Category Archives: Necklaces

gifts, Metal Work, Necklaces, Pendants, Philosophy, Torch Work, Wire Work

Charming: Another Word for Sharing

December 20, 2010 Karen

I have previously mentioned a group with which I meet once a month. We get together and share ideas about working with wire and other materials for jewelry design. Although I’m not a “joiner”, I really enjoy this group and we’ve met together for over a year without any big arguments. That’s probably because we are a “faux” society. We have no rules, no officers, no dues and no big events to plan. This is probably why we get along so well.

We decided to exchange charms for Christmas. Rather than the usual exchange by designers where participants bring one thing and leave with someone else’s piece, we brought a charm for each person. I walked away with 12 different charms. Some were wired while others were soldered creating an array of very different looking objects. It was fun to see how each person approached the task of making charms in her own unique way.

I used the charms on the necklace shown here. They hang from copper tubing purchased at the hardware store. The charms are separated in a few places by larger copper tubing cut into small links. Without these pieces and the extra wire wrappings all the charms sat right on top of one another and refused to show their personality.

The tubing hangs from several types of fibers including yarn, silk cord and ribbon. I also attached a small copper chain. These hang down in the back where the closure is a handmade hook and oval. You may have seen something similar to this piece (minus the wonderful charms) in a recent beading magazine.

It’s fun to wear this piece and look down at the charms. I know who made each one and the piece reminds me that we are all so unique; yet, we can come together and make a beautiful whole.

After the experience of sharing with this group and creating this piece, I read about a group where each person contributed to necklaces that traveled around the world. The latest Belle Armoire Jewelry, Winter 2011 shares Around the World: A Necklace Round-Robin starting on page 24. I gleaned from the article that each participant started a necklace, creating several inches, and then mailed it to the next person. Individuals added specified lengths to each necklace when it arrived. The gals also kept a blog or journal about what they were adding and how it was created. In the end, each person received a necklace that had been “around the world” having traveled to several different countries. Pictures of these necklace show them to be as eclectic as mine above.

There are so many ways to share this time of year. Christmas, hopefully, brings out the best in all of us. The simple sharing of your talent is priceless. Whether you share a visual art form, the gift of gab, the sound of your music or a simple glow that makes others feel good, we all seem to feel better when we give and share.

Yesterday, as I left the nursing home where my mother resides, one of the aides waved at me and said he hoped I got everything I wanted for Christmas. You know, I couldn’t think of a thing I really wanted except healthy and happy friends and family. When I told him that, he knowingly smiled and understood. I wish the same for all of you.

Merry Christmas!

Necklaces, Pendants, Techniques, Torch Work, Wire Work

Swirling

December 5, 2010 Karen

I thought the wind would take all of our Fall leaves this week, but a few hardy souls remain. We’re not especially used to the blustering breezes nature just sent us, but the movement of the trees outside my studio window seemed to symbolize the rushing of people as they ready for the holidays. Of course the people are gathering as the trees are shedding. I hope the gathering brings good fortune to our local merchants.

I’ve been doing a bit of swirling myself this week – round and round and round. I saw a pendant made of three wire swirls in a catalogue my friend brought me. The swirls graduated from large to small in a straight line as they layered at the edge of one another. Of course, I couldn’t just make that one, mine would need to be different. Eventually, my pendant became a necklace composed of five circle swirls.

These swirls are soldered together and finished with a dark patina and a tumble. I liked this look and decided to enlarge it. Then I learned that often “less is more”. The larger necklace has the same number of swirls, but they have bigger diameters.

Before starting this piece, I didn’t realize how much more difficult it would be to keep the rounds held together. I kept adding solder to these circle hoping to connect the parts of each round. This, of course, led to solder showing on the front. Hmm . . . now what? The dark patina on the first piece did a nice job of covered the solder, but didn’t do as well on the larger piece. Also, the swirls continued to want to pull apart. Finally, I soldered a wire to the back of the necklace alleviating this problem.

You can see the solder still showing in this photo. Since it was also showing on the front of the main circle, I soldered a bezel and placed a charoite cab (from magpiegemstones.com) on the front.

Hurray! Following one last patina that required extra Q-tip applied liver of sulphur in spots to cover that stubborn solder, the piece went for a tumble and was complete. The last picture shows the different in size between the two necklaces. Both of these are fairly heavy and used a good deal of wire. This was fine in copper, but I think I will curtail my plans for making this in sterling silver until prices for this wire go down. Do you think that will ever happen? It’s possible that the only way I’ll see this in silver made from my studio is to let that solder flow on the top!

The wind blows gently today, but bodes of cooler South Texas weather. I wonder what ideas it will bring me this week.

Necklaces, Techniques, Wire Work

Obsessive . . .

December 3, 2010 Karen 1 Comment

. . . chaining. An obsession is an idea that cannot be gotten rid of by reasoning. I’ve created so many designs with chain in the last week that I’m wondering if this is an obsession. Most of us largely consider an obsession to be negative, but I’m pretty pleased with the new necklace designs. Do you think an obsession could be positive?

The chaining phase I’m in initiated with a piece that has already found a home, but it led to two necklaces that have the same designs, but different stones.

Next, I made a couple of variations on this style. The first one featured faceted black onyx beads and it went quickly to its new owner. This second piece is done in turquoise with a bone eagle and other stones. You can see that all the wire components of these pieces are handmade including the headpins. I had not intended to make the latter, but on the evening that I wanted to attached the gemstones, I was completely out of headpins. So, I made a date with torch and balled them myself. I’m still facinated with how you can hold a piece of wire in the flame and a little ball forms and crawls up the wire. I lost a few of these balls as I was watching them climb the wire. They got too big and fell right off! I think I finally gave in on the turquoise piece and went to the store for “boughtin” pins.

Eventually, I grew weary of making jump rings and tried a different design with purchased chain. Also, I wanted a mixed metal look. I was attempting to achieve a “no droop” effect with this piece and made a looped half neck ring to stabilize the design. I attached a handmade chain to finish it off and give it more motion. There is a cluster of faceted black onyx beads on one side of the necklace. I don’t know if this will be as popular as the pieces with gemstones, but I think it has lots of potential. Gemstones or pearls could easily find their way on to this piece.

So do you think I’m being obsessive with the chaining? Probably! But, I choose to think I’m just putting in a lot of good practice to improve my skill in making chains. I don’t think I need to go to the doctor yet!

By the way a couple of these pieces are in my etsy shop if you want to check them out. http://www.etsy.com/listing/63457769/turquoise-and-copper-chain-necklace

Necklaces, Pendants, Torch Work, Wire Work

Crisscrossed

November 28, 2010 Karen

The internet’s free dictionary says that crisscrossed means “. . . To move back and forth through or over. . . “ It makes me think of a snake swimming across our pond in a serpentine pattern or Dixie, our blue heeler (cattle dog) crisscrossing behind a bunch of cows as she tries to get them to move in the right direction. She just gets one side of the bunch going and then has to cross behind them to the other side to get those stranglers moving. By going back and forth, the cows eventually go the right way.

There certainly are some beautiful jewelry designs that feature crisscrossing strands or wires. I worked with this idea and hope to be on the right track. I wanted the waves of these crisscrosses to be consistent, but found that especially difficult to construct. Although I measured carefully and worked with care, when I put the two separate pieces of wire together and curved them for the neck pieces, they became a bit whoppy jawed. (Is that an Oklahoma term?) Alas, I finally just went with that look and once again called the work “organic”. I never actually thought of sterling silver as organic, but today it is!

You can grasp the idea of the crisscrosses more easily by observing the following pictures. The close up of the silver shows that the main piece is attached to my hand made chain.

The copper wire in the other photo shows a better view of how the two pieces of molded wire crisscross together to form the neck wire.

I made the silver dangles from heavy gauge fine silver wire using the torch to fuse each ring. I then hammered and textured the pieces. I tried putting on more dangles, but three turned out to look the best.

The second necklace shown here displays larger crisscrosses. It wasn’t what I envisioned, but I do like the shape. The dangles on this piece have either blue or red copper patinas made with household products. I’m still debating whether to leave them on or take them off as the piece looks fine without them. What do you think?

Crisscrosses have many possibilities for use in designs and they present me with a nice new challenge not only for necklaces, but also earrings, bracelets and pendant wrappings. Look for more of this design in another entry. If you don’t see any in a few weeks, you’ll know they just didn’t work out. I believe it’s OK to take a challenge and fail. You just have to try!

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

Like a White Tornado

November 25, 2010 Karen

Like many of you have probably been doing, I’ve been racing around the last few days cleaning my house to prepare for company. The phrase “like a white tornado” kept creeping into my thoughts only I seemed to be moving like a GREY tornado. My interpretation of that means an older slower version of a cleaning wonder. The more I thought about it, the more I wondered if a “white” tornado is racist. Go ahead and laugh, strange things enter my head when I’m inhaling those cleaning products.

I seized the opportunity to sit down at the computer and prove how silly my question really was. The initial information provided online was about a cleaning product, Ajax, and a slogan used to advertise it in 1972. No wonder I thought about this phrase;, that’s when my son was born and I was “into” cleaning. This link should take you to a video of one of the commercials used for Ajax. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vurmg1yffg The commercial could lead you to believe that the product makes cleaning go faster. That’s when, at the rate I was moving, I was sure I was a grey tornado this week.

I was still curious about white tornadoes and found more information which might have produced the idea behind the Ajax slogan. I learned about white tornadoes from http://www.chaseday.com/tornadoes.htm : A tornado can appear white when it is “front lit” by the sun. Since most of them are photographed with the sun behind them, they look black or dark grey. (Perhaps being a grey tornado isn’t that bad.) You may also see a white cloud of water rotating into a froth at the base of the tornado. I’m sure you’ve really been wondering about that for quite a while.

The picture at the top shows my version of what might be left behind by a white tornado. The “ditch” in it reminds me of what I was taught as a girl in tornado alley Oklahoma. If you are out when you see a tornado coming and you can’t get to shelter, lie down as flat as possible in the ditch beside the road. I’m thankful I never had to do that.

I’m also thankful for readers like you who go all the way to the end of my entries, even those that are silly like this one. Happy Thanksgiving!

Bezels, Metal Work, Necklaces, Pendants, selling, Wire Work

Who IS the Customer?

October 20, 2010 Karen

Many articles that discuss getting started selling things advise us to question “who is the customer?” Unfortunately for me, I’ve often ignored that question because the boutiques I serve are so varied. Magnify that by the fact that each store’s customers are pretty varied as well and the equation about the customer is pretty overwhelming. Yet, this week I’ve found that I really needed to stop and ask that question as I prepared to call on a particular boutique. This new boutique caters to the younger set and in the past the owner has suggested I needed some pieces made with chain or leather ropes. My more heavily beaded pieces just weren’t what she needed. One day, while in this store, a girl about high school age came in and tried on clothes. As I watched her, I finally “got it” and realized I did need some pieces with leather, chain and ribbon.

I felt this wasn’t my style initially, but as I’ve made a valid attempt at it this week, I’m excited to be trying something new. It may allow me to expand the options for all my customers.

The first two pictures show necklaces made with a good deal of chain. The mahogany bead piece has handmade copper chain in the back with handmade copper jump ring dangles in the front. The second piece is similar in style, but utilized both hand made copper chain and plated silver chain. I added beads to every other jump ring in the front.

I think these pieces turned out OK, because they have both sold before I even call on the customer for whom I made them.

I also experimented with ribbon and leather cord for a few pieces. I know designers often work with ribbon, but it was tedious for me. My thumbs are quite ruff from working with metal and wire, so the ribbon kept sticking to them and raveling. Fray check for ribbon ends has now become my friend.

The necklace on the right sports a green amber cabachon wrapped with dull aluminum wire. It hangs from a dyed silk cord I purchased at a bead show. The organza ribbon bow can be removed.

I made several other pieces on the leather cord which are not pictured here and hope to also work with the black velvet ribbon I purchased.

I do not yet know if the customer for which I designed these pieces will like them, but I do know that thinking specifically about “who” the customer is influenced what I designed. I’ve found this to be true before. Once, I was commissioned to create a pin for someone whose bout with cancer was concluding. As I thought about the patient, the pin just seemed to make itself. Another time, a western wear store that usually sells sterling silver wanted to try some copper and that influenced the design of the piece shown here.

So, “who is the customer?” Apparently, my customer is the boutique for whom I am visiting next. Today while scheduling my next trip to a specific Texas Hill Country shop, the owner said “you know what I like”. Yes, I do and in the next weeks I’ll be designing specifically with her in mind.

Know your customer. This can open some avenues of design that I never imagined. But sometimes, I want to remember that I am the customer too and create just exactly what I LIKE!

Bracelets, Earrings, Necklaces, Techniques, Torch Work, Wire Work

When Gold Turns to Silver

October 6, 2010 Karen

I believe this saying has to do with the color of someone’s hair (Knoffler sang something about when the gold of her hair has turned to silver). It might also represent a tact for saving money in the jewelry design business. With today’s spot price for silver at a practically intolerable $22.70/ounce, it’s still more economical to use than gold which lists at $1,330.50 per ounce. You won’t see me using any gold any time soon.

Of course, that’s the same thing I said about silver last year. I was working exclusively with copper, a good deal of which came from the recycling establishment. Lately, however, feeling that my skill has progressed, I’ve delved a bit into silver wire. Today’s photos show the use of fine silver which fuses to itself without solder. Sterling silver requires the use of solder for fusing. One problem that arises with fine silver is just how quickly it melts. My pieces have a few bumps on them where the metal got too hot. Still, I feel it is better to see small flaws that lumpy solder.

The first pair of earrings turned out much bigger than I anticipated, but they do make a statement. I’ve wanted to incorporate seed beads with the wire for some time and enjoyed using needle and fishing line to attach these embellishments to the ovals. They are very lightweight.

The second pair of earrings is, obviously, just a simple set of ovals.

Also, I fused some fine silver circles and put them on a double strand of sterling silver wire. This piece is very simple and delicate. It was trickier than I expected when I tried to get the circles to hang correctly.

What’s a girl to do with earrings, a necklace and no bracelet? I answered that question by getting brave and using some 14 gauge sterling silver wire to make a small simple wave bracelet. I’m still debating as to whether or not to embellish it with beads.

These pieces are a very different style than what I usually make, but were fun to do once I got past my panic of cutting the expensive wire.

I suppose the title to this blog entry should really read When the Copper Turns to Silver since that’s the change I made today. I’m just too much of a tight wad to work with gold right now. They don’t ever seem to have any at the recycling place!

Metal Work, Necklaces, Pendants, Philosophy, selling, Wire Work

Walking Jewelry

October 1, 2010 Karen 2 Comments

We attended a small political “coffee” a few nights ago. I really try to stay away from politics having had enough of it in my gifted and talented education work, but I wasn’t given much choice for this one. When we arrived, the first thing that caught my eye was a piece of jewelry walking by. I tried not to accost the woman wearing it, but finally got close enough to determine that it was one of my sets. You’ve seen a picture here in an older blog. It was made of 5 round copper discs and a handmade chain. It also had matching round disc earrings. I was really tickled to see it and learned that the person’s husband purchased it at one of the stores for her birthday. I was so pleased, you’d have thought I just laid an egg. . . . I think this was the first time I’d seen one of my pieces on someone that I had never met. It was neat! Since I only work with one store here in the town where I live, it’s pretty unlikely to encounter my own jewelry on someone else. I don’t see too many women with jewelry on here at the ranch!

The woman wearing my jewelry didn’t know who had made it. This made me think about branding (not the type with fire and iron or as we do it here-dry ice, alcohol and iron) and how I might do a better job of labeling my work. Most of the store owners tell the customers the story behind the jewelry, but once a piece leaves the store I imagine this is forgotten. Therefore, I’m considering investing in tiny stamped metal jewelry tags to go on all the pieces. I’ve looked at this before and felt it was too time consuming, but now I’m thinking about it again. Do any of you other designers do this? I’m not as concerned about pieces such as the one pictured below. Those that are strung are not as important to me for branding as the more unique metal pieces, although the one below is pretty special.

[ labradorite, tiger eye and Chinese picture jasper with seed beads– all from Magpie Gemstones www.magpiegemstones.com) ]

Then again, the metal pieces are perhaps occasionally too unusual for me to want them to wear my brand. I’m not sure how I’m going to complete the one pictured here, but I like it! It’s one of those pieces that keeps evolving. Originally, I was soldering some silver wire to the diamond shaped copper piece. Before I could move the torch, I was watching the wire melt and spread on the copper creating an unusual metal effect. It sat on the workbench for weeks before I tried a little fold forming. Then it sat a bit longer. Finally, this week, I added the cab and copper and silver wires. If I ever complete the piece, it will certainly have a story behind it.

Why is it important for people to know who made their jewelry? There are, of course, many reasons but my primary business thought today is so they will know what “brand” to look for if they like the first purchase and want something else. There is also the ego angle, but I’m not going to make any money based on that one.

I think I need to get out more and conduct surveillance to try to capture a peek at my designs walking by. That way I won’t be quite so surprised when I meet one face to face. If I can put a little Dreamcatcher Designs tag on the pieces, the person wearing one won’t be so surprised when I say hello.

Necklaces, Pendants, Philosophy, Torch Work, Wire Work

Copy Shamelessly?

September 12, 2010 Karen

I enjoyed going to the Texas Metal Arts Festival in Gruene today. It’s a fairly small gathering of metal artists displaying both large and small pieces. For example, there were giant metal flowers that stood about 3 feet tall and tiny metal flower earrings made from aluminum cans. This particular artist group always has demonstrations going on and this year these included torch formed metal clay, fold forming and many other techniques. Unfortunately, I always find it way too hot to sit outside and watch these demos; but happily, there were plenty of hardy souls who appreciated this opportunity.

My husband has been kind enough to go with me to this festival the past couple of years. Today, he figured out that it’s really a reconnaissance mission where I compare my work and gather ideas. On the way home, he queried what I learned. This year was enlightening because I could see that my work appears to be getting closer to those of the artists I admire. While there is still much to learn, I was able to recognize techniques they used and think about the needed materials and tools.

It’s always interesting to see that some artists want to share how the work is done but shut down the conversation when they realize you are trying to learn rather than trying to buy. Others will tell you everything about a piece and are excited to share and encourage you. So at what point is it rude to ask about process? Since I meet monthly with a group of people who are willing to share everything about what they make, I may be a little too brazen with my questions. At least I didn’t take my camera today. . . I think that would have been over the top!

It appears to me that people who are both teachers and artists are quite willing to share and encourage others. For example, my friend at Magpie Gemstones always encourages me to copy her designs and is helpful regarding technique. So, when is copying a design the same as plagiarism in writing? I think it’s very difficult to tell when a design is your own as opposed to a version of something you’ve seen.

As an example, the necklace shown here was inspired by Sally, an artist at Sunroom Studios in Ellicott City, Md. (sunroomstudiosonline.com). I wrote to her about a necklace on the Sunroom Studios website and she was kind enough to answer my questions. While my necklace may resemble hers, it is also quite different. Should she sue me? Gee, I certainly hope not. I hope she will be flattered to learn that someone liked her piece well enough to make it the inspiration for another. But, where do we draw the line?

I don’t have the answer to that question. All that I know is that my conscience is my guide and I hope that someday, if someone wants to view my work as a starter for their own, I’ll be willing to share.

Earrings, Metal Work, Necklaces, Pendants, Philosophy, Torch Work, Wire Work

9-11

September 11, 2010 Karen

What should you do on the anniversary of the 9-11 tragedy?

I watched some of the news reports and heard some of the names of the fallen as they were read aloud, but I wasn’t sure what to do.

My family was fortunate that we did not personally lose anyone on that day. My son, who was working in NYC at that time in a building not far from the towers hadn’t gone in to work that day. My daughter, who was working at one of the high rise offices in Atlanta was evacuated and sent home since authorities feared the possibility of other attacks. When my husband and I talked with each of our children, the distance between us seemed extreme, yet we felt close, and we wished we could still protect them as we did when they were little. Alas, we wondered if any of us would ever regain the sense of security taken from us on that day.

Of particular interest to me on the news was the report on the Ground Zero Memorial that is to open in another year. I was taken by the description of the two pools, titled Reflecting Absence, that are to lie in the footprints of the towers. The reporter referred to them as the inverted vertical of the buildings that formerly rose so high above New York City.

Today was 9-11. Today I made angels. It was the least I could do.

Unique jewelry creatively made with care at The Ranch in San Marcos, Texas