Silver wire wrapped bracelet with blue and turquoise crystals

This silver wire wrapped bangle bracelet with blue crystals is one of the first bracelets that I made. I was still learning how to effectively wrap the wire so that the bracelet would stay together and look pretty, and was still figuring out how to make a simple clasp.

Over the years, this particular bracelet has gotten a lot of notice. I've worn it a few times and always receive compliments. While it hasn't gotten tons of views, it was always admired at craft fairs. I think that people like that it's very simple, but striking. This was the bracelet that people would pick up, try on, say, "Oh, how pretty!" Then they'd say, "I'm just going to look around for a while, but I'll be back." And then they never returned. This seriously happened with this bracelet about four or five times. I even had a friend who planned to buy it... and then found that she didn't have enough cash on her. I offered to let her pay me back later, but she refused to do that. I didn't want to push her on the sale and didn't bring it up again... and so I'd bring it from craft fair to fair where it would ALMOST get purchased.

Well, this morning someone finally bought it! Hooray! It's funny because in the last month I've sold several of my "classic" items. While I'm always happy to make a sale, it feels good to be cleaning out my old inventory. It feels like I'm moving ahead in my life and the business; it also reminds me that I made the right decision to become a jewelry designer -- even back in the days when my skills weren't as sharp.

I've had this bracelet for so long that I'll miss it a little when it's shipped out. But I'm glad that it will have a new owner and hope that she enjoys wearing it for a long time. Check out the rest of my jewelry at Naomi's Designs or MayaGirl Creations.

Abstract geometric silver wire wrapped bracelet and earrings

I've written several times about how there seem to be little trends within my jewelry stores. For the past few weeks, it's been birthstone infinity rings, as several customers have purchased them as Christmas gifts. This week, though, it's all about abstract geometric silver wire wrapped jewelry -- specifically jewelry pieces made from 16 gauge silver wire.

I really like this gauge of wire because it's really thick and chunky looking, but it's still flexible enough that I can bend it into loops and swirls. 14 gauge wire is great for making large sculpture-like pieces, while 18 and 20 gauge wire is great for doing intricate jewelry work. But 16 gauge is somewhere in-between. Over the past few days, people have purchased my silver abstract earrings and silver and paua shell necklace -- both of which are made with 16 gauge wire:

I haven't actually purchased this size wire in a while because well, I haven't had a reason to. My best sellers are mainly made with 14, 18 and 20 gauge wire. So I wasn't even sure that I had the materials to make the items ... which would've been a problem since the customers wanted their pieces in time for Christmas.

Luckily, I remembered that I did, in fact, have some 16 gauge silver on hand. A few months ago I was working on a failed jewelry project for which I was using it and so I happened to have a bag full of the 16 gauge! I was then able to use that and put together those orders in time. Whew! Just call me the jewellery-making Santa Claus, LOL. My orders are now in the mail and hopefully on the way, but at this point, they're in the hands of the U.S. Mail Service. Still, I did everything within my power, at least, to get them out with plenty of time to spare.

I'm thinking that I should order some more of that silver wire since it seems to be popular for me again. I just never know which pieces of mine will catch my customers' eyes!

To purchase my jewelry, head to Naomi's Designs. Free shipping on Etsy for Naomi's Designs through Christmas! 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 square turquoise crystals

Any creative person, whether you're a writer, artist, musician or jewelry maker has to expect criticism at some point. I've gotten it in pretty much every venue I've been involved in. In college, I told a music professor to eff off because he didn't think I took playing the flute seriously enough (his argument was that I was a journalism major instead of a music major). And when I attempted to get a novel published a few years ago, I was forced to develop my thickest skin ever. Of course, there are people who don't like my jewelry, which is understandable; everyone's tastes varies.

However, my biggest critic so far is ... my cat, Maya. Maya is very lucky because we never dress her in sill costumes or make her wear a collar since she's strictly an indoor cat. But when I began making bracelets, I realized that they could double as cat tiaras. I put one on Maya's sweet little head and she looked absolutely adorable, just like the princess she is. This is our Maya:

Anyway, Maya looked up at me and narrowed her eyes. She then shook her head, tossing the bracelet onto the floor with a "Mraow!" of disgust. I grabbed another bracelet and put it on her head; same thing. I got it; she did not like my jewelry!

Later that day, I put my jewelry down so I could take some photos and as soon as I was about to snap the picture, she jumped into the frame. This happened two more times. She then knocked the jewelry onto the floor. Guess she didn't want me to be able to photograph it for Etsy.

Even though she doesn't like my work, I'm happy with how this bracelet with turquoise blue crystals came out. I love this color blue because it reminds me of tropical waters, like the blue we saw when we were in Hawaii or Puerto Rico. I also like the square crystals and the way that they pick up the light.

I know that I won't be able to please everyone, but hopefully, I'll be able to win my cat's approval sometime soon. Perhaps if I made her a blinged-out collar...?

To purchase my jewelry (which I'll bet your cat or mom or friend would love!), head to Naomi's Designs or Naomi's Studio.

Silver square bracelet with multi-colored square crystals

I've been thinking a lot about where I get my jewelry making abilities from. Almost everyone in my family is musical, so it's easy to trace back that talent: my mom is a pianist, my dad plays guitar, my grandfather played violin and my great uncle was a jazz composer. However, as far as I know I'm the only jewelry maker.

My married last name -- my husband's -- is Edelstein, which actually means "precious stone." So someone on his side made or sold jewelry. We have no Edelsteins on my side, to my knowledge.

I suppose I get some of my artistry from my grandmother, who's a seriously talented knitter. I told her that it's a shame that sites like Etsy didn't exist in her youth because she would've made a fortune! She mainly knits for family members or friends, but has rarely sold anything commercially.

Meanwhile, my dad also has some artistic talents. For a while, he was making stained glass projects, but hurt his hand and was unable to continue. Still, he's very handy and you can see his work all over my parents' home. He designed a dining room table out of European tiles and put together the brick work in the living room.

I guess it doesn't matter where I got the talent from, just as along as I enjoy what I'm doing -- which I am! Today's featured item is my silver square wire bracelet with multi-colored square crystals. I'd originally made a version of this with blue squares for my friend's sister. I gave it to her for Christmas and she loved it; she put it on right away and then wore it the next day, as well. I wanted to try the same pattern, but with more color, so I chose crystals of blue, purple orange and green. I think it looks really cool -- fun and funky, but the colors aren't overwhelming.

I'd actually forgotten that I'd made this until I dug some stuff out to photograph yesterday. Now I'm debating whether I should sell this or keep it for myself...

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

Silver bracelet with cloisonne beads

The first time I saw cloisonne was when I was in China with my parents. We visited an artist who made cloisonne pens, of all things, and I remember being intrigued as he painted these gorgeous floral designs onto a pen. I purchased one thinking it would be cool to use such a gorgeous writing instrument in school, but ultimately decided not to use it. To this day, I keep it safe in a velvet case.

The next cloisonne item I owned was a cloisonne Star of David necklace that my mom gave me for my birthday. The star was red and again had a floral-type design on it, and again, it was gorgeous.

That said, I have a pretty sentimental association with cloisonne and wanted to make a piece of jewelry that would showcase it. I'm not skilled to make cloisonne jewelry myself, but I did purchase some lovely cloisonne beads; it was just a matter of deciding what to do with them.

Ultimately, I kept things simple and designed this bracelet that alternates sterling silver wire squiggles with the cloisonne beads. I handmade the squiggles and tried to make each link about the same size of the beads; this way, they wouldn't overshadow the cloisonne. It turned out to be a very slender, but elegant piece of jewelry. Hopefully, whoever ends up buying this will appreciate it as much as I appreciated my cloisonne pieces.

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

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.

Silver and Swarovski crystal wire bangle bracelet

It's hard to go wrong when combining silver and clear Swarovski crystals, but there were some challenges involved in making this bangle bracelet.

For starters I decided to experiment and use a softer wire than what I normally use. Most of the time I work with 14-18 gauge wire and then use softer wires (22-28 gauge) for wrapping purposes. However, I envisioned a bracelet that was very thin and delicate and went with 22 gauge. It held up a lot better than I expected, but I then had to deal with the round Swarovski crystals. Most of my other bracelets contain square or faceted crystals, which are easy to work with; they stay in place and you just shape the wire around them. But the round crystals kept spinning and moving, and wouldn't stay in place. I finally gave up and secured them as much as I could, but still let them have some "spin."

Overall, I like how delicate this bracelet is. It's not too chunky and because it has the crystals woven into it, isn't too thin either. Since it's silver and the crystals are clear, it will match pretty much anything; this is the perfect type of bracelet to wear with a stack of other bangles.

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

Silver bracelet with crystals and spirals

First up, good news! I made my first sale online! Now I hope the purchaser likes my item and wears it well. While it's nice to make money from online ventures, honestly, I'm not planning to be a millionaire (though that would be nice). It's more about the idea of people willing to pay me for my art. It's flattering when people want to buy your work and then show it off.

And now on to today's featured item ... my silver geometric bracelet with crystals and spirals. I'm not sure where I got the idea for this, but I wanted to make something unique and funky. At the time, I was playing around with different shapes and wanted to see how they could be combined. I twisted wire into a spiral and triangle design and liked how it looked, so I made some more links, added some crystals and voila! This bracelet was born.

One of the things about jewelry that can be so overwhelming is that there are SO many possibilities. Whenever I see beads I like, I get a million ideas about what to do with them. This is why I'm always challenging myself to make unusual designs and use odd color combos. I want to push the envelope a bit with my jewelry and I think I succeeded with this bracelet.

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

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.

Silver wire bracelet with turquoise beads

Okay, so I'm finally going to talk about the piece that's featured in the huge photo on my blog's home page. That's my very cool pentagon bracelet.

When I was teaching myself how to make spirals, squares and triangles, I wanted to see if I could try a more complicated shape. I successfully made a pentagon and just thought that it looks cool, kind of like a rose. That said, I decided to make an entire bracelet featuring them. I like the way that silver and blue look together, so I added the turquoise beads as an accent.

I used 20 gauge wire for this, but my next challenge is to see what kind of shapes I can make with a tougher gauge. That's what I love about making jewelry; there's always something new to experiment with!

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

Silver wire bangle bracelet with square purple crystals

When I was in the second grade (this would've been in the '80s), purple was my very favorite color. I had purple headbands, purple pencils and entire outfits that were purple. They even had a store dedicated to all things purple at South Street Seaport; there, my parents bought me a purple mug and a purple set of erasers.

These days, my favorite color is actually blue, but I still like purple when it's used appropriately. I fell in love with these purple crystals; seeing all of the different shades like lilac, violet and lavender took me right back to my childhood.

I've been on a bangle bracelet kick for a while now, and let me tell you, that are not easy to make. You have to line up the pieces of wire and make sure that they don't get tangled. Then you have to make sure that the crystals are framed well. I love how this came out, though, and how all of the purples work together to create one unit. Looking at this bracelet makes me happy because it reminds me that spring is coming. Just like the purple crocuses would work their way out of the ground in March, this bracelet is a reminder that these long days of winter will soon be gone.

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

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.

Silver spiral pendant with Swarovski crystals

The idea for this pendant came when I decided to try a new technique: wire weaving. I'd seen some pictures of woven wire jewelry and liked the look of it, so I decided to incorporate some of those techniques into my latest design.

I'd made a series of geometric pendants in silver and gold, but wanted to try something a little different. Meanwhile, I had a box of tiny multi-colored Swarovski crystal bicones that I wasn't sure what to do with. The solution? Use both in my new piece. I ended up using 28 gauge silver wire to string dozens of the crystals into a colorful, abstract design.

I'll admit, when it came to this piece I was making up things as I went along, but I love the way it came out. It looks like modern art, maybe a bit like Kandinsky, with all of the random colors. Then again, maybe it just looks like a Christmas decoration. But it's pretty and definitely unique! It took a lot of work to create, but I'm glad I put the time in.

For more on my designs head to www.etsy.com/shop/naomirabinowitz

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