Beaded Copper Wreath

This is a wreath/suncatcher that I made for my neighbor's baby.  The frame is 12 gauge round copper wire, twisted and then hammered flat to create open links so beads can be wired to it.  The wreath is 8" in diameter.  I got lucky with this - the baby's nursery contained colors of beads that I already had.  The seeds around the outer rim of the frame are 8/0 Toho in three shades of blue and grass green.  The inner rim of the wreath has been wired with 4mm Swarovski crystals in Dark Rose AB (I think that's the color!).  I have tons of these from a bulk purchase I made years ago. The flower is also Swarovski, in 4mm using the same pink for the flower, yellow 3mm for the center, and 4mm chrysoprase (again - I think this is the color!) for the stem and leaves.  The dragonfly is a mix of Swarovski pinks and sizes.

The initial in the middle is a stylized A, made from 14 ga round copper wire, and selectively hammered. It's a heavy piece!

You can see the frame below.  The frame, by itself would be lovely, but I wanted to match colors with the little new person's nursery.  Actually, the frame is pretty versatile.  You can use it for a lot of different decorative purposes.  It's sturdy and if you don't solder, it's easy to wire the ends closed so they never come apart.  If you're using the frame without decoration on it, I suggest soldering so the wires don't show.  

Sterling Silver Woven Wire Fish Earrings

These are my latest creation:  Sterling frames wrap/woven with 28 ga dead soft fine silver, and Swarovski beads.  The earwires are handmade as well.  These take about 90 min per earring to make and while easy to make, it can get tricky keeping the weave tight, especially as you get toward the top.

Beaded Christmas Ornament

This one does double duty. It can be hung on the holiday shrub and it can be hung in a sunny window year-round to add some rainbows in your life. I went a bit overboard on this - the frame is 18 ga twisted square sterling silver wire. All the beads except for the cloisonne heart are Swarovski bicones.

And from a different angle:

French Beaded Flower - My first one! YAY!

Well, I was asked to teach Victorian and French beading recently. I can do Victorian, but I'd never done French, so for the past two nights I've been teaching myself. Last night I worked on just getting the technique right. Thank GOD for a bead spinner! Tonight I started at around 11:00 PM (it's now 3:40 am) and finished up at about 1:30 a.m. I'm tired, but I accomplished my goal and now I just have to finesse it a little. The leaves are too small for the flower, but overall, I'm happy.

Victorian Beading - Today's Flower

I love the colors on this one, but I didn't achieve the effect I was going for, which was a lacy, open look to the edges of the petals. A fellow artisan suggested the lacy, open look might succeed with a lighter-coloured flower, so I'll try that next.

The "space" you see between the petals is wire weaving where the petals were stitched together using wire. I wove it through the loops at the end of each bead row, joining the petals together.

These actually look lovely under low lights or candlelight because of the Swarovski Crystals in them.

Front View:

Side View:

And both flowers together: (can you tell I'm proud of them?) For a first try at this, I AM pretty proud. Now I have to get REALLY good at it.

Dreamcatcher Pendant or Suncatcher

I've made similar items before, but only used the designs in my suncatchers. This is a very good tutorial for beginners - and she's got a very good method for closing the gap of the circle of wire you start with. Unless you're willing to solder it shut, her method is excellent. I make mine completely from wire. I make my circle, and I solder it closed and then I wrap the entire circle with wire. She used ribbon, which is a very cost-effective way of making a pretty pendant or suncatcher, depending upon size.

When I make my dreamcatcher suncatchers, I use all kinds of beads, mostly Swarovski, because, after all, they ARE suncatchers. Here's a picture of one that I made recently, and please be aware - when you click on the photo it doesn't open in a new window, you'll have to click the back arrow on your browser to get back here. If you do click the photo, you can then click it again and it will enlarge.

It's not a very good photo, as it was taken as an afterthought and the item is now hanging in the gift shop a block over, for sale. I didn't do a tight weave through the center of the circle at all, I simply did whatever the wire wanted to do. I didn't worry about keeping mine a perfect circle - I rather liked the asymmetrical look, but this is what I mean by taking the basic techniques and applying them in your own way. :)

Have fun and again, please post photos of anything you make.

Here's the vid:

Bracelet By The Seat of My Pants

So I decided to do some wire wrapping tonight. I thought I'd make a bracelet. I started 5 hours ago, with no clue what I was going to do, so I made a clasp end and went from there. It's all sterling and those are mother-of-pearl flat beads. The MOP frames are 2mm sterling beads. This is as far as I've got with it and I'm putting it up for the night.

It just sort of morphed along, taking shape as I watched (listened to) three movies. Such a socialite I am - at home on a Friday night, watching movies and making a wire-wrap bracelet by myself. Snort.