Gift of Blue

Friday was one of my days off and I took the time to drop off the 3 bead bracelet I made for my friend Sarah. I mostly wanted to be sure it would fit her wrist. It fit perfectly, thankfully! While I was chatting with her my other friend Jennifer, who works with Sarah, came outside and I showed her the bracelet. Later in the day I felt bad that I had not made something for Jennifer, as she is my best friend. Plus we have been having a hard time making our schedules work out, so we haven't spent much time together.  SO... I did a bit of shopping and got a rough idea in my head of a project.

After work Saturday I sat down and planned out a neckless that I had in mind for Jenn. My original plan didn't work out entirely well, so I changed it up, but only a little. I found this great center piece, so I wanted to show case it. I changed the beads attached to it and added a few of my own. I wanted it to be bright, summery, classy enough for her to wear to work but not too classy that she couldn't just wear it whenever. My original idea was to string some smalled beads that matched the stones flanking the center piece, but the clamp beads rubbed alot so I decided against that idea. Instead I used cream medium pearls linked together with eye pins. I think the colors worked out pretty well.

This is the center piece and the main focus. I wanted everything to filter out from this piece.

I used two smokey blue stones to flank the center ring to draw more attention. 

I found these fire cooled gems in a light turquise that matched with the beads I had originally wanted to use in a solid string. I was going to match it against the turquise gems on one side for visual interest. The connector piece allowed for two strands and one on the other side and had a little detail to it that I thought fit with the center pieces detailing.

Since the strand of beads didn't work out as planned (I had it all finished, but when I tried it on the clamp beads rubbed more than I wanted, so I threw that idea out.) I decided to just mimicke the eye pin connected gems but with pearls for a more vintage look.

I have gotten MUCH better at makeing eye pin loops now, so this was a snap to do. I only screwed up once, but it was just too big a loop. Yay the practicing really worked! (I also picked up a "close edge clip pliers" to do smoother, closer cuts.)

I think the finished product looks pretty good. I really like the one sided detail look on necklesses.

I was rather proud that I got it done in one night and in about an hour and a half. (mostly because my first idea didn't work out as aspected) Jenn and I went to breakfast and hung out... and ironically I left the neckless sitting on my desk. I showed her pictures though and she loves it. I'm going to try and drop it off at her work on Wednesday since its my next day off.

What do you all think of my one sided neckless? Let me know!

As always if you have any projects of your own, please feel free to share!

Purple classic

I spent last weekend cleaning and organzing a few things and I noticed that I still had some left over purple pearls from the bracelet I made my friend earlier. I liked how the bracelet came out, so I wanted to do another one, but give it a different look at the same time. I wanted some thing more timeless and classy.

Supplies:
*purple pearls (in various sizes)
*bead wire (.45mm)
*lobster clasp (I used a figure 8 clip closure)
*jump rings
*one head pin
*clamp beads
*diamond jump rings
*needle nose pliers
*clamp pliers
*round nose pliers
*wire cutters

*tip 1* As with all jewerly designs I make I planned out the design before I started doing anything. I wanted to use the purple pearls and not just one size, so like before I used both the big and medium sized pearls. I will be putting diamond jump rings in between each pearl to create a more classy look.

*tip 2* Always measure for each project to make sure the lengths are correct. Once you have done them enough times you will know the required lengths and can skip this step.

- Measure out the length of bead wire you will need to fit around your wrist and then give yourself about 2 inches to loop back through at the end.

- Take a clamp and thread it on the bead wire; then take one end of the lobster clip and loop the bead wire through it and the clamp. This should allow for a loop to hold the one end in place.
-Use the clamp pliers to clamp everything in place.

-Thread the pearls and diamond jump rings on in the order of the design you picked ahead of time (see *tip 1* )
-Continue this until you have the length you determined earlier. (see *tip 2* )

-Once you have finished your design for the length slide on a clamp and use the clamp pliers to secure it in place.

*suggestion 1* I like to do one clamp bead at the end to make sure everything stays tight and then another to create the loop, this is NOT required. You can choose to use only one clamp bead, just be sure to keep the beads tight or you will end up with gaps when you wear it.

-Take another clamp bead and thread it on first, then slide on the other end of the lobster clip (normally its just a jump ring), then thread the wire back through the clamp you did first and tighten the wire until you have a small loop.
-Use the clamp pliers to close the clamp.

-Take a wire cutters and clip off the extra wire as close as possible to the clast clamp bead.

That will finish off the bracelet.

I wanted to add a dangler pearl for a little extra appeal.

-Take a head pin and put on a pearl.

-Use a  round nose pliers to round of the other end of the head pin to create an loop.

-Attach the loop to one end of the bracelet's loop. (In my case I used a figure 8 clip for a closure piece on the bracelet, so I attached my dangle pearl to one end of the 8 clip.)

Finished product looks darn good if I do say so. I wore it the other day to an interview. It came out much nicer than I thought. I especially like the medium and large pearls together. At first I thought that would make it look wierd, but I like it.

What do you think? Let me know. I love feed back.

Hope you try it out and show me your own finished products!