Category Archives: Necklaces

Metal Work, Necklaces, Pendants, Torch Work, Wire Work

Green Time

March 15, 2011 Karen

I usually try to stay home on St. Patrick’s Day. This was surely brought on by some childhood trauma involving pinching, but I’m not sure of the exact incident. I don’t remember wearing any green garments when I was a child and even today, you can look in my closet and find it basically void of this color. This creates a problem on St. Patrick’s Day. I seem to always encounter someone who believes it’s OK to pinch a person who doesn’t wear green in celebration.

This year, I’ve outsmarted any would-be pincher! I’ve got green jewelry to wear. Actually, I’ve got lots of green jewelry to wear!

While you probably can’t see the wire work on the second piece, it sports hand made copper spacers made from jump rings. They were interesting to make as you hook one ring into the others until they create a beady form.

This cabachon on the left is a very subtle, but beautiful green and white seraphinite that I wired and hung on a handmade chain. The gemstone comes from Magpie Gemstones. (www.magpiegemstones.com)

I layered the pendant on the right, using a simple textured oval with a copper star soldered to it as the base for the bezel. I’ve been cutting a few shapes from very thin copper with scrapbooking punches. I don’t know how long the punches will hold up, but this is certainly easier and neater than when I was trying to cut the more detailed shapes by hand. I have this star and a flower.

Finally, the last necklace wears both greens and blues including turquoise and lapis. I like this combination and think it will be nice with denim as well as other things.

Now there’s a brand new problem for St. Patrick’s Day. Which green necklace am I going to wear? Oh well, this is better than getting pinched! I think I like this problem.

Bezels, Necklaces, Pendants, Philosophy, Techniques, Torch Work, Wire Work

Flow

March 9, 2011 Karen

Yesterday was a day of flow. After several nonproductive days filled with the emotions of life, I was finally able to put things aside and get into what Csikszentmihalyi calls flow. A description follows.

Flow is the mental state of operation in which a person in an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and success in the process of the activity. . . .According to Csíkszentmihályi, flow is completely focused motivation. It is a single-minded immersion and represents perhaps the ultimate in harnessing the emotions in the service of performing and learning. In flow, the emotions are not just contained and channeled, but positive, energized, and aligned with the task at hand. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_(psychology)

I’ve long appreciated the work of this theorist, yet often find his material difficult reading. His contributions to the field of psychology include a plethora of books and articles. I used to draw one of his charts in my workshops showing how flow balances between anxiety and boredom. It seems to me that if we are too relaxed or bored we don’t achieve flow; yet we don’t get there when we are too pressured or anxious. I feel that the need for one or the other (boredom or anxiety) probably depends on the individual. For example, do you work better with or without some degree of pressure? Learning what helps us reach that state of flow can help us achieve productive energy and creativity. If you have interest in this idea, you might enjoy reading some of the work on this topic.

Over the weekend my state of mind had been too far toward the anxious side and I wasn’t able to create anything that I thought was pleasing. By yesterday, however, I managed to relax enough to find my flow and the designs began to move ahead faster than I could work. While some of the photos below show rather plain pieces, they do represent a work that contributed to a feeling of accomplishment. For me, accomplishment leads to increased productivity and flow.

The top row of pieces needs a bit of explanation. The lapis necklace on the left is different enough that it may need to grow on you. The sterling silver form is soldered and wears a small cabachon and tiny silver cup flowers on one side. Balancing produced quite a conundrum, but I eventually made the bead links on silver wire and added the sterling silver rounds and spacers on another piece of wire below them.

I do believe that I must have strung the jasper piece on the top right at least five times while attempting to get it lay just so. Now it sits very nicely on the neck. The photo doesn’t allow you to see the tiny bit of orange in these beads.

The last two photos may end up as one piece. I may replace the pendant on the bottom right necklace which seems pretty bright with the cab pendant on the left. I’m going to wait and see what the customer wants done with this one.

Since flow is not always easy for me to achieve, I’m thankful when it comes. My problem is waiting for it to get here!

Bracelets, gifts, Metal Work, Necklaces, Pendants

Commissioned Pieces

March 6, 2011 Karen

I recently had the fortunate experience of making some special jewelry as a gift. Although the request came from someone I do not know well, the gift was for someone I do know well. This made it much easier. The unique thing about this commissioned work was that the only parameters were to create something the recipient would like within the price range given. Since I know which pieces of my jewelry the person receiving the gift already has, I was able to make something she would not have seen before. It was also fortunate that the giver trusted me and there was no need to email preliminary photos back and forth. Below is a picture of the recipient wearing her new sterling silver and rodochrosite jewelry.

I regret the photographer didn’t show her pretty face with the pieces, so you’ll just have to trust me that she’s a pretty lady. She doesn’t wear many bracelets, possibly because she is a musician and choral director. We wouldn’t want some bracelet to go flying into the choir as she makes a grand motion. That’s why this bracelet has a firm clasp. You can also see that she has a relatively small wrist and custom pieces for her size are a necessity. It was good that I knew all this information prior to making her pieces; otherwise I might have made a dangling bracelet that could have gone flying as she directed.

I guess that what I’m trying to say is that it’s a really good idea to find out all you can if you are asked to make a special piece. Along with inquiring about what colors, stones and metals the person likes, the person’s style, size and even occupation and hobbies might be important. I’m pleased that the recipient of these pieces is happy with them.

Bracelets, Necklaces, Philosophy, Techniques

Adventures in Chaos

February 24, 2011 Karen 2 Comments

It’s OK to read today’s entry. The title could indicate that this will be a discourse on something like the cultural or religious battles that take up much of today’s news casts or a diatribe on our current economy while I sing my own rendition of “it sure isn’t like the old days”. Yet, (thankfully, you say) it pertains to none of the above. This actually is about jewelry design.

Scholars and wordsmiths would likely frown upon my use of the term; yet, the pieces shown today and the manner in which I made them best depict my own definition of chaos. Wikipedia tells us that this term chaos “in Greek mythology and cosmology referred to a gap or abyss at the beginning of the world, or more generally the initial, formless state of the universe”. The term is used in mathematics and science in reference to a specific kind of unpredictability. The latter definition is probably closer to the way I use the word today.

The bracelet shown on the left reminds me of chaos. The wire wrappings are very unpredictable as are the placements of the charms and beads. This is not my original design. It came from a bead magazine I picked up and I certainly regret that I cannot provide the source and the originator. (My apologies to the artist) The magazine has been misplaced.

I used the original bracelet form to create a necklace shown here. I think this piece turned out to be even more interesting than the bracelet. I included silver wire in with the copper which had been given a liver of sulphur bath. Then I hung the beads and charms as chaotically as I could manage. It reminds me a bit of a bird’s nest made by an inept sparrow.

The pieces have the appearance of chaos, but I most enjoyed the freedom of this unpredictable process used to make the pieces. Once you have the basic armature, you begin doing the loose wire wraps that go back and forth, in and out and in between. During the process I just kept shaking my head and thinking this is NOT going to work, but I stuck with it. Then I found it difficult to go ahead and hang the dangles on the loose wrappings. The final venture was wearing the pieces out in public. When the first person stopped to look at and compliment my necklace, I had to feel of it to be sure they meant the chaos necklace. Yet, by the third or fourth compliment, I was prepared to go back home and make another one.

Since, however, I am somewhat of a business minded woman, I think I’ll wait and see if this necklace actually sells before I decide it is a winner. Compliments and money exchange don’t necessarily go hand in hand.

I am intrigued with other ways to use the idea of chaos within design work. Of course it can extend to earrings, rings and pendants in similar form to the pieces shown here. How else might chaos be shown through the designs? That requires some incubation and I’ll let you know if anything hatches. Until then, I hope your life is NOT chaotic, but if it is maybe it will turn out alright like my jewelry pieces.

Bracelets, Metal Work, Necklaces, Pendants, Wire Work

Adventures in Silver

February 9, 2011 Karen

I’ve previously mentioned the astonishing price of sterling silver. Today it is listed by Rio Grande Jewelry Supply (http://www.riogrande.com/news.aspx) at $31.18/ounce. Ouch! It hurts to order sterling silver wire, but I’m making it a practice to look at the current price per ounce on the day my package arrives. It is usually higher the day it comes than the day that I ordered it. I keep thinking it will make me feel better . . . I’m not sure that’s working.

The next step after ordering that sterling silver wire is cutting it. I’m getting much braver and last night, making the bracelet shown here, I actually forgot about the price. Later, when I looked up the amount of wire used and the price for the silver I was extremely glad I didn’t mess up the bracelet!

The armature for this one is an attempt at another style, besides the wave, that is slightly adjustable. This one has some play in it.

Supported by successful feelings about the bracelet, I worked on a sterling silver necklace this morning. It features fused silver pieces in the front and I completed it with a hand made chain. (I AM going to get those handmade jump rings to be my friend . . . soon. I hope. It’s amazing how much better a job I do when I put on those silly reading glasses. (The optometrist told me what would happen to my eyes after age 40. He forgot to warn me about 60.)

I also finished a much simpler sterling piece where I soldered a bezel to sheet metal and then soldered a small part of that metal to a wire armature. I purchased chain for this longer necklace.

Finally, the last photo shows one of the mixed metal pendants I mentioned in another blog entry. It has a pretty modern look which isn’t normal for me, but it’s a start on the mixed metal layers!

Now that I have completed a few sterling silver pieces, the next step is to price them and then see if there are customers out there who don’t mind paying more for this metal. If so, there will be less pain the next time I place an order for sterling silver wire and sheet metal. If not . . . well, I guess I’ll be sticking with copper.

Creativity, Metal Work, Necklaces, Pendants, Torch Work, Wire Work

Layering

February 7, 2011 Karen

The cold snap that has fallen upon my warm climate location has resulted in considerable layering of clothing. Since we are not used to frigid temperatures, I don’t have wool sweaters and warm leggings. Yet, I learned last week that if you just put on enough layers of what you do have, warm cometh! There is, obviously a concomitant issue: how many layers can one person don and still be able to move around?

Having successfully layered my clothing, I felt the need to explore the layering of metal. Most of my metal pendants are pretty large and I was attempting to created something a bit smaller.

The first pendant shown, all in copper, happened accidentally when a small piece of copper I had cut from the middle of a circle fell upon a larger piece. This is a really good reason (or excuse) for not keeping the workbench too neat and tidy. The layers of the pendant are soldered together. I like this pendant, but kept hearing a little voice in my ear saying “where’s the gemstone?” For the next pendant, I added another parameter. I wanted something small, layered and with a gemstone.

Finally, I wanted one more addition to the pendant factory process. . . sawing. I was gifted a saw for Christmas and have had minor success with it. Sunday it was time for real saw action. Sawing is not easy and I can see that it will take considerable time to refine this technique. Yet, the organic look in the next pendant is a start. the problem statement for it was “in what ways might I combine sawing, layering and a gemstone in a metal pendant?”

This one, too, is interesting, but I didn’t achieve smaller . . . I left that term out of my problem statement and it didn’t happen. Actually, I do not think I’m ready to saw “smaller” at this time.

I found the most difficult part of the process for the pendant with gemstones pertains to the order of events. On the silver pendant, I soldered the bezel to the sheet metal first and then attached the wire stem and finally the leaves. I tried to change this order on the last pendant. I soldered the small copper pieces on first and then when I heated the metal during the bezel soldering process, the copper pieces fell off. That, of course, makes sense to me now, but I guess you learn by doing.

Today, I’m interested in trying some mixed sheet metal in the pendants. I’ll let you know if that process is worth sharing. The next time you put on all the layers of clothing just pretend you’re a gorgeous pendant!

Bezels, Creativity, Necklaces, Pendants, Philosophy, Torch Work, Wire Work

Resistance to Closure OR Procrastination?

January 28, 2011 Karen

Several sleepless nights this week left piddlin’ in my studio wondering what to do when you are too sleepy to do much of anything. Have you ever felt that way? During one of those times, I located a number of UFOs (unfinished objects) and pondered the current state of my work.

My need for closure used to require that I rush to complete each piece. My head knew that this was not a good thing since creative people are supposed to be amble to remain open for all the artistic possibilities that might present themselves. When you decide on an idea or problem solution (close) too quickly, there’s less opportunity to exercise true creativity. This is one of the areas rated on many formal creativity tests. Yes, my head knew I should resist closure, but I still willed myself to “get it done”.

Because I understand this need to resist closure, I consciously try to remain open and therefore lay some things (pendants in particular) aside while I consider various alternatives for completing them. Apparently, I got carried away with this little practice and during one of my late night/early morning studio carousings, I discovered what I had wrought. I had an entire pile (a little exaggeration) of things left undone.

Then it hit me. Creative gurus teach that we are supposed to diverge and then converge. During my divergence, I was resisting closure and laying things aside while I thought of the myriad of possibilities for how each could be used. But, oops, I forgot the rest of the teaching . . . CONVERGE! During convergence, we are to pull the ideas together, make a decision and, in my words, finish the work. I didn’t do the latter.

So, on that fateful day, it was time to CONVERGE. (Can you here my battle cry?) I devoted one day to getting those pieces in some sort of completion form. I made the pendant for the first one, “Wing It”, last May upon coming home from a boutique run where a customer said that’s what she does. Oh well, it’s only January; but it was time for something to hatch.

It only took a short while to attach the riveted pendant to some chain and add a few dangles. What took me so long?

The next piece sports a pendant provided by one of the boutiques. The owner had it on a simple silver wire and it had not sold. She sent it home with me before Thanksgiving saying “DO SOMETHING” and she hasn’t seen it since. It’s time! I hope the store owner likes it. She will certainly be surprised to see it again and will probably take it just to get her pendant back.

I cannot honestly say how long I’ve considered the use of this S shaped pendant armature. I know it has been several months since I repeatedly annealed and whacked this shape. At the time, I just wanted to see if I could hammer a piece to the extent that a couple of my friends do in their pieces. This week, however, it finally turned into a necklace.

This one is fairly long and dangles from a doubled leather cord.

Finally, I found two bracelet armatures all formed and tumbled, just hanging around waiting for embellishment. They are now properly adorned.

It’s good to finish these pieces and I’m glad I didn’t follow my urge to just throw them away when I first found them. They were worth completing. Yet, now I wonder whether I was really being creative on these by resisting closure or if I was just plain procrastinating. I think it’s resistance to closure when you are not sure that all the possible ideas have been explored on a piece and you are remaining open to receive those great thoughts. That was definitely the case on two or three of these pieces. However, I have known what to do with those bracelet armatures for a while and just didn’t want to do it. That is plain old procrastination! Shame on me! Will it every happen in this studio again . . . . . I can defiantly say “YES!” Now I hope to resist closure when needed and beware of that other phenomenon.

Earrings, Metal Work, Necklaces, Pendants, Wire Work

Bird Brain

January 23, 2011 Karen

It’s Cedar Fever season in my neck of the woods and it tends to make me feel a bit dull. After doing a few things that I felt weren’t too smart the past few days, the term “bird brain” popped into my mind. I don’t actually think that anyone has ever called me that derogatory term, but I have heard it used before. So, I wondered. Is it right that when you aren’t functioning at a real high level could you be experiencing the “bird brain” phenomenon?

As it turns out, being called “bird brain” might be a compliment. While scientists used to believe that most of a bird’s brain was a primitive and instinctual structure, recent discoveries indicate that about 75 percent of the brains of songbirds actually serve as a sophisticated information processing center. Many songbirds actually have a more powerful processing center than mammals. The bird’s brain is pretty small, but it’s also quite mighty.

I made a bird necklace yesterday in honor of those little brains everywhere.

The bird is difficult to spot on the copper pendant. I used a nice stamp pad of a bird scene to apply stop out to the metal and then etched it. A close up photo follows. It is much clearer in reality.

I hung the earrings on the necklace for photo taking purposes and wanted to show you the new twisted wire I’m trying out. Although the ends are difficult to deal with, I like the look of this wire. I also used it for a couple of swirls in the handmade chain on the necklace shown in the next photo.

From now on, when I’m struggling with those high cognitive processes, I will not think about bird brains. I will simply hope that my brain is half as power packed as those little song birds.

Tweet … tweet!

Bracelets, Color, Metal Work, Necklaces, Pendants, Wire Work

Spring is in the Cold Air

January 21, 2011 Karen 2 Comments

Yesterday was one of the coldest days we’ve had this season in South Texas. Although I am seldom chilled while hammering, torching and working with my tools, yesterday was an exception. I was trying to imagine warm Spring breezes blowing across the bluebonnets and women in cotton dresses and floppy hats out enjoying the day. Alas, it was a very big stretch to say the least.

If you are a designer or type of merchant who makes changes in merchandise with the seasons, you may be experiencing my difficulty. At the height of a given season or perhaps even before that season begins, we need to switch gears and plan for the next one. So here goes. I’m layered in warm clothes from head to toe and I have the Spring palette of colors laid out to work with. It just doesn’t seem right, but it IS necessary.

Luckily, the owner of Dovetails of Wimberley gave me the Casual Corners catalogue displaying the Spring line. I’m using it to help plan jewelry to go with the garments. Take a look at the beautiful mixture of colors shown in the catalogue.

Inspired by these photos, I began to play with the fiber I had on hand. This included yarns, ribbons and cording.

This gave me a better understanding of what colors coordinated and might work best in beads.

I’ve begun now to work with the beads matching these colors that I got from Magpie Gemstones (www.magpiegemstones.com). I can show you the one new bracelet below and the lapis necklace that just went into my etsy shop (www.dreamcatcherdesigns.etsy.com).

I used a new style armature for the bracelet and think it will be nice for those customers who have enjoyed the wave bracelets. This one is not as wide and displays more gemstones and pearls.

The lapis necklace is a piece that finally hatched. I made the pendant at least two months ago and then it sat and sat on the work table waiting for further inspiration. The blues from the Casual Corner catalogue finally led me to finish this piece. Just a few charoite beads help set off the color of the lapis and make it look more like Spring.

Today, the sun is out even though it is still cold outside. I guess I’ll have to continue to imagine the warmth of the Spring breezes. I think I’ll go put on a floppy hat to get in the right frame of mind.

Bracelets, Earrings, Necklaces, Wire Work

Do You Have a Frienemy?

January 17, 2011 Karen 2 Comments

You’ve probably seen the commercial on television that pertains to losing weight in which a woman calls the bathroom scale her “frienemy”. Evidently and obviously, she is encouraged to lose weight by the reading on the scale while at the same time disgusted by the same number. I CAN relate to the enemy part, but not as well to the friend dimension.

My camera is my frienemy. I’m still trying hard to get my wire technique perfected and lately have been pleased with the way the handmade jump rings close and how the wire looks post hammering. I’ve been pleased, that is, until I’ve viewed them in a close up photograph. Then I can’t believe I’m looking at the same piece of jewelry. Those beautiful closed rings are NOT perfect. That camera is definitely my enemy!

While it’s not as noticeable in this size picture as it is on my large screen computer, you may be able to see the less than perfect jump ring closures and the dent in the head pin wire. I can’t imagine how they got there between the time I completed the earrings and the time I took this photo.

Yet, as I look back at photos of older pieces, I do see some progress in my technique. For one thing, I now know what to look for whereas I used to just be happy with a sort of roundish ring that held together. I can also see that I’m doing better than I used to do and that makes the camera my friend since it has documented change over time.

The close up photos also help me find all the little wire ends on bracelets that need to be tucked under. Even if I wear my reading glasses, I sometimes miss a few, but the camera doesn’t lie and it finds them all.

So what should a girl do with a camera frienemy? Thinking of the camera as my enemy and admonishing this inanimate object for making me look bad isn’t the answer. Also, it won’t do any good to plead with the camera to take a less upsetting photo. Therefore, I’m going to have to work with the friend dimension of my camera. I’m going to try taking a picture of my work sooner rather than later in the design process. This should provide a golden opportunity to spot and correct any technical flaws before proceeding to the next step. Often after I’m moved on, it’s too late to go back and fix certain things.

OK Camera – I’ve decided to let you be a friend. Now act like one and help me improve!

Dreamcatcher Designs