Wire Wrapped Necklaces

I used to dread making necklaces like these. It was boring and tedious ... just keep repeating the same motions over and over. Now, I think of it as therapeutic. And of course, I'm a lot quicker at it, which helps a great deal.

Having said all that, it felt like forever until this necklace was long enough to go around the neck twice without using a clasp. I can envision wearing it with a linen colored silk sheath style dress.

It was worth the time it took. I alternated champagne colored pearls and smoky quartz rondelles for a earthy, warm look. Here's a close-up:

I've worked on several necklaces in this same style. Here's my favorite. The beads are fluorite and vary in color but are mostly shades of purple and seafoam, traditional fluorite colors. The shape is also quite enticing: faceted stylized cubes.

These pieces are too tricky to photograph for me to list them in my etsy shop, so I'll probably reserve them for local sales at craft shows.

Brand New Fluorite Earrings

I've been having more fun with my new beads.  I created these lovelies with the cardamom (?) cut fluorite briolettes.  I can't find any reference to this cut online, so I think that gem dealer may have made it up!  We're just going to call it a marquis cut, k?
 

Anyway, I wrapped them and suspended them from some of my fine silver fused circles.  After fusing the circles, I hammered them flat and patterned them with little circles.  I think it's kinda cute.

The only bad part about those fluorite briolettes is that those 2 pictured above is one of only 2 pairs I was able to get from that strand.  The rest don't seem to be close enough matches to make pairs.  The rest are destined to become necklaces.  Oh well.

Click on the photo to go directly to the listing!

If I Can't be at the Beach ...

... I'll share a piece of jewelry that reminds me of the beach! This brooch/pendant base is a disk of super lustrous mother of pearl. I drilled a few holes in it to help secure the freeform beadwork.

The beadwork is composed of ocean-y colors -- aqua, teal, green, seafoam, turquoise and little bronze. The large bead in the center is a Peruvian Opal and the diamond shaped bead is Fluorite. The remainder of the beads are glass seed beads in various sizes.

Here's a peek at the back of the pin. I glued on a finding that will allow this to be worn as either a pin or a pendant.




This lovely piece is for sale and ON SALE in my etsy shop!