Malfait Luciu

How to Apply a Borax Patina on Copper

2017-03-31T18:33:00.000-04:00

Hello everyone!

Yesterday I made a post about how to apply an ammonia patina to copper. In that post I mentioned a borax patina that can be done quickly and easily, so I decided to write up this little how-to :)

I love this method because it's fast and easy and produces some lovely colors, like the ones in my Copper Heart Earrings. If you like instant gratification as much as I do, then this technique is for you!

Materials and Tools

Borax (can be found in the laundry/household cleaners aisle in the grocery store - look for it on the bottom shelves)
A small container for the solution you'll mix up, I use a ramekin
A soldering/heat proof surface. I use a charcoal brick atop a fire brick
A torch - I use a small butane torch
A pair of cross-lock tweezers
Very hot water (not boiling hot, but as hot as you can get it from your faucet)
A piece of copper, of course :D

The first thing you have to do is make sure your copper is clean. Some scrub with a toothbrush and Dawn soap, but I just wipe it down with some rubbing alcohol and that seems to work fine.

Once your piece is cleaned, set it aside and mix your borax solution. In your small container/ramekin, pour in some very hot water (again, not boiling, but it should be a little too hot to the touch). Then, sprinkle in your borax. I personally put a ton of borax in my solution- often so much that not all of it dissolves in the water- I like to super saturate the water with the borax.

You want to work a little quickly here because you don't want your borax solution to cool off too much. Take your copper and set it on your heat-proof surface, and make sure your cross-lock tweezers are handy. With your torch, heat the bejeezus out of your copper. You want to heat it until it glows cherry red. Quickly grab your cross-lock tweezers and use them to grab the piece of copper, and quench it in your borax solution. You want to work fast because you want your copper to be as hot as possible when you quench it.

When you quench your copper, something pretty cool happens! When you first dunk it in the borax solution, the copper will hiss as it cools down rapidly and will turn kind of gray-ish. But just a moment after that, you hear another hiss and can literally see the red patina appear right before your eyes! This is my favorite part, haha! Ive made a video just so you can see how satisfying that double hiss is! :D

I hope you found this little guide helpful! The really great thing about this method is if you don't like the patina you end up with, all you have to do is toss it in the pickle pot for awhile and it will come back copper colored so you can retry your borax patina as many times as you like until you achieve the look you want.

For now I'll leave you with a pic of me holding my mom's kitty Jinx on the day we brought him home. :)

Til Next Time!

How to Use Ammonia and Salt to Patina Copper

2017-03-30T18:06:00.000-04:00

Hello everyone!

Lately I've been playing with various techniques of applying patinas to copper. I'm having a blast playing with heat patinas and borax patinas, but I get the most satisfaction from ammonia and salt patinas.

I thought it might be fun to do a little tutorial on the way I apply patina to my pieces. I'll focus on ammonia and salt patinas for now. They are deceptively easy to achieve! Let me walk you through my process :)

Materials:

The copper piece you want to patina
A plastic container, for example one of those disposable food storage containers. It must have a lid! I use a large one but a smaller one would work just fine; but it must be a container you're willing to sacrifice and never use to store food in again
Ammonia - all I could find at the store was the lemon scented kind but it works just as well as plain old ammonia
Table salt
Wire - I use 20 gauge base metal wire
Something pointy and metal that can be heated - I use an old needle file
A small cheap paint brush

The first step is to create your fume container out of your food storage container. Use your pointy tool/needle file, and hold the tip over a flame to make it hot. Then use it to melt a hole in the side of your container. Melt two more holes beside the first one and try to make them even. Repeat this on the other side of the container, making sure it's directly across from your first set of holes and also at the same height as the first holes.

Now, take a few lengths of wire and feed them through the holes, one side to the other. Bend down the excess wire so it doesn't slide right back out. Repeat for the other two pairs of holes. In my container below, you can see the three wires spanning the width of my container.

At this point, pour in a little ammonia. You don't need a lot! I have maybe a centimeter of ammonia in my container. It's the ammonia fumes that interact with the salt and produce the patina, not the liquid itself, so you don't need a lot.

CAUTION

Ammonia fumes are very, very strong and are not something you want to be inhaling. It can also hurt your eyes, so please work in a very well ventilated place with safety goggles!

Next, take your copper piece and paintbrush and brush it with some of the ammonia, then set it on top of the wires in your fume container so it's suspended above the ammonia.

Next, while the piece is still wet, sprinkle a VERY generous amount of table salt onto your piece.

Now comes the waiting. Put the lid on your fume container and carefully move it to a place where it will not be disturbed.

You'll notice after a little while, the salt has turned blue! It's an encouraging sign, but don't get too excited - at this point the blue is only on the salt, not the copper piece beneath.

After leaving the whole assembly alone for awhile, the patina on the copper will slowly build. This takes time; I usually leave my items in the fume container for three days, although you can go longer if you like.

Once the three days are up, it's time to remove your piece. Rinse off the salt crust with a little water, and take a look at your gorgeous patina!

At this point I use a couple coats of ProtectaClear to protect and preserve the patina. Now you're ready to use your patina pieces in whatever jewelry project you have in mind :) Here's another example of this method:

I hope this little mini tutorial is useful! Next I think I'd like to document the process of adding a borax patina to your copper pieces, as I've done here with these earrings:

It's a great method that gives a lovely mottled red color to your copper, and an added bonus is there's no waiting for days for it to develop, it shows up right away! :)

For now, I'll leave you with my sweet boy Neo, keeping me company in my studio (my cats are so spoiled, they get their own little pillow to sit on on my work table! But mainly I put it there because otherwise they like to hop up and lay right down on the table on top of all my work! haha)

Til Next Time!

Experimenting with Exciting New Equipment

2016-07-22T19:53:00.000-04:00

Hello everyone!

A few weeks ago I found myself frustrated. I love working with wire, but wrapping just hasn't been doing it for me lately. I've wanted to learn advanced metalworking techniques for years, but this time I decided I was going to buy the equipment needed to start making soldered copper jewelry.

I made a list of all the things I'd want and need for soldering, figured out which items I would need right away, and then I priced out each item I needed that was available from Amazon. There are still things I need to buy but they could wait a little bit. From there, I comparison shopped for a couple of days at Rio Grande, Rings & Things, and Fire Mountain Gems to try to bring my costs down. I got my list down to a bit over $100. I couldn't afford that, so I spent a long time doing paid surveys! Over a few weeks I joined a number of legit survey sites and little by little accumulated the money I needed. I also did two 'mystery shops' at a diner for a significant chunk of money.

When I finally had enough, I ordered what I needed and eagerly awaited their arrival!

I got a cute little pickle pot and a pretty nice torch-

...a fire brick (which arrived broken, actually, but it ended up being a lot bigger than I thought it would be so I didn't actually mind that it broke - my studio space is not large so it actually works out that now I have two smaller bricks.)

My pot, brick, and torch arrived before my solder did, so for the first day with my new equipment, I focused on practicing balling up lengths of copper wire, getting a feel for the torch and how the copper behaves when it's hot. I had drawn out a little design to attempt a pair of earrings, each earring consists of two different lengths of wire balled up at the ends. It took quite a few attempts to get two pairs of wire in matching lengths with balled up ends. I got a little frustrated because I worried I was using too much wire, but then realized that my failures would probably make for pretty decent headpins for future projects, so I kept them :)

I discovered that sometimes little bits of hot copper can jump away and land on your sketchbook! After this, I moved my book very far away from my work surface.

I also learned that hot metal can melt a plastic worktable quickly! After this, I located a large stone tile to use on top of my table.

After much practice and experimentation, I was left with four components, two each for each earring.

The next day, my solder arrived. I made up a few jump rings and soldered one to one of my earring pieces...

...and was beyond thrilled when I completed my first soldering! It was so satisfying to see the two little bits of solder suddenly melt and flow. I soldered the other wire piece and another jump ring on and was left with a sort of fleur-de-lis design. Time to pop it into my cute little pickle pot!

After pickling, it came out coppery again.

Here it is after a bit of filing, a bit of hammering, and a bit of sanding.

At this point, despite all the hammering, this is very soft - annealed copper is like butter! For now my earrings stay in this form until I can afford a rawhide mallet and a dremel/flex shaft. So, it's back to surveys for me! If anyone is interested, I can post referral links to the sites I like best that are legit and pay through Paypal.

I'll leave you now with my mom's cat Vinnie, who knows there's canned food in this box! :P

Til Next Time!

200 Facebook Likes Giveaway! CLOSED

2016-03-04T15:43:00.001-05:00

Hello Everyone!

I'm thrilled to announce that we've hit 200 Likes on Facebook! I promised another giveaway when we hit that number and here it is!

The Prize

The prize this round is a pair of my handmade "Sapphirus" earrings! These are truly 'statement' jewelry- they're long and glamorous and have tons of movement. As always, all the weaving here is done by hand including the hand-hammered custom earwires. I had a lot of fun making these! I rarely use blue in my designs but these are a departure from my 'usual' :)

You can enter by using the Rafflecopter widget below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This giveaway begins today, 3/4, and ends at 11:59pm on 3/18. I'll announce the winner here on the blog, over on the Malfait Luciu facebook page, and by email. The winner must respond to the email within 48 hours with their home address so I can mail out the prize; after 48 hours without a response, a new winner will be chosen at random.

I'm so excited to see who will win! Thanks so much to everyone who has supported me this far - you're the best! After this giveaway is over, I'll run the next giveaway when I reach 350 Facebook likes, so do feel free to share; I love running these and the more my page is shared, the sooner I'll be able to run another giveaway! :)

Thanks much, and Good luck! <3

Contest & Sweepstakes - Lucky Contests
As seen on Hypersweep.com! Win Free Stuff

65 F in the Middle of December!

2015-12-16T14:55:00.002-05:00

Hello everyone!

I know it's been awhile, but i haven't been in the best health lately. But I feel pretty damn good now.

As I'm sure I've mentioned before, winter is my favorite season. So imagine my disappointment every time i go outside and it's too warm for a jacket!

Then some people are opposite. More than once I've seen people out and about wearing full winter coats and scarves. I don't think I'll ever understand that, lol

Anyway, since it's that time of the year, and because I have no new pieces to post, I've rounded up a bunch of winter-themed jewelry :D

First one, from Mill Lane Studio. I love that the trees are red and the drops are green.

This design is from Beadaholique. I doubt they'd take more than 10 minutes to put together, but I really dig the beads they used for the skirts!

These are so delicate! Bead caps are used as the 'bell', and those bows are just gorgeous. Great for formal occasions I think!

I can't tell you how much I love this design! The cube stacks for the candle and a little swarovski bicone on top for a flame. These are from Spoilt Rotten Beads and I think they're so creative!

From Cook, Love, Craft, a free tutorial for these sweet little christmas trees :D

So, silly me forgot to write down the URL to get a tutorial for these earrings. BUT I did find something like it that is the same concept. I imagine you'd need a longer headpin to make up for the added height of the third cube. (If anyone can contact me regarding the person who actually made them, I'd appreciate it)

A lovely friend of mine sourced these; it's another Beadaholique free tutorial

And finally, sweet little clusters of hunter green bicones and sparkling faceted red 'berries'. I was unable to find a source for these, if you know who made them, please let me know :)

And lastly, these swaro santa earrings are possibly the cutest thing I've seen in a long time! A free tutorial is available at Bead World Inc.

That's all for now :) Today I'll leave you with my sweet sleepy Neo. :)

The Fishtail Pattern - Finished, but not by Me!

2015-11-25T09:30:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone!

I just had to post the coolest thing that happened only recently. Some of you may recall my free beaded Fishtail tutorial.

I had planned to complete the design, but just never really got around to it.

But thankfully for me, someone else did! Amy Bradley contacted me on the Malfait Luciu Facebook Page. She showed me a fishtail bracelet she'd made, but she'd also finished both ends and a clasp. Her chosen color palette is just perfect, too.

Isn't it gorgeous? I love those little green fringe beads and the very pretty way she created the sort of 'checkerboard' effect on both ends to finish them off.

Thank you so much, Amy, for showing me your work! And to anyone who uses any of my free tutorials, I do hope you'll share your work to me! Post your completed pics on the Malfait Luciu FB page, and I'll feature them here on the blog. Got a variation you tried out? Show me! I hope at one point I'll be able to dedicate a page on this blog specifically from works by others :)

Thanks again, Amy!

Goodbye Autumn Jewelry

2015-11-24T20:37:00.003-05:00

Hello everyone!

I have been very busy yesterday and today working in my brand new studio space. It's the only space in the house that I feel really belongs to me, and I have some plans to spruce it up some (it IS in an unfinished basement, after all). However, when I visit my mom for Thanksgiving, she's giving me a nice rug to spread on the concrete floor, and I'm going to bring home my massive poster of Trent Reznor (this thing is enormous, my love gave it to me a very long time ago when we were just friends). It was looking rough, ragged edges, etc. But at the time I worked at a framing shop, so I sent it out to get mounted on acid-free foam core with a simple bronze frame. Well, I know exactly where that's going! There's a space on the wall right in front of my work table that is the perfect size for my massive poster of teh sexxiest guy ever :P

Not at all to say I'm not thrilled with the space (I spent a good five hours there today working on a ring I'll put up elsewhere in this post - and with a free tutorial that I should complete by tomorrow, stay tuned!) But I'd love to hang a curtain to hide this one spot in the corner that I'll never use and is an eyesore, and also I'd love a big comfy chair or small loveseat to relax and take a break from the wire a bit.

I've been working with my wire so much these past two days that my fingertips hurt! He'

Cannot for the life of me get a good photo of this but I love it and I finally used my seafoam green wire that I have literally owned for years and never used. Plus there are two teeny tiny pink montees on either side of the bead (which sparkles like craziness).

I've got the photos taken for a tutorial, just have to edit them and then post them, hopefully tomorrow.

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As anyone who knows me will tell you, I was born for winter. I look forward to cold temperatures the way people can't wait for the hot summer sun. But even though I love winter, I do think that autumn is just too damn short.

So, to 'keep the memory of autumn alive', I'm running a sale on the Fall-themed items in my shop, all marked down for you!

Looking for a statement necklace? This design is available in two colors, brown and bright copper. They're actually quite sturdy, although they look delicate. My favorite parts are the pair of acorns each pendant features - each necklace has one brown glass acorn and one champagne colored Swarovski pearl.

These were $25, but with my Goodbye Autumn Sale, they're only $18 each! Does bright copper draw you in? Or maybe you're more inclined to deep rich brown?

How about a sweet pair of acorn earrings? These faceted glass beads each have their own Vintaj acorn top (quite easily the cutest little finding I've ever seen). These were $10, but for the Goodbye Autumn Sale, they're a steal at $6!

A pair of lucite, somewhat translucent rich brown leaves affixed to hairpins? These are decorative hairpins, not bobby pins. They're intended to adorn hair that is already in an updo. An easy, unusual hair accessory that people will notice! They were $6, but for the Goodbye Autumn sale, they're only $4!

Prefer traditional bobby pins instead of hair pins? My Autumn Palette barrettes are just the thing to add a little touch of fall. These were $7.50 but for the Goodbye Autumn sale, they're only $5!

Today in one of my boxes I found some old lucite leaves and a bronze circle finding. It's laying out on my desk right now in this configuration, but I haven't decided on a design yet. The leaves feel wonderful in your fingers, you'll love their weighty look but light feel. We'll see what I come up with with these!

Today, I'll leave you with Trinity's single white toe <3

Til Next Time!

A New Studio Just for Me!

2015-11-23T23:28:00.000-05:00

Hello everyone!

For a long while now, I've been suffering from the dreaded "artist's block". I couldn't even get up the motivation to pick up my pliers- hell, I couldn't even manage to put pencil to paper to doodle some designs!

But, I'm grateful that that seems to have passed. It was a matter of sheer will - you WILL create something today, Jet!

But it's true what they say about being kind to yourself- when I find myself feeling like my work is pointless or bad quality, I ask myself: 'If someone else said that stuff to you, wouldn't you be furious?' In other words, be kindest to yourself.

If it's a motivation problem, or a huge task to handle, I just break it up into small tasks and ignore the big picture. As my mom and Grams are fond of saying: "How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time". :3 I'm so grateful for having these two ladies and their wealth of wisdom.

So, I desperately wanted to create. I decided to ease into it, with a very simple necklace.

I've had these little metal black bow charms for god knows how long. I have them in silvertone too, but I feel like it gave me enough experience to get back into the swing of creative. I'll list it in the shop soon

These were my next attempt at getting back to my tools and pliers. I wanted to do a simple but elegant shape, with just a little wire wrapping. I could'nt resist putting them on those chains - these earrings will likely not ever stay still, which I think is the fun part.

And of course I went with green and bronze. Bronze wire is my favorite, and I just love the way it looks with greens and purples. These will go up into the shop very soon, too.

Tonight I'll leave you with Trinity, who has been trying for ages to get up to the top shelf of my shelves and finally succeeded (and of course she's sitting on my sewing box :P)

'Til Next Time!

Tutorial - Zoe's Ring

2015-09-06T17:54:00.003-04:00

Hello everyone!

I've got a new tutorial for you today; a ring set with a cabochon. I've named it after my niece who is just awesome :3

This one might appear kind of complicated but really it's pretty straightforward. Hope you enjoy it, and if you make one, please show me! :)

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Note: this tutorial is protected by an International Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike licence. This means that you are free to post this wherever you like as long as you give proper Attribution (that is, to me, Jet Kosanke, and my website, malfaitluciu.blogspot.com), it may not be used commercially (you're not allowed to make money off it, that is, sell this tutorial to other people for money), and you're free to make changes to it as long as you also share it under these same restrictions (that is, you still give Attribution to me, you don't sell it, and you allow it to be shared freely.) For more information, click the Creative Commons link at the end of the tutorial.By the way- NonCommercial doesn't mean you can't sell works you make using this tutorial. If you make a necklace, bracelet, or whatever using this tutorial, feel free to sell it- however, you may not mass-produce it, and the Attribution part still applies, that is, you still have to attribute the design to me.If you're unsure if what you want to do is allowed, just ask me! I'm really pretty laid back about things like this :) I'd rather share my knowledge and discoveries for free so others can learn than charge money for my tutorials. With all that said, on to the good stuff! :)

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Click any image to view a larger version

Materials

1 14x10mm glass or stone cabochon (this tutorial uses a vintage glass cab from myAtlantis on Etsy; another great source is Yummytreasures on Etsy)
24 inches of 20 gauge round wire
~40 inches 26 gauge round wire
~35 inches 20 gauge 1/2 round wire

Tools

Chain nose pliers
Flush cutters
Ring mandrel

Let's get started!

Cut three 8" lengths of 20 gauge round wire. Decide what size you want your ring to be, and wrap one of the three lengths around your ring mandrel. It helps to first wrap your wire tightly at a size or two smaller than the size you want, then slide the wire down to the size you want. This will help ensure your ring comes out at the correct size instead of being too big.

Your wire should be in a circle with two 'tails' - bend the tails upward, but make sure that the wires overlap for about 1/4 inch to 3/8 inches.

Straighten out the circle in the wire, but be sure to keep the bends you made in the last step.

Cut 16 inches of 26 gauge wire and 16 inches of 20 gauge half round wire. Wrap them both around the 20 gauge wire at the same time, just before the first bend in the 20 gauge wire. It's ok if this part is messy, we'll be undoing it later.

Add the other two 20g wires cut in the first step, and use the 26g wire and the 20g half round wire to wrap the three 20g base wires together. Notice how the wrapping alternates from half round to 26g. By wrapping those two wires around the base wires at the same time, you end up with this look. It's best to continue wrapping by first wrapping the 26g around once, then the half round around once, switching back and forth. This step can also be done with only 26 gauge round or 20g half round if you prefer, but be sure you double the length of the wire when you cut it so you'll have enough to go down the length of the ring band.

Continue wrapping until you get to the second bend in the 20g base wire.

Wrap the wires around your ring mandrel again, starting at a smaller size and then moving it down the mandrel to the size you want. Note the section in the middle marked in purple where the wires on each end 'overlap'.

Unwind the wrapping wires in the area marked in purple in the last step. Adjust the size of your ring one more time by wrapping it around a smaller size on the mandrel and then sliding the wire down to your preferred size.

Cut a 3" length of half round wire, and use it to bind the base wires together as shown, snip off the excess, and press the ends flat with your pliers.

10.

Bend the topmost base wire up, and use a 10" length of 26g wire and wrap around the base wire for 1 inch.

11.

On the middle base wire, use 8" of half round wire to wrap, also for 1 inch.

12.

Repeat steps 10 and 11 on the base wires on the opposite side.

13.

Carefully gather a 'set' of 3 base wires together and bend them up and over so they're pointing in the opposite direction. Repeat on the other side.

14.

This part can be a little fiddly, but it's not too terribly bad. Insert your cabochon so the 2 sets of three base wires are positioned across the top and bottom of the cab. Notice that the cab is not oriented straight up and down, but instead it lays at a bit of a diagonal.

15.

On one side, guide the three base wires up around the band and then push the ends down through the ring band so they're 'hooked' onto the band.

16.

Repeat the last step on the other side (these base wires will be pointing down, and you want to bend them UP through the ring band).

17.

Guide the base wires up around the band on both sides.

18.

Trim the wire ends somewhat close to the band; repeat on the other side.

19.

Carefully bend the wires cut in the last step around to the back of the band. Try to push them down pretty firmly with your pliers. Repeat on the other side, and you're done!

Here's a look at the back/inside of the ring, for reference-

I hope you enjoy making this ring! If you have any questions or to show me what you've made with this tutorial, let me know in the comments :D

Zoe's Ring Tutorial by Jet Kosanke is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAli ke 3.0 Unported License

Today I'll leave you with my mom's cat Vinnie, who seriously sleeps like this for some reason.

Til next time!

Tool Review - Conetastic Cone Mandrel Tool

2015-09-03T21:37:00.000-04:00

Hello everyone!

Today I have another tool review for you. My last tool review featured Convex-Flat nose pliers. This time, I'm going to review the Conetastic Cone Mandrel tool from Artistic Wire.

This little tool was created by Sandra Lupo in order to more easily create custom bead cones/caps using wire.

It could seem like a one trick pony, but because it includes cone mandrels in three different sizes it is somewhat more versatile.

Besides the three cone sizes, this tool also comes with a hex key, used to swap out the different sized mandrels. All the pieces are stored inside the tool which is a very nice feature (I'd have managed to lose all the parts after a day or so otherwise, so this design is very useful).

Swapping out mandrels is easy with the included hex key. Simply insert the hex key into the screw hole near the top of the tool. A few counter clockwise turns will loosen the screw and allow you to remove one of the mandrels to replace it with one of the other two; insert the mandrel you want to use into the hole on top, and use the hex key to tighten up the screw to secure the mandrel in place.

Each mandrel has a hole near its base in order to secure the wire in place while you use the tool. Just insert your wire into the hole, bend the tail end of the wire to anchor the wire, and then begin your coiling.

The tool isn't difficult to use at all, but I found it still does have a small learning curve. A little bit of practice on scrap wire is useful - in the photo above, you can see my first attempt; there are gaps in the coil which is not very attractive. However, after a bit of playing, I quickly got a feel for it. After inserting the end of the wire into the anchor hole, I found that it's easiest for me to hold the tool in my left hand (I'm right-handed, so lefties can reverse these instructions), guide the wire with my right thumb, and then with my left hand, steadily turn the tool clockwise. Getting the coil started can be a little tricky, as the wire tends to want to slide either up the cone, or down toward the anchor hole. Again, however, ten or so minutes of using it to practice with scrap wire quickly takes care of that problem.

Above are three cones I created with the tool using 20 gauge wire. The one on the left is with the largest mandrel, the medium mandrel in the middle, and the small mandrel on the right. The leftmost cone I'd modified a little bit- I added a small loop at the bottom of the coil to neatly end the wire, and I didn't wrap the wire the entire way up the mandrel. Once i reached the point where I wanted to stop coiling, I took the cone off the tool and then used my flat nose pliers to bend the topmost coil vertically, to create a loop that can be strung with chain or cord. The rightmost cone was the third one I made and you can see how with just a little bit of practice, my cone is neat and even.

In the end, I used the coil made on the largest mandrel to create a wire bead cap for this large glass drop. I added four weaves with 26 gauge wire around the cone- this is the first time I've used this technique but it wasn't too difficult. A little too many tool marks, but for practice, I'm happy with it. After some more practice I intend to replace this bead cap with another one with less marring on the wire.

I got my Conetastic tool from FireflyStudiosAtFDJ on Etsy for $13.50; this is the lowest price I've seen for this tool. This tool is somewhat specialized, but it is very good at what it's designed to do, and I think the price is reasonable for what you get. My only quibble would be that I wish it included a large mandrel component that's shorter and wider at the base- the included mandrels create kind of long-ish cones, but I think a squattier mandrel would be most useful for instances that you want a cone with a wide base but don't want it to be very long from base to tip.

I hope this review has been useful for you! Today I'll leave you with my mom's kitty Vinnie, who loves to curl up in your lap and cuddle and knead and nurse on his 'mommy blanket', purring away. :)

Til Next Time!

FLASH SALE

2015-07-23T21:51:00.000-04:00

Announcing a 24 hour Flash Sale at Malfait Luciu Jewelry!

From Noon Friday 7/24 til Noon Saturday 7/25 (EDT)

get
25% OFF ALL ITEMS

Just use coupon code

FLASH25
at checkout.

Happy Shopping! :)

Wire Wrapped Coils

2015-07-20T19:36:00.000-04:00

Hello everyone!

Lately I've been experimenting with wire coil designs. I've made a few samples of coils I thought I'd share. Just recently, my husband saw I was working on coils, and said "You should make Clapton coils". He and I both use e-cigarettes and he knows a lot about putting them together. When I googled it, up came a ton of functional wire coils, and a lot of them I've seen done in wire work, but many of them were completely new to me and could be adapted to jewelry.

So for the last two days or so I've been working on a bunch of samples of coiled wire and coiled coils. Many of them are inspired in part by the 1/2 round wire I have but rarely use.

These coiled coils play off of each other a lot. The possibilities are endless, and they may look complex, but all use surprisingly simple methods. We all know and love the general purpose single wrap using thick gauge wire as a core to wrap thinner gauge wire around. What happens if we use a single wrap coil to coil around another base wire?

I call this one a 'double coil' because that's exactly what it is. The trick to wrapping something thick like a single coil around a larger gauge wire (I use 20 gauge for this) is that after you finish the initial coil, gently slide the coil off the thick gauge core wire and replace it with smaller wire (I use 26 gauge). The smaller wire is more flexible so when you go to coil that coil onto a larger gauge wire you're not fighting with it or distorting the single coil. It also allows the wrap coils to pull apart a bit, which I think adds to its attractiveness.

However, you can take this double coil and add yet another coil to it!

These both have a third wrap, done with half-round wire. The neat thing about half-round wire is that you can use either side of it for various effects. In the top coil, I added a third coil with the flat side of the half-round wire facing out; in the bottom coil, I wrapped with the rounded part of the wire facing out.

You may notice that the original wraps in the two coils above are a little different. That's because the original coil has had it's 20 gauge core wire replaced with a length of 26 gauge wire.

You can see the thinner wire in between the coils. However, on the other coil in the photo, the original coil consisted of two 20 gauge core wires that were replaced with two 26 gauge wires for flexibility.

You can see the two thinner wires in the core of the original coil. Also, since the original coil was made using two 20 gauge wires, the wraps themselves are wider. This holds true for just about any number of core wires; the more you use, the wider the wrap will be, which opens up many opportunities to test and experiment.

Since I was already experimenting with using half-round wire as a third wrap in a coil, I figured I should try it by itself and see what happens if I coiled that coil. It came out looking rather surprising- it reminds me of seed beads! Here also you can clearly see that for the original wrap, I swapped out the 20 gauge core wire for a 26 gauge wire. After that, I just use the 'wire mandrel' that was removed from the original coil as the core of the second wrapped coil.

Still experimenting with the half round wire, I paired it with a 26 gauge wire, and then wrapped both around a 20 gauge core wire at the same time. That meant a lot of small movements, but I think the effect is gorgeous. I will definitely be using this one in my designs soon.

Wrapping two or more wires in different colors at the same time can be fun, too! Really you can wrap as many colors together as you like; just keep in mind you'll have to move each wire around the core one at a time - tedious, but worth it for this look!

I got a little crazy here, haha. The 'seafoam' colored wire started as a coil around three lengths of 20 gauge wire, making the coil very wide. After the first coil was finished, I removed the three 20 gauge base wires and replaced them with three 26 gauge wires, for much needed flexibility. Then for the hell of it, I wrapped between the wraps in the seafoam with 20 gauge silver wire. This one, I think I need more practice with, but I can think of so many uses for it!

I took a few notes while making each of these and have worked out some rough estimates of the length of wire needed for one inch of coil. Note, these are just guidelines, and they use only 20 gauge and 26 gauge wires (my default sizes for basically everything I make).

Original 26g coil on 20g; 10" 26g = 1" coil
Second coil; 25" 26g = 1" coil
2 20g base coils; 14" 26g = 1" coil

I hope I'm explaining these measurements right! Have you ever used coiled coils in your work? Do you have a favorite coil you always go back to? Let me know in the comments, and show me photos! I want to see :)

'Til Next Time!

Giveaway Winner and my New Hair!

2015-07-17T00:46:00.001-04:00

Hello everyone! My Custom Ring Giveaway just ended, and the winner is:

Kimberley K.

Congrats, Kimberley! I'll be in touch soon so you can pick out which cabochon you'd like and what your ring size is.

Everyone who guessed what color I dyed my hair correctly were run through Random.org

So, what was the winning color?

It's actually TWO colors! :) Everyone who commented either teal or purple was entered into the random list generator. In this pic I have my hair up in a double braid bun to get a nice view of both colors.

The lighting in this second pic wasn't very good so the colors don't look exactly like what I actually got dyed. But you can see the purple peeking out from underneath.

HUGE thank you to Diondra at Blown Salon, who gave me exactly the colors I wanted, and who stayed three hours after the salon closed just to finish my hair. She worked on me for SEVEN hours, which is what it takes with all the shampooing and hairdrying and washing out a bunch of times. On top of all of that, she was so friendly and easy to talk to (but didn't talk a lot, I'm always so awkward when a hairstylist starts chatting with me). The single best experience I've ever had at a salon.

And thank you, everyone who entered! If you didn't win this one, I'll be running another giveaway when my Facebook Page hits 200 likes. There's about 50 more to go, so tell all your friends! :)

'Til Next Time!

Free Tutorial - Papillon Earrings

2015-07-15T20:03:00.000-04:00

Hello everyone!

I think it's time for another in-depth tutorial - this time, my Papillon Earrings!

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Note: this tutorial is protected by an International Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike licence. This means that you are free to post this wherever you like as long as you give proper Attribution (that is, to me, Jet Kosanke, and my website, malfaitluciu.blogspot.com), it may not be used commercially (you're not allowed to make money off it, that is, sell this tutorial to other people for money), and you're free to make changes to it as long as you also share it under these same restrictions (that is, you still give Attribution to me, you don't sell it, and you allow it to be shared freely.) For more information, click the Creative Commons link at the end of the tutorial.By the way- NonCommercial doesn't mean you can't sell works you make using this tutorial. If you make a necklace, bracelet, or whatever using this tutorial, feel free to sell it- however, you may not mass-produce it, and the Attribution part still applies, that is, you still have to attribute the design to me.If you're unsure if what you want to do is allowed, just ask me! I'm really pretty laid back about things like this :) I'd rather share my knowledge and discoveries for free so others can learn than charge money for my tutorials. With all that said, on to the good stuff! :)

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Click on any image to view a larger version.

Materials (for 1 earring):

Dead soft 20 gauge wire - 3 inches
Dead soft 26 gauge wire - 50 inches
40ss Swarovski flat back rhinestones in Crystal Volcano color (3)
40ss rhinestone Montee settings (3)
short scrap of 20 gauge wire (color doesn't matter, we'll be using it as a mandrel)

1. Cut a 3 inch length of 20 gauge wire.

2. Use your chain nose pliers to make a tiny little curl in one end of the wire. The tinier the better!

3. Flatten the curl you made in the last step so that the wire end is touching the tail end and there's no gap (or very little gap) in the center of the little coil.

4. Use your flat nose pliers to grasp the curl, and then wind the wire around the little curl, turning as you go. Be patient and methodical here, don't rush it. Tiny movements and bends are best.

5. Stop coiling when the spiral is about the same diameter as the rhinestones (really you can coil to your heart's content and make the spiral as large or small as you want, I just like the way it looks when it's the same size as the rhinestones)

6. Bend the tail of the spiral straight up.

7. Make another bend, about a quarter of an inch above the bend in step 6.

8. Use your round nose pliers and make a loop with a tail sticking out to the side.

9. Wrap the tail around the straight part of the wire two or three times. Take your time here, keep a light touch with your pliers, and bend bit by bit.

10. Cut a 6 inch length of 26 gauge wire. Use your round nose pliers to make a loop, but leave the tail sticking out for a moment.

11. Slide the tail of your 26g wire into the loop in the spiral dangle.

12. Wrap the tail of the 26g wire around itself a couple of times to create a sturdy connection.

13. Set the spiral aside for now. Take your scrap of 20g wire and begin wrapping it with 18 inches of the 26g wire.

14. Slide the coil off the 20g scrap wire. Make three more coils- you want to make two coils 1 3/4 inches long, and two coils 1 inch long (uses about 12 inches of 26g wire).

15. Set the coils aside, and pick up the spiral dangle with the 26g wire attached. Slide a montee onto the thinner wire.

16. Slide on two more montees.

17. Make a wrapped loop at the top, and try to position it so that the montees are really nice and snug together.

18. Cut a 13 inch length of 26g wire. Slide it through the horizontal channel of the first montee. Slide it through to the middle of the wire. You want equal halves of wire, one coming out each side.

19. Slide on one of your short coils from earlier onto the wire we added in the last step. After you've strung the coil on, pass the core wire through the horizontal channel of the middle montee, and pull tight!

20. Repeat on the other side, making sure you're using the shorter length of coils.

21. Add the top halves of the wings the same way.

22. We have to do something with the two pieces of wire sticking up, so I like to use the tails to wrap three or four times around the top of the top half of the wing, right next to the crystal. Then I trim the excess. Repeat on the other side.

23. Mostly done, all that's left is to use your fingers to shape the two segments of each wing into a pleasing arrangement.

Add an earwire and you're done!

Papillon Earrings Tutorial by Jet Kosanke is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAli ke 3.0 Unported License

I hope you enjoyed my tutorial! If you use it to make something, please leave me a link in the comments; I would be thrilled to see it!

Don't forget, my Custom Ring Giveaway ends tomorrow! It's super easy to enter, just one comment is required :)

'Til Next Time!

Custom Ring Giveaway - Guess my New Hair Color! CLOSED

2015-07-10T21:48:00.000-04:00

Hello everyone!

Every now and then I get an urge to dye my long black hair something... different. Trying out a new color is always fun, so I thought to myself, 'this could be a fun way to do another giveaway!'

Giveaway Grand Prize

One lucky winner will receive a handmade custom-sized ring with their choice of ONE of the cabochons in the picture below. What the ring will look like is a mystery- you choose one cab and I will make a special unique one of a kind ring just for you!

The Cabochons

These are all vintage glass

All you have to do is:

Leave a comment on this blog post with your name (first name and last initial is fine) guess of what color I dyed my hair AND enter your email address (so I can notify you if you win)

Leaving a comment with your color guess is REQUIRED for your entry to count. If you're having problems commenting on this post, email me at malfaitluciu@gmail.com with your name and email address, and be sure to include what color you think my hair is, and I'll add you to the contest manually.

In the event that more than one person guesses my hair color correctly, I will take all those names and run them through random.org - the first name on the random list will be the winner. :) The winner will be announced on this blog and will notify the winner by email (so they can tell me which cabochon they want me to use in their ring.)

The giveaway starts today, July 7, and will end on July 16 at 11:59pm.

Also, I still plan to do another giveaway when I reach 200 Facebook Likes, just as I did in the 100 likes milestone giveaway. It's at 149 right now- only 51 likes left until my next giveaway. Feel free to share info about this giveaway; tell your family and friends and if they like my page, The 200 Likes Giveaway will be here in no time!

Oh, and I promise to post a photo of my newly dyed hair at the end of the giveaway :)

Also, the handful of people who know what color I'm dyeing my hair are ineligible. Sorry about that, handful of people. Anyway-

Enjoy, have fun, and good luck!

'Til Next Time!

As seen on Hypersweep.com!

Mini Fleur Rings

2015-07-08T14:55:00.000-04:00

Hello everyone!

Today I have for you not necessarily a tutorial but more of a how-to. I am still recovering from some intolerable side effects but they are abating, and I'm getting back into the swing of creating. I told myself to just come up with a quick and easy design. These cute little adjustable flower rings worked perfectly!

Here's how I go about making them:

I took a longish piece of 20 gauge wire and made a tiny loop in one end.

Then I wrapped the wire at the size 7 point of my ring mandrel, and made a loop in that end too.

I put the ring form aside and cut a long piece of 26g wire (probably around 30 inches long). I strung on one teeeeeny tiny silver bead and folded the wire in half at the bead.

I picked up a flower bead and strung it onto both ends of the 26g wire, and pulled to snug up the bead against the flower.

Then I bent the two halves of the 26g wire out to either side and set the flower in the middle of the ring form. I usually wrap one half a couple times on one side, then wrap all down half of the shank before I wrap down the opposite side, it just gives it more stability.

And that's it! A cute little adjustable ring. I made a bunch more...

And they make great stacking rings!

I haven't decided yet how I will list these; either individually or as a set. But they'll be up in my shop soon enough! A fun little project that takes less than an hour to make. Hope you enjoy it and if you make one of your own, please tell me so I can feature it on my blog! :)

Til Next Time~

Honeysweet Set

2015-07-07T17:41:00.001-04:00

Hello everyone!

For the longest time, I've wanted a honeybee themed necklace. I finally found the money and materials to make one, and earrings, too!

I'm not sure what's so attractive about hexagons, but it's one of my favorite shapes. I got these from Precious Adornments on Etsy.

I searched high and low for the perfect bee charm, and found one that I just love. It's tiny and dainty and fits perfectly in the brass hexagon. The bee is brass too but shines like gold.

I bought enough bees and hexagons to make a set just for me, but soon found I only had three honey colored glass drops! These I've put up in my shop, available here and here. Stay tuned; soon I will be posting some cute flower rings to go with the bee theme :)

Til Next time!

Recovery with Rainbows

2015-07-06T20:40:00.000-04:00

Hello everyone!

If you read my last post, you know that I've been through a bit of a rough patch. Thankfully, things have improved and I actually have a new piece to show off!

For now I'm just calling it the 'Rainbow Ring'. In person, the cab flashes all sorts of rainbow colors with a matte finish. Here's how I went about making it:

I bought a whole pack of these so I'm trying to think up clever and effective ways to bezel them, plus I'm all about rings lately.

First i made a strip of loops with my round nose pliers, and then I shaped the loops into a circle and secured them at the ends with a few wraps of 26 gauge wire.

Then, I used two long pieces of 20g wire to give the loops something to attach to that could be used as the band, too.

Then I used my ring mandrel to form the shank of the ring, making sure to wrap it twice.

Then I wrapped the wire ends for a few rounds with the ends of the shank wires, forming a nice round ring without too much detail.

I am happy with how this turned out! I want to think up additional ways to bezel cabochons, but I have lots of ideas, too!

For now I leave you with Trinity, who thinks anything square or rectangular is made specifically for her to sit on.

Til Next time!

Mint Julep Earrings

2015-04-28T18:55:00.001-04:00

Hello everyone!

I'm slowly accepting that my beloved wintertime is over and it's time for spring now. I do appreciate spring; I love the cool mornings and nights and the blossoming trees in my neighborhood, and having the window open and hearing the birds sing, but the darker side of springtime is that it means that dreaded summer will be upon us soon and, as I've said before, summer and I don't mix. I live in the mid-atlantic region, and summers here are sluggish, sopping-wet humid, and entirely suffocating. Summer is not for playing outside. Summer is for icy drinks enjoyed with the A/C on full blast.

But, it isn't summer yet, and I keep trying to remind myself of that. It's only spring, and spring is nice! Let's focus on that. I had the perfect opportunity to celebrate spring with my latest pair of earrings.

Back in January I stumbled upon the Etsy shop yummytreasures. I found a bunch of excellent vintage glass cabochons and bought a number of them. I made my Emeress necklace with one of them-

That cab had such flash and glow! I loved how it looked with the white wire and ribbon. Gladly, it's now owned by a close friend :) I also bought some white cabs with gold flash, a translucent green scarab cab, and two little mint green cabochons for earrings.

Well, not long after they arrived, I misplaced the little mint green cabs. I was annoyed with myself but was happy to discover where they'd been hiding a few days ago, and decided I'd better make something with them quick before I lost them again!

After playing some with the idea of a netted bezel in bronze for them, I decided I wanted to do a different kind of bezel. I may have mentioned before, but the traditional method of wire wrapping a cabochon just... doesn't appeal to me. It can be done beautifully and I'm not disparaging anyone who likes to wrap their stones that way, it's just not for me. So, I had to come up with something different.

I started with a zig-zag of wire. I used the width of my flat-nose pliers to keep things even.

Then, I wrapped it around a cab, and lucked the hell out that the bends ended up in a good arrangement!

Satisfied with that, I made a loop to hold the cab in from the backside.

I began wrapping around the loop with the cab in place, attaching to the points of the zig-zag when I got to them.

When I got to the bottom I decided 'Hey, let's add a loop for a dangle'.

When I got to the end, I finished off the back loop with, er, loops.

From there I used the remainder of the thin wire to bind the other loop and the two wires sticking straight up together as neatly as possible, which had the effect of tightening the back loop such that the cab wouldn't just fall out of it.

Added a wrapped loop and a dangle in a coordinating color, made another earring, put earwires on them, and voila-

My Mint Julep earrings! Nice and fresh for spring with just a little playful movement. The bezel may not look it but the cabs are quite secure. It's hard to tell in the photo, but the zig-zags angle in and over the cabs to keep them in place.

These are smaller than they seem, and are quite ladylike if I say so myself. ~~They are available in my shop now!~~ :) Hope you like them!

'Til Next Time!

Hyperfocus! - Tiny Treasures

2015-04-26T13:57:00.001-04:00

Hello everyone!

It's the weekend and that means it's time for another Hyperfocus!

One thing wirework, beadwork, and crochet has taught me about myself is that I love tiny, intricate work. I've made some large creative pieces before, painted some large paintings, crocheted a blanket, but what I really love is working on small pieces that require very small detail.

I also very much enjoy minimalist design (even though that is rarely reflected in my own work). So, for this week's Hyperfocus!, the theme is... Tiny Treasures!

Engraved Gunmetal Number Necklaces by 4CharmedElements

I love these tiny, almost utilitarian-looking little pendants. They could carry so many personal meanings- imagine a sports team wearing their numbers or perhaps siblings wearing their number with regards to birth order... or you could just wear your own lucky number or numbers (mine are 0 and 9).

Nautilus Shell Earrings by NorthStarPendants

These tiny little dangles sport an attractive nautilus spiral design. I love the tiny detail packed into their small size. I bet they have great movement!

Gold Triangle Bracelet by ShebasGems

Such a charming little bracelet! I'm not usually one for gold, but I love it in this delicate little piece. The geometric triangle charm is the perfect little detail.

Tiny Silver Acorn Necklace by roundabout

How can you not love this? A dainty little acorn hanging from your neck - irresistible! Don't miss the rest of this shop for more tiny designs.

Brass Umbrella Pendant by silvermustangs

The name of this sweet, playful necklace in the shop says "Maybe if I take an umbrella it won't rain". Take this little umbrella charm with you everywhere to ensure nothing but sunny days!

Rose Gold Leaf Pendant by PenelopesPorch

A sweet little rose gold leaf. I love how it looks on the silver chain, very nice contrast. So dainty and pretty!

Tiny Silver Dime Necklace by EvelynMaeCreations

Too cute! It doesn't get much tinier than this! If dimes aren't your thing, a nickel necklace is also available in this shop.

Square Rose Gold Stud Earrings by HookAndMatter

These are my favorites this week :) I love rose gold, I love geometric design, and I love tiny; and these earrings have all three of those things in spades! There's more where this came from in this excellent shop, don't miss it!

Silver Circle Earrings by limegreenmodern

These are the perfect everyday earring. They'd go with anything, you could dress them up or down, and I just bet that they have great movement and just the perfect amount of glint and gleam. Don't miss the rest of this shop for more perfect everyday, versatile jewelry.

Gold Pyramid Stud Earrings by lunaijewelry

Tiny but a little bit edgy, I love these little studs! The matte gold is a nice touch. There's lots more tiny, stylish jewelry to be found in this shop, don't miss it!

Hope you enjoyed this week's selection! I've got a pair of earrings in the works that I hope to have some progress photos of up soon, so check back soon! 'Til Next Time!

Tutorial - Oxalis Links

2015-04-22T14:15:00.000-04:00

Hello everyone!

Today I thought I'd post a quick little tutorial on how I make my Oxalis links. It's a pretty straightforward method that you can use with lots of types of beads and results in a cute little component that can stand alone as a pendant or earrings or link together for a bracelet.

So what does 'oxalis' mean? The word refers to a group of plants sometimes called wood sorrels that I find very charming for their resemblance to clovers.

I have this thing for clovers. Especially four leaf clovers. Over the years I have found hundreds. I have a knack for spotting them, and have learned that where there is one four-leaf, there's a good chance that there are more close by on the same individual clover plant. I've found whole bouquets of 4-leafs in a single day (I had a job that kept me outside a lot).

I have who knows how many pressed between the pages of various notebooks, but I did attempt to mount some for display. I made three 'posters' of them by attaching them to black cardstock with puzzle saver glue.

I've found my share of 5 leafs, too, and the leafiest clover I ever found had eight leaves.

EIGHT!

Well, to get to my point, there's a variety of Oxalis called "Iron Cross", and while not a true clover, it sure as hell looks like giant four-leaf clovers! It was this specific plant that inspired my design. There is another neat variety of Oxalis I used to grow called Triangularis that is really neat, too; perhaps someday I'll modify this design as a nod to that plant :)

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Note: this tutorial is protected by an International Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike licence. This means that you are free to post this wherever you like as long as you give proper Attribution (that is, to me, Jet Kosanke, and my website, malfaitluciu.blogspot.com), it may not be used commercially (you're not allowed to make money off it, that is, sell this tutorial to other people for money), and you're free to make changes to it as long as you also share it under these same restrictions (that is, you still give Attribution to me, you don't sell it, and you allow it to be shared freely.) For more information, click the Creative Commons link at the end of the tutorial.

By the way- NonCommercial doesn't mean you can't sell works you make using this tutorial. If you make a necklace, bracelet, or whatever using this tutorial, feel free to sell it- however, you may not mass-produce it, and the Attribution part still applies, that is, you still have to attribute the design to me.

If you're unsure if what you want to do is allowed, just ask me! I'm really pretty laid back about things like this :) I'd rather share my knowledge and discoveries for free so others can learn than charge money for my tutorials. With all that said, on to the good stuff! :)

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Click on any image to view a larger version.

This tutorial uses 8mm beads and 26 gauge dead soft wire. However, you can adapt this tutorial to work with just about any size bead and any gauge wire. You will need one scrap piece of 20 gauge wire a couple inches long (4 inches or longer is best)

Step 1

First, cut four pieces of 26 gauge wire, each 11 inches long.

Step 2

Start coiling your 26 gauge wire around your scrap piece of 20 gauge wire, leaving a little tail for leverage when coiling.

Step 3

Keep coiling until your coil is one inch long. Do this with all four pieces of 26 gauge wire.

Step 4

Slide your coil off the piece of 20 gauge wire and snip off the ends of the coil with your cutters so you're left with smooth coiled ends.

Step 5

After you're done, you should have four cute little one-inch long coils like this one.

Step 6

Cut a piece of 26 gauge wire 8 inches long and string four of your beads on it (don't these look like peas? haha)

Step 7

Pass one end of the wire back through the first bead and pull it through, forming a loop, and pull tight so the beads snug up against each other. Leave a bit of a tail at the other end of the wire.

Step 8

Take one of the coils you made earlier and string it onto the long end of the wire.

Step 9

Pass the wire you strung the coil onto back through the same bead and pull all the way through so the coil loops over the bead.

Step 10

I didn't take a photo of this (oops), but the next step is to thread the wire you just pulled through the bead through the next bead in the loop. So in the photo above, the next step would be to thread the wire through the bead on the right, to set it up for the next coil to be added.

Step 11

Continue stringing on your coils and passing the wire though the beads until each bead has it's own 'leaf'. At the end, you'll end up with two wires sticking out next to each other. At this point, you want to wrap each wire end around the little 'bridge' of wire between the two beads the wire ends are coming out of a couple of times, then snip off the excess. You'll end up with something like what's shown below:

And with that, you're done! You can shape the 'leaves' a bit with your fingers a bit to get them into a pleasant looking form. From here you can add a jump ring and string it on a chain, or make another to form earrings, or do whatever you like!

If you create something using this tutorial, I'd love to see it! Email me photos of your work (with a link to your blog if you have one) to malfaitluciu@gmail.com - I'd like to create a gallery page on my blog featuring your creations made using this tutorial (or any of my tutorials) with a link back to your blog, too :) Don't be shy, let me show off your work! :)

Oxalis Links Tutorial by Jet Kosanke is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAli ke 3.0 Unported License

Hope you enjoyed this tutorial! Today I'll leave you with my mom's cat Vinnie, sleeping in what is apparently a very comfortable configuration.

'Til Next Time!

Hyperfocus! - Seaside Sparklies

2015-04-18T14:24:00.000-04:00

Hello everyone! It's the weekend again and that means it's time for another Hyperfocus!

Winter is decidedly over, and as spring moves in, I'm thinking of a nice seaside retreat. I know most save beach trips for the summer, but summertime for me means long, hot, sweaty, miserable days spent holed up inside, basking not in the sunshine but in the icy air blasting from the A/C vents. Summer and I are not good friends.

Since I don't have any real plans to head to the ocean soon, I've been browsing sea-inspired jewelry and letting it spark fantasies of salty breezes and sandy toes. Without further ado, here are some of my favorite treasures out of all the oceanic lovelies I've found.

Nautical Octopus Necklace by weareowls

This necklace has an awesome vintage-inspired octopus illustration on a background of dictionary text. It comes in bronze or silver finish. Like the theme but the octopus isn't quite your style? Check the rest of this seller's wares - there's another octopus necklace in the shop done in a different illustrative style.

Mixed Metal Ombré Teal Earrings by OstaraMoonJewelry

These lovely earrings consist of three different colors of Swarovski rivoli crystals arranged in a cascading gradient that just screams 'seaside'! I see water, horizon, and sky in these lovely dangles. The different colored metal used in the finding for the darkest blue crystals is a nice touch. If you like this look, check out the rest of this shop; there are more earrings in this style in different colors available.

Mermaid's Treasure ring by fifthheaven

This stunning ring is made-to-order of sterling silver with a rose-cut sky blue topaz and features a detailed little starfish next to the exquisitely bezeled stone. Do not miss the rest of the fabulous treasures in this shop! I wish I could buy all of them!

Sea Urchin earrings by MysticPendants

These charming studs are handmade using high quality prints and glass dome cabochons. They are available in silver and bronze finish (I prefer the bronze). The glass domes give them such depth!

Ocean Cuff Bracelet by DeCumiDesigns

Oh man. Out of all my favorites, this is my favorite favorite. This stunning cuff is made of aluminum and the incredible, intricate designs in the lovely teal green waves are all entirely hand drawn. Such talent! Be sure to check out the rest of this shop - there's more of this kind of awesomeness to be found!

Sea Shell Locket Necklace by KimFong

This delicate-looking gold tone shell opens to reveal spaces to hold tiny photos or other treasures. It hangs from a simple chain studded with six champagne colored pearls. Lovely and very elegant.

Sea Shell Necklace by EightAcorns

This aqua blue colored limpet shell features a single white glass pearl in its center. So lovely and delicate! I love how it carries an oceanic theme but could be worn in casual or formal situations. Just simply pretty.

Brass Nautilus Earrings by Zephyr9

These nautilus-inspired earrings demand attention! As well they should- they certainly deserve it! I am smitten with their bold organic form. If this style has a hold on you as it does me, don't miss the rest of this shop - there's tons more to drool over. Just incredible stuff!

Silver Crab Earrings by SilverCedarJewelry

These little sterling silver crabs aren't just charming- believe it or not, they're made from castings made from real tiny crabs! The artist made them using actual crabs found on a trip to the beach. This artist makes castings of all sorts of neat things - don't miss the earrings made from castings of romanesco broccoli that demonstrate the Fibonacci spiral! (I want those SO bad!)

Jellyfish Necklace by shlomitofir

This charming necklace comes in silver and gold. I can't resist those chain tentacles; such a clever idea!

And with that, we come to the end of this week's Hyperfocus! To see more of my favorites of this theme, check out my list of Seaside Sparklies on Etsy.

'Til Next Time!

2015-04-16T17:33:00.001-04:00

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New Weekly Feature - Hyperfocus!

2015-04-12T22:46:00.000-04:00

Hello everyone!

It's probably no surprise that I spend a lot of time online just finding and drooling over whatever unusual and beautiful jewelry I can find. Pinterest is a true enabler! I love curating my little collections (some of which are decidedly not little). Also, although my own store is not located there, Etsy, with its option to create lists to sort your favorite items and its simple integration with Pinterest means I can maintain even more collections than I probably should.

Although I do often go back through my lists and boards to marvel at the little treasures I've found and pinned, sometimes I think I could do more than just add to these collections of mine. Since I often get stuck on one theme and then go nuts pinning and favoriting items that I find and fall in love with according to that theme for a few hours (or days), I've decided to start a weekly themed feature, dubbed Hyperfocus (because that's exactly what I end up doing). I'll go through my beloved collections and post a selection of some of my favorite favorites according to the week's theme with links to where they can be found.

To kick it all off, here's this week's Hyperfocus.. Fruit!

Orange Washi Tape Earrings by PrettyKiku

I'm in love with the sweet gingham print paired with those oranges- playful, a little vintage, and makes me want a tall glass of OJ!

Wooden Strawberries Necklace by jumbojibbles

Three playful wooden strawberries on a chain. The strawberries are hand-painted and I just love how you can still see some of the wood grain showing through.

Orange Banana Fruit Tart Plugs by babypietattoo

Something a little different - these adorable polymer clay orange banana tarts are for those with stretched ear piercings. Just charming!

Real Kiwi Pendant by RealFruitJewelry

A slice of actual kiwifruit preserved and set in resin. It looks good enough to eat! Don't miss the rest of the delicious looking fruit jewelry in this shop.

Miniature Oranges and Lemons Ring by artyResin

This bold resin ring has an irresistible sphere packed with citrus set upon a filigree ring band. A delicious statement piece!

Strawberry Botanical Earrings by Agnera

These sweet, delicate resin earrings have tiny, real strawberries suspended inside. They're so graceful and elegant! Be sure not to miss the other lovely botanical jewelry in this shop.

Clementine Ring by MiniatureMarketplace

This playful ring features a little half-peeled clementine- it looks ready to eat!

Red Tomato Necklace by EvelynMaeCreations

Technically a fruit! I love the vibrant red enamel on this tomato- and I love the playful notion of wearing a tiny tomato around your neck :)

Miniature Lemonade Pendant by NeatEats

This tiny glass jug of lemonade looks so refreshing. The little lemon slice on the rim of the pitcher is the perfect touch.

And that brings us to the end of this week's Hyperfocus on Fruit! I'll aim to focus on a new theme and have it posted by the end of each weekend :) Hope you enjoyed this selection and maybe found something new to treat yourself with! :)

'Til next time!

Making of Ruthie's Anklet

2015-04-09T11:23:00.000-04:00

Hello everyone!

Recently I was commissioned by my dear friend Ruthie to create something unusual - an anklet/toe ring combination- sort of like a barefoot sandal. This post continues from where I left off here.

After looking at this for awhile, I decided that rivoli setting just wasn't right. I took it apart and played a bit with it and some bronze beads.

I liked the look a lot! First though I needed to find a practical and secure way to execute the design. I decided on rings of wire on the front and back.

It was fiddly but with temporary binding wires it wasn't too bad. It came out well!

I wrote a free tutorial for a modified version of this focal, if you're interested in making your own.

Put together with the focal, it looked pretty good! There was one problem, though- when I met up with Ruthie in person, I measured her ankle and found I had made the anklet way too short! I only had a limited number of beads so I couldn't just make more links. The solution came from the same bronze beads surrounding the rivoli.

Adding little links with bronze beads between the larger beaded links worked perfectly! It measured exactly right and I ended up with two extra beaded links that I could use on the chain that runs from ankle to toe! Also, afterwards, I added an adjustable chain clasp. I wrote up a free tutorial for the hook for the clasp if anyone is interested :3

I used one bead at the end of the clasp chain- I love when clasps are decorative!

I added the anklet-to-ring chain using bronze rolo chain and fire opal links and bronze bead links.

The last step was the toe ring. I had measured Ruthie's toe and it turned out to be a 5 1/2 according to my ring mandrel. I'm not sure how, but I knew exactly the ring I wanted to make and knew exactly how I was going to make it, even though I've never made a ring like this one before.

First I wrapped 20 gauge wire around the mandrel a bunch of times.

Then, I started a simple weave.

I continued the weave all the way around the band. The weave was making this little ring very sturdy!

I added two loops with the ends of the wire; one for the chain, and one for decorative dangles.

Then it was time to attach the ring, and the anklet was complete! I tried it on just to see...

I'm very happy with it! I learned a lot making this. It was a great, fun project and challenge.

Today I'll leave you with my mom's kitty Vinnie, who cannot resist when I have my wire out and I'm working on something :D

'Til next time!

Malfait Luciu

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