Sunday Special

For this weeks Sunday Special I am offering Free Shipping on all the products in my store. This offer will remain open until I post Tuesday's blog (approx 6.30am Brisbane time (GMT+10.00)). When purchasing any of my pieces use the code word "blog" in the special instructions, pay as normal, and I will refund the shipping cost.

Vary the Concept!

A few days ago I blogged about one concept, three designs. Well, for my latest pair of earrings, I varied the concept. Rather than building a square up around a bead I built up a triangle. This took a bit more figuring in terms of measurements as each end of the wire could no longer be treated the same as it was for the square. I used a faceted rose quartz bead, and thinner wire than I have been using for the squares. The result - My Rosy Triangles, a dainty, very original, pair of earrings.

Friday Favourites

Aqua Leather Orchid Bag
by Stacyleigh

Silver Wire Bangles - And now.....

After coming up with some of my own styles of silver wire bangles using the starting points of square wire and Swarovski crystals, I wanted to develop the design ideas even further - after all, potentially the possibilities were endless. I have since used thicker wire, I have used gemstones, and a cabachon, I have used patterned wire. Just give me some wire and beads and tell me to make a bangle and I will be quite happy! Below are a few more of my pieces.

JETs

Another one of the Etsy street teams that I belong to is the JETs, Jewelry on Etsy Team. Unlike the DUST team, the JET team is a global team with members in many countries - the one thing we have in common is that we all make jewellery (or if you prefer Jewelry). The mission of the JET team is to increase all our sales and exposure by promoting, both inside & outside of Etsy, our own shops and those of other Jewelry on Etsy Team (JET) members while nurturing friendships, providing support, and sharing tips and techniques with other jewelry designers that sell on Etsy.

Silver Wire Bangles - Developing

Following on from my previous post on Silver Wire Bangles.........

Having completed a tutorial, I then started to look at ways I could develop my own designs following the same principles. To begin with I was still using the combination on square wire and Swarovski crystals. I played around with the arrangements of the crystals to see what I could do with them.

One design I came up with was a Peach Bow. I was really pleased with this design and very upset when it went missing in the post after sending it as a birthday present to my sister.




Another design I developed following the same principles was my Palace Green Diamonds bangle. Once again, I was really pleased with how this turned out.

Monday Features

A fellow jeweller, also based here in Australia, is Natalia of Realisation Creations. She makes some gorgeous pieces, all one offs, using vintage beads, luxe gemstones, ceramics, and Bali and Karen Silver. Natalia states that "the more eclectic the mix - the better".



A great photographer, who regularly sees her work published is Julie of JulieMagersSoulen. Based in Colorado she was always drawn to the images she could create on film. The tools she uses now have changed from film and chemistry to digital images and computer software. But the joy of creating unique and compelling art is something that will remain, always, in her heart.

Sunday Special

From this week I will be introducing a Sunday Special each week. The special will be some sort of special offer in relation to my Etsy store applicable to one or to a group of items in my store. The offer will last for approx 48 hours - until I post my Tuesday blog.

So for this weeks Sunday Special - I am offering 15% discount on all my chainmaille bracelets from now and until Tuesday when I post my blog (approx 6.30am Brisbane time (GMT+10.00)). When purchasing one of the bracelets use the code word "blog" in the special instructions, pay as normal, and I will refund the 15% discount.

Silver Wire Bangles - Beginnings

As a subscriber to the Step By Step Wire magazine I see many lovely tutes - but one that really caught my attention was a tutorial for a Victorian style bracelet. It was a wire wrapped bangle incorporating Swarovski crystals. It was in following this tute and creating the bangle pictured below that my love for, and journey into creating wire wrapped bangles began.

Friday Favourites

Wild Gypsy Air
by
Emily Balivet

Evolving Designs

When making pieces with chainmaille, because it is quite structured, I generally know what my design is and what I want my finished piece to look like. However, when it comes to wirework, with the fluidity of wire, my pieces often evolve as I am creating them. A good example of this is with my "Entangled" necklace. My initial design plan was to take an Eni Oken style bangle design and expand it into a necklace and the base row of the necklace started with that in design in mind. However, as you will see from the completed piece, the design then evolved..........

One Concept, Three Designs

When playing with my wire, I had the concept that I wanted to build a square up around a bead. Using square wire, I centered the bead on the wire and then shaped the wire around the bead to build a square. This led to my geometric square bracelet, a tutorial for which is now on my Etsy site.



Enjoying this concept of building up from the inside out, I then designed a square without a central bead to create a pair of earrings.









Finally (so far anyway) I then used a different shaped bead to build a rectangle up, adding some embellishments along the way, to create my Kambaba Frames necklace.

DUST

As a seller on Etsy, a great market site for all things handmade, I am a member of a number of Street Teams. These are teams of people that have something in common, be it type of product, location or something else.

One of the street teams I am a member of is DUST. DUST (Down Under Street Team) is a group of Australian Artists, Craftpeople and Artisans who support Etsy and wish to promote independent Handcrafted Goods here in Australia and worldwide. Australia is full of talented designers and Artisans and we wish to support each other by drawing attention to the diverse range of Art and Handicrafts available here in Australia. Check out DUST here: http://dustteam.com

Chrysanthemum Chain

This is a chainmaille weave that I'm excited about sharing with you because it is one that I invented. I have called it Chrysanthemum because that is what each link reminds me of:

So what do you think?

Dragonscale

One of my favourite mediums for creating jewellery is chainmaille, a medieval art once used in the making of armour. One of the things I love about maille are the fact that there are so many different weaves, with new weaves being invented all the time.

One of my favourite weaves is Dragonscale. Using two different sized rings, with the rings slightly overlapping each other it resembles the scales that you would see on a fish, a mermaid, and of course a dragon.

Two of the pieces that I have made using the dragonscale weave show how versatile weaves can be. The first is a traditional dragonscale weave bracelet, closely interlocking rings making for a beautiful, solid, slinky looking bracelet. The second I have called Dragonscale Diamonds. Using sightly larger rings leaving the weave slightly more open that the first chain, I have then shaped the sides of the bracelet to create my diamond shapes.

An Introduction

Hi All,

This is my first blog and my first post - I guess everyone has to start somewhere!

Anyway, my name is Sharon and I am the Jewellery designer behind Shazzabeth Creations. My journey with jewellery design started just over three years ago when I took my first ever beading class. Who could know that I would fall in love with the craft so completely and would never look back. Initially starting out with stringing and wire loops, I soon discovered chainmaille and wirework - and thats where my love really developed. Although I like to still do the occassional strung necklace or bracelet, the majority of my pieces are now created using either chainmaille, wirework, or a combination of the two.

Over time, I hope to be able to share some of my designs and inspirations with you.

Sharon