Silver wire wrapped fused dichroic glass bracelets

The Ridgewood Market Night Bazaar is this Saturday! I'm looking forward to this event, especially since my good friends Scott and Christopher will be there. They'll be representing the Lewis Oliver Farm Animal Sanctuary and will be selling food, paintings, books and other educational materials. They've been huge supporters of Naomi's Designs as my business has grown, so it'll be great having them there with me.

Of course, I also hope to sell many items. I've been working literally round the clock as I finish my final rounds of jewelry. I've made dozens of fused glass pendants, of all shapes and sizes. I also made this collection of dichroic link bracelets:

I'm particularly fond of the crystal Rainbow Swirl bracelets that match my Rainbow Swirl rings. I think the prism glass resembles moonstone, but my friend Diana says it looks more like opal. What do you think? Either way, I love the colors! I've managed to clock the exact firing time for these so they form perfect circles.

I also like the color block bracelet, which is simple, but so pretty. Honestly, I don't wear much of my own jewelry -- terrible for business, I know, I know -- but I actually plan to make one of these for myself.

Along with the bracelets and pendants, I also made enough rings to fill all 36 slots in my ring box:

When I sell rings on Etsy, they're usually made to order so I can size them correctly for the customer. In this case, I couldn't do that, so I made the rings in a variety of sizes. The ones toward the front are small, ranging from a 5-6.5 US. The largest ones are toward the back of the box, going up to about a 7.5-8 US. I figure that these rings will fit the fingers of MOST people -- and if they don't, that person can always order a custom piece from me.

Ridgewood Market advises their vendors to have an interesting table set-up, so I purchased a few new display items. I have that ring box, as well as black velvet leveled columns. My plan is to lay a few glass pendants on each column so they can be seen at a distance. I usually just spread everything out flat on the table, but I'm trying to spice up my booth. These tables are going to be 9-feet, which is much bigger than the spaces I've been given at other events. I've almost always had to leave items off the table for lack of room, but that won't be an issue here. In fact, I'm hoping I'll have enough inventory to fill the entire table.

The rest of this week will be spent getting ready for the fair. Here's hoping that all of my hard work is appreciated!

You can check out my jewelry at Naomi's Designs and MayaGirl Creations.

Silver wire wrapped bracelet with Murano inspired fused dichroic glass beads

Now that I'm getting the hang of working with fused glass, I've been trying to make some different types of jewelry in addition to the pendants and pins. My latest project: this multicolored dichroic bracelet:

My inspiration for this bracelet were Murano beads, which are intricate and colorful. I really like Murano bracelets, which usually consist of several glass beads, each with a different design and color. They're absolutely beautiful and there are so many variations.

I don't know how to make blown glass or lampworked glass, so I stuck with dichroic. I cut several small, uniform pieces of clear glass base and then fused each with a unique dichroic pattern. I made a point to include several solid colors and several patterned samples.

Once I fired the beads and they were fully fused, I had to figure out a way to connect them. Basically, I constructed one of my wire wrapped spiral bracelets... only I glued the beads onto the centers of the spiral. This way, the bracelet is structurally sound, but is also flexible enough to bend around a wrist.

Now that I've made this design, I'd like to create some other bracelets; for instance, I can do one made up of all blue glass or pinks and yellows. Sometimes I'm still surprised to see what color the glass ends up being when it cools, but it's all beautiful!

Check out the rest of my handmade wire wrapped, enamel and glass jewelry at Naomi's Designs and MayaGirl Creations.

Photo Gallery: Wire wrapped bracelet designs

Lately, I've been on a bracelet-making bender! I've been receiving many custom orders for wire wrapped bracelets, including a couple of sports-themed bracelets and most recently, a copper bangle with sterling silver accents. Like I've said before, my customers always have interesting ideas of their own.

The copper and silver bracelet is a variation on my brass and silver bangle. I made it my standard way, but added some extra silver to the front wraps since copper is pretty soft and I wanted to reinforce the metal. The woman who ordered it then asked if I could do something a little more interesting with the shorter, top accents so I added some more silver to those and created an abstract design. She loved my "wild" wraps!

Anyway, here are some of the bracelets I've made over the past few weeks. You can find all of them and my other wire wrapped and enamel jewellery at Naomi's Designs and MayaGirl Creations.

Making Jewelry: Felting and other crafting projects

Today is our niece's 7th birthday! This past weekend, my husband and I visited our in-laws in Maine so we could celebrate. Our niece loves painting, drawing, playing with clay, so we always have a great time making things together. During our four-day vacation, I didn't make any real jewelry (I'll explain in a moment), but I did get to try some new crafts.

For the past few years, my niece has had her birthday party in a local art studio that caters to kids. The party guests get to complete several different projects throughout the afternoon and always have a lot of fun. My niece is an avid reader and is currently very interested in Botswana, so her party theme honored the country. The kids got to paint African masks and color cut-outs of animals and Botswana's flag.

All of the other adults sat around and took photos of the kids -- but I jumped right in and joined them, making a mask of my own! The chairs are designed for children so I was practically sitting on the floor, but I squeezed into one and had a blast painting.

Later, the kids enjoyed cupcakes as my niece opened her gifts. She received many artistic presents, including a sketch pad, pottery-making set, bracelet-making kit and a particularly interesting-looking kit called "Felted Friends."

Back home, she immediately checked out all of her presents. The bracelet kit came with four colorful wrist bands on which you place stickers, so she and I each designed two. I wore my "jewelry" to enameling class yesterday and everyone loved it!

However, making the "Felted Friends" turned out to be a much more complicated endeavor. I'd never done any felting; in fact, I didn't even know that felting is a thing, but apparently making items from felt is a very popular craft. Basically, you take a long felting needle and poke and mold the felt into shapes; if you want to add a section -- say, a leg to a felt doll -- you poke at the seam until the sections attach. When you poke at the felt, the fibers tangle, which allows the sections to connect and maintain their shapes.

Anyway, this gift is actually for ages 10 and up and there was no way I was going to let my niece use a sharp needle. Therefore, it was up to me to make a felt cat. My husband tried, but got bored after only a few minutes of felt poking. I was more patient and spent over an hour making this thing. I twice poked myself in the finger and my cat -- which I named "Lopsided" -- looks like a demented blob, but here it is:

No, it's not my finest work, but you know what? Felting is fun. I liked it more than I thought I would and am considering getting myself a grown-up felting kit. I think with some practice I can make something that doesn't look like a rag with ears.

By the way, the real cat in the photo is our kitty, Maya. My niece "gave" me the felt cat (apparently I have to work for my gifts) and wanted me to show it to Maya. I promised my niece I'd take a picture of the cats together. As you can see, Maya was very curious about her new felt friend...

Our vacation is over, though, so it's back to my jewelry! Please check out my handmade wire wrapped and enamel jewellery at Naomi's Designs and MayaGirl Creations.

Beautiful silver wire wrapped bangle bracelets

Whew, this holiday season has been crazy for my jewelry stores -- but that's a good thing! I've been going to the post office almost every day with orders; by now, the clerks even know me by name.

Now that Christmas is almost here, things have been calming down, but the recent surge in business has put me in a jewelry making mood. For the past couple of days, I've been working on some new silver wire wrapped bangle bracelets:

The top bracelet is made with a rose pink marble oval. I like the rich color and the way that it goes so perfectly with the silver. I wanted to make the stone the centerpiece of the bracelet so I "framed" it with silver wire spirals. For this bracelet, I first made the bangle portion and then attached the stone; after, I cut the other end so that I could make the clasps. I think that next time, I'll make two separate sides and then attach the stone; I just think that each end of the bracelet will be a little stronger.

The red and white spiral "bubble" bracelet was a lot of fun to make! After designing the silver wire wrapped bangle, I made all of the little spirals and then attached them in a funky design. I just got that red wire and love how it looks. I think I was inspired to use red and white since it's still the holiday season, but it works for Valentine's Day, too. I plan to make more of these with other colors.

I'm working on more stuff for my 2013 collection, so keep checking in!

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 bracelet with blue crystals

By now, I think it's pretty obvious that blue is my favorite color. I especially like when different shades of blue are combined.

When making this bracelet, I wanted the blues to be front and center. That's why I used three different shades of blue and put all of the blue beads in the middle of the design.

This was one of the first bracelets I made in this particular style. Let me tell you, making a bangle bracelet is hard! You have to get the strands of wire to be the same length and then make sure they don't get tangled. Then you have to wrap them to keep them together and form the bracelet -- only the wraps have to look artistic, too. It took a lot of trial and error, but I'm happy with how it came out. And I own a lot of blue tops, so this matches them all!

For more of my jewelry, check out Naomi's Designs.

Gold and emerald green wire bracelet

I love the way that gold and green look together, so when I got these square, green glass stone, I knew that I had to combine them with gold-colored wire.

My original plan was to do a square bracelet with the stones in the center, but I didn't like how that looked. Instead, I decided to go with an abstract design centered around the green beads. Because the beads are so sturdy, I went with a tougher 16-gauge wire. I often work with 20 gauge, but the 16-gauge is thicker and better matches the stones.

When choosing a pattern for the wire, I went with the squiggles because I liked how they looked against the squares. The beads are so perfect in their shape and I liked playing against that with the not-so-perfect wire design. My friend says that it looks like a snake, but to me, the wire looks more like cresting waves. With the green stones, it gives the bracelet a very "natural" effect.

For more of my work, check out Naomi's Designs.

Silver Wire And Paua Shell Bracelet

When I was younger, I used to love collecting shells on the beach. Unfortunately, the shells in New York weren't the most interesting. One summer we went to Florida, though, and the shells there were amazing! They came in shapes and colors like I'd never seen; they almost didn't seem real.

These days, I still have a love of shells and the sea so when I saw these beautiful paua shell squares, I just had to get them. I wanted to create a piece of jewelry that showcased the shells, rather than blending them in with a bunch of other beads. I'd originally planned to make a cuff bracelet, but didn't like how it was coming out. Instead I opted for this simple design which alternates handmade silver wire squares with the paua shells. I feel like the silver and multi-colored shells look good together and the square design frames the beads. The spiral nature of the squares plays upon the natural spiral which forms within many shells.

I've been trying to experiment with different gauges of wire and I liked this gauge, 16, very much. It wasn't too hard, but was tough enough that the squares have depth. I have enough leftover shell beads to make a matching necklace, as well.

For more of my jewelry, head to www.etsy.com/shop/naomirabinowitz

Welcome To Naomi's Designs!

Welcome to my online jewelry blog, Naomi's Designs. In each entry, I'll give the details on one of my handmade jewelry pieces. I mainly work with wire, though I also love beads and crystals.

I've always loved making arts and crafts, but have spent most of my adult years writing and making music. However, I broke my leg a while ago and needed something to do with my time. That's when I discovered jewelry making. I instantly fell in love and have been doing it ever since.

Though I enjoy stringing beads, I like working with wire because you can create the entire piece from scratch. Part of the fun of wire work is constructing the piece and figuring out how to align everything in order to make the strongest and most aesthestically pleasing design. I like that challenge and am always trying to learn new techniques. I've been on a bangle bracelet-making kick lately, but am eager to work with poly and metal clay. That'll open a whole new world of design for me.

Please check back with this blog often to see my latest creations! And check out my Etsy site http://www.etsy.com/shop/Naomirabinowitz