Silver wire wrapped mothers birthstone infinity ring

Lately, I've been making many "arty" and experimental jewelry pieces, but I also have to keep my businesses in mind. Since my wire wrapped infinity rings are my bestsellers at both Naomi's Designs and MayaGirl Creations, I've come up with a new version: my silver wire wrapped mothers/grandmothers birthstone infinity ring.

The idea behind the mother's birthstone ring is that a mom (or grandmother or aunt, etc.) wears a ring that features the birthstones of her children or grandchildren (or nieces and nephews, etc.). That said, each ring is custom made to the buyer's specifications. It's a great idea for a personalized Mother's Day gift.

For my ring, I'm offering up to seven birthstones, made of Swarovski crystals. Seven is a good limit because after that, the ring looks too crowded and just isn't as pretty. I personally think that at least four stones are needed for the ring to look its best.

My birthstone infinity rings have been very popular and I hope that my mother's birthstone infinity rings are also well received. I always like to design new types of jewelry pieces, but sometimes it feels good to rework a classic!

Wire wrapped and enamel flower jewelry for spring

Yay, spring is here! It's the first day of spring in the Northern Hemisphere and the sun is smiling down on us here in New York. In honor of the new season, here's a look at some of my wire wrapped floral jewelry pieces. All are available at Naomi's Designs or MayaGirl Creations.

Silver wire wrapped daisy necklace with Swarovski crystal pearls:

Red roses enamel pendant:

Silver wire wrapped daisy flower earrings:

Silver wire wrapped cray daisy earrings with blue and purple crystals:

Silver wire wrapped rainbow daisy bracelet with multicolored crystals:

Black wire wrapped daisy flower ring:

Silver wire wrapped daisy flower ring:

Pink wire wrapped daisy flower earrings:

Floral enamel pendant:

Tales from enameling class: new enameling techniques!

This semester of my enameling class is about half over, which is a shame because I'm enjoying myself more than ever! I'm still working on my enameled hamsa pendant and enameled cat figurine, both of which have turned out to be more time consuming than I'd anticipated. That's okay, though, because I'm really enjoying the work.

Right now, I'm busy covering the hamsa pendant with fine silver foil. Silver foil is extremely thin and delicate, but will stick to the enamel when you fire it. When you cover the foil with transparent enamel colors -- especially "cool" colors like blue or green -- it looks luminous and amazing. Since the hamsa is a spiritual object, I want the blocks of color to come out looking shiny, like stained glass.

In order to get the foil to fit into the cloisonne wire pattern which I'd placed on the hamsa, I had to cut the siver into teeny, tiny, itty bitty pieces -- and then carefully place each piece so that it stayed on flat and didn't wrinkle. After three hours of this, I ALMOST have the hamsa covered. I hope to finish during the next class and then finally add the colored enamels. After that, I'll work on the cat, which I'll also finish with a cloisonne design.

I'm kind of bummed because I won't be back in class for about a month. It's all for good reasons: the Y is closed for Passover and then my husband and I are going to Japan. The good news is, I spoke with my teacher and when I return from my trip, I'd like to try my hand and some more complex enameling techniques. I'm especially excited to try champleve, which is a process where you engrave or etch recesses in the metal and fill the "cells" with enamel. The raised portions of the metal kind of frame the enameled areas and the pieces that are made with this technique look absolutely beautiful. You can use acid to burn out the areas that you want to be carved, but frankly, that method scares me a bit! I plan to go old school and learn to engrave the metal with a tool.

With the holidays and my vacation, I'll have to put my enameling adventures on hold, but at least I have some really cool things to look forward to this spring!

You can purchase my jewelry at Naomi's Designs or MayaGirl Creations.

Chandelier confetti earrings in rainbow colored anodized aluminum

Yep, I'm still on my anodized aluminum kick, though after today's labor-intensive project, I think I may need a little break. Here is my latest creation: chandelier confetti earrings made of rainbow colored anodized aluminum:

I love how these turned out, but they took hours to make; I worked on them all day, in fact. The most time-consuming aspect probably had to be the filing of each one of those little abstract shapes that are dangling from the base.

I think that these earrings are so much fun, though! I call them confetti earrings because the dangles remind me of confetti that's thrown at a party. I like that they're so colorful because they're just so ... happy! You can't help ut be in a good mood when you look at all of those bright colors.

To purchase these earrings or my other jewelry, head to Naomi's Designs or MayaGirl Creations.

More colorful anodized aluminum earrings!

I'm still on my anodized aluminum kick and made two more pairs of earrings this afternoon. One features different sized triangles in blue, turquoise and silver; the other pair consists on rectangles in silver, purple and lavender:

Sometimes very simple designs are the most eye-catching and I feel like tht's the case with these handmade earrings. They're so colorful and the bold shapes lets the different shades of metal stand out.

These also look as if they're easy to make, but they're really not. It takes time to cut and drill each shape and then file the ends to blunt them and get them even. The designs are minimalist, but are still pretty labor intensive.

I have an idea for something even more abstract that I plan to work on tomorrow, so stay tuned! Meantime, check out my jewellery at Naomi's Designs and MayaGirl Creations.

Mixed metal anodized aluminum earrings in gold, silver and bronze

I haven't made anodized aluminum jewelry in a while, so I decided to take a break from making wire wrapped or enamel pieces. I came across some sheets of gold, bronze and silver metal which I hadn't yet used so, of course, I just had to make something with them. I ended up creating these funky geometric chandelier earrings featuring gold, silver and bronze diamonds of anodized aluminum:

The last time I created anodized aluminum jewelry, I used a jeweler's saw to cut through the metal. AA is pretty thin and light, but it's still metal so it took a while to cut. This time, I used my Joyce Chen scissors and it took only a few minutes to cut my shapes.

These earrings were still pretty time-consuming to make, though, because I had to cut so many diamonds and make sure they were all even in size. I then filed all of the ends so they wouldn't be sharp. Nothing like wearing earrings only to have them poke you in your head!

I really like this pattern so next time I'm going to try a blue, silver and black combo. I think that those colors will work well together. Meantime, check out my other jewelry at Naomi's Designs and MayaGirl Creations. Also check out my novel REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD on Amazon.

Next project: enamel and cloisonne cat pendant and hamsa pendant

For most of my enamel jewelry projects, I've been working with squares or circles, but I'm ready to move on to more complicated shapes. Next, I'm going to make an enameled and cloisonne cat pendant and hamsa (a Judaic/Middle Eastern symbol that's shaped like a hand and wards off the evil eye) pendant.

This afternoon, I cut the shapes from 20 gauge copper sheet metal. In the past, I've cut metal using a jeweler's saw, but that can take hours. This time, I used super strong Joyce Chen scissors and they ripped right through the copper! It wasn't easy as I had to put a lot of force into it, but they worked. Now I'm eager to try these scissors on 22 or 24 gauge copper because they'll probably cut through the metal like butter.

I spent about an hour filing my cat and hamsa and crafted copper cut-outs that look pretty good:

You can see the outline that I drew on the hamsa. I plan to put the traditional (evil) eye in the center of the palm, but cover the rest with an abstract cloisonne design. I think I'll use bold jewel tones for this so it looks a little like stained glass.

I also plan to do an abstract cloisonne on the cat pendant, but I'm going to use "cat-colored" enamels: browns, black, ginger and white. I'm basing this a little on my kitty, Maya, who's multi-colored so my enamel cat will have those hues.

I have to say, I really got a kick out of using the Joyce Chens. I felt like a superhero as I cut through that metal! I'm also enjoying my enameling class this semester. I'm getting to do some more complex pieces and we have a good group of people. So far, no one has dropped out and everyone seems to be more engaged than in some of my former classes. In my first jewelry class, we went from about 12 students to three over the course of the semester, so it's nice to be a part of a group where everyone is interested in the craft.

On Tuesday, I hope to get as far as setting the cloisonne. I'm going to see if I can buy some studio time after class so I can finish my projects. We'll see. But now that I have my copper cut-outs, I'm eager to get started!

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