Bracelet & Bangle

Both of these pieces are done "eni" style.
The scarab bracelet has a wired front section and the scarab beads are ceramic and actually did come from Egypt. The back is linked with chain(s). It has gone to a new home and is now residing in Melbourne with my niece.



This bangle is my first ever try at this technique and as time comsuming and wire consuming as it is - I really love this style of work. It took what seemed like forever to make but what a sense of achievement! If you too would like to try this
enioken.com is the place to go!

Just a couple of pictures...

As promised Jen - here's the first lot of new photos.

"Opulence" is the piece that won best in show in Sydney.

"Serenity" is the same stone used as centrepiece - but in a totally different style.

Week 9 - CELTIC DROPS

This is probably not one of my better efforts at photography - but I so love these earrings!
Not really very celtic, but until I buy a jig thingy this is the best I can do. I had a go making little loopy bits with just round nose pliers and they ended up all over the place like a dog's dinner.
So I started thinking on a slightly different type tangent - they also incorporate lots of spiral stuff in their designs as well - so that's where I went.
These are egyptian coils combined with Lisa Niven Kelly's Fleur de Link design pieces. I must admit - I had a few stuff-ups before I got the hang of it! They're a bit rough around the edges but I like 'em anyway. The faceted stones at the bottom are cracked quartz.
I'm having a total "mental-pause" effort at the moment & can't for the life of me remember who it was that told me about oxidising with an egg but - THANK YOU!!!! It worked a treat! I was telling my SIL about it and she came out with a classic (at least I thought so) I can charge more for my jewellery if I use free-range eggs!


This is what they looked like before my cooking effort!
They're OK but I like them so much better blackened up a bit.

Entry for November 17, 2005 - Autumn wings

Well, this week nearly didn't happen!
We had a visitor come to stay for a week, so I never got a chance to do much of anything creative. I've had the best time though - zooming around the coast on the back of a Harley - sunburnt nose, sandblasted face, sore bum. I'm definately too old to be doin' stuff like that but OMG - what fun! I almost felt like I was a teenager again! (don't look like one - but that's beside the point!)
Then, to top it all off - the computer crashed - which is why this is late. For someone that was very slow to embrace the NEW technology - I felt like both my arms had been cut off! Major withdrawal symptoms!
Anyway, I finally managed to get some work done. I'm quite pleased with how it all came together.
I cut and solderered the frame work for my butterfly from 16 gauge silver wire - It's a huge buzz when it all goes to plan and all your joins actually work!! After a few false starts I managed to wrap it with 26g fine silver(all I had), bronzey colored seed beads and carnelians in three different shapes. I quite like the way this technique comes together and have lots of ideas for more similar things. "he who must be obeyed" says it looks like an alien face! If he keeps comments like that one coming he may not make it to his next birthday!

Entry for November 08, 2005 - Family

Ok here we go once more. This week the theme is family - when I first found out , I had a bit of a panic attack - what in the ....can I do. Then I had a sort of brainwave. In my immediate family my mum, my two sisters and myself are all Cancerians ( makes for a happy household that one!) And lo and behold what star sign is the relatively new grand daughter? You guessed it - another Cancer baby!
So that takes care of that - here is what I came up with and why.
First of all - the moon is our ruling planet - OK, we have a soldered frame work of a new moon.
Second - silver is the metal attributed to this starsign - easy!
The birthstones for Cancer are pearl, moonstone and ruby. I absolutely adore rubies - but they are kind of out of the question - but I love moonstones & pearls. So that is what I have used here.
Of all the pieces I have made this year - I think this one is a keeper! I love the way it looks and feels when it is on. It's a bit special!
It was an absolute mongrel of a thing to make though - I have not done this type of work before and I had a few dramas along the way. But in the end I think it was worth it.

Entry for November 02, 2005 - Pizzazz

Here is my contribution to this week. Not much pizzazz happening here - I'm having a bit of a let's muck everything up time at the moment. I've got all these great ideas ( in theory!) in varying stages of done sitting on my workspace. Sometimes things just don't happen the way you want them to. Eventually, I'll go back and cull what is usable and hoist what isn't. No point in stressing it - it ain't happening - so leave it alone!
This piece was actually a lot of fun to make - fluffing around with different size jump rings, trying to get a sort of pattern thingy happening, and then whacking 'em all together with the torch!. I actually made the earrings first and then thought that the idea might translate into a necklace.
Three different size rings, burgundy/purple freshwater pearls, tiny facetted black onyx & Bali silver.
I want to play with this ring idea some more - it's good fun!





These are the earrings (well one of 'em anyway!) that match the necklace.

Entry for October 25, 2005 - Everything Old is New

This is my offering for this week. This is not actually IT, but my second attempt. My first effort lies unfinished in a heap on my workspace! 3 goes at what I was trying to achieve - obviously not in the right mindset - so leave it alone and do something else!!
Quite a long time ago an older lady that I know gave me a couple of crystal necklaces. They were very tatty looking and a bit the worse for wear. They've been stuck in the bottom of an old jewellery box for a looooong time. This was the perfect opportunity for them to see the light of day once more!
What I ended up doing is a very simple 2 strand crocheted necklace. The first row is just a chain stitch with alternating crystals and stickpearls. The second row is freshwater pearls and citrine gem-chips, slipstitched to the first row. It is finished off with 2 crystals on wrapped loops either side.
I am really pleased with the look this piece has - it's sort of modern- old fashioned!

Entry for October 17, 2005 - Autummn colours

This week being Autumn colours is so un-me. I'm a purple person, but I digress.
About this necklace - A happy accident and left over from other project - bits and pieces.
The original pendant had a bail that was designed to go around a piece of black leather, but as usual old "rough as bags" me got a bit carried away when I was shaping it and it snapped off (not properly annealed) It snapped off in a dead straight line and after the air had returned to a normal colour, I thought what can I do to salvage it? Another jump ring to the rescue! I actually prefer this version to the original, although it has "design limitations". The big bronzey pearls and the little baby ones were left overs from a necklece I made a couple of weeks ago for my niece and the tigereye chips I have no idea - they were just there! Seed beads filled in the gaps. I have crocheted 3 simple chains with assorted bits every 2 or 3 stitches, and have finally figured out a way to finish off the ends so they look half way decent! Quite proud of THAT achievement, it's bugged me for ages the way the ends looked.
I'm quite happy overall with how the necklace worked out and the colours remind me of the Autumn leaves I used to go wading through in the park when I was a kid! (long time gone).

Entry for October 11, 2005 - Eastern Spice.

Here we are - week 3 already.
This week the theme is Eastern Spice. If you use your MEGA imagination, I almost got there!
The pearls came from China, the onyx probably did too if the truth be known, and if you sort of imagine really hard - the Hill tribe pendant thingy could be like one of those big gong critters you see in old movies - you know, the old emperors court or something!
The reason I've gone off theme this week is these beads are for a design challenge here in Australia and twit that I am I thought it had to be finished this week , so I went like a cut cat to get it done and then realised I was only a MONTH early!
I had it practically finished (totally different) - decided I hated it , out came the sidecutters, pulled it totally to bits and started again! Meanwhile - A day and a half later!! I thought I'd be a bit clever and kill 2 birds etc. Outsmarted myself.
The pendant is onyx, freshwater pearl and swaros wrapped A LA ENI and then the rest was done on 22ga sterling wire to match.
The bracelet is made to match and the earrings are just fairly simple.

This is a close up of the pendant.

Entry for October 02, 2005 - complementary colours

This is so not" what I was going to do" this week. I've actually started another piece as well, but am having mega hiccups with the damn thing! Oh well, I think there must be something coming up somewhere that's a finish off thingy or gone off on a different planet or something!!!
I mean to say, this has probably been the most nerve wracking stressy weekend of my life.
Super exciting, but stress city as well. Sydney bead & gem show inaugral competition !st place & Best in show. I don't know how any one else does it but I've been a basket case for over a week. I am sooooo happy, so full of it at the moment too, I'm driving HIM nuts. My phone bill's goin' to be a killer!!!
Any way, enough rabbitting on -Here is my piece for week 2 - Complementary Colours - pink & green.
3 shades of pink pearls, pink & AB swaros, peridot gem chips & white stick & potato pearls.

Entry for September 25, 2005 - counting my blessings

this is my first foray into FSOJ - counting my blessings.
well, I had all these ideas zooming round my head, and as you do (me anyway) I've gone off on a sort of different direction.
I'll try and explain how this piece came into being - first of all I was sitting, thinking about the theme, my blessings are many - friends, family, relatively good health (most of the time), wealth (not monetary but a wealth of knowledge that is still opening up to me every day). And then I got to thinking how not a lot in this world is FINITE - hence the infinity symbol that I started with as the basis for all of this. The wire wrapping and little beads represent all the twists and turns and obstacles that I have encountered along the way. The three chains link past to present to future, also I have 3 siblings,3 wonderful stepchildren and soon to be - 3 grand children. The stones I have used are rose quartz to symbolize love and harmony, amethyst for it's protective qualities and citrine which is said to bring many good things into our lives.
My photography still sucks- I think I need a real photographer!!!

test run

this is a trial run.
I've totally had it with a certain other website - so I shall attempt in the next few days to transfer my previous FSOJ stuff over to here.
Hopefully this will run smoother, and at least let me in to post stuff!!!
At the moment I am totally locked out of my other blog and can't even get in to retrieve what I want.
Maybe tomorrow sometime I'll have access and get it all sorted.
So, hello to anyone who finds this and please come back to visit - there will be heaps of stuff here soon (maybe!)
The picture at the left is my first attempt at manipulating enamel on copper. I like it even if it is a bit rough around the edges...
cheers - Lyn.