al's creations

Rediscovered - seed beads

2010-08-11T13:33:00.000-07:00

Seed beads have been with me since I was a little girl. You grow up and forget about them. Suddenly you want them again, for a collage work or enticing bead embroidery and lastly for jewellery. Making pieces in the French beaded flower technique is something wonderful to learn, but translating this to jewellery is quite challenging.

Today I will show you just one of the pieces I just made - others will follow because the muse bit me!

Summertime - Berry time

2010-08-10T11:47:00.000-07:00

When summer comes around I miss the delicious, juicy berries found in temperate climates. Here in the tropics none can grow! So this year I played "pretend" and sat down to use my beads to create fantasy berry clusters as earrings.

Well, we can't enjoy eating them but wearing them instead!

A Moving Story!

2010-05-03T10:34:00.000-07:00

No, I do not want you to start shedding tears - it is not that kind of story. What I want to tell you is about moving house. In a way it is sad to leave after almost twenty years in the same house, but at the same time it is like anew beginning. All the girls had grown up, got married and moved to their own homes. So it was time to think of downsizing, the house was simply to large for just two of us. Not only that, but my daughters found it very convenient to leave behind all the things they did not need or could not accommodate in their houses. So, just after Christmas packing up started in earnest. We had twenty wooden crates made by a carpenter, hoping they would take all our stuff. Not so, we still had to buy lots and lots of sturdy bags to stow everything. This goes to show that all my family are pack rats - we never throw anything away because we might be able to use it again. Oh, but there was serious discarding of completely useless things. Still, some of my daughters' belongings still found their way to the new house. On the brighter side, we unearthed some long forgotten things or items which we had been searching for in vain.

Now in our new house there is really little space for everything, especially my beloved books and kitchen equipment, but we will get used to that. But I am most pleased that the contents of my two crates, five bags and eight large containers from my workroom have found space in my new "Studio"! Mostly beads, wire and tools, a few work related books. I never knew the quantities I had before the move - amazing! As soon as I had put my table in I started bringing out my supplies and resumed making my jewellery. And to prove I will post just two pictures today, promising more shortly!

Beautiful Brass

2009-12-14T08:06:00.004-08:00

Since I was little I loved brass. In those days usually all door fittings were made of the stuff and it was my job to polish them once a month. To be honest, I did not cherish this work at all, but - and here comes the contradiction - I loved the end result, when everything was sparkling and shiny again! And I loved the colour - the look of ancient gold.

So when recently I found 18g brass wire I just went wild and bought all of it! And a good thing I did, because when I went back to get some other gauges, the manufacturer had added something to give the wire a different colour!

Here is my first project in this beautiful wire, a bracelet in the full Persian weave.

The design for this bangle comes from the book "Wire Wrapping" by Linda Chandler & Christine Ritchie. Only that I did not have square or half round wire, but this does not really matter. I just used my round wire for the 5 lengths required (original says 7) and hammered an additional length flat to do the wrapping with! The beads are Chinese crystal rondelles.

Here is the same design again but with silver beads instead - I do like mixing metals.

If you never tried this type of work before I can recommend the book, there are lots of beautiful projects - all worth practicing!

Anniversary Special

2009-11-21T10:16:00.000-08:00

This set was custom ordered by a very lovely lady for her upcoming silver wedding anniversary. Criteria were: to match the gown she is going to wear, quality and originality (that is, not common everyday stuff). It is a chainmaille weave called Helm chain which I adapted into flowers. To make them stay round the AR is very important. I used 18g sterling silver wire and Swarovski CAL crystals embedded in the flowers and as the dangles. For these and the earwires I used 20g Sterling silver wire. It took 569 rings to complete the set and I have the blisters on my fingers to prove that all was handmade!

This particular set will never be made again by me as it is. So my customer can be assured that she really has got " one of a kind" jewellery. And I hope she enjoys wearing it as much as I did creating it!

Till next time.

Many Apologies

2009-08-19T10:09:00.000-07:00

To all who enjoy my page I apologize for my lengthy absence.

This was due to my crashed computer. So I got a so-called "expert" to recover all my lost data. said expert put the contents of my harddrive onto his own and then put everything back on my new computer. Now I spent time to investigate what was there and what was not. Surprisingly I had now acquired all the stuff that this guy had on his harddrive and my own files were practically gone! Like a demented woman I searched and ransacked every possible corner in every file to locate the missing items. No luck - 90% of my work is lost including all the pictures of the last 3 years, tutorials etc. The rest of all the stuff translated itself into computerese which the system does not recognize. I feel I have been robbed!

On top of this I acquired a new camera and I have to learn how to operate it. So it will be a bit longer before I can put up more photos of all my latest creations and I have not been idle!

Its good to be back and thanks for understanding.

A little disaster

2009-06-15T13:21:00.000-07:00

After my last post my computer went down. That was Saturday evening. By Monday I got it repaired, not knowing that it will get worse. Next I lost sound and finally my PC crashed completely! And I did not have any recent backup, which taught me a great lesson. It took the rest of the week to recover the data from the hard drive. And finally today the reloading on to a brand new computer.

Now I just have to sort out the jumbled files and put them back into folders. And I have to find all my pictures which seem to have disappeared! Not to talk of downloading all the software which has taken leave of absence as well. Oh, what a delightful job!!!

So, please be patient and bear with me. New creations have happened and I will show them as soon as I can.

Heavy Metal

2009-06-06T12:50:00.000-07:00

I found some heavy gauge wire the other day and I decided that it would have to be a chainmaille creation. The wire is 1.5mm thick (between 15 & 14 g ), hard to cut jumprings, as well as hard on hands, wrists and tools! But I just love the result. The rings have an ID of 5.5mm, almost 6mm after springback, which gave me a bracelet of a whole centimetre thickness. Very substantial!!!

Now I plan to go back to the shop and buy up their supply of this wire, because I have already planned what other weaves I can do. Not to talk of some serious sculpting. We shall see!

In Praise of Wig Jig

2009-05-31T13:10:00.000-07:00

This is a lovely necklace set done in 20g copper wire with flattish oval beads. Just a pity I did not have more of the beads for a bracelet!

The design for the wire links is found in the booklet "Jewelry with Wire" and according to instructions was made with roundnose pliers. Beautiful and perfect! But not in my hands; all the links turned out crookedly and of different shapes and sizes. So I decided to try my trusty wig jig, arranging the pegs in the correct order, then draping the wire around them. No problem, but the loops were not closed up as in the original. Again no problem, then I used my roundnose pliers to squeeze them shut. For good measure I hammered the links before joining them with jumprings and linking them to the wired beads, and this is the result. I hope you like it!

Kumihimo in Wire

2009-05-31T12:47:00.000-07:00

A while ago I posted some colourful kumihimo braids. Then someone commented how they would like to see a wire version. Here it is! Done in 28g sterling silver with just 8 single strands. For this I used the square braid pattern; to me it is preferable over the round braid which I think is more attractive in different colours.

If you want to try it go easy on your hands! I braided a whole metre of this in one day which was very foolish, given the gauge of wire I used. For the following three days my hands were so swollen and sore that I could only do the something very easy, like coiling wire on a mandrel and no use of tools!

As I was told later by someone much more experienced than myself I should have used 30g wire or finer. Well, we live and learn! As it turned out the necklace turned out just the way I wanted and never mind the pain.

BUT: I would not do it again!

Easy versatile chain links - tutorial

2009-05-25T13:07:00.000-07:00

This is another variation of the famous U-shape. For this project I used 19g silver wire, quite tarnished. To start you need your wire, which can be 18 or 2og, they work equally well. You also need a 6.5mm mandrel to shape the U, wire cutters and stepnose or roundnose pliers. The rest is up to your fingers! To join the links I used 3.5mm ID jumprings. The size of the jumprings is a personal choice. To start straighten your wire and flush cut on each side a 4cm section. For a necklace one needs about 40 to 42 pieces. Shape all of them over the 6.5mm mandrel, making sure the ends of the wire are of equal length.
Now take the stepnose pliers and make a loop on each side facing inside the U using the smallest step . If using roundnose pliers, mark them first, so all the loops have the same size. When all the links have been completed that way
hammer them flat. Usually the loops will open abit at this stage, so make sure to close them up again.
Now you form the links with your fingers, pushing one side over the other so they overlap completely. Make sure the overlap is always in the same direction. Left over right or right over left does not matter as long as you do them all the same. Sometimes the overlap is not perfect, as shown on the left link above. When that happens insert the stepnose or roundnose pliers into both loops and tweak to adjust.
Here you see a complete bracelet with the links in the same direction.
This bracelet shows the links as opposite pairs. And both of them have been tumbled for 1 hour to remove the tarnish and wrkharden them. Now they sparkle!
These last two pictures show you the option of inserting beads between each pair of links.
The look will be quite different, but all the links are the same!

If you come up with more ideas, let me know.

Rings Galore

2009-05-18T13:25:00.001-07:00

A few days ago I had an offer to take part in a show at the beginning of June. So it was full steam ahead to increase my inventory, starting with rings. And since I love coils of all manner I decided they will form part of the design.

Apart from the pink one on the right. I will do more of them as soon as I can get some more gorgeous colours of Swarovski crystals (it seems one can never have enough!).
I was too lazy to take all pictures individually, so I just grouped some of them together for this display. Starting from top left there is black onyx with black craft wire, next is tigereye with copper, blue handcut glass bead with 30g aqua craft wire, erinite Swarovski crystal with leaf green craft wire, orange quartz in copper, olive cat's eye with light leaf green and finally another tigereye but without the added coil.

A visitor who saw the rings got quite excited and was asking if there could be earrings and pendants to match!? This will need some figuring and re-designing. If I succeed I will show you the results!

Back to the Ancients

2009-05-16T14:08:00.000-07:00

Jewelrylessons.com has a monthly theme to create an item pertaining to the subject given. For April it was "Cleopatra's Jeweler". I decided it would be fun to participate and came up with this design. Truly ancient, because the coil or spiral has been found in all cultures from earliest recorded time.
The design is old, but when worn it is the latest! There are things that never age. This is one of them! And best of all it is not difficult, just a bit time consuming. So go ahead and try your own!

Still in macramee mode

2009-05-12T14:14:00.000-07:00

After completing the copper bracelet I repeated the pattern in two shades of leaf green. The purple bracelet uses only a half (square) knot and therefore spirals. Similar to DNA with it's double helix!

I want to be more adventurous with all the macramee knots and today tried the beautiful Josephine knot.It turned out alright but was a bit lumpy - why I used 10g wire I don't know. Therefore no picture.

By the way, macramee in wire is easier on the hands than any done in string, rope or cord. Using the latter one really needs force to keep the knots from sliding or opening, but this problem does not arise with wire, because once bent and knotted it just stays in place, even when one uses multiple strands. Hopefully I will show you an example next time.

Macramee - Another String Art

2009-05-10T04:14:00.000-07:00

Macramee is another very lovely string art, invented by sailors as history tells. There are just a few basic knots with loads of variations. I find that for wire work the square knot works the best. It is also one of the simpler ones, once learned never forgotten.

So here I show you a bracelet done in square knot with copper wire, 20g for the core and 24g for the knotting.

You should try it, it's fun!

Wire - String Art Embellished

2009-05-10T03:50:00.000-07:00

Playing some more with frames for stringing the wire it occurred to me that the wriggly frame is actually quite nice when embellished with 4mm Swarovski crystals. Gives a little bling to the set! I will definitely make more, in different shapes and colours as well as changing the pattern of the stringing. Just had to share this one. Enjoy!

Correction

2009-05-02T13:51:00.000-07:00

Reading through my last post again I realized that I made a mistake!

If you want the clasp to look like the links you have to attach it last (with single or double jumpring, even though I said there are no jumprings in this chain), so it will hook into the first link. If you decide to place the hook at the beginning you will have to complete the chain with an eye so it can close.

I am sorry for the mistake!!! Next time I vet what I post properly, so that there will be no confusion.

There is also a big THANK YOU to Lisa of http://abeadaday.blogspot.com for featuring my work. Go to her blog and see the inspirational thing she has to offer!

First Tutorial - Easy Chain

2009-04-30T11:28:00.000-07:00

Today I want to show you how to make a lovely chain without jumprings. It is ultra smooth, because the cut ends of the wire do not touch the skin, so no scratchy feeling. To make the chain you will need the following: flush cutters, stepnose pliers (or roundnose pliers), chainnose pliers, 20g wire. When you have made this chain, you can use larger gauges for a chunkier look.

Step 1: Cut 5 or 6 pieces of wire 4 cm long, each end cut flush.

Step 2: Using the largest step of the stepnose pliers bend the pieces into a U-shape, making sure both legs are level.
Step 3: Use the smallest step to curl both ends of the U into closed loops. Make sure the ends sit flush with the main link. In this picture you see the ends poking out. If that happens use the chainnose pliers to adjust. If you do not have stepnose pliers use the roundnose pliers, but mark them for the larger U and the smaller loops for consistency.
Step 4: Squeeze the two loops together with your fingers. Insert another U-shape through the two previously made loops, form two loops again, squeeze together etc. etc. Pay attention in which direction to coil the loops; if you make a mistake that link will be lost! When you have joined 5 or 6 links together measure the length so you will know how many more pieces of wire you need to cut for your project.
This picture shows the right side up.
Here you see the reverse side.

When you are done attach a clasp of your choice. On the other hand you can make a hook in the same U-shape but use a longer piece of wire and after forming it bend it over to make a hook. Then you build your chain from there. The hook will easily fit into the last link to close.

It also looks lovely if you hammer all the U-shapes flat before forming the loops, the choice is yours.

I hope you enjoy playing with this design!

More Variations

2009-04-28T12:56:00.001-07:00

Okay, I said I would still play around with more variations. The blue set is an upside down version of the previous blue I posted. My daughter says it reminds her of the Eiffel Tower!
This pink and champagne set is the same wrap but with an additional overlay.
Now, while Mei was working on her square, beautifully adorned with beads, I made this diamond shape using silver and pink. But I am not too happy with it, because after wrapping the silver first from right to left I had to wrap the pink from left to right to give me this design. So there is a height difference where the two colours meet and they look like holes! Have to work on that.
In this oval pendant I first wrapped burgundy wire around every second coil, then overlaid it with silver in the alternating coils. This looks much better in person, changing the colours as you move. I will try this with three colours!

But now I have to concentrate on developing different frames to be able to show the more intricate patterns of the original string art.

Variations on a theme

2009-04-24T10:50:00.000-07:00

After posting the first set of wire string art I really got bitten by the bug to try variations which would show the beauty of the patterns. Now I am getting carried away by the endless possibilities.

The first is done in navy/light blue with a bead to match the design.
Instead of using the coil I decided to make this zig zag shape to hold the wraps. Here I used three layers to add to the structure. They do not show as such because I used the same colour wire, but I like the result.
More playing around with frames to hold the wraps. For this I used roundnose pliers to shape the coils, fairly small, so in a way they act like the nails used in the original string art from decades ago.

I like these variations, but will still work more on them for some refinement! What do you think?

Play on Coils

2009-04-23T14:03:00.000-07:00

This happens when one is bored and has nothing better in mind! I had some coils lying around and started pulling them open and realized that the pulling increased their strength. Floppy to start with, now they were rigid. Okay, so I decided to bead them up with these very irregular orange mother of pearl beads. To work them together as a whole I used tigertail left over from a while ago (I do not use it any more) to complete the design. Amazingly, it looks stunning with an off the shoulder dress. Sorry for the picture quality!

String Art in Wire

2009-04-19T12:52:00.000-07:00

The last few days, on one of the groups I belong to, saw a lively discussion about Peruvian Thread Earrings. Looking at pictures they reminded me of string art which was quite popular in the late 70s - early 80s. But that was done in nails. Yikes. no good for jewellery.

Through a link provided I found Ganutell, an ancient art from Malta which is identical to the Peruvian Thread Art which again is identical to the string art of 30 years ago. I am sure that further research will bring up more sources.

When string art was popular I made loads of pictures to adorn my wall and even taught it to anyone interested, but this was a challenge to me! I felt that thread in jewellery might fade or disintegrate too quickly, so I wanted to use wire. My first attempt was made with 28g wire for the wrapping which became very bulky. Then I tried 30g wire which works beautifully.

The picture of this attempt is above. Now it remains to figure out layering of different colours and patterns. More will come for sure.

dreamcatchers

2009-04-19T12:34:00.000-07:00

Maybe this is a first! I decided to make a celtic star motif either as pendant or for earrings. But once finished the star was too floppy and could not hold its shape. Probably I used the wrong gauge wire or a wrong ring size. So once again I had to resort to make a circle to stretch them out and make them rigid.

That's how dreamcatchers are born!

Ancient Arts and Crafts

2009-04-16T12:59:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I came across a post by kokopelli about an ancient craft practised widely

in East Prussia, a former part of Germany. It is a weaving technique used to make bands

or straps, called Jostenbaender (Jostenbands or -straps). Reading about how those were made was intriguing because the same methods are

used here in Nigeria to produce aso-oke, a fabric strip of great length, which is cut to size and and the individual strips sewn together to make a larger fabric or various garments. And this industry here is very much alive and kicking! For now I do not have pictures to show, but as soon as I am able I will post some.

Going back to ancient and traditional arts and crafts there is also Kumihimo from Japan. This is not weaving but braiding and is equally versatile in application. The two pictures above show a few examples. It is not hard to learn, is very therapeutic when working it and always gives beautiful results.

Even though I say I work with wire, occasionally I take a break to do some braids, which of course will be used in jewellery making.

Have a try yourself, you will love Kumihimo!

Pendants again

2009-04-14T14:08:00.000-07:00

This design gave me almost a sleepless night! I kept dreaming about it, how to shape the petals, how to make the frame to hold them, how to decorate the flower, etc. etc. By morning I had the answer and set to work. In all my dreaming it had not occurred to me how tough 19g wire can be; it does not like to be wrapped by hand in tiny little coils, even bending the petals was a challenge. But I did complete it, with a pearl in the centre and amethyst Swarovski crystals surrounding the pearl. The next challenge will be matching earrings! Can anyone tell me the type of pearl I used? I won several strands of them in a competition and have no clue as to what they are called.
Another flower pendant awaiting earrings! For the petals I used 24g wire, 2 strands twisted together and shaped over my own home-made jig. The bezel for the focal agate was made in 20g wire. After attaching the blue topaz Swarovski crystals to the petals I used the remaining wire to link the focal and the petals together,weaving across the back of the focal to make it secure.
This pendant turned out to be a dreamcatcher in Japanese weave. Purely accidental! I set out to make a cube, but found that I could not bring up the sides to join together, the size of the rings was too small and the tension on bending the sides up was so tight I could not insert another ring to join it all together. So I removed several rings to get back to a sheet. Looking at it I thought that I could stretch it over a circle and this is the result! I like it, but there will be no earrings to match! No way!!!