A Year of Jewelry by Beth

This was a commission like the green jade earrings from week 14.  I was given a string of sodalite beads but rather than go plain I’ve added a swirl of sterling silver wire to dress them up to add interest and a bit of flash. I think if I were to do them again I would add a silver bead at the bottom, but I am pleased with how they turned out. The rest of the beads were strung on elastic to be worn as 2 bracelets and earrings as a set.  

Check out the Year of Jewelry (YOJ) blog to see what others in our group are doing.

This necklace alternates clear swarovski crystals with Japanese glass pearl beads.  A cross enhanced with clear crystals makes this the perfect gift for a first communion. I’ve been busy catching up on special orders after returning from a 2 week trip to move my mom from Florida back to her home in Illinois.

22 guage sterling silver wire… square frame… pretty pink czech glass cubes with AB finish.  I added a little swirl to the earwires on the front end.  The bottom wire’s end was melted into a bead.

These earrings are delicate looking and the pink coloring adds to that look.  My pictures don’t show off the beautiful color of these cubes.

A customer gave me 2strings of beads on a stretchy red cord.  She asked me to take 2 animal beads and 2 round beads from each string to make the earrings.  She wanted them simple and without extra ornamentation.  There is a beautiful knot in the red elastic that I don’t know how to duplicate so I cut the string on the opposite side and put in a plain square knot with a little glue, also at the customers request.  They are interesting beads and no two animals are the same on each string.  Not what I would have chosen but it was a challenge to fulfill the customer’s requests.

Red czech glass beads on 21g sterling silver (ss) wire and ss beads. The wire holding the beads was melted into a bead on the end and then hammered.  I remembered a while back someone talking about doing that in the CWJ forum and found the results to be very nice.

Simple, comfortable and attractive earrings.