Week 39 First ever piece treated with LOS

This is the first piece I treated with LOS and I'm not to happy with the result. There is the before picture. And than a pic after I sanded it down. And another one after I tried to buff it up with silver polish. I like what it did with the silver but I hate what it did to the pearls! They are a little better in the last pic but still not good. Maybe some time in a tumbler will help (hopefully after this weekend when it's my birthday I can buy myself one :) )? Has anyone had this happen to freshwater pearls? I think I put to much LOS in the water so maybe that is why this happened to the pearls?

Week 38 First Attempt at netted bezel

This is my first attempt at a netted bezel. And it failed completely. It doesn't show on the scan but net netting is very uneven. I did get better at it after the second row but my wire snapped ! After it snapped it attached a new wire and worked on only to have my wire snap again and this time the patch in the second row also snapped again :(. I have patched it up but it looks horrible. So I'm going to try again. If anybody has any suggestions on how to deal with work hardening on Fine Silver please lot me know. I tried annealing it with a lighter (don't have anything better) but that only seemed to make things worse.

Thanks Eni for a great new tutorial. I'm sure with some more practice I will improve my netting and I love the technique!

Update: I tried it again and this time it worked without breaking the wire. So I replaced the old photo with a new one of the pendant.

Week 37 Purple Necklace

This necklace I made as an example for my Beginners Workshop. The wrapped loop isn't well know here so that is where I decided to start with my Wire Workshops. I used freshwaterpearls, Amethyst and a Fluorite pendant.

Week 36: My first 14 K Gold pieces

My stephmom just turned 50 and this saterday she is giving a big party so I wanted to make something special for her. I know she likes gold so I made my first 14 K Gold earrings. Boy was I nervous when I had to cut that LOL. I kept them simple because I didn't have much wire to work with. So here they are: one pair with faceted Amethyst drops and one pair with faceted Opalite. Hey I might even be on theme with the Opalite once. They do remind me of White Hot and Sparks. Oh and took pictures with my new camera. At night with not much light so that needs improval. Not the best background but I was in a hurry (it was after midnight here).

Week 35 Jade and Carnelian bracelet

Since I have started giving workshops at a local beadstore I have had the oppertunity to work with some great beads. I love the carved Jade beads in this bracelet. I have combined them with lots of Jade and Carnelian. With thanks to Eni for her great coiled bangle tutorial.