Happy Mother's Day; Braided Wire Cuff

Today is a special day for me, my mom, blog readers who are mom, mom to be and mothers from all over the world.
I hope you have a great, wonderful and meaningful day celebrating your achievements and efforts.
HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!
Here is sharing with you a braided wire cuff completed recently.
I have a tutorial for this at my Etsy Shop if you are interested.

Going Extinct Soon......

I may be wrong but with all the mobile trends, ereaders, smartphones, ebooks, tablets, pads, apps, etc.....less and less people are reading the good old fashion "physical' books, therefore the good old fashion bookmarks is going extinct sooner than you expected.

Here are a few last ones....kakaka...the last handmade wire wrapped bookmarks with beads and crystals at WireBliss :)

They are made of 16ga wires, half hard and hard.
I have to resort to the hard wire when I ran out of the half hard wire.
But duh, they are reeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaly tough to work with.
I was having a very hard time bending them (notice those with less bending and shaping - those are hard wire!).
I thought I'am going to break my pliers or fingers working on them.
Guess it is really going extinct at WireBliss as I can't find the half hard 16ga wire anymore and I don't plan to work on the hard 16ga wire again...too painful.
The only good thing about them for this project is that there is no need to harden them with hammering. Well, maybe just a little bit.

Now that I think about it, I forgot about my copper wire.
I guess I can try that out some other time.
Its way softer and I have some thick ones stash somewhere.

Have a great weekend folks.

How Many Round Beads on a 16" Strand?

Wonder no more.

The answer is between 34 to 203 beads, depending on the size of the beads of 2mm to 12 mm.

How big is a 2mm or 12mm beads? Well 2mm is tiny while 12mm is about the size of a peanut but this is only my guesstimate. To be exact, get the ruler or caliper.

Anyway, Szarka has a great article on the above at her site.

Head down to Magpie Gemstones and you shall find answers to these burning questions.

There are great conversion Charts by Dr. Karen Meador of Dreamcatcher Designs as well as Madeline Hoffman.

Here is a glimpse of the chart indicating the number of beads on a 16" Strand by Dr. Karen.

For bead strands of less than 16" i.e. 14" and 15", Madeline Hoffman has a chart workout for us.

For anything shorter, I guess we have to count manually....hehehe..just joking.

I actually do this sometimes...lol.

Thanks Szarka and Dr. Karen for sharing this informative article.

Happy Easter!

Health Issue and Wire Wrapped Studs

Finally, I am feeling better to blog again.
Phew! what a way to start the year of the Dragon.
Been away for a while due to health issue but now I am regaining back my strength.
The only positive outcome of this is that I lost about 3 kilogram of my weight, the amount of weight that I have been trying to get rid of for years :) ....not so obvious though but I can revisit some of my favorite clothes that got pushed behind the closet for years...LOL...hope they are not out of fashion.
Today and tomorrow, I will be playing with my wires and pliers again.
My hurt hand is "itchy" to play already although there is a wee bit of pain if I twist it around.

Meanwhile, here are some stud earrings, pearl necklace and a set of dangle pearl earrings with wire wrap clovers that I completed before the hand accident and health issue.

 The tutorial for this type of studs is available at my etsy shop here.

Have a great weekend!

Quick and Easy Projects for Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day is just around the corner.
For those who always do things last minute, just like me, here are my recommended last minute Quick and Easy wire jewelry projects for you.
They are all available at my Etsy Shop.
Here goes.

Wire Wrap Rose Ring - 30 minutes.

What others say about this tutorial:

• Real simple and easy to make.
• This ring is so easy & so pretty
• Clear concise instruction.
• It's given me a few ideas for new flowery items!
• Very detailed and easy to follow! Lots of close up pictures!! I need that!! Thanks!! :)
• Good description, easy to follow...thanks!
• Excellent tutorial: detailed & very well-illustrated.
• Very simple design - described well &easy to follow!

Wire Wrap Rose Earrings - 30 minutes

What others have to say about this tutorial:

• Wow, brilliant design, so simple yet very elegant! I'm a beginner and made this in 30 minutes. Instructions were very clear. Thanks.
• Very Fun to learn & do!!! Thank you!!
• Very easy tutorial.
• Not a day has passed from buying tutorial and I have a new pair of earring already! Such fun to make and very easy instructions to follow,thank you.

Wire Wrap Stud Earrings - 30 minutes

What others have to say about this tutorial:

• Easy and looks great. I'm a beginner and made a pair in less than 30 minutes. The finished look is very professional. Will make more to give away as presents.
• Easy to understand!!! I made my first pair already! I love it!!! Thank you.
• Perfect! Easy to follow.
• I've made several pairs of these earrings for birthday gifts -- my friends love them!
• Clear step-by-step instructions with lots of good photos. Love the cute earrings that can be made with them.
• Very well put together Tutorial, WONDERFUL PICTURES... I have always liked this type of stud earring,now I have made several pairs already, lots of fun! 
• Very concise and clear instructions. The photos are enough to get the idea from. Very well documented tutorial.
• Tutorial has clear step-by-step photos, all in color, and looks super easy. I know what I'm giving as gifts this holiday season!

Other quick and easy projects you can check out are:

• Wire Wrap Sparkly Crystal Ring - 30 minutes 
• Sparkly O Studs (Athena's Shield) - 30 minutes
• Wire Wrap Infinity Bracelet - 30-45 minutes

Happy wrapping :)

The Most Important Tool of All in Wire Jewelry is....

...NOT this, this, this, this, this, this or this!

It is the HAND and fingers.

Obviously, but always taken for granted.

I found this out the very very very very very painful way last Monday.

I slipped and fell on my butt outside the house due to slippery floor after the drizzle.

Hurt my hand while trying to cushion the fall and experienced the most excruciating throbbing pain.

Bum is ok (probably I got fat bum as cushion :) but look at my hand.

As if it is not bad enough, this is my right hand, my working hand.

I'd be out of the wire jewelry action for at least 2 or 3 weeks or maybe a month.

Can't hold the pliers anymore. 

Any pressure on that Mount of Venus will inflict pain...huhuhu...

Lesson learned:

• Be extra careful when walking or running on wet floor.
• Don't rush, walk slowly.
• Wear slippers/shoes with good rubber sole (mine is botak - bald)
• Listen to dear hubby! :) don't be stubborn! When he says "don't do" then he may have the premonition...the story - I insisted on making a small rack (carpentry) although he was against it. The fall happened when I went to the back to look for the last piece of aluminium. In the end, hubby finished off the little rack.
• Anymore safety tips? I you have, feel free to share in the comment.

There you are.

No matter what, Hand is not the only important tool.

The eyes, ears, nose, feet, teeth, etc. are all important.

So, do take care.