New Pendant

I had a difficult time deciding what to do with this stone.  Its so beautiful I really wanted to make sure that as much of the stone showed as possible while still doing a beautiful wrap.  This is what I came up with.  I love the way the copper sets off the deep green.  The agate is semi translucent in spots and really a beautiful stone.

If you are interested in this pendant you can click on the picture and it will take you where you need to go.

Heart Necklace Handmade Lampwork Glass Heart Necklace Copper Bronze Green Beaded

I really struggled with what to do with this particular heart bead.  I finally chose to pair it with faceted copper metallic beads and softer, pale green serpentine beads.  Here is the result!  I was qite happy with the way it turned out.  The metallic copper beads pic up the metallic look of the heart bead and serpentine softens it just enough. To see more about this necklace just click on the picture.

Jewelry Item of the Week July 26th, 2010

This is one of my favorite pendants. I love being able to make most of each piece myself. In this case the lampwork bead is made by me and of course I put the rest of the finding together. This pendant has a lot of depth and has a very cool and serene, earthy feel to it. If you look closely you can see the flowers inside the glass. You can find this pendant in my shop at http://www.silverriverjewelry.artfire.com

Beads To Finished Piece

I just love it when my lampwork customers send me pictures of what they have made with my beads. I am always inspired as most of the creations are things I would never have thought of putting together. Scott bought these beads and then sent me pictures of what he made. He is also entering the fire divas monthly challenge with the necklace so please make sure that you go and vote for him! Here are the challenge beads he bought and here is the necklace he made with them. I totally love this design!

Here is the other set he bought and made a wonderful bracelet with.

A New Design

I have been spending a lot of time on the lampwork beads. Totally love doing this, and am very happy with my progress. So anyway, the jewelry had been kind of on the back burner for a bit, I made a pair of earring here and a quick bracelet there but nothing too strenuous. One day I really just felt the need to do something a bit more complicated and involved. So I sat down and made this. I am very happy with the way it turned out and plan on doing more of these with a variety of stones and lampwork, with both copper and sterling silver wire. Would love any comments on the design. I am also just starting a beaded cabochon, which is something on my list of things that I wanted to learn. Can't wait to see how it turns out lol.

New Coupon Codes At Artfire!

As many of you probably know by now Artfire has created the capability for shop owners to make coupon codes for their shops. This is a huge help for those of us who run the occasional special or might want to give people a chance to save some money. I am offering a one time coupon for anyone who visits my blog and would like to save a bit on a purchase. Simply type in BLOG in the appropriate area when checking out and receive a 10% discount on your entire order! Christmas is not THAT far off and this would be a good time to get some shopping done early. Also keep in mind that when shopping on line for Christmas (no matter who you shop from) you need to take into account the shipping time, which the closer it gets to Christmas the longer it usually takes lol! Also custom orders do start to stack up closer to Christmas so keep that in mind when ordering!

A New Wire Wrapped Pendant Necklace Life At the Beach

So as everyone knows I like to do a wide variety of things inside my chosen field of jewelry design. (yes, I bore easily, and I am fortunate that there is such a wide variety of things to do when designing and making jewelry lol). One of my first loves is wire wrapping and is in fact one of the first things that I taught myself to do when I got started. I haven't been doing a lot of fancy wire wrapping lately, between summer, some home projects (cleaning out the basement to make more room for me to work in lol) and just everyday life, I haven't had much time to do more than the basics. I finally sat down at my desk the other night and designed and made this piece. It didn't start out looking like this but kind of evolved as I went along lol! I was relatively pleased with how well it turned it out since it has been a wee bit since I have done anything along these lines!

Check this out,!

This is really cool. (for me anyway lol). Susan, who does Friday Findings over at Posh Mama, used my textured copper earrings in last Friday's article. I also did the give away for that week. That was pretty exciting in and of itself but when I checked out my updates from Posh Mama, Susan's article has been published in Reuters. Woohoo! I am just so excited. I have been working my you know what off trying to promote everywhere I can think off. More exposure is always good lol! So anyhow here is the article she wrote. Check out the other cool copper items she also featured. The earrings for the give away are at the bottom. Sorry but the winner has already been chosen.
Thanks Susan!

Friday Findings: Cool Copper Jewelry

POSTED: Friday, May 23, 2008

FROM BLOG: Posh Mama Online Magazine and Social Network - Posh Mama Online Magazine and Social Network is a positive community exclusively for women who share information on a variety of topics.

The following blog post is from an independent writer and is not connected with Reuters News. The opinions and views expressed herein are those of the author and are not endorsed by Reuters.com.

Copper is one of the few naturally occurring metals, which means its often found in minerals. In addition to its wonderfully rich, reddish color, the malleability of Copper makes it a favorite material of jewelry designers. I've found some really cool examples of copper jewelry over the last few weeks, am I'm excited to be showcasing these fabulous finds with you today on this week's edition of Friday Findings. Copper Sand Ring from Adobe Sol Designs

For an earthy twist, we'll start today's showcase with a piece from one of my personal favorite rockstars of wire wrap…check out this amazing oxidized copper ring made with 16 gauge copper wire and topped off with a totally gorgeous 9mm lampwork barrel bead by Tiffany McCoy. Created by Adobe Sol Designs in Corrales, NM. Dogwood Pendant from Silent Goddess

Every bit as fresh as the blooms on its namesake plant is this beautiful hand fabricated copper blossom pendant. It measures 1 1/8 inches width and hangs gracefully from an 18" silver-tone chain that closes with a double hook copper clasp. The pendants are made-to-order and entirely hand fabricated by Silent Goddess in Port Orchard, WA. Textured Copper Earrings from Silver River Jewelry

Bright copper cut from bright copper sheet metal, these fabulous copper dangles have been sanded smooth and lightly hammered to provide a rich texture. Carefully hand formed ear wires are also made of copper wire. They are 2 3/4 inches long and are designed by Silver River Jewelry in Akron, OH. A World Away Pendant from Mineralogy

Both exotic and abstract, this distinctive pendant has been fabricated from sterling silver and copper sheet metal. It's been hand cut, shaped, textured and soldered to form this beautiful pendant with a distinctly exotic flair. The pendant is 2" in length and 1 1/8" wide. Designed by Mineralogy in Piedmont Triad, NC. Copper Blade Hoop Earrings from Disco Medusa

Bold made-to-order hammered Copper earrings with a dark and rich heat-treated patina create a deliciously mottled rusty finish with hints of dark red, copper, and pink. They glow when the light hits them just right! Sterling Silver earwires. Designed by Disco Medusa in Portland, OR. That's all we have time for this week! As a side note, I'll be on vacation for a few weeks...so, Friday Findings won't be back until Friday, June 13. But before you go, be sure to congratulate last week's Posh Mama giveaway winner… Pink Lemonade Liz. She will be receiving the Sapphire Swarovski Crystal Necklace and Earring set shown in last week's post from Linda Davis Designs in Los Gatos, CA. Be on the lookout Liz, I'll be emailing you for your shipping address. Enter our Weekly Giveaway: One lucky winner will receive this pair of beautiful royal blue earrings from this week's featured artist, Silver River Jewelry. To enter the contest, leave a comment or compliment about your favorite item(s) from today's post. The winner will be selected using random.org and announced on Monday, May 26.

Written by Susan Nelson of Capitola Girl Jewelry, where Every Girl Has a Story (and so should her jewelry!). Featured Weekly on Posh Mama Online Magazine.

Metal Weaving

Well I wanted to share a new technique that I learned last week at my local labidary club. I took a class on metal weaving (yes just like weaving with wool with a few adjustments I imagine, I don't know how to weave with yarn or wool). I thought the end result was quite nice and now have a head full of plans to adapt, change and challenge myself to come up with new designs using this technique.

As you can see you do need some type of vise to hold the ends firmly in place. I use masking tape to protect the wire from being damaged by the vise. You also need to tape the wires at the bottom in order to keep them together and to mark which side is the front. Because you have to lower the pattern into the vice at least every other time you weave it is important to know which way is the front and which is the back. (trust me on this I am speaking from experience. While you can make an interesting pattern by swithching front to back if you aren't doing it on purpose it is a disaster!)

So once you get to the desired length you cut off the ends and take your frame wire and attach them together with more wire. This can be kind of tricky and does take some practice. Not too tight and not too loose. I will be practicng this with copper and plated metals until I have the technique down well. I actually find the

weaving part to be the easiest of the entire design. So from this point it is just a matter of wrapping and forming into the actual bracelet shape. You can of course make or attach any type of clasp that you wish. All in all it was two, well-spent Saturday mornings to learn this technique. It took about three hours to do the actual weaving and another three to finish it completely. I am hoping that with experience I will get just a wee bit quicker at it. I would also like to come up with some ways to embelish and play with it. Well that's it for now.

I will be posting another blog on some more of my favorite Etsy artists later this week and hopefully will have an update on our puppies (who haven't arrived yet by the way)