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· Joining the work force...
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· Pearl bracelet
· Year 2 of making jewelry
· More jewelry ramblings...
· Jewelry ramblings
· Bauble o' the month...
· This and that
· What I've been up to lately...more handmade jewelry
· Handmade jewelry ramblings...
· On wearing your own jewelry
· fantasy web find of the day: Cathy Waterman Amethyst Earrings $6980
· Beading blog up!
· New blog in the works
· Jewelry making #20
· Jewelry making #19
· Jewelry making #18
· Jewelry making #17
· Jewelry making #16
· Jewelry making #15
· Jewelry making #14
· Jewelry making #13
· Jewelry making #12
· Jewelry making #11
· Jewelry making #10
· Jewelry making #9
· Jewelry making #8 and odd thoughts
· Jewelry making #7
· Jewelry making #6
· Jewelry making #5
· Jewelry making #4
· Jewelry making #3
· Jewelry making #2
· Making jewelry #1
· Making jewelry
· More jewelry ramblings
· More jewelry ramblings...
· More jewelry thoughts...
· Random jewelry thoughts
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Colleen Shirazi
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The Lipstick Page Forums Fashion Blog
Earrings for metal sensitivity
Posted by Colleen Shirazi, Sunday, May 27, 2007 2:35 AM (Eastern)
Say...I have this on my Beading Blog, but I recently got a heads-up that "argentium sterling silver" might be better for people with metal sensitivity, than regular sterling silver.
I was skeptical, if only because I've never been able to wear sterling silver ear wires and didn't think argentium would be any different. Argentium sterling silver is a patented new alloy for sterling silver. Part of the metal that traditional sterling silver is alloyed with, has been replaced by an element called germanium. I'm like, so...only part of the metal has been replaced, and I can never find out exactly how much (likely a trade secret).
Anyhow, I went ahead and made a test pair of hoop earrings out of argentium silver wire to see if there was anything to it:
(Normally I'd make them thicker, but this was the only argentium silver wire I had on hand.)
I wore these earrings for a couple of days and was surprised and delighted. No swelling, oozing, itching, redness, pain...at all.
Did some surfing on the Net and found that others had reported the same results.
Jewelry makers are only now starting to use argentium silver more widely...partly because it wasn't that easy to find it before, only a few vendors carried it. But now more and more vendors are supplying this alloy, so I think it's safe to say you will be able to find more and more jewelry made with argentium silver.
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Handmade jewelry update
Posted by Colleen Shirazi, Monday, May 14, 2007 9:03 PM (Eastern)
Hmmm...what I wanted to do here, was wow you with expansive photos of fabulous jewelry, but, I'm way too tired. I'm slowly taking photos of the jewelry I've made that I want to keep. Here is my Picasa album:
 |
| handmade jewelry |
Boss eh? I've just gotten into Picasa; it's not bad actually.
It takes forever to produce good jewelry. Unless you're smart enough to apprentice with someone who already knows how to make jewelry, preferably someone with all the equipment and materials...heh heh...keep dreaming.
Joining the work force...
Posted by Dain, Friday, March 23, 2007 3:18 PM (Eastern)
I'll admit, I don't really want to work. But then, who does? I suppose that's why it's called work. But I'll be graduating soon (May), and earning my bread will become a necessity. I just want a job, not the job, flashy degree notwithstanding. Practical matters elude me, in all honesty. I loathe the idea of being on the clock, of paying taxes and bills, but I know that playtime's over. So, I want to work with cosmetics in some capacity, because I love doing this stuff. I'll probably begin with sales. I'm pretty much planning to move to France (I feel a stranger in my own land, but at home there); it'll be an easy transition because my boyfriend (at least I think he is; it's sorta ambiguous) lives there and I can stay with him. I could work the floor at Galeries Lafayette or Sephora (there are at least two I know of in Nice, they clog France the way Starbucks do America) or Marionnaud, and write in my spare time.
In any case, one way to make this fun is to think of my ultimate work wardrobe. I will probably have to wear all black, which is new to me (I wear a lot of color), but I figure I'll have to buy very little, because black makes for such a uniform. I'll have to make sure everything is very, very chic (to attract customers), but without too much flash (otherwise I'll look like a customer myself). Personal style, but with much restraint. An interesting exercise, anyway.
FIRST, bottoms, which I believe is the best place to being when constructing a wardrobe. I'll need a black skirt, and if that's not enough, a pair of black trousers.
Banana Republic Taffeta Curved Pocket Skirt $59.99
For a pair of trousers, I don't think you could do better (at least in mass market) than Express Editors in Luxury Stretch; the black is $69.50. The fit is great, the material sophisticated enough for any occasion, really a perfect pair of black pants (I usually wear J. Crew chinos because they're durable, but they're more casual). I prefer skirts, though. I think they're much more comfortable.
SECOND, a pair of comfortable and stylish flats. I do have a pair of perfect black pumps, but I imagine I'd be on my feet all day, so flats are far better.
Pelle Moda Zest $141.95
I also liked Sam Edelman Cassia $128.95
I also liked these three, which have mid-level heels: Marc Jacobs, Gabriella Rocha Vivian, and Bruno Magli Jamila. But I prefer the ballet flats. It'd be between the Pelle Moda or the Sam Edelman.
THIRD, tops. If I could find a really fine black jacket, like this one by Alexander McQueen, that would be the end of it. I could wear this every single day, simply because it's so beautifully made. But at $1615, it's hardly a reasonable purchase for me. Another option would be a Chanel-esque tweed jacket, which, though perhaps cliché is a softer look, with plenty of texture, like this one from La Redoute (at a much more comfortable $29.99). I like this one because it lacks pockets—more like a shirt than a jacket. But I really dislike the idea of wearing a jacket.
I mean, if I'm just gonna wear something simple and black, would not a pretty sweater do? J. Crew Solid Featherweight Merino Button Boatneck Sweater $79
The final possibility is a blouse or buttondown, in black. I'm tired of searching, so you can imagine a black silk blouse or a crisp black or black&white striped buttondown for yourself.
FOURTH, accessories. Hm, I think I'd just wear my own. My mother's pearls and my gold art deco bracelet; they go well together. Pearls are of course classic, and the bracelet, though flashy, would be the only touch of intensity in my entire outfit.
FIFTH, makeup! See Beauty Blog for that.
Labels: alexander mcqueen, anthropologie, banana republic, bruno magli, fashion, j.crew, jewelry, kimchi blue, la redoute, madison, manolo blahnik, marc jacobs, pelle moda, personal, sam edelman, shoes, style
It's been a day of...
Posted by Colleen Shirazi, Saturday, February 10, 2007 5:46 PM (Eastern)
...extraordinarily bad photography.
I think you need natural light to do this sort of thing. It's been overcast and raining the past few days; I've concluded that a good photograph won't be possible until it clears up.
Anyhow. I feel I am slowly, but slowly, making the kind of jewelry I want to make. Did I mention slowly? It takes a long time to get the hang of it. I owe a lot to the forum at jewelrymaking.about.com. I've been there only a short time but the level of experience of the posters is phenomenal.
I had to restring the citrine necklace anyway, to add in the "wire thimbles":
image courtesy www.rings-things.com
So I shortened it some. I hated doing that, but it does have an extender chain clasp, so it can go two inches longer. A shorter necklace is more versatile.
The pieces are finished. Whenever possible, I've "double crimped" them (some designs don't look good that way, like the three-strand jade bracelet). That means using two crimps instead of one:
image courtesy www.artbeads.com
It's best to flatten both crimps, then fold them (not flatten and fold one, then do the other).
Pearl bracelet
Posted by Colleen Shirazi, Wednesday, January 24, 2007 9:01 PM (Eastern)
Okay, I'm done with this piece.
If anything, I've learned a lot about the finer details of construction this month. It's relatively easy to make the piece itself. But after you've worn it for a while, you start to appreciate those hundreds of little touches, that were invisible to you before, that make it a piece that either breaks down after a while, or else lasts.
That is a hot topic over at the jewelrymaking.about.com forum. Of all the about.com sections I've visited, I'll have to say this is one of the best. It's constantly being updated, and has all sorts of tutorials and links.
So...in the previous incarnation of this bracelet, for example, the pearls were connected directly to the clasp. Not good; it's a terrific wear-and-tear spot. Solution: use not one, but two jump rings to connect pearl to clasp. In fact two jump rings can work in many stress points.
While I was doing this, I discovered a better way to snip the jump rings (you can and should use a saw for this but I don't have one). Simply hold the coil horizontally to make the cuts. Comes out straight every time.
Why a blue stone? It's a beautiful clasp, but I bought it for a turquoise piece, not this. But I tried it...it's just too perfect. The blue stone in real life is sky blue in color...it's Swiss Blue Topaz, not Sky Blue, but it's not that almost gaudy blue that you see in blue topaz. It's like the California sky on a good day.
Year 2 of making jewelry
Posted by Colleen Shirazi, Tuesday, January 02, 2007 4:20 PM (Eastern)
Okay technically year 2 began for me last September, but it'll be easier to document if I start the year now.
(This is the necklace on its shortest setting.)
I'm pretty pleased with this...the pearls are good quality and the overall look is dressy because of the black and clear Swarovski crystals.
Side note: are Swarovski crystals all that? I think they are. I've used Chinese crystals; some can actually be better than Swarovski's only because of the colors (I have some that are red, with this interesting yellow/orange edge, and some olive green ones), but I use Swarovski as my staple crystal.
I have enough pearls to make a matching bracelet. Here is the original bracelet (mind you, nothing in that picture exists anymore though I do plan to redo the pearl earrings):
The original necklace was similar, a plain strand of the pearls with small gold spacer beads.
Here is a double strand citrine necklace:
mumbles... I didn't even use a flash with this, I suppose the light was too bright.
The flower bead is quite nice; it's Indian sterling silver with a round faceted citrine on either side. The drop at the bottom is citrine of course.
Pink Swarovski crystal, vermeil Indian beads, on goldfilled chain. I did use a flash here and it caught one of the crystals.
Finally, some earrings:
I tried photographing them together and it didn't really work. These are good earrings...I've worn them all day and they don't get heavy. (Usually the only way to tell is by wearing them.) The pink pearls aren't that pink...they're a sort of faint peachy pink color, good lustre. The vermeil beads on the right-hand pair are Turkish.
More jewelry ramblings...
Posted by TheLipstickPageForums.com, Sunday, December 17, 2006 12:22 AM (Eastern)
It's Colleen btw. I switched my Blogger account to the beta version...mumbles...on the premise that the new Blogger features "labels." This is a feature that other blogging programs already have; at the least, it means we can categorize our posts (under, say, "Chanel," "grunge," "ramblings" etc.); same post may contain multiple labels. Ideally it would also mean our labels would be keywords, although I doubt it. Anyhow, I can't retrieve my "old" blogs from my "new" account until, I suppose, tomorrow, and I've been reluctant to switch these blogs over until the beta is out of beta.
I've ordered some more components...sighs. Perhaps the obvious tactic for me would have been to Google until I found jewelry I liked, and then duplicate it. After all I'm making it for my own use. My problem is more along the lines of my pre-Net cosmetic persona: I never really figured out what I liked in the first place. Sure, I like a big rock, same as the next gal, but so what? That's not a solution since I can't produce the big rock.
At least I've boiled some of it down. I like gold more than silver, faceted more than smooth, rondelle over round; I can't abide toggle clasps on bracelets (they look great and invariably drop off your wrist after a few hours), but find they work perfectly on necklaces.
I prefer bracelets that clasp over stretch pieces; for whatever irrational reason (it's a contradiction, but haven't you done things for irrational reasons?), they feel more secure. Box clasps are ideal for bracelets, being both decorative and secure, but most necklaces can do with the less-expensive toggle or lobster/spring ring clasp.
Crystals work for instant, affordable glamor; they are amazingly good. But I don't like most of the colored ones. They depress me...they just feel like fake gemstones.
Multiple strands tend to be better than single, depending on what you're working with.
All of that said...I'm working on a few pieces. One is the citrine and silver set I mentioned earlier. I'm not happy with it. To think I used to strive to make a new piece every day--what a mistake! It can take weeks to develop a design and find the components for it. There is no one source anywhere I've found, that actually has everything you need.
Another piece consists of pink "cornflake" pearls and pink tourmaline rondelles...a rondelle is what it sounds like, a sort of flattened round:
 Bali silver bead image courtesy rings-things.com |
 Rhodolite image courtesy firemountaingems.com |
 Swarovski crystal image courtesy artbeads.com |
I'm going to use vermeil Bali beads in this. I have it in mind to make a three-strand bracelet to "go with"; no idea if that's going to work (the pink pearls for this are drilled through the top, so it'll be an engineering feat if I can get them to line up).
I'm also making a simple strand of white square pearls, connected with goldfilled wire. Not wrapped, just simple loops. This is going to have a diamond-shaped vermeil toggle.
The citrine bracelet...needs a new clasp. I took the citrine drop off the necklace because I want to do this with it:
Image courtesy beadshop.com
For this you need "dead soft" wire; you can bring the wire down as far as you like (more decorative than the plain wrapped loop I had on it before).
If I can pull all of this off, I'll have several highly wearable pieces.
fashion, style, jewelry, beading
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10:21 PM, Dain said...
I suppose it's like any other thing, you learn as you go along. I've always thought that taste is the ability to know yourself very, very well, in whatever capacity. You learn what you like and don't like. 1:35 PM, Colleen Shirazi said...
Yeah...it's tricky. Ultimately I would like to do metalworking, because I would then be able to create unique components, which are key to unique pieces, after all. But I don't foresee doing so for at least another year. It's a money investment but as importantly, a time investment. What I'd like to do is figure out what I want to do first, before making the investment. 12:43 AM, Colleen Shirazi said...
My daughter just pointed out that briolette bead looks like Dior J'Adore. |
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Jewelry ramblings
Posted by Colleen Shirazi, Friday, December 08, 2006 9:24 PM (Eastern)
I've finished my second phase of making jewelry.
It's a process remarkably similar to figuring out makeup and learning to use it well, rather than in a default or exaggerated manner. Oh, here it is: Minimalism? (philosophical makeup use).
It's not quite the same in that I think of phase one of jewelry making as a combination of "gee whiz, I can make my own jewelry?" and "it's incredibly difficult" (unless you have the good fortune to learn it from someone else). Because there are so many new materials and techniques, available locally or on the Net, you can be up and running with a relatively low initial investment. i.e. you need not invest in metalworking up front, only in a few key tools and some wire and stringing materials.
The difficulty I suppose varies. I'm not crafty; it was difficult for me.
Phase two is when you can make things, and make them well, but there is still a lot of experimentation. The variables, may I say, are akin to cosmetic variables. If you have tens of thousands of lipsticks, eyeshadows, and blushes from which to choose, so you have tens of thousands of beads, which can be strung, or knotted, or wire wrapped...you can make a necklace from a chain, or make it on a chain, or make your own chain, or skip the chain and go for a leather, or suede, or hemp, or stretch cord, or memory wire...choose a spring ring, lobster claw, box (drools), hook-and-eye, or S clasp...the common materials are sterling silver and gold fill, but now we have Argentium sterling silver (which is slowly becoming more widely available), which reputedly can't tarnish. Oh, and there's vermeil too. And don't forget the crystals. :)
Phase three is when you no longer wish to make casual pieces. Each piece now has to involve...something elevated. It can appear to be more expensive than phase two, but, overall, it's cheaper. Just as you spend less on makeup once you've figured it out, but (most likely) more on each item, so each piece of phase three jewelry can cost more than a phase two piece, but there are fewer pieces to begin with.
I've done three pieces of phase three jewelry so far. The first is a pair of freshwater pearl earrings. These were not extraordinarily difficult, in fact they consist of an egg-shaped pearl, a square pearl, and a large coin-shaped pearl: that's it. They are connected by simple loops, with a few small gold-filled beads thrown in.
They're horribly simple but then they are the MAC "Sophisto" lipstick of my nascent phase three jewelry collection. It probably took me more time picking out those six pearls than doing the design and assembling it. It was the pearls themselves that made these earrings (that, and a hankering I already had for square and coin-shaped pearls); they are of a faint peachy pink hue (not too peachy, nor too mauve), with intense lustre and good size.
I used gold-filled wire to do the loops, and "made" a bronze niobium wire for each (the wires are already bent except for the front loop, so you can add a small bead or wire coil of your choice before making the loop).
What's great: they show. I don't put my hair up often, and it's long enough to drown out many an earring.
They're sufficiently lightweight so that I can wear them all day without wanting to remove them.
The color goes with just about anything, because they're not distinctly pink or peach. In fact (to stretch the makeup analogy until it begs for mercy), not dissimilar to a blush...the blush that looks perfectly natural on you. Not too warm, not too cool.
I debated about making them fancier with, say, vermeil daisy spacer beads. But I think that would actually make them look more ordinary.
The second piece is a citrine bracelet, three strands: two consist of faceted citrine beads separated by Bali sterling daisy spacers, one of citrine "points" (these are like tiny smooth long teardrops) with a Bali bead for every seven points. These are held together not by spacer bars, but by large handmade sterling beads shaped like flowers with a round faceted citrine on either side of the bead. The clasp for this is the same citrine one pictured here: This and that. As much as I rather liked the original bangle, it hardly showed on me (much like, hm, MAC "Jubilee" lipstick...okay, I'll stop now).
The third piece is a matching citrine necklace, two strands: one of the same faceted beads and daisy spacers; the other, the same points and Bali beads. In front is a third flower-shaped bead, with a large smooth teardrop-shaped citrine bead hung below it.
I actually had all of the beads for both pieces, except that last teardrop-shaped one, and for weeks I'd been trying to come up with a design using them.
Citrine is one of my favorite stones (I tried making a list of my favorite stones and it became depressingly long), but its color is subtle and the trick is to use a lot of it when you're making a piece.
So what's next? I have a few odd things I'd like to do, like a three-strand peridot bracelet, a "keishi" pearl necklace (these are "cornflake" shaped pearls), a white square pearl necklace...I'm going to restring my dancing pearl necklace and bracelet (I'd like to add some crystals to both) and my American turquoise necklace and bracelet (here I'd like to use crystal "wheel" beads). I'll need some leather cord for stuff...and I'd like to do some crystal pieces for my daughter and myself (crystals with Argentium silver).
I'll have some pictures later on.
Bauble o' the month...
Posted by Dain, Monday, November 13, 2006 3:13 PM (Eastern)
I'm thinking of treating myself to one piece of jewelry per month. As my clothes, soon enough, will be very plain, I like the idea of throwing something extravagant and ornate into the mix.
I want all of them! But just one. It's funny that I chose a pair of earrings. I don't even have pierced ears! I'm really not one to wear jewelry. I thought it was about time to start.
Labels: anthropologie, banana republic, fashion, jewelry, personal, style
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9:16 PM, Colleen Shirazi said...
Not to enable or anything, but making jewelry is a great hobby. :D You can make a surprising range of pieces using just softflex (which is beading wire, almost as flexible as thread) or jewelry wire. |
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This and that
Posted by Colleen Shirazi, Wednesday, October 25, 2006 8:10 PM (Eastern)
I can admit I never really liked cardigans until I saw the late Kurt Cobain wearing them.
image courtesy www.ecst.csuchico.edu/~tsuzy
Keep in mind that I lived outside Seattle when Cobain, and grunge, were very much alive. The climate in the Puget Sound Area more than justifies all aspects of grunge, from Doc Martens boots to flannel shirts to the cardigans to...anything that keeps you warm and dry, basically.
A cardigan need not be "grungy" of course, but it should fit the way you want it to. I like mine oversized and thick, if it's cotton. If it's wool, I prefer it more on the thin side.
I've been making more jewelry. Right now it's important, since I'll be going on a trip. Now, the jewelry has to work.
I made these today (when they're on, they hang straight of course). I got the idea from Target, believe or not. They had some earrings on sale that were made on a jig...they'd wrapped the top so that the top loop was still open and the tail of the wrap was tucked in the back.
Here is more stuff. The bracelet is citrine...I bent the clasp a bit so you could see it's also citrine. The earrings are citrine and gold-filled chain. Very hard to make because the chain is super fine (you can barely fit 24 gauge wire into it), but beautiful on, since they catch the light and glow golden.
I'm making a necklace to match the freshwater pearl bracelet, only it will have a slightly different clasp (onyx cabochon rather than faceted onyx). The pearl necklace will be single strand.
The pearl earrings were my first expedition into chain.
Finally, a really odd necklace. Even I'm not sure what to make of it. Thing is, the colors of this piece are divine. The tiny beads are Japanese, a blend of wine-red, clear light purple, clear light pink, a sort of bronzy red, clear beads lined with pink or purple. I threw in some lampwork beads I had sitting around...a yummy red Chinese pair with pink flowers, and then the big burgundy-colored one. If it were any heavier, I wouldn't wear it. But somehow I like this piece.
If you look closely, you'll see I've run out of several key components. I have them on order so I can finish it all before the trip.
beading, jewelry, handmade jewelry, citrine, bracelet, freshwater pearls, earrings, necklace, carnelian, cardigan, kurt cobain, fashion, style
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4:34 PM, Dain said...
Wow, those look great. Fun hobby. : ) 3:36 PM, Colleen Shirazi said...
It is a lot of fun...and it's good for you. I think mainly because you have to be extraordinarily patient, which I'm not normally...then there is the design aspect, because you have to create from scratch (I've used only a few "readymade" designs). |
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What I've been up to lately...more handmade jewelry
Posted by Colleen Shirazi, Wednesday, August 30, 2006 1:33 PM (Eastern)
I think...I am finally producing final pieces that are more than just your string o' beads.It's harder than it looks. Not the technical part, because that requires only practice. It's more the notion of being able to step into a bead store with hundreds of kinds of beads and materials, and from there produce a finished piece.
The earrings on the left are labradorite paired with quartz crystals. The necklace and the other earrings are jade, paired with, respectively, quartz crystals and freshwater pearls.
I still need to make a third pair of earrings, conforming to my theory that each necklace needs three pairs of earrings to go with it. The third pair will have to be simpler but I haven't decided yet which style.
fashion, style, jewelry, handmade
Handmade jewelry ramblings...
Posted by Colleen Shirazi, Wednesday, August 09, 2006 11:49 AM (Eastern)
I haven't rambled much here about my jewelry-making expedition lately, since it fits so much more neatly here. Yet it does figure largely into what I wear these days, so I don't mind venturing a post or two over here now and again.
Mind you this is Phase One of jewelry fabrication; it's a case of "Darling, I have no money." I've not been able to invest in classes, nor (yet) in metal work or making your own beads out of glass (which has got to be the height of coolness). It's okay. There is a fairly stunning array of effects you can get working with wire, and even Softflex and stretch cord. There will come a point when I've exhausted the techniques I have now, I know it, it doesn't bother me. By then who knows?
Today it's hot again. The climate here is next to bizarre anyway, it'll start out "leather jacket cold" and somehow morph into "tank top hot" sometime during the day. At night again it's freezing. But today, as I say, it's going to be hot. The morning already breathes differently and I'm planning on wearing something tank-top-ish.
It's the ideal outfit for handmade jewelry, since you're talking minimal cloth and a swooping neckline. In fact, a semi-precious stone necklace (provided it has sufficient stones) can make a tank top appear more modest; I've done that.
What to wear? I have a small set of necklaces I actually consider finished, and about ten times as many that I don't. Hum. On second thought (after putting on a deep grey tank top and pale sea blue "boybeater" over that), sometimes you don't need a necklace. Depends on the earrings.
I have some on now my daughter designed; she has a more acute sense of color than I do. She put together cobalt-blue cloisonne beads...with a pattern of pinky orange flowers and green leaves on a brown bough on them...with teal green glass flower beads. Sounds horrible on paper, but it works, down to the teal green "popping" my green eyes and the large, fan-shaped cloisonne beads providing an intense burst of blue, tempered by the salmon-pink flowers...and cloisonne is an excellent choice for earrings btw, because it's lightweight. You can make sizable cloisonne earrings and the earrings float on your lobes all day.
Oh well that's enough rambling...carry on, fashionistas!
fashion, style, jewelry, handmade
On wearing your own jewelry
Posted by Colleen Shirazi, Friday, July 21, 2006 1:47 AM (Eastern)
It is kind of weird. I've been wearing some of my pieces (some pics are in the Image Library's fashion gallery, but keep in mind some of the pieces pictured have already been redone). It is very different from wearing jewelry that you bought readymade. It is a bit closer to wearing jewelry that you inherited...that's so old it's unlikely that too many similar pieces are floating around. But handmade jewelry is, by definition, unique. Once you get some skill going--even if you don't feel your skill is there yet--you can create entirely "you" jewelry...that's based on an outfit, or a whim, or something you admired, or something you've been looking for, for years.
Almost a year ago I was bemoaning the fact that I couldn't seem to find nice green earrings (More jewelry thoughts...). i.e. I could not easily find a nice pair of earrings with green stones that I could just buy and be happy with. Now, I have a beautiful string of jade beads at home, with two sets of jade briolettes just waiting to be made into earrings. The price for the entire jade suite is less than I would have paid for a single pair of jade earrings, had I been able to find them back then. And of course I'll have enough jade beads left to do something else with.
Today I wore my quartz crystal earrings--pictured here (the diamond shapes):
...and they were quite amazingly perfect. They don't look like much in the picture, but the clear crystal just grabs the light and floats inside the diamond-shaped silver frame. The engineering took me a while (I bent the frames slightly to make them look more handmade, actually)...and I added jump rings to make the crystal strand move better (the model for the design is here: Runway Earrings Jewelry Making Project; as you can see there wasn't a center strand in the original). Along with this I wore the rose quartz and garnet necklace in the same pic. Again, the idea of making clear crystal earrings was to have a pair of earrings that would literally go with anything.
fashion, style, jewelry, handmade, design
fantasy web find of the day: Cathy Waterman Amethyst Earrings $6980
Posted by Dain, Thursday, May 25, 2006 2:29 PM (Eastern)
Who needs food when you can buy pure splendour? All you need: an updo, black cocktail dress, killer Louboutins, and these brilliant drop earrings dangling from your ears. From barneys.com.
Labels: cathy waterman, fashion, jewelry, personal, style
Beading blog up!
Posted by Colleen Shirazi, Thursday, November 03, 2005 2:07 PM (Eastern)
Okay, that was easier than I thought it would be.
Beading Blog - thebroadroom.net.
New blog in the works
Posted by Colleen Shirazi, 1:02 PM (Eastern)
I've decided to make a separate blog for my beading exploits. For one thing, I can see that I have enough material to justify having a separate blog. For another, this is after all the Fashion Blog; I don't want it completely dominated by posts of only one type. It should roundly cover fashion-related topics.
It will probably take me a few days to get the new blog set up, as it will feature our new Javascript "Code That" menu, the new page template, yadda yadda... The blog will appear on TheBroadroom.Net site rather than this site, The Lipstick Page Forums.
Jewelry making #20
Posted by Colleen Shirazi, Saturday, October 29, 2005 12:58 PM (Eastern)
Well, that is the part that's stunning about even simple jewelry making. Once you've figured out what you want to use, and played around with it enough to feel comfortable stretching the piece, getting the drape right, choosing the findings, knotting, yadda yadda...you can now make anything you want.
I'm now wearing my 24" necklace. It's too long with what I'm wearing...I designed it specifically to work with turtlenecks. But, so what? I could just as easily make myself a 22" one or an 18" one. Or I could make this into an even longer one and double it. Or I could make the same pattern into a two-strand necklace. If I end up not wearing the 24" one, I could dismantle it. shrugs
Jewelry making #19
Posted by Colleen Shirazi, 1:19 AM (Eastern)
Heh heh...so I'm waiting for the glue to "cure." I think it should set overnight before you pull on it too much. Gluing a bead in the back though, it is in a place that doesn't get too much direct stress.
This 24" piece is constructed of two of my favorite colors...deep red and blue-grey. The deep red is key. In this one, it's the color of cheap red wine...deep but clear rather than the smoky tinge of, ah, good red wine.
The blue-grey beads if you look at them closely, seem to have swirls of the blue-grey on the outer layer of the bead. I tried scratching them to see if the color would come off, but I don't think it comes off.
These are accented with a few clear small round beads, that's it.
What I'm trying to do...and people who know me from the beauty forums will recognize this behavior...is try to build a sort of jewelry wardrobe. By this I mean, more pieces, for me, is not better. I heartily dislike clutter, programming is all about clutter and reducing it to something manageable, so what I am after is always the fewest variables, but not so few as to make more work.
So I had to have a deep red piece and something with grey in it, and a turquoise piece. I'm actually eyeing a bracelet I made for my daughter. lol! This is comprised of the blue-grey beads (round), plus some similarly colored beads (these are less grey, a tad more blue) that look like raindrops...not the familiar tear-shaped ones, but raindrops sitting, say, on the deck. And then some truly beautiful beads that have blue and a sort of gold/brown thing in them. This is in, not a symmetrical pattern, but rather a repeating pattern, so you end up with a raindrop next to a round blue-grey bead where you were expecting two identical beads. That's the part I like best.
It's the eccentricity of these three pieces.... But I have a pile of stuff that I need to restring. One is this cool, red, Chinese thing...I have two of them actually.
Jewelry making #18
Posted by Colleen Shirazi, Friday, October 28, 2005 9:03 PM (Eastern)
I'm trying out a long piece today...it's a full 24". I put a small metal bead in the back to stash the knot inside...why knot in the first place? I made this piece on Stretch Magic so that my daughter could wear it too.
This time it was easier gluing the knot inside the "cover bead." It's still something of a two-man job since, once you get the Hypo Cement going, it wants to keep going, and you have to jack the very fine wire-cap back into the applicator (with glue beading out and the piece you're working on in your hand). This time I just put a big drop of glue on the knot and then put it inside the bead, rather than trying to squeeze the glue into the bead-hole (which in theory would be possible, but as I say, the glue keeps on coming out, it is hardly worth it).
Well let's see how it goes. My 18" turquoise necklace wasn't long enough to wear with a turtleneck sweater, and I didn't feel like making a longer one of the same type. I do however have a turquoise-chip choker that I got a long time ago and never ended up wearing, so I have it in mind to cut it and use the chips for something else.