Rings!

I made my second, third and fourth rings today. The first I made several years ago. I used a lapis bead and did something similar to the ones above. Sorry - credit goes to whoever made and photographed those - I don't have a picture of the one I made. Neither do I have a picture of the ones I made today (yet!). But they are similar to this design by Eni Oken, except I didn't build up the nest so high. I didn't buy the tutorial for the ring, since it seemed pretty easy (it was). But her tutorials are great, and her work is exquisite. I love looking at it, and although I obviously am not a copycat, her work is one of my great inspirations. I've used several of her tutorials, and they're great - clearly written, great photos, etc. The rings I made today used purple charoite, natural rose quartz, and rhodonite with sterling silver wire and little sterling accent beads.

And I've also spent entirely too much time working on a crazy idea I had - a riveted piece with bits of silver and rubber and.... it's driving me insane. I had to stop before I got frustrated and threw the whole thing out. I don't know what I'll do when I gather up my courage to approach it again. I need to do something easy to conquer my frustration.

www.shyviolet.net

FSOJ - Week 13 - Willow

The theme this time was Second Thoughts - The pendant is an 18 gauge sterling wire frame coiled with 28 gauge fine silver and sterling beads. Then I made the necklace to go with it - african jade and golden jade (both probably really serpentine - those are trade names, but I don't know what they really are, serpentine is a guess). Now I'm not sure if the pendant and the necklace even look okay together at all!

Shy Violet

FSOJ - Week 10 - Sun Dew

The theme this week was "critters." Well, there are no critters in this, but it is part of the Garden Collection, so maybe there might be some critters in the garden? This one is called Sun Dew, and it's citrine nuggets and buttons, peridot rounds and chips, bali silver, crystal quartz rondelles, and 28 gauge fine silver wire coiled over an 18 guage sterling wire frame.

Shy Violet

FSOJ - Week 9 - Glade

It's late, but here it is. It's called Glade, and it's part of my Moonlight Collection. It's an 18 gauge sterling silver wire frame coiled with 28 gauge fine silver, bali silver beads, faceted and round fancy jasper, and round and oval moss agate.

FSOJ - Week 6 - Forget Me Not

Forget Me Not is made of sterling silver, fine silver, and blue lace agate nuggets. This is one of the bracelets where the clasp worked out pretty well - sometimes they are more difficult than others.

Shy Violet

Four Seasons of Jewelry - Week 1

This is my first of the Four Seasons of Jewelry project, which is part of the Creative Wire Jewelry Forum. I'm excited about participating this year. My goals are:

- to improve my technique and design (color, overall design, structure, technical details, etc.)
- to learn 3 entirely new techniques, specifically chain mail, double viking knit, and possibly stamping and/or riveting
- to increase my website visibility, professionalism, and effectiveness/profitability
- to participate in at least one decent-sized juried show

Autumn
This is one of the pieces in my Seasons Collection. Obviously, I was very much inspired by Eni Oken (one of my jewelry-making heroes!), but I tried to make her technique my own as well. The nuggets are carnelian, the chips are Mexican fire opal, the accent beads are sterling, and the coiling is done with fine silver over a sterling wire frame. I have to confess, this bracelet has been done for a while - I can't take pictures of any newer stuff because my digital camera went missing in our recent move to Texas from South Carolina (for grad school).

Also, I didn't use Eni's tutorial for this or any of my bracelets so far - I was inspired by her work before she had the tutorial up, and I figured out my own way to do the bracelets. This one is obviously a bit different in structure, being composed of two main frame wires, each doubled. This was actually my solution to a technical difficulty, but it resulted in a really unique bracelet I think. I'm very pleased with the way it turned out.

The theme this week was "Counting My Blessings"- inspiring jewelry artists, the fix for the technical problem in this bracelet resulted in the little curlies that look like I designed it that way

Shy Violet

This blog hopefully will chronicle my progress in jewelry design. Currently, I use sterling silver, fine silver, gemstone beads, and occasionally Swarovski crystal. I use the techniques of stringing, hammering wire, coiling (a la Eni Oken), and other wire techniques. One of my favorite bracelets so far is this one. It's called Autumn, and it's part of the new Seasons Collection.

www.shyviolet.net