The Lipstick Page Forums Fashion Blog: Jewelry ramblings 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. 0 Comment(s)    Email this post The scoop on all things stylish--from couture to ready-to-wear to handmade. [Current Blog] Profile Site Feed (Atom) · Forums · Product Reviews · Image Library · Beauty Blog · New Releases Blog Previous Articles ·· Resort: Part 2 ·· Addendum... ·· Now, I thought Kate Moss was a fashion icon too... ·· Disgusted. ·· Resort: Part 1 ·· Thanksgiving... ·· And that, by the way... ·· Trends! Honestly... ·· Top #2 ·· Bauble o' the month... Archives TheBroadroom.Net's Fashion Blog (archive) April 2005 May 2005 June 2005 July 2005 August 2005 September 2005 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 Links TheBroadroom.Net's Beading Blog L.A. Story The Sartorialist