Silver wire wrapped mothers birthstone infinity ring

Lately, I've been making many "arty" and experimental jewelry pieces, but I also have to keep my businesses in mind. Since my wire wrapped infinity rings are my bestsellers at both Naomi's Designs and MayaGirl Creations, I've come up with a new version: my silver wire wrapped mothers/grandmothers birthstone infinity ring.

The idea behind the mother's birthstone ring is that a mom (or grandmother or aunt, etc.) wears a ring that features the birthstones of her children or grandchildren (or nieces and nephews, etc.). That said, each ring is custom made to the buyer's specifications. It's a great idea for a personalized Mother's Day gift.

For my ring, I'm offering up to seven birthstones, made of Swarovski crystals. Seven is a good limit because after that, the ring looks too crowded and just isn't as pretty. I personally think that at least four stones are needed for the ring to look its best.

My birthstone infinity rings have been very popular and I hope that my mother's birthstone infinity rings are also well received. I always like to design new types of jewelry pieces, but sometimes it feels good to rework a classic!

Wire wrapped jewelry gallery: Aquamarine jewelry for March

Browse through my jewelry or this blog and you'll see that I'm a big fan of blue. This is why I love the March birthstone, which is the light blue aquamarine. In honor of this month -- and in spring, which will hopefully be here soon -- here are some of my favorite jewellery pieces that feature aquamarine colored crystals. All of my jewelry can be purchased at Naomi's Designs or MayaGirl Creations.

Silver wire wrapped March birthstone infinity ring with aquamarine Swarovski crystals

Wire wrapped wave ring with aquamarine and blue Swarovski crystals:

Wire wrapped filigree earrings with aquamarine Swarovski crystal hearts:

Silver wire wrapped square earrings with aquamarine crystals:

Wire wrapped filigree chandelier earrings with aquamarine Swarovski crystal hearts:

Wire wrapped triple heart dangle earrings with aquamarine and clear Swarovski crystal hearts:

Wire wrapped amethyst jewelry for February birthdays

It's my birthday today, so it's my party and I'll blog if I want to! There are some downsides to having a February birthday: it's usually cold and it gets dark pretty early. But a huge positive is that I get to have what, in my opinion, is the prettiest birthstone: the purple amethyst.

I love, love, love amethyst jewelry. One of the best gifts that my husband gave me was a pair of amethyst heart earrings. The deep purple color is so pretty, but the stone also has the personal meaning for me.

I know many people who wear amethyst jewelry simply because they like the color and not necessarily because they were born in February. But most of the people I know who share a February birthday with me take special pride in having this special stone for our month!

In honor of it being my birthday today, here are some of the handmade wire wrapped amethyst jewellery pieces that I've designed. Everything is available at Naomi's Designs or MayaGirl Creations.

Wire wrapped triple heart amethyst earrings

Amethyst Swarovski crystal heart earrings

Wire wrapped chandelier earrings with purple Swarovski crystal hearts

Silver wire wrapped amethyst ring

Amethyst heart dangle earrings

Silver wire wrapped amethyst birthstone infinity ring

Silver wire wrapped infinity symbol birthstone bracelet

One of my New Year's resolutions was to build up my MayaGirl Creations shop. I'm pleased to say that so far, it's working out! This morning I received an interesting order from a customer; she said that she liked my line of infinity rings and asked if I could design an infinity symbol bracelet for a four-year-old.

We e-mailed back and forth and I suggested that I make a delicate wire wrapped bracelet with a large silver infinity charm as the centerpiece, pink crystals and an adjustable chain. This way, the little girl can grow into this bracelet from her mom and wear it for a few years. I used pink Swarovski bicones because they're tiny and will work well on a small wrist. I curved the end of the clasp so that there would be no edges that could dig into her arm. This is what I came up with:

Since my infinity birthstone rings have sold so well, I'm planning to offer this bracelet with birthstones, too. I can also do it in rainbow colors or with alternating colors, like green and pink or blue and purple. In other words, there are about a million variations I can make with this simple design.

So thank you to this customer for putting this idea in my head. It was a good one!

To purchase my jewellery, head to Naomi's Designs. To purchase my children's jewelry, head to MayaGirl Creations. To purchase my novel, check out REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD.

Silver wire wrapped infinity birthstone rings

Much as I enjoy being creative and experimenting with different types of jewelry, I also have to think about my businesses. Right now, one of my most popular items -- at both of my stores -- is my silver wire wrapped infinity ring, and so I'm always looking to do variations on it. This way, I can still be creative, but sell what people want. I've found that my "artsy" items, like the hand carved copper or handpainted enamel necklaces sell well at craft fairs, but when it comes to online jewellery shopping, people have more definite ideas of what they're looking for.

My latest variation on the infinity ring is one that has birthstones on it. I personally love birthstone jewelry because it's a great way to make a gift somewhat personal, especially if it's for a birthday. I was born in February so my stone is an amethyst and I have plenty of amethyst items. My favorite earrings are a pair that my husband gave me for my birthday a few years ago; they're little amethyst and diamond hearts. I wear them almost all of the time. Here they are, in order of month:

JANUARY: garnet Swarovski crystals:

FEBRUARY: amethyst Swarovski crystals:

MARCH: aquamarine crystals:

APRIL: diamond crystals

MAY: emerald green crystals:

JUNE: lavender alexandrite:

JULY: ruby:

AUGUST: light green peridot Swarovski crystal:

SEPTEMBER: sapphire:

OCTOBER: light pink tourmaline:

NOVEMBER: topaz:

DECEMBER: blue tanzanite:

Here's all 12 wire wrapped infinity birthstone rings:

When making my own birthstone rings, I did not use real gemstones. I looked into it, but, boy, real gemstones are EXPENSIVE! Whenever I sell something, it's basically a crapshoot as to whether it will get bought, so I'd rather not spend money on costly materials. I can't guarantee that anyone will actually pay the price I'd have to charge to make a profit. Plus, I like keeping my jewelry affordable. I don't pretend that my pieces are high end jewels; it's costume jewelry. Granted, I put a lot of work into my jewellery so that I can make it beautiful and unique, but I don't use real diamonds!

For these birthstone rings, I have subsituted Swarovski crystal bicones. This way, I'm still using a quality material, just not the most expensive out there. I think these look really nice, especially since the size goes well with the size of the infinity ring. I made the ring and then wire wrapped the Swarovski crystals using very thin 28 gauge silver wire. I went with four crystals for each because I feel it enhances the ring and doesn't obscure the silver wire wrapped design.

So far, I've only made rings for three months: April, September and November, but I am working my way through all twelve. I had to get a little creative when substituting Swarovski crystals for gemstones. So for April, where the stone is a diamond, I used a clear crystal; for November, which is topaz, a yellow crystal; for September, which is sapphire, a deep blue crystal; for March, aquamarine; for October, a pink crystal instead of tourmaline.

As I continue with my classes, I'm looking forward to making interesting new things, but designing traditional pieces can also be fun.

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