Serpentine – “Still Waters”

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I made a pendant with serpentine previously – see here!

By the way, I got this cabochon as a gift, so I determined that it could be serpentine. If someone could tell me otherwise, that would be great!

This pendant is named for the still waters you see in lakes that are tinted green with the colour of the surrounding forest. Sometimes the ocean can have the same colour.

For the first time, I used a wire weave to hold the stone in place, since the stone is a round stone with a flat back. Not the neatest weave, I know!

Since the stone was round, I couldn’t hold it in place properly, so I affixed some wires at the back to provide some support. I tried to add a sort of butterfly idea, but it squished together a bit much.

And lastly, I asked some people for advice on my first wire wrap, and I got a suggestion to tuck the wires on the front more closely whilst keeping the loop in place. This is so it doesn’t snag as much and ruin everything. I do like the new version anyway, and I do tend to go overboard with design over practicality, so I appreciate the advice!

Materials: Serpentine cabochon, 0.80mm and 0.40mm sterling silver wire, one 4mm emerald Swarovski crystal bicone

Braided bracelet set

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End of July post. I’m back! I was out for a bit dealing with a few health issues, alongside starting crafts projects for my blog, only to find out that I lacked a certain type of bead or material. Not the most lucky person, here!

However, during my most recent visit to my local bead shop (which has now closed, I am very sad about that…) I noticed that one could buy rattail and cord threads for very cheap. I decided to start knotting some bracelets, and received a request from a male friend to make a set of bracelets. They had to be something masculine, and red and black in colour. This was a new challenge for me!

I wanted to make the first one using a kumihimo style. I have made these before using rattail and silver caps, which looked quite feminine. To make it masculine, I used black Chinese knot cord and used 8-thread kumihimo. I left a long tail so that the owner can use a square/reef knot to secure it.

The next type was a macrame bracelet using red and black Chinese knot cord. The red is used as the base of the cord, so it doesn’t show through as much. I attached a sliding fastener and black beads to the ends.

The last bracelet uses the fishtail method for the chevron pattern. It uses equal amounts of red and black Chinese knot cord. The ends are knotted and plaited, so that a square knot can be used.

The set will be gifted to the person, hopefully soon. I used it as a way to get better. Now I’m off to make more bracelets!

Materials: Chinese knot cord (red, black)

Monochrome earrings

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For Mother’s Day, I was asked to make a pair of earrings in a certain style. I was referred to a picture of a very old pair that I had made early into my career as a jeweller (no picture on here though, sorry!) but in black instead.

I would have preferred to use black earring hooks and wires, but I was pressed for time and couldn’t find any in time. Since I only had silver, I mixed in some clear beads for a black and white look instead.

The coil under the black beads are my favourite way of hiding the eyes in the eye pins, so it looks a bit cleaner.

By the way, I haven’t updated for over a month due to project work. I should be okay now though.

Materials: silver earring hooks, silver head pins, 0.80mm sterling silver wire, large black beads, assorted smaller black and clear beads

Silver wrapped key pendant

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Have you ever seen those wire wrapped skeleton keys or something similar? I wanted to give one of those a go, so I started by drawing out a design on paper. Nothing too complicated for my first attempt.

After I drew the design, I started by cutting out the base 1.50mm wires and shaping them. Symmetry is not my forte but it was as close as I could get it.

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