10 Minutes Earrings - YOJ 2013 Week 20 Entry

Last week's theme for the Year Of Jewelry week 20 was 'Made in 10 minutes'. I work rather slowly when it comes to making jewelry so 10 minutes was dearly little to do anything more elaborate and complex than this simple sterling silver pair with little amethyst beads dangling from the bottom.

All jump rings have been soldered and pickled and the earrings have been in the tumbler for way more than 10 minutes, so in fact fully completing them took maybe more than an hour (I never like to tumble less than 30-40 minutes, not only to make the jewelry shiny, but also to work harden the wire).

The length of the earrings including the ear wires is around 5 cm (about 2 inches?)

Free Form Pendant In Copper

I've been eyeing these kinds of free-form styles for a while now, and Nicole Hanna's tutorials were the first that really brought me insight into how to even start doing something free-form. After having practiced for a while, I went on my own instead, so here is my first pendant that I made without any tutorial at all. Here I  simply wrapped around until I ran out of wire.

The whole pendant including the bail is about 4.5 cm. I'm really enjoying this style so I'll be making a few more, at least until something else catches my attention. Here are a few pics taken from different angles and different lighting.

Do Words Have Meaning?

Image copyright - creative commons

Just joined a blogging event called The Artists Synchroblog where various medium artists can participate and post on their blogs or sites about the monthly topics offered. The first month's topic is 'Words have meaning', so I have to write something about this phrase, whether somehow related to jewelry making in one way or another, or not really, it really doesn't matter, as long as it relates to us, the actual bloggers.

The thing is, for me words definitely have meaning, and they touch me more than many other people with 'thick skin'. Words can heal, but they can equally hurt, especially if you are a more sensitive person, like I am. In some of the spiritual groups I am called an 'empath' because I can sense moods of people faster than they even realize how they feel. I go to a room that is currently empty, and I know if there was a verbal fight going on there just before. It is not always good to be an empath because it's extremely difficult to develop that so-called 'thick skin' if you're overly sensitive to others, even if what is going on around you has nothing to do with you at all.

It's the same with words, I am always looking for hidden meanings and even when something is said with the lightest of words used, my interpretation of the words might be completely different from the intention of delivery by the other person.

Many things get lost in communication, especially online, and I think the words have the meaning of the person who receives them, and not of the person who sends these words. You might have wanted to say something, but from some cues or others the other party might have taken something completely different from your words.

For example a person saying 'she is a marketing genius' about a well known jewelry designer might mean that 'way to go, great that she learned marketing and she can apply it to her art to sustain herself and no longer be a  'starving artist', but this could also be taken as 'yeah she's good at catching flies who buy everything she has to offer', as if it were a bad thing.

So yes, words have meaning and it's not always what was meant to be said - but what was instead understood by the recipient.

If you're interested to see what others have written on the topic of Words have meaning, check out these other participant blogs. I'm curious if I'm the only one who rambled away this time :)


http://amyestellemetalworks.blogspot.com
http://www.islandgirlsinsights.blogspot.ca/
http://www.wrapturewirejewellery.on.ca/blog
www.elenorbuffington.blogspot.com
http://doxallodesigns.blogspot.com
http://lesliervillarreal.blogspot.com
http://www.journeyinjewelry.com/blog/My-Journey-in-Jewelry
http://simpledesignjewelry.blogspot.com
http://designsbylynnea.blogspot.com/
http://marikach.blogspot.com/ - oh yeah, this is me :)
www.createrecklessly.com
http://design.kcjewelbox.com
www.allwiredupjewelrydesigns.blogspot.com
http://shaktipajdesigns.com/blog/
http://silversmithblog.com/
http://stonezjewelry.com/blog/

Tiny Silver Rosette Earrings

I made this pair of silver earrings last night. I've been having conversations with friends who are rather fond of tiny earrings instead of the longer dangling ones, so I've decided to play around with a few ideas. This is really the tiniest I've ever made, with the length not much more than 1.5 cm. To really keep them very small I used earring post backs with a little silver nut to keep them from slipping from the ear.

The design is based on the popular moebius chainmaille weave, where I've doubled up all the rings for this little rosette design. The last picture is not very sharp, I just wanted to show how tiny they are in my hand.

And All The Entries For The Nicole Hanna Are Posted

Just woke up this morning and checked Nicole's Facebook page and yes, she already posted the entries and the voting has started - it's up until May 15. The voting is by simply leaving a comment with the name of the piece you like.

Here is the link to view all the gorgeous pieces and to vote for your favorite one: Nicole Hanna competition voting

If anyone happens to like my piece... :-)

My Entry To The Nicole Hanna Challenge

A few weeks ago Nicole Hanna started a challenge to spark our creativity by starting a tutorial that she never finished, letting us do our own think after the last step written in the tute. Today is the last day to enter, so in the morning I made my piece with copper wire and a bead (not sure what the bead actually is). She did have a day extension, for which I'm grateful since we had a long Easter holiday and I didn't have time to finish my in time without it.

I've already seen some entries that were posted in various Facebook group, and they are all different and beautiful. I know I won't win anything with my entry, it's not that great, but personally I'm happy I made the piece as it was a bit outside of my comfort zone. Every person who entered with a piece of which a photo was sent by email to Nicole will get the finished tutorial, for which I'm quite happy. I really want to see what the initial piece was. And it was really interesting to see how many different ways the wire can go after a few initial steps.

So here is my little piece. Hubby was quite surprised as to how light it is, he thought it would be quite heavy based on looks.