Freshwater Pearl & Copper Heart Earrings for Valentine's Day...

On Friday I showed pictures of my handmade copper chains and hammered hearts.

Here are the earrings I made with tiny freshwater pearls:

They're still available for sale, $20 each pair (or two pair for $35) plus shipping. Please email me for availability. I can make as many pairs as you like, as well as a matching pendant.

Meanwhile at the market, I did several restringing repairs for people who brought their pendants to me, and also made a pair of earrings for Winter who'd brought me the skull beads and asked me to do whatever... Here they are, modelled by her daughter.

Blood red Siam Swarovskis, hematite and sterling leverbacks. Nice and swingy and subtly blingy... if bling can ever be subtle.

I gotta say, I'm obsessed with the shape and colour of those oval jump rings. I was digging around and found a small bag bought who knows where and how long ago. They have a hard stainless steel/pewterish tone to them, perfect for the things I like to make, and the shape gives designs a harder edge than round jump rings tend to do. Somewhere buried in this messpile I have some square bail-making pliers that I need to start using, as well.

Well, it's a stat holiday Monday here called "Family Day". Ironically, absolutely nothing is open for anyone to go do anything with family or friends, so I'm shutting down and heading to the other room to make jewellery.

Thanks for stopping by!

More Handmade Hammered Chains & Some Tiny Hearts...

I got a little further on the Vertebrae Chain...

...and then hammered out a few shapes in 20 gauge wire, played with them in different positions, hammered and tweaked some more, and came up with these chain styles. All are about 8 inches long so far. The middle chain is a simple figure 8 chain, then I made the lower figure 8 chain more "8-ish" with a large and small loop. I added the filigrees based on the vertebrae links above; instead of hammering them while straight, I curved and spiraled them to the outside.

For me, the hearts are easier to make if first you loosely spiral both ends towards each other, then bend the wire in the middle until the spirals meet, rather than bending the wire in a V-shape first and then trying to make the curls. After I make a pile of them, I gently hammer the outside curves.

These hearts are about 1/2 an inch across and I'll be adding tiny pearl drops and sterling leverback earwires in time for the market tomorrow morning. Yeppers... It's Valentine's Day again and I am NOT READY. Oh, well... there's always next year, and the year after, right? But I do have lots of great gifts for everyone, including kids. Come and check out the Woodstock Farmers Market on Nellis Street, 7:00 a.m. 'til 12:00 noon.

Thanks for stopping by!