Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Creating Handmade Jewelry

Welcome to my handmade jewelry blog!



I thought I'd create a place that I could go into detail about just what it takes to make a handcrafted piece of wire jewelry. Some people might wonder just why in the world a piece might cost what it does. Maybe my blog will help explain a few things that hasn't been considered before. Enjoy!

Step 1: Everything begins with a design... Selecting stones to incorporate in my work is my greatest pleasure. I’m in awe of the colors, and striations created by Mother Nature and the fluid shapes created by the lapidary artist. It is the stone from which my creativity emerges in three different forms. One such form is done by placing the stone on a blank sheet of paper and drawing around it. While gazing upon the stone, I will envision a pattern of vines cradling the stone and begin to draw them on the paper. I will doodle if you will, until I feel the pattern is just right. The other form I use to determine how a stone will be set is through dreams. There is a time just before I awaken, either in the morning or after a short nap, that my mind will see one of my stones and start to set the stone in various forms. The wire will come into view working its way around the stone like a grapevine climbs a fence post. A part of nature influencing me and showing me the way the wire should flow around the stone. I keep a pencil and pad by my bedside in order to capture these visions as quickly as possible lest I lose them in thought of another adventure life holds. The last form of design comes directly from the wire and stone. Having secured the stone with wire in either the beginings of what I call a full sculpt or another style, the border wrap... the remaing wires need to be dealt with. This is where the creative mind goes to work. Some how, the wire tells me the way...and the design begins to emerge...softly whispering along to completion.

Summary: Developing a design can be as easy as dreaming...or as complicated as sitting for hours in a chair drawing away till you feel it is perfect. The latter is how the piece above was created. *smile*