Wire Jewelry - Infinity Bracelet

Time really flies.
It's been 4 months since my last post.
Many things took place in between but I am not going into details in this post. Maybe some other time.

OK, today's post is about this gemstone Infinity Bracelet.
Actually this bracelet was completed back in July.
Yeah, took me that long to post.

Do excuse the photo quality- its handphone quality pics.
As mentioned before, my camera went "kong" many months already.
Been looking around for a new camera but yet to get a new one.

Still with the purple and blue stones - Amethyst, Lapis Lazuli and Amazonite.

This infinity bracelet is not difficult to make.
You only need a piece of wire - size 20g, 21g or 22g - and the gemstones.
Doesn't take that long too.

Infinity Bracelet Tutorial at Etsy

Wire Jewelry - Wire Wrapped Turquoise Studs

Hello, long time no see!
July is already coming to an end.
Half of 2016 is gone and it really feels like we are rushing to December.

Hopefully, the next half year would be more productive for you and me.

Meanwhile, here are 3 pairs of studs that I actually get done a while back.
See you soon.

Wire Jewelry - Purple Cat Earrings

By now, you must be very bored with my cat earrings postings.
Before I bore you some more, here is a bit about the city I live in - Kuching
Kuching City is in the State of Sarawak, Malaysia.

Kuching is a Malay word for Cat, therefore Kuching City is Cat City, literally translated.
There are many theories as to the origin of the City. You can read them here.
Not all are related to cats though.

You must be thinking that we have many cats roaming the city to be called a Cat City.
Not really, but you can find other types of cat all over the city such as this one here.



These green cats are found at a traffic light junction.
There must be over twenty of them watching over the traffic :)

We also have a muzium dedicated to cats - the Kuching Cat Museum.
Don't expect to find live cats here though.
Check out the above link or just google for Kuching Cat Museum to get an idea.

Enough of Cat City, back to another pair of my wire wrapped cat earrings.

This time around wire wrapped with 20g stainless steel and a purple gemstone.

The Amethyst looks better in the above picture.
Must be the background light.

Come visit the Cat City :)

Wire Jewelry - Still with Cat Earrings

I am still not done with wire wrapped cat earrings.
Hope I am not booooring you with all the kitties:)

This time around, only the head with tiny body.

If you don't know yet, I work almost exclusively with stainless steel wire.
This is 20 gauge round wire.
They are flattened with lots of hammering.

Cute ya???

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 Jewelry - Meow! Meow! Studs

A wire wrapped cat stud earrings made in a whim.
Not difficult to wire wrap these little kitties.
Lots of hammering to harden the body and head though.

Inspiration from my dear old cats from a long long time ago, our neighbor's cats as well as the many inspirations from the world wide web.

If dogs are man's best friend...then
Cats are woman's best friend!!

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.

Wire Wrapped Flora Earrings

Where have all the days gone?
Just blink and almost end of 2nd week of March.

Been wanting to post this earrings since the last post.
Remember the post about my failure.
That was last month but feels like it was only yesterday.

OK, this is the outcome of that many tries.
Not very satisfied but not so badlah.

Wire is 20g and hammered hard.
Wrapped each side of the earrings with different type of gemstone beads.
One side is wire wrapped with Lapis Lazuli.

The other with 4mm frosted Amazonite.

Close up pic is not close enough but that is the closest I could get with my hand-phone camera.
My "camera" is about to die of old age.
Time to look/get a new camera - *sigh* but the one I am drolling at is just so damn expensive *sigh*.

Then there is the 4mm stainless steel spacer beads.

Someone commented that the style of the earrings look "oldish" i.e. suit older woman.
I do not agree but that is her honest opinion and no offence because i trust her 200%.

Right now I am thinking about retiring 1 or 2 of my tutorials at Etsy and Artfire
Wait for the announcement.

Till then have a great week and happy creating.

First Fail of 2016 - Lack of Inspiration and Warming Up

After few months away from my pliers, wires and stones, and finally finding a temporary "corner" as my work station, look at what I have been making.

First wire jewelry of the year of 2016 and this is what I came up with after several attempts.

Total failure! Thought it was easy to pick up where I left, but actually not as easy as in my mind.

Supposed to be a flora earrings.
*Sigh*..... dunno what I was doing.
Bend left and right still didn't get it them right.
I have it in my mind but somehow the fingers and bending was not working as it should be.

At some point, I think it is the wire size....ermmmm.
The gemstone beads maybe.

Arrrrrgh! Grrrrrrrr! Geramnya!

These 3 tries abandoned for another day.
Those frosted colored gemstones are 4mm frosted amazonite while the dark blue colored are Lapiz Lazuli.

4th Borneo International Beads Conference (BIBCo) 2015 and Happy New Year 2016

Happy New Year 2016
May your dreams turn into reality and all your efforts into great achievement.
Wishing you more success in 2016 and more PEACE to the country and world.

Thank you all for your loyalty and for keeping up my rambles here at WireBliss.
Psst** will try to post more often in 2016☺

Yes, I have been missing from action for more than a month.
This will be the last post for 2015.
Before the new year starts, I better post about the 4th BIBCo that took place last October.....LAST OCTOBER!!! more than two months ago.
See how behind I am.

This year BIBCo was held at the Sarawak Tourism Complex which used to be the Court House, at the bank of the Sarawak River.
I'll let the pictures do the talking.

Here is a nice view of the inner courtyard of the old Court House.

Gemstones necklaces

Native beads of Sarawak

Beaded colars

Book by Elaine Robnett Moore

Native beads of Sarawak

Some wire wrapped earrings by Elaine Robnett Moore

Glass beads by Marianne Bradman of the USA

Handwoven Baskets

Native bead necklace in the making.

Wire and metal work pendant

Goodbye 2015
Have a blessed 2016

Sarawak Craft Festival and Sarawak Regatta 2015

This took place last month, 18-27 Sept 2015 in conjunction with the Kuching Waterfront Festival.

This year, the handicraft booths was extra long. There were more than 300 booths selling all sorts of unique handicraft, mostly local Sarawak handicraft.

▼ Entrance to the long stretch of handicraft booths.

▼ Lots of handcrafted native beads - a feast for the eyes.

▼Woven dresses, skirts, purse, silverwork, vests, hats from the highland tribe.

▼ I love the work of this artist. Its traditional and modern at the same time. The colors are very attractive.

▼ The native of Sarawak are well known for their woven craft.
These items here are made from natural material such as wood bark, leaves, bamboo and rattan.

▼These are handicraft by the Iban ethnic group.
The Ibans are well known for their woven blanket known as 'pua kumbu’ as well as baskets, backpack, mats and silver accessories.

▼Woodwork - bird cage and drum making.

▼This lady is not from northern Thailand or Myanmar. She is from the Bidayuh tribe and you can only find ladies like her in one village in the whole of Sarawak. Semban is a village in the Borneo Highland but villagers were recently relocated/resettled to a new area to give way for development.
She wears her copper rings around her forearms and calves (Luyang and Lasong), but none around the neck. Rare and unique tradition indeed. However, this tradition is dying as the younger generation no longer wear these rings.

▼I was very tempted to get one of this carved wooden lamps. Very cute and fine craftmanship.

▼Batik painting - the three of us took turns to finish this piece of Batik painting. Nice?

▼The Sarawak Regatta at Kuching Waterfront.
The DUN (Sarawak State Legislative Assembly Building) is at the background.