My First Collection

I've been a little neglectful lately, but I had a good reason for it: I had to put aside jewelry making for a while, my fingers needed a break after a few Nautilus pieces made one after the other.

I didn't actually set out to make this many "Caramel Swirls", although I like this design very much... It was simply another case of insufficient planning on my part, resulting in a failed bracelet that needed rescuing: the original piece was re-purposed into two separate pieces, and in the process new ideas popped up, all based on the initial design.

This is how my very first real collection is being born. It's still in the making, but it already has a pendant/earring set and a collar necklace (blogged about them recently), plus two bracelets, a shawl pin and an upper arm bracelet (also a first for me).

And it all started, or maybe continued (as the pendant set and the necklace were already made) with an idea I had for a bracelet: two double spirals linked together like a clam. Unfortunately, I made the spirals two big, and despite a nagging feeling that something was wrong, I kept on wrapping them. And I ended up with two extra large double spirals (Nautiluses) that looked really out of balance when linked together into a single bracelet... So I had to come up with some other use for the finished pieces, otherwise all that work would have been wasted (though one could say it was still useful as a learning experience).

One of the pieces ended up as a new, different kind of bracelet:

The other as a shawl pin:

While wrapping the bracelet, I realized maybe I should have used a single Nautilus as a centerpiece for the bracelet, for a more balanced design... So I made one just to see if that was the case:

And it didn't end here... Why not make an adjustable bracelet, I thought. No, I've made plenty of bracelets for now, let's try an upper arm band instead:

Another piece, an open front collar necklace is to follow... when I find the time and my fingers are well rested.

Peridot Hoops

I'm out of small coral beads, and couldn't wait for another order to arrive. I just had to see how a pair of "double helix" hoop earrings would look like. So I made them (two more days of wrapping) with another one of my favorite gemstones: Peridot. I realize now that I've made only two pairs of hoop earrings over the past two and a half years, since I've started making jewelry.

These hoops were painstakingly woven with 28 Ga over 20 Ga copper wire. When the frames were ready I added those really tiny Peridot beads I was sure I couldn't do anything with (they're about 1.3 mm in diameter), twisted them in a double helix, formed the hoops then oxidized and carefully hand polished them.

Garnet Chandeliers

A few months back, I made a pair of delicate Victorian-style garnet earrings that I liked very much. But my sister liked them too, maybe even more than I did, so we "struck a bargain" at Christmas: I kept the carnelian DNA-earrings I originally made for her (they were just a little bit too large on her), and she got to keep the Victoria earrings instead.

But then, after I got back from Transylvania in January, I would often find myself rummaging through the jewelry drawer for something red with silver... I had made many coral pieces with copper over the past two years, but garnet was what I was really looking for.

So I've finally decided to make a similar pair of earrings for myself...

Now I find myself looking for an occasion just to wear them, or an outfit to pair them with...

My sister's earrings, smaller and more delicate:

And mine, a bit larger and bulkier, but still quite elegant:

Caramel Swirls

Some weeks ago, while walking on Mandell Street to the Rice Gym for a swim, I got an idea for an asymmetrical spiral pendant... and I'm struggling with the execution ever since.

I haven't been able to come up with a solution to this problem: I can't seem to make the little spirals "off-kilter" enough, they always end up near the center, making the asymmetry look accidental, when I'm aiming for a more deliberate asymmetrical look.

Fortunately though, while trying to figure out this problem, I "happened upon"  two really nice designs (named both of them "Caramel Swirl").
 
The first is a basic, almost classic Nautilus, while the second design evolved almost naturally from the first: two double nautiluses linked together to form the centerpiece of a choker necklace. This is my new absolute favorite piece! I liked it so much I even used it for my blog's banner. And I think it's going to be my online shop's banner, too, whenever I 'll have one.

Double Helix Bracelet

Finally, I got around to making a Double Helix bracelet...

These larger, DNA-inspired pieces are so very time-consuming to make, I just kept putting off  starting a new project, after I made two necklaces last month. But the idea never stopped bugging me... and this last weekend a backache prevented me from doing anything useful around the house, so I finally cuddled up comfortably in the armchair and started weaving, and for two days I just kept on weaving (with breaks, of course), until yesterday late in the afternoon the bracelet was at last finished.

Originally, this was going to be a matching bracelet for the copper/peridot DNA-earrings (featured in a previous post)... but the peridot beads I had on hand turned out to be either too small, or much too large for this project (Note to self: the 2 mm round peridots on Firemountain are waaay too small for anything). I had to choose between garnets and some juicy red corals, and naturally I went with the corals -  I love how they look with tarnished copper (now, I used them all up, so I'll have to buy some more if I want to make earrings too).

Here's the result: