Copper wire wrapped jade necklace with Swarovski crystals

This year, most of my friends are turning 40. What can I say? 1974 was a great year. Anyway, it was recently the 40th birthday of my college roommate from sophomore year and I wanted to make her something special.

Though this friend is a doctor, she's also an artist -- and double-majored in bio and art back in school. Her specialty was doing sketches and still life drawings; she even once sketched a picture of our messy dorm room.

However, my favorite story has to be when she tried to steal a stuffed monkey from one of the guys who lived on our floor. She kept taking his doll and he kept taking it back; they were just joking around, but it turned into a whole thing where we were trying to help her hide it from him. Finally, she stuffed the monkey in a drawer and handed him back a perfect sketch of his toy. It was very funny at the time!

I knew she'd appreciate receiving something handmade so I created this necklace:

It's a simple design; the pendant is jade and it's wire wrapped with 20 gauge copper and Swarovski crystals. I really like how the spirals turned out, though. It looks a bit like an art-deco design.

My friend liked it, too, and called it one of my "masterpieces." This is high praise coming from someone who's so talented! Perhaps she was just being polite, but I think if anyone appreciates the work that goes into making something, she does.

Check out my jewellery at Naomi's Designs and MayaGirl Creations. And check out my novel REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD on Amazon.

Wire wrapped lava, jade and lapis lazuli pendants

I've been on such a wire wrapping kick lately that I ended up making three more wire wrapped necklaces. For these, I used several different kinds of copper wrapped stones: one is lava, one is jade and one is lapis lazuli:

For the lava stone, I wanted to do something very different from my usual style. When making wire wrapped pendants, I tend to create swirling, spiraling designs, but in this case, I went for something modern and angular that works with the blue square crystal. Of course, I couldn't resist adding in one spiral! I think that it looks a bit as if I gift-wrapped the lava, no?

I went the opposite way with the jade and practically covered the stone with an intricate, ornate wrap that looks a little like lace. I added three small Swavorvski crystals in pink and blue-green.

The design on the blue lapis lazuli is a little like a frame as I worked the wrap along the edges of the stone. I added a couple of navy blue Swarovski crystal pearls as an accent. The design is almost symmetrical, but not quite, giving the piece a little "quirkiness."

Making wire wrapped jewelry is just so much fun, which I why I keep doing it! I'm planning to order some stones in colors I haven't yet used and am anxious to keep playing around.

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.