November Reveal for Echo Creative Club

Welcome to my reveal for the Echo Creative Club November Blog Hop.  I was so excited when I opened the package from Jeannie Dukic (Jewelry by Jeannie) and found this pretty curly pink and gold paisley and pink button inside.

As you can see, I pulled a lot of beads and wire out to work with. Pink is not a color I work with very often, so that added to the challenge.  

I love the delicate look of the paisley and didn't want it to be overpowered by any stones or beads. In the end, after a lot of experimenting I decided to create a viking knit necklace to hag the paisley from.  I sewed tiny pink freshwater pearls to the  length of the viking knit. I created two brass wire connectors that mimicked the genera shape of the paisley and wrapped those in the pink freshwater pearls. 

One of the connectors is also part of the clasp - the pink button fits perfectly into it.

My sister has already claimed the necklace - because she "has the perfect sweater to wear it with". Well, it DOES make the perfect birthday gift!

Please check out the other blog entries for this months Echo Creative Club:

Alicia Marinache http://www.allprettythings.ca/

Jeannie K Dukic http://site.jkdjewelry.com/blog

Kristen Stevens  http://kristen-beadjourney.blogspot.com/

YOJ 2008 week 3 - Australian Culture

This piece is my interpretation of the Rainbow Serpent - a mythological figure of the Aboriginal tribes of Australia. This being figures prominently in their stories and culture. (you can read about the Rainbow Serpent here)

Using 22 gauge copper wire, I created a Viking Knit necklace as the body of the snake. (I used a 1/2 dowel as a mandrel to create the viking knit and then drew it down to 3/16"). Using some 18 gauge copper wire I created some end caps (I used a knitting needle as a mandrel which gave me a nice cone shape) and then strung some seed beads in rainbow colors as an addition to the viking knit. The necklace clasps in front, measures 26" long and is a nice fluid piece. It feels great on, sits at a good length and has some weight to it. That being said, though, I am not entirely happy with the way the necklace looks as a whole......the clasp doesn't really looks like it belongs and I am experimenting with a different way to close it - and as so often happens, because I am not happy with one thing, the rest of the piece is not safe from deconstruction. Does this happen to anybody else?

Week 43 - Harvest Time

This is my submission for week 43 of the 'Year of Jewelry' - Harvest Time. I have wanted to try Viking Knit for a while and decided this would be the time to try it. After reading all I could find on 'how to', and after having found an online tutorial complete with pictures (http://www.fineartbyrocio.com/vikingknitdirections.html), I sat down one morning and tried it. After using yards and yards of copper wire (in this case 24 gauge, although I see 24, 26 and 28 are the most recommended wire to use)the weaving part was done. From there, the piece has to be pulled through a drawplate (which I didn't have, of course - and a SPECIAL thanks to my dear SO who - after laughing at my attempt to create one from a piece of pine - made one for me out of teflon) of successively smaller holes which compacts the weave and lengthens the necklace. This was the most difficult part for me. Through trial and error, I found that the pulling has to be consistent so that bumps and bulges do not occur. Once the necklace was finished I sat down to try to create a grape leaf out of copper. I sketched a grape leaf and then traced around the sketch with 18gauge copper wire to create the armature. I then used 26 gauge copper to weave the wire and sew on the garnets (which represent grapes......not nearly enough of them I see - ah hindsight!) - and once the leaf was done, I sewed it onto the necklace, again using the 26 gauge copper wire. I didn't want the leaf to be a free moving pendant, so I positioned it to the left of center so that it sits asymmetrically, which I think makes it look like it's still on the vine and ready to be picked.