Week 14 - Eni style bracelet for an elephant

The first piece I did for the YOJ is an Eni style bracelet (http://www.enioken.com/). I purchased her CD earlier this year through a buy on one of the groups I belong to. I had reviewed it at the time and set it aside for another day. Two days before christmas I found myself without any orders to work on, no christmas presents to make, so I decided I could play! I pulled out the CD and reviewed it again. The coiled bangle really attracted me; it's the more advanced piece on the CD but I decided I could do it. Reading through the instructions, it states you need 26 and 28 gauge wire for wrapping; I didn't have those gauges, but I do have 22 and 24. No big deal, eh? Ok, big deal, but I didn't realize it until I was just about done. I followed the instructions pretty much to the letter, except when I started to do my wrapping I said why the heck would she only use a couple of feet? After wrapping for a few minutes I realized why, I had a tangled mess of wire, argh!!! So I cut it and continued on with the smaller length, that made a world of difference. The process was rather therapuetic. Unfortunately, when I got it done, my size 7 1/4 bracelet was a size 8. Evidently the thicker wire prohibited me from scrunching up the design to the correct length. Oh well, it was a learning experience, and I rather enjoyed it! I now have other wire on order, I'll do it again when I have the proper materials. This is made with sodalite and sterling silver. This piece took about 12 hours to complete. I had someone contact me, wanting to trade for it (I took that as quite a complement), however, I declined, because I see quite a few booboos that don't show up in the crappy picture I took (really have to get better at this!).

Testing adding a picture

I will need to be able to add pictures of my work to this blog as I create them for the 'Year of Jewelry' (aka YOJ), so this is a test of that piece of the puzzle.

My first blog post

Yes, I've joined the ranks of bloggers. Why? It's part of the process. I'm participating in a jewelry group 'challenge' for a better word, with a goal of learning more about designing jewelry with wire as the focal medium. As part of the process the group suggests is keeping blog, or diary, of the experience as I learn. So here it is, my first blog post!

Nancy VT
www.drapedinjewelry.com