YOJ weeks 24 and 25

Week 24
Simple carnelian ring. Bezel set oval stone on a slightly hammered wire band.


Week 25
It is a bit of a miracle that this piece turned out. It started as a casual "wonder if I can bezel set this pearl". Once I had the bezel in hand I was driven to add the wire border out of admiration for Deborah (Sneakbead)'s pieces using a similar technique. I figured out lots of things to do differently next time. Then, at the last minute, I realized the bezel wasn't high enough to hold the pearl. Luckily I was able to cut out the back of the pendant which reduced the height of the pearl enough that I could set it. I like this - there will be more.

YOJ weeks 22 and 23

I'm working on multiple pieces at once these days. More efficient but often means I don't finish a piece every week and then have several all at once.

Week 22
All sterling.


Week 23
Sterling, with a mystery stone faceted cab.

Interesting Educational Experience

This mostly rectangular felted vessel got the name Interesting Educational Experience during the felting process. I learned quite a few things that I shall try not to repeat in the future. Purple and brown handmade felt embellished with seed beads.

YOJ weeks 18 to 21 - more catchup

Week 18



This needs cleaning up but I was sloppy while making it because I honestly didn't expect it to turn out this well. Prong set CZ in sterling silver. I have not used prongs before.

Week 19

I cleverly dismantled my week 19 piece before I photographed it. I know that I did it which is good enough for my purposes.

Week 20



These pretty little half drilled pearls are one of three pairs I got recently. I've not worked with half drilled anything before. I wanted these to look clean so I soldered tiny posts onto tiny rings rather than doing any wire wrapping. I might have to keep these.

Week 21



I am so pleased with these! I used my new disc cutter to make the sterling discs, dapped them, soldered on earring posts, soldered on posts for the pearls, polished, tumbled, patinaed and polished again before gluing on the pearls.

YOJ weeks 15 to 17 - playing catch up

I've made a piece in each week but I got behind in the photography. Catching up with a number in one post seems neater to me.

Week 15 - Grenadine and keshi earrings



I like the way the orderly cube shape in the ceramic beads contrasts with the flowing form of the keshi pearls.

Week 16 - Fused fine silver earrings



This and the next pair are formed from fused and hammered fine silver links. I've made a number of variations on this recently.

Week 17 - More fused fine silver

YOJ wk 14 - Jess's wedding bracelet

I was asked to make this bracelet for a family friend's wedding. Freshwater pearls, sapphires, and sterling silver. I think it turned out perfectly but you can judge for yourself.

The following photos were sent to me by the bride. She wore no other jewellery.

Felted vase

I actually have a cup that fits neatly inside this, making it a slightly useful vase-like object, but the original name stuck. This is mainly wet felted, with a bit of needle felting near the end, and then embellished with tiny blue and green seed beads.

YOJ week 11 - fused fine silver

Fused and hammered fine silver links hang from sterling handmade earwires. I alternated oval and smaller round links in this pair.

I will be skipping weeks 12 and 13 in the Year of Jewelry. I was out of town for those two weeks and my personal goal with this is to work on my jewellery every week that I can, not to make up extra pieces for the weeks that I can't. Week 14 is coming next!

Wk 10 - small Montana hoops

Small handmade sterling hoops accented with tiny blue Swarovski crystals. Simple little earrings in a stunning colour.

YOJ week 9 - Octopus pin

Copper, pencil crayons, resin. I still need to attach the pin back.

This is very much an experiment. I love the colours I get with resin over pencil crayons but am not confident of the wearability. I thought riveting it might secure it, and a second layer of copper would add depth, but the drilling and riveting actually started to lift the resin off the pencil crayon layer. Also the way I did the drilling several of the holes got large enough that I'm not confident about the rivets holding the piece together.

Pouring the resin over a flat piece had its challenges too. Without a lip to contain the resin it slightly overflowed in two places. I found it didn't coat evenly, added a second layer, and ended up with definate lines and dimples in the resin.

Despite all its flaws I am very fond of this piece. I am looking forward to wearing it.

YOJ week 8 - hoops

Hand made sterling silver hoop earrings embellished with 3mm indicolite coloured Swarovski crystals.

I am trying to take one good photo these days rather than snapping off a bunch in hopes of getting one that is great. The depth of field on this was a little shallow but I am not unhappy with it. I have a number of pieces waiting to be photographed so I'll be getting more practice soon.

YOJ wk 7 Ametrine and leather earrings

I've had a scrap of deep blue leather kicking around from a project I made several years ago, and the idea to make spacers out of it occurred to me a while back but I hadn't dug out the tools until recently. I like the contrast between the clear faceted stones and the deep blue rustic leather in these earrings.

Wk 6 - Fused fine silver earrings

Recently I went on a binge of fusing fine silver links and made a number of these triple links. I thought they looked good all on their own.

Simple silver pieces are hard to photograph without either the details being lost or getting bad glare in places.

YOJ week 5 - citrine and amethyst earrings

I always enjoy it when pieces fall into place. These stones have been kicking around on my work surface for ages - I've tried them in all kinds of combinations that just didn't work, and then one day recently I tried them together and they fit perfectly. The colours are incredibly rich and the shapes compliment each other nicely. They need nothing more.

Closing Up Shop SALE

I am closing my Etsy store and I'm having a sale! All items have been discounted by 25% and I will take an additional 10% off orders of multiple items. Please drop by and have a look.

Orange Starfish Designs on Etsy

YOJ wk 4 - The Blues earrings

Perfect pearls, iolite brios, sapphires, and sterling silver.

Year of jewellery wk 3 - Monet earrings

I didn't set out to follow this week's theme in the Year of Jewellery but I think I was influenced by some of the other submissions (posted on time, unlike me, although these were done on Sunday). Green quartz, pale ametrine (just looks purple to me though, so I suspect it is actually amethyst), tourmaline, sterling silver and tiny Bali spacers hanging from my own handmade earwires.

Year of Jewelry wk 2 - 10 gauge cross

I had some 10g wire left over from the bangle I posted last week and I picked it up to play around without having a specific goal in mind. This is where it ended up. I am quite pleased with this piece. As often happens there are scuffs or scratches visible in the photo that are not noticable to the naked eye.

Year of Jewellery wk 1 - hammered bangle

This came about as a result of a challenge on the Jewelry Artist Network forum. The idea was to make something with a maximum of 12" of 10g wire. We could use solder and a small amount of other wire for findings - clasp, earwires, whathaveyou - but otherwise the piece had to be made of the 10g wire. No stones, no wrapping, no other adormnents.

I didn't start it with a plan but just went with the flow. First I flattened the ends, drilled and riveted them together, and then realized my bangle was very blah. So I hammered a bunch more to put the curves in. Didn't like the hammer marks so I did some filing, sanding, and polishing to remove them.

Don't like this much but it was a fun exercise.