'Crystal Watercolor' Wire-Wrapped Necklace

My newest necklace design was inspired by the gorgeous Meridian Statement Necklace from Chloe & Isabel. However, their necklace costs $128 (and that's before tax and shipping!). There is just no way I can pay that much for a piece of jewelry (and on a side note, I have to admit that it's pretty discouraging for me as a jewelry artist when I see women happy and willing to pay that much for a piece of factory-made statement jewelry, when I can't hardly sell even one of my artisan pieces, which generally cost less than 1/3 of the C+I price. And this is actually a steal of a price, when you consider that mine are entirely handcrafted and almost always feature semi-precious stone beads! Ok, done self-promoting. Apologies.). Anyway, I loved the variety of shapes and the colors of the Meridian necklace, and knew I could create something of my own to capture a little of the same feel.

The Crystal Watercolor necklace was the result...and I really love it. This necklace features crystals in several shades of blue and green, as well as some beautifully faceted clear crystals and white crystal rondelles.

All of the wire elements are hand-formed and wrapped with German copper wire in silver and copper tones, including the main focal pieces, the wire connectors on either side, and all of the chain and chain links.

I used a pretty silver floral toggle clasp (the only element not handmade) to finish off this three-tiered necklace, and I think the shape nicely compliments the wire focal elements.

And let me tell you, with this necklace being made entirely with crystals (instead of my usual semi-precious stone beads), it was amazingly difficult to photograph. Take for example the two photos below: the first against a white background, and the second against my usual black velvet jewelry prop. It looks like two completely different necklaces:

The bonus in this is that it can be worn as two different necklaces! I can wear it with black for darker evening glam, or with a lighter color during the day to showcase the pretty blues and greens.

I wish the photographs could better catch the sparkle--it really is stunning in person.

What do you think, would you pair this necklace with dark or light clothing? What are your thoughts on factory-made vs. artisan handcrafted jewelry? I'd love to know.

Sarah


Linking up with:

Fabulous Party at Lou Lou Girls
Show and Tell Link Party at Flamingo Toes
Worthwhile Wednesday at Crafty Allie
Your Whims Wednesday at My Girlish Whims
Idea Box - Thursday Link Party at Mila's Little Things
Friday Finds at Minted Strawberry
Link Party Palooza at Tatertots and Jello
The Creative Corner at Curly Crafty Mom

'Autumn Leaves' Wire Statement Necklace

 

With fall approaching I've been trying to transition over to some autumnal color palettes. This necklace reminds me of the color of autumn leaves, when they're changing to reds, oranges, yellows, and rust colors (hence the name).

I love these colors, and I love the copper and bronze together, but I have to make a confession: I don't actually like this necklace. It happens sometimes. And the final product here is actually version 3.0--I remade parts of it three times before I actually got it to a place that I felt was halfway respectable. But it's just not a necklace I'd likely ever wear. This was the original version:

It just felt too 'blah' to me, and not well balanced. So then I tried changing the color of the top strand:

See the yellow beads on the left side? I thought maybe it just needed a less blah color than the original amber glass beads, but the yellow just did not harmonize well with the other colors. And I still felt like it needed a bit more weight on the top to balance the focals in the bottom strand. So, I added a third strand and kept to the red tones already present in the necklace.

Much better overall, but still not a winner in my book. But beauty is in the eye of the beholder, right? Someone will like it. I hope. This piece is definitely going up for sale in hopes that someone will give it a loving home.

But anyway, onto the necklace details. This piece features beads of quartzite, agate, bamboo coral, freshwater pearls, glass pearls, glass beads, and crystals. The wire focals, connectors, and chain/links are all handmade using German copper wire (tutorials for the wire focal elements are here and here). I'm sure by now you know the drill so I won't bore you with any more small talk.

 

I finished off the necklace with a lovely leaf-shaped toggle clasp in antique bronze; I thought the leaf motif fit well with the autumn color palette.

I'll leave you with a couple of last pics of the finished piece:

Have you started transitioning to fall colors and accessories, or are you holding on to summer as long as you can? I'd love to know.

Sarah

Egyptian-Inspired Chain Bib Necklace

I know this piece is a little different style than the necklaces I've been creating lately. So how did it come about? Well, I tend to take/save photos quite often of jewelry pieces, art, and even architectural scenes that I like or that inspire me. I take inspiration from them for color schemes, shapes, designs, layouts, etc., and then try to turn those ideas into something that fits more into my own style and preferred media. This necklace design came from one of those saved photos.

The piece that inspired me was not a wire-based necklace, but it was similar in layout--it was an Egyptian necklace that had several large green stones in a vertical setting as the main focal element, and then several strands of strung pearls radiating out from the green stones. I loved the vertical focal element with the layered strands and used that inspiration in creating this necklace.

I wanted a little more variety of color in my piece and was itching to showcase these beautiful large, faceted purple agate beads, so I took color inspiration from this sketch and this sketch by the talented artist Megan Wells (I'm inspired by her Instagram feed daily!). I really loved the mix of purples, earthy green, and pale yellow.

I used a mix of dark purple faceted agate, bright and pale lavender quartzite, green aventurine, faceted lemon quartz teardrops (scattered throughout the bib chains), glass pearls, and crystals. My original plan was to incorporate a little more green into the mix--I have some beautiful amazonite beads I really wanted to throw in--but it just didn't end up that way. But I still like it!

 

 The focal element is actually made up of three separate wire pieces that I wrapped together, similar to the way I combined the focal elements in the Caribbean Seas necklace.

Quick process pic: (clockwise from top left) Creating the wire shapes;
wrapping them together into one element; visualizing color schemes;
finished!

(Close-up of the finished focal element)

Of course I used my favorite German copper wire in the antique bronze color!

I used German copper wire in the copper color for all of the scads of handmade chain. Oh my goodness, making all that chain took forever.

The side connector elements are handmade as usual, this time in antique bronze wire. I had some gold chain already made (I'd originally planned on alternating it with the copper chains in the bib, but it ended up looking too stripey) that I used for around the back of the necklace, but I think I might change it out to copper; as much as I love mixing lots of metals, there's no gold anywhere else on the necklace and I'm not sure it really fits in.

The clasp is the only machine-made element on this piece. I used a simple copper-colored toggle clasp, but might change it out for one of my favorite bronze flower toggles if I change the attached gold chain to copper. Because I just can't have two connecting metals match, of course.

I love the exotic look and feel of this necklace. It took about three times longer than my usual pieces because of the amount of handmade chain used and all the finagling to get the layers draped just right. But in the end, I think it was worth it. I'm not sure I'll be making another though!

As usual, because it's made entirely of lightweight (but durable!) wire, this necklace is incredibly light and not at all bulky or unwieldy. Perfect for dressing up a simple graphic tee for a boho look or accessorizing a little black dress for that evening out on the town.

What do you think, are you a fan of chain bib necklaces? Where do you find your creative inspiration? How would you wear this necklace?

I'd love to know!

Sarah


Linking up with:

Show and Tell Link Party at Flamingo Toes
Worthwhile Wednesday at Crafty Allie
Your Whims Wednesday at My Girlish Whims
Friday Finds at Minted Strawberry
Link Party Palooza at I Heart Naptime
The Creative Corner at Curly Crafty Mom

'Summer Citrus' Jewel-Toned Wire Statement Necklace and Earrings (with step-by-step details on embellishing wire focal elements with beads)

And now folks, back to our regular programming. Ha! You got a little something different with the last two posts, but I just couldn't forego my wire-wrapping love for too long. And this necklace (which also has matching chandelier earrings) is the most recent result of my love affair with German copper wire.

This necklace and earrings set was inspired by these earrings, and I chose to mix glorious citrus shades like pink, orange, red, and yellow (think grapefruit, tangerines, blood oranges, lemons...). And I'm totally in love with this mix of bright jewel tones! What's better than sweet and tangy citrus fruits for summer?? (This is actually kind of ironic as in real life I'm totally allergic to citrus fruits...but if I can't eat them or smell them or be anywhere near them at least I can wear their colors, right?)

 

I created my basic wire focal elements using the same process as detailed in the Twilight Skies necklace post. Lately though I've been experimenting with embellishing the wire focals by 'setting' them with crystals, pearls and/or beads (like in the Green Goddess necklace and both Industrial Glam necklaces).

So I thought I'd share a quick look at my process for 'embellishing' the wire focals and how I get those beads into those tiny spaces!

Note: if these images don't appear sharp on your computer/laptop/tablet, etc., just click on the image and it should open in a separate page with better resolution.

Note: this tutorial assumes that you already have your basic wire forms created using the previous tutorial. They should also be wrapped for stability before adding embellishments; I got a little ahead of myself while taking photos and started adding the beads before the frame was wrapped, so please excuse my bare naked wire forms in the first few photos!

1. I like to work straight from the wire spool with this process, so I don't cut off a free-standing length of wire, but you are welcome to if you prefer to work a little more freely! So on a spool or length of 26-gauge wire, string the beads for one of your focal 'windows'. I work from the bottom to the top of the focal element, and so string my beads accordingly.
2. Using the smallest point of your round nose pliers, create a very tiny loop about 1/2" from the end of your wire. (Do not wrap this loop closed yet!)
3. Thread the bottom part of the frame of the focal element onto the wire and into the loop you've created and, using your needle nose pliers, tighten the loop around the frame wire so that it is almost snug but still moveable.
4. Using pliers or your fingers, begin to wrap the wire tail tightly around the beaded wire, as snug up against the frame as you can (you can use your needle nose pliers to gently maneuver your wire wraps more snugly against the frame, if needed). After you've completed 2-3 wraps (or more, if you expect to have a lot of empty space between your beads and your frame), snip your wire tail and use your needle nose pliers to tuck in the end neatly. Can you tell I'm not really a fan of 'messy' wraps?

5. Now that your wire/beads are attached to the bottom of the focal element, pull the wire up to lay inside the frame, and use your pliers (I actually just use my fingernail) to create a light bend just under where the wire touches the top of the frame.
6. At the bend you've created, use your needle nose pliers to create a loop a bit larger than you made for the bottom (again, don't wrap the loop closed yet), and now trim your wire from the spool leaving about a 1 1/4" tail.
7. This part takes a little finagling and lots of practice. Pull your beaded wire back up inside the window and wrap the open tail of the wire over the top of the focal element frame, snugging the frame inside the open loop you created in step 6, making sure the tail comes back through the window so that it's fully encircling the wire frame. You might have to use your pliers to reshape things a little at this point.
8. Use your needle nose pliers to pull the wire loop snugly around the wire frame so that the top of the beaded element does not move around.

9. This part takes the most finagling and practice. Start closing the loop by tightly wrapping the wire tail around the beaded wire, making as many wraps as necessary to fill the space between the upper loop and the beads (the beads need to be wrapped snugly to stay in place and not move up and down on the wire; plus, this adds stability to the beaded element). Use your pliers if necessary to gently snug the wraps up against the top loop to keep things tight.
10. Once you have all of your wraps created, trim off the extra wire and use your needle nose pliers to tuck in the end neatly.
11. Use the same process to embellish any other windows on your focal element(s) you wish to.
12. Once all of your frame windows are embellished, then you can add any top focal beads.

I won't lie, this can be a time-consuming process. Especially if you have a lot of frame windows to embellish. And the smaller the window, the more difficult it is to get the wraps to be snug and tidy. But it really only takes a little bit of practice and repetition to get the process down smoothly, and then you can just veg in front of something interesting on tv (or at least something interesting to listen to, because what beader ever really gets to look at what they're 'watching' on tv while beading??) and embellish all your frames at once.

I love how the frames look all bejeweled with crystals, quartzite and bamboo coral beads! It's sort of my wire-wrap interpretation of the rhinestone statement necklaces that are super trendy right now.

I used a mix of metals in this set--silver wire for the beaded wire focal components and copper wire for the wire connector elements on either side, as well as the chain links separating the glass pearls in the middle strand.

I also used silver wire for the handmade chain around the back of the necklace, and I used a simple copper colored toggle clasp to finish it off. As usual, everything in this necklace is handmade except for the toggle (same with the earrings below--entirely handmade except for the earwires), and all of the wire elements are made with German-style copper wire. Seriously, I love that stuff.

I had two extra wire frames left over once I completed the necklace, so I turned them into matching chandelier earrings. They're a little bit gaudy, but gaudy is sort of the name-of-the-statement-jewelry-game these days, so I figured, why the heck not? They could easily be worn casually without the necklace, or super-fancy-dressed-up with the necklace.

I really love this blend of colors together. I think in person it's much more stunning than in the photos. And because it's constructed mostly from wire, it's unexpectedly lightweight and easy to wear. Perfect for summer festivities!

What do you think of the citrus color pallette? Do you like the bejeweled wire frames, or would you prefer them more unembellished? How would you wear the earrings?

I'd love to know!

Sarah


Linking up with:

Show and Tell Link Party at Flamingo Toes
Worthwhile Wednesday at Crafty Allie
Your Whims Wednesday at My Girlish Whims
Friday Finds at Minted Strawberry
Link Party Palooza at I Heart Naptime
The Creative Corner at Curly Crafty Mom