Jewelry Making

I actually found Jill Italiano’s jewelry work through the Stylebakery Designers on the Rise section. I had seen the little blurb but had forgotten to click through earlier.

Using semi-precious stones and silver and gold, Jill creates playful yet elegant necklaces, bracelets, earrings, rings and brooches utilizing a wide palette of colors. I notice a good amount of pearls used in her bracelets and necklaces. One of her signature themes that appears in much of her work is a vibrant flower motif that uses faceted semi-precious stones. The effect is a delicate one rather than overly vibrant which is rather nice.

Continue reading “Jill Italiano Designs” …

Flipping through a few bead magazines I noticed a couple of techniques on how to make Spirals out of wire for use with candle decorations. I thought about it some and decided to try an experiment on how hard it would be to make Spiral Earrings.

It turns out that it’s not hard at all, and more importantly it turned out looking halfway decent. The spirals take nearly less time than a simple wirewrap loop, so it’s definitely plausible as a feature in earrings, necklaces, and bracelets. To the left is a picture of what the finished earrings look like.

Tutorial on Spiral Earrings

Amazingly enough, you will often find me (a guy) looking at women’s magazines in order to get ideas for jewelry making and to see what’s currently in fashion. I’ve come across Peggy Li Creations in Audrey Magazine no less than three times so it’s about time that she’s being mentioned here!

On her website you’ll find a large array of beautiful handmade jewelry including earrings, necklaces, and bracelets. (She even has a little section for the guys, which is much appreciated even though I’ve never found the occasion to wear jewelry myself!) What I like about her style is that it is a bit more reserved and understated in the color usage department which allows room for these clean, artistic pieces to really shine through. What is most interesting to me is that her color scheme is often elegant blues and browns, with hints of orange and yellow only an occasional splash of red. Almost no pink, which is a bit different than a lot of other DIY jewelry places.

Like many jewelry designers, she started off in a completely different field (Chemical Engineering major at Berkley!) before really getting into jewelry design as a profession. Over these past four years, she’s made quite a name for herself, and has had her work cross over into the world of television. In particular, I note that Alyson Hannigan has worn a few of her pieces which is very cool since I’m a pretty big fan of hers!

Here are a few words ‘o wisdom from her website:

“I truly enjoy designing jewelry, making things that make women feel beautiful. When women feel beautiful, they feel powerful, and I love empowering people to achieve a new outlook on themselves and on life. I hope my passion is reflected in my designs and is passed on to the wearer.”

Continue reading “Peggy Li Creations” …

Some really cool inscribed metal jewelry can be found at Amy Peters’ Studio which is located in Avila Beach, California. Amy designs and inscribes both large and small metal charms and uses them in necklaces, bracelets, and even rings. She is no stranger to designing jewelry, having started at the ripe old age of 8 years old. Although she was always involved with beading and jewelry making and even went on to receive a degree in Metal Arts and Jewelry Design, she never thought about actually making jewelry design her main profession until moving back to the West Coast. Here’s a little bit about her philosophy on jewelry design from her website:

It is important for Peters’ that her jewelry be affordable and accessible to everyone. “I want the designs to be inspirational and to be keepsakes and talismans for everyday life” states Peters. “I especially love the time in a girl’s life when she is just finding her voice, My hope is that my designs can help them along their voyage”

She credits her love of inscribed jewelry to a good luck token machine at the local Woolworth’s store during her childhood. It was called the Harvard Metal Stamper and for 25 cents you could put your own special message on a good luck coin that you could put on a keyring or wear on a necklace chain. Peters’ chain of choice was always ball chain. After searching antique stores all over the United States for over 2 decades Peters’ finally has one of the rare arcade machines in her home game room. Thanks to Ebay!

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I wrote up a short article on making an earring cluster. These are small and pretty earrings that feature a “cluster” of items, usually crystals (Swarovski is often used), pearls, or small faceted gemstones. Some people like them (or don’t like them) because they don’t hang down too far but are more fancy than just a single small gem earring. But you can easily extend the cluster with chain or use multiple clusters attached to each other if you’d like to. Here is a picture of the finished earring.

I came across some really cool looking jewelry from Vintage Faerie the other day. Amanda Kane utilizes antique vintage photos to create unique handcrafted jewelry such as pendants and charms. She also creates hand-stamped “wish” bracelets along with more traditional items like necklaces and earrings. But it’s her photo charms and pendants that really make her work stand out from the pack. Rather than trying to explain exactly how they are made, here is Amanda’s description of the process from her website:

Vintage Photo Charms and Pendants are art, or photographs, behind glass and framed to be worn as jewelry, or perhaps, placed in a special spot to be admired. The purpose of each charm or pendant is to invoke feelings to the wearer, or admirer. Feelings of dreams, creativity, imagination; endless possibilities… or feelings of special moments in one’s lifetime.

Uniquely handcrafted, each charm and pendant goes through a number of processes before it is completed. We begin with a high-quality photographic print of the original. All image designs are from our extensive personal collection of antique or vintage images, text and documents dating as early as the late 1800s. We then cut glass by hand to insure quality and size accuracy. Next we expertly frame the glass encased print by melting a silver metal over high heat to create smooth and thick frames. Lastly sterling bails are added to make the designated piece into a charm or pendant.

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Here is a necklace we created for Bellaceti using material from our latest buying extravaganza at the Rings & Things wholesale bead show. This Pink Candy Jade used in the necklace that we found at the show is actually jade that is dyed a bright pink… it looks just like candy! We had been wanting to use some larger briolettes for awhile in designs, so we stocked up at the show.

Along with the jade drop we used up some pink crystal that are non-Swarovski to form the rest of this simple necklace. I know a lot of people swear by Swarovski bicone crystals because of their shape regularity and sparkle, but if you’re on a budget then they sell similar crystals for a lot cheaper in bulk. Just don’t expect the crystals to be perfect in shape… you will come across the odd crystal that is misshaped every so often.

We wirewrapped this briolette using 22 gauge wire… it’s been awhile since I wrapped briolettes that are top drilled instead of center drilled, so I had some trouble. I’ve been meaning to put up a tutorial for wirewrapping these things; right now there’s only the tutorial for wire wrapping briolettes that are drilled straight through.

The Candy Jade Necklace features a pink jade briolette as the focal point, paired with pale pink bicone crystal and white pearlescent Japanese seed beads. The briolette drop is about 3/4″ wide and wrapped with sterling silver wire. SoftFlex™ beading wire is used to string the crystals and it is finished with a antique silver toggle clasp and is about 16 inches long.

[Full disclosure: I personally help make some of the pieces at Bellaceti.com]

Bakelite is a favorite plastic for many collectors. Invented in 1907 by Leo Baekeland this extremely versatile plastic went on to be used in a multitude of products through the 1940s. Lately, they’ve experienced quite a resurgence in popularity. I’ve seen a bunch of antique bakelite things at various garage sales and swap meets, but usually the items offered are the actual old products (such as bangles, dishes, and even radios).

Aileen from Bakelite Bits ups the ante by creating original one of a kind jewelry pieces from colorful remnant pieces of Bakelite, including necklaces, bracelets, earrings, and pins.

From her website:

I adore vintage materials and I have developed an appreciation, dare I say LOVE, of early plastics, particularly bakelite. My love affair started with a wonderful red/butterscotch Fada 1000 bullet catalin (bakelite) radio that came my way and has evolved into an enthusiasm to make things from this beautiful substance. I have been creating pieces of jewelry and other objects of whimsy from vintage beads, buttons and parts (found in flea markets, antique shops and from folks who have purchased old stock and remnants from defunct plastics factories) which are inspired by those fashioned in the heyday of this vibrant phenolic resin and infused with my own sense of fun.

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I came across some fascinating DIY jewelry from Better Through Daisy the other day. (Interestingly, Better Through Daisy is not run by someone named Daisy but by someone named Colleen!) Based in Wilmington, NC, Colleen has come up with a really creative idea to reuse items that might otherwise sit unloved in someone’s basement junk box.

The idea behind the necklaces is really unique. Basically, she takes porcelain pottery shards from antique vases up to 900 years old from China and sets the pieces in sterling silver. The vase shard pendants are then made into necklaces and earrings.

Much of the spirit of this original, handcrafted approach comes from her overall philosophy of jewelry design. From her website:

When I look around at all the jewelry in stores or online, I find much of it looks the same. The same earrings, the same necklaces. My inspiration comes from women who dare to be different. The jewelry on many of the high profile celebs often speaks volumes about their personality and that is something I want to reflect in my pieces. My jewelry is unique, no question about it.

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From her studio in Venice, CA, Tiffini Dooris creates an array of elegant jewelry pieces including necklaces, earrings, bracelets, rings, and other specialty pieces including bridal items. She started out as many jewelry designers do, designing the pieces for her friends until people began to take notice and asked about actually purchasing them. I notice use of lots of Peridot and Citrine in her earlier work, though her newest line features a lot of Turquoise.

A little bit about her design philosophy, from her website:

Tiffini loves to mix unusual combinations, such as pairing something traditionally feminine with something a little rougher. In keeping with her aesthetic philosophy, Tiffini is dedicated to using the very best materials: precious and semi-precious stones handpicked for cut and clarity, sterling silver, gold, hand painted charms…

While Tiffini is designing, she steps back and allows the gems’ personalities shine through. “When I’m shopping for stones I’ll sit and stare at them for 30 minutes, putting them on my arms, my neck, my head; just seeing where they go. I’ll fall in love with a color or shape and play with the gem until the design emerges…not the other way around.”

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