CWJs...'Year of Jewelry' 2007

Week 31 - Experimental Clay Pendant

Yes, I'm catching up.  Using polymer clay, I tried to create the pinks, roses and coppers of the Canyon.  I added translucent clay and copper leaf for depth.  I'm not sure how I'll use this piece or if I will, since I was experimenting.  The pendant is 2 inches long.  -Nancy

Week 31- Shaktipaj

I'm not sure if I like this or not. It seems unbalanced to me. Lots of 28g ss wire and those itty bitty 2mm Swaros as well as some gigantic 3mm ones. LOS"D for good measure.
Perri

week 31- ceramic and brass

I love the beads in this one! Beautiful painted ceramic beads with flowers on one side and chinese characters on the other, round antiqued brass beads, with prehnite and garnet rondelles.  Finished with brass hook and eye.

Week 31 - weirdlywired

  This is the "Impossible to photograph" necklace. Since it sits molded to the neck, it doesn't lay flat and I can't figure out a good way to show it...the challenge looms, eh? LOTS of sterling silver and this stone that I've seen called a several different things - maybe someone could enlighten me - Cross Stone, for the obvious reasons, Andalusite and Chiastolite. Are they all the same thing, and it just depends on the "grade" or quality/cut you're looking at?
Lots more pictures on my journal if you're interested. Thanks for looking and any comments you may have are  greatly appreciated!

Cheers,
Angie S
http://www.allthingsangie.com/

Jean Power- week 31- Silver and Aventurine necklace

What a surprise- I'm weeks behind!
As usual I've been busy making pieces, just not been able to photograph them- so I'm hoping to play catch-up today and tomorrow and get right up to date.
This was a simple necklace made for a project for a future issue of Bead Magazine, it uses Sterling Silver components and an Aventurine donut and cabochons. It was really quick and easy to put together, and the end result is very nice, if I do say so myself!

Jean Power

And Vulcan created...

Volcanic / Vulcan's Forge

... Car c'est en forgeant qu'on devient Forgeron.

Metal - Fire - Water - Pickle - Fire - Solder - hand sawn - Fire - Annealed - Formed - Forged - Butterfly ...

Vulcan's Forge @ Eclettica, Week 31

I researched for Week 31's theme, I actually did! First time for everything :) I imagined Vulcan, the God of Fire, laboriously toiling away on metal in a forge, streaked with dust. As the searing heat works its magic, flames go from red to light pink to finally, white tinged with the palest blue. This occurs when temperatures are at their peak. As he pores over his work, Apollo, the God of Light, brings news that Venus (Vulcan's wife) is having a tryst with Mars, the God of War!  Imagine the intensity of Vulcan's emotions, his inner turmoil! This set of pendant + earrings is my interpretation of the possible scene of things at Vulcan's workshop.

I had a tremendous amount of fun making these pieces - Vulcan's Forge is probably my fave theme to date! I hope you like them as much as I do :)

++SHEELA++

www.ecletticaonline.com; www.rubylane.com/shops/eclettica; www.eclettica.etsy.com; www.ecletticaonline.blogspot.com; www.flickr.com/photos/eclettica

Week 31 - Eni Oken

My American father is a rock hound and loves to tumble rocks for me. This stone he found in Canada, in a little shop. I can only guess that it is chalcedony and it's a perfect little triangle. I trapped it in a simple netted bezel and strung the pendant on a delicate goldfilled/vermeil bead necklace. To see other pictures, go to the page Triangular Pendant.

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Eni Oken
http://www.enioken.com
Online Lessons on Jewelry Making

Week 31 — Vulcan's Forge

Yesss!  That was fun!  This theme was the perfect occasion to grab a coil of 18ga argentium wire, and experiment with my little butane torch!   I made the rings on a 13mm mandrel, fused them closed, pickled, rinsed, bent and assembled them to make this variation of a simple loop-in-loop chain, as seen here: Plays with Fire Blog.  I also made the toggle clasp with a bit of 16ga argentium for the ring part (fused and hammered), and I twisted together two pieces of leftover rings from the chain to make the toggle bar, fused them until they became a single piece of metal, and hammered it thoroughly.  I oxydized lightly with hard boiled eggs, scrubbed a bit with steel wool, and tumbled everything for an hour.  It didn't need hardening, so I put it in the oven for 10 minutes at 250°F only to activate the anti-tarnishing properties.  A little dip in the pickle pot, a good rinse and a rub with a polishing cloth made it look perfect for either a man or a woman.

Johanne from Quebec
My web site 
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Button it! - Natalie cotgrove

Firstly thanks for the comments from last week, Its good to know that other people have the additional hazzard of baby grip to overcome and yes the square jump rings were soldered, I bought them like that as I'm not clever enough yet to do it myself.

Your eyes are not deceiving you there is a cat in the photos of this weeks piece. Sorry for being so unprofessional and including it but he came and lay down next to the bracelet when i was photographing it and begged to be included. Indulge me please!

Right, now to this weeks piece, not really sure what to say as I have such mixed feelings on it. It was my birthday last week and my friend bought me the book Beaded treasures by Robin Atkins and some cords to get started with. I had a whole free day to get going and try it out, this was the result. I hadn't set out to use the buttons in my trial piece but in looking for one to use as a clasp I had them out and then when the beads I had selected were too small for the cord the buttons were still on the table and ended up being used. I also NEVER work in orange so this is a real departure for me and I loved making it. I really like the stacks and the big buttons but its not the dainty kind of piece I usually produce. Part of me really likes it but I think if I saw it on a stall or in a shop I would pass it over very quickly. However, it is my trial piece and I think I will be making more as although it is time consuming I loved the technique (maybe a throwback to my weaving days!).