Bailing Out

Let's Make a Basic Wire Bail

Gather all your materials.  You will need wire (I have used sterling silver), a bead or beads ( I am using emerald briolettes), wire cutters, a pair of round nosed pliers, and at least one other pair of pliers of your choice.

Cut a length of wire appropriate for your bead.  (Note: The size of the hole in your bead will determine the gauge of the wire you need.  The higher the gauge number, the thinner the wire.) 

Thread the wire through your bead.

Fold both ends of the wire up creating a triangular shape. Don't fold the ends too tightly. (Note: If you are using a small briolette, as seen here, use caution. They are fragile and will break if the wire is too tight. You want it to "swing" slightly on the wire.)

I apologize for this blurry picture...  Now you should pinch one end of wire between the round nosed pliers.  Bend it at a 90 degree angle away from the crossover point.

Keeping the wire pinched between the nose of the pliers wrap the wire back toward the crossover point over the pliers creating a rounded loop.

Now we are ready to start wrapping.  Pull the leftover end of the loop down and around in front of the other length of wire.

With your other pair of pliers, pull this end of wire tightly all the way around the other wire, as if wrapping a rope around a tree.

Wrap until you are out of that length of wire.  If you have any gnarly ends you can clip it off with your wire cutters.



Wrap the other length of wire in the same fashion around and on top of your first wrap.



Cut any excess wire.  Make sure to tuck or file the end so that there are no sharp edges.

Viola!  Your beautiful bead now has a bail and can be added to your fabulous jewelry!

Green with Envy

After my inspirational journey through my latest Sundance catalog,  I decided that I needed a new leather cord necklace!  Does that have anything to do with all the beautiful leather pieces in the catalog? I plead...Guilty!  I was just so envious of all the beautiful pieces! So here is my quick and easy version of the Sundance inspired necklace.

I used sterling silver for all my metal components as well as semi-precious gemstones, but you can make an equally beautiful piece with less expensive materials. You are limited only by your imagination. I will take better pictures than this too.  Cross my heart!  I was so excited last night I just couldn't wait to snap a couple of quickies.

I learned how to wrap wire for "dangles" by reading beading magazines.  I plan on doing a few tutorials for this for anyone who may not be familiar with how to do it yet.  I will try for tonight.  I say "try," because I work full time and have two rambunctious little boys that sometimes like me to pay less attention to my arts and crafts and more attention to them.  Imagine!  I love, love, love, my boys! I will get the pics up though, cross my heart - again, and just for good measure, pinkie swear too! Stay with me...

I never FELT so many flowers!

One of my new discoveries and the very thing that has lit a fire under my creative tushie this season is the yarn wreath with felt flowers.  I admit it, I saw this browsing Etsy, and you see what happened next…  Of course I didn’t copy the artist’s original design.  While I do believe imitation is the highest form of flattery, I would never try to pass off another person’s work as my own.  I am an idea thief. This is MY little wreath and I LOVE it!  It reminds me of a warm cozy sweater I just want to cuddle up in!  As I have been researching other ideas to take on how to create the beautiful flowers for the wreaths, I have had my eyes opened to so much more! All this time I thought felt was just a children’s craft project. What I fool I have been!  I have a good little stock of various types of felt flowers growing in my craft room…  I can’t wait to show you what I do with the harvest!!! Stay tuned!!  And while these flowers are indeed FABLOUS, felt can be turned into so much more than just flowers! It can be made into beautiful coasters, trivets, slippers, dolls, and stuffed animals… the list go on!  I foresee a lot of felt in our futures!

45 Days Until Christmas! Oh My!

I know a lot of you are saying, "But what about Thanksgiving?  We haven't even had our turkey dinner yet!"  Well, if you are an arts and crafts person, like myself, then you are probably making decorations and/or gifts and/or gift wrapping and/or Holiday attire.   In which case, you have to start thinking about these things way ahead of the Thanksgiving bird!  If you haven't yet, as we love to say in the South, "Bless your heart!"  You better get to it!

I have recently taken a hiatus from jewelry designing only to be slapped in the face with the creative desire to make all things Christmas.  Now I feel the need to throw some jewelry in the mix as well.  I have been known to sell my one of kind pieces in the past.  I also, when I am able to part with them, which is often just as heart wrenching at parting with a beloved friend, have been known to gift my creations.  Again, jewelry making is no original concept of mine, or anyone else's.  We know cave men/women were some of the earliest jewelry designers, I mean, take Wilma Flintstone for example!  She was the proud owner of one of the most iconic necklaces known today!  So we stole the idea of becoming artisan jewelry makers from our earliest fore fathers and/or mothers. And I stole the idea from another thief who stole it before me.  What makes it original is what you do with it!  So here are a few of my past designs to give you some inspiration.  Now I need to get busy on some new ones! Happy Creating!