Saturday, January 7, 2012

Challenge 2012 (Day F-f-f-f-four) - 365 earrings in 365 days!

Thank goodness for beautiful beads because they make a basic design look like something special.

Day four combines nephrite jade briolettes with Swarovski crystals.  Nephrite jade is the jade that is found from British Columbia down to New Zealand and probably other places.  Nephrite jade is an important component in the art of the native peoples of the Pacific Northwest.  Here's a photo of my little jade inukshuk which, if you remember, was the symbol of the 2010 Winter Olympics held in British Columbia.


From http://www.inukshukgallery.com/ - The mysterious stone figures known as inuksuit can be found throughout the circumpolar world. Inukshuk, the singular of inuksuit, means "in the likeness of a human" in the Inuit language. They are monuments made of unworked stones that are used by the Inuit for communication and survival. The traditional meaning of the inukshuk is "Someone was here" or "You are on the right path."

"You are on the right path."  I like that!

OK.  Back to the earrings of the day.  Briolettes beads are drilled across their tops and require a slightly different wrapped loop technique from beads drilled through their little beady bodies.  Briolettes, especially gemstone briolettes, often have narrow drill holes and that can make the tip of the bead fragile so when you are sizing wire that will go through the drill hole, don't force the wire.  How do i know this?  Guess.

How to do the briolette wrap:
 http://jewelrymaking.about.com/od/wiretechniquesinfo/ss/011007.htm

For the second component i put three 4mm Swarovski crystals on a piece of wire and made a double wrapped loop, attaching one end to the briolette.  Isn't the yellow crystal a nice complementary color to the green jade?  Thanks for the suggestion, Donna!

Then, because once again i forgot to bring home what i needed, i had to fabricate the ear wires.  sigh.  What was that about "You are on the right path"?

Several of you are actually playing along with Challenge 2012 and, so far, we are all laughing.   Remember, there are no demands and no demerits.  Let's just have some beady fun!!!

 Day four presents...



Friday, January 6, 2012

Challenge 2012 ( Day Threeeeeeeee) - 365 earrings in 365 days!!

This pair reeks of pushed-to-the-wall but the basic design is solid.  The shape looks good on most everybody and it's easy to make each pair unique.  My original design for today didn't come together because i didn't check the size of the hole in the jade teardrops against the gauge wire i brought home with me tonight.  grr.  Doesn't fit. My search through my personal stash yielded nothing that appealed.  uh oh....running out time for day three...

So this is what i came up with in the end.  The main beads are cool.  They are from my mom's collection.  The seed beads would have worked with more thought but i completed the first earring and then discovered i didn't have enough of the green bead.  grr.  sigh.  Not starting over though, just beading through.  And this pair is #3.

And blessedly simple.

BEGIN by assuring you have sufficient beads to complete the design.
Fill a length of 22ga precious or plated round wire with beads.
Select enough beads to fill the wire to a medium sized tear drop shape.
Wrap one end of the wire around the other to set the shape and size of the drop.
One or two complete wraps is enough.  Cut off any tail.
Use chain nose pliers to bend the second wire to 90 degrees then complete a wrapped loop with it.
Attach an ear wire.
Repeat for second earring.

Can you spot the design flaw? 

So until i get different wire, that first design idea is on hold..  But it is going to be sweet! 

Pair #4 coming up!

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Challenge 2012 (and beyond!) - 365 pairs of earrings in 365 days!

Alrighty then!  The second pair of earrings in our Challenge 2012 is good to go!

These earrings are based on a design that i saw in a magazine last year and it caught my eye from the get go so what better time to give it a try than today!

And, even more fun, this was my first completed - although tiny - attempt at metal work!! 
 Ima gonna do MORE!!!!!

Supply list: 
(2) 1" pieces of 14gauge square sterling wire
(6) 6-7mm coral discs
6" piece of 22gauge Artist Wire in non-tarnish silver
earwires or posts

hammer, steel block, rubber block, hole punch, round nose pliers, chain nose pliers, cutters, file, marker
Hammer the 1" pieces of sterling silver wire until flat.  I laid the steel block on the rubber block to deaden the noise a bit.  The silver will flatten out and lengthen somewhat.  I used the chain nose pliers to hold one end of the silver so i could hammer the middle.  I did this after i hit my thumb not once but three times.  OK. Maybe i need to use a tool for this.  D'oh.  But i'll tell you what.  Hammering metal is a BLAST!!! 

4x4 steel block by Euro Tool
Available at Bead Boutique
 
When the piece of silver was as flat as i liked, i used the file to smooth the ends a bit. (Full disclosure:  i actually started with a 1.5" piece of wire but that made the flattened metal too long for my taste so i had to shorten it.)

Then, i used this nifty little hole punch tool to punch a hole in one end of the flattened metal.  I marked the spot where i wanted the hole but still ended up with one of the holes a leetle too far off center, almost off the metal.  Luckily still usable though. 
hole punch by Euro Tool
Available at Bead Boutique

The final thing was to stack the coral discs on a length of the 22-gauge wire and do a couple of of wrapped loops to attach the coral beads to the metal and then to the earwire.  Pair #2 is done!!  Only 363 left to do! Tomorrow's pair will be a LOT simpler design than this but, i have to say, today's earrings made me smile!

 


Wednesday, January 4, 2012

365 pairs of earrings in 365 days





My intent was to start this personal challenge on January 1st as that would have been a neat and tidy way to manage these 365 pairs of earrings, no?  Pair one on 1/1 and pair 365  366 on 12/31.  Alas.  Life is rarely tidy enough to stay contained in those itty bitty rigid calendar squares and so, after spending the first couple, three days of 2012 in pain and then recovering from that pain, i'm starting today.  Yay!  Besides, now i just have to come up with 365 pairs.  Hey.  Small blessings abound.  You just have to be ready for 'em!

Rules of the game.  Ummm......let's not have any rules.  Instead, here are a couple of guidelines that i plan to follow for this challenge.
1.  One pair of earrings per day.  No fair stockpiling. 

I think that's it.  Sweet!

Play along if you'd like!  Start whenever.  Stop whenever.  It'll be fun!  And you'll get at least one new pair of earrings from this silliness.  Also, feel very free to make the designs i post here.  I'll include a list of supplies and some basic instructions. 

Here's pair #1.   Only 364 more to do!

Garnet is the birthstone for January so this was a no-brainer.  For days, though, i thought i had some beautifully  faceted garnet briolettes and i had this elegant design all laid out and then after the pain, reality kicked in and these were the garnets i had on hand.  So i used 'em.


Supplies:
 6 garnet beads approximately 2x3mm
 3 or 4 black headpins 2.5"/ 24 gauge
 2 black earwires

round nose pliers
flat nose or chain nose pliers
cutters 

Technique:  closed wrapped loops
                                                              
How fun!!!!  Now if i can just get this blogging business down to a manageable time, i'll be doing swell!  See you tomorrow!