Malachite And Bronze Earrings Revisited

I haven't had much spare time recently so haven't had the chance to make much new stuff but I did get round to altering the etched bronze and malachite earrings I made a few weeks ago. I wrote in this post about how they didn't hang well. The design means they are a bit bottom heavy and hang at an angle like this....

So I was at a quandry with what to do with them. Do I leave them or do I cut them down and change the way they hang? I couldn't do any more soldering as the stone was set so I decided {eventually} to cut them down and add an earwire to the pierced hole at the top.

They now hang evenly but it was a shame to have to alter them although I have come to the conclusion that I'm not keen on the type of earwire I used originally for them. The type that is soldered to the back of the earring then formed into an earwire. The length of the wire and the size of the earrings meant the earwires could easily have been bent {accidently} out of shape. So it's something I wouldn't repeat on a larger earring. Not that I use that style of earwire that often anyway!

I also had the chance last week to finish a couple more of the "pod" earrings I posted about a couple of weeks ago, this time I made hoop versions using the sterling silver and bronze pods I made. I haven't had chance to photograph them properly yet but took a couple of snaps in my shed earlier today.

Bronze pods with bronze hoops

Sterling silver version

I'm up to date with my made to order stuff now so I might get the chance to take some proper photos of these today!

Wire Wrapped Hoop Earrings in Silver and Copper

Circles are a definite theme in my life. It started when I was old enough to grab a crayon and scribble on a neighbour's wall. My Mum said they always knew when it was me because the circles gave me away. I still love circles and sometimes have to tell myself to NOT make another pair of disc earrings! Hoops are also a favourite and something I come back to often. I finished three pairs of hoop earrings this week, one pair in silver and two in copper.

I started with soldered hoops made with 2mm copper and silver wire and teamed them with some wire wrapping. I love coils of wire especially when it's oxidized and the contrast of dark and polished areas of metal really shows up.

 I normally like to make at least one pair in copper as it's useful for working out how much wire I'm going to need and I always find copper is easier than silver. I don't really know why other than maybe as it's much cheaper I'm not afraid to make a mistake ( I think that probably is the reason!) I actually made two pairs in copper. This pair has 4mm green grass turquoise beads added to the earwires for a bit of colour. The second copper pair has unakite beads threaded onto the earwires which is a beautiful coloured stone - a mix of olive green and brick red and looks fab with oxidized copper.

I then made a silver pair because you just have to..... I added some turquoise jasper beads to the earwires which is a favourite coloured stone of mine. It's a bright sea-green turquoise colour and as I've had the beads for so long I can't remember where I bought them but I think it was maybe Lima Beads.

I really enjoyed making these earrings. I started out making wirework jewellery several years ago with a bit of basic wire wrapping before I moved onto more metalwork type stuff so it was nice to do something relatively easy.

I went a bit coil-tastic this week and have also made a silver and copper bangle both with soldered coil decorations. I love the addition of coils to bangles and I'm planning to make myself three silver coil bangles as a belated birthday treat to myself. 

As soon as I have photographed the copper version of the coil bangle (Tuesday is looking good weather-wise) I will write a post about them 

♥

Sterling Silver Hoops with Glass Cabochons

I went through a hoop phase a couple of weeks ago when I just had to make some hoop inspired jewellery. I quite often get these urges - sometimes it's for enamel, sometimes it's etching, it just depends. I'm currently in the grip of a hollow form phase but I'm having to wait for supplies before I can go any further which is a bit annoying but does serve to make me think about it a bit more before diving in!

I wanted to continue my bezel setting practice so I added cabochons to the hoop earrings and pendants. I stamped a circle design onto the hoops and added a jump ring at the top then pierced out the part of the hoop in the centre of the jump ring to make a cute hanging hole.

The glass cabochons are from a Turkish shop on Etsy and are lovely!  They remind me of jelly sweets.

Tip! Put a piece of aluminium foil behind the glass cabs before setting them. The foil gives them a luminous glow in the light and avoids the backs of the bezels darkening and dulling the colour due to the silver oxidizing over time. Cutting the foil discs neatly to avoid too many creases is easier said than done! Luckily these were the same size as one of the holes on my disc cutter so I used that to cut them. One thing I soon realized was that the silver on the bottom of the bezel needs to be completely smooth otherwise any bumps (from solder, etc) will transfer through the foil and show on the bottom of the glass cabs as dark patches. I had to abort two pairs because of this before I figured out what was going on. I think the solution is to add a disc of sanded copper under the foil so then you know it will definitely be completely flat and smooth.

 I love the delicate ghostly colour of the pink glass.

A simple pair using the greeny-turquoise colour glass. This is the first time I soldered jump ring links onto the tops of bezels to thread the earwires through and thankfully I managed ok and it worked. It can be fiddly and I'm not that great yet with the combination of soldering and fiddly. Still learning!