MEOW! Photo Gallery: Cat-inspired wire wrapped, enamel and precious metal clay jewelry

If you've read this blog for a while, then it's pretty obvious that I'm a crazy cat person. We've had cats since 1999 and my favorite feline, Maya, is often my muse for jewelry pieces. My children's line, MayaGirl Creations, is even named for her!

I've designed a lot of cat jewelry, including an enamel cat necklace, a precious metal clay cat pendant and even wire wrapped earrings shaped like cats! The PMC necklace was sold to my friend's aunt, who is also a cat lover; I got a kick out of seeing her wear it to a Christmas party a few weeks ago. That cat pictured with the necklace is my Maya. She likes to supervise while I'm working...

So if you love cats, head to my shops Naomi's Designs and MayaGirl Creations. You'll find the purrrrrfect piece.

Silver wire wrapped enamel and cloisonne cat pendant necklace

Well, my first craft fair of the season was a complete and total bust. We had some heavy rain yesterday, but the ad for the fair said "rain or shine" so I dragged my butt out of bed on a Saturday and schlepped down to the fair site. When I got there, I was told that most of the other vendors left because of the weather and the fair was cancelled. So much for "rain or shine!" I wish I'd just stayed in bed, but I paid a registration fee... and have now unfortunately lost money. They offered to let me sell today, but it's Mother's Day so I can't. My husband says not to worry about the lost wages, but it's frustrating. Grrr...

Still, I'm trying to look ahead. I have another fair coming up in a month and this one is for a great cause: the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. I enjoy selling at charity events where I can donate a portion of my proceeds -- at least my money is going toward something worthwhile! Plus, it'll be indoors so the weather won't be an issue.

Meanwhile, Tuesday will be my last enameling class of this semester. The "summer" semester begins two weeks later, but I'm saddened that this particular class will be ending. We just happen to have a great group of people who get along really well. Most of the students with whom I've worked have been very nice, but many haven't been that into the craft we're learning. In most of my classes, there are only a few people left by the end of the semester. However, everyone has stayed in this class and everyone is really into enameling, which makes it all the more fun to learn.

What I also love about this group is that we spend many classes having interesting discussions about things other than jewelry making. Sure, we talk about enameling and go over projects, but as we work, we talk about politics, family, history, TV shows... any topic you can imagine. I've learned so many non-jewelry-related factoids from my fellow students and have shared a lot of laughs. When I originally signed up for jewelry a year-and-a-half ago, THIS is what I envisioned the classes would be like: places to learn a skill and meet some interesting folk. I didn't expect that first class to be so serious and, well... sucky. Anyway, we're having a party to celebrate our successful semester, which will be bittersweet for all of us. A few others will be in the summer class, but it won't be the same.

I don't know how much work I'll get done on Tuesday, but I did finish my latest piece: an enamel and cloisonné cat pendant with a silver wire wrapped chain:

I used the cloisonné wire to create an abstract design. I wanted it to suggest the idea of a cat's patterns, but to be a little surreal. I based the colors on my sweet baby, Maya:

As a cat lover, I can never get enough of cat-shaped things! Hopefully, another cat lover will fall for this item.

To purchase my jewelry, head to Naomi's Designs or MayaGirl Creations.

Next project: enamel and cloisonne cat pendant and hamsa pendant

For most of my enamel jewelry projects, I've been working with squares or circles, but I'm ready to move on to more complicated shapes. Next, I'm going to make an enameled and cloisonne cat pendant and hamsa (a Judaic/Middle Eastern symbol that's shaped like a hand and wards off the evil eye) pendant.

This afternoon, I cut the shapes from 20 gauge copper sheet metal. In the past, I've cut metal using a jeweler's saw, but that can take hours. This time, I used super strong Joyce Chen scissors and they ripped right through the copper! It wasn't easy as I had to put a lot of force into it, but they worked. Now I'm eager to try these scissors on 22 or 24 gauge copper because they'll probably cut through the metal like butter.

I spent about an hour filing my cat and hamsa and crafted copper cut-outs that look pretty good:

You can see the outline that I drew on the hamsa. I plan to put the traditional (evil) eye in the center of the palm, but cover the rest with an abstract cloisonne design. I think I'll use bold jewel tones for this so it looks a little like stained glass.

I also plan to do an abstract cloisonne on the cat pendant, but I'm going to use "cat-colored" enamels: browns, black, ginger and white. I'm basing this a little on my kitty, Maya, who's multi-colored so my enamel cat will have those hues.

I have to say, I really got a kick out of using the Joyce Chens. I felt like a superhero as I cut through that metal! I'm also enjoying my enameling class this semester. I'm getting to do some more complex pieces and we have a good group of people. So far, no one has dropped out and everyone seems to be more engaged than in some of my former classes. In my first jewelry class, we went from about 12 students to three over the course of the semester, so it's nice to be a part of a group where everyone is interested in the craft.

On Tuesday, I hope to get as far as setting the cloisonne. I'm going to see if I can buy some studio time after class so I can finish my projects. We'll see. But now that I have my copper cut-outs, I'm eager to get started!

To purchase my jewelry, head to Naomi's Designs or MayaGirl Creations.