Ooolala - week 19

Week 19's theme is 'Something French'. When I heard this, I thought of oolala, something sexy, etc. I did some research and found French designs were so much more, but I had this in my head so that's the way I went. This piece is made with an 18 gauge gold filled wire base, bent into a 'v' shape and little dips on the side for adding the 'flowers'. Purchased chain completes the neck. I created the 'flowers' from 26 gauge gold filled wire with ruby colored swarovski crystals in various shapes; I see I should have reshaped the smaller ones, they've rather lost their petal shapes, but you get the idea. I hung a multistrand gold filled connector below the large flower to hang additional pieces from, and then added another piece of purchased chain to complete the sexy look (in my eyes anyway), with the addition of ruby swars hanging from the chain. I wasn't unhappy with this based on the theme, not sure how wearable it is!

Nancy

Week 18 - Oriental Express

This week's theme is 'oriental express'. I'm not if this has an oriental flair to everyone but it sort of does for me :) I made a similar pair of earrings for my friend Irene, her daughter wore them for her brother's wedding (I was pleased)! I liked the design then, I decided to do something similar, hanging black swarovski pearls. I got these done early, and decided to try a similarly designed necklace. Two different sized 'flower' pieces (I'm not sure what else to call the four circle twists), in 18 gauge sterling silver, with a handmade chain.

I'm early with this piece but I'm having my lasik surgery tomorrow and I'm not sure when I can get back on the 'puter!

'Leaves' - week 17

This week's theme was one that called to me, I said cooel, I've been wanting to try to create a frame to fill in, similar to a goddess pin I had made last year. I took a rubber stamped image and used it to create a frame dead soft 20 gauge wire, then created the veins from 24 gauge wire. I was pleased with how that part came out (picture 1). That's where it started to go downhill; my first plan was to fill the frame with semi-precious stones. I got it partially filled in and hated it (picture 2). So I took the stones back out. When I had done the goddess it was filled in with seed beads, I didn't really want to do that but i couldn't think of what else to do. So, I started filling it in with two colors of green, a solid darker for the interior, a metallic exterior. I had such high hopes... you know how you go through your design process and envision how something is going to come out? This ain't it, sigh... but I spent so damned much time on it its this week's piece, a 'learning' experience.... I had intended to hang this on a neckwire that I was going to make and add additional pieces to it, but its gotten all the time its going to get. Fortunately when I started to do the seedbeads I knew I wasn't going to have enough 26 gauge sterling silver so I used some base metal gold wire - I didn't waste anymore sterling!

Week 16 - Asymmetrical design

This week's theme is an 'asymmetrical design'. I thought, no problem! I did some quick research and found the following definition:

Definition: Asymmetrical design is typically off-center or created with an odd or mismatched number of disparate elements. When the left and right sides of the design are unequal it is said to have asymmetrical balance.

I had decided to try a pendant design several people on the creative wire jewelry group have been experimenting with, based on a tutorial one of our members had published in Step by Step Wire Magazine - http://www.stepbystepwire.com/wire/fwpendant.cfm

The pendant defined the rest of my design, using a Thai fish as my focal, and going with colors of the ocean stones. I'm still not sure if this is 'done'. I solicited input from Laura, who suggested it needed more balance on the right side, so I added the strands of seed beads, but I'm still not sure if it was 'enough'. This piece contains a myriad of materials, including amazonite, aquamarine, blue topaz, opalite, crystal quartz, czech glass, sterling silver, Thai silver, and more!

Nancy

Week 15 - Chunky cha cha bracelet

The 'theme' for week 15 was art nouveau. I researched but really couldn't come up with anything that would fit the suggested theme; fortunately the theme is just a suggestion!

Recently I won several orphan lots of lampworks on ebay, these square beads were in one of those lots. I thought they were rather interesting! The base is a smoky gray, with white and a touch of brown, very wintery looking. I found some coordinating rounds in light and dark gray in my stash, and added swarovskis in black diamond, topaz, crystal ab and white opal. Between the wirewrapped lampworks I made S hooks for hanging the various wirewrapped pieces. A simple S hook closure completes it. Its a fun piece to wear!