More wire wrapping practice

I had some free time this afternoon and I was bored to read, so I decided to play with wire a bit more. This time going back to wire wrapping with thin gauge wire (0.4-0.5mm) as this is definitely not one of my strengths.
Finished this piece and although I'm not particularly happy with, I'll keep at it until I will get the hang of it. That's one of my New Year resolutions anyway.
Speaking of wire wrapping, I was drolling the whole afternoon over this page I just discovered yesterday. When I grow up, I wanna be just as good as them...

Last piece in 2007 - Happy New Year!

After almost two day's work, I've finished the Olivia bracelet. It is based on the Olivia chainmail weave, hence the name. Single units of byzantine are linked together - in my case with larger rings - to form the bracelet. For clasp I made a herringbone wrapped ruby. All sterling silver.
I will probably wear it tonight for the New Year's Eve, we're going with hubby out of town to a restaurant where he proposed me exactly 8 years ago *blush*.

Countdown!

I hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas - we did, although I seem to be sleeping constantly - is this a way of catching up or have I got a sleeping disease?? Eleven hours of sleep - feel like a baby - or I wish I did - is there such a thing as a too much sleep though because I certainly don't feel refreshed!! In fact I could go to bed right now except the cat is sprawled out on it and Elli is playing with her lego and needs a little help now and again - where's E ?? Three guesses - yes the golf course!


The above bracelet has beautiful artisan glass beads by Clare SCott with Amazonite, Karen Hill Tribe Silver and swarovski crystals.

THoroghly spoilt this year by my lovely family and a few silverwork tools were had so keep an eye out for some more silver pieces from me in the very near future! MY list for new goodies for the website is ready so I promise at some point in the day tomorrow I will add them - patience will be needed as I can't promise I will be up and about early or with a clear head!!

Wishing everyone a Wonderful 2008 - enjoy your evenings and above all Stay Safe!

© Gemheaven 2007

Note from Washington, D.C.

I'm still in Washington, D.C. enjoying the city, shopping, museums, and mostly visiting with my son and daughter-in-law. Before I left home, in the flurry of getting out Christmas orders and packing and making sure that my dear kitties were well taken care of, I did manage to pack 2 of my favorite necklaces, just in case I got a chance to wear them. The top one is a favorite of mine that I'm thinking of keeping and I really made it with myself in mind. The light green largest middle gemstone is a roughly faceted emerald; the large aquamarines are natural and undyed and a lovely blue. The smaller gemstones are rubies, sapphires, and more emeralds. There are also larger rubies and sapphires in faceted sapphires as well as more faceted emeralds in a rough emerald shape. Fourteen karat goldfilled round beads up to 5mm accent the precious gemstones, and for ease of fastening, I used a goldfilled toggle clasp since this is only 16 inches in length. When I was making it, I was thinking of wearing it with a beautiful 18 karat gold cross that my husband bought me for Christmas in Portugal about 3 years ago; it's one of my signature pieces of jewelry that I wear constantly. When you have a signature piece of jewelry like my cross, I think that sometimes it becomes such a part of you that it's not necessarily as noticeable as it should be; the gemstone necklaces worn above really becomes a foil for the beauty of the cross and it looks new all over again (it always looks beautiful). Of course, the gemstone necklace also looks great alone, as does the tourmaline necklace. Mixed gemstone necklaces are so versatile that are almost a jewelry wardrobe within themselves. And if you have a signature piece - even if it's a bracelet, an additional strand of mixed gemstones can really dress it up and make it perfect for an outfit you may have thought it didn't look right with before.The handmade necklace above was made entirely out of tourmalines; I got really fortunate and found some faceted tourmaline rondelles in pretty colours ranging from almost black to dark emerald green to pale green to pink. The focal points are three gorgeous pink faceted rectangles that resemble an emerald cut. Once again, I accented with fairly large 14 karat goldfilled rounds. This necklace is also a choker, slightly shorter however than the one above.
I hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas, and wish you all a very Happy New Year! Don't forget those New Year's Resolutions!

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My journey into making a silver chainmail bracelet...from scratch

I've been asked a few times why chainmail jewelry is so expensive. For a silver bracelet in various weaves a chainmailer can charge up to $100 or more (or 80-100 Euros if in Europe).
Also I have friends in Cyprus who have absolutely no idea how this type of jewelry comes to be about. No wonder. Two years ago for me 'chainmail' only ment the armor wore by European soldiers in the Middle Ages.

My bracelet today will be in the Byzantine weave, a beautiful weave designed for jewelry. This is the final design.

This piece took me pretty much the whole day - except the time I prepared and had lunch, and had a cake and coffee with hubby.



First step - coil the wire. Set up the coiling equipment and start coiling. I actually enjoy this process as it doesn't take long and it's quite relaxing...







Finished coiling. Hm...it could have been neater...oh well, next time...
The coils are rather small as the mandrel is not large enough. It takes approximately 1.5 m of wire (1mm wire on 3.5mm mandrel).






Next step, cutting the coil into single rings... I'm using a jewelry saw which is relatively easy but also slow to work with. But it cuts the rings neatly flush.
And don't forget the finger protection as it's very easy to go with the saw through the fingers...ouch.
Half of my rings have been cut. A small break and then continue...




Finally, all my rings in this batch are cut. Took a while...
Paper is full of rings, silver powder and candle powder. Why candle? The saw needs a lubricant, and beeswax is just right for it.
Have a ton of candles at home, so I took one to use with my saw.
Now rings need to be cleaned nicely and then the jewelry weaving can begin... I don't have (yet) a tumbler, so I'm cleaning the silver with water and soap. Tumbler and stainless steel shot is already ordered, it should come within the next 2-3 weeks...


Approximately 100 rings in that cup yielded by the mandrel size.
Nice, clean and shiny. No idea yet how many I will need for my Byzantine bracelet, so I'll finish these up before making more rings.









And here are the first two segments of my Byzantine bracelet using the rings just cut and cleaned.








Hm...finished up all the rings, and I hardly have half of the bracelet done...
Which means off to coil and cut some more...but in the meantime for a break I wrapped this beautiful lampwork bead (made by an American artisan), as I intend to use it with the bracelet.



Here is my second coil. This one is beautifully uniform and all!




.....after cutting the second coil in rings (another batch of - give or take - 100 rings) and weaving in with the rest of the bracelet, tada...I present you The Bracelet...









Hm, on second thought...I don't like where the bead is...so after undoing that part, here is the final (hopefully) version of it with a nicer clasp and a small extension chain as well...

Now just to take a nicer picture of it and it should be done...






And based on Laura's input, I modified it yet again to make the beadie a clasp... (picture is at the top of the posting). Oh and yes, the silver clasp is also handmade by me, done in one of my small breaks from cutting and weaving silver. How to do that is a matter for a future post.

I did it!

Finally, after at least 6 months, I cut my own jumprings with a jeweller's saw. Here is the very first batch I did, which I ended up not using much, as the didn't come out the best. Nevertheless here they are for historical purposes *grins*.





Today I cut again with the correct size blades (2.0) and made this double-spiral bracelet as well. I can now safely say this bracelet is 100% handmade, lol.
Wire 1mm with 5mm mandrel, which means an AR of 5. Seems just perfect for this weave.
Up until now I couldn't get the AR for the life of me. I was reading on various websites, forums on how to calculate, without success. Now that I cut my own jumprings, I'm shaking my head in wonder as how easy it is to figure it out. Just divide the inside diameter (the inside of the 'donut' if you want) by the wire thickness. Dohh...

And with the remaining rings a small pair of mobius earrings...

Tiger heart

In honour of the human heart, which is basically kind and loving, here is a silver pendant I finished just now. The stone is tiger-eye.
I've just discovered this type of wrapping and I love it! Also figured out something that I can improve on the criss-cross wrapping. Will do it with the next piece.
I am quite proud because this is my own design, starting from the shaping of the heart to the way I wrapped the piece.

On human behaviour and perceptions

So I wake up this morning full of energy knowing that I'm still at home, on holidays, and will be able to practice wire wrapping, and just feeling great in general. Before anything else, hop over to the computer to see what emails I got from friends (if any), and I see a new comment on my blog. Usually these comments are either from fellow jewelry making or book lover friends, or simply from people stumbling upon my blog. Big was my disappointing surprise to discover a comment on my Merry Christmas post, with no heads or tails, not Christmas wishes or any traces of human kindness, which simply pointed out that I - according to him - made a grave mistake with regards to my current location. I know the Cypriot issue is a big issue around these parts (the Northern side is still occupied by the Turks, etc, etc), but I started thinking of why this particular post got me down right first thing in the morning, effectively destroying my good mood for the day. I realized that it was not the actual comment, regarding the political issue, but the way it was put. First of all, it was written on my Merry Christmas post, which I found a bit rude - why? because it defied the basic human kindness. No Merry Christmas in return, no 'Hello, hey you have a great blog there, or nice jewelry, but btw, could you please change the reference to xyz...'etc etc.
Then upon further contemplating on the issue, while my coffee was getting ready, I figured, if I let such a post get me down, it's bad, as the person achieved exactly what he wanted - making my day miserable, probably based on his own day. Pitty but true that there are some people who nit-pick on everything, who criticize without the basic courtesy offered to their fellow human, even these times of joy and laughter, when we should all be united in the Christmas spirit.
And now off to have my breakfast, drink my hot coffee and simply enjoy my holiday :)
Merry Christmas everyone!

Merry Christmas!

Between cooking, having one of hubby's relatives for Christmas lunch and then going to some other relatives in the afternoon, I managed to make two more pendants today. Just practice pieces but I love particularly the second. It's from a tutorial by Remy (Dkheath). I think I won't oxidize this one, as it looks so neat with the purple stone (much nicer than the picture), it really shines through.