This one of a kind fully loaded dangle bracelet features 89 handwrapped prehenite stations and a lovely fine silver Karen Hill Tribe handmade heart bead. All the findings are solid sterling silver and it measures 7 1/2 inches flat. It is a heavy bracelet and one that will be sure to catch the eyes of everyone. This is only the first of a series of similar bracelets that will feature different stones that I have in the pipeline.

Jewelry and Beading - Artist Profile

Please stop by the listing on eBay and place a bid.

I’m pleased to announce that two of my collaborative charm necklace projects were accepted by Belle Armorie for publication in their September/October 2007 issue. Belle Armorie is a national magazine featuring mixed media art to wear. Both necklaces can be seen in the magazine, along with a brief statement about each one by the coordinator of the project.

The first necklace was coordinated by my friend Cyndi Lavin, who has many published credits to her name and is the writer of the blog Bead Arts. I’ve known Cyndi for many years and was pleased to be asked to join “A Charmed Life” two years ago in order to create a necklace to be sold and the proceeds donated to cancer research. We choose ocean colors as our theme and tied all the different charms together via sterling metal. When I wore this necklace to my husband’s college reunion last year, everywhere I went people stopped me in the street in order to touch the charms on the necklace and ask about the story behind it. The “Ocean Necklace” will be auctioned on eBay sometime in September and I will post an announcement here in this blog when it is available.

The second collaborative charm necklace I participated in was coordinated by Lea Avroch, a wonderful lampwork artist that I met via a jewelry making email list called Jewelry Haven. The Haven is home to a few hundred jewelry artists that talk about life, the universe and jewelry. They are a great bunch of ladies and I’m pleased to be a part of the membership. This second necklace is very different from the first. We used copper, sterling and brass to create a handmade chain and the charms are everything from lampwork leaves, to my copper wired leaf forms to interesting metal leaves.

Interior Designer Mark Cutler presents us with Voices of Design: Richard Johnson an interview with an interior decorator posted at Mark Culter Design.

Recently, I created a poker champion bracelet that served as a trophy in a local poker tournament. I normally do not create jewelry for men, so this project was quite a challenge to me. I am available to make champion bracelets for other events, please feel free to email me for details.

This bracelet is 8 1/2 inches in length and is made of solid sterling silver. The chain is 8mm wide and is a handwoven “Queen’s Link” chainmaile pattern made entirely from jumprings. The centerpiece was cut from sterling silver sheet, handstamped with the name of the event and the year and then joined to the chain via 16 gauge jumprings. The clasp is a large lobster claw that lends a more masculine appeal to the bracelet. The entire piece was tumble polished to give it a lustrous shine.

As you can see, my blog is in a new location. No longer is it at the front of my URL. Instead, I’m putting in a true index page, a gallery of my jewelry and a schedule of my jewelry events that I hope will be easier to read.

My friends asked me to create a tutorial for these earrings that I’ve sold in my booth for years.  This month, I gave my friend Cyndi permission to reprint that tutorial on her blog Bead Arts.  I hope you’ll stop by and take a look at the tutorial.

One of the new wire wrap designs that I did for my booth last fall was a neckpiece/collar design that I discovered in Step by Step Wire. I used the tutorial as a starting point and then went on to use my own materials and created a series of necklaces that were unique to me.

The double drilled carnelian stones were the first challenge of this project. The holes were too small for the thicker gauge of wire that I was using for the frame of the neckpiece. Since they are the supports of the collar, the wire absolutely had to go through the stones. I ended up using my dremel with new diamond bits for it and teach myself how to drill stones. After many false starts, I figured out a technique of drilling the stones under water that worked quickly and prevented the stones from cracking. Once the torque was wrapped and the ends hammered, I made a byzantine chain for the necklace and a big loop, hammered clasp to finish it. The necklace is 18″ in length, but can be shortened to choker length. The carnelian stones have agate banding in the large focal beads and are a tomato red hue.

Update: This item has sold.  Thank you! 

This past winter, I’ve been experimenting with new wire wrapping techniques that feature twisting of very fine sterling silver wire around stone beads to create an interesting bezel effect.

These earrings feature a pair of 25mm aventurine pi stones with black onyx accent beads that have been wrapped with fine gauge wire and tiny hill tribe silver beads. The look is classic, yet different enough to turn heads. I will be featuring many more of this style of earrings in my booth this spring along with similar style pendants.