Mixed metal gold and silver triangle bracelet

This mixed metal gold and silver triangle bracelet is an example of an experiment gone right. I've written about many failed attempts to make certain things, but in this case, this bracelet came out better than I anticipated.

I knew from the start that I liked triangle patterns and wanted to do something mixing gold and silver. However, I wanted to try an off-kilter design and decided to see what would happen if I made each triangle link progressively larger than the last. Know what? It ended up looking cool! It looks a little like a modern sculpture and well, that's what I want my jewelry to be: wearable art.

In other news, I now have a Facebook fan page, so if you like my work, please "like" Naomi's Designs on FB. Also, I'm starting to gear up for craft show season. My goal is to do four or five this year to see how well I do at them. So far, I have shows lined up for April 3 and May 1. The April show is going to be particularly sweet for me because last April 1 was the day I broke my leg and last April 3 was the day that the orthopedist popped my bone back into place. Owwwwwww!!! So it's kind of cool to know that a year after being in the worst pain I've ever been in, I'm going to be doing something new and fun and interesting. I know it seems odd to connect my jewelry making to my broken leg, but I had a chance to make a lot of jewelry while I was laid up! Plus, I have metal plates and pins in my leg, so I come with my own "hardware," LOL.

In all seriousness, I'm really excited about doing these shows. You just never know where life might take you. I definitely didn't expect to get injured last year, nor did I expect to be selling jewelry at craft fairs only a year later.

To see or purchase my jewelry, head to Naomi's Designs or Naomi's Studio.

Gold bangle bracelet with green crystals

Whenever I make a new piece of jewelry, I like to experiment with interesting color combinations. One of my favorite ways to do this is to simply take colors from the same family and mix them. When I was a kid, I used to like to do this with paint cards when my parents were at the store choosing wallpaper. It amazed me to see just how many shades of purple or blue or even white even exist. We may only see seven colors in a rainbow, but there are probably millions of colors between each band.

For this bracelet, I went with a green theme. I'd gotten new gold wire that I'd never worked with before -- 16 gauge square -- and really liked the combination of the yellow with green. But I didn't just want to go with one sjade of green, so I went for several and chose crystals of forest green, kelly green, grass green, yellow green... you get the idea. I then made a simple bangle bracelet, alternating the green cubes, but in the end, they look like one unit.

Though I'm not Irish, I'll probably wear this for St. Patrick's day this year because this bracelet is the perfect accessory to wear when welcoming the spring. And remember, when looking at a color, note that there's more to it than meets the eye.

To see or purchase my jewelry, head to Naomi's Designs or Naomi's Studio.

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.