Week 8 - YOJP 2011 - The Goddess Freya

Week 8 for YOJP 2011 was the theme “Gods and Goddesses – Freya” and since I can’t really hammer stuff comfortably just yet, I wire wrapped little ‘Freya’ here instead. (I did pick up the hammer and smack her around just slightly – but don’t tell anyone!)

Actually, Freya’s not so little. She measures just a smidge over 2 ½ inches and has two, super gorgeous freshwater cultured pearls and a tiny turquoise nugget bead – all showing themselves off to the world. Created with sterling silver 18g and 24g dead soft round wires, I have chosen this time to give you a small glimpse of my process here – so no laughing at my drawings! (My sis is the artist,…not me!)

Here’s the picture of one of the drawings. See how it looks NOTHING like what “Freya” actually turned out to be? Yep,…that happens pretty much all the time in exactly this same fashion! Then, I took some shots of her ‘naked’ – before she was given a dark patina with liver of sulfur. I kinda like her naked and shiny but she looks more dramatic after she’s been LOS’d. Not sure yet how I’m going to hang this pendant, or from what? Any suggestions?

Two things I learned while creating “Freya”. One: My wire wrapping skills have started to really go down hill and I definitely need to brush up a bit with some online tutorials over at JewelryLessons.com or Beaducation.com, to name a couple. Two: I might draw a pic or something, but I don’t write down all my steps, processes, etc. every time (like some artists I know) and I do things differently each time, even when it’s the same type of design, so creating a tutorial or class on this would be a slight challenge, but something I must get back in the practice of doing again!

I hope you’ve enjoyed Freya – the Goddess of Love and Fertility. She is a beautiful site (to me anyway!) and has her own special personality – just as the ‘real’ Freya does, too!

Until Next Time,

Peace, Love and all Goddesses RULE!

Cheers,

~Shel~

Week 7 - YOJP 2011 - Something To Talk About

I'm over half a week late with my Week 7 Post for "Year of Jewelry -2011".  Excuses, excuses,...yes there is one.

I have somehow injured my elbow to the point where it hurts like hell to grasp anything,...making it just a smidge difficult to work with my pliers, hammer metal (boy do I miss smacking that stuff around!!) or to even hold anything, so.....needless to say it's been a long 4 or so days.  But, today I picked up my 2lb brass mallet and smacked it against some silver to create this set for Week 7 of YOJP 2011 with the theme of "Something To Talk About"  - and it felt good (after I put down the mallet anyway!).

Here's the story behind this set:

My story is really my niece’s story and it’s definitely something to talk about.

At the age of 24 and with her 1st child barely 5 months old (if that), she was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. Several weeks into her chemo treatments she and her hubby learned she was pregnant with their 2nd child. The doctors forgot to give her a pregnancy test prior to starting her treatments and they told her that the likelihood of the fetus even having a heartbeat was very slim due to the chemo.

Thankfully there was a heartbeat, but the threat of something going wrong during the pregnancy or with the baby during birth loomed. And, to boot, her husband had to deploy to Afghanistan for 7 months and would miss the rest of her treatments, her radiation and the birth of their baby.

So, shaving her head, holding it up high and possessing the “I can overcome anything” attitude she conquered cancer, had a healthy and beautiful baby girl, saw her hubby come home safely from over-seas and is now enjoying life to the fullest with him and their two wonderful babies!

She’s a member of Toastmasters and has been asked to “Speak up, Speak out and Share" her story with others – which she is doing with grace, gratitude and NO REGRETS!

I made the set pictured here, for her.

Until Next Time,

Peace, Love and "Sharing Triumphs"

Cheers,

~Shel~

That's AMORE! Week 6 of YOJP 2011

 "Infatuation" was created for Week 6 of YOJP 20111 using the theme "Amore".  I thought of love, Valentine's Day, hearts, the color red, and all sorts of corny stuff,...but nothing was really tripping my trigger, so to speak.

So, I fixed a nice, refreshing 'girlie' cocktail and sat down to 'ponder' my sketches and notes,...and then it hit me! My pretty little drink was "Amore"!  I mean, after all, it did embody soft, feminine style in both color and taste, and it was VERY "GIRLIE" and reminded me of TOTAL LUXURY, and I said "That's Amore!" 

I fused some 20g round .999 fine silver and then forged a heart shape. I hammered and textured it and added MY favorite symbol of love - PEARLS - these specific ones I purchased during the Tucson Gem show from Majestic Pearl and The American Pearl Co. and attachd the heart with pearl dangles to some fabulous light peach fairy ribbon that I purchased from the great folks over at Fusion Beads.

I designed a pair of earrings, complete with my own "Sexy Norm" style 925 sterling silver earring wires to compliment this very delicate and feminine piece of jewelry (wish I could tell you where these cute hearts came from, but the receipt and business card I had asked the man to put inside my bag was no where to be found - but it was at the Windmill Inn during the Gems Show, of course!) and then I sat back and enjoyed my beautiful cocktail and listened to Dean Martin sing,..."That's Amore!"   LOL!!

Until Next Time,

Peace, Love and well,....Amore!

Cheers,

~Shel~

Week 5 - Year of Jewelry

I've been at the Tucson Gem and Mineral since last Thursday and so my post for Week 5 of Year of Jewelry is a few days late! (My bad!!)

The week 5 theme was "Down and Dirty" and I kept thinking of some sort of biker jewelry; we see folks all over here in AZ riding their Harley's having such a great time in our beautiful weather.  However, all I kept thinking of was the accident last year in N. Phoenix where several folks were riding their motorcycles, all stopped at a stop light, when a huge truck slammed into them - killing several and injuring even more of them.

So, this week, I created a commemoration pendant "In Memory" of those who lost their lives and those who were affected by the accident. 

My pendant was created with 16g sterling silver round wire that was hammered, forged and textured and then wire wrapped with 26g sterling silver round wire. I added two freshwater cultured pearls - one smooth and one faceted - and then liver of sulfured the entire piece, leaving some of the beautiful blue color to coincide with the blue of the pearl.

My wish is that everyone will pay attention while driving and watch out, not just for bikers everywhere, but for all those on our roads.

Until Next Time,

Peace, Love and "Safety First"

Cheers,

~Shel~

Medusa's Earrings - Week 4 - Year of Jewelry 2011

Medusa called!  She wants her earrings back!!

Okay, so she really didn't call, and I didn't really swipe her earrings or anything. I just created earrings that she would probably have called me to special order,...ya think?!

The Theme for Week 4 of Year of Jewelry Project 2011 (One Project, Once a Week, For a Year!!) was "Wild and Wicked" - that should have been easy, right?  But, alas, just like every other week, so many things came to mind,...biker chic earrings, rock and roll earrings, spikey/hammered stoner earrings,.....yep, I had visions of all sorts of designs (especially earrings) dancing through my head as I slept last night,.....but this is what came out of my hands today as I created.

24g and 18g copper wire was formed, forged, hammered,....and hammered again and again, wire wrapped and then oxidized with LOS and polished up a bit before laying them out to photograph. 

You can take my word for it when I tell you that the photos look wwwwaaaaayyyyy better than the earrings look in person. I mean seriously peeps, the husband even uttered the dreaded words "kinda artsy-crafty" !!! (insert shudder motion here!) 

But yes, they are rather 'artsy' and I was very 'crafty' with how I 'chaos' wire wrapped portions and did some portions very neatly and how I used anti-tarnish copper and raw copper so when I dipped them in LOS only parts of them would turn colors....and the green little peridot gemstones?  Cute touch, don't you think?  Those, dear children, are the color of Medusa's Eyes!!

Until Next Time,

Peace, Love and Wild and Wicked Earrings (or any jewelry for that matter!!)

Cheers,

~Shel~

Week 2 - Year of Jewelry Project 2011 - Eclipse

This is week 2 of  Year Of Jewelry Project 2011 and the theme was "Eclipse" (although you don't have to follow the theme - it's just to give you ideas if you want them!).

My jewelry project was a pin that I created with sterling silver wire and a Black Agate Drusy Quartz Faceted Oval Bead.  You can't see the facets very well, but boy are they there and do they ever make the bead look really cool!  I plan to wear this with my grey cashmere wrap  - providing it doesn't get too warm, too quickly here in AZ! (cross your fingers!!)

I'm sure after taking a look at the bead you can probably figure out why I chose to create with this particular one for week 2's theme of "Eclipse".  I fell in love with this jaw dropping bead last year and, of course, had to buy the whole strand (just because of this one bead!!) at The Whole Bead Show at the Windmill Inn (sorry, the exact vendor escapes me and isn't in my records correctly it seems - oops!) during the Tucson Bead, Gems and Mineral Shows last year.

Simple was definitely better with this specific stone since it basically screams "WOW", (and 'Eclipse') and deserves all the attention in any design it would have been put in to.

Please jump on over to the Year of Jewelry Project 2011 Website and check out the other participant's entries this week - they're all really gorgeous and very creative!  I'm completely humbled by the abundance of talent that is abound in this fabulous group of designers. I mean really,...besides some basic stringing, hand knotting of pearls, a little fine metal fusing and some basic to intermediate wire wrapping skills, I'm completely left in the dust with these folks and so hopefully this will light a spark under my bum and get me interested in trying some new things this year! (Although, I might not post those tries, mind you! LOL!!)

I hope that you've all had a great week and that your weekend is superb!!

Until Next Time,

Peace, Love and Here's to a "Momentary Eclipse of the Mind"!

Cheers

~Shel~