Tutorial Giveaway! Win 3 Wire Jewelry Tutorials from Gailavira Jewelry!

Enter here to win 3 free wire jewelry tutorials from Gailavira Jewelry!

To enter just use the widget below. There are several ways to enter. You can enter using whichever method you choose, or you can enter using all of the methods. It's up to you. If you use more methods you use, the more entries you get!



Rules

Enter the giveaway by performing the actions found within the giveaway widget. Each action will give you 1 or more entries, depending on the action.

This giveaway is open to all countries.

There will be 2 winners drawn at the end of this giveaway.

The winners of this giveaway will each receive their choice of 3 wire jewelry tutorials from http://www.WireJewelryTutorials.com (excluding the Full Tutorial Collection).

Jewelry Supply Destash, and a New Supply Store on Etsy

First off, I have a bunch of jewelry supplies I'm de-stashing on facebook. You'll find jewelry supplies, gemstones, cabochons, crystal points, focal beads, coral, rhyolite, ruby in fuchsite, jasper, ammonites, swarovski prisms, rainbow druzy and more.


Next up, new supply store on Etsy. This is where I'll be posting my hand painted glass dragon eyes, a few other de-stash items, and some textured wire when I finally get around to moving my rolling mill upstairs.


And now, some coupon codes!

These coupon codes will be valid permanently, unless there is another sale that exceeds the discount of the of coupon. During those sales, the coupons will be deactivated, but will be reactivated once the sale is over.

One more try...

Another try at the heady style wire wrap on a crystal point. I'm not entirely happy with how this one turned out, but I guess it's a good learning experience. The front is mostly OK, but the spirals at the bottom are slightly off, which made the spirals on the sides even more off (one is higher than the other). The back also looks a bit sloppy, but I didn't want to add too much more to it to cover it up. Not sure if I'll leave it as is and sell it at a discount, take it apart to use the stones for another piece, or something else. Or maybe I should use it for a giveaway?

A Few New Pieces

This one is definitely my favorite from this week's batch of new pieces. It's another new weave I've been playing with. I've seen similar done using a second wire for the "stitching", but I wanted to see if I could do it all with only one wire, creating the stitching as I worked the weave.



Many of you who have been following my work for a while know that this is a style I have attempted to do many times over the last few years. If you know that, you'll also know that I generally don't do very well at it. This piece turned out much better than I expected.

Instead of worrying about how to do all the weaving first, I decided to make sure the stone was secure as the first step. Then, filling it in was easy. I wish I had thought of it that way a few years ago. ;)



I've had this huge Denim Lapis donut laying around for years. I wanted to wrap it, but I didn't want to do anything that would detract from the beauty of it. I finally decided on a very simple woven bail for it. Except, instead of a plain weave, like I usually do for this type of bail, I decided to use the ZigZag Overlay weave I started playing with a couple years ago. I haven't had much time to play with that one and I've received a lot of tutorial requests for it. I figured I should practice it a little bit before I decide if I want to teach it, or how to teach it.



This is another design I've had a lot of tutorial requests for over the last couple years. So, now that I have more time, I'm working on trying to remember exactly how I did it. That's a lot easier to do when a design is still fresh in your mind. I think I finally have it figured out though. And I really like the way this one turned out, with the contrast between the bright yellow Calcite and the tiny dark red Garnets with the darkened sterling silver wire.



This one isn't actually new. I made it a couple years ago and listed it in my GoddessReturn shop on Etsy. Now that that shop is closing, I'm moving whatever doesn't sell before it expires into two of my other shops. Since I had to take new photos of it anyway, I decided to oxidize it before listing it. I'm really glad I did too. It just seems to add a whole new dimension to the piece that it was lacking before.

When I made this one, I didn't really think it would turn out well enough to sell. It was really just an experiment with herringbone weave. I wanted to see if I could do a woven herringbone weave around a crystal point. I just love it when and experiment works out so well.


All of these pieces are available in my shop on Etsy, Gailavira Jewelry.

And don't forget, I'm having a Spring Sale! Click HERE for details.

Spring Sale at Gailavira Jewelry!

Spring Sale at Gailavira Jewelry.

35% off all items at Gailavira Jewelry
10% off all items at Shut Up and Cuff Me
10% off all items at My Etsy Tutorial Shop

And don't forget the Going out of Business Sale at GoddessReturn!
60% off all items at GoddessReturn.com

Time to Play Again

For the last couple years things have been so crazy around here that I haven't had much time to just play with wire and see what I come up with. I've been so busy running my ear cuff shop, along with another side project, that my main jewelry shop and my tutorial shop have fallen by the wayside. Now that I have decided to close the other "side project" shop, I have more time to play. This week, my play time led me to making rings.

Yep, I know. Prong rings have been done before. Just, not by me. I figured it was time I decided to play around with them. Even if I never make another one, it's probably a good skill to have. The uniquely curved prongs on this one, though I love them, were a total accident. I measured the wires and cut them so that the prongs would be just at the top edge of the stone. Just enough to hold it in. Then I decided I wanted to hammer them. I forgot to take the amount of "spread" hammering would cause into account. So I ended up with prongs that were much too long. Instead of cutting and filing them again, and risk measuring wrong, I decided to curve them. It's not what I was originally intending to do, but it does give the ring a unique look.



Once I got the basic prong setting down (sort of) the next logical thing was to add some more woven wire. Let's face it. It's what I do. I weave with wire. I'm not really sure I know how to do much else. ;) And, since I didn't want to leave the tips just plain, I made spirals out of the prongs.


And then, of course, once you start weaving, you have to add beads, right? Out of all the rings I made using the basic prong setting as the starting point, I think this one is my favorite.


And, since I can't do prongs all the time, I had to make one with a whole lot of woven wire around the stone. You know, just because.

All of these rings are available for purchase at http://www.GailaviraJewelry.com.

Oh, and you know that little side project I mentioned earlier that's going out of business? There is still a handful of pieces left. All items have been marked down to 60% off the original price. Go to http://www.GoddessReturn.com to check it out!

Cobra Head Bail Pendant Tutorial

Finally! After way too much time procrastinating I have finally completed the Cobra Head Bail Pendant Tutorial.

In this lesson I will teach you how to make a pendant with a bail that resembles the head of a cobra. This design works well on many types of focal beads, but it looks particularly striking on crystal prisms.

The instructions show a version with a very simple weave for the front piece of the bail. However, if you prefer, you can use different weaves for the front piece to create different looks for each pendant you make. You can even twist the wire instead of weaving, or simply add beads to the weave. Because of the layering effect of the bail, this design also works well if you are going for a mixed metal look.

The prism used in this lesson is 11mm wide and 38mm long. You can use other sizes, but if you use a larger focal, you will need to start with more wire to compensate for the size. The photos show a focal that is drilled from side to side, however, it is easy to modify this design for a front drilled focal as well.

You can find this tutorial on my web-site, http://www.WireJewelryTutorials.com

All of the pendants below are variations of the base design used in the tutorial. Once you master the basic construction of the bail, it becomes easy to see how to add it to other shapes of pendants. Including border wraps around cabochons and un-drilled crystal points. The only limit to the use of this design is your own imagination.