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

My First Published Tutorial!

I've just had a tutorial published in the Spring 2012 Issue of Wirework Magazine!

I've had a couple of smaller tutorials published in a book before (3 very simple projects in Denise Peck's book, Wire Style 2), but this is my first tutorial to be published in a magazine. I'm really excited about this one too. This is the kind of work that I love to do. Lot's of graceful curves, weaving, coiling... And, since it's more or less a collection of techniques it's a very versatile design. The tutorial gives you specifics for one size of stone, but it's easy to adapt this design to lots of other shapes and sizes.



I even got a small spot on the cover!

You can order the magazine from Kalmbach Publishing here: http://www.kalmbachstore.com/wrk120301.html.

Who Makes the Bigger Statement, Your Jewelry or You?

When I design jewelry for other people, I have to keep in mind the type of personality the person who will be wearing it has. Are they confident enough to pull off big and bold designs? Or would something smaller and a little bit understated be less overpowering to them. I often see people wearing jewelry that just does not suit them. It's not that the pieces they chose don't look good on them, just that they themselves get lost behind those pieces.

Growing up my mother always told me, "You wear the clothes, the clothes don't wear you". In reality, this has nothing to do with the clothes, but the attitude of the person wearing them. All too often people wear certain clothes thinking that by wearing them, they will project the attitude they want to have rather than who they really are. The problem is that when you do this people only see who you obviously aren't.

People often ask me how to choose what jewelry best suits them. I tell them to pick what they want to wear, whether it's clothes, make up, shoes, jewelry or anything else, the same way they would pick their best friends. Would you be friends with someone who made you look like you didn't know what you were doing? Or someone who tried their best to take everyone's attention away from you so that they could be in the spotlight all the time while you stand there lost in their shadow? Probably not. So don't let what you wear do that either.

I'm not saying that people shouldn't wear big, bold, outrageous fashions. It's fun to wear and fun to see other people wearing. Just make sure that above all of that, you are the one being noticed.

New Tutorial! Hyacinth House: Woven Donut Wrap

I finally got around to finishing another tutorial. This is one that I know several people have been waiting much too long for! To those of you who have been requesting this one since the original one was posted last year, I am so sorry to have made you wait this long. Hope you enjoy it.

 

In this lesson I will teach you how to make a unique and extremely versatile woven wrap for a donut bead. The instructions show a very basic version of the pendant, however there is no end to the ways to alter this design.

The cost for this one is only $4. Right now it is only available on my web-site, http://www.gailavira.com/tutorials/index.html.

This pendant is the original “Hyacinth House” pendant and was inspired by a song from The Doors by the same name. This lesson teaches you how to make a pendant that is using just the base design for this pendant, however there are tips at the end of the lesson to help you come up with ideas for several variations of the base design.

Just Practicing

After seeing a question someone posted in a jewelry forum about setting small stones (and the link she posted to metalworkers.org) I was inspired to try it out for myself. This stone is no where near as small as the ones she was asking about though. I decided to try the technique with a larger stone so I could work out the basics of it. Now that I have an idea of how to do it I'll start trying it out with smaller stones when I get the time (I have some 4x6mm rhodochrosite cabs that I'm dying to try this out on!)

This one obviously needs a lot of work. There are a too many mistakes to count,and a couple spots look quite sloppy, but it feels like a good starting point to me.

Since this is only a practice pendant (and not for sale) I decided to use craft wire for it instead of sterling silver and gold filled wire. The stone is a dark Amethyst crystal point.
 
  

Web-Site Redesign Is Finally Finished!

For several months now my web-site has been down so I could re-do it (again). Not that it actually took me that long to do all the work. In fact, once I got started, it only took a few days to do it. I'm just one of those people who tends to put things off for as long as possible. Last week I finally decided enough is enough and made myself get to work. Today, after working an hour or so here and there over the past week, I got sick of it still not being done. So I planted my rear end in a chair and for 9 hours straight I did nothing but work on getting my web-site done. Hey, it was either that or do my taxes. What would you rather do?

Well, after 9 hours today (13 hours if you include last week's work), my brain is mushy and making crackling popping sizzling noises as though it's sitting in a frying pan full of hot grease, my hands hurt so bad I can barely finish typing this, my joints are so stiff they feel like someone stuffed cotton into every one of them and my rear end is a little bit flatter and 3" wider than it was this morning. But, *cue angels singing "Hallelujah"*, my web-site is DONE.

The best part about the re-design is I had always been putting off offering instant downloads of tutorial purchases on my site because I was too lazy to do the work to add it. Since I was doing all this work anyway, adding the instant downloads really didn't add much extra work at all. So now anyone who doesn't want to wait for me to email them the tutorials they buy, (like they would when buying from my etsy and artfire shops), can order from my web-site and get their tutorials almost immediately! Who doesn't like instant gratification, right?

Here's hoping I don't get bored with it any time soon (like I usually do). I really don't want to have to do all that work again! lol


BTW, here's the link: http://www.gailavira.com

A Few New Adjustable Rings

Created with flickr slideshow.


Working on two things at once: a new ring design and a blog post comparing different brands of craft wire. The rings are actually a variation of an older design of mine, Genesis: On the First Day. I wanted to see if I could use that ring design to hold a cab instead of a bead. For the rhodonite and red glass rings, I pretty much stuck with the same basic design, except I used a different weave and made the spirals smaller (easier for most people to wear). For the blue one I decided to use coiled swirls instead of spirals. So far, I think that one is my favorite. :)

All of the silver rings are done with parawire (which is why I didn't oxidize them). Since I've always had so many students asking me which brand of craft wire is the best I've decided to start playing around with a few of them so I can do a review. Hopefully I'll get that done and on my blog soon.

Holiday Sale!

Black Friday Weekend Sale in two of my shops!
Sales runs through Cyber Monday.

Gailavira Jewelry
50% off your order (not including shipping) if you use the code HOLIDAY during checkout.

Stocking Stuffer Shop
20% off your order (not including shipping) if you use the code HOLIDAY during checkout.

For both shops you must use coupon code HOLIDAY during checkout to receive the discount. You MUST put the coupon code in the correct box to receive the discount. Codes put into the notes to seller box will not be honored. If you are unsure where to put the coupon code during checkout, see this image: http://www.gailavira.com/howtousecouponcodes.jpg.

Retiring a few Tutorials from Certain Web-sites

Due to a post I made on jewelrylessons.com I've received a lot of questions asking about the tutorials that I am retiring from web-sites other than my own. All of those tutorials will still be available from my own web-site, http://www.gailavira.com/tutorials. Here is a list of tutorials that have been retired from JL.

Woven Band Ring
Sensu - Adjustable Ring
2 in 1 Filigree Style Bracelet
Spiral Button Earrings
Woven Front Pendant
Prison of Enchantment - Wrap for an Un-Drilled Crystal Point
Glory
Carry Me - Wrap for a Drilled Crystal Point
Rosebud Earrings

The following free tutorials are also being retired. I will edit this post to add new links to them once I have them uploaded to my web-site (and are not available on my web-site at this time).

Wrapped Mosaic Link
Quick and Easy Donut Wrap