Process pics. Mermaid's Garden

"Maybe it was a dream about summer? The bright, golden sun and rich clear-blue sky embraced me with their tender warmth," those were my muses on the creation of my lovely seed-bead necklace Mermaid’s Garden.


Probably for the first time I have tried to combine a blue color scheme with copper-lined seed beads. I felt that choosen materials will allow me to achieve at once the cool touch of the ocean with the warmth of a summer sun!


I have woven a base using netting stitch, and created a lot of leaves of two colors, my favorite components.


The finishing touches were created with freshwater pearls and aquamarine gemstone chips – perfect for a maritime theme.


Mermaid's Garden is 2008 First Place winner of the "Your Designs Rock!" Jewelry Design Contest held by Rings & Things magazine (Glass Category). Here is the full slide show of creating my necklace:

Mermaid's Garden

Herringbone is the theme of today - SOLD!

As I mentioned in my previous post about herringbone weave, this is the first jewelry piece I made this year, a bracelet for a colleague at work. Green cats-eye in herringbone weave with 0.6 and 1 mm sterling silver wire.


I also made this cute pair of herringbone earrings after watching a free video on youtube, created by Cynthia. It really inspired me to try them and I will do more of these.
Beads are dark blue goldstone (so dark that they could easily pass as black in the proper light), they are really beautiful, and so dainty. If you like shorter earrings, which sit just right in your ear, these are for you :)

I will add the pair to my Dawanda shop, but you can also buy them directly from here via Paypal (with free shipping).

I had people sending me email asking me how much does xyz cost in $US, so I will display from now on both prices, in Euros and in $US. You can click on whichever button you prefer to buy it, depending on your location.

Best 4 free herringbone weave tutorials for wire wrapping

How did this post come about?
I'm working on a simple herringbone weave bracelet for a colleague at work, who placed the order for sending it to her mom as a gift. So this weekend I'm working on my very first piece in 2009. I will post a picture of it as soon as it's ready and my camera is charged.

So in honour of my first piece, which is based on the herringbone technique, I went searching online for the best 5 free herringbone tutorials for wire wrapping. I got loads of question on how to make herringbone pieces whenever I showed some of my jewelry based on this technique on jewelry forums, and I know that this post will fill that void, since each of these tutorials is FREE, and one can learn to make a nice piece of jewelry based on it. Well, I found only 4 free tutorials on the net in the end, not 5, everything else was for a fee, but these 4 more than make up for the missing 5th :)

So here we go.

1. Hands down, the best tutorial is Eni's Herringbone weave, this one is a classic already :)
2. Irulan's herringbone tutorial takes place 3. Nice and clear pictures, easy to understand.
   
3. Adelin's herringbone weave is a nice new tutorial, put up late last year - interesting weaving of a bead which usually doesn't lend itself to herringbone.
   
   Originally there were 4 free tutorials, but in the meantime one has been removed by the owner and it will become paid. Since this post is about free ones, shared with the world by generous people, the link is removed as well.
   

If you have a free herringbone tutorial that you'd like to share, just leave a comment with a link to your tutorial, and I will add it to the list (rearranging the list if needed, depending on the tutorial quality).

Jewelry and Computer Cats

I've still been working with garnets to some extent since it is the birthstone for this month. I've been exploring garnet mixtures and came up with a couple that I'm satisfied with. The first is the bracelet above, made possible by the large, square, beautiful lampwork bead with a sprinkling of sterling silver across the middle and two different shades of pink: on the left is pink opal, to the right is a graduated pink. Two roughly faceted garnet nuggets are offset by two gorgeous Peruvian pink opals - best quality, with a strong deep pink and some translucence. I love these glorious opals! The bracelet below is another mixture that I accidentally discovered when my bench was covered with all kinds of gemstones. These beautiful rounded rectangles of pietersite happened to be lying next to the lampwork beads that you see in the bracelet. I tried amethyst, but it clashed, the way that some gemstones do unexpectedly sometimes, when you'd swear that they would be perfect together. However, the dark garnet was perfect. Garnet, pietersite and very pretty lampwork beads - not a combination I see everyday, but one that I do like. Both bracelets are on the Garnet Bracelets page of the site.
I've been lucky lately with getting some beautiful borosilicate lampwork beads with unusual colours and great blends of colours. The peach - pink - orangey ones in the rhodochrosite bracelet below are an example. They are so lovely, in fact, that I don't put them in the little drawers that I have for different colours; I leave them out on my desk so that I can look at them. The gemstone bracelet below has the addition of two pinkish genuine rubies on its second strand, and a generous helping of some of my most intricate sterling silver.
Finally, I would like to introduce you to two of the greatest joys in my life - and my helpers whenever I do work on the computer. In front is Cuervo Sebastian, winking at the camera. Behind in his usual place snuggled up next to the computer (it's very warm there) is Cluny Camillo. Cluny and Cuervo are kind enough to let me live here with them, and they even let me sit here on the bed while I work on the computer and watch tv. By the way, they don't wear jewelry!




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Build your Basic Jewelry Starter Kit for P100

I always get this question from my friends: how much do you need to spend to begin your homemade jewelry hobby?

Giving it much thought and stripping down the kit to the bare and very basic essentials. You can get your jewelry hobby going for as low as P100 (around $2). I would recommend P100 for any beginner, you can begin making bracelets and may discover if this hobby really suits you.

It wouldn't hurt to throw in P100 more so you can buy more beads and get more variety with your designs.

Now if you have P500, you can get other extras.

By extras, I mean other handy tools in the "Plier" family - chain nose pliers, crimping pliers, wire cutters.

Extra essentials would cost another P15-P50 per packet such as head pins, earring wires and hooks, split rings, crimp tubes, connectors.



You may also get other design luxuries such as spacers, chandelier components, pinch bails, charms, lockets, etc.

But that doesn't mean you can't have much fun with your P100 starter kit, learn the basics first. Get the hang of making loops and experimenting. I would suggest putting your old, unused or broken pieces of jewelry on the chopping board, learn to recycle these into new designs. I'm sure you will have enough beads to work on to create another knotted elastic bracelet or necklace.

So What's inside your Basic Jewelry Starter Kit?

What's inside your Basic Jewelry Starter Kit?

In line with my post, Build your Basic Jewelry Starter Kit for P100

Let's see what's inside the toolbox of a beginner:



Nylon Thread
Elastic or Non-Elastic. You can start with creating a basic bracelet with just a handful of beads and tying the ends into a knot. Elastic bands in black or white cost P14 in Wellmansons. Basic beading threads can go as up as P22, available in various centimeters or thickness.

Beads
Prices vary, but if you want to get started with jewelry-making as a hobby, you can start for as low as P15 per packet or stem.



Eye Pins
The metal connectors, the basic unit that binds beads and stones to one another. Sizes vary according to your bead size. You may also consider buying the flat-heads or head pins.

Toggle or Clasps
You need Toggle or Clasps to secure the ends of the bracelet, this mainly functions as a lock. You don't need so much clasps, so a small packet can do for a starter kit.

How much beads do I need?
Gosh, for the rabid beader there can never be enough beads. The beadshops in Villalobos street can be overwhelming for a first-timer, consider the experience like visiting a chocolate factory.

♥ Have fun making your first design!♥

OK I've moved myself

TO somewhere new :)

Here