Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Wire Wrapped Pendant
 Finally!  
I've been sharing my "struggles" with learning to wire wrap a gemstone for a Pendant. I realize it is hard to tell from pictures just what it is I don't like.
Well, I finally made one that I'm (relatively) satisfied with. I like both the design and the way the wire looks. 

The picture could be better but here it is:



Here is one of the things I've improved. 



The wire I use is "half round". Just like the name says, half of the wire is round. The other half is flat. Now, when I was working before, I was not always able to get the rounded side where it should be, round on top.







I realize that is a hard thing to see (even if the piece is in your hand)  but if you are going to use nice half round wire, it should show it is nice half round wire! Standing on edge, as in the others, really doesn't cut it. 






Here is a picture of wire on its edge. See the top middle wire is on edge? The bottom middle wire is round as in the good one.













The other thing I like about this one is the three coils on the top. (Reminds me of the three rings in my Ring by Ring Designs' logo)
I expect that I will have more improved pendants to show you in the future. See it on the website.






You can help me, if you would, by letting me know if you like this type of jewelry. I won't feel hurt if you don't like it because, I do not really love it myself but it is growing on me. Click here:  Bev, I think...  

I discovered another thing I'm going to work on this week. Dangly earrings.
I know many of you prefer smaller earrings, but not all of you, I've found out. So, I'll have something new for next week in the earring line. Stay tuned.
Let me know if you like dangly earrings or not.
Thanks for taking time to let me know what you are thinking, what you like or don't like. I really appreciate it.

Until next time,
Bev

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Blizzard 2013

http://www.ringbyringdesigns.com/shop.html#!/~/product/category=3110416&id=19447019
Blizzard 2013
February
 
Many of you are also in the northeast and probably had as much snow or more than we did. It has been awhile around here, in south eastern MA, since we have had this much snow.
 
 

This is the view from our door on the driveway. Fortunately, our cars are in the garage. My daughter and son-in-law's cars were out. The official snow fall in our town was 23 inches but many around us got more. We are just down the street from the DPW and get our street plowed regularly. In fact, on Friday when it started snowing, I counted 15 plows going by our house before I stopped counting. We were, also, very fortunate to not loose electricity. Many are still without. They are cold and some have no water. Though there are warming places,  they still are hoping for lights soon!
 
 
 
 
 
Pathway started from our house to the  cars in the driveway.
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
With it snowing hard on Friday, I decided it would be a good time to practice my wire wrapping. Boy, I'm still learning. Here is one piece I'll even show you.
  ;-)
 
 
 
 
 
 

I'm not a fan of swirls and curly cues in wire wrapping but I did some anyway. While my wire wrapping skills are getting better, I need to work on my design skills for wrapping. At least to make me happy with the results
 
 
I have one Amethyst button left, the darker colored one. Of course, I can always take a short trip to my buddy at Two Guys Fossils for more.
 
Malachite, or

Bev

Thursday, February 7, 2013

Two Guys Fossils
Part 2
 
Friday, one of my beading buddies and I went to visit Al at Two Guys Fossils again.
 
 
The pieces I showed in last week's post have been quite popular. The Amethyst button sold as a gift for a person with a February birthday. That of course gave me the excuse to purchase some more.
 
 
 
I also, tried to wire wrap several of the stones I had purchased before. Well, as with most new techniques, the results were not great but with each try I learned something new. I won't bore you with the details (plus it is too hard to explain) but I needed to get more stones to try again. I did learn what kind of stone to look for in shape and probably more important, had a better idea what not to purchase.
 
 

 
Here are some pieces I found. They are fairly flat and have some interesting shapes with out being extremely odd shaped.
 
 
 
I've been thinking about something to add to the cross but it is still percolating. So when I find some time, my next project will be to wire wrap one of these stones. Haven't decided which one to start with. It seems I really like hematite ... One lonely lapis lazuli sits there too.
 
 
 

 
Since the Amethyst was sold, here are some replacements. Each one is a little different in shape and in depth of color. The one on the right is the one sold but the other two are available if anyone is interested.
 
You can check the pieces available here:
 
Malachite, or