Red Currant Earrings

This is one of my most recent works. Perfect summery earrings made of untarnished copper (I might still oxidize them, haven't decided yet) and really bright red 8 mm coral beads.

They are almost 2.5" long, and of considerable weight.

Hello again!

Here I am again after a long-long absence.

Since my last entry I have moved back to Romania, opened an Etsy shop and a local online shop in Romania, on Breslo.

In the following days I will try to update you with my work in the last few months...

Here's the first one (not in chronological order).

This set was a custom order based on an older design, the "Endless Road" necklace. I remade it, and improved on it a little bit, by using mixed metals in its construction: copper and silver filled wire.

Endless Road Necklace

I just couldn't resist the temptation of making a necklace to match the "Endless Road" bracelet and earrings...

This necklace is in a way a sketch for a dragonfly/butterfly pendant that is still in the designing stage... I'm trying to figure out (for myself, not copy other designers' ideas) if it's better to go for a single wire construction or wrapping two or three elements together....

Anyway the dragonfly is still in the works, so for now, here's the Endless Road  necklace:

Endless Road

I've been designing lots of bracelets in the past few weeks, as some of you might have noticed. I wasn't really into bracelets before, never really wore any, but now that might change, just as my adversity to wearing long earrings changed after starting designing my own jewelry.

For my latest bracelet I got inspired by an abundance of spiral themed designs by some of my flickr friends (weirdlywired, kelpticfest). I've never made multiple spirals from a single piece of wire before, and it took me several unsuccessful trials to finally get it (reasonably) right... A pile of unfinished spirals is a painful reminder that I need to practice more before mastering the spiral technique perfectly...

For now, this is the best I could do: a pretty nice bracelet and earrings to match it. Love the design, I'm happy with the execution, too (just don't forget to practice more).

Somehow these flowing spirals remind me of a labyrinth, or an endless road that keeps returning into itself...

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.

Spirals

I was thinking of a way of "showcasing" my older designs here...

And what's a better way to displaying them than grouping the designs by theme...

So let's start with one of the basic design element: the spiral - sometimes as the central element of the design, sometimes as a smaller motif incorporated in the design.