 Subscribe in a reader
On This Page
· Knotting pearls on silk part 4
· Knotting pearls on silk part 3
· Knotting pearls on silk part 2
· On knotting pearls on silk
· Necklace with three hoops and moonstones
· Labradorite pear necklace
· Rambles...
· London Blue Topaz necklace, sterling chain necklace
· Multistrand rose quartz necklace with Shiana fine silver Sakura flower pendant
· Green amethyst and prehnite necklace
· Labradorite necklace
· Pic of redone blue chalcedony necklace
· Rambles...
· Happy New Year! (pic of double strand freshwater pearl necklace, pearl earrings)
· 2007, the year in beading
· Various jewelry pics
· Shiana fine silver, lapis and Bali sterling set
· Aquamarine necklace pic
· Various necklaces
· Keishi pearl necklace part 2
· Keishi pearl necklace (no pics yet)
· Aquamarine and Bali vermeil necklace on goldfilled chain
· Rambles and some pics
· Freshwater pearl multi-strand necklace
· Venetian glass bead necklace on leather cord, handmade clasp
· Venetian glass bead, leather cord necklace
· Notes on Venetian heart necklace
· Venetian glass on leather cord necklaces
· Turquoise necklace
· Freshwater pearl necklace and bracelet set
· Labradorite and vermeil necklace and earrings
· Bali vermeil cage beads and turquoise necklace
· Peridot and vermeil necklace and bracelet
· Peridot and vermeil necklace, version 2
· Peridot and vermeil necklace
· Three strand freshwater pearl necklace
· Chalcedony necklace, then and now
· Black Swarovski crystal and Bali vermeil necklace, part 2
· Black Swarovski crystal and Bali vermeil bead necklace
· Venetian glass heart necklace
· Turquoise choker and leather cord end caps...
· More blogging here...
· Jade and pearl necklace and bracelet pics
· Jade necklace: then and now
· Citrine/sterling necklace and earrings, rambles...
· Turquoise necklaces
· More blogging here, with pics
Archives
The Lipstick Page Forums Fashion Blog September 2005
The Lipstick Page Forums Fashion Blog October 2005
November 2005
December 2005
January 2006
February 2006
March 2006
April 2006
May 2006
June 2006
July 2006
August 2006
September 2006
October 2006
November 2006
December 2006
January 2007
February 2007
March 2007
April 2007
May 2007
June 2007
July 2007
August 2007
September 2007
October 2007
December 2007
January 2008
February 2008
March 2008
April 2008
July 2008
August 2008
October 2008
November 2008
June 2009
December 2009
Links:
· Dylan Blue featuring Saura Designs
· True Colours
· Amy Lilley Designs
· Jewelry Making - About.com
· Jewelry Making Forum - About.com
· Ganoksin - Jewelry Making
· WigJig Free Jewelry Making Designs
· Beading How-To's - Fire Mountain Gems and Beads
· Shiana
· Rishashay
· Bali Beads Wholesale - Handmade Sterling Silver
Sterling Silver Beads, Findings and Vermeil Beads direct from Bali. Wholesale beads prices for everyone!
Eponym Blog Directory.
More blogs on this site:
|
|
Beading Blog - thebroadroom.net
Knotting pearls on silk part 4
posted by Colleen Shirazi,
November 2, 2008
at 7:59 PM (Pacific)
Oooh! I'm excited...I just glued the ends of my four strands of knotted pearls. Tomorrow I'm going to get up early and try finishing the piece.
Normally it wouldn't take this long. I found the most difficult parts were getting together the right thicknesses of silk, and figuring out how to knot with doubled thread.
I started out with Griffin silk, with the "built-in needle," but ended up using Gudebrod Champion silk in size D, with separate needles. The built-in needle is handy for straightforward knotting, where you don't need to double the thread, but it's not the most practical if you're doing anything different.
With the Champion silk, I made my own built-in needle...just cut the thread twice as long as you need (it's about a yard or meter for a non-choker-length strand, so cut two yards), thread the needle on, and make a double thread. Knot the two ends together and thread on your clamshell. I put a tiny silver bead between the clamshell and the first knot, hoping that will keep the silk from fraying.
Then you string on a bunch of pearls and start knotting. It's not like the Griffin thread, where you have to string all of the pearls before you begin to knot, but it does go more quickly if you string a bunch, then knot them.
I had to do a slightly larger knot than a regular overhand knot...here I just added an extra "turn" on the overhand knot, if that makes any sense. With #0 Griffin silk I had to do more than one extra turn...it was a pain. But with Champion size D, just one extra turn did it.
I learned a few things...even if the knot feels right, you have to inspect it before making the next knot. If there's too much slack, you can still fix it by adding in another plain overhand knot and incorporating the slack knot into it...but if you've already knotted the next pearl, you can't do that.
I tried stretching out the silk while I was working with it. In fact I'm wondering now if pre-stretching the entire thread is a thought, the way you'd pre-stretch stretchy cord.
The knots don't actually have to be 100% perfect, I screwed one up and tried fixing it by threading in some extra silk and knotting that. It won't make it 100% perfect (were I doing a single strand, I'd restring the entire thing) but for this multi-strand piece, I was satisfied with it.
Once you have the materials and method, and your tool of choice (tweezers or awl), it goes pretty quickly.
I'm going to try my four strands on this clasp from Shiana.com:
Labels: multistrand, necklace, pearls
Handmade Jewelry photo gallery
.
2 Comment(s)
 
Knotting pearls on silk part 3
posted by Colleen Shirazi,
October 27, 2008
at 9:23 PM (Pacific)
Still working on my first project! I had decided to make it a multi-strand pearl necklace, and haven't had much time to work on it.
The first strand is finished--large freshwater pearls on #4 silk. I haven't glued it, but the clamshell is knotted in place on one end; waiting for the rest of the strands to be knotted before finishing the other end.
The second strand, of small pearls...eh...I tried doing it on #0 silk, doubled. #4 was too thick and I didn't have anything else on hand. Bleh. I got the strand done, using a larger knot. #0 is so thin, the usual overhand knot is too small. But I don't want to use this technique any more; it's too time-consuming, and uses too much silk (doubled, 2 meters of #0 is just enough to do one standard-length strand of small pearls).
While I was doing this strand, I found you can rescue a knot which comes out a bit too far from the pearl, by adding in another overhand knot, and incorporating the first knot into it. I don't know if this will work with thicker silk (the resulting knot might be too big), but for fine silk, it worked well.
So I need to buy more silk. I'll probably go with artbeads.com. I've ordered from them many times; they're quite reasonable, free shipping, no minimum purchase, and most items can be bought by the piece.
Despite all the head-aches of figuring out the right kind of silk and how you wish to finish the ends (clamshells vs. french wire), it's a good skill to learn. Say you wanted a necklace of large round beads. You could string them on softflex, but knotting makes the strand look so much nicer.Labels: multistrand, necklace, pearls
Handmade Jewelry photo gallery
.
2 Comment(s)
Knotting pearls on silk part 2
posted by Colleen Shirazi,
October 21, 2008
at 6:56 PM (Pacific)
Argh! Of course by now I've discovered how different are the thicknesses of silk (or rather, how differing the drill-holes are in pearls!). I tried my #4 Griffin silk on some smaller pearls I had on hand...no dice, not at all. mumbles...
That's one aspect of making anything jewelry, that is not obvious to people who don't do it. Unless you own the bead store, you're perennially short of at least one item you need to finish the piece, at least until you've been short enough times to own tons of materials. I even tried altering my design to use larger pearls, but they all have these miniscule drill-holes.
It's just as well, since I need to restring another piece; hopefully I can cover both in a single bead-shop visit.
The other piece is more complicated and I'm not sure how I'm going to do it. It's four strands of very small pearls, with the four strands coming together at the top of each end of the piece, joining into a single strand, which is then attached to the clasp. The thread (it looks like cotton) at the tops is exposed and beginning to fray.
I'm thinking if I redid this on silk, and used french wire to cover the exposed parts of the silk, it should work, but still it'll probably take a couple tries before I get it the way I want it.Labels: multistrand, necklace, pearls
Handmade Jewelry photo gallery
.
0 Comment(s)
On knotting pearls on silk
posted by Colleen Shirazi,
October 17, 2008
at 10:00 PM (Pacific)
I finally got around to trying this. Why did I wait so long?????
It's actually not too difficult, though it is time-consuming (then, everything to do with making jewelry tends to be time-consuming). I got the silk and clamshells yesterday, along with a strand of pearls, at Bead Castle in Berkeley. The owner was very helpful and recommended Griffin #4 silk for those particular pearls.
I did my first knotted strand yesterday. Since I don't own a bead awl, I used a very skinny mandrel from a jump ring set. This worked okay (the mandrel is too skinny to make jump rings with, btw) but you really need either the awl or knotting tweezers, or something very similar. I got the tweezers today. The awl seemed scary sharp, and the tweezers looked handier (if your knot looks as if it isn't going to be placed correctly, you can still get it apart again with the tweezers).
I wasn't 100% happy with my first strand, but I'll have to say it looked pretty decent. Like anything else in jewelry making, you want it to be perfect, so you have to practice some.
So I'm planning to redo my initial strand--started it tonight in fact--and make a four-strand necklace. I want to do something like this (from Blue Oyster Pearls Necklaces Catalog) but simpler, something I can wear to work. I have the one large pearl strand, but I'm planning to use it with three strings of small pearls, rather than use five kinds of pearls.
Having just begun, I can't advise much, but I didn't glue the knot into the clamshell on my first try. I was too chicken. A good thing, since I need to redo the strand!
I can say it's well worth the effort of knotting; stringing beads straight is not the same. The knotted string drapes better and imo looks better too. Plus the more obvious advantages--the nacre of pearls strung without knots (or spacers) is supposed to wear away eventually--and knotting adds some instant length to the strand, meaning you can stretch out your pearls and cut the weight of the necklace.
image courtesy www.ottofrei.comLabels: multistrand, necklace, pearls
Handmade Jewelry photo gallery
.
0 Comment(s)
Necklace with three hoops and moonstones
posted by TheBroadroom.Net,
March 22, 2008
at 4:34 PM (Pacific)
Not sure about this one yet. It's experimental, because these aren't soldered hoops; they're strictly bent and hammered.
On a personal level, I like geometry, and therefore geometrical shapes. I've had the notion of making an abacus pendant for months, not because I know how to use an abacus :) nor even because an abacus is itself useful. It's the concept of making a square pendant that's attractive to me.
On my (never-ending) pile of pieces to redo, is a simple square coin pearl pendant:
I would do it differently now of course...but it's been sitting there since forever, and I still think about it. How nice to wear a simple white square of nacreous pearl. Otherwise, frankly, I find square pearls impossible to work with. You can't seem to do much with masses and masses of them; they stand out best individually, when you want the square shape somewhere.Labels: chain, hoops, moonstone, necklace, pics
Handmade Jewelry photo gallery
.
0 Comment(s)
Labradorite pear necklace
posted by Colleen Shirazi,
March 20, 2008
at 7:08 PM (Pacific)
In the top pic, I was leaning at a funny angle, trying to capture the schiller in the stones. It hangs much more the way it does in the bottom pic.
I made this for special occasions, imo it's too much for every day. Unless you can pull something like that off. :)
BTW labradorite is light for its size. I thought these stones would be way heavy, all together on the chain like that, but they're not. I'm not even sure this needs a counterweight in the back--I haven't finished the back, I haven't even cut the chain yet. I'm using a chain sample I got, so the last thing I'll need to do in this piece is cut the chain itself.
For this necklace (top center image):
...I put a small smooth citrine coin in back, on an extender chain. I got the idea from Midori Jewelry. The necklaces have this neat little green "melon" in back. I didn't want to copy the melon, of course, but I liked the idea of finishing the pieces all in the same way. So I'm thinking of putting another citrine coin in the back of this piece (I've had these coins since forever and couldn't figure out what to do with them until recently).Labels: chain, goldfilled, labradorite, necklace
Handmade Jewelry photo gallery
.
0 Comment(s)
Rambles...
posted by Colleen Shirazi,
March 18, 2008
at 6:12 PM (Pacific)
...where was I? :)
I ditched the earrings...I can't make the herringbone weave work with half-hard wire. It'll make a bezel, but I'm not happy with it.
Latest projects:
Fashion Notes: Earring synergy (the ill-fated half-hard herringbone weave!)
Just Notes: What I've been into, lately (also featuring some pics I found on the Net of my home town)
Fashion Notes: Labradorite necklace
Today I'm making one of those necklaces...you've seen them...a small golden hoop, with some stuff hanging from it. It's a style I've been meaning to try for quite some time, but the challenge of course is to avoid a generic look.
So I started with my kids' birthstones--peridot and pearl--and thought to make a commemoration of my time with them. I added a small round citrine coin (smooth) to represent the sun, a tiny heart of sapphire (for the blue sky), a moonstone (for cloudy days), and an aquamarine (the sea). I wanted to add a tiny prehnite onion, for a grassy field, but it was getting to be too much so I had to take it off.
It occurred to me as I was making this, how much time it takes to make even a relatively simple construction. For me now it's less an issue of skill, and becoming less an issue of materials...I remember back when I found the entire process intimidating. Just making a wrapped loop was horrible, or a wrapped briolette. Now it feels quite natural.
Even so, as I say, it takes forever! The thing has to hang just right, it has to fall just right. The expensive stones have to show; they can't migrate to the back. It has to feel comfortable on. Even if everything seems right, I still have to wear it. I'll know at the end of the day, if it's something I ever want to wear again. Hence it takes at least two days to make a single piece, unless it's one of those freaky pieces that just happens to be right the first time around.Labels: beading notes, citrine, earrings, labradorite, necklace, pics, sapphire
Handmade Jewelry photo gallery
.
0 Comment(s)
London Blue Topaz necklace, sterling chain necklace
posted by Colleen Shirazi,
March 4, 2008
at 2:13 PM (Pacific)
Finished this today (top center pic). I added an extender chain in the back, with a small round citrine and Bali sterling bead at the end. I blogged about the development of the piece here: Fashion Notes: Something I've been fiddling around with if you'd like more detail.
I've come to realize...most of the time, what I'm looking for is a sort of industrial look. Or I should say, I miss the industrial concept. So much of what I see is...I don't know how to put it. Meaningless, unattached to any purpose.
Which I feel accurately reflects our U.S. society--we've lost our sense of purpose. The U.S. was always a place where people built stuff, made stuff, manufactured, innovated, pushed ahead. The end goal was never some bizarre life of leisure. The end goal was to make another factory, or railroad, or software program.
I'm wearing this chain today:
It is, literally, a length of chain. I bought it because I'd seen this beautiful, super long sterling necklace on a modern English tv show. I bought a length which I felt would surely exceed the length needed, just to be on the safe side...and yet, when I saw it, what a lovely chain. It's not heavy, it looks like more because the links are hammered flat. Today I used a fine silver jump ring...it was soldered, I had to cut it for something else...it's just, turn the angled end of the ring in a cup burr a few times, and join the chain together. I don't want to cut the chain.Labels: chain, necklace, pics, sterling silver, topaz
Handmade Jewelry photo gallery
.
0 Comment(s)
Multistrand rose quartz necklace with Shiana fine silver Sakura flower pendant
posted by TheBroadroom.Net,
February 15, 2008
at 12:09 PM (Pacific)
This is a beautiful necklace. Rose quartz isn't that easy to work with--higher grades of it are more transparent, with a delicate pink hue, unlike your more robustly-colored dyed quartz. Hence most rose quartz pieces I've seen feature a lot of quartz at a time, typically a multi-strand design, or else big chunky quartz.
In real life the Softflex color isn't as obtrusive as it appears in the pic. Still I'm debating whether to restring on colored Softflex. I don't know yet. There gets to be a point where you can't keep on waiting for "another component" in order to make a piece, because if you do, you'll never get anything done.
The toggle in back is also fine silver from Shiana. I tried this piece out with a handmade silver hook closure, but you really need the extra weight in back.Labels: necklace, quartz, silver
Handmade Jewelry photo gallery
.
0 Comment(s)
Green amethyst and prehnite necklace
posted by Colleen Shirazi,
February 9, 2008
at 4:10 PM (Pacific)
Playing around with backgrounds. The black background shows the structure better, but the white one shows the color of the stones.
Pretty pleased with the necklace...the key is the weight in back. Without adding extra beads, the weight in front would be too much.
Another idea I'm playing with is of making pieces which can be worn either casually or more formally. This one might do it. If you wear your hair down, you can't see the prehnites much, so it becomes a simpler necklace, just the front prasiolites. If you put your hair up of course you can see the whole shmeer.Labels: amethyst, earrings, emerald, necklace, pics, prehnite
Handmade Jewelry photo gallery
.
0 Comment(s)
Labradorite necklace
posted by Colleen Shirazi,
January 31, 2008
at 4:16 PM (Pacific)
I have this on the LP blog actually, only now I've worn it a few times. It's interesting, because often there's a problem putting a flat stone in front of a necklace. On many designs, the flat bead will turn sideways and stick straight out instead of lying flat. This is particularly true of a string of flat beads; it looks nice, but is impossible to wear.
This works somehow. I suspect it has to do with the stone itself--it's cut so there's slightly more weight on one side of it. As long as you face it correctly, it'll stay flat.Labels: chain, goldfilled, labradorite, necklace, pics
Handmade Jewelry photo gallery
.
0 Comment(s)
Pic of redone blue chalcedony necklace
posted by TheBroadroom.Net,
January 24, 2008
at 8:28 PM (Pacific)
I didn't change much, it's just longer in the back (the two blue beads in back were too high before), and the wrapping is much nicer.Labels: bali, chain, chalcedony, goldfilled, necklace, pics, vermeil
Handmade Jewelry photo gallery
.
0 Comment(s)
Rambles...
posted by Colleen Shirazi,
January 21, 2008
at 11:38 AM (Pacific)
Haven't been doing many new projects lately, aside from the aforementioned earrings. Mostly, I've been going back over old projects...the ones I want to keep...and fixing them up. It's a slow but steady process.
Traditionally (if three years' worth of anything can have tradition), I've been taking a month or two off beading every year. Now I don't need to do that. I suppose I've felt a certain amount of stress, in whether I could really make jewelry.
I'm not crafty by nature. My interest in making jewelry derives from my interest in the thing itself. But now I feel I have the capability, and it's simply a matter of keeping at it. So, instead of grinding to a halt, I've decided to do it more slowly, more introspectively, for the given month or two.
Here is a redo of a hoop originally designed with thicker wire. I ran out...of course...actually I was short in the neighborhood of a quarter- to half-inch of wire, and my supplier is out of stock of this gauge (and has been for quite some time). I don't want to switch suppliers, so I redid the hoop with the gauge on hand.
The golden circle is nice...I made it like a wedding ring in size. Haven't worked out the top 100% yet, I had to bend the loop over to get the pendant to hang straight. It's balanced, but I'd like to make the loop look more centered.
Wondering if these guys have something in common:
For this necklace, I had made some "moral obligation" earrings, plain hammered silver hoops with lapis dangles. Nice, but, the sapphire earrings are nicer. I haven't worn them together yet though.
Discovered I'd fluffed one of the Bali vermeil beads in the back. If I'm redoing it though, I'll probably add an extender chain.Labels: bails, beading notes, earrings, goldfilled, lapis, necklace, pearls, pendant, pics, sapphire, silver, vermeil, wire
Handmade Jewelry photo gallery
.
0 Comment(s)
Happy New Year! (pic of double strand freshwater pearl necklace, pearl earrings)
posted by Colleen Shirazi,
January 2, 2008
at 1:09 PM (Pacific)
This is me wearing:
I would like to wish my fellow beaders a happy and prosperous New Year, with more and more people choosing handmade jewelry. :DLabels: argentium, bali, earrings, necklace, pearls, pics, sterling silver
Handmade Jewelry photo gallery
.
0 Comment(s)
2007, the year in beading
posted by Colleen Shirazi,
December 8, 2007
at 2:15 PM (Pacific)
For your reference:
2006, the year in beading
2005, the year in beading
Technically I should wait until January 2008, but I'm afraid I'll be caught up in something else by then.
From this point forward, I'm going to post the first image of the given year, and rip it to shreds write some commentary on it:
Neither of these exists anymore, although of course I've recycled the beads.
American turquoise nugget necklace and earrings...hmmm, same sweater. This is a nice set; I still wear it.
This is okay too. I've had better luck placing flat oval beads toward the back and sides, rather than doing them all around, because, in the front, they tend to flip around too much.
I've also become pickier about aquamarine. I still have the aquamarine from the first necklaces but the quality of it is pretty eh.
And now the last piece I've made in the given year (okay, I know I should wait until the end of the year):
These are really nice. I fell asleep wearing them...very comfortable. This is me wearing the earrings:
I can admit one thing that drives me nuts, is that no one seems to take pictures of earrings "on." I can dig the necklaces, because these are usually photographed on a bust, or at least placed in such a way you can guess what they'd look like on, but earrings really must be worn. jhmo
I've moved away from fancy premade clasps in the main. They're expensive, and I've found something simpler tends to work just as well. If I truly hankered for a fancy clasp, I'd make one, and I've been making my own extender chains too.
As far as the stones, turquoise is still one of my favorites.
Predictions for 2008:
I'm not planning anything radically different for 2008. I can't afford to start silver- or gold-smithing, that's off the table (although I haven't ruled it out for the not-so-near future). I've given a certain amount of thought to selling my jewelry, but the tax system tends to make me think it's not going to be worth it. I do bookkeeping for small businesses in California...we are, ah, a heavily tax-oriented state.
I am planning to continue making jewelry as I have been. I enjoy it even more now, both making and wearing it.Labels: argentium, bali, earrings, hoops, necklace, pearls, pics, turquoise, vermeil
Handmade Jewelry photo gallery
.
0 Comment(s)
Various jewelry pics
posted by Colleen Shirazi,
December 5, 2007
at 5:28 PM (Pacific)
This is the lapis and silver necklace and earrings mentioned earlier. The bracelet ended up looking not so good, so I didn't wear it.
This is the American turquoise necklace and earrings from a while ago.
This is a new piece I'm fiddling around with. It's entirely personal, not something you'd make to sell (conversely, not something you'd be able to buy either). It is to commemorate the sea around Jamaica (the two above pics were taken there, as well as the background pic of the boat), which is just the most kick-ass sea you've ever seen.
Here I used American turquoise...the water there is turquoise. If you look out at it, you'll see patches of turquoise and deep blue. The turquoise sea is over areas of sand, the deep blue over coral reefs.
The labradorite has mostly greenish-blue or blue flash, and the pearl is a naturally pink keishi pearl.
The anchor is gold, actually. I went looking around for a golden anchor, and the best one was a 14KT gold charm. I found a sterling silver anchor at Target, but I really wanted a gold color (plus the sterling one was too big). In real life it looks almost like a fleur-de-lys rather than an obvious anchor.
It has an extender chain in the back, the kind you make using short lengths of chain and jump rings.Labels: chain, earrings, keishi, labradorite, lapis, necklace, pics, silver, turquoise
Handmade Jewelry photo gallery
.
0 Comment(s)
Shiana fine silver, lapis and Bali sterling set
posted by Colleen Shirazi,
October 24, 2007
at 5:46 PM (Pacific)
I can't believe I didn't post this here? My brain's been fried lately.
This is a set I made from the Shiana fine silver pieces blogged about here: The Lipstick Page Forums Beauty & Fashion Blog
Beauty & Fashion Notes: this 'n' that.
The flower pendant, butterfly beads, and double-flower toggle on the bracelet are all from Shiana. This image came out a bit darker than how the stuff looks in real life; it's typical lapis, a dark-blue strand mixed with a strand that has more white inclusions and pyrite. The pendant is oxidized but looks "brighter" than in the picture.
The butterfly beads are quite interesting; they're not hollow the way typical sterling silver beads would be. They're two pieces of solid silver stuck together, with a small channel in the middle. Both the pendant and the beads are heavy for their size...my original design had two strands of lapis (was kind of interesting, engineering the front) but was too heavy for practical wear.
The double-flower toggle is bright silver, but it's true what they say on the site, it's not really bright or shiny. All of the silver has a beautiful soft glow.
The argentium sterling earrings are exceedingly simple for a reason: I've found even slightly elaborate earrings don't work with even marginally elaborate necklaces. The overall effect is too much, and I end up never wearing the two together.
Here are the same earrings with a different necklace (I didn't make the necklace, it's Iranian):
Labels: argentium, bali, bracelet, earrings, fair trade, hoops, lapis, necklace, pics, silver, sterling silver
Handmade Jewelry photo gallery
.
0 Comment(s)
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
.
2 Comment(s)
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
.
0 Comment(s)
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
Handmade Jewelry photo gallery
.
0 Comment(s)
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
Handmade Jewelry photo gallery
.
0 Comment(s)
Aquamarine and Bali vermeil necklace on goldfilled chain
posted by Colleen Shirazi,
June 5, 2007
at 1:03 PM (Pacific)
This is what I was noodling around with yesterday. The fun part is in getting the strands to lie correctly. I'll have to try out wearing it today, but at least in theory, the weights should be in the right places.
Going to make some earrings to go with it too.Labels: aquamarine, bali, chain, goldfilled, multistrand, necklace, pics, vermeil
Handmade Jewelry photo gallery
.
0 Comment(s)
Rambles and some pics
posted by Colleen Shirazi,
May 17, 2007
at 7:16 PM (Pacific)
Haven't been able to make anything new (or even redo anything old) lately...been fixing up the site. Got fed up doing it for a long time...now I'd like to get it back into shape.
So far I've finished most of the active blogs and some of the archived ones. I started doing the Wit & Wisdom Blog--it used to be five enormous posts, before there were individual pages for blogs. Now I'm making it one quote = one post. (It's probably less than half done now, since you can't keep posting like that on Blogger.)
It's not going to be nearly as horrible as it looks now...I'm going to put a search engine on it (once at least some of this stuff gets crawled) so you'll be able to search it properly.
I did get to take a couple new pics as follows:
^ This is all labradorite and vermeil.
^ This is citrine and sterling silver. It's not a new piece, just a new pic.
Top view of my Bali cage bead necklace.
Same black Swarovski crystal and Bali vermeil necklace and earrings.
The rest of the new pics are in my Picasa album.Labels: bali, beading notes, bracelet, chain, citrine, crystal, goldfilled, labradorite, multistrand, necklace, pics, turquoise, vermeil
Handmade Jewelry photo gallery
.
0 Comment(s)
Freshwater pearl multi-strand necklace
posted by Colleen Shirazi,
May 2, 2007
at 7:48 PM (Pacific)
Pretty pleased with this...it's a bit longer than a choker, so it's comfortable on even with the multiple strands.Labels: multistrand, necklace, pearls, pics
Handmade Jewelry photo gallery
.
0 Comment(s)
Venetian glass bead necklace on leather cord, handmade clasp
posted by Colleen Shirazi,
April 22, 2007
at 1:42 PM (Pacific)
I went ahead and glued the steel block back onto its base. It's still curing but that hardly means I can't use it. :D Thought I'd try my hand making a simple sterling hook and eye clasp.
Not sure if I'll keep this clasp on this piece...thinking it would make more sense to use a lobster clasp the way I did on the previous Venetian glass bead necklace. My reasoning is, these beads are expensive and they're glass. If the hook slips out for whatever reason, a chance the piece will fall and the beads crack.
That said...hammering wire is one of the most fun aspects of jewelry making ever. Even if you don't actually need to hammer something, I think you owe it to yourself to own a block or anvil and a hammer.Labels: cord, necklace, pics, sterling silver, tools, venetian glass
Handmade Jewelry photo gallery
.
0 Comment(s)
Venetian glass bead, leather cord necklace
posted by Colleen Shirazi,
April 17, 2007
at 4:08 PM (Pacific)
Looks like I've found my model at last! The scale is a bit off, but I love this picture...one of my all-time favorite actresses.
I've decided in favor of this piece even though it is not a conventional design. When it's on, the chains in front hang in a sort of butterfly shape.Labels: chain, cord, goldfilled, heart, necklace, pics, venetian glass
Handmade Jewelry photo gallery
.
0 Comment(s)
Notes on Venetian heart necklace
posted by Colleen Shirazi,
at 6:40 AM (Pacific)
I actually slept in this last night...not something I make a habit of, I really just fell asleep with it on (damn taxes!). It seems to have stretched out a tiny bit. Interesting...it's not horribly stretched-out or anything, but I can see that would be a factor in designing on leather cord, especially if you have heavier beads in the design.
The chain design in front was still intact when I got up! The necklace had turned to the side some but the butterfly-esque six chains were still nice and flat.
Still not sure of the design. It's a bit old style, like the chunky bead chokers people wore in the 70's. That could be a good thing. At any rate, the E-6000'd tiny cord ends worked great.
The whole thing is modular...I was struggling to remember that term the other day. It's used in programming among other things...modular programming means you can move the code around, reuse it...rather than a ginormous block of code you can't do much with, beyond whatever it was originally supposed to do.
So the idea here is this...if I wanted to swap out any of the components in the piece, I could do it easily. I've been doing that for a while...the one thing I haven't gotten down yet is getting a wrapped-link bracelet to work, other than just wrapping the links together. I'd like to come up with a better-shaped wrap (shorter and fatter) so that the links could be joined with jump rings without looking too sparse.Labels: beading notes, cord, necklace, venetian glass
Handmade Jewelry photo gallery
.
0 Comment(s)
Venetian glass on leather cord necklaces
posted by Colleen Shirazi,
April 15, 2007
at 5:16 PM (Pacific)
These aren't finished yet of course...I got to try out my E-6000. The heart pendant on the bottom piece is detached because it kept gravitating...the heart always faced sideways no matter what, so I redid the wrap and got it to stay put (knock wood anyway).
The top piece uses the same silver end caps I used before...I had to crimp them on the previous piece (being glue-in and crimp after all), so I'll probably have to do so again. There are a couple of red vintage glass beads on it, that I've had for quite some time.
These beads are a pleasure to work with. I still have three heart beads left...two green ones of different sizes, and one I'm fairly sure is dichroic glass...that I'll probably just make into pendants.Labels: cord, necklace, pics, venetian glass, vintage
Handmade Jewelry photo gallery
.
0 Comment(s)
Turquoise necklace
posted by Colleen Shirazi,
April 12, 2007
at 4:47 PM (Pacific)
Wonder whose hand is in the background? lol...
I'm not sure this necklace is quite "it." If I were making it to sell, I would have used fancier chain or some other way to make it stand out more. In fact I'm thinking chain with long and short links (don't have any on hand).
I'll give it some thought...designed it anyway so that the turquoise dangles could easily be moved to a different chain.Labels: bali, chain, goldfilled, necklace, pics, turquoise, vermeil
Handmade Jewelry photo gallery
.
0 Comment(s)
Freshwater pearl necklace and bracelet set
posted by Colleen Shirazi,
April 8, 2007
at 8:39 PM (Pacific)
Tried taking this pic at night...the previous pics were taken just as the sun was going down, and they're better than this one. Indirect artificial light didn't work, so I put the overhead light on and played with the settings on the camera. It's still not optimal...the shiny parts of jewelry make them difficult to photograph...but it'll do.
Here, the gift bag didn't actually belong with the set but I liked the idea of including a gift bag in the picture! Makes it all look so gift-y.
This set incorporates some Bali vermeil beads including the square one in the center of the necklace that didn't come out too well. It's this one (in vermeil of course):
image courtesy bali-handmade.comLabels: bali, bracelet, necklace, pearls, pics, vermeil
Handmade Jewelry photo gallery
.
0 Comment(s)
Labradorite and vermeil necklace and earrings
posted by Colleen Shirazi,
April 4, 2007
at 7:12 PM (Pacific)
The necklace is actually not new, though you'll note I haven't attached crimp covers yet. It's a random design of labradorite rounds, some faceted rondelles, and Bali vermeil beads.
The earrings used to be made with tiny pearls...I made them a while ago and intended to redo them, I wasn't happy with my detail work. They were nice earrings but a bit ordinary, so I took them apart and used the chains for the new pair.Labels: bali, chain, earrings, goldfilled, labradorite, multistrand, necklace, pics, vermeil
Handmade Jewelry photo gallery
.
0 Comment(s)
Bali vermeil cage beads and turquoise necklace
posted by Colleen Shirazi,
April 3, 2007
at 3:34 PM (Pacific)
It's...the yard chicken! I wanted to take this picture showing the few California poppies we have in the yard, but there was no place to put the necklace near them (haven't given up though, love California poppies!).
Unfortunately the toggle didn't come out at all, it's a nice plainish oval-shaped one. Don't those awful tiny thin soldered jump rings make a nice chain?
This pic makes the necklace look shorter than it is...the two barrel-shaped turquoise beads in the back show completely. I had to lean back some to take the pic. But I wanted to show how pretty the open cage bead is in the front.Labels: bali, chain, goldfilled, necklace, pics, turquoise, vermeil
Handmade Jewelry photo gallery
.
0 Comment(s)
Peridot and vermeil necklace and bracelet
posted by Colleen Shirazi,
March 23, 2007
at 6:07 PM (Pacific)
This is the same necklace pictured earlier, only now you can see the back (and the fact that I haven't put crimp covers on it yet). There's still a possibility I may redo this piece...I'm going to get a three-strand vermeil connector bead anyway, so I may add that in the front. Or might not. I like it the way it is actually.Labels: bali, bracelet, multistrand, necklace, peridot, pics, vermeil
Handmade Jewelry photo gallery
.
0 Comment(s)
Peridot and vermeil necklace, version 2
posted by Colleen Shirazi,
March 19, 2007
at 1:40 PM (Pacific)
Okay, I got rid of the double side strands and added more weight to the center of the necklace. The top pic shows the shortest length (choker), the bottom pic is the longest setting.
If the side beads won't stay put, I'm going to ditch this design and get a three-strand connector bead to put in the middle. I'm hopeful about it though.Labels: choker, multistrand, necklace, peridot, pics, vermeil
Handmade Jewelry photo gallery
.
0 Comment(s)
Peridot and vermeil necklace
posted by Colleen Shirazi,
March 17, 2007
at 7:46 PM (Pacific)
At first I thought, at least I'm not reinventing the wheel...since this is the same design as the black crystal necklace. But, I wanted the two side strands to be twisted, and that doesn't work. If you do that, the tension in the twist migrates to the 3-to-1 beads and twists them too, messing up the front of the necklace.Labels: necklace, peridot, pics, vermeil
Handmade Jewelry photo gallery
.
0 Comment(s)
Three strand freshwater pearl necklace
posted by Colleen Shirazi,
at 7:25 PM (Pacific)
Heh heh, I'm really nervous. This is my first "commission piece"; it's the first piece I've been commissioned to make for someone else.
Did I put enough slack in it?
It's a straightforward enough design, three strands of freshwater pearls (literally: three 16" strands transferred to softflex and double crimped, with wire thimbles). I tend to prefer slightly more, rather than slightly less, slack in my own pieces. Here I felt nervous so I didn't do that. Now I'm hella nervous. Did I mention I was nervous?Labels: multistrand, necklace, pearls, pics, vermeil
Handmade Jewelry photo gallery
.
0 Comment(s)
Chalcedony necklace, then and now
posted by Colleen Shirazi,
March 2, 2007
at 5:22 PM (Pacific)
Then (far left):
Now:
There is another pair of the Bali vermeil cylinder-shaped beads in the back, behind the last pair of chalcedony beads, that would show in the summer when you put your hair up (in fact I think of this as a summer necklace).
These are the same chalcedony beads I used before; I bought six of them, so there is now a lone chalcedony bead in the box. I suppose I've gotten away from "wrapping for wrapping's sake" and more into trying to create simpler, more wearable designs.
Speaking of wrapping...AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!! There are so many different choices even for wire for this. All along I've been using half hard, round wire, usually 22 or 24 gauge. Now I've been reading that soft wire works better. I tried out some dead soft for doing my briolettes:
...and it worked great, but I never thought of using soft wire for wrapping!
Then, to make things even more interesting, I saw a rec for half round wire, this one:
image courtesy www.rings-things.com
The idea is that half round wire lies flatter against your piece and tucks better. Now that certainly stands to reason, and it's a great idea, but I am dizzy!!!!!Labels: bali, chain, chalcedony, citrine, earrings, goldfilled, necklace, pics, sterling silver, vermeil, wire wrapping
Handmade Jewelry photo gallery
.
0 Comment(s)
Black Swarovski crystal and Bali vermeil necklace, part 2
posted by Colleen Shirazi,
February 28, 2007
at 1:00 PM (Pacific)
Okay, now this does go from two strands to one. I used a single crimp cover on each side and used some slightly larger beads to cover the rest of the crimps.Labels: bali, crystal, necklace, pics, vermeil
Handmade Jewelry photo gallery
.
0 Comment(s)
Black Swarovski crystal and Bali vermeil bead necklace
posted by Colleen Shirazi,
February 27, 2007
at 6:30 PM (Pacific)
Ugh, this photo sux. I'm too tired to try getting a pic that's not out of focus?
Here the bugger was deciding how to handle the 2-to-1 strand design. The other time I did this type of design, I crimped the double strands on top of the cones--here I'm using 2-to-1 beads rather than cones--which was necessary in the previous design because some of the beads I was using for the single strand part had small drill holes.
Here it's not at all necessary so I decided to make the "one strand" part double, in short I brought both lengths of softflex up all the way to the back. Since I'm using wire thimbles, it was a bugger getting the ends closed.
Now my greater question is whether or not this is a stronger or weaker design than the first. My gut tells me it's actually stronger, since both strands would have to fail in order for the piece to break. Plus, it does look nicer in front because I don't have to design around a set of crimp covers.Labels: bali, crystal, necklace, pics, vermeil
Handmade Jewelry photo gallery
.
0 Comment(s)
Venetian glass heart necklace
posted by Colleen Shirazi,
February 12, 2007
at 3:44 PM (Pacific)
Okey dokey...the Hypo Cement alone was not enough to anchor the end caps (see previous posts). Not that it should have been; it was sold as a "glue-in and crimp" clasp. I was just seeing if it would work with glue alone.
Part of it could have been that I didn't get enough glue in there (Hypo Cement tends to come out even when you don't squeeze the tube), part of it could have been that it didn't cure long enough (the end cap is completely closed on one end after all).
I gave it the full 24 hours and then tried pulling it. One end felt loose, the other less so. I started crimping the bottom of the loose-feeling cap and gave it a pull. The entire cord came out. :p I pushed the cord back in and this time really crimped it...and tried pulling it. Basically I pulled it up to the point that the leather started to stretch...I expect the clasp to be secure. Crimping it did work.
Anyhow it's done, except that I'll attach an extender chain when I get some.Labels: cord, heart, necklace, pendant, pics, sterling silver, venetian glass
Handmade Jewelry photo gallery
.
0 Comment(s)
Turquoise choker and leather cord end caps...
posted by Colleen Shirazi,
February 11, 2007
at 1:05 PM (Pacific)
Restrung this today:
Heh heh! At first I added the usual two inches to the softflex...that's what I've been doing for bracelets. When I started stringing this though, I realized I would need three inches, not two--the wire thimble and two crimps on either end, take up enough additional space to warrant it.
These are Artbeads.com goldfilled crimp covers. They are the right size, but the opening is smaller than Fire Mountain Gems' equivalent covers. I ended up jacking open the covers with my pliers to get them on. Once they're on, they're easier to close than FMG's, and they close very neatly. But there is that extra hassle in having to open them further before attaching them.
Trying out my Rings 'n' Things end caps here:
I tried to squeeze 'em full of Hypo Cement. As usual, it's messy. I'll need to let them dry for 24 hours before knowing whether or not glue alone will anchor the end caps. If it doesn't the first time, I'm going to try injecting the caps with more Hypo Cement.Labels: choker, cord, necklace, pics, turquoise, vermeil
Handmade Jewelry photo gallery
.
0 Comment(s)
More blogging here...
posted by Colleen Shirazi,
February 10, 2007
at 4:10 PM (Pacific)
The Lipstick Page Forums Fashion Blog: It's been a day of...Labels: apatite, bracelet, citrine, jade, multistrand, necklace, pearls, pics, sterling silver, topaz, turkish, wire wrapping
Handmade Jewelry photo gallery
.
0 Comment(s)
Jade and pearl necklace and bracelet pics
posted by Colleen Shirazi,
February 8, 2007
at 7:45 PM (Pacific)
Not the best quality pics, I took them just now. In the first pic if you look closely, the pearls have this eerie halo of light (at first I thought it was lint!). And the bracelet clasp is much prettier in real life. Oh well, just to give you an idea of the finished pieces.Labels: apatite, bali, bracelet, jade, multistrand, necklace, pearls, pics, vermeil
Handmade Jewelry photo gallery
.
0 Comment(s)
Jade necklace: then and now
posted by Colleen Shirazi,
February 5, 2007
at 12:11 PM (Pacific)
Sort of, anyway. There was an interim version, with peridot nuggets...and the one on the right, I'm not 100% sure about yet. I was one rondelle short of putting five rondelles at the ends, instead of four...I'm debating whether or not to get more rondelles anyway (it's a beautiful jade). If I do, I would probably go ahead and make it five.
The original is dated August of last year; the one on the right was done yesterday. Same jade beads, I just cut apart the original and reused them.Labels: crystal, earrings, jade, labradorite, necklace, pearls, pics, quartz, vermeil, wire wrapping
Handmade Jewelry photo gallery
.
0 Comment(s)
Citrine/sterling necklace and earrings, rambles...
posted by Colleen Shirazi,
January 27, 2007
at 1:01 PM (Pacific)
Okay, I've redone the earrings...these are smaller teardrop-shaped citrine beads. Doing the wrap now has become easy for me. It took me, oh, about five or six times of totally dorking it up, but I've come to see that you have to dork things up at first. I mean you have to be of the mentality that you need to sit down and dork things up. And it's good. It's practice.
I'm starting to play with my 1mm black leather cord...I have five yards of it. It's really nice. I think it's better than 2mm for what I have in mind...I'd like to make a series of pendants. Mind you I don't know how to melt glass, these are just going to be worked with existing glass beads.
All in all I'm quite happy with how it's been going.Labels: bali, citrine, earrings, multistrand, necklace, pics, sterling silver, turkish, wire wrapping
Handmade Jewelry photo gallery
.
0 Comment(s)
Turquoise necklaces
posted by Colleen Shirazi,
January 7, 2007
at 1:02 PM (Pacific)
Neither of these is 100% finished as of yet. Usually I put off using crimp covers until I'm sure the piece is perfect. The piece on the right, needs crimp covers on top of the cones as well as in back. It's kind of awkward wearing it without the covers, but then it's hard to recycle the covers, and I like to wear the piece at least one day, all day, before deciding it's done (I'm not sure if the length is right for this piece).
These are both American turquoise. Here you see the cones I was blogging about earlier. They're really nice cones (from Baubles and Beads in Berkeley).Labels: choker, cones, necklace, pics, turquoise
Handmade Jewelry photo gallery
.
0 Comment(s)
More blogging here, with pics
posted by Colleen Shirazi,
January 2, 2007
at 7:09 PM (Pacific)
Year 2 of making jewelry Labels: citrine, crystal, earrings, multistrand, necklace, pearls, pics, sterling silver, turkish, vermeil
Handmade Jewelry photo gallery
.
0 Comment(s)
|
