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While shopping at my favorite local jewelry tool supplier (FDJ Tool) this past weekend, I spotted a girl with some cool earrings which inspired these. Hers had a lot more going on than these, but I liked the look of her earwires and wanted to try something similar. I’m very happy with the look, but now that I’ve made these, I’m not sure how secure they actually are. I’ll have to take them for a test drive this week to see if I can make it to work and back wearing both earrings.
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To make these, I started with some sterling silver sheet and used a metal punch to cut out a disk and cut it down the middle with a jeweler’s saw. I also picked up a couple of design stamps on my shopping excursion, and used one to hand-stamp these dainty little stars. A little sanding smoothed the edges and gave them a brushed finish, and I added the silky grey pearl dangles to give them some swing.
Feel free to comment and let me know what you think!
It’s been a hectic couple of weeks, so I haven’t had much time to blog lately. I’ll keep this one fairly short and sweet today. Here are a few new goodies that I’ve been working on.
The first is a pair of earrings, cut from sterling silver sheet, stamped with a pretty flower and buffed for a brushed finish. They’re very light and airy.
Sterling silver earrings cut from sheet and hand stamped with a delicate flower
The ring shank below is a Hill Tribe ring which I bought a couple of years ago. It has little loops soldered on the top, and I wire-wrapped all of the pearls and Swarovski crystals. I’m happy that I’ll be able to make this type of ring shank on my own (as soon as I get my new soldering torch) because I love the look of these chunky cocktail rings.
Hammered sterling silver ring with pearls and Swarovski crystal beads.
I made the geometric links for this necklace in my weekend class. I’m thinking about signing up for the next session of classes which start in January. It’s easy for me to “get too busy” to work on new designs, and having the class every weekend has kept me on track. Plus I’ve been working on some more intricate designs on paper, so it will be helpful to have an experienced teacher to offer advice on how best to go about making it happen and to remind me to use my safety goggles.
Sterling silver geometric necklace
Here are a couple of new things that I have been working on this week.
Sterling silver & copper wire-wrapped Amazonite rings (click for larger view)
I love the look of a chunky, gemstone cocktail ring and have made two wire-wrapped rings with faceted Amazonite stones. On one, I used 18 gauge copper wire which will patina over time, and I made the other one with 20 gauge sterling silver wire.
Sterling silver & Swarovski crystal earrings (click for larger view)
I made these earrings by wrapping sterling silver wire into a herringbone pattern around peacock-blue Swarovski crystals and added smaller peridot Swarovski crystal dangles as an accent. Peacock colors are a big Fall fashion trend this year. The color combinations are so rich and exotic! I’m envisioning a night out on the town with a smoldering, smoky eye and these earrings as a strikng accent.
