Sunday Themes - Coral

My theme for this week is Coral. Coral as you will know originally starts life as a marine organism. Harvested from the reefs the "shells" or skeletons of these corals are then used to create the coral material used in jewelry and sculptures etc.

Traditionally a deep red colour, coral can also come in a variety of shades of pink. Coral is now therefore also recognised as a deep red colour.

My piece for this theme uses the colour of coral.

The pieces below, from the JET team all use actual coral.

(L to R, Top to Bottom, LittleBugJewelry, BeadsMe, LotusStone, KatalineJewelry)

Charoite and Amethyst Fancy Wired Bangle

My latest creation incorporating a cab is my Charoite and Amethyst Fancy Wired Bracelet. I have had this beautiful cab for a while now and wanted to do something special with it.

Whereas with my previous cab bangles the cab has been wired into the core wires of the bangle, this time the bangle and the cab were done separately with the wires holding the cab then used to lock the cab onto the bangle base.

The bangle base has several twisted wires and some of the wires wrapping the cab are also twisted. These wires, once they have locked the cab onto the bangle base have then had Amethyst and sterling beads added to them and they have then been made into coils and swirls.

Friday Favourites

Dreaming
by
Wildlight Studios

Art Made By Tammy

Tammy, a fellow member of the JET team, has many beautiful pieces of jewellery in her Etsy store - Art Made By Tammy. Tammy uses various mediums in her jewelry and her unique collection includes many different styles form vintage to modern chic - all well worth checking out.

However, for me, the pieces in Tammy's store that really stand out are those that combine her artistic skills with her jewellery (and yes, all jewellery makers are artistic but in this instance I mean art as in painting). Some great examples of what I mean can been seen below.

Precious Metal Art Pink Rose Flower

Precious Metal Art Lagoon Poppy Flower


Pink Butterfly Lounging on a Flower

Cats Eyes Mini Art Painted Pendant

Amazonite Wired Pendant

I have gathered quite a collection of cabs as I just love to be creative when wrapping them.

This time I chose an Amazonite cab and wrapped it to produce an elegant pendant. I chose to go slightly asymmetrical with the securing wires, with an edged look on one side with a streak of lightening effect on the other. There are then two sweeps of wires coming across each side of the pendant, some twisted, and a bevy of coils on top of the pendant.

So, my Amazonite and Sterling Pendant.

Friday Favourites

Gray Suede Python Patch Bag
by
LIMI Loves Bags

Cabochon Rings

I have been having fun lately creating rings with cabochons and sterling silver wire. They are proving to be quite popular at the markets too with one even selling before I had a chance to take a picture! Below are some of the rings I've recently listed on Etsy:

My biggest problem is knowing what size to make them, and of course different people like wearing them on different fingers - so I am running a poll (in the side bar) to try and gauge what sort of ring sizes people are, please join in with it.

JET of the Day

I have received a fantastic write up as the JET of the day on the JET team blog - check it out!

The handcrafted jewelry offered by Shazzabeth Creations is truly amazing. Even to another jewelry artist who knows how its done! The time and dedication needed to make the more complicated pieces in this shop is a real commitment. You need focus and steady hands, and many, many feet of wire to reach your goal. This is a true jewelry artist!

RIP Heidi 03/10/98 - 07/03/10

My gorgeous girl, gone but never to be forgotten. You will be sadly missed.

BrisStyle Indie Market

Yes, its that time again - the ever exciting BrisStyle Indie Market is on again this Saturday in Hamilton, Brisbane. This is a great market to come to for high quality hand made goods. The designers and artisans at the market sell everything form jewellery (of course), to bags, to children's clothes, to accessories, to dog coats, to ceramics to artwork! Visit the BrisStyle Blog for all the posts on the stall holders for the coming market. Hope to see you there!

Opal and Sterling Necklace

As you may have gathered from earlier blog posts I am a sucker for opals so when it came to designing a piece in which to showcase some gorgeous boulder opal beads that I had I needed to ensure that the design was totally original and displayed the opals without detracting from them.

I decided to just use silver feeling that I couldn't choose any other beads without detracting from the sparkles of colour in the opal.

I came up with a fuid wrapped design that circles around the opals, the theme then carrying through the rest of the chain to the clasp. I see the design as a modern take on a medieval style.

So here it is, my Boulder Opal and Sterling Necklace.

I was thrilled when I realised last week that I had received a "sunshine Award" for my blog from a beading buddie of mine, Sandee of SanDeeLee Design. It really made my day.

Now the "rules" when receiving this blog award are as follows:

- Put the Sunshine image on your blog or within your post.

- Pass the award onto six bloggers

- Link the nominees within your post.

- Let the nominees know they have received this award by commenting on their blog.

- Share the love and link to the person from whom you received this award.

So saying, I would now like to share the sunshine with these great fellow crafters and bloggers:

• Histoire De Soie

• Mandy Harvey aka Beadsme

• Little Diva Designs

• Grandma Marilyn's

• Michon Jewelry

• Jealousy Design