Jewelry making, my new hobby
I started a new hobby of making bracelets a couple of years ago during a long Christmas break from work. It all started putting glass, wooden, and plastic beads on stretchy cord to make, of all things Beer Markers. Beer Markers are very similar to wine markers, except you need something bigger and something that will stay on the beer bottle and not slide down and hit you in the face everytime you take a drink. That's how it all got started, not even sure if the friend I gave the markers to uses them frequently, but I do know they were kind enough to put them out at a party years after I gave them to them....enough about the beginnings.
Earlier this year I picked up a book on beading and creating jewelry using wire and glass beads. The book I picked up is called "Bead on a Wire" by Sharilyn Miller (www.sharilynmiller.com).
Fascinating read on doing the simplest (or hardest) of wire-work with glass beads. It was a pricey book by my half-price book standards, but well worth the price I paid for it. The first night I sat down to read it, with the intention of doing 1 of the instructions, I ended up sitting there for about 4 hours, and I was addicted. I must've tapped into some inner artist that had been trying to escape. The next morning my wife woke up and was enthralled by a new bracelet that I had made. I had taken all of the beads I'd learned in doing the wire techniques, and put them together on a bracelet. Personally I laughed to myself at how ugly it all looked, but my wife loved it. Funny how different two people's perspectives can be on the same thing.
From that day on, I've spent many a night bending wire. First buying the cheaper stuff at Lowes and Home Depot (a great suggestion from the book...). As I got more comfortable with it all, I moved on to buying Nickel/Silver wire. It was much prettier than the galvanized stuff available at the local hardware chains ( no pun intended) and much easier to work with. The finished pieces started to look better and better. I still dabbled in making strung beaded pieces, and I still do from time to time, but I like working with wire a lot more. As I've progressed, I've finally broke down and bought Sterling Silver Wire and findings. It is amazing the quality of the pieces, it is also amazing how much the up front and resulting costs are for the pieces....so I've stuck with the Nickel/Silver until I feel more comfortable with some of the pieces I'm working on. Besides, they look pretty good and people seem to want to buy them, and they're fairly inexpesive.
Lately, I've been making Dangle Bracelets. I've been buying glass beads and head/eye pins by the dozens. I've discovered a few sites where you can order the beads they sell as a mixed combination....or as I figure it the crap they can't get anybody else to buy or were extras from leftover quantaties. This has been a relatively inexpensive way to get some good mixtures. I've found that if you mix colors of a similar vain (Ok, you artists out there know what this is all called and how to do it, me I just hunt and peck and put it all together...) and string them on a series of jump rings, you can create some pretty cool pieces. I've also spent time making dangle bracelets with stones of a similar cut but in different but like colors. These you'll see in my slide show below. I've taken to naming my pieces, mostly in honor of my 2.5 year old. He looked at one of the first bracelets I put together and told my wife "Mommy I'm gonna eat the jellybeans on your wrist." He also named another set of bracelets I did earlier in the year, saying "These look like ladybugs." It's amazing how much little ones pick up. I've had many adults tell me the same thing about that piece.
All in all, this has been a lot of fun for me. It's been a great stress reducer and a way to unwind after a shitty day at work (take last Thursday for instance...). After a long stressful day, I find it relaxing to come home and use my variable speed Dremel 400 Series XPR Tool Kit to cut jump rings. Then I sit for a couple of hours and make dangles and put them together. In the past few weeks I've been making a piece or two a day.
Mother's Day was probably the turning point where I started to feel comfortable and even proud of the pieces I've been making. Did I forget to mention that I'm a perfectionist and a cynic? It's tough for me to see the beauty in each piece, and it's also amazing to me how different people will view different pieces. It's also amazing how much I notice what people are wearing around their necks, in their ears, and around their wrists. I'm always on the look out for new ideas, or at least that's the excuse I'm using for staring at most of the women I'm seeing the pieces on.
For Mother's Day I made my wife a bracelet patterned after one we bought back in February at a bead show (that's a whole story in and of itself, I now know what bowling alley type people do on saturdays...). I purchased the beads from a lady in Odessa (www.backyardbeads.com), choosing them to match a light green shirt my wife had on earlier in the week. It's amazing where inspiration and color tendencies come from. This is one of the first pieces I made using all sterling and beads that were Lampworked (I'll make that my next hobby as soon as I figure out where I can put my torch...). I am very proud of what I made for my wife, and she loved it as well. I have 1 bead left from what I purchased, and I'm working on a Sterling Silver wrapped ring, I just need to free up an hour to make the thing.
Here's a look at a few of the pieces that I've made. I've gotten in the habit of scanning in the pieces when I get them done. I sold a few of my first pieces before I was able to capture them. I try to capture them so I can remember what it was I did the next time I want to put a piece together like that. There are so many different ways to build a piece of jewelry, which has been fascinating to learn, so it is easy to lose track of what you've done and learned. I keep a notebook on my workbench where I write notes from time to time. It's funny to go back and read them, and remember trying to make something out of the notes. It's much easier to type for me now, but I can't make rudimentary drawings as well on this thing.
I'm in the process of setting up a web site with the encouragement of my wife and one of the neighbor ladies. They have both been good motivators, and have helped me pick out many different stones and styles. They have both been a big help, including taking 24 pairs of marble earrings to a school sale for charity. They both have also been the biggest recipients of my new hobby, each wearing many different things and providing good criticism. Do you know how challenging it is to make a piece that will fit the wrist of a 5 year old (my wife and my daughter), yet be expandable to fit somebody with larger wrists? Makes it all fun. I also can't forget my daughter. No matter how many different pieces I make for her, and she is usually the first one I make a new style or piece for, she'll always come up to me and say 1 of these things. "Daddy, that is the most beautiful piece I've ever seen. It is so precious." "Daddy, when can I have one of those, I want one of those, you never make me anything." I feel the pain already for the men in her life. :-) My daughter has also been my biggest helper. She lives to create little pieces and has made a few earrings herself. She has a gift as well for creating necklaces, she put togeter a few extra beads I had and made a brilliant piece strung on faux leather. It was incredible!
Thanks for reading along this far, for your troubles here's a few pictures of my work. I hope you enjoy it. If you'd like a piece, drop me an email and I'll see what I can put together. Don't ask me how much, that's the wife's department. I try to make things that are reasonably priced as this is still a hobby to me and not how I pay my mortgage. If that was the case, you'd be reading this on my own website and coming to visit me in my own bead/jewelry store. That could happen you know. Soon as I figure out the wholesale business of czech pressed beads...
Gio
Earlier this year I picked up a book on beading and creating jewelry using wire and glass beads. The book I picked up is called "Bead on a Wire" by Sharilyn Miller (www.sharilynmiller.com).
Fascinating read on doing the simplest (or hardest) of wire-work with glass beads. It was a pricey book by my half-price book standards, but well worth the price I paid for it. The first night I sat down to read it, with the intention of doing 1 of the instructions, I ended up sitting there for about 4 hours, and I was addicted. I must've tapped into some inner artist that had been trying to escape. The next morning my wife woke up and was enthralled by a new bracelet that I had made. I had taken all of the beads I'd learned in doing the wire techniques, and put them together on a bracelet. Personally I laughed to myself at how ugly it all looked, but my wife loved it. Funny how different two people's perspectives can be on the same thing.
From that day on, I've spent many a night bending wire. First buying the cheaper stuff at Lowes and Home Depot (a great suggestion from the book...). As I got more comfortable with it all, I moved on to buying Nickel/Silver wire. It was much prettier than the galvanized stuff available at the local hardware chains ( no pun intended) and much easier to work with. The finished pieces started to look better and better. I still dabbled in making strung beaded pieces, and I still do from time to time, but I like working with wire a lot more. As I've progressed, I've finally broke down and bought Sterling Silver Wire and findings. It is amazing the quality of the pieces, it is also amazing how much the up front and resulting costs are for the pieces....so I've stuck with the Nickel/Silver until I feel more comfortable with some of the pieces I'm working on. Besides, they look pretty good and people seem to want to buy them, and they're fairly inexpesive.
Lately, I've been making Dangle Bracelets. I've been buying glass beads and head/eye pins by the dozens. I've discovered a few sites where you can order the beads they sell as a mixed combination....or as I figure it the crap they can't get anybody else to buy or were extras from leftover quantaties. This has been a relatively inexpensive way to get some good mixtures. I've found that if you mix colors of a similar vain (Ok, you artists out there know what this is all called and how to do it, me I just hunt and peck and put it all together...) and string them on a series of jump rings, you can create some pretty cool pieces. I've also spent time making dangle bracelets with stones of a similar cut but in different but like colors. These you'll see in my slide show below. I've taken to naming my pieces, mostly in honor of my 2.5 year old. He looked at one of the first bracelets I put together and told my wife "Mommy I'm gonna eat the jellybeans on your wrist." He also named another set of bracelets I did earlier in the year, saying "These look like ladybugs." It's amazing how much little ones pick up. I've had many adults tell me the same thing about that piece.
All in all, this has been a lot of fun for me. It's been a great stress reducer and a way to unwind after a shitty day at work (take last Thursday for instance...). After a long stressful day, I find it relaxing to come home and use my variable speed Dremel 400 Series XPR Tool Kit to cut jump rings. Then I sit for a couple of hours and make dangles and put them together. In the past few weeks I've been making a piece or two a day.
Mother's Day was probably the turning point where I started to feel comfortable and even proud of the pieces I've been making. Did I forget to mention that I'm a perfectionist and a cynic? It's tough for me to see the beauty in each piece, and it's also amazing to me how different people will view different pieces. It's also amazing how much I notice what people are wearing around their necks, in their ears, and around their wrists. I'm always on the look out for new ideas, or at least that's the excuse I'm using for staring at most of the women I'm seeing the pieces on.
For Mother's Day I made my wife a bracelet patterned after one we bought back in February at a bead show (that's a whole story in and of itself, I now know what bowling alley type people do on saturdays...). I purchased the beads from a lady in Odessa (www.backyardbeads.com), choosing them to match a light green shirt my wife had on earlier in the week. It's amazing where inspiration and color tendencies come from. This is one of the first pieces I made using all sterling and beads that were Lampworked (I'll make that my next hobby as soon as I figure out where I can put my torch...). I am very proud of what I made for my wife, and she loved it as well. I have 1 bead left from what I purchased, and I'm working on a Sterling Silver wrapped ring, I just need to free up an hour to make the thing.
Here's a look at a few of the pieces that I've made. I've gotten in the habit of scanning in the pieces when I get them done. I sold a few of my first pieces before I was able to capture them. I try to capture them so I can remember what it was I did the next time I want to put a piece together like that. There are so many different ways to build a piece of jewelry, which has been fascinating to learn, so it is easy to lose track of what you've done and learned. I keep a notebook on my workbench where I write notes from time to time. It's funny to go back and read them, and remember trying to make something out of the notes. It's much easier to type for me now, but I can't make rudimentary drawings as well on this thing.
I'm in the process of setting up a web site with the encouragement of my wife and one of the neighbor ladies. They have both been good motivators, and have helped me pick out many different stones and styles. They have both been a big help, including taking 24 pairs of marble earrings to a school sale for charity. They both have also been the biggest recipients of my new hobby, each wearing many different things and providing good criticism. Do you know how challenging it is to make a piece that will fit the wrist of a 5 year old (my wife and my daughter), yet be expandable to fit somebody with larger wrists? Makes it all fun. I also can't forget my daughter. No matter how many different pieces I make for her, and she is usually the first one I make a new style or piece for, she'll always come up to me and say 1 of these things. "Daddy, that is the most beautiful piece I've ever seen. It is so precious." "Daddy, when can I have one of those, I want one of those, you never make me anything." I feel the pain already for the men in her life. :-) My daughter has also been my biggest helper. She lives to create little pieces and has made a few earrings herself. She has a gift as well for creating necklaces, she put togeter a few extra beads I had and made a brilliant piece strung on faux leather. It was incredible!
Thanks for reading along this far, for your troubles here's a few pictures of my work. I hope you enjoy it. If you'd like a piece, drop me an email and I'll see what I can put together. Don't ask me how much, that's the wife's department. I try to make things that are reasonably priced as this is still a hobby to me and not how I pay my mortgage. If that was the case, you'd be reading this on my own website and coming to visit me in my own bead/jewelry store. That could happen you know. Soon as I figure out the wholesale business of czech pressed beads...
Gio
posted by Juan Giovanni at 10:06 PM
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