Pretties!

I do like necklaces, and since I made the Tina Given's inspired ones last year, I have made quite a few pairs.  I have about 5 or 6 leather straps that I can then swap the beads in and out using lobster clips.

This is one of the wider straps - about 3/4" and the beads are faux turquoise and quite lightweight.  I need to restring the beads though as I put the lobster clips on the bead portion, whereas it would make sense (and cost less money!) to have them on the straps . . . . .

I wore this with my Sweet Violet tunic and it went rather well!

I recently attended an adult education class on Silversmithing and made some stacked silver rings . . . .

In three hours, I made five sterling silver rings.  It involved measuring and cutting the silver - we used different types, flat, domed, round, soldering it into a ring, then hammering it into shape and adding decoration.

They are not perfect - and considering they are all supposed to be the same size, I need to practice more, but it was really fun.  I would really like to make some wider ones with stones in . . . . oh dear, I feel another hobby coming on!!

There are some longer courses that cover other aspects of silversmithing in jewelry, so I may well be signing up for more courses!

Have you tried jewelry making?  Care to share?!

Neck Adornments

I love jewelry.  Sparkly things are fun.  And usually expensive.  So what is a girl to do?  That's right . . . make your own.  I have been making my own earrings/necklaces/bracelets for quite some time.  I pick up pretty beads and findings here and there, but quite frankly - they are all rather 'square'.  Lovely looking, but not too much character.  I really like the steampunk style - especially the necklaces with leather in them.  But they look like a lot of work, so I filed these thoughts away for another time . . . . until I saw some necklaces that Tina Givens had on her Facebook page:

Hmmm.  Interesting.  What to do, what to do?  So this is what I did . . . . .

I made some necklaces.

With some beads that I had tucked away.  The stones above are actually amethyst.  The straps vary in width from 1/8" to 3/4".  The wider straps are from scraps of leather that I picked up over the years - a bag of offcuts for a few dollars or pounds.

This is probably my favorite - a double stranded Lapis version with metal spacers.

And they double up pretty well.

The skinnier straps are from leather from my local craft shop.  It is quite thin so I doubled it up.  The leather is then attached to a a couple of metal clasps that are used to clip onto ribbon.

I then strung a few beads together with some small clasps on each end so that the straps can be changed out if I prefer black instead of brown, etc., and also so that I don't need to have a strap for each necklace.

Good grief - where did these all come from?!

I love this version of pearls with Swarovski crystals in between!

And look what I found in my local Fabricland - small strings of beads all matching nicely and looking good together, ready to be made up into some lovely necklaces!  

Have you tried your hand at jewelry making?  Any top tips?