Lately I have been experimenting with my jewelry making. And I must say it is a good thing. By experimenting, I am learning new techniques and figuring out new ways to do things that I never thought I might be able to.
Recently Keith has started finding the most beautiful antique and vintage brooches for me to use in my necklaces. He will scour the listings on Ebay for me and narrow it down to a few he thinks that I will like. He has very good taste. He likes Celtic and Victorian designs, and even found a cool spider web pin that I made into a necklace for my sister last year.
The necklace above on the left is made with a vintage English brooch marked Exquisite. I love the Celtic design and the topaz rhinestone center. When I saw the brooch, it reminded me of a military medal and I thought it would be neat made into a necklace where it hung like a medal would hang and would make a statement. I also didn’t want to damage the brooch since it was marked and very nicely made.
I studied it and figured out a way to wrap wire around the pin and make a loop to attach the necklace to. The way the wire is wrapped allows the owner to separate the necklace from the brooch and wear the brooch as it was intended, if they so choose. I was tickled that I was able to figure out something that worked for me. Granted, it may not be what someone with more experience in jewelry making would have done, but again, it worked and I learned something new.
The necklace above on the right is very similar in the fact that I used a vintage rhinestone brooch as the centerpiece for the design. This one however, was found a tag sale for next to nothing and had the pin running right through the middle, which would not make for a pretty centerpiece. Since the brooch was not marked, reasonably inexpensive and probably not that well made, I decided to cut off the actual pin so it would not show. Because I am not an expert, I did have to leave the side brackets on. I was afraid of ruining the brooch entirely if I removed them.
So, I instead used them to anchor my wires for the necklace. Using a gold colored wire, I looped the brooch on either side and was able to keep the design balanced. I like how the brooch centers the necklace and again, I learned something new.
The middle necklace above is my latest endeavor to really learn a new technique. I have long admired wire wrapped pieces and found an easy, detailed article with great directions on how to make the wrapped stones that center this design. This was my first attempt and I know that I will need to keep practicing. The results did not turn out like the pictures, but they did turn out. I learned how to do something new and I learned that I can do this again, with different stones and maybe a different size wire to get a similar yet different result. I cannot wait to try this one again.
I am happy that I am learning new things while experimenting with my stash. When I first started making jewelry, I was so afraid to try new things for fear of what might not turn out. Now, I am more afraid of not trying. The worst thing that can happen is that I have to start over or experiment again to find some way to make it all work.
Experimentation is a good thing.
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