The Pamelas

Yikes, I missed another day of posting! What's wrong with me??

Here are the Pamelas. This was sort of a custom order..or more like a custom suggestion. I ordered some moonstones when a friend of my sister's said she liked moonstones. It took a week for them to come and I've been planning the whole Pamela collection all that time in anticipation. Well, the moonstones came and then I ran out of 26 gauge ss wire. ARGH! So frustrating. I'm putting in orders 3 times a week and it's been so hard to anticipate what my supply needs will be. I went to Joanne fabric yesterday and got some very small quantities of overpriced 26 gauge wire (which is already gone) in order to make these:

I love these earrings! Ok, I love most of the earrings I make,or at least the ones I post here. Pam had requested the Ursulas but with moonstones, but my artistic tendencies took me in another direction. I have other moonstone ones in mind, but they will have to wait till Wednesday when my wire is due.

Right now, one of the briolettes in the middle is too light, so I'm going to switch it out for one that matches the darker one better.

The Samanthas

Well, I skipped a day yesterday. I'm sorry! I swore I would post every day, but I was so tired. Wednesdays are hard. And I know nobody is following this blog yet anyway. YET. But I am convinced that if I keep posting every day, I will develop a following! So today, back on track. Here are the Samantha earrings:

Ok, so I'm getting a little bored with the round silver hoops, but these are a little different. I got some red coral beads today and some red agate. My friend Sam is a rock hound and knows all about agate and coral (and quartz and everything else). So I thought of her as I made these. All the danglies sort of hang together so you can't necessarily see all the separate pieces, but I kind of like that.

I'm feeling a little short on inspiration lately, which isn't like me (when it comes to jewelry). I got a big shipment today but nothing really wowed me. I have some moonstone and onyx coming tomorrow so hopefully that will inspire me. I think I definitely need to start working with some new shapes and get away from the hoops a bit.

Just enough wire

to make one pair tonight. I had made a teardrop prototype with a swarovski crystal and wanted to do it in silver wire. I made it a little bigger and chose a BLUE bead rather than Green.

I'm having some issues making the two earrings the same size, so you will notice on the left pair that it's a little crooked. Oh well! However, you will also notice that my photographs have improved immensely, no? They're a little plain. Maybe they would benefit from a smaller teardrop frame inside? I dunno... I'll wear them tomorrow and see what happens. Should I post to my etsy site? Hello? Anyone?

Well that's all for tonight. G'night.

Another one from the archives

Too tired tonight to make a pair of earrings. So here's this:

These are sterling silver hoops wrapped with 2mm rainbow agate beads and 26 gauge sterling silver wire. I gave these to my friend Sam for her birthday.

My precious metal clay class was awesome. I'm super enthused. I made a pair of earrings that my instructor is going to fire in her kiln, so I should have them in a week to post here.

Garnet Chandeliers

I started this pair months ago.. I bought a sterling silver chandelier component at the craft store and then ordered some tiny garnet and emerald briolettes. At the time, I wasn't very good at wire wrapping small things (still aren't) and I ended up breaking the wires and even busting one of the garnets. So I gave up on them and they sat in my never-to-be-finished piled. But then Jon kept saying how much he liked them, so I decided to see if I even had enough garnets to finish it. I did...given I didn't bust another one.

So tonight I finished them. The wire wrapping on these really sucks and is totally uneven, but I think I will just keep these for myself. They're red. They're dangly. They're my style. Besides, I would probably have to charge more than I think they would sell for in order to make any profit. The ready-made components are pricey, and so are the semi-precious gemstones. Anyway, I'm sick of thinking about profit. I just want to enjoy my creations.

So here they are:

I dug out Jon's digital SLR camera, which has been packed away for 2 years. He tried to figure out the manual settings and then screwed the whole thing up. I unpacked it and figured it out pretty quickly. So my photos should start looking a lot better from now on. Now if Samara would only send me some soap backdrops!

I made a few more prototypes today and some inventory items, including peridot wrapped hoops. They didn't turn out very well. It seems like everything I did today ended up kind of crappy. I went for a run and it sucked. I went for a swim, and it sucked. Oh well.. I guess everyday can't be perfect. At least it's getting warmer outside...60 degrees today!

Tomorrow, I have a Precious Metal Clay class. It's the first of 3 classes. I'm pretty excited, except I'll be going after a 10 hour workday and what is looking to be a stressful one at that. But I'm anxious to learn some new techniques. I'm thinking I would like to try to make some gingko leaf shaped earrings. And possibly some motivational or running/triathlon charms for bracelets. Or bee/honeycomb related stuff. I've got lots of ideas actually. : ) More tomorrow.

Slinkies and prototypes

Here are the slinkies I made last night:

I'm running low on silver wire, so until my shipment arrives next week, I'm spending some time doing some prototypes in copper wire. I'm pretty pleased with the ones I worked on tonight:

They are hard to see in this picture, but I've been working on some teardrop shape frames and some "frames in frames." Plus some designs from one of my books. Jon found some tools in the basement including some flatnose plyers (hallelujah!) some better wire cutters (yippee!) and some chain nose plyers. I can't tell if it's just the copper wire is easier to work with than the silver or the new tools rock, but I had a much easier time tonight manipulating the wire.

I'm getting a shipment of 20 feet of 20 gauge sterling silver filled wire, 10 feet of 18 gauge, lots of moonstones, including rounds and briolettes, and a whole slew of sale beads, including 3mm garnets! I have some big plans for the moonstones (ooh! I got some 6mm onyx beads too, which I think will work well with the moonstone). I'm getting a little stressed out about the money I'm spending on jewelry supplies, but I can't seem to stop. I've never been much for self control, but I'm not sure I've ever been so compulsive about anything in my life before. I literally can't stop thinking about earrings. Oh well! Follow your bliss, right? : )

The Samara Earrings

Here they are... I am SO making myself a pair of these:

Today was an exciting day in LoveLarisa history. I shipped off my first custom orders! I made two pairs for each of my sisters. I sold them at pretty big discounts but I'm counting on them to spread the LoveLarisa gospel through the greater Washington DC area.

For my part, I'm going to Solo Bistro in Bath, Maine, with a just finished pair based on a design in the Earring Style book... a slinky little stilletto with a pink swarovski briolette dangling from the end. I'll post a photo tomorrow.

Rasberry danglies

Well, it's late and I'm not quite ready to reveal the Samara earrings, since I've only made one so far, so here's another one from the archives. These are my rasberry danglies, inspired by the Perfect Match book.

I love these, but they were a bit expensive to make...$15 just in supplies and they were kind of a bitch to make. I haven't quite mastered my wire wrapping skills when it comes to itty bitty little wraps. Usually I end up breaking the wire and having to start all over. Very frustrating.

Anyway, I'm very happy wtih the Samara earrings and hopefully she will be too. The glass beads didn't work because they were too big, so I ended up using 3.5mm silver plated brass. I LOVE the way they look but I'm concerned they are too heavy. I also screwed up the ear wire on the one I made so I need to redo it tomorrow and then make a spouse for it. They are so glamorous and sparkly...they look like diamonds! I'm definitely making myself a pair of them. Pictures tomorrow!

Easter eggs in a basket

Well Wednesday nights are not good, so believe it or not, I did NOT make a pair of earrings today (though it is killing me). It's already past my bedtime, and can't go a day without posting, so I'm going to post a pair that I made last week or so.

These are from The Perfect Match book. They are quite large, but pretty cheap to make (less than $4). I haven't gotten a whole lot of compliments on them, but I rather like them. I think they look like easter eggs in a silver basket.



Ursula decided to buy the "Ursula" earrings, which makes me think I might be on to something. I'll name them all after people with money, and then those people will have to buy my earrings! How's that for a marketing strategy? I got my shipment from FireMountain gems tonight, so tomorrow I'm going to make my other sister, Samara, a pair with these. I ordered a bunch of different beads, including some Black Diamond Swarovski crystals (pretty cool), some silver plated brass beads of different sizes (cool looking but quite heavy), and some Czech diamond cut, fire polished glass silver beads. I think those will be the winners for the stacked hoops, since they are gorgeous and reflect the light well and they are nice and lightweight. I got them in 4.5mm, which hopefully won't be too big. I'll try to post those tomorrow!



The Ursula Earrings

I finally got the first shipment of sterling silver beads from RioGrande.com. I ordered some 4mm faceted beads, some 6mm ones, and some 6mm scroll type sterling silver beads. They were pretty pricey (almost $1 a bead for the small ones, and almost $2 a bead for the scrolls), but I wanted to see a sampling so I would know what I liked and what I didn't. I still have another shipment coming from FireMountainGems.com, which some glass metal beads and some silver plated brass faceted beads. That should be coming tomorrow!

Anyway, I made these for my sister Ursula, who liked a design I had made wtih serpentine beads, but requested them with silver beads. I changed the design a bit...made them a bit bigger, removed the chain that the other ones hung from, put the beads on the inside of the hoop and added the scroll bead as a focal point. Ok, so I completely changed the design...hopefully she'll like them anyway. If not, I'll keep them and make her some other ones. : )

Here they are:

These might be my favorite ones so far, but quite pricey to make (about $20 in supplies alone).

Twisted Danglies

I made a few prototype pairs tonight, trying to find a pair I can give my mother in law for mother's day. According to Jon, I haven't made anything suitable for his mother, but I think I've made some cool ones nonetheless. My favorite ones are these twisted danglies based on a design in "Creating Beaded & Wire Earrings," by Linda Jones.

I made a pair in cheap gold colored wire with 4 mm aventurine beads and another pair in sterling silver filled wire (18 gauge) and some of my new sterling silver 4mm faceted rounds. The silver ones, though I thought they were kinda plain as I was making them, actually looked really cool on - they really reflected the light.

Fun Silver Spirals

I made an agreement with my good friend and boss, Lisa, that I would trade a pair of silver sterling spiral earrings for a logo. Good deal, I know, and thank god for friends that are graphic designers! The pair that she wanted was one that I had created based on the Calypso earring design from "The Earring Design Book," written by the creator of Double Happiness Jewelry (jewelry maker to the stars).

This is the original design.

Anyway, as I was making them, I got a bit distracted and started the second spiral in the wrong direction. Once I realized what I had done, I thought about undoing it and doing it the right way, but I got curious about how it would turn out, so I kept going. This is the result, which I'm actually totally digging.

I love spirals. And these sort of remind me of bicycle wheels.

For tomorrow, I'm working on another design from the Earring Design Book, which are super cool and ALSO have spirals (3 of them!). Stay tuned...