This Week's Giveaway - A Necklace from Gailavira Jewelry!

This week's giveaway prize is a beautiful sterling silver and Lapis Lazuli necklace!  See terms below the rafflecopter widget.

A deep blue Lapis Lazuli cabochon, wrapped in oxidized sterling silver wire, hangs from a black organza neck cord.

Pendant is approximately 11/16" (24mm) wide and 1 1/4" (32mm) long. Necklace is 17 1/2" (43.75cm) long with a 2" extender chain.

Prize value: $60

To enter the giveaway, use the rafflecopter widget below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Winner will receive a Lapis and Sterling Silver Necklace from Gailavira Jewelry. The necklace being given is pictured in the following blog post: http://goo.gl/fjXy3

To enter you must comment on this blog post. This will earn 2 points. More points can be earned using the other entry options available through the giveaway widget.

For users who choose to earn extra entries through twitter:
All new follows and tweets will be verified. If the tweet and follow do not remain on the users profile for the duration of the giveaway, the corresponding entry for that tweet will be removed.

The tweet must contain the following info to be eligible:
"Win a necklace from Gailavira Jewelry!  http://goo.gl/fjXy3"
User may add to the tweet if desired, but the line above must be unaltered for the tweet to result in a valid entry. If the above information is intact and the entry is deemed valid, user will receive 2 entry points for the tweet.

Relatives of anyone associated with Gailavira Jewelry are not eligible.

A Space just for Me

Ever since I started making jewelry again I've been collecting "stuff". Stuff which most people would consider invaluable tools of their trade. Unfortunately for me, it has been utterly useless stuff. Why? Because until now I've had absolutely no space to use it. For the last 9 years I've been living in a 720 square foot apartment. With such a small number there, you can guess that the rooms are pretty small. I'm also sharing that apartment with a teenager who is a space hog and 5 precious little monster kitties. The only place I was able to keep everything safe was in my bedroom. Well, since I had to have a bed in there, a dresser, and all the other things that go in an average bedroom, that left little space for me to work. Out of a 10ft x 10ft room, I had about a 4ft x 4ft space to work in, take photos, and store all of my supplies. As you can imagine, that left little room for me to play with everything.

So, since the apartment next to mine was empty, I decided I needed it. Desperately! And now I have many rooms to work and play in. One room is for wirework and photography (pictured above). I'll be setting up the kitchen for metalwork and polymer clay (It's a BIG kitchen). One room is set up for packing and shipping orders. And I'll still have two more rooms left to play with.

I've only been working there a few days now, but it already feels like a second home. I still need to finish getting everything set up. What's in the photo is temporary. I need to somehow get my big sturdy desk that I hammer everything on over there (any big strong men want to volunteer?). And I need to decorate (at least new curtains and a very large area rug to cover up that hideous yellow carpet).  I think I'll enjoy finishing setting it up and decorating as much as I'll enjoy working in it.


P.S. Don't for get to enter this week's giveaway! $50 worth of tutorials from Gailavira Jewelry

Shelter from the Storm

You know how it is when you are so tired you can't see straight and all you want to do is close your eyes and go to sleep. But then, the moment you close your eyes you see something painted on the inside of your eyelids. You open your eyes and try so hard to remember what it was. You grab a piece of paper and a pencil as quick as you can. You touch the tip of the pencil to the paper. And suddenly, you don't remember what it was you saw.

 I don't know about you, but usually, that's how it goes for me. This, however, is one of those few times when the image stuck with me. Not just long enough to get a piece of paper. Not even just long enough to do a rough sketch of what I thought I saw. I never even had to look at the sketch to finish this necklace. I was worried I wouldn't be able to figure it out, but as soon as I picked up the Amethyst crystal point it all came together.

This is actually the first serious piece of jewelry I've made in a while. Over the summer I just had too much going on around me to relax and play with wire. Kids running around, places to go, things to do, all of that stuff. So, on the first day that my daughter went back to school  I did nothing else. This necklace took me all day to make, but it felt like only a few minutes from start to finish.

I wanted to make the clasp so that it followed the flow of the focal, but I didn't want to make it overbearing. I settled on a woven hook style clasp with coiled tendrils matching the ones on the pendant. Both the pendant and the clasp are accented with tiny Purple Velvet Swarovski Crystals.

You can find this piece for sale in my Etsy shop, Gailavira Jewelry


Don't forget to check out this week's giveaway.

Tutorial Giveaway!

This week I will be giving away $50 worth of wire wrapped jewelry tutorials from Gailavira Jewelry to one lucky winner! This giveaway will start this evening and run through Friday August 31st.

Login to Rafflecopter using the widget below to enter.  

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Winner will be able to choose from the tutorials available on my web-site or in my Etsy tutorial shop.
Gailavira Tutorials
http://gailaviratutorials.etsy.com