YOJ Wk 7: Black and White by Delia Stone

Not on theme this week, just following my bliss. I’ve been saying for a while that I needed to make one of these necklaces in basic black, and so I finally did! Nothing too fancy, in fact many of you may notice that I’ve scaled down the filigree work and kept it to a single, simple filigree element at the focal point.

I also finally created a chain for my lovely rainbow labradorite pendant that I netted up a couple of months back.

I also scored a new piece of Eudialyte, not quite as glassy as the last, but I still love the raspberry pink of this stone. I made a simple filgree chain for it as well … I’m thinking, I may have to keep this one for myself. 🙂

Blue Morning Gallery: Krew Kreative Featured Artist Show

Lucky me! I was invited to participate in another featured artist show at Blue Morning Gallery. Yes, many of you may recall that the last show I was featured in was a just last month. I am truly fortunate to be featured two months in a row.

We hung the wall today which signals the beginning of our show. Our reception will be this Saturday, February 19th from 5:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. In the spirit of Mardi Gras we will be serving up Red Beans and Rice, Bread Pudding and King Cake! Yum! Please come out to join us if you can. We’d love to see you there!

New Earrings

Lastnight I was fiddling in my wire scraps while watching television with my other half, Jay. My fingers just mindlessly meandered through my wire scrap, doodling here and there. At one point I looked down and found that one of these circles with the pattern of 4 coils, a space, and 4 coils again had resulted from my wire doodling. I liked it so much I decided that I wanted to do something else with it. I had already told myself that I needed to make more earrings for my spring shows so I decided to take it in that direction. I very quickly finished off three pair. One with blue quartz briolettes and Icondolite Swarovski Crystal, one in deep Siam red Swarovski Crystal and one in Topaz and Copper Swarovski beads. I oxidized them all, of course!

You should click on the photo for a detailed view … it makes it easier to see the coiling on the earrings.

I think they are very simple and yet very attractive. Just a few ‘simple’ details really make these earrings for me.

YOJ Wk 6: Braided Wire Ring by Delia Stone

Well, I did it! I took the plunge and made my first sterling silver wire braided ring. This time I used 10 wires instead of 6 wires to make a fuller band. I think that the more wires you’re working with the more any tiny flaws are going to show up. I am happy with the way it turned out though … and fortunately I was able to make it a perfect fit for ME! 🙂

In case you missed it, and you’d like to see it, I have pictures of my first attempt at wire braider (six wires in copper) here: First Braided Wire Ring.

Spring is coming ….

The gallery recently asked all of the 2D artist to change thier tagging system to add more information. The tag had to be large enough to include my full name, my inventory code, the materials, the price and the ring size. I was just getting ready to put some rings in the gallery and found myself thinking that this was going to be problematic for me. I could not imagine how I could add a tag big enough for all of THAT to a ring without it looking … just … tacky. I had to put some thought into it and I am glad to say that in the end I manged to find a soloution that made for a charming presentation. Beautiful little leaf tags! Click on the pictures to get a detailed view.

All of the required information fits perfectly on the back side of the leaf. Customers can still try on the ring without having to worry about tearing the tag because it is quality cardstock. I just love the look of the leaf tags … and now I’m changing all of my other tags out to match – even changing my earring cards out to match!

Braided Wire Rings

My passion for experimenting with new techniques as a means of furthering my skills has led me to the world of wire braiding. I have always admired the wire braid work of other jewellers but have never ventured into it before as I imagined it to be a rather tedious task. I have to say, it’s not so bad. I gave it a try today for the first time – all thanks to a desire to play with my new bench vise.

To try my hand at wire braiding I opted for a small project. I did a six wire braid with 20 gauge copper wire. After braiding a length of about six inches I trimmed the ends and shaped two rings on the ring mandrel … and then dusted off my soldering skills at the bench and went for it.

I used a type of solder that is new to me, made specifically for joining copper, which contains copper. It’s always nicer to have it joined in a color of solder that already matches your copper wire than to have to electroplate the sliver colored copper later on to match. It worked great on the first band …. but not so well on the second band. I think that as I was beading my solder wire snip it joined with a stray piece of silver wire solder which resulted in a visible seam. To hide this I just put a wire rosette on the joint. I may very well redo my rosette later but I am happy enough with it as a successful experiment for the moment.

Now … am I brave enough to break out the silver? We shall see…

YOJ Wk 5: Romatic Rose Quartz Drop Necklace by Delia Stone

I made two necklaces with filigree focals, one with a lovely rainbow moonstone and the other with a facted rose quartz drop. It was difficult to decide which one to post on the YOJ blog, but I chose the rose quartz (hence the title) because it was so photogenic. The rainbow moonstone is something lovely to behold too though. I am including pictures of both here on my blog for your viewing pleasure.

It doesn’t even come close to matching this weeks theme of ‘Down and Dirty’ but I like it anyway. 🙂