Yesterday's Wire-Wrap Class

So, we had a great, great wire-wrapping class at my bead shop yesterday.

The class was supposed to be an earring class, and this was the

first pair we made:

This is my pair - it's a mixture of sterling silver and gold fill - the circle is silver, the curved dangles are gold, and the beaded dangle has a mixture of gold and silver beads.

This is the pair made by another student - she also mixed sterling and gold-fill, but she twisted the sterling for her circle, which looks great!

This is a really versatile pattern, and a lot of fun, and pretty easy, so I look forward to having some free time (HA!) and making a few more pairs.

This is a bracelet I made in one of our wire-wrapping classes last fall. I love this bracelet - it is also a mixture of sterling and gold-fill. I love it's simplicity, and it is so comfortable, and I wear it almost everyday.

So, we (I) decided that the second pair of earrings we would feature in yesterday's class would be a pair to match this bracelet.

This is how they looked early on in the process.

And this is my finished pair.

Perfect match for my bracelet!

And because I have such a fabulous wire-wrapping teacher (thanks, Daniel!) I had convinced and cajoled him into also teaching the matching ring yesterday, so this is my finished ring:

None of my projects from yesterday have been tumbled yet, so they will look even better once I tumble them tomorrow.

I don't know why I continue to be amazed that all these things look so great and match so well - that's the whole point of the classes, after all... but I'm still so thrilled and surprised when my new projects turn out.

And I am grateful that I have found such a talented and patient wire-wrapping teacher for the shop - everyone always learns a lot, and has a great time, and is so thrilled with their projects!

It is actually supposed to, maybe, snow here tonight.

60% chance.

That's about a 61% more chance than usual - the last time it snowed here was about 10 years ago. We actually got 3 inches that time, and it stayed around for a few hours. It just warms up so quickly here in the afternoon, that any snow we ever get, never lasts.

I think it has snowed here twice since I moved here in 1989.

Of course, dogs love the snow, and I wish/hope that there will be some snow when I get up in the morning, so I can go out with Bailey and enjoy it. Instead of getting up at my usual

8:45, I am going to set the alarm for earlier, just in case. Because I have to leave the house by 9:20 to get to the shop in time to open by 10AM.

Why can't it almost maybe snow on my day off - which is today???

I moved away from Indiana because I hated the snow and the cold (and a bunch of other Hoosier-related stuff), but I wouldn't mind one snow day every year or so!

And I have blogged 3 days in a row now, which I think is one of the signs of the Apocalypse, though I could be wrong.

Just a Quickie Tonight

Made you look! Ha!

Here are some shots from the wire-wrapping class we had at my bead shop today.

That's my seat at the far end of the table, with my ab-fab Lindstrom tools, and my coffee cup.

This pic is taken from my end, and that's the teacher down there at the other end - he is just the best! He is so patient with all of us, and so skilled and knowledgeable.

And FYI - he cut his finger last weekend while pruning the shrubbery at his house - NOT while wire-wrapping!

So, we made 3 projects today - 2 different pairs of earrings, and then a ring.

And those will be the subject of my next post.

Turquoise Wire Wrapped Bracelet

So, this is a new wire-wrapping design for me.

I wanted to be able to incorporate my favorite beads in with the wire designs.


I decided to take some photos as I progressed, which actually turned out to be a great idea, because when I made the second one, I saw some opportunities for improvement.

After cutting and cleaning the wire, I strung the beads, and began to form the basic skeleton of the bracelet.

I knew this was harder than in should have been, and saw why when I went back to look at the photos - I should have made the outer frame bigger than the inner frame.

I struggled to make everything fit between the frames, and to line up, finally securing it all with tape.

I started at one end, and began to wrap the bundle, placing 3 beads in every bundle.

Then I got to the end of the bundle, and only had room for 2 more beads! So much for measure twice, cut once. Obviously, I was off on the measuring -

But, as you saw in the first photo, it still turned out pretty well, and now that I saw the error of my ways, I sat down and made on with copper beads.

I did a better job of measuring and placing the beads, too -

And I love the way it turned out. I love mixing different metals together!

I wonder what beads I should choose next time....?

What a week!

Crazy busy!


My biggest accomplishment was completing this freeform peyote cuff bracelet, which I have named Firewheel. I started it several weeks ago, completed half of it, then put it down and just couldn't make myself pick it up again. Not sure why - I had never done freeform peyote before, and it was a lot of fun! Maybe it was because I felt pressured to finish it - it was designed for the April EtsyBeadweavers Challenge, and the deadline was fast approaching! The theme this time is Fire and Flower, and voting will begin April 7 @ the EBW Blog. I hope you'll visit the blog and vote for your favorite (me!)

It took me over 45 hours of beading to complete Firewheel, and it is now available in my Etsy shop. Other challenge entries can be seen on Etsy by searching the tag and title section for EBWC.

I made this gorgeous beaded necklace this week, using lampwork discs from bluhealer and fabulous mint green vintage lucite beads. I also made a cute pair of matching earrings. I will probably list these as a set either tonight or tomorrow - I have never listed my matching earrings and necklaces together before, and the earrings always sell, leaving the necklaces behind. Thought I'd try pairing them up this time.


In addition to finishing the freeform peyote cuff, I have been a busy busy beadweaver this week. I have been on a right angle weave kick, and made this copper-colored cuff on Thursday, listed it on Etsy that night, and it sold on Saturday afternoon!



I made and listed this gorgeous woven cuff on Monday - it is another right angle weave, this time with shell-pink freshwater pearls, hot-pink metallic seed beads, and mauve Czech fire-polished crystals, and complemented by an antique-look button. This is a knock-out combination of colors and textures!

I also taught a spiral beadweaving class on Friday afternoon, and ended up with a great bracelet myself - green and blue matte square and round seedbeads plus grey-green Czech crystals. Haven't listed this one yet, but it is a great casual bracelet for jeans.


I took another wire-wrapping class last Sunday, this one on rings. We did two very different techniques.

One involved cutting several pieces of wire, then binding them together with more wire, then forming the loose ends in the bundle around the stone. This makes a great looking ring, and the technique can be adapted for either a bead or a cabochon, but I am going to have to work on modifying the pattern a bit, because it calls for having 8 wires in the bundle, which makes the shank 8 wires wide, and that is too wide for my short stubby fingers!

Remember how I posted awhile back about having found a tutorial on the internet on making a wire-wrapped ring, but I wasn't happy with the way mine had turned out, so I was going to ask the wire-wrapping teacher about it? Well, I had asked him about it a couple of weeks earlier, and his answer had been "practice, practice, practice." So, I was really surprised when he changed his mind about the second ring style he was going to teach on Sunday, and decided to teach this very ring that was be-deviling me! He taught it in a different way from the tutorial, and I achieved a better result, and got quite a few pointers along the way.

These are the 2 rings I completed in class on Sunday. The one on the left is the second technique. There is a lot less formal wire-wrapping in this style, as the wire is more casually wrapped around the base of the bead.




I took my new knowledge home, and made this cute ring - now available in my Etsy shop.

And that's it for my week. Whew!