New wire work pieces

I am working on my wire wrapping skills and techniques and trying out new designs with these.  I am trying to create pieces with a variety of textures and colors.  Let me know what you think could be better, added, taken away, etc.  I am always looking for feedback to help me grow and improve my designs and techniques.
These are the only two designs that my blog is allowing me to upload photos for at the moment.  I have two other pieces as well but I'll have to upload those pictures later on.

Craft Appeal

This was the piece that was awarded this morning

So, a little over a week or two ago I received an email from a lady named Hannah.  she is the creator or person in charge of a site called Craft Appeal.  It's a great site for artisans to use as a promotion tool.  Basically, you open a free account and upload pictures of your pieces to it.  Then, they are available for viewing on the site and will link to the listing in your shop, wherever that may be.  And in addiction to that, they can be voted on by the viewers of the site.  I woke up to this pleasant surprise in my email box this morning...

Best Jewelry Award | Art & Crafts Awards | Oct 2010

CONGRATULATIONS!

CraftAppeal users think your work is awesome and have voted to award you the "Best Overall Jewelry" Award for your Spring Surprise necklace!
It will now be proudly displayed on our the CraftAppeal home page and continue to give you great publicity!
But wait...there's more!
As an added bonus we would like to offer you this award emblem of achievement, this embeddable widget for you to use on your own site to facilitate ongoing promotion and recognition of your creativity!

Needless to say, I am hoping to get this widget listed on my Artfire studio page and am placing it here for all to see!
Here's the site... get out there and display your work!
http://craftappeal.com/

FREE PENDANT!

Now that I have your attention, Tracy Harmon of Harmony in Metal at Artfire is hosting a giveaway for me in her blog this week.  The fabulous prize?  A gorgeous handmade copper wire pendant with fresh water pearls made by yours truly!
We need to bump up the entries... so get over there and check it out!
http://www.harmonyinmetal.com/blog/2010/09/15/enter-to-win-a-fabulous-handcrafted-pendant/

Here's the fabulous prize.... in case you were curious....

New "steamy" pieces to come

I have had a longing to find some new way to steampunk out my wire wrapping... create some kind of new pieces for my shop.  I tried my hand at one this week and the result is now listed in my Artfire studio.  I am hoping to take and expand on these ideas and designs in the near future.  It feels like it's been AGES since I created something new.

Featured item 4-22-10

Today I would like to feature a newly listed item again. I just listed this lovely pair of copper and quartz crystal point earrings yesterday! I dug these quartz crystals out of the Rocky mountains in Montana myself and have done nothing to them except wrap them in copper wire. A very earthy adornment! $25

Featured Studio piece 4-10-10

Today's featured studio piece is a newly listed pendant that is based around a lampwork bead I made myself. I was trying my hand at making lampworked heart shaped beads and ended up with this slightly abstrat heart figure. I then added some faceted czech glass and gold toned wire and voila! A heart pendant with style and interest in a bright vibrant color. $25

Featured studio piece 4-7-10

I haven't been able to keep up with my studio featured pieces lately... life and my day job tend to get in that way sometimes.

Today I would like to feature a necklace I made with blood quartz, cherry quartz and some copper wire. I made some little floral designs and attached them to a larger copper wire frame, then added some copper colored chain and some fresh water pearls for extra sheen. A lovely piece that is large enough to make a statement but with just the right amount of feminine touch! $40

Featured Studio Piece 4-1-10

Today I would like to feature a few of my wire wrapped crystal pendants. Not all are listed in my studio yet, but they will be soon. I go to visit my grandparents in MT every year or so. There are wonderful parks and forest up in the Rocky Mountains that we visit each time we are there for the fishing and camping... but also for the quartz crystal digging. So, I end up with LOTS of quartz crystal points to play with.

Lately I have begun wrapping and weaving wire around them and adding on little beads to brighten things up. These crystals range in price dependent on their size and wire wrapped complexity.

Featured Studio piece 3-16-10

Today's featured piece is a LARGE necklace I made while selling at a craft show this past November. It is composed of three different sized copper wire wrapped paisley tear shapes with garnet and freshwater pearls. It is attached to atiqued copper chain and adroned with some garnet coin shaped beads. This piece is fairly large (the quarter is for size reference) and is a real statement necklace. $100

Featured Studio Piece 3-15-10

Today's featured studio piece is a personal favorite of mine I call Garnet Bubbles. Its a smaller, more dainty pendant made from copper wire with both green and red garnet beads. The circular shape of the frame and of the beads make it look like a bunch of bubbles trapped in copper. $25

Carnelian!

Another of my best friend's favorite stone, the bright and cheery orange and red of carnelian is definitely enchanting. Orange is the color of happiness and red is the color of passion. This stone truly encompasses both.

Often considered a stone of protection, carnelian is actually a red form of chalcedony. It was worn in ancient Egypt to still anger and jealousy. It also counteracts negative thoughts.

Carnelians are most often worn by those who are a bit more timid to promote courage. It brings out self confidence and can also attract people to you. Its also said to promote sexual impusles. RAWR. ;)

I normally use carnelian in cabachon form. I think this is the best way to see its agate like variations, which I find VERY appealing. I also use small carnelian beads to enhance the look of paler stones, like moonstone.

Featured Studio piece 3-11-10

Today's featured studio piece is a very simple little flower. This stunning copper wire rose ring turns lots of heads. Its one of the few pieces I make using a jeweler's vice to create. It is multiple layers of small gauge copper wire, braided and twisted to form this delicate little rose. I also make them with a small focal bead at the top of the rose, though I have long since run out of that style and have yet to get around to making more. Perhaps that will be on my agenda for today! This lovely ring can be yours for just $10 plus shipping costs. I can also make them in brass, sterling, or color coated copper and in any custom size!

Featured Studio piece 3-10-10

Today I would like to feature a piece that I just listed to my studio last night. I created it back in November while spending an evening on the couch watching WWII in HD with my sweety (he's a history buff especially WWII). When I had finished the pieces, I showed it to him. He told me it was neat. It reminded him of a bright saxophone and jazz music in a smokey bar. And it does look like that to me, so I named the piece "Jazz night". It is made from a copper wire frame wrapped with red colored copper wire and decorated with brass and plastic round beads. I then put it on a brass colored chain. It costs $30.

Featured Studio piece 3-9-10

Today I would like to feature a wire wrapped pendant from my studio. This pendant is built around a soapstone cabachon. Soapstone is the stone of choice for worry stones, since you can rub on the smooth surface and over time wear it down. Putting this in a pendant is unusual but its lovely green and yellow color makes it an excellent focal. I cradled the cabachon in brass wire frames held together by tight brass wire wrapping. I then added some little labradodrite and iolite rounds for a splash of contrasting color. This piece will come with your choice of a brass or copper chain. $40

Featured studio item 3-8-10

Today, in honor of my previous blog about quartz crystals, I would like to featured one of my necklaces made from a quartz crystal point that I dug out of the Rocky Mountains of MT myself. I took this little single terminated quartz point and wire wrapped it in copper 18 gauge wire. I then wove garnet beads onto it with a much smaller gauge wire and kept on weaving to ensure a secure cradle for the crystal was created. I use no adhesives in my wire wrapping and allow only pressure to hold the stones fast. This pendant is dangled from an antiqued copper chain and is a dainty and grounded look for any neckline out there.

Edit: I would like apologize for the fact that this blog will only allow the WORST picture of this piece to be uploaded. If I could get my better picture of this piece uploaded, I would love to be able to show that one instead. Stubborn blog.