Silver wire wrapped rhodonite jewelry: necklace, earrings, bracelet jewellery set

This pink wire wrapped rhodonite jewelry set was inspired by my friend Nancy.

A few weeks ago, I designed the little earrings, which I wrapped with silver wire in a crisscross design. Much as I like to work with more and more complicated techniques and designs, I sometimes like to go back to simpler pieces. As always, I posted my finished results on Facebook and received a lot of positive feedback ... even more so than when I've posted more complex jewelry. Nancy and another friend both ended up purchasing pairs of these earrings.

Soon after, Nancy asked if I could make a matching necklace and bracelet using those rhodonite stones. The necklace was pretty simple to design; I simply had to make the crisscross pattern on a larger scale. The bracelet was a bit trickier, though, because I didn't want to just link the stones; I wanted to create a structure that would flow and would fit nicely around a wrist. I decided to place silver spirals between the stones to break up the pink. I like how it turned out! The spirals and crisscrosses don't exactly go together, but they work well in making a complete design.

The most challenging aspect of designing this bracelet was figuring out where to place the bottom loop on each stone. When I wrap stones, I usually create a bail for the pendant or earring, string the stone up to the bail, and then complete the design by caging the stone and then twisting the wire around the bail. This way, the wire is secure and doesn't fall off the stone when the piece is worn. In this case, I twisted the bottom of the wire into a loop before wrapping it back up over the top of the bail. This way, I could easily connect each stone and spiral link.

Nancy and her husband are joining us and some other friends on a cruise this winter and she plans to wear this set as her "cruise jewelry." I'm so honored and can't wait to see her actually wearing my pieces. Much as I love making jewelry, it's most rewarding for me when I get to see my pieces being worn and enjoyed.

Check out the rest of my jewelry at Naomi's Designs and MayaGirl Creations.

Silver wire wrapped Rhodonite earrings with Swarovski crystals

Happy New Year! Hope you all had a wonderful and relaxing holiday. Mine was pretty busy with jewelry and book-related stuff (not to mention holiday parties!), but things have settled down as they usually do at the start of the new year.

Happily, my enameling class kicks off the winter/spring session tomorrow; meanwhile, I've had time to make several new jewellery pieces.

A woman recently purchased my silver wire wrapped pink oval necklace with pearls and asked if I had any matching earrings. I'd just happened to buy a string of small, pink, oval Rhodonite stones, so I came up with this pair of earrings to go with the pendant:

Though it's difficult to tell from my photo, the stones are quite small; maybe 3/4 of an inch across at the widest point. I tried making them with pearls to perfectly match the necklace, but the crystal pearls I have were just too big for the design on this size stone. The wire kept buckling and the pearls wouldn't lay right.

After a few attempts, I moved on to using Swarovski crystal bicones, which are much smaller than the pearls. I tried to make the design with two crystals, but again, they didn't fit right. Finally, I went with only one crystal, but enlarged the spiral... and voila! I came up with a design that works!

I'm not a huge fan of pink, but I like the rose color of these Rhodonite stones. The pink isn't too bright and the dusty shade gives the stones a vintage look, especially with the oval shape. When I see them, I think of cameo jewelry, which is why I get a vintage feel from these pieces.

I was surprised when I discovered I'd sold all of my pink stone pieces. When I went to purchase a new batch of beads (yes, these are technically beads, even though they're so large), I couldn't find the stones I'd originally bought -- probably about two years ago or so. Thankfully, I came across these large Rhodonite beads at Fire Mountain Gems.

I haven't used pink that often in my work -- but these pretty stones have made me rethink my color scheme. Check out the rest of my handmade wire wrapped and enamel jewelry at Naomi's Designs and MayaGirl Creations. And check out LOVE NOTES, the anthology which features my novel REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD.