Green wire chains (Jewelry Making Mojo Challenge)

Having worked in the potato fields this week too, I started this week's assignment later than ideal, but I did spend time thinking about it during work. I knew right away, when reading that the assignment of the week was to make your own findings, that I wanted to make a chain. I also knew early on that I wanted it to have an organic feel with wrapped links. Perhaps adding a few beads or mixing metals. As you can see, I didn't get very far this time, though.

First I made the brass link.. It has a loop on one end to connect it to the next link with so that the rings lie flat. Unfortunately the wire was very hard and I couldn't, at the moment, anneal it so instead I abandoned the chain after just one link. (Though I realise that for the sake of the challenge I could've just made a bar and pretended it was a toggle clasp, but it was chains I wanted to make.) Rummaging through the wire box, I picked up a spool of fine gauge green wire which had been lying there for ages. Time to use some of it!

At first the idea was to make links similar to the brass link, but after wrapping the wire seven times around a marker pen and wrapping it, the link felt too big and flimsy. Maybe I should twist it in the middle? Did that. But instead of just keeping it like that, it made me think of foxtail chains so of cause I had to try making one of those out of the wire links. I kind of like the result, but the chain turned out very rigid, no flexibility at all.

Instead of tweaking it to make the fit better, it made me want to try another variation where I didn't wrap the links. While I liked it, it also made we want to try a variation with bigger links.

For the last variation, I didn't fold the links and just wrapped them together in one stop before adding the next link. Again, this produced a link that feels a bit flimsy, but with thicker wire (or perhaps mixing the fine gauge wire with a heavier one) I'd probably be ok. Maybe I'll wrap a flower bead or leaves around each link to keep the fine wires together and prevent them from snagging on something.

How to make a rhinestone chain

*Instruktioner på svenska finns HÄR*

I'm not the one that came up with the idea to make rhinestones this way. The inspiration comes from a chain I bought at Panduro some time in the 90's, long before I became a beader. They don't sell this type of chain anymore, but making your own chains in the same style is very easy. All you need is chaton montés and jump rings in colours of your choice.


Supplies:
chaton montés (AKA mounted crystals, preset rhinestones etc)
jump rings

Tools: 2 pairs of chain-nose or bent-nose pliers.


1. Begin by selecting rhinestones and rings. Your preset crystals shouldn't have a flat back with channels -- so called rose montés -- as these will be impossible to link. You need to use chatons, pointed-back crystals with a different type of settings. Avoid stones larger than 6 mm as those settings often have holes on one two of the sides: you need settings with a hole on each of the four sides for this technique to work.

2. Test how big the jump rings need to be in order to fit the holes. Avoid rings in heavy gauges. Also, make sure the diametre is large enough for two crystals to move about on one ring. For my chain, I will be using 4 mm rhinestones and 5 mm (outer diametre) jump rings.


3. Open a jump ring. If you are unsure of how to do this, check out these instructions. You may need to open the ring quite a bit in order for it not to get stuck in the setting. Holding the ring in your chain-nose pliers, push the end of the ring through one of the holes in the setting. Keep pushing it carefully, exiting through an adjacent hole. If the ring get stuck before you reach the hole, wiggle it until you are in line with the opening.

4. Add a second crystal on the jump ring in the same way you added the first one. Be sure you flip the crystal so they both face the same direction. It's easy to end up with one crystal facing up and the other facing down...


5. Close the loop using two pair of pliers, the same way you opened it. You might have to grab the ring using just the tips of your pliers as it can be tight on space at this point.


6. Add another ring in the two remaining holes on one of the rhinestones as in step 3. Keep adding new crystals, one after the other, until your chain reached the desired length.


7. Your chain is now ready to be used in your jewellery designs. For a simple bracelet or necklace, just add a clasp -- or attach a short section of chain on an earwire for sparkling earrings.


By making your own crystal chains you have the advantage of being able to choose the colours yourself -- on the rhinestones and settings as well as on the jump rings. Use different colours of crystals or stick to just one nuance. Mix the colours according to a strict pattern or add them randomly. And why not use coloured jump rings for an unusual effect? You can also test mixing different size crystal settings.


In the beginning, I recommended you avoid settings with parallel holes, but there are exceptions to this rule. Sometimes you don't need crossed holes. Above, you can see a chain using mounted Swarovski hearts, linked together using 7 mm (OD) jump rings. (I got mine at Rings & Things.)


And as usual: if you've created something using my projects as inspiration, I'd love to see it. Post a link in the comments below or e-mail me if you want to show something you've made using my instructions.

Lucky Fridays? Island Flower necklace

So, last Friday I got an e-mail saying I'd won a candy giveaway. 1 kg (6 bags) of Gott & Blandat Sötsur, which I got yesterday. Today I opened my mail in the afternoon to find an e-card fron Rings & Things saying my Island Flowers necklace above was on of Polly's Picks in their Your Designs Rock Contest. That is, not an official prize winner, but I still get a (much appreciated) $50 gift certificate.

Polly's Picks are defined as "designs our editor especially likes despite the fact that they did not win a formal prize. These designs are often simple, practical and/or whimsical examples of how to use Rings & Things components well." This is the second time one of my entries have received this honour. In 2007, the first year I made something for this contest, my Oak Island jewellery set was picked.

This is a slightly different piece of jewellery compared to what I usually make. Flowers is nothing unusual, but the size and chosen material is. Also, to work with the larger focal piece, the necklace is somewhat longer than the princess lenght I mostly seem to prefer. Instead of taking inspiration from nature in my surroundings, this was a necklace that had me thinking of tropical islands with white shells in the sand by the beaches and brown coconuts in palm trees.

I made the flowers from shiny cowrie/cowry shells with the backs cut off, which made them easy to weave together using 20 G vintage bronze wire (coloured copper). I got the inspiration partially from those shell motifs with embroidery floss and an occasional bead that you can buy for embellishing clothing and bags, but instead of gluing the shells to a backing material, I chose wirework. Three flowers are wrapped together to make a larger focal piece (approx. 13cm measured from side to side). The focal piece is suspended using dark brown cotton cord that has been folded in half and slightly twisted to hold the two cords together (held in place by 'messy-style' wire wraps). To it has been added two pairs of 'leaves,' also wrapped with the same wire.

The necklace started out consisting of just one flower, but I felt I wanted to make something larger. (Not just because it was for an American contest.) So it became three flowers. The leaves might be a bit redundant, but I wanted to make something with a bit more embellishments than the usual 'Scandinavian minimalism' I so often lean towards in my designs.

The difficult part of this necklace was finding a matching clasp. I figured it best to make my own using the 20 G wire. But why make an ordinary hook-and-eye closure?, I thought, seeing a pair of small cowrie shells with large openings. So I attached the hook to one shell and used the other shell instead of an eye loop.

Your can find my necklace here in the R&T gallery where you also find all the winners and other Polly's Picks.

My Trios "colour experiment"

Trios is SoftFlex Company's name for their variety packages of three colour coordinated beading wires. There are quite a few to choose from right now, but being fond of creating colour combinations, I just had to play with the thought of what colours I would combine if I could make my own Trios. This is what I came up with.

Please note that I've only seen most of these colours on photos online, not IRL, so I can't be 100 % sure that all the colour combos actually look good together...



Patina: A mix inspired by verdigris on copper and brass. Can't choose whether to use Copper or Antique Brass (Metallics). A darker green would also work for an intense patina, this is more a matte old finish. Antique Brass is a colour I use often, even in copper jewellery, and it does look prettier IRL than in the pic.


Cherry Blossom/Neapolitan Icecream: A cute mix reminding me of pink and white cherry blossoms against brown branches. Or Neapolitan icecream, which is a mix of strawberry, vanilla and chocolate flavours. The topaz wire is browner than in the picture, but the pink might be a bit too bright for the mix.


Vintage Cherry Blossom: an "antiqued" version with bone instead of white and a different pink. Still, the topaz doesn't look as brown as IRL on this pic. Instead of the topaz, the brownish Copper would probably also look nice here. For when white feels a bit too "harsh".


Wilting Flowers: I wanted to make a colourful mix with the original grey wire. Ideally I'd want to use a light purple (lilac, lavender) and pink for more of a washed out, "transparent" pastel palette. Champagne, another colour I haven't seen IRL, might be an alternative?


October rain: More turquoise and browns, here with a hint of autumnal red. Turquoise is a sometimes forgotten part of the autumn colour palettes, but a greener turquoise is a better choice than a bluer hue, which is more for summer or winter. I written about it -- with many pics -- here.


Empress: Gold, royal purple and garnets -- this is a powerful and luxurious mix. Can't really choose between Red Coral and Garnet, though: a darker red gives a richer impression while a brighter red is more energetic and playful.


Spring wedding: White sheer spring flowers (apple or cherry blossom, wood anemones or bird cherry) with green leaves. Simple and soft. Similar in colour to the wedding napkin ring I made.


Horse chestnut: This is the Trio I forgot to add. Imagine a horse chestnut tree with creme white blossoms. I chose a soft palette with chrysoprase, but for a stronger green peridot might be an option. Also, I went with bone as white felt a bit too "crisp". Copper would probably also look nice as an alternative to the topaz wire, I keep using.


Epilogue
Colour I miss in Soft Flex's palette? A light purple, lilac, so I could make the pretty mix Lilacs from Purple Amethyst, Lilac and White wires. I would have liked to use it i Wilting flowers too.

I keep complaining about not having seen all colours IRL, which makes it hard to put together combos that will actually work, but I still wanted to give this a try. And it's just vanity: I'd be embarressed if someone actually tried these combinations out and they didn't work... And even more vain when I use colours I do know how they look, but I find the pics don't do them justice -- I just want to say "really, they do work well together!" Not trying to critisize the photographer when I say a wire is better looking IRL than in the photos on the website -- after all, it usually the case with computer screens.


All photos are borrowed from the SoftFlex Company website.

Photos of a flower bracelet

Well, I was going to take a few pics of a new bracelet I made for my inspiration gallery at Fru Pärla, but then I couldn't stop taking more photos. So I ended up with a bunch of slightly more "artistic" pictures of it. Not all are great, but I just wanted to share the fun.

Vintage bronze rivoli pendants

Earlier this week I got a "goodiebag" of wire and beads (and buttons) from Swedish bead shop Fru Pärla [= Mrs Bead] as I had taken the opportunity to volunteer and make a few creations for the inspiration galleries. The first thing I made was these rivoli pendants using the 20 G Vintage Bronze wire I got.
One thing I hate about photos is that they enlarge details: the wrapped loops look so much more sloppy on pic than IRL. Ok, now I've said that.
To the left you see a 16 mm crystal volcano Preciosa rivoli attached to a variation of the classic prong setting. I don't really have the tools to set a stone like this so I use what I have. Ideally I would have wanted to press the prongs closer to the crystal, but I was afraid of scratching or chipping it. Still pleased with the result, especially considering I rarely, if ever, make prong settings.
To the right is a 18 mm crystal sahara Preciosa rivoli that I set in a different way. This time I made wavy "frame", using a wire jig to keep the points even, that was shaped and wrapped around the perimetre of the crystal. The back look exactly the same as the front.
I had no intention of making anything steampunk-related (though vintage bronze is the perfect colour for steamy jewellery), but I realised the bigger pendant has the same colours as this book cover. Not my usual palette, but I quite like it. Nice contrast between metal and water (the crystal reflects the colours of the coating in a way reminding of moving water).

This was also my first time using the "invisible thread suspension method" when photographing. I think it made a huge difference as the pendants don't have flat backs, making it hard to shoot them at the same time. As usual I sing praise to Neat Image, my knight in shining armour now that my camera -- having been dropped in the floor a couple of times -- give me such noisy pics. (Keeping on the name dropping I might add the photo is edited in Picasa, the programme I use now that I can't access my laptop with my favourite, Photoshop Elements.)