New techniques!

I may have been absent from the blog for a long while, but that doesn't mean I've stopped creating jewelry! 

I have been working hard at learning new techniques and improving on them. For my birthday in 2015, I took a wire wrapping class at a local bead shop. This opened up a whole new world of possibilities! I have also started vending at music festivals, which has influenced my style a bit. 

Here are a few of my recent creations I'd like to share.

Carnelian wire wrapped pendant. Tigers Eye, Amethyst, Citrine, Carnelian, and Calcite mixed gemstone necklace. Sterling silver.

Wire wrapped Peridot and Lilac Amethyst Earrings. Sterling Silver.

Sterling silver wire wrapped pendant. Amethyst and Stichtite in Serpentine.

Spring Bird's Nests

I'm sure many of you have seen the wire wrapped bird's nests floating around the web. I was dying to make some of these adorable pendants, so I found a great tutorial and went to town!  It was harder than it looked at first, but after about four ugly "practice" nests, I finally got the hang of it.

These look great as pendants on a delicate silver chain, but they also work great incorporated into more complex jewelry designs.

There are many tutorials on the web for making these cute little nests, each one slightly different, with a new tip or technique. I browsed through many, but the best one I found for myself was by fusionbeads.com. You can view the tutorial here.

Photo from Fusionbeads.com

{Tutorial} Wrapped Wire Beads

A tutorial  for making your own beads using a  simple wire wrapping technique.

Supplies:

Wire cutters

Chain nose pliers

Ruler

Wood dowel

22ga Wire

Step 1: Measure and cut 24 inches of wire.

Step 2: Leaving a tail of about 4 inches from the end, wrap the wire once around your wooden dowel.

Step 3: Continue to wrap the short end of the wire around the dowel.

Step 4: Using your chain nose pliers, push the end of the wire down, against the dowel.

Step 5:  Now take the remaining long end of the wire, and start to wrap the wire over itself, crisscrossing randomly.

Step 6: Continue to wrap all of the wire over itself. Then using your chain nose pliers, tuck the end in so it doesn't stick out.

Step 7: Slide the wire off of the wooden dowel and you're done!

Tips:

 If you use a smaller gauge, cut a longer piece of wire.

Once you remove the bead from the wooden dowel, tuck the first end of the wire into the bead hole.

Combine lots of wire beads in different colors