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YOJ09-41 Goddess Jewels

Posted on by dianne

YOJ09-41 Goddess Jewels (2009)
Goddess Jewels (2009)
Constructed, cold joined
Sterling silver, Preciosa crystal

The opening of the Metal Arts Guild of Canada exhibition “MAGC 2067 – Crafting the Future”, held on November 7 at Arta Gallery in Toronto, was a costume ball.  In connection with the theme of the show, people were encouraged to dress up in character.

I originally planned to wear a costume, but then, in the week before the opening, the issue I had been dealing with in my personal life came to a head.  Although able to attend, I didn’t have the emotional or physical energy to dress up.

My character was “an acolyte of the Goddess” – a jewellery maker for a matriarchal society devoted to worshiping a Gaia-centred deity.  As part of the costume, I made a couple of “Goddess Jewels”.  These are very loosely based on Bajoran earrings, of Star Trek fame.  My version has a chain of handmade spirals, two Preciosa crystal drops, because I love dangles and sparklies, and is worn via an earcuff on the centre of the ear, and a spiral earwire through the lobe.

I used to wear these a lot, and had forgotten how much fun they are.  It’s been several years since I made one.  Usually only worn on the left side, this time I wanted the pair.  Someone took this photo of me at the opening, where you can see one of them.  The whole set of photos from the show is worth a peek.

YOJ09-40 Knotted Tourmaline Earrings

Posted on by dianne

YOJ09-40 Knotted Tourmaline Earrings (2009)
Knotted Tourmaline Earrings (2009)
Constructed, cold joined
Sterling silver, fine silver, tourmaline

Recently members of the Starving Artists Etsy Team did a critique of my Etsy shop.  One of the comments that came up a couple of times was that my descriptions tend to be a bit on the sparse side.  I generally give information about the piece, what it’s made of, basic sizing, etc., but only rarely is there a “story”.

My reply to one of the ladies who asked me about this was “Well, sometimes the design is the result of nothing more than “I had this idea and decided to play around with it.” ”

The truth is that I just have no talent for writing bullshit.  What I write has to feel authentic, otherwise it doesn’t work for me.  Hmmm…. maybe I need to look into a creative writing course…

Anyways… I was playing around with some scraps of wire left over from working on my Clip-on Earrings tutorial.  I tied the wire up in a small knot – not quite as tight as I would have liked, but it worked.  I have a “thing” about dangles, so I added these little tourmalines.  I love the vibrant pink – they’re just juicy!  The result is a cute pair of earrings that works for everyday wear.

The SATeam critique did confirm one thing: my photography is pretty good. It never stops surprising me how much time it takes to get the photography done. Nowadays, I’m not only doing photos for my regular record keeping; I’m also doing set up for Etsy. “Product” photography is different from jury photography – attention must be paid to angles, and multiple positions. A lot of people on Etsy photograph on elaborate backgrounds. I have yet to find one that works for me, so I’m still working with the “jurying grey”.

Photographing studs is difficult at the best of times, but these earrings were particularly challenging. There was just no good way of laying them nicely to get a straight-on shot. Finally, I decided to cut a upright display card out of an old layout board and poke holes in it. Voilà! It worked!

Other views:

YOJ09-40 Knotted Tourmaline Earrings (2009)
YOJ09-40 Knotted Tourmaline Earrings (2009)
YOJ09-40 Knotted Tourmaline Earrings (2009)

Tutorial – Clip-on Earrings

Posted on by dianne

For people who don’t have pierced ears, finding handmade earrings they can wear is a real challenge.  Back when I did shows, I’d occasionally get requests for clip-on findings, and lost sales because I didn’t have them.  Commercial findings were not an option for the types of shows I was doing.

So when, about a year ago, someone posted a message to one of the forums I’m on asking if there was a pattern for clip-ons, I thought “What a great idea!”.  I got out an old pair of my mom’s clip-ons and studied them to figure out a way to make a pair in wire.   And today I’m very pleased to announce the release of a new tutorial – Clip-on Earrings!

Clip-OnEarrings-Main

The Clip-on Earrings tutorial includes two variations:  Variation 1 makes a basic spiral, with a loop for adding a dangle.  Variation 2 forms a base on which you can add your own embellishment, so if you have a favourite bead, or button, you can add it.  Variation 2 also has a loop for adding a dangle.

13 pages, 45 photos and 40 steps
USD $8.00

Level of Difficulty:  Easy

Tools and Materials You’ll need:

Tools:
3-Step Pliers
Flat Nose Pliers
Round Nose Pliers
Flush Cutting Wire Nippers
Permanent Marker
Measuring Tape/Ruler
Jeweller’s File
Rouge Cloth
10 mm Dowel/Knitting Needle (for Variation 2)

Materials:
15″ (38 cm) 20 ga. Hard Round Sterling Silver wire

Substitutions:
 20 ga Half Hard Silver wire can be substituted.

Available from my tutorials page and my Etsy Shop.

YOJ09-38 Star Earrings

Posted on by dianne

YOJ09-38 Star Earrings (2009)
Star Earrings (2009)
Constructed, soldered
Sterling silver
L 1.5 cm x W 1.5 cm

I’m about a month behind in my YOJ postings due to a personal crisis that has blown me completely off track.  It’s been a very emotional couple of weeks with some highs and a lot of lows.  I am determined to catch up, but it’s going to take some time.

I figure the easiest way to get ahead of the game is to focus on earrings.  Since I’m stocking up for Christmas anyways, this is a logical course of action.

So… first up is a pair of Star Earrings.  I wanted to make a simple pair of stud earrings, something neat and clean looking.  Making this design and trying to wrap the tail around the stem would not have given me the look I was after, so it was time to break out the torch.  Yes, Virginia, I do solder!

It’s been a while since I’ve soldered anything, and I discovered that my solder is really old.  Initially, the solder absolutely refused to flow.  I ended up melting the wire.  After I pickled the pallet, it worked better.

These earrings will be available for purchase from my Etsy shop.

YOJ09-14 Lame-O Earrings

Posted on by dianne

YOJ09-14 Lame-O Earrings
Lame-O Earrings (2009)
Sterling silver, Preciosa crystal

I’m feeling completely tired and shagged out.  And I haven’t even squawked!

I’m working on meeting a print deadline this week, so my focus is not on jewellery.  I do have an idea for my next major undertaking, and did work a bit on that over the past few days, but it’s still in the prep phase, not the construction phase.

So now it’s Sunday, and I don’t want to be late two weeks in a row.  So I’m posting a pair of lame-ass earrings, constructed in about 1 minute.  Don’t have the energy for anything more this week.

YOJ09-10 Fun with Fibre

Posted on by dianne

YOJ09-10 Fun with Fibre
Fun with Fibre Earrings 1 (2009)

Sterling silver, wool
L 6.7 cm x W 0.5 cm
Formed, wet-felted

Fun with Fibre Pendant 1 (2009)

Sterling silver, wool
L 6.5 cm x W 0.4 cm
Formed, wet-felted

Fun with Fibre Pendant 2 (2009)

Sterling silver, fine silver, cotton thread
L 4.5 cm x W 0.45 cm
Nalbinding (viking knitting), embroidered

This has been a frustrating week, in terms of getting anything done.  Number 2 Son has been demanding a lot of attention.  “I want to do homework!  I want another printing sheet!” every 10 freaking minutes.  Normally, a parent loves to hear that their child wants to do homework, but in my case, it meant getting up from bench, sitting down at the computer, waiting for him to make up his mind about what he wanted to work on – an achingly slow process – and then printing it off.  As a result, I was never able to focus on finishing the project whose deadline came and went on Friday.

He starts JK in the fall, and then I will have more extended blocks of time to work without interruption.  I’m trying to enjoy these last couple of months of us being together before he becomes a Big School Boy, but geez it’s annoying to miss a deadline.

I haven’t given up on trying to finish the project, which is very labour intensive, but by last night, I decided that I needed to change gears.  “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” was on tv, so I set up my felting stuff on the floor, and played while watching the movie.  I’m still working on learning felting, still hoping to apply it to bonsai.  One of the websites I stumbled across applied roving to craft wire, so I thought I’d give that a go.

My results are nothing spectacular, but then they weren’t intended to be.

The other thing I wanted to try was mixing fibre and nalbinding.  I actually wanted to mix nalbinding with wire embroidery, but figured it would be too high on the PITA factor.  I ended up using embroidery thread, but the idea still has a high PITA factor.  My embroidering skills leave much to be desired as well *grin*.   I may try the idea again, but approach it differently.

More photos:

YOJ09-10 Fun with Fibre
YOJ09-10 Fun with Fibre
YOJ09-10 Fun with Fibre

Tutorial – Double Celtic Cross & Scrolls Earrings

Posted on by dianne

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At long last, a new tutorial!

Double Celtic Cross & Scrolls Earrings

I created this design back in 1998, and it’s always been very near and dear to my heart!  For those of you who love all things Celtic, these earrings combine a couple of classic Celtic elements:  crosses and scrolls!

14 pages, 63 photos, 45 steps, plus design notes

USD $10.00

Available now from my Tutorials Page.

Tutorial – QEW Earrings

Posted on by dianne

QEW EarringsQEW Earrings

Inspiration comes from the strangest places! This modern-looking pair of earrings was inspired by an Art Deco-era light standard I spied while driving along the Queen Elizabeth Way, in Toronto – and hence the name, QEW! I can’t remember exactly where it was – somewhere between High Park and the Humber Hump – only a quick glimpse, but it was enough!

9 pages, 26 photos, 22 steps, plus design notes

FREE

Available now from my Tutorials Page.

(Let me know what you think of the new tutorials format.)

Happy New Year!

Bebee’s Earrings

Posted on by dianne

Bebee EarringsThe “young-at-heart” gentleman who commissioned a name pin from me back at Christmas wanted a pair of earrings for the special nurse for Easter.

I should mention, actually, that the name pin had to be done again, because he gave me the wrong spelling. The funny thing was that she refused to give back the original pin.

Here’s the photo of the replacement pin:

Bebee Pin

Tutorial – Undercurrents Earrings

Posted on by dianne

Undercurrents EarringsUndercurrents Earrings

The surface of the ocean shows only the smallest hint of the turbulence underneath the waves! This is a great project for practicing precise measuring and mirror images.

11 pages, 35 photos, 39 steps, plus design notes

USD $5.00

This tutorial was voted “Best Advanced Tutorial” &”Favourite Piece” by the Members of the International Guild of Wire Jewelry Artists, Earring Tutorials Contest 2007. IGWJA decided to put it into the advanced category for the purposes of the contest, but in my opinion, this is an easy project.

(FREE to IGWAJ members, login to the guild’s website to access the tutorials library. Note: IGWAJ version does not include all of the design notes)

Available now from my Tutorials Page.

Tutorial – Stud Earrings

Posted on by dianne

Stud EarringsStud Earrings Tutorial

Not eveyone likes to wear dangling earrings, so here’s a quick and easy-to-make pair of stud earrings!

6 pages, 23 photos, 20 steps, plus design notes

USD $5.00

Available now from my Tutorials Page.

Tutorial – Ancient Horn Earrings

Posted on by dianne

Ancient Horn EarringsAncient Horn Earrings

This design is based on jewellery found in archeological excavations in Ancient Greece. Coiled beads of this shape were often used in necklaces. The beads were filled with wax to give them stability when strung. This design adds an ingenious trick to provide structure.

7 pages, 22 photos, 16 steps, plus design notes

USD $5.00

Available now from my Tutorials Page

Other Musings

Blasts from the Past

Photo of the Day

Judith Goldstein