Adorn Me! 2010--Evening Day 2 & 3

One of the lessons I learned at Adorn Me!  this year was that it's probably not a good idea to take an evening class on a day when I have a day class.  The first day with the sawing class wasn't so bad.  I think I was wired with excitement and that it carried me through the very long day.

Wednesday and Thursday I was very tired during my evening classes.  I could tell my brain wasn't working as well as it should be.  I still had a great time though. 


fun funky ring

Wednesday evening was Jane Salley's Fun Funky Rings class.  I only got the one ring done.  I got to use the dapping blocks and the disc cutters, which I loved. I had never used disc cutters.  I did get parts of other rings done.  Jane is a lot of fun and the class was kind of like having "playtime."  We used several methods of cold connections: rivets, mini nuts and bolts, etc. 


knot bead pendant

Thursday evening was Melanie Schow's Knot Bead Pendant class.  This was a great class and I enjoyed it very much. Melanie made the complex bead seem easy and she had a great handout with photos. Check out her amazing coiled jewelry here.

I was going to antique this bead when I got home, but now I've decided to leave this one as is and make a second to antique, and a third out of copper...

Step by Step Wire Jewelry

One of my goals for this year was to get some jewelry published. Now that the magazine is out I can show you this picture which appears in the summer issue of Step by Step Wire Jewelry.



The photo appears in the reader gallery, WireWorks.

Wirework Pendant-Bird Nest

Here's a bird nest pendant I made recently. I have read a couple of tutorials on these, but I was going for a more organic look so I just did my own thing. The major part of the nest is one long wire, coiled, and twisted on itself at intervals.




The nest is about an inch in diameter. I used a tarnish resistant 20 gauge copper wire that I got from Bally Beads, and some 26 gauge Artistic Wire to hold the eggs in place. The eggs are pale pink pearls. Now I need to make some out of sterling silver, bare copper, and maybe brass wire. I have some antiqued brass wire that would look good. I think I could use some 24 gauge wire and do earrings.

Posting at Etsy

Wow, it's been a long time since I posted on this blog.

Lately I've been experimenting with the jewelry showcases on Etsy. In November I bought a showcase spot and did notice more traffic to my store, Essential Adornment. I also made a sale. I did another showcase for December. No sales, but again increased traffic and some more people favorited the store. For the second showcase I managed to get more items posted. I'll try again after the new year.

Here are a few items I've posted recently, plus the dragonfly bracelet above:



blackstone cross




pearl and hilltribe silver earrings

Swarovski crystal earrings

Dallas CityArts 2008

I'm trying to be a little more creative with my wire work. Here are a couple of pieces I did for

Dallas CityArts. I'm not entirely satisfied with the bale, below. I'll keep working on it.

I love the greens in this magnesite set.

It was really, really hot at CityArts. The sponsors provided the artists with popsicles and frozen treats which really helped. The event was held in the beautiful downtown Dallas Arts District. This is another place I really want to go with my camera some day. There's some great architecture there.

I enjoyed this show despite the heat. I had some really good neighbors on either side of my booth. Dan and Lori Dudley of Dirt on Your Skirt Studio had some really creative ceramic art. I especially liked the Day of the Dead series by Dan and the Goddess and Leaf series by Lori.

On the other side were the Kistners of Kris Kistner Photography. He has many great photos. I found the door photo with two doors very arresting.

My cousin Debbie, and her husband, Tony Holman of Holman Pottery, were also showing at CityArts. My favorite is their Fossilware line.

I did get to take some pictures of the art cars. I didn't want to leave my booth for long so I had to be very quick about it. Here are a few shots. Check out the rest of the art car photos on my flickr photostream.

Taxi art car.

Women That Rock art van.

Epicenter art van.

Rings & Sparkly Things

I've been working on some rings from Sharilyn Miller's DVD Rings of Beauty. Here are my first results, done in copper before I move on to the much more expensive sterling silver wire. I'm pretty pleased with them.




Here's a detail shot. I can see it's going to take some practice to make a ring a particular size. I start out wrapping the wire around the mandrel, but when I secure the wire later it changes the size a little, especially on the rings with a bead. The beaded rings always seem to come out bigger than I intended. That's what practice is for though, and over all I'm excited about making them and pleased with my initial results.