Thursday, October 28, 2010

Peruvian Blue Opal Bangle Bracelet


Beyond Sunset is a gorgeous wire wrapped Peruvian Blue Opal Bangle Bracelet. This particular piece gave me fits and just did not want to come together until about 1:30 AM in the morning, thus the name, beyond Sunset...... far, far beyond, lol.

It is available for purchase at my Etsy store, lvsbeadsnthings.etsy.com

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Little Mountain Traveler


Small Mountain's pendant came together this morning. I designed it especially for him adding beads of sentiment. He loves turquoise so that was a no brainer. The pendant is a Koroit Opal, cut, polished and purchased from fellow Etsy artisan Keith Cler (cutforyou.) It's wire wrapped in different gauges of copper that I antiqued. If you look real close you will see a Carnelian chip taken from one of my Mom's broken necklaces that she sent to me to upcycle. It's surrounded by coils on the bottom left of the pendant. I also added a solo Peridot chip that I placed near the clasp, my Brother Bill's birthstone. Bill passed away in June. You can click on the photo to see it enlarged. The periodot chip is on the top right.

While Al wears his pendant he will have a small piece of my Mom and Bill to carry with him.

Here is the finished piece.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Love Abounds


Recently I purchased some Koroit Opals from Etsy artisan cutforyou. They were all absolutely beautiful stones and I couldn't wait to start creating with them. This morning I got them out and started wrapping one that I had envisioned would be a necklace for my Brother. I have to tell you, the wire and stone had different ideas than I did, lol. I don't know if this happens to other wire wrap artists but I don't mind. Our artistic talent is a gift, and being as such, I like to think that I am getting a little help along the way.

Ok... with that being said here is my "NOT" to be Brother's pendant, which I named Love Abounds.

Thank goodness I still have 5 more opals. I am looking forward to working with the rest of them and seeing what creations unfold.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Hoopla Affair


What have I been doing to keep myself busy these past couple of months he says? Check out my Etsy store and blog. I've been on a "creative" roll, dear.

These are my latest creations. I just finished them up today. I made them out of hammered copper wire that I antiqued with Liver of Sulfur, wire wrapped and added red coral beads and turquoise nuggets.

These earrings can be purchased from my Etsy store, lvsbeadsnthings.etsy.com along with other great custom jewelry pieces and gift items.

Saturday, October 16, 2010

Remembrance


A very special OOAK tree of life pendant made in memory of my Brother, William J. Hamann, who passed away on June 24th 2010. It was made for my Mother and it is positioned so it will touch her heart and help to reflect upon the time that he spent here on earth with us. I hope it brings her lots of good memories.

Rest in peace Bill. We miss you!

Friday, October 15, 2010

Tree of Life Pendant


I got the greatest tutorial for tree of life pendants from jewelrylessons.com. You can do so many different variations just by adding different beads, antiquing, and using different wires. I used copper. I hammered the wire and gave it an antique finish with liver of sulfer gel. I used Flourite (Spiritual Awaking) gemstones. I LOVE this finished piece.

Kiss of Death


Gotta love these gorgeous little black widows spiders! They will dress up your Halloween costume or make fun conversation pieces at the office. You can purchase them at my Etsy store, lvsbeadsnthings.etsy.com

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Koroit Opals


Another great find! I was on a hunt for Boulder Opals and checked out my usual sources but I just didn't see anything that caught my eye or the prices were so out of line it was unreal. I was just about ready to give up when I decided to check out Etsy and lo and behold I found a couple of Koroit Opals that I just had to have. Both of these Boulder Opals were cut and polished by fellow Etsy Artisan and gemologist Keith Cler, who's fascinating gemstones can be found at cutforyou.

I wire wrapped both of the Opals in gold filled wire and although the oblong stone has a very unique design and more flash, my personal favorite is the triangular piece. I love the color, the shape, and the way the finished piece looks. I had a "coffee date" last Friday and I wore this pendant and my Ammolite wire wrapped bracelet. I got a lot of compliments on both of them. Even I had to admit, I was styling. :)

Here is a picture of some of the pieces that I worked on during the week. the two pendants on the right are the finished pendants with the Koroit Opals. Click on the photo to see enlargement. You will have to excuse the picture. On rainy, gloomy days, indoor shots with the flash do not do the jewelry pieces justice.

An awesome find!


I was so ecstatic! Today started out as just another drippy, dreary day so I was looking for projects or something to do to break the boredom. I decided to clean the closet in my craft room..... ha! Major chore...... but wouldn't you know, as luck had it, I got diverted. While going through boxes, bins, bags, I ran across a plastic baggie Mom had sent me over a year ago that contained vintage jewelry that belonged to my Grandmother. The plan was to go through it and find pieces to take to Liza who owns Turtle Beads in Newport, Wa. She LOVES vintage beads and jewelry and has a special case just for her vintage stuff. As I was sifting through it I ran across a beautiful sterling silver piece that had a large Garnet on it. I don't know how I ever missed it the first time I rummaged through it as Garnet is my birthstone. It did not have a chain with it but I had just the beads for it. I had some small Garnet nuggets that I had been hanging on to for just the right piece. I added Tourmaline (another one of my gemstone loves,) some sterling silver accent beads and spacers, and some e beads.

Here is the finished piece and you betcha, I will wear it with fond memories of my Grandmother.

Sunday, October 3, 2010

Time flies............





Time flies when you are busy doing the local craft fair circuit and making up things to keep up with the supply and demand. I was so looking forward to our local Oktoberfest on the 26th of this month but as it turned it was a lot of work for nothing..... it was a bust! Little to no promoting was done, people who called in wanting to be vendors were not called back. It was finally announced in the local paper the week of the event. Needless to say there were hardly any vendors and no crowd so to speak of. Hopefully next year it will be better because it is one of the local events that I really enjoy and look forward to.

Here are just a few of my creations that I had on display for sale.