Budget Bride- Earrings

I was looking at wedding magazines (shh! Don't tell my boyfriend) when I saw a pair of earrings that I just adored! But I know I wouldn't be able to afford them if I were getting married. I don't even know if I'd want to spend that kind of money on earrings I might only wear once! I wonder if I'm the only girl who thinks that.

ANYHOO. I made these. These are for the girl who wants the look but can't (and just refuses) to pay the price of the real thing. Glass pearls, fire polished glass, filigree beads, sterling silver hooks... just as pretty as the ones in the magazine and affordable!

Will post on Etsy soon. Alternate views! I love alternate views :D

Victorian Lace- Black and Purple

I'm not quite sure how I feel about this piece. I wanted to design something around that black filigree-type piece and this is what came out of my head. Its wearable. It's purple and black and pretty and shiny... but... I just don't know. I know sometimes I'm unhappy with how the s-hooks hold it but sometimes I like it. I love how it hangs low on my wrist and the chain dangles and I love the color, but I'm just not confident in the design. Blah.

Alternate views for you lovelies :D

Copper and Pearls

I started this necklace earlier this week. I finished the filigree embellished piece (embellished with fire polished glass beads in two pretty purples) on Sunday with hopes to work on it my next day off... Having been laid off yesterday, I suppose yesterday was my next day off. Hahaha. But, I was pre-occupied.

I saw a necklace similar to this in a catalog but instead of the filigree piece embellished with fire polished glass beads, it was a silver flower with (what I assumed were) diamonds. I think the copper gives it an older feel. Also, I'm assuming the pearls in the catalog were real. These are just glass Crystazzi pearls. But they sure are pretty.

I also made some earrings. But the copper is shiny. What's your opinion... does shiny mix with dark? I happen to like it, but will others?

Below is an alternate view of the necklace (without the flower) and a close up of the filigree piece. Hopefully, I will take some time and do some art before I jump back into "reality." I was always complaining how I didn't have enough time to do what I love... sooo... I'm going to try it for a while. Yay!

Steampunk Princess: Filigree Bracelet

Here is a bracelet to match the Mechanical Butterfly necklace I did a little while ago.

I'm not sure if you could consider the style I'm using here "steampunk." Would people who love and cherish this style be offended that I call this "steampunk?" I think that the combination of the elegant filgrees and sparkly Chinese crystals with chain and dark copper pieces makes it steampunky, but I'm not sure. I see what other designers are creating and get inspired to make things like that but with my own twist. And this bracelet, like the necklace, came to me by looking at the book "Steampunk-Style Jewelry," by Jean Campbell.

Here's a close up of the filigree piece! A little coiled wire makes me think of a machine... just like the butterfly in my necklace design.

I'm hoping someone likes the bracelet. This piece will be up on Etsy sometime this weekend. I'm excited :)

Iced Copper

Such a pretty blue!

There were full strands and half strands of these pretty icy blue glass beads at my bead store. They're bigger than the beads I usually use. And I'm not a big blue lover (reds and purples, sure... blue's pretty... just not on me...) but something about the pale blue just made me add them to my basket.

I'd been wanting to try making post earrings using these filigree pieces I bought, but my bead store didn't have any glue-back posts (is that the proper term?). I found some dark copper hypo-allergenic ball posts with loops and decided that was better than nothing. I think it looks better than ear wires would've.


I think I may be obsessed with copper...

Valentine's Day Earrings

I don't usually make holiday-specific jewelry. I own some, but I'm afraid what I make would be garish and draw laughter instead of smiles. BUT, I saw these glass hearts and thought I should try making some earrings out of them.



I chose gunmetal as the metal finish of the findings to contrast against the white hearts. Also, Czech glass beads add just a little sparkle and the filigree beads give it a bit more elegance. I wanted to add two bows to the earrings and thought of leather, but didn't think the knot would hold so I went with a cord. But the fibers frayed. Hmm... maybe I should try and re-work them...

Not-So-Traditional Pearls

Browsing the sale rack at Michaels, I came across these HUGE glass pearls and instantly remembered Lisa Crone's post over on her A Bead A Day blog about her find of huge glass pearls at JoAnns. I've never done anything with a bead this big at all before, and thought I should be daring and try something out! Afterall, how can we create something new and exciting without pushing ourselves into the uncomfortable?

Driving over to my bead store as soon as I made this purchase, I found big silver hammered rings and I could clearly see the design in my head.

I think I would wear these with my hair up, just to make sure everyone could see them. I love the delicate filigree beads against the boldness of the pearls. And the colors just make me giggle.

Maybe I should have tried another design with the other pair of earrings... oh well. I still have four pearls left to play with! Yay!!!

Steampunk Princess: Mechanical Butterfly

I finished it! *dances* Last night, with 10 minutes to go before I was supposed to be getting ready for date night, I finished the necklace I started next week (and even made some earrings... because that's only the right thing to do :P ).

Like I said in one of my previous posts, this necklace was inspired by a bracelet design featured in a book called "Steampunk-Style Jewelry". Mostly, I used the idea of coiled wire helping filigree pieces look like cogs or mechanical parts, which you can see in the focal of my necklace. The book had the coiled wire a bit tighter but I couldn't get the wire to stay tight. I'll admit, I didn't read the directions... I was on lunch and just flipped through the book. But I think I like the way the coils look like springs. It works for me.

The focal is pretty much the only part I kept the same from the original design of the necklace. I originally was going to have the pretty green Magatama drop beads strung on hemp, but it proved too much of a pain to find six beads that would fit over the cord. I decided to just do four whole strands of the pretty bead and I rather like it. It think it works out better and looks prettier. Kind of liquidy with their shininess.

Another part that changed was the chain. I originally had the chains be equal length. But that looked a bit boring and unbalanced with the boldness of the green Magatama beads. Also, the necklace was a bit long... so I shortened a piece of chain on each side and then hung the other two off the shortened pieces so the chain scalloped. It gives it a sort of elegance that I think it was missing. To the chain, I also added a few of the Chinese glass beads I have on the focal. I thought it brought a bit more green to the piece.

The earrings I made from two more copper connectors and the bit of scrap chain I snipped off the necklace. Added some of the green beads (both the Chinese glass and Magatama beads) and I think it matches the necklace nicely.

I wore the necklace and earrings on date night. And they made me feel so pretty... which I think is important to a piece of jewelry. I originally thought I would sell these pieces, but I just can't bring myself to part with them. I will just have to make a sister necklace.

My boyfriend thinks I should add some of the Magatama beads to the chain or maybe the focal. I might try that. They're such pretty beads. I'd also like to try making a matching bracelet. Hmm... maybe that's how I'll spend my day off today...

Happy Friday, everyone!

WIP- Mechanical Butterfly

While my boyfriend and friends go out to watch my friend's band's first performance, I am sick in bed! I had to call out because I was feverish and now, though the fever is gone, I feel very weak.

I wanted to finish this necklace yesterday but was so busy with work. I thought, when I went to bed last night, I could finish it today, but woke up sick! How unfair. Haha.

The idea for this "mechanical butterfly" sprang from a project I read of in a book at work called "Steampunk-Style Jewelry." In it, there's a project where coiled wire, when sandwiched between two filigree pieces, look like cogs! I thought "Wow. I want to have a go at that..." And I'd seen these butterfly pieces probably the day before at my bead store. Sooo... after the project sat in my brain, growing, for about a week, I went to the bead store on Thursday and asked them for my first bit of freshly cut wire and chain just for this necklace (I'm a bit shy and barely talk to the lovely ladies who run the store and though I've wanted to try my hand at making my own ear wires, I haven't had the courage to ask them to cut me some wire. Something must be wrong with me, no? Hahaha) along with those butterflies I'd seen but didn't buy.

To me, the color that copper turns when it oxidizes is beautiful. And I thought that the two Chinese glass beads that sit atop the face of the butterfly pendant are the perfect color. I added some shiny copper chain to contrast the aged copper of the butterfly (and, in all honesty, to give something for the loops that hold the glass beads in place something to hold... :D).

The necklace is almost done. Here is a close up of the chain. Its also aged copper and hangs off of a connector that holds hemp cord with green Magatma drop beads. I felt like the cord and Magatama beads would add an organic feel to the necklace. That's the part that I need to finish- add the cord to the other connector, cord tips, and a clasp.

On a side note, I love the chain that I found at my bead store. Its hammered half-way through each link. I don't know why, but it made me feel like it was a perfect match to this necklace. It was a wonderful feeling when I saw this chain.

Hopefully I can finish this necklace soon. I don't like having something so close to being done but am just unable to finish it.

My head is spinning slightly so I think it's time to rest my eyes for a bit. Hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend!

Caged Cage Earrings

The February issue of Bead and Button was there in the magazine section at work yesterday and I bought it! Inside was a beautiful necklace designed by Nealay Patel and there was one part of the necklace that I thought would make pretty earrings. He uses seed and filigree beads to create a cage.

I tweaked the design a little and added metal cages inside the seed bead cage. The little cage dangles instead of being attached to the bottom filigree bead. My "cage" is less cage-like than Nealay's because I was having trouble getting the wire through the holes in the filigree bead, but I still like how it came out. There is a dark blue glass pearl for some contrast in color. The cage is made of 11º seed beads in silver lined lavender.

These earrings might go to work with me today... I wonder if the top I have that matches is clean or in the laundry bag... hmm. Does anyone else do that, sometimes? Choose to wear an outfit because it matches this piece of jewelry you want to wear? Instead of vice versa? I find myself doing that a lot these days :)