Byzantine Wrapped Earrings

A quick pair of sterling silver earrings done in the chain maille Byzantine weave. The beads are amethyst with a very lovely color. Earrings length including the ear wire is 6.5 cm (2.5"). All metal, including the ear wire is sterling silver.

For wrapping the bead in the semi-herringbone weave I used a free tutorial by Heidi K. (link to her tutorial is in my Best free 4 herringbone weave tutorials post, reachable from the sidebar of this blog.)

Week 2 - Grace - The Year Of Jewelry Project 2013 Entry

Here is my second week's entry in YOJ project 2013, with the name Grace. For me grace is something simple, without too much fluff and extras, something elegant and classic.

So for this entry I made a pair of silver earrings with chain maille mixed with wire wrapping. Chainmaille weave is JPL (Jens Pind Linkage) and the wire wrapping part is herringbone weave surrounding the cute onyx beads. Not the best pics, I'll try to take better later and post them as well here.

Roxanne earrings

These earrings are huge! And the name Roxanne is simply because it was all the time humming in my head while crafting this unique pair of silver earrings. I know for some people the name needs to have a deep meaning, even spiritual in nature, but for me, this was it. And I think it fits nicely. A cheerful Roxanne, dancing in the disco with her huge flashy earrings...

Large Swarovski gorgeous red crystals surrounding a herringbone weave dangling from the center of the sterling silver frame.

New photos taken of the Eyes of Horus

I've decided to play some more with my new Canon digital camera and took a couple of new shots of the Eyes of Horus earrings that I made a few weeks ago. I also changed the earwires as the previous ones didn't seem too stable for me. These are just perfect, however.

To see more information, click on my Dawanda listing.

The Eyes Of Horus - Herringbone Weave Silver Earrings

Rather crappy shots but I like this pair of earrings. Reminds me strongly of the eyes of Horus. Mixed in a couple of techniques, of course my favorite herringbone weave and used one of Eni's chandelier tutorials for attaching the smoke quartz briolettes. Sterling silver corrugated beads surround the goldstone eyes in the middle.
I might have to retake the pictures in a better lighting.

Herringbone is the theme of today - SOLD!

As I mentioned in my previous post about herringbone weave, this is the first jewelry piece I made this year, a bracelet for a colleague at work. Green cats-eye in herringbone weave with 0.6 and 1 mm sterling silver wire.


I also made this cute pair of herringbone earrings after watching a free video on youtube, created by Cynthia. It really inspired me to try them and I will do more of these.
Beads are dark blue goldstone (so dark that they could easily pass as black in the proper light), they are really beautiful, and so dainty. If you like shorter earrings, which sit just right in your ear, these are for you :)

I will add the pair to my Dawanda shop, but you can also buy them directly from here via Paypal (with free shipping).

I had people sending me email asking me how much does xyz cost in $US, so I will display from now on both prices, in Euros and in $US. You can click on whichever button you prefer to buy it, depending on your location.

Best 4 free herringbone weave tutorials for wire wrapping

How did this post come about?
I'm working on a simple herringbone weave bracelet for a colleague at work, who placed the order for sending it to her mom as a gift. So this weekend I'm working on my very first piece in 2009. I will post a picture of it as soon as it's ready and my camera is charged.

So in honour of my first piece, which is based on the herringbone technique, I went searching online for the best 5 free herringbone tutorials for wire wrapping. I got loads of question on how to make herringbone pieces whenever I showed some of my jewelry based on this technique on jewelry forums, and I know that this post will fill that void, since each of these tutorials is FREE, and one can learn to make a nice piece of jewelry based on it. Well, I found only 4 free tutorials on the net in the end, not 5, everything else was for a fee, but these 4 more than make up for the missing 5th :)

So here we go.

1. Hands down, the best tutorial is Eni's Herringbone weave, this one is a classic already :)
2. Irulan's herringbone tutorial takes place 3. Nice and clear pictures, easy to understand.
   
3. Adelin's herringbone weave is a nice new tutorial, put up late last year - interesting weaving of a bead which usually doesn't lend itself to herringbone.
   
4. Alternative herringbone tutorial by Heidi K. It is ingenious in its simplicity and you don't even really have to learn herringbone. Perfect for wrapping round beads and making a small cute pair of earrings. Gotta try this one out. If you have a free herringbone tutorial that you'd like to share, just leave a comment with a link to your tutorial, and I will add it to the list (rearranging the list if needed, depending on the tutorial quality).

Bracelets, pendants

I've been busy over the last few days and the weekend making all sorts of jewelry. I took a few of Eni Oken's older tutorials to brushen up some of my techniques, also purchased the wrapping tutorial by Earringsbyerin (available on Etsy) and finally on Saturday I made two bracelets in Sharlyn Miller style with a heavily oxidized look.

Tooth of the Wild

When I purchased this tooth style carnelian bead, I had no idea what I will do with it. However once I went  over some older Eni Oken tutorials, I found my inspiration, and this is the result.

Length is about 6 cm, and it comes on a sterling silver chain, with free shipping, as usual, for all my pieces.

28 Euros

Pink Jade Pendant

This is a gorgeous pink jade briolette focal bead that I purchased on Etsy a while ago. I again used one of Eni's tutorials to wrap it around, embellishing it with a round of sterling silver beads. Pendant is 3x4 cm long.

28 Euros

Carnelian Fish pendant

I love this gorgeous carnelian bead and I think I found a nice way to wrap it, in a net surrounded by sterling silver beads. I call it The Fish :)Dimensions are 6.5x3.5 cm and it's of an average weight.

28 Euros

Autumn Agate wrapped bracelet

My  inspiration for this and the next bracelets is the work of Stacie Florer at Nomadic Creations. She is working in the style of Sharlyn Miller and Connie Fox, and she inspired me to dab in this work a bit as well. I especially enjoyed oxidizing the pieces :D

Wrapped in various techniques, the center is made in herringbone wrapping using heavier gauge silver wire. 29.5 cm long, it can be slightly extended upon request to up to 1 cm.

29 Euros

Blue wrapped bracelet

Yeah, very creative name, what can I say :p

It has a gorgeous lampwork bead by an Etsy artist, some pink quartz beads and I'm not sure about the turquoise color beads. Could be Czech Glass beads, not sure. Clasp handmade, coiled and hammered. Also 29.5 cm long, and it can be extended about up to a cm or so. Plenty of wrapping techniques embedded, among others the famous herringbone wrapping technique.

29 Euros

Byzantine and herringbone

I was busy the whole week with this byzantine necklace, a piece on commision. Now hope they will actually buy it :)
Sterling silver with a gorgeous clasp bought on Etsy. AR 3.5 on 1mm wire.
I love the byzantine, it's a timeless beautiful weave which is gorgeous either on its own, or with beads in between. This piece took me pretty much the whole week as I had hundreds of silver rings to cut.

Tonight, after all this chainmail, I wanted to do something entirely different, but still something in my comfort zone. So I picked the herringbone weave, which I love so much. The beads are goldstone, they sparkle so much in the light, they're simply gorgeous. For the first time since I make herringbone, I've used thicker wire for wrapping, it has quite an interesting effect. I might use it again for larger beads.

Two new silver pendants

Here is the pendant matching the set below. Took me quite a while to finish all the set, filing away all the burs and sharp edges, then oxidizing all the pieces, taking off the excess with the very fine steel wool and finally tumble polising them all for over 2 hours. But I'm quite pleased as how it all came together.
Here is also the whole set in one pic. Not so easy to photograph, specially when it's all about sterling silver...










Also another pendant I started last night and finished working on it today. I call it Spring Leaf. All sterling silver and 4mm Swarovski crystals.
I wanted to make something in honour of winter (finally) leaving us behind and to welcome spring. Thus the colour progression on the leaf of the swaros. The shape came nicely together as well.

A few more jewelry things

I've been busy yesterday and today. Love it when my creative 'juices' are flowing. Sadly only during the weekend when I'm rested and I have the whole day ahead of me...
Pendant uses a lampwork bead made by an Etsy artist, and it is wrapped in sterling silver. Really small one, hubby liked it (he prefers the smaller ones usually).


Second is a herringbone weave set I made today in sterling silver. I wanted too much to oxidize it but I was afraid. Nevertheless I said if it won't come out nicely, then I won't sell it and just keep it for myself. But I think the result is quite nice. LOS'ed it, then polished the heck out of it with the steel wool, and then put it (actually them) in the tumbler. I've also made a pendant but I still have to take a picture of it. Will do it tomorrow.