The
very first pendant earrings I ever made were these asymmetrical
wire-wrapped crystal earrings. Here's the story of how I made them!
The
story begins last September, when I returned from a trip to the West
with a crack-your-own geode in my bag. It took months before I was ready
to break it, because I promised a travel buddy that I wouldn't break
it open without him present. When the geode finally cracked (it was
quite an effort, and I probably should have scored it first to create a
more even break), it was a spectacular sight, and I was loath to throw
away even the smallest pieces of beautiful sparkly quartz.
The three
largest pieces took up a place of honor on my crystal windowsill (it has
been in 4 different houses now, but I always have one window in which I
display my crystals), while the smaller ones took up residence with my
jewelry-making supplies, while I pondered what to do with them.
Since
none of the pieces were similar in size, I decided I'd have to play up
their asymmetry, so I made a plan to use three of them: one big one for
one ear, and two smaller ones for the other ear. And I decided the only
suitable way to prepare them for making into jewelry was to wire-wrap
them.
I adore wire-wrapped crystals, but my last effort at making one didn't
turn out that beautiful (I ultimately un-wrapped it, and it remains in
my jewelry supplies to this day!). This time, I had to do better, so I
consulted a few tutorials before beginning my journey.
Of course I can't find most of the ones that I originally looked at, but here is one of them, and a tutorial I just found today which looks pretty helpful:
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7U4jHoa_CdY
- http://www.craftsy.com/blog/2015/07/wire-wrapped-pendant-tutorial/
Though
in the end, I pretty much winged it, I did learn a couple of valuable
things from the tutorials. You know when you see those wire-wrapped
crystals in the store, and they frequently have randomly-placed zigzags in some of
the wires? I always thought that was just for visual effect (and kind of
a cool one), but it turns out they actually serve a purpose—they serve
to tighten the wire around the stone!
The
other thing I learned was that it can help to start with the bail (the
loop that jewel actually hangs from) before beginning to wrap the wire.
Armed
with my new knowledge of functional zigzags and where to start, I had
another go at wire-wrapping my crystals. I wasn't intending to blog this
process, so I took no photos (sometimes when you're learning a new
skill, you don't want to be bothered with taking pictures, too!). Sorry!
To get the crystals to actually dangle, I had specifically chosen
gold wire because I was going to suspend the pendants from chains, and I
only had gold chain. I cut three differing lengths of gold chain (with
my handy-dandy wire cutters) and meticulously threaded them onto earring
hooks.
When all was said and done, I had some flashy yet earthy jewelry that nicely complements some of my more bohemian attire.
Sadly, the "gold" chain blackened after just one wear—that's what you get for using free chain that you cannibalized from a free promotional product! |
No comments:
Post a Comment