Up and Coming Wire Jeweler in the House

Introducing someone who has shown interest in this thing called Wire Jewelry. 

He did play around with wire and made me these 2 pairs of 'S' shaped earrings when he's 4 years old. 

He is now 17 years old. Time really flies while they are growing. 

He is slowly taking interest in creating wire jewelry again.

Very slowly as he will be sitting for his exam soon.

Here are some of his earlier wire wrapped pieces with stainless steel, copper and brass wires. They were his 2018 year end long school holiday projects. Most of them are practice pieces. Haha, yeah, it took me that long to post them today.

This guy is good with crafting and working with his hands. In his own words, he likes creating "original designs" e.g. wooden crossbow, Katana, knives, mechanical thingy, etc.

Those are for another day posting.

Wire Wrapped Butterfly

Another 2018 project.
A wire wrapped butterfly for the little boy.

Wire Jewelry - Tree of Life Pendant

I said I will post more often.
But, my more often is not that often.

Another long overdue post here.
This Tree of Life Pendant (TOL) and bracelet is for our dearest primary school English teacher - Mona San Louis.

We have not seen her for like more than 30 years!
But she looks great and beautiful as ever.

I didn't attend the reunion but just managed to get this TOL pendant and bracelet on time, to attend on my behalf.

I don't remember ever making a TOL pendant before, so this is a first.
I used peridot, garnet and tourmaline.

Minlet with peridot to accompany the TOL pendant.

There are many tutorials (fee and paid) to make similar Tree of Life pendant online. Check them out here - https://goo.gl/DkqzlR
This should keep you busy browsing thru them.

Happy weekend.

Wire Jewelry - Cat Pendant

Still with cat.
This time around a wire wrapped cat pendant.
Or maybe a key chain.
Did a bit of wire weaving for the tail with copper jewelry wire.
The body is a heart shaped Rose Quartz accented with a 4mm stainless steel spacer beads.

Some cats facts:

• They are the most loving animal (at least to me).
• They are the best companion (when you are lonely) and manja (no exact English translation for this word, closest is pampered).
• They always look cool and calm..haha.Some studies found that cat owners are more logical and practical than dog owner...hahaha...there you are dog owners!
• Cats can improve your health too, especially your heart health.
• Sad....millions of cats killed for food especially in China, its a delicacy.
• There was a cat mayor somewhere in Alaska.
• Cat cafe in Japan and Korea provide you temporary companionship with cats. 

More cats on the way.

Wire Wrapped Donut Pendant Tutorial is now Free

Update 22 Aug 2020: The free tutorial is no longer available at Craftsy since it was taken over by Bluprint. You still can have it if you email or leave a comment here. I will email it to you. 

Wire Wrapped Donut Pendant Tutorial is retired from my Etsy and Artfire shops.
One of my oldest tutorials.

It’s now available for download (FREE) at my Craftsy Shop, only.
It’s not available at Etsy as there will be relisting fee involves.
Artfire does not have instant download service, so it is not there too.

Only at Crafsy.

To download, click on this link below and it will lead you directly to the tutorial.

Free Wire Wrapped Donut Pendant

I hope you'd enjoy this project.
Happy wire wrapping and let me know how it goes.
Leave some pics in Craftsy if you don't mind.

Minlace - Prehnite the Stone of Prophecy

Finally got myself a bit of time to post this. Kind of slow right?
This time, I am back with Minlace (Minima Necklace). This Minlace is wire wrapped with the same stone as the Minlet in previous post - yes, prehnite.

Can't believe my first Minlace was back in January this year. Been wearing it ever since and yikes! how time flies.

Material:

• Chain: Box link stainless steel chain
• Clasp: Lobster claw clasp
• Gemstone Beads: Natural Prehnite nuggets of various sizes
• Length: About 42 cm or 16.5 inches

If you are a believer in the power of gemstones and crystals, Prehnite is believed to be a stone of prophecy. It also calms and protects and many more (believed) benefits such as these:

• Enhance level of insight - see truths you would otherwise be blind to.
• Enhance precognition, visualization and inner knowledge.
• Dream recall and to alleviate nightmares, deep fears and phobias. 
• Helps in decluttering your life and dispel unpleasant memories.
• In health, it heal the kidneys and the bladder, gout, anemia as well as increase energy.

Wire Wrapped Hook/Clasp on Cord Ends

There are many ways to wire wrap hook/clasp on cord ends or leather ends. If you google for it, here are the list of pages available. Some are on youtube while others are pictorial.

My wire wrapped clasp on cord ends is based on 123Bead's tutorial with modification to the basic wire hook to a pipa hook instead.

The "difficult" part of this project is to hold several cord ends together at one time.
Kind of tricky but manageable.

Wire Jewelry - Freestyle Wire Wrapped Amethyst Pendant

Another asymmetrical wire wrapped pendant.
This was actually done right after the Agate Pendant earlier.
Yeah, I thought this one would be easier but I was wrong.
Similarly difficult and wasted more wires on this one.
Maybe I am not cut out for wire wrapping asymmetrical stones :( ???

Anyway, I hope you'd enjoy pictures of this wire wrapped pendant from different angles and can draw some inspirations from it.

While at it, Christmas is just around the corner.
For very very very late and last minute DIY gifts for that particular someone, check out these two quick projects you can whipped up in minutes (within 30 minutes the most).

Wire Wrapped Stud Earrings

Wire Wrapped Rose Ring and Earrings

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Wire Jewelry - Asymmetrical Agate Pendant

This is one of the more difficult piece that I have ever wire wrapped although it looks simple enough.
Mainly because of the lack of symmetry of the Agate as well as the thickness of the stone.
I was thinking "this will be my last asymmetrical pendant (without hole) that I am going to wire wrap...arggghh. I am not taking order for this type of stone anymore!!!"
Yikes!

Wasted a fair bit of wire on this as I restarted at least 3 times at the viking knitting stage as well as the outer wire wrapping stage.

What else can I do?
I just hope the new owner likes it as it is.

See how thick the Agate is at the top end?

Just glad I got it done.

Looks yummy though :)

Why are they so Cheap? Too Good to be True

Yeah, I am referring to these silver necklaces and bracelet that I got from Bangkok recently.
I came across them at a small stall, inside a huge mall.
Everything was spread out on the table - necklaces, rings, bracelets, cuff, and each of them priced at a flat rate of 100 Thai Baht. The size and weight does not matter.
They are all 100TB/piece.
Wouldn't you go crazy? :)
I did for a while....hehe.
I just couldn't resist grabbing a few as souvenir and just out of curiosity.
Genuine or not doesn't really matter for that price right?

Assuming they are genuine, a piece of similar necklace would have cost around RM100 or more here.
That's about 1000TB.
So, 10 pieces for 1000TB is really very attractive no?

Are they genuine? Judging by the price, its too good to be true/genuine.
Well, honestly I wouldn't know and of course they are silver if you ask the vendor.
He pointed to a piece of paper at the corner that says "Chiangmai Silver".
Mmmm....so its genuine? Nevermind. I grabbed a few anyway.

Out of curiosity, I googled for Chiangmai Silver but couldn't find anything similar to that I purchased.
Most searched results referred to sites located in Chiangmai.

They are really shiny though.
They do tarnish after a while as you can see the cuff in the picture above.
No worries about tarnishing as I can clean them up easily.
Check my posting on the easiest and safest way to clean silver here.

If you have any knowledge about Chiang Mai Silver, do enlighten me and my readers here.
You can leave me a comment or contact me with the contact form at the top right of this page.

DIY Tutorial - Stringing your Own Beaded Bracelets and Necklace

As mentioned in the previous post, here is the tutorial on how to make your stringed beaded bracelet or necklace.

You may find this slightly different from what you are used to seeing as I didn't use any crimp bead. Nevertheless, the end result is still the same.

How much time needed?
Allocate about an hour to make 3.
Yeah! A quick and easy project.
Lets get started.....

Materials:
The above picture shows materials required for 2 bracelets and a necklace.
For each, you will need:

Metal string

2 Metal beads

1 Split ring or jump ring

1 Clasps

Beads/stones of your choice (number of beads depend on the length of the bracelet and necklace).

Step 1: Thread all the beads. I thread all at once as I will string each bracelet one after the other. This way also ensure no wastage of your string.

Step 2: Insert the metal bead followed by the clasp.

Step 3: Bring the string back through the metal bead.

Step 4: Move the metal bead towards the clasp to tighten and tie a knot close to the metal bead.
Yeah, a knot instead of crimp.

Step 5: Tie another round of knot if you like and cut off excess string.

Step 6: On the other end, insert the metal bead, bring the wire over the split ring and back through the metal bead. Tighten and tie a knot or two.

Step 7: Cut off excess string and your are done.

Repeat the above with the next group of beads.

If you have questions, feel free to add comment or use the contact form at the top right hand side of this page.

Happy stringing!

Ever Versatile Pearls

Sunday inspiration.
Still with stringing.
This time around for these two pearl necklaces, one multi strand and one single strand.

Since I have been making lots of stringing jewelry lately, (yeah, some I didn't even bother to take pictures of and post here), I will be posting a short DIY tutorial on how I normally string necklaces and bracelets.
So, stay tune and have a great Sunday.

Not all rounded but still beautiful nevertheless

Closeup

More uniform roundness but not that smooth, but still beautiful :)

Lobster clasp is more user friendly. Stainless steel beads and split ring too