Copper

How about copper? Here are a few piece that I made over the last few weeks.

#603 - A long copper chain with jasper and Swarpevskki crystals has  a centerpiece of Owyhee creek jasper and hammered copper ring.

#584 - a pendant of hammered copper swirl surrounded by two Owyhee jasper wings on a copper chain with copper toggle clasp. This necklace has matching jasper and copper earrings.

 
 
 
 
#505 - This one I made last year but I still enjoy its asymmetric design and mix of techniques: there is beaded rope, viking weave, chain maille, and of course beautiful brecciated jasper nuggets.

Brass

In case you are into brass jewellery, check out these designs.

#607 - I used in this necklace two strands of antiquated brass chain, in addition to the main strand that is made of brass beads, tiger eye and golden colour pearls. The centerpiece is a large tiger eye nugget (note the beautiful oblique stripes in it) with a fringe of Swarovski crystals, golden pearls and brass.

#601 - A large oval of ocean jasper in olive green and yellow, adorned with brass wire and Swarovski crystals, is suspended on a hand-weaved brass wire rope with magnetic clasp. Makes me think of my military-style summer jacket... I like unusual pairings.









#587 - More of brass chain and large stone beads. It's a variety of quartz. Also, vintage brass beads that look like textured olives. This necklace  has a set of earrings to go with it.

#588 - This one is made with brass chain with large multi-coloured amazonite stones and delicate figree ghrass beads.
I am  adding a close-up picture of the same necklace - the colours of these stones are out of this world.

Summertime And the Living Is Easy

We have nice spring weather interleaved with snow flurries. It makes me dream of summer: sunny beaches, flower-patterned dresses. I do not use gold color much, but here you go: nothing conveys sunshine like gold color. Here are a few of the necklaces I created recently.

#610 - I discovered I have a selection of gold-plated rings that work nicely in sets of concentric pairs. I used some genuine Swarovski crystals (light siam and peridot) in this necklace, inspired by sun-drenched strawberry patch. It will go well with a summer dress with red and green flower pattern.

#608 - Think of sunshine. Gold-plated chain, along with yellow and white mother of pearl links.

#606 - This necklace is made with reconstituted turquoise coins. I love the delicate blue color with a  hint of green and crackle veins on the stones.The necklace is long: 79 cm (31").

#612- Uses black Czech fire-polished glass drops, with white pearls

#611 - I really like how the fringes of gold-plated metal chain turned out on this piece. It has two strands: one of white freshwater pearls, and one of black Czech fire-polished glass. Both use elegant frosted gold-plated beads.

What is coming? I have a head full of floral designs, lot of metal chain, more of large focal stones. I am also exploring new ideas in beading with Japanese delica beads, magatama beads, and seed beads in  general. Stay tuned...

Large Stones, Metal Links and Sterling Silver Chain

I can't believe my last post was around Valentine's Day (time flies when you are having fun). In the meantime, I lost my fear of fire. To put it in more practical terms, I got a lot more comfortable with soldering. You can see it in my new style of preference that incorporates huge metal links (I use sterling silver, along with copper and brass), with large stones, and sterling silver chain. So far, I created mostly monochromatic compositions (again, my personal preference), but I am going to experiment with more color in the future - will keep you posted. Here are a few of my newest creations.

#604

#605

#605 uses sterling silver along with black onyx,  pyrite and lava stone,  while #604 combines it with brass (note lovely vingtage brass beads that I scouted out online) and smoky quartz.

#590
I did not solder the large sterling silver wire centerpiece on this one, but I love the way it turned out. he stones are black onyx, pyrite, and lava stones.
(BTW, this one is SOLD already)

#591 - another one that has already SOLD. In addition to sterling silver and black onyx, I used in it raw tormaline (this is the raw nugget that looks like a piece of coal), clear quartz, and blackstone triangular links.