Week 19 - SOMETHING FRENCH.

The piece for this week's theme was decided on weeks ago. Which is just as well 'cause at the moment my muse has gone on holidays!!
When I saw the list I just knew I had to do something that was just a little bit of fun.
So, this is my take on 'something french'.
What could be more french than the eiffel tower?
(actually the arc de triomphe would look pretty dumb as earrings) - so this is them!
They are about 3" long from the bottom of the hook & are as light as a feather.
I made the frame from 18 g wire & gave it a good hiding with the hammer :o). Using 26g, I wired on the 2mm sterling beads & red, white (clear AB - but let's not get technical) and blue swaros for the colours of the French flag. The blue ones are actually bluer in real life - don't know what happened here! The camera gremlins are at it again. lol.

Week 18 - ORIENTAL EXPRESS

Well, this week is WAY LATE.
I actually had this piece finished on time, but it looked awful not oxidized. I don't have any LOS, so it's down to the hard-boiled egg thingy. And wouldn't you know it - first time ever - it wouldn't work. 24 hours later and nothing! So, 2 eggs later it finally happened.
The first picture is pinned up quite a ways so I could get the centre bit in the photo, it actually hangs about 2" longer than it appears here. You can get a better idea of it's length from the bottom picture.
Anyway, what I have used here are some big coral beads, 6mm black onyx & cracked quartz, 2 cracked quartz nugget beads & 20 + 16 g wire. The twisted jump rings are bought ones.
The red and black always remind me of things oriental and I suppose i would have achieved more that look had I used gold-filled wire instead.
All things considered - I'm quite happy with how this turned out.
I just discovered how fuzzy the bottom photo is - sorry
about that!

Week 17 - LEAVES

The theme this week is "leaves".
Well, we've got ONE. This pendant was going to be one of many leaves - but it ended up a bit bigger than I thought it was going to be - so Leaf singular it is! My thanks go to Dawn for her piece last week, which is where the idea for this shape came from - I hope you don't mind :o)
I started with the framework in 18g. wire & bashed & beat it into submission. I must say it is a very satisfying experience! Then, as you can see I have wrapped it "Eni" style with 26g wire and 2mm sterling beads. I have added wrapped bars separated by a large link cable chain throughout the rest of the piece.
I'm still tossing up whether to oxidize or not - any thoughts? It's really still quite bright, 'tis just my crummy photography that makes it look like this.

Week 16 - ASYMETRICAL SYMMETRY

This is a rather simple offering this week. I had heaps of other ideas - but they just didn't happen. (non-stop visitors!!) This piece was actually made a little while ago and now lives in England.
This is a relatively simple strung piece with small amethyst nuggets separated by 4mm amethyst round beads and bali spacers on one side. The other side - 2 strands - has bali silver, moonstone, hematite, grey freshwater pearls & amethyst chips. The centre is a curved tube bead that I soldered a jump ring onto so that I could suspend the large faceted fluorite bead from. Hanging below that are more bits the same as the double strand.

Week 15 - ART NOUVEAU

The theme for this week is Art Nouveau.
This would probably have to be my all-time favourite period for the decorative arts. I have numerous books on the subject (had 'em forever) and I never get tired of just sitting and looking through them. They are always an inspiration for something I'm doing - ceramics, painting or jewellery.
So, this week I have been sitting & drawing ideas & designs - I probably have enough to keep me going for at least the next decade.
I have lots of the typical curvy, organic style of things, But by the same token - heaps of the more linear style made famous by the Scottish artists. I may have to "play" with this era for a while longer!
This week I have decided to go with the more fluid look that typifies Art Nouveau to most people.
The centrepiece of the necklace is soldered and hammered 16 gauge sterling wire. Added to this I have used amazonite beads in 3 different sizes and 6mm swarovsky bicones in blue zircon. Lots of "design choices"( as Dianne so beautifully puts it) along the way. This did start life with a few more curly bits, but after a couple of mishaps with the torch - we kind of simplified things a tad!













this picture is very badly focused but gives a better overall view of what I have done here.