tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-186144982009-12-24T00:01:00.149-08:00One woman's adventures in the wide, wonderful world of beading.TheBroadroom.Nethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11474971338995816520noreply@blogger.comBlogger327125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18614498.post-73328264905547947062009-12-24T00:01:00.000-08:002009-12-24T00:01:00.256-08:00

I don't have much time to make jewelry any more...though it can be more interesting that way. It becomes less a matter of mass production, and more...hm? It doesn't bother me now to spend a few days on a single pair of earrings. I'm not making them to sell, so it's not a matter of recovering my labor cost. It's more the thought: I want to make something useful, something special.I started doing

Colleen Shirazihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08852308543194030377noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18614498.post-6489594547785294742009-12-23T18:44:00.000-08:002009-12-23T18:44:26.390-08:00

Apologies for the great slab of iffy photography. Particularly the last image...the light was fading, and I had to wonder when I'd be able to photograph earrings again. I pushed the rack backwards to get a better image, but then the burgundy glow of the garnets was lost, so I attached an even more out-of-focus, yet better-illuminated pic.Hammered goldfilled hoops / golden rutilated quartz

Colleen Shirazihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08852308543194030377noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18614498.post-7721952271284521972009-12-09T21:24:00.000-08:002009-12-09T21:36:38.282-08:00

Argh! Those earrings simply refused to tarnish. I took them out of the egg yolk and washed 'em... The frames can darken on their own time as far as I'm concerned; I'm fiddling around with another design. The original was too heavy, anyway.It's occurred to me that earrings are the haiku of the jewelry world. Typically they entail less material than other jewelry forms; they're deceptively easy.

Colleen Shirazihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08852308543194030377noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18614498.post-20167734841408719662009-12-07T19:54:00.000-08:002009-12-07T19:54:00.081-08:00

I'm trying to oxidize some sterling silver earrings.By "trying," I mean it isn't working, quite. Last night, I placed the jewelry inside a ziplock bag, along with the yolk of a hard-boiled egg (smush the yolk some, but don't let it touch the jewelry). Right? By the following morning, the sterling was supposed to be black.I'm guessing the well-intentioned folks who sold me the sterling wire (it's

Colleen Shirazihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08852308543194030377noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18614498.post-86279727008283548862009-12-05T10:32:00.000-08:002009-12-07T21:30:26.384-08:00

I miss Bead Biz of El Cerrito. Just wanted to throw that out there. They've been closed for years--the shop is still there, it's just closed--and, it was a small shop, but irreplaceable.I'm realizing this afresh, whilst searching for these: Muromoto Merry pliersNo one in the U.S. seems to carry these. One etailer stocked two other models o' Merry, but not the green- nor orange-handled pliers.I'll

Colleen Shirazihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08852308543194030377noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18614498.post-68410284025529815942009-06-14T20:50:00.000-07:002009-06-14T22:53:03.700-07:00

Poor blog, I have neglected you.I haven't stopped making jewelry, by any means. I've had to pace it out...I don't have time to spend anymore, and I suppose it's like anything else. You get picky as to what you want.My previous post...hehe...I still have my multi-strand knotted piece, and wear it to work. Though if I made one now from scratch, I would do it differently. I would go to the bead show

Colleen Shirazihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08852308543194030377noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18614498.post-6302847467002462432008-11-02T19:59:00.000-08:002008-11-02T20:32:35.678-08:00

Oooh! I'm excited...I just glued the ends of my four strands of knotted pearls. Tomorrow I'm going to get up early and try finishing the piece.Normally it wouldn't take this long. I found the most difficult parts were getting together the right thicknesses of silk, and figuring out how to knot with doubled thread.I started out with Griffin silk, with the "built-in needle," but ended up using

Colleen Shirazihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08852308543194030377noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18614498.post-88576854952106713652008-10-27T21:23:00.000-07:002008-11-02T20:01:00.480-08:00

Still working on my first project! I had decided to make it a multi-strand pearl necklace, and haven't had much time to work on it.The first strand is finished--large freshwater pearls on #4 silk. I haven't glued it, but the clamshell is knotted in place on one end; waiting for the rest of the strands to be knotted before finishing the other end.The second strand, of small pearls...eh...I tried

Colleen Shirazihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08852308543194030377noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18614498.post-50386023658458855772008-10-21T18:56:00.001-07:002008-11-02T20:01:00.481-08:00

Argh! Of course by now I've discovered how different are the thicknesses of silk (or rather, how differing the drill-holes are in pearls!). I tried my #4 Griffin silk on some smaller pearls I had on hand...no dice, not at all. mumbles...That's one aspect of making anything jewelry, that is not obvious to people who don't do it. Unless you own the bead store, you're perennially short of at least

Colleen Shirazihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08852308543194030377noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18614498.post-76973161361836911402008-10-17T22:00:00.000-07:002008-11-02T20:39:33.732-08:00

I finally got around to trying this. Why did I wait so long?????It's actually not too difficult, though it is time-consuming (then, everything to do with making jewelry tends to be time-consuming). I got the silk and clamshells yesterday, along with a strand of pearls, at Bead Castle in Berkeley. The owner was very helpful and recommended Griffin #4 silk for those particular pearls.I did my first

Colleen Shirazihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08852308543194030377noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18614498.post-32537531049645062112008-08-22T21:49:00.000-07:002008-08-22T23:21:51.995-07:00

Ah...what have I been doing lately. Not much, nothing new. More testing than development. :D In that sense though, testing is as important as development. It's less spectacular, but testing is what determines whether something will last.Here is a tutorial I stumbled upon: ES Designs >> how to make sterling silver hand-forged hoop earrings - tutorial. What intrigued me were not the earrings, but,

Colleen Shirazihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08852308543194030377noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18614498.post-76557038661265788152008-07-22T18:14:00.000-07:002008-07-22T18:49:41.624-07:00

Poor blog... I have made new jewelry, but haven't had time and energy to photograph it. :(The best piece I've made since...ah...fiddling around crimping a horizontal bar inside a hoop...is a pair of earrings made of (argentium) sterling chains, small aquamarine faceted drops, and small green amethyst faceted pears.These use a graduated style, smallest chain on the outside, longest chain on the

Colleen Shirazihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08852308543194030377noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18614498.post-19304641374266867972008-04-06T14:24:00.000-07:002008-04-06T14:29:45.957-07:00

The more I think about it, the more I like the idea of using a tiny round bead, instead of a crimp (see previous Rambles...).What I had on hand were crimp tubes. They actually don't look bad, crimped on a hoop like that, but a tiny round bead would likely look much better.I've been turning it over in my mind about soldering. Wondering how feasible it would be to solder an earring frame, say, that

Colleen Shirazihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08852308543194030377noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18614498.post-17394450947305699972008-04-05T20:26:00.000-07:002008-04-05T23:32:51.723-07:00

I got to finish some earrings today. Boy, were they a pain to finish! I had this idea of making a round hoop, with a curved bar inside it, like a much simpler version of these: Gokul earrings. Just the bottom hoops with the bar inside, and stuff hanging from the bar and from the bottom edge of the hoop. (Not even the fancy dangles hanging from the bottom, just regular little dangles.)Thing is, I

Colleen Shirazihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08852308543194030377noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18614498.post-81990037248570879252008-04-02T17:37:00.000-07:002008-04-02T18:14:07.455-07:00

Hi! Haven't had much time to blog lately...It's occurred to me...a new earring design usually takes me several days, at least. Sometimes longer. Once I have the design, it takes me several hours to actually fabricate the earrings.I was thinking of that today...from the beginning, I had wanted to develop several designs and just use those. Part of it is sheer laziness, no doubt, but I believe in

Colleen Shirazihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08852308543194030377noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18614498.post-42920956177895317212008-03-26T22:34:00.000-07:002008-03-26T22:55:02.035-07:00

Blogged some here: Fashion Notes: Trekking through Etsy. No original work, just some pics from various Etsy merchants.I did go ahead and make spiral earrings. It's experimental...in a way, I don't care whether it's a commercially viable design, since I'm not selling it. I just want to know how it feels to wear them. The ones I made feel different on, having a long "stem" to balance off the

Colleen Shirazihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08852308543194030377noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18614498.post-88916807389176614512008-03-23T17:36:00.001-07:002008-03-23T18:01:13.964-07:00

Happy Easter!Was fiddling around with some earrings today...I still need to finish the three-hoop necklace. The front is fine, but I finished the back with two grey moonstone rondelles. I love how the grey color looks, but the drill-holes were small. I really prefer using heavier wire in back to finish a chain, plus it could stand to be a bit longer anyway.Anyhow, about the earrings. These are to

Colleen Shirazihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08852308543194030377noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18614498.post-81451820254784008512008-03-22T16:34:00.000-07:002008-08-22T19:31:55.494-07:00

Not sure about this one yet. It's experimental, because these aren't soldered hoops; they're strictly bent and hammered.On a personal level, I like geometry, and therefore geometrical shapes. I've had the notion of making an abacus pendant for months, not because I know how to use an abacus :) nor even because an abacus is itself useful. It's the concept of making a square pendant that's

TheBroadroom.Nethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11474971338995816520noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18614498.post-39396612026101720462008-03-20T19:08:00.001-07:002008-03-20T19:29:55.592-07:00

In the top pic, I was leaning at a funny angle, trying to capture the schiller in the stones. It hangs much more the way it does in the bottom pic.I made this for special occasions, imo it's too much for every day. Unless you can pull something like that off. :)BTW labradorite is light for its size. I thought these stones would be way heavy, all together on the chain like that, but they're not.

Colleen Shirazihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08852308543194030377noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18614498.post-55658667628943867882008-03-20T19:03:00.001-07:002008-03-20T19:06:44.001-07:00

This is a somewhat lower grade of sapphire. Still a tiny bit translucent, but without the rich color of blue sapphires.I was very pleased these beads had been hand selected...I bought them online, three packages of four beads each. Someone had gone through and made sure I got two of each color. That's how I could make matching earrings.This is goldfill and vermeil, with karat gold beads.

Colleen Shirazihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08852308543194030377noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18614498.post-57732632768672705672008-03-20T18:55:00.000-07:002008-03-20T19:01:09.768-07:00

Here's my first attempt at using a herringbone weave. I realize I linked to it earlier from the beauty & fashion blog, but now that I can get screenshot thumbnails of the posts here, figured it would be useful to post here for future reference.Ultimately I was disappointed in using half-hard wire for the weave, because I found it impossible to bend the wire just so on the sides. I think the bezel

Colleen Shirazihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08852308543194030377noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18614498.post-58396257301421026132008-03-20T12:06:00.000-07:002008-03-20T13:43:44.367-07:00

This is a pic of what I was blogging about yesterday.As you can see, it was a bit of a bugger to photograph. You can get a nice still image by hanging the piece, but then the scale is unclear (plus you can't see all the stones).I'm quite pleased with how this Mom pendant turned out. When you wear it, it looks different, depending on the light and how the stones have fallen. So sometimes the

Colleen Shirazihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08852308543194030377noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18614498.post-33745029135254527532008-03-18T18:12:00.000-07:002008-03-18T18:41:14.252-07:00

...where was I? :)I ditched the earrings...I can't make the herringbone weave work with half-hard wire. It'll make a bezel, but I'm not happy with it.Latest projects: Fashion Notes: Earring synergy (the ill-fated half-hard herringbone weave!) Just Notes: What I've been into, lately (also featuring some pics I found on the Net of my home town) Fashion Notes: Labradorite necklaceToday I'm making

Colleen Shirazihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08852308543194030377noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18614498.post-53874610077907149782008-03-09T21:57:00.001-07:002008-03-09T22:49:28.202-07:00

Made some new earrings today, didn't have time to photograph them. Actually I'm wearing them...part of the test process, of course. :)These use several ideas...Dain's concepts of color combinations, and Eni Oken's herringbone weave, which I've been wanting to try for a long time. Thanks to Eni's tutorial, I found the weave relatively painless and managed to mangle only the first pass, when I

Colleen Shirazihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08852308543194030377noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18614498.post-63401345770238738062008-03-08T11:41:00.000-08:002008-03-08T11:49:37.861-08:00

Not sure what to make next. Thinking of going ahead and making another copy of these frames, though I don't know what to put in them. I'm just thinking of "something symmetrical, using one or two chains, and a small stone."

Colleen Shirazihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08852308543194030377noreply@blogger.com0