The Pink Lady

I've been experimenting with some new techniques and had a project which I had started and set aside. It seemed a bit overwhelming and like it was going to take me days to progress with it ,so I took a break from it. I picked it back up yesterday and stared at it for a a little while and all of the sudden I was posessed to finish it - today! I finally realized that it was just such an organic technique that the only way I could win was to surrender to it. I had to just let go of all preconceived notions about what the piece should look like and stop tyring to make it happen. I just let the wire go where it wanted to and this was the result.

It's BIG. It's what I call a four fingers pendant. It lays across all four fingers when it's in your hand. That being said, though I personally prefer jewelry that is less... well, shall we say 'bold' I really like this piece. I learned a LOT from making this pendant. It was a fun project once I got over being intimidated by it and just let it happen. Thanks for looking. All feedback is welcomed.

Another Ornate Pendant: Desert Dreams

Earthy Elegance Ala-Eni! I ADORE this piece. I'm very tempted to keep it for myself - again! LOL The last one that tempted me sold before I could convince myself that I was allowed to keep one once in a while for myself.

This pendant was made with warm toned Moukaite and embellished with brandy colored tourmoline stones. Click to enlarge to show detail.

This pendant is for sale on my website:

www.freewebs.com/deliasstones/

Petersite Delight

This is a lovely specimen of Petersite. Too bad the camera can't really show off the velvet patterned colors in this stone. Lovely rich rusty reds and beautiful calming blues.

This pendant is for sale on my website:

www.freewebs.com/deliasstones/

Sha BANGels!

I finally decided to make some wire bangles. This is a first for me. Combining swarovski crystals with sterling silver and 14k gold fill wire. They are simple but elegant. I like them. :)

These bangles are for sale on my website: www.freewebs.com/deliasstones/

Catching up

Now that I've replaced the digital camera that was stolen, I am able to update my website and add pics of all the work I've been doing. I began the process this morning, though I still have much to do to fully catch up to myself. I like my new digital camera MUCH! These shots are so clear and beautiful. My last camera was only a 4.0 megapixel, and I thought IT took good pics. My new one, which cost even less than my last one (love the way technology advances and prices relax) is a 7.1 megapixel. The difference is clear.

This piece was draped over this wonderful lava rock that my MIL gave me. I love the way it turned out ... it gives the pic the feeling of being on the rocky california coast. This will come in handy for photographing my bridal line as it develops. Thanks Mimi! :)

This is a simple herringbone necklace in amethyst and sterling. Delicate and detailed.

This necklace is for sale on my website: http://www.freewebs.com/deliasstones/

My friendly little faces again. I love these hand carved faces so much. Until now, I have only used these faces in my Luna Series. In the Luna Series they have always been framed in a chandelier style wrap, but I decided recently that because of their wide appeal, I should wrap some without dangles. Not everyone likes dangles after all ... but everyone likes these faces.

It was a good decision, as it turns out. My feedback came in the form of these babies flying off of the table. This pendant sold the first time she was displayed to the public. Must make more... and maybe try putting on a fancy hairdo.

Eclipse

I call this "Eclipse"... It's like the full moon and the dark moon meeting in harmonic convergence.

This piece is one of my signature chandelier pendants. I love combining opalite and onyx. They make for such a beautiful contrast ... shiney black and glowing white! Oh my! This peice also has an opalite bead wrapped in a delicate herringbone wrap attached to the bail to give the pendant a touch of detail. The opalite has a firey and ethereal presence in hand that the photograph could not truely capture.

Pardon the "Other Pendants" text. I altered this pic for my website and forgot to save the original.

This pendant is for sale on my website: www.freewebs.com/deliasstones/

Elegant Earrings

Sterling Silver, Brandy colored tourmoline and exquisite faceted smoky quartz marquis drops combine to make these lovely earrings. SOLD

Custom Orders for Kate

Two wraps for Kate, per her request. I like the crystal especially. I created a different armature and decorated it in Eni-ornate sytle, only in mirror image. As above, so below. I like the new approach. I'll have to use this again. The border wrapped rutile quartz is just a basic wrap. Nothing too 'oooh-ahhh' but it's nice. LOL

A few pretties I've not posted yet

Back to the ornate pendants. These are so much fun... yet so labor intensive. I sweat everyone of them every inch of the way. They never seem to be looking right until the final touches are put on and then all of the sudden they come together and BAM! One striking pendant is staring back at you. This picture is not the best, too dark to show off the beautiful blues and greens in the chrysacola stone. It's accented with genuine emerald rondells and brilliant blue chez crystal to give it POP. This one is currently up for sale, but I don't expect it to stay around too long. I might even decide to keep it for myself. ;)

Inspiring Chat

My dear friend Karen was just over and she inspired me to undertake a couple of projects. I popped in from the hospital to pick up some things at the house, including my son whom she kept for me lastnight. Karen sat and chatted for a bit with me. She owns Beach Bride Weddings, offering beach weddings to couples along the Northwest Florida Panhandle. She suggested that I make some coin pearl chandelier earrings with watery colored compliments. As soon as she said it, I could SEE them. I can't wait to produce a pair of them to show off. She also suggested I make some scandals in beachy colors and said she would link me into her website, which is getting a lot of traffic. This could be a comfortable niche for me, bread and butter stuff to make a little money on the side and bring others to my site to learn about the other things I do as well. I don't really relish the idea of producing the same thing over and over again, but I can do it if it will keep a little income flow coming in that I can use to funnel into making the stuff I want to make. I prefer to follow my bliss ... don't we all? Anyway, I was inspired by our chat and wanted to write these thoughts down before I forgot about them. With my new baby in the hospital my mind is certainly other places and I would likely forget all about this conversation by the time I got around to being able to make them.
I have to get back up to the hospital and give Jay a break. I know he needs to get down to the cafeteria and get a bite to eat. He must be starving by now and I know he won't leave our little girls side until I am there to watch over her.

Back in the Saddle again!

Well, as anyone can plainly see, it's been a while since I've blogged. This is indicative of the fact that I have been going through a major transition in my life and I've felt practically turned upside down. I have literally started my life over, and it has not been easy. It took a lot of my time and attention to adjust, but I have. Though it was tough, it brought wonderful changes into my life. A loving partner, a beautiful new daughter (and I can't forget to mention her awesome big brother, though he was with me from the start of these changes) and a new lease on life. I am greatful for all that has come my way, though we still struggle... at least we are sharing the struggle and supporting one another through it.
While I have not had regular access to the online world for some time now (nearly a year), I am FINALLY online again. I will be posting pics of new jewelry soon. I also plan to rejoin the Year of Jewelry Project, or Four Season or whatever they are calling it this go round. lol

FSOJ wk27_funky toggles

Yup... more toggles. These things are so fun they're addictive, I swear!
This time, I decided to make a tear drop shaped toggle so see how it would look on a bracelet. Again, I liked the results. The bracelet itself is nothing to brag about, but the toggle saves it.
Again, the toggle was embellished with a carnelian bead to tie it into the overall bracelet. Which worked fine, but not it didn't look as tailored as I would have liked for it to. I thought it was a super cute toggle, regardless.

FSOJ_wk24_Gold Toggles

I decided I wanted to make a gold fill toggle this go 'round. I was very pleased with how rich it came out looking.
Usually, I think that gold fill looks a little weak next to vermeil (sp?) but after putting this little toggle on I was impressed with just how well it seemed to match in the richness of tone with the vermeil.
The color combo on this bracelet turned out very nice, I thought. The pale green aventurine contrasted very nicely with the golden-brown swarovski's.
The sparkel of the swarovski and the richness of the gold made this bracelet look worth the price. I have really enjoyed playing around wtih making my own toggles. This one, I embellished with a single swarovski to match the bracelet. It give it a very tailored look... like the toggle was made especially for the bracelet, and of course it was! lol Sweeeeet....

FSOJ_wk23_Toggles turn flirty earrings

While I was playing around making more toggles, I thought that a matching pair would make some flirty earrings. I loved the firey red-orange flashes in some new swarovski crystals I bought and I wanted to use them for the project. I hung a earthy orangish zircon briolette in the center of each one... again, my friend bought these up the second she saw them. She's got a fair tan and strawberry blondish hair and they looked so incredible on her! I couldn't help but stroke myself when I saw how great this simple pair of earrings looked on. lol

FSOJ_wk22_More Toggles

Putting some of those hand-made toggles to use, I strung up this quick bracelet, which I loved. If I had made it small enough to fit my tiny wrists, I would have kept it for myself I liked it so much. But alas, it was a little too large for me and that's okay, because it sold before it ever even left my house. :) A friend came over, saw it, fell in love and bought it on site. No complaints here. lol
You can see the detail work on the toggle below. I really like making the toggles themselves so ornate and detailed. It makes the overall piece look much nicer ... it can give a simple strung bracelet a very detailed look. The toggles take no time to make as long as I have my coil all ready to go I can make one of these little pretties in about 5 to 10 minutes. I just love 'em!

Creativity born from Necessity

Creativity by Necessity: Toggle Clasps
I wanted to do some stringing (bracelets, necklaces, etc) and when I sat down to get started, I realized I had virtually no clasps to work with. I sat there pouting, thumbing around in my goodies hoping to be inspired to do something else ... suddenly, as I fondled a bag of scrap silver wire and abandoned projects, inspiration struck. Silly me, I could make my own toggles! And use nothing but scrap wire to do it. And so I set to work.... a series of small works incorporating these hand made toggles followed, as you will see.

FSOJ_wk20_Playing catch up

Well, after a long and painful death of my old hard drive, I am just beginning to recover some of my pictures. I think I may have lost my portfolio of my last 4 years of work - thank goodness I had some pics spread around on the web to steal back. lol I finally got my kodak program loaded up on the tiny hard drive I'm using now, and I'm back in the groove. Though I haven't been able to take and publish pics for the last several weeks, I continued to make jewelry to keep up with the project. While I do not have my adobe photo shop to dress my pics up with signatures and what not, at least I have photos to share again. :) This pendant sis the result of yet another Eni Oken tutorial. Here's my week 20 entry into the Four Seasons of Jewelry project:

FSOJ week 19: Embellished Egyptian Coil

For week 19 I put together this lovely embellished egyptian coil bracelet for the Four Seasons of Jewelry project. Not on theme again, but I seldom follow the optional themes anyway as my muse has a will of her own. :) The egyptian coil technique is as ancient as it sounds, coming to us from the artifacts of ancient Egypt. The identity of the original artist is lost in time, but I often imagine how flattered they would be to know that they created a timeless technique. This bracelet was embellished with bali silver and tanzanite and peridot swarovski bicone crystals to give it a punch of color. The floral clasp combined with the bright colors sets the mood for spring... my favorite time of year. I think I should have oxidized it before I put the crystals on as I am concerned about getting in close enough to buff the bali spacers. I will post a pic of the oxidized bracelet when I get it done.

FSOJ: week 18: Ammolite and Peridot

Finishing up this round of custom work for my Canadian friend, Doug. This is a very large piece of ammolite. I didn't want to do anything too fancy to the bail because I didn't want to add any size to the stone... it is more than ample as it is. From the top of the bail to the bottom of the stone, this pendant probably measures near four inches. It's a beautiful beast though. :D This stone actually has some wonderful peridot green fire on the bottom half - which unfortunately does not show well in the photograph. This is why I chose to add a simple embellishment of peridot to the top... it makes a nice accent. I hope Doug is happy with it...