YOJ Week 11 - Wavy colorful cuff

Full blast ahead, trying to catch up with the Year of Jewelry. I'm also preparing inventory for a show in May, one of my rare live shows during the year. This is a technique I haven't used for a while: the underlying frame is made of three wavy pieces of thicker wire. Thinner wire is then woven all over the frame with the beads. Goldfilled wire, vermeil beads and a variety of precious gemmy gems: citrine, tourmalines, amethysts, hessonite, etc.

YOJ Week 10 - Citrine mosaic pendant

This is a modified and more organic version of the Mosaic pendant, it has an outer frame attached to the inner frame. The pendant measures 1-3/4" high, not including the woven bail. Goldfilled wire, AAA grade citrine and hessonite, madeira citrine, champagne citrine, vermeil beads.

What would you do if you won the lottery?

I don’t usually go on an out of topic tangent like this, but here is a question that came to my mind today about pleasure and work: if tomorrow you won the lottery and didn’t have to work for money anymore, would you still make jewelry? What would you do different in jewelry making?

Of course, this is directed only to those who make a living making jewelry, not those who have it as hobby, because then it’s assumed that you do it because it’s your passion (if not, find another hobby, less expensive, LOL!).

I think the majority of us will answer an uncondicional YES.

If tomorrow I came into a situation where I no longer needed to produce income, I would STILL do exactly what I am doing right now. I would still make one-of-a-kind or limited production jewelry pieces; I would still create tutorials; I would still dwell on how to create with different techniques with my medium of choice and hey, I would still spend two hours answering email questions every morning!!! Now tell me, how many people can be THAT LUCKY!?

I believe that our profession as jewelry artists is one of the lucky ones: we enter it not because of the money or the success – there are other more profitable and recognizable careers – but we enter it because we ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT.

And if you are not totally in love with it right now, what is it that you would do differently, that you aren’t doing right now?

The only thing I can think of, personally, is: perhaps I would make my office space “cuter”, maybe add a very large flat screen monitor to my computer and some painted fun furniture. I guess can think of making that a medium/long term goal for the next year or two!!!

How about you? :-)

YOJ Week 9 -- Ethnic ring

As promised, I'm releasing two tutorials this month. And I am going to try to keep my promise of releasing at least one tutorial per month. Can I do it? We'll see...

This ring is a slightly modified version of the Ethnic Ring I created a while ago. The only major difference is the scalloped edge. Although pretty intricate, this tutorial is considered intermediate level, and it can be made very quickly after you get the hang of it. Amazingly, the trickiest part is the shank!

Link to the tutorial: Ethnic Ring Tutorial.

Here is another photo, after oxidizing the ring:

YOJ Week 8 - Basketweave bezel pendant

Rapidly trying to catch up with the Year of Jewelry, now that I have some time. This one is called "Half time", because it looks like half of an hour glass and because it seems like these days there is never time enough to do everything I want to, heehee. The stone is a stunning 15mm round faceted amethyst given to me as a gift. I wrapped it in a basket weave bezel.

And YES, this one does have a TUTORIAL. Click here for more information on the brand new Basket Weave Bezel lesson.

YOJ Week 7 - Hippie ring

This ring was actually made before the amethyst ring posted in Week 6, but I just got things mix-up a little and forgot to post it. I like the lattice-work, but it took a long time to make. I think I should have made it with gold-filled wire to match the rutilation inside the crystal. I also think the ring is too big for my small hands... I've been wearing it, but I look like a decadent hippie gone bad with it, LOL.





Sterling silver, rutliated quartz cabochon.

Tip: Making a bail for front drilled stones

Lorvin Rinaldi approached me with the following question: “I recently purchased a large amount of turquoise with front drilled holes . I was wondering if you could suggest a way to either frame the stone with a bail or incorporate a particular wrap to I guess in simple terms make it look good. “


I suggested using the Woven Bail for Focal Bead tutorial, but instead of slipping the three wires through the vertical hole (because there is none), slip the wires through the frontal hole, bind them together with the thin wire to form a loop and just spiral the ends of the thick wire to cover the hole and loop.
These are the images of what Lorvin produced!

Images by Lorvin Rinaldi. Images were used with permission of the author. You can reach Lorvin at www.foresthousejewelry.com

YOJ Week 6 - Amethyst cushion ring

I'm into rings these days. I misplaced a whole bunch of them over the holidays and my bare fingers are just begging for new ones... Here is just one of the styles I've been working on.

Sterling silver and amethyst cushion cab. The shank was made with 20 ga wire. The stone is attached to the shank with a modified herringbone pattern.

YOJ Week 5 - Basketweave bezel with picture

Catching up with a project I wanted to try for a while: I used a clear glass pebble as a cab, with the smallest image of my son attached to the back. The bezel in sterling silver is a basket weave which completely encases the glass cab and image (see the back image). Before working the weave, I secured the image to the glass with craft foil, to protect the image better.

The pendant is smaller than a quarter coin. I did not make the chain.