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·· Various earrings
·· Various pendants
·· Rambles...
·· Rambles...
·· Rambles...
·· Rambles...
·· Rambles...
·· Aquamarine necklace pic
·· Bwahahahaha!
·· Various necklaces
·· Keishi pearl necklace part 2
·· Keishi pearl necklace (no pics yet)
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Beading Blog - thebroadroom.net: August 2007
Various earrings
posted by Colleen Shirazi,
August 29, 2007
at 7:34 PM (Pacific)
These are pretty neat for you to whip up, you will need to hammer them. Then you can decorate them however you please.Labels: argentium, bali, crystal, earrings, labradorite, pearls
Handmade Jewelry photo gallery
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Various pendants
posted by Colleen Shirazi,
August 28, 2007
at 4:55 PM (Pacific)
American turquoise
Citrine
Czech glass and a tiny red glass heart
Chinese millefiori
The top two are some experiments with handmade bails. The red glass one, I made specifically with red glass, but it hangs really nicely. It could easily be used with three small gemstones instead.Labels: bails, citrine, czech glass, goldfilled, millefiori, pendant, pics, turquoise, wire wrapping
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Rambles...
posted by Colleen Shirazi,
August 24, 2007
at 10:44 PM (Pacific)
Hey, I made a bail today. It was surprisingly easy to do. I mean I'd like to play around with it some...I'm waiting on my wire order, so I'm hoarding the small amount of 24 gauge wire I found at the bottom of my box. You could make it as fancy as you like. But all you need to do is make a small rosary loop (or wrapped loop; this would make the bottom loop of the bail closed), add a small bead or beads, then fashion the top like a wrapped loop--only bigger, and more teardrop-shaped.
They now sell "bail pliers" but you can use a dowel, that's what I did. You can make the top with two or more "rabbit ears," like a standard rabbit-ear bail. Just bring the wire around the dowel and down again, wrap it a couple of times (like a regular wrapped loop), bring it back up again around the dowel, bring it down and wrap it a couple of times, bring it back up again if you like, etc.
When you're done, trim the wire, leaving enough tail to tuck into the bail somewhere. I tried tucking it the same way as a wrapped loop, on the side of the wrap, and didn't like it. It struck me it could come loose someday. But this way, you use your chain nose pliers to bend the tail so that it ends up neatly inside the bail.
This solves a problem that's been inside my head for days...bails. I don't like buying them. There are tons of sterling bails around, few gold-filled or vermeil ones... The gold-filled ones I found looked a bit flimsy and not very nice looking. The vermeil ones were more expensive than some 14KT gold ones I found! Ridiculous...
If you wanted to make this a fancy bail, you could wrap the bail part with fine gauge wire.Labels: bails, wire
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Rambles...
posted by Colleen Shirazi,
August 23, 2007
at 3:20 PM (Pacific)
It's interesting...how you slowly get better at doing this sort of thing. Some aspects of it really are slow. You have to be phenomenally patient, in a culture not known for patience.
It's occurred to me recently because it seems to me our (U.S.) culture has now simply become all about shopping. That's the only thing people do these days. That's also one of the reasons I didn't drop jewelry making...as I sense a lot of people did, once they found out how hard it is. I never accepted the idea of a country that produces nothing and simply consumes. I don't think it's healthy in any sense of the word.
Oh well that's my deep thought of the day.
I have a new bracelet but I have to wait on my wire order to finish it. I never did get that metals catalog, it's really weird. I haven't given up on the idea; on the other hand, that's going to be a whole new phase for me, getting into a different level of supplier (it's a pain).
It's a four-strand bracelet, basically a redo of this:
...only with much fewer tourmalines. It's basically just the pearls with a few tourmalines.
I discovered a few things while working on this redo. One is that the original clasp doesn't work with this kind of bracelet. It's too small. I ended up using a two-strand clasp that's bigger and wider, so it stays put much better, given the strands are twisted.
Two is that it is a complete bugger figuring out the length of the strands. That took me by far the most time. You have to make the strands and attach them to one side of the clasp, then twist them and really try to figure the length. It's easy to overshoot it, easy to make it too small. It's all in the twist.
Three is that it's easier using open jump rings, than using soldered--I've found that in other "strung" pieces as well. You can easily use two jump rings for strength, which is what I did for the bracelet. Having open rings makes the piece more modular. I was doing the triple strand peridot necklace "redo" the other day, fluffed one of the strands (you wouldn't think that's possible but apparently it is), but because I had it on open rings (single, not double), it was a matter of opening the rings rather than restringing the entire strand.
Four is that you shouldn't be afraid to make your piece asymmetrical. A lot of "higher end" jewelry uses asymmetry. It makes the piece look more handmade, rather than mass produced. I used a bit of randomization in this piece and feel it looks much better.
Five and most important...don't be discouraged. It takes years to get your skills the way you want them to be. Most of the stuff you see online that's good, has been made by people who have been doing this for years. Or, as Ted Williams once said, "Just keep going. Everybody gets better if they keep at it."
Handmade Jewelry photo gallery
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Rambles...
posted by Colleen Shirazi,
August 21, 2007
at 11:57 AM (Pacific)
I already redid the aquamarine earrings. lol! I wore the prototype all day; at the end of the day, they started feeling heavy.
It's funny, I've gotten to be very critical of jewelry. There was an enormous burst of people doing it in the U.S. a while back...people like me, who aren't "crafty," much less involved with any professional jewelry making outfit. It's been difficult, frankly...there's a lot to it. I feel the people making it now, out of that burst, have become pickier, better...
From the beginning I figured it would take two or three years to figure it out. Now I think it takes the full three years. From reading jewelry making forums, I did observe the people who made the designs I liked, had been doing it for many years.
I'm trying now to work with better materials. Again, it's interesting...once you want to move beyond the more ordinary level of materials, you're working with an entirely different group of suppliers. They're much harder to find. The newer suppliers--the ones who got in at the same time as the initial burst of jewelry makers--are much more Net-savvy than the old suppliers, the ones who provide the better materials. Hence the cheaper materials are easier to find.
I'm not worried...I never was. If you're talking about a three-year project, it's a three-year project. You start at the beginning, keep going... My ultimate goal of course is to sell jewelry (isn't everyone's?) but my shorter-range goal is to make my own jewelry, to not be at the mercy of the jewelry market.
Handmade Jewelry photo gallery
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Rambles...
posted by Colleen Shirazi,
August 19, 2007
at 7:24 PM (Pacific)
Made some earrings today to go with this:
It's funny, it's an entirely different experience for me since I stopped making jewelry for a few months.
For one thing...I read somewhere on the Ganoksin site that you should have a separate space, if not a separate room, to do your work in. i.e., you should not try to do it in the bedroom, living room, kitchen, or other "regular" room. You should have a dedicated space for only your work. At first I thought it a bit decadent, particularly since I'm not selling my jewelry. But there is something to it.
It is better having a dedicated work area, even if it's smaller than a non-dedicated area. You need not pack away all of your stuff each time. More importantly, once you're there, it's not as if you're "doing" a hundred other things at the same time. You can take your time and do your work.
In fact it struck me, doing the earrings today, how long it takes to make what would appear to be a simple pair of earrings. I had a tendency before to rush through it, to try to crank out something to wear that day. Ultimately it takes much more time doing it that way, because you end up with stuff you don't wear, stuff that needs to be dismantled and (hopefully) remade into something else...moreover, you end up buying a lot of similarly un-thought-through materials. Overall you end up with more waste, in the material and labor sense.
As I was making these earrings...I was glad for my tiny-cone round-nose pliers. I finally broke down and got some Lindstrom ones. I still have my "starter" round-nose pliers, which are great for stuff like bending a big loop in an earring wire. I think you need two pairs of round-nose even for straightforward loop making. Although I've seen round-nose pliers with long cones, I prefer how the short-cone ones handle.
I started out thinking, what can I do with the headpin to make it look nicer? I've done the teeny squashed bend, and the teeny loop. Plus, I didn't want to use a spacer bead. The only ones I have are those ubiquitous tiny round goldfilled ones. For this, it's all been done...so I made a small wrapped loop for a headpin. Looks nice (don't make the wrap too neat).
Slowly...as I worked, I put the earring on to feel its weight. As much as I love featherweight earrings, I tend to want to make the earring "more." So the idea was to make it as much as possible, without making it too heavy.
It was actually a pleasure doing the work, doing it this way. The only thing I finished today were the earrings, but, so what? They're beautiful earrings. I started working again on a three-strand peridot necklace--I took apart this one:
It's a nice necklace, but I felt I could make it fancier by making it a full three strands rather than three-to-one. It's not necessary to have the faceted teardrop shapes throughout the piece; they show better right in front. The sides and back can be those tiny side-drilled smooth "droplets" of peridot. You're getting three-strand peridot goodness, for a similar outlay to the three-to-one.
I'm planning to redo the entire peridot experience, including the bracelet and earrings:
The crystal ones in the pic came out well, but the peridot ones were too long and too heavy. I'm saving five peridots for each earring, the rest are going into the necklace.
Handmade Jewelry photo gallery
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Rambles...
posted by Colleen Shirazi,
August 15, 2007
at 9:44 AM (Pacific)
I take back whatever tepid words I've written about this:
It paid for itself yesterday. Mind you, you can make your own version, but a bracelet sizer of some sort is indispensable for making bracelets. There's almost no other way to avoid screwing up the length, since what you're after is the inner diameter of the bracelet.
I made one crystal bracelet yesterday to match the "world's tackiest strand of diamonds" crystal necklace. My plan is to make at least three crystal bracelets and wear them together. The concept is pure sparkle for the sake of sparkle, hence the pile o' crystals.
Now I really need to order wire, because the bracelet worked best with a handmade hook closure. I can't wait on the catalog. I'll put together an order soon.Labels: tools
Handmade Jewelry photo gallery
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Aquamarine necklace pic
posted by Colleen Shirazi,
August 13, 2007
at 4:13 PM (Pacific)
Redo of this:
As you can see, it's a much simpler design. I knew the 3-to-1 was too busy, but didn't want to waste the chain or other aspects of it.
I ended up with three extra pieces of chain, but they're all long enough to do something with, say matching earrings (I'm going to redo the earrings too). As far as the aquamarine "bobbles," I was pleased to be able to rework some of those too...bend the top loop open, trim the wire a bit, pop the top Bali bead off, replace with a daisy spacer, redo loop, reattach.
I'll take a pic of the "tacky strand of diamonds" one after I've put the crimp covers on.Labels: aquamarine, bali, chain, goldfilled, necklace, pics, vermeil
Handmade Jewelry photo gallery
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Bwahahahaha!
posted by Colleen Shirazi,
August 12, 2007
at 8:03 PM (Pacific)
I did some beading today...discovered this little roll of wire hidden in the bottom of my beading box. I don't know how I overlooked it before, but it's there...hehe...
So I made two pieces today. One didn't actually require wire, it was a straightforward stringing job. I don't have a picture of either yet (it's too late, I'm tired) but one uses the pattern of the center strand below:
From here it appears the center strand is just a bicone + daisy repeating pattern, but it has crystal rondelles and ring beads in it too. I was already planning on dismantling the bracelet, so just today I held it up to my neck and realized the center strand would make a beautiful short necklace. The effect of the daisies and crystals sparkles like the world's tackiest strand of diamonds lol but it's okay because the flash is just plain old crystals. My daughter did the stringing for that piece all by herself (aren't daughters the best?).
The second one is a redo of this:
I was feeling terribly guilty because I'd already cut the chain to make this necklace, and I didn't like it. I had in mind to make a simple single chain, with the aquamarine dangles hanging off it like this one:
...only with the aquamarines, but once I got going, I wanted something a bit fancier (the simple design works better with turquoise because of the bright color). I ended up with a y-necklace instead. I'm wearing it now. Hmmm...it might need some tweaking. For one thing, it just fits, like a choker, which I'm not used to wearing. I can fix it easily by adding a couple of jump rings in the back, or by making it adjustable the same way.
It's funny if you've been away from beading and returned to it. On some things you feel a bit rusty, in my case, my hands are stiff (one of the reasons I took up beading to begin with, it helps make your hands flexible). On other things though, they suddenly seem much, much easier than before.
Handmade Jewelry photo gallery
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Various necklaces
posted by Colleen Shirazi,
August 9, 2007
at 2:47 PM (Pacific)
These have all been photographed before, in greater detail...I wanted a group picture of my current necklace collection. I didn't include the keishi pearl one, if only because it's too new...I may decide to redo it, once I get my metals catalog (hem hem); I may decide to make it with plain gold beads rather than the tourmaline+vermeil thing.
These have all stood the test of time, some more so than others of course...they've all been worn many times. I hate to hit y'all over the head with makeup metaphors, but I have the same philosophy regarding cosmetics: they have to be worn, they cannot just sit in the drawer. You have to show them some love.
Looking them over, I'm already getting ideas what I'd like to do next. For example, I'd like to redo my aquamarine and goldfilled chain necklace. This wasn't a total bust, but the three strand design in front isn't happening. I'd still like to do something with it though.
I'd like to do more chain and stone designs in fact, similar to the chalcedony y-necklace (top pic, third from the left). I wore this yesterday and was pleased with the overall look.
If I may say so, I think the trend now is toward either super chunky stones, or super delicate constructions with more expensive components. Consumers have become pickier--as well they should--the designs they seek have to stand out more.Labels: necklace, pics
Handmade Jewelry photo gallery
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Keishi pearl necklace part 2
posted by Colleen Shirazi,
August 5, 2007
at 9:51 PM (Pacific)
Very pleased with this; it's a lovely piece. I tried photographing it in the usual way, but there hasn't been enough natural light, over the past two days, to do that. So I finally gave up, had someone else model it, and used a flash. And it came out better that way.
I'm still waiting on my catalog; it's a metals company, so I'm thinking now of buying some karat gold beads...you wouldn't need a lot of them. For this model, you would need six at most, and a small karat gold clasp, to make a perfect necklace.
Not that I'm thinking of restringing these pearls. But I can see now that keishi pearls work well. They're different from traditional round pearls, but better, for a single strand, than regular freshwater pearls. The lustre is high, plus the "cornflake" shape makes the lustre reflect the light from various angles.
Here's some info on keishi pearls:
Keishi pearls
How are keishi pearls formed?Labels: bali, keishi, necklace, pearls, pics, tourmaline, vermeil
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Keishi pearl necklace (no pics yet)
posted by Colleen Shirazi,
August 4, 2007
at 7:53 PM (Pacific)
I tried taking a pic of this, but it's too late in the day to get a good picture (I don't use a light box, so must rely on natural light). It's the first piece of jewelry I've made in almost two months...I suppose I was a bit rusty (got my double crimps slightly too far apart, that sort of thing), but I felt the process came more naturally to me than before.
It's a necklace made from a strand of natural pink keishi pearls I got months ago, same ones in these earrings:
They're gorgeous pearls in the classical "cornflake" or petal shape. I went through 300 designs figuring out what to do with them lol...then concluded that with these pearls, simplicity would be best. So, no triple strand, double strand, 2-to-1 design, super long strand (yep, I tried that too)...no mixing them with labradorite or lots o' vermeil. The finished necklace is just the pearls, strung with a few Bali vermeil daisy spacers and smooth tourmaline rondelles (opaque, not gem grade), finished off with a simple Bali vermeil toggle.
Even the bead spacing came naturally, something like 12 in the front, then ten, ten, six. One of those things that probably shouldn't work and does.
I had the idea of saving out a couple of the pearls to make some earrings...as it turned out, I couldn't use two of them anyway, the drill holes were too small. That, btw, is going to be my next tool purchase: a bead reamer. I never got around to buying one before, but it's easy to see it would pay for itself the first time you used it.
I feel much better. I like making jewelry, but it's something you have to take a break from at some point, or at least I do. It's so easy to just keep buying stuff...if you step back from it, it becomes clearer what you should buy, and what you shouldn't.
It's not the price of the beads, not at all. Some cheap beads become next to useless, you really can't do much with them. Hence they're a waste of money. Other beads, like the keishi pearls, okay I was lucky and bought them right before they doubled in price (rolls eyes), those look beautiful almost simply strung on a piece of softflex, with a few inexpensive accents.
I went through trying to make a three-strand necklace too, out of labradorite rounds and vermeil...and it finally struck me, that the design was fine but would look much better with a stronger-colored bead (rather than the grey of the labradorite), I dunno, something like garnet. A three-strand (twisted, not graduated) necklace of garnet rounds with the vermeil. Of course I have no garnet on hand...but it further occurred, it would be better to get pickier and buy better garnet too.
Oh, and I am going to fix up this blog, especially the tags. We recently overhauled the tags on The Lipstick Page Forums Beauty & Fashion Blog (Dain's got a cool article up there on lipstick colors, if you're interested)...it's roughly 450 posts, so it's going to take time to re-label them, I doubt I'm going to go back and do all of my posts. I put up a script to list the labels in the first place (FTP Blogger.com users don't have this feature), then pull out the main categories and list them first. These also create a "links list" page rather than just the label page itself, because some of the labels have tons of posts and would take forever to load.
Anyhow it's great being back making jewelry. :)Labels: bali, keishi, necklace, pearls, tourmaline, vermeil
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