Collaboration, Part 2

Here is the second bracelet I wire-wrapped with SandFiber's gorgeous peyote beads,

Carol Dean wove the peyote beads with emerald-AB delicas, although they look more teal than emerald to me.

I added sterling silver rombo spacer beads, and then crafted the wire-wrapped bangle with sterling silver wire.





This beautiful bracelet will fit up to 6.75 inches, and is lightweight and flexible.

I have to thank CD for this fabulous idea - adding handmade beadwoven beads to a wire-wrapping project was genius! These two bracelets turned out great!

My Collaboration with SandFibers, part 1

After I finished my Byzantine Bracelet yesterday, I sat down to work on my collaboration with SandFibers.

Carol Dean Sharpe, the brains behind SandFibers, had dreamed this up after seeing a previous post here, and we were off and running.

Here, Bailey delivers the package of beads from CD.

Here are CD's beautiful peyote beads.

Enough for 2 bracelets!

I decided to work with those gorgeous gold-plated beads first.






Here are my materials, all spread out and reading for wrapping.

I have cut my wires, and played with the beads to figure out how I want to arrange them in the bracelet.

And I have my 2 pin vises, ready to twist some of the wires.




Now I have twisted 2 of the wires, and I am ready for the hard part - trying to get all the wires to fit together.






Here, I have bent the longer wires, so as to form an eye and a hook, and loaded the beads on the center wire.

Then I start trying to get the wires to fit together. The wires want to tangle and cross over each other, and just generally not cooperate.




A little masking tape helps keep the bundle of wires in place.

Close-up of the bundle, ready for the first wrap.

Now I have placed the first wrap, and slid down 2 beads, in preparation for placing the second wrap.

The wraps are falling into place











About half-way done now.









Getting there.









All the wraps are in place, and I need to finish up the ends.








The ends are all trimmed up, and it is time to form the bracelet on the mandrel. After the bracelet is form, I will fashion the hook.








All finished!

Here is the finished bracelet, next to the chainmaille bracelet I also made yesterday.

Next weekend, I will tackle this project with CD's gorgeous emerald peyote beads.

Thanks for the idea and the assist CD - it turned out great, huh?

4 Treasuries in one day!

I arrived home from work today, logged onto Etsy, and discovered that my designs had been featured in 3 separate treasuries - what an honor!

My Starfish Spiral Necklace is featured in this stunning collection by countryrustic. The colors in this treasury are gorgeous, and it is fun to see all the different ways Etsy artists have worked starfish into their designs.

Makes me want to go scuba diving - now!


My friend and fellow bead-weaver, Carol Dean Sharpe, aka SandFibers, curated this absolutely sublime peach-themed treasury, and included my Just Peachy Earrings, which were designed as a tribute to independent lampwork artisans.

CD always does such a fabulous job with her treasuries, and this one reminds me of peach ice-cream, which would be delicious right now - in this 98 degree weather!

Thanks for including my earrings in this collection, CD!


Sharon, of manamoonstudios, curated this beautiful treasury, and included my wire-wrapped Vintage Crystal Ring. The colors she chose for this fabulous collection are lovely, as always!



Thanks for thinking of me, again, Sharon!




Another beadweaving friend, totallytwisted, included my wire-wrapped Ammonite Pendant in this collection she curated on 7/1/08. Who knew this many fabulous ammonites could be found on Etsy?
What a great theme for a treasury! Thanks, Jean!

This treasury has not expired yet (as of this post), so that makes 4 treasuries at once for me - a new record.

Thank you ladies so much for making my day!

I hope my readers will take a few minutes to visit the shops of these fabulous artists!

Happy Fourth of July everyone!

My (Reluctant) Bracelet Model

I'm a jewelry designer with 2 internet venues, so I have been learning that in addition to creating my pieces, I have to photograph them in ways that will showcase them for the viewing public.

I purchased jewelry manequins, and pretty little pillows, and have created other props from stuff lying around in curio cabinets here at the house.

But I balked at buying one of those fancy acrylic arms to pose my bracelets on, because:

1) they aren't life-size, so they make the bracelets look a little bigger than they truly are (just like my &%$@ ear model does for my earrings - they all look HUGE on that thing)

2) the photos just look kind of weird to me.

But when my Sandfibers bracelet arrived last week (thanks, CD!), Bailey was eagerly watching me open the box, just like every other package, as if THIS would be the one that contained dog biscuits. When he saw that, once again, there were no biscuits, he slumped onto the bed and started pouting. So, naturally, the next thing I did was lay the bracelet across his nose, and to my surprise he just lay there, so I grabbed the camera and took some photos.

And he wears it well, huh? The colors are perfect for him!

So let me see if I have this straight:
Hats?     No.
Bunny ears?     Absolutely not.
Jewelry?     Sure, Mom.

And no, I am not going to start shooting all my bracelets this way - I can just see the posts in the Etsy Forums now! Kinda like when Sally gets kissed by Snoopy in Peanuts: "Yuck! Dog germs! Dog germs!"