I got my shipment on Saturday. I saw the Fedex guy pull up and peered out the window waiting for him to leave, and then went out to look for the package on the front porch. WTF? I swear I had a hot flash. Did he not find my package? Did he come down to the house by mistake? I paced the house for a while, thinking of what to do. Finally, I went out to vent my frustration to Jon, who was mowing the lawn, and then I saw the package sitting on top of one of the cars. Jerk.
Anyway, so I got my stuff and found excuses to not do everything else on my list (it looked like it was going to rain, so that was reason enough not to run, go for a bike ride, stain the front steps, paint the bee hives...darn). So first:
I had been thinking of making some big hoops with the emerald green aventurine and small apatite saucers. So I made this one:
It's hard to see the colors in this picture, but even with the cool colors, I wasn't wowed by this design. So I tried a teardrop shape:
Better, but for some reason still not wowing me. I didn't make a pair for either of these, though I probably will eventually, since I did do them in my good wire. I mean, I like them. I just don't love them.
So moving on, I did a prototype of this upside down heart shaped thing with a dangly, which I found in a book I have. I really liked it, so I decided to do it in sterling silver filled wire and make it a little bigger:
I hung czech glass teardrops on the end and am pretty happy with this design.
Then... my sister Ursula has talked about these "paperclip" earrings that Samara got her but she lost one of them. I've also seen this girl at work, Marcia, wear a pair that I envision were probably pretty similar. Then I saw a gold pair in the sundance catalog (the source of many earring design thefts on my part) and decided to try it out. The concept is very simple. It's just a wire, bent over and then hammered out on one end. The execution is surprisingly tricky. First I did it in 18 gauge wire, thinking it would hammer out more dramatically (it did), but I think the thickness of it makes it a little uncomfortable to put in an ear. I fit it in, but it was a tight squeeze. So I tried it in 20 gauge, and that turned out better. These are still a little messy, but you get the idea:
They're kinda cool. A little plain, but hey, some days you just don't feel like shouting out to the world "look at my earrings!" (Ok, that's a total lie, but I bet some people feel that way). I can't always think of myself when I'm making earrings after all.
And finally. I got some labradorite briolettes, which I was totally looking forward to. I only got one strand, so I started getting that anxious feeling. What if I do the wrong thing? What if it sucks? How do I choose between the 5 designs I want to try? So finally, I just shut off all the chatter and decided to try some dangles. I paired the labradorite (which are pretty teeny tiny) with apatite saucer beads, hung them on very fine sterling silver wire and then topped it with an emerald green aventurine bead. The colors are pretty subtle, but stunning in their own way. I wore these today, but I have to admit (though I hate to) their subtely kind of gets lost in the mass of hair on my head. So I put my hair up (even though I hate to). voila!
I think my new favorite stone may be labradorite. It's SO pretty. It's gray, but it has these luminescent green and blue hues coming off of it. I'd like to order somer larger ones, because these are pretty small. But I have a few left so I think I will try a few other designs. I'm trying to think of something that will showcase it to its potential.
Well, that's all for tonight. I managed to make it all the way through a Maine winter without getting sick at all, only to get a cold as soon as spring gets here. So unfortunately I'm giving up perfectly good jewelery making hours to take nyquil and get some sleep!
No comments:
Post a Comment