Making handmade jewelry: silver wire wrapped bracelet with pink dichroic glass heart charms and crystals

Hello, readers! I know, I've been MIA, but that's because I've been busy creating... and teaching. I recently started a glass class at a third location: the Atria Senior Residence. I've volunteered as a musician there for the past two years, but they were looking to hire some people for "different" kinds of programs. No one had ever taught a glass-making class, so I was their pick!

I'll write more on that later, but for now, I'd like to share some photos of my latest custom-designed item: this Queen Of Hearts bracelet, made with silver plated wire, crystals and three pink dichroic glass heart charms.

This bracelet actually developed from me making a ring. This week, a friend is in Vegas renewing vows -- with Elvis officiating! -- with her hubby of seven years. She asked if I'd design a ring for the event. When I asked her what she was looking for, she replied. "Anything you want. Something fun and cool." I told her I needed more information and showed her some photos of my rings. She fell in love with the ones made with dichroic glass and liked the idea of featuring a heart. She also requested that I use her favorite color, pink.

Since she didn't have a clear idea of a design, I made four versions of the ring, using pink and hot pink glass. Each had a different heart decal fired onto the surface. She ultimately chose a plain pink ring with a simple heart. Unfortunately -- or fortunately for her, anyway -- she lost a few pounds between the time I made the ring and the time she left for her trip, so my piece ended up being too big for her traditional ring finger. She's been wearing it on her thumb, which is a little odd for a wedding ring, but as she said, "It's fine for Vegas."

She felt badly for only choosing one of my four patterns, but I assured her that all of the pieces would be used. I decided to turn them into this fun and colorful wire wrapped bracelet. I'd originally planned to use one shade of pink crystals, but went with a bunch of different pinks, as well as some purple and lavender.

I'm hoping that my friend will allow me to share some photos of her ring. More importantly, I hope she's having an amazing time in Vegas!

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

Rainbow heart charm bracelet anodized aluminum with adjustable silver chain

This cute, little bracelet took sooo long to make. Working with anodized aluminum is fun, but actually constructing the pieces is very time consuming.

Perhaps it would help if I had proper tools. For the past few weeks, I've been using a center punch (a took that you punch to make a little dent, marking where you'll drill) AS a drill. It worked... for the most part, though I'd have to punch about a million times to carve a hole through copper and silver. Punching through the aluminum was easier, but still took quite a bit of effort.

Then today my punch broke. I'd noticed that it was getting less, well, "punchy" so I took it apart to see if I could fix the spring ... and everything fell out. Once I put it back together, it was no longer doing its job. But it wasn't me, I swear! I think it just got worn down since I was overusing and misusing it.

I managed to finish my heart bracelet by hammering a sharp file into the metal to create the hole, but that's not really the way to do it either. So I ordered a little hand drill and we'll see how that works out. I'm looking forward to being able to create a hole in a matter of seconds and to not getting my hands blistered while doing so.

Meanwhile, I'm happy that I finished this bracelet. I have an idea for a whole line of colorful bracelets and I'd like to get a bunch finished by this weekend so I have them for the craft fair. I think their rainbow colors wll attract customers -- which is what I want.

I'm becoming such a geek about jewelry tools and supplies. How weird is it that I'm so excited about a DRILL?

To purchase my jewelry, head to Naomi's Designs on Etsy.

Silver wire bracelet with Swarovski crystal hearts

First up, some good news! I received my packet to sign up for what will be my first craft fair this May! I'm very excited about this and hope that it will be a beautiful day outside. While I'm, of course, looking forward to selling my jewelry in person, I'm also anxious to meet new people and see what the other artists are selling. I've always had a lot of respect for the artists who participated in fairs, so now it's kind of surreal knowing that I'm going to be one of them.

As for my jewelry du jour, this Swarovski heart bracelet came together as a result of another bracelet that turned out to be a disaster. I love heart-shaped things so I purchased these Swarovski crystal hearts on sale in bulk. Unfortunately, they're not drilled top-to-bottom or side-to-side as many beads are; instead, they're drilled front-to-back at the very top of the crystal, meaning that it's kind of difficult to string them.

My original plan was to make a silver bangle bracelet and then wire wrap the hearts around the outside of the frame. This didn't work. No matter how tightly I wrapped the wire, the hearts were sticking out at weird angles or slipping off the wire .... the project was completely messed up.

I realized that the best way to showcase the hearts was to just let them dangle from a piece. That said, I created one of my favorite patterns, the nine-loop lattice and strung the hearts along the bottom. The bracelet was looking a little bare, though, so I added some matching Swaorvski crystal bicones to give it more color. In the end, this turned into a really cool-looking, fun bracelet.

I still have dozens of these hearts, so I'm trying to decide what to do with them. A matching earring and necklace set might be next...

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