using rice pearls and attached them to earrings. It was a lot of fun. I'm looking forward to buying tiny bicone crystals and making these into pendants.

Drop me a comment and let me know what you think.

Tiny Gems

On my recent trip from Louisiana to Virginia, I made it a point to stop by one of my favorite bead shops, Lilly's Beadbox, located in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Lilly has an Etsy shop, too.)

Since my last visit in August, it seems Lilly has been increasing their supply of gemstone beads. They have some really great, high-end stuff, but they also have some more economical options. I bought a few strands of gemstone briolettes on closeout (wish I would've bought more!)

This is how I've been amusing myself lately:


And these:

amethyst

garnet