New Supplies: Stepping in to Crochet Territory

So I went to the craft store right by my house and bought some new supplies. I loved wire crochet in these two blogs (  CrochetHookeds and Be~Jeweled by Jana) and these are the blogs that inspired me to take the first step to get the crochet needles and wire. With the help of Youtube and Google I am teaching myself how to crochet with wires to make necklaces and bracelets and earrings!!

Granted I have not 'specialized' in one area of jewelry making, but hey what the heck! Might as well dive here and there and explore all the possibilities =)

Now it's time for me to say.........gnite and see you at the next blog 

( You can kinda see my struggle with the unfinished pearl crochet bracelet)

Pearly dangle

I had a pearl necklace laying around which I never wore and had no idea what to do with it. I don't know what kind of Pearls these are but I decided to cut the string open and use them for earrings

The big Pearl on each earring is the one used from the necklace and the two small pearls are Freshwater Pearls. The findings on this piece are all silver plated.

A few other projects

Pretty in Purple- Earrings with Fire Polished Crystals!!!

So a really weird thing happened! After the update in Blogger, my most recent post disappeared and I had changed the layout of my blog to the old one and that disappeared as well (figured it out thanks to Azure Islands Designs =)   ). 

Two nights ago I made these purple earrings using 4mm and 8mm fire polished Czech glass crystals on Silver plated pins and ear hooks. 

Also I am experimenting with the photographs to see if I should have a plain white background like I have had for most of my previous pictures or to have something funky

(The pictures in this post qualify as funky for me =) ). 

!!!!!!!!Fly me high, up in the pastel sky!!!!!!!!

One of my experiments include these lovely earrings that I call "Fly me high, up in the pastel sky".

I fell in love with these pastel glass butterfly earrings when I was done making them!!!

 Initially I made it to sell on my Etsy store (allsparkle), but I decided that I can't part with these, and will have to make another pair to sell.

I think the main reason is the pastel colours, and the feeling of SPRING season that I got when I looked at them =)

Peachy with Gold - Hoops with Bracelet (Set)

My first time working with memory wire, and I was amazed at how easy it was (actually every time I make a piece of jewellery I get amazed hehe). I think I used the wrong cutter to cut the wire.

Memory wire is harder than the ear findings (pins, ear hooks etc) and comes in a package all coiled together. It looks like a spring with big diameter, OR a better example is that it looks nearly exactly like a Slinky. Following is my first set made using memory wire and I'll include what I used to make it and a brief description of how I made it.

PEACHY WITH GOLD

Czech Faceted Round Crystals 6mm

Peachy Pink Fire Polished Crystals 8mm

Gold Plated memory wire

Round nose pliers

First I took the memory wire and cut a little more than a full circle from the memory wire (the extra was taken to make the 'lock'. I cut three circles in total; 2 for hoops and 1 for bracelet. Than I put two Clear Crystals followed by one Peachy Pink Crystal followed again by two Clear Crystals. I repeated the same procedure for the other hoop. At one end of the hoops I made a loop (How to make a loop video is available in my previous blog, click here to access it) facing upwards and on the other end I turned about 6mm of the wire ninety degrees to the side, creating a 'lock' for the hoops. 

For the bracelet I made a loop on one end of the wire and beaded 6 Clear Crystals followed by one Peachy Pink Crystal, repeating the procedure until the end of the wire was reached leaving approximately 6 mm for the loop to be made to close off the bracelet. For the lock for the bracelet I took around 2.5 cm of the Gold Plated wire and made a loop sideways on both ends, facing the opposite ways creating an 'S' shape. I did not close the ends completely of the loops and put one end in one of the loops in the bracelet than closed it with  Flat Nose pliers and left the other loop a bit open so that the bracelet can be unlocked to be worn and locked when worn =)

Under the stars

Glass crystals on silver plated flat head pins with glass butterfly and silver plated ear hook. I will be setting up my etsy store pretty soon =)

Pink Sparkle --- I see improvement

I received my order from Shipwreckbeads as well (sighhhh $30 shipping *tear---> heart breaks) on Thursday and forgot to update on my previous blog (I know I can go back to the post and edit it....but I like to add it on here before I go on to the next topic). It was nicely packed and most of the items were of decent quality. My main tools (pliers and cutters) were coming in this order and as soon as I got it I started experimenting! My first attempt was Pearl Crystal Dreams and now I am on to the next one.

I call my next project Pink Sparkle.

For each earring I used one straight flat head pin (silver plated), 6 Czech Crystal Diamonds in Pink and 2 clear glass crystals as well as one earring hook. I am starting to get a hang of it now, creating those loops take time though! I have successfully broken quite a few wires before I cam even close to what it is suppose to look like. For the newbie like myself, the following youtube video helped a lot! 

It may look easy but these wires bent easily from places you don't want it to bend. This is KEY to learn as every single piece of wire (well, most) need loops somewhere in them.

I am finding it fun to create earrings and come up with designs and am also thinking that I might as well start selling them. I don't know about the price I will sell them for though.

Pearl Crystal Dream Cluster- My first attempt!

My first attempt of making cluster earrings!

I used glass crystal beads and pearls, ball head and flat head silver plated pins and ear wire hooks.

It's a little messy, but hey it's only my first attempt =)

Basic supplies needed to make earrings

As I was reading over my last blog I realized that I mentioned that there are suppliers from China that can be trusted, but forgot to mention which one I used hehehe. So the site of the supplier that I ordered from is www.ayliss.com . The best part is that they offer free shipping all over the world and their prices are extremely reasonable. I received my order within 10 business days, it was packed nicely AND the quality of the items was good as well. I ordered Silver plated pins and ear wire to experiment with, and later plan on ordering sterling silver findings. I still have to find a good wholesale site that offer superb pricing on sterling silver products.

Now that I am done completing my previous blog, on to this one. There are numerous tools and supplies to make jewelry but there are a few basic ones that a person needs to definitely have. These are:

• Round nose plier
• Chain nose plier
• Cutter
• Pins (flat head or ball)
• Ear wires ( hook or ball head pin etc)
• and of course beads/ crystals/ gemstone

There are many different kinds of materials that the findings (ear wire, pins, clasp, bead caps etc....google ear findings to know all different kinds =)   ) are available in. Some for example are silver plated, gold plated, sterling silver, gold filled, surgical steel, vermeil, steel, copper, 18K gold, 14 K gold. Most of these words are defined here:

• Silver plated: A thin layer of pure/Sterling (usually Sterling) Silver plated over base metal
• Gold plated: A thin layer of Gold plated over base metal (usually Steel or Brass)
• Fine Silver: Contains 99.9% Silver, sometimes stamped .999
• Sterling Silver: Alloy containing 92.5% Silver with 7.5% base metal (usually Copper) usually stamped .925
• Gold filled:  5% or 1/20 of the weight contains Gold. These are not actually filled with Gold but have multiple sheets of Gold covering the base metal (usually Brass or Copper)
• Surgical Steel: contains 8% nickel
• Vermeil: ...Pronounced Vermay....Sterling Silver that has been Gold plated
• Karat: Measure of purity of Gold, how much gold is mixed with an alloy. 24K is pure Gold, 14K contains 58% Gold and 18K contains 75% Gold.

most definitions taken from: http://craft.ontheinternet.com.au/beads/gold-filled.htm

If there is something that I may have forgotten to add, feel free to add it through your Comments. I'll add it to this Blog and also put your name for reference =)