Using Wire as Beads or Connectors

I am always looking for new ways to incorporate metals – wire, specifically – into my jewelry.  My scrap piles are huge – I have just as many failures as successes!  I thought I would share a quick tutorial for a wire connector that I have been using quite a lot lately.  By changing up the length of the wire, or the wire gauge itself, it can totally change up the look of the connector.  I have never written a tutorial before - but this connector is very simple.

For this example, I am using 20 gauge solid copper wire.  Personally, I don’t use artistic wire very often, as it has a plastic coating that cannot take a patina, such as liver of sulfur.  I patina just about everything if I can!

Cut about 30” of wire

Choose a round mandrel.  Depending upon the diameter you are after, you could use anything round – a seed bead tube, a wooden dowel, a sharpie pen, etc. I am using my ring mandrel in my example below.  Wrap the wire once around your chosen mandrel.

Continue wrapping your wire around the mandrel until you have 3 full loops

Remove the wire from the mandrel, and, using the one of the long lengths of wire, begin to wrap one length around your 3 formed loops.

Continue wrapping until you reached your starting point.

Using the second long length of wire, begin wrapping around your newly created “nest” in between the previous wraps made from the first wire.

Continue wrapping each wire in between  your existing wraps until you have approximately 2” remaining on each end of the wires.

I personally do not care for unfinished ends to my wire – whether they are filed and tucked or not.  Using your torch, ball up the two ends of the wires.  I use a butane torch, holding the wires with heat resistant tweezers over the flame. Quench in water and pickle to remove the fire scale.

Wrap the two wires around your nest.  Cut 4 additional 3 – 4” lengths of 20 gauge wire and ball the ends with your flame.  Quench in water/Pickle/Rinse.

Wrap these wires around your nest.

I like the addition of the balled-end wires, as it creates a more finished look.

Your wire connectors are now ready for patina and incorporation into your next piece.  By varying the gauge of the wire and the mandrel, it changes the look.

The wires above became connectors for these earrings.

Raku Beads by Duane Collins

I used two connectors at the end of this jasper bracelet, and fashioned a simple toggle bar to the opposing side of the bracelet – instant clasp!

For the bracelet below, I used 16 gauge jeweler’s brass wire and added a toggle.

The necklace below features the connector used as a bail, made with 18 gauge sterling silver wire. I used less wire for the final wrapping, around a much larger mandrel.

Lampwork Cab by Susan Kennedy

The bail for the necklace below was created from 16 gauge square copper wire, also on a larger mandrel. 

The links above the bail are made from 18 gauge round copper wire – and the diameter of the connecting links is slightly smaller than the bail.

The possibilities are endless by changing up the sizes of wire and the mandrels, 

Do you find yourself craving new ways with wire, too?  

mjd - 2015 - offering bowl on necklace 

thawing is happening here,

revealing 

tender things.

trusting green shoots

and 

hopeful hearts

that will soon belie

their fragile appearance

with a blossoming

worthy only

of the strong. 

------------------------------

one of the things i love most about living in a place with four true seasons is how subconsciously and deeply i am affected by the outside world. each season is welcomed joyfully with its promise of what makes it wonderful and unique. but even my love of tranquility and snow began to give way at the sight of small shoots and woodland creatures seeing if it was time to emerge

9 march - resident chipmunk scouting above ground

if you like to use fibers in your work, be sure they are strong and up to the challenge of where you put them. cotton is not always your best bet.

reinforce your knots - you don't want all that work falling apart!

and if you are interested in stringing gemstones with fine holes, look into a pearl stringing thread like griffin that has a built in needle and comes in many thicknesses. 

New Work and Keeping It Simple...

by Barbara Bechtel


I've had sort of a hard time getting back to jewelry making after 2014's holiday shows. Then for me, procrastination sets in, along with loss of momentum, and it becomes even HARDER to start again. When I work, I tend to get hyper-focused on details, often to the detriment of the big picture. I'll fuss and fuss over little things without looking at the big picture, either in the piece or the whole big picture of jewelry.

In some ways, I enjoy this process. In example, it's led me into the foray of just making components, but I found then I make tons of finished components and NO JEWELRY!

In the last month, I set out to get my jewelry mojo back. For me, this often takes several days sort of sorting things around, playing with elements, and making (and destroying) work....you know, noodling over a piece like I mentioned above only to spend hours on it and find I HATE IT when I'm finished.

This time around, I started out in the same old way, and became disgusted with myself. So my mental dialogue went something like this:

"You're thinking too hard."

"Think outside the box."

"Work SMARTER, not HARDER."

.......wait, that's the problem.......

"You're thinking OUTSIDE the box. You just need to make some jewelry. It's not that hard.....Keep it simple!"

Ahhhhhh, SIMPLE! That was just the kick in the pants I needed to get myself back into gear. The outside-the-box-thing can come later....I just needed to jump the first hurdle.

I started out with going through my stash of vintage findings. I love to peruse estate sales, craigslist, eBay, and flea markets for old components and vintage stampings.

I started out making some bracelet focals from some vintage brass post earrings.

Next, I had these awesome thunderbird stampings that had a bezel tray. They needed cleaning and patina as well as some holes.

Then I filled the bezels with polymer clay and stamped some words. (y'all know I'm a word girl!)

Here you can see the first two finished ones. I wanted to leave a few to fill after I finished a couple to see how the design would work out and maybe get inspired by some different color choices later.

Here's a shot of some of the focals I finished.

And here's a shot of some of the simple finished bracelets. These are just basic simple bracelets. I wanted to have a mixed metal look to the more squarish ones on the top and bottom and so I took bits of leftover matching (but different colored chain) and alternated the links.

You can see that the approach in designing each of the elements is quite simple and used lots of repeating elements, but by changing my mindset and going with simple designs, I was able to cross that first hurdle!

Tutorials and Boot Camps at your Finger tips

by Staci Louise Smith

We are having a snow day here in Eastern PA today.  I think we are all ready for Spring by now, though this is a "nice" snow.  Fluffy, packs good, there is enough to make it fun and pretty and not just a messy clean up.  It is not covered with an inch of ice.....ect.  So, hopefully it is the last, but its at least a nice pretty and peaceful snowfall.

Anyhow.............................due to tax prep, tax appointment and kids being around, I am just getting to my post.

ring by karen mcgovern

There have been some nice changes to the blog that I want to share with you!

Last year we had a fun time doing Boot Camps, which were composed of many tutorials and posts on one topic of jewelry making.  They were wonderful and packed with information as well.  

earrings by barb bechtel

We have also posted random tutorials as a group through the years.

  Well, MaryAnn has organized them, and if you click on the tabs above, you can either go to tutorials and see what we have to offer- which is everything from basic wire wrapping to soldering bezels!

bezel by staci smith

Or, you can browse through the Boot Camps.  There was A LOT of information in each one, all written by different authors.  That way you not only got different tutorials and tips, but you get them from many different perspectives.

earrings by maryann carroll

Right now we are deciding on some new things for the upcoming year!  So stay tuned from more tutorials, tips and hopefully videos too from us!

Happy Creating!  

We are All Made to Create

Carol Dekle-Foss

To my fellow creative souls,

Do you ever beat yourself up and think that you are not talented enough? 

Or that you don't have what it takes to make beautiful art?

Do you compare your work to that of others and feel yours doesn't measure up?

I'm guilty of this from time to time. If I'm feeling down and depressed, I think why am I creating? Who do I think I am? There is so much talent out there, let others be the creators. 

But then, I step into my studio and just create. I quit judging myself and just have fun.

So what I want to say is this, lets forget about what others are doing and be patient with ourselves. Everyone has to start at the beginning. Sometimes it takes years to hone a craft, and when we are learning, we should only compare our work to OUR OWN. When we practice and experiment we develop a stronger sense of our creative self, and our craft becomes a part of who we are.

Last month, my creative journey took me down a new path. Ceramics! I blame MaryAnn for my love of ceramic beads, I just can't resist her little wood-fired gems!

It took me awhile to figure out the basics, and I am especially grateful for all the talented ladies over at the Beads of Clay Blog. Our very own Marsha did a post here where she shows how she loads her kiln with bead trees. I was quite impressed with how she made all those beads fit so nice and organized. Thank you Marsha for sharing!

Here is my very first kiln opening!

There was squealing involved. I was shocked that none of the beads fell off or that there wasn't drips of glaze everywhere.

My loot. All these pieces were just experiments, and I have a lot to learn about clay and glazes. But that's ok, this is the fun part, the learning and honing of a craft. I have to be patient with this process, and take my time.

 My favorite piece.This little guy has been SANDBLASTED. Who would have thought you could sandblast bisque? Not me. But I experimented and this little odd thing evolved. It's sure ugly, but nonetheless, my favorite piece. I plan to expand on this and maybe even sandblast after glazing. My head is spinning with creative ideas!

We are each on our own creative journey. We should focus on crushing our own limitations, so we can develop into the creative person we were meant to be. 

Thank you for reading!

Keeping & Increasing Your Online Presence in Ever-changing Social Media....

by Barbara Bechtel

If you promote your work online as many of us do, then it's probably happened to you. You're getting new "likes", comments, and even sales (we all hope!) and then WHAM! No new likes, no comments, and sales flatline. It's sort of like when you go to a big party and you use the facilities and come out only to find everyone packing up to go home.

If you use Facebook, then you've likely read that recently it has changed the way people see "ads" posted by other sites. This has had many discussing how they can still drive sales to their sites and keep the love coming.

The most recent example that is affecting those who sell on other sites (like Etsy, etc.) is that when you "share" on Facebook the item you have for sale, either by using the button from your item or pasting the link directing into your Facebook status, is that the number of people that see that item will be greatly throttled.

Personally, I've never found that method to be particularly useful for Facebook anyhow, although I've long used it in addition to my other sharing. While I'm not an expert, I thought I would share some insights I've gained over the years that have helped me.

First and foremost, what you ALWAYS need to remember is that sites, whether they be social media (i.e. FB, Instagram) or selling sites (eBay, Etsy) are constantly changing the algorithms that affects what you see in your feed (in the instance of FB) or what you search for (sites like Etsy, eBay, or Pinterest that generate results based on what you search for).

That being said, if you sell or share in this way, you need to keep abreast of your numbers and when they start to fall, seemingly without any relation to what you've been doing, they may have changed their algorithms. It is not unlike a card game. They're not going to tell you what or why they have changed, you just notice that you're losing. Therefore, you have to change your strategy. Don't misunderstand me, they're not necessarily out to "defeat" you, but they are constantly grabbing information on statistics about what generates the most sales and what people are most searching for.

Here are some things to think about when trying to increase your numbers:

1) What you're posting. While it might be tempting to post 1000 pictures of your pet or your smoothie, a little goes a long way. The same goes for your work. If you post the same type of work a 1000 times, it becomes boring. If you've made the same ring in 10 variations, don't post 10 photos. Take one photo all together.

2) Describe your inspiration. It's tempting to be minimalist and say "new rings I made" but people want to know why you made it. Maybe it's a collection or piece based on your fascination with a new color or glaze, the weather, a poem, a trip you took. TELL people about it and how it inspired your new work.

3) Show pieces in progress. People are fascinated by the process and the story. Show your sketches, show the process from raw clay to finished bead, show metal while you're sawing or before it's soldered.

4) Time of day: What time do you post your photos? When do you get the most traffic? Schedule your posts at different or varying times and chart their popularity. Posts in your Facebook business page can be scheduled at different times of day. You may reach different people by trying out different times.

5) Challenge yourself visually. Most of us are not photographers by nature and it can be very easy to continue to use what has worked for us in the past. Put the jewelry on the same background and take the photos. With current technology, it is easier to take better and more interesting photos than it has been in the past. If you feel photography is not your forte, than enroll in a class or schedule yourself some time to play with different backgrounds and lighting. Study photographs of you admire and see what appeals to you that you could emulate in your own photos. Change up your photography by doing something different. Play with different backgrounds, get a friend to model (or model your own!) or take a trip to a park, beach, or new location and take some pictures.

6) Engage the audience you wish to have. If you make handmade jewelry to sell, then you need to finding the audience that likes to BUY handmade jewelry. You may be posting photos and getting likes but if few of those people are actually an audience that will purchase it, then all of that love isn't translating to much more than a pat on the back.

7) Paid ads. With the introduction of paid ads on many sites, it might be tempting to follow this route. However normally for small and niche businesses, this is not always effective. It is an option, that does bear research especially to get the word out locally. If you teach classes or do many shows, it may be an avenue to pursue. Check it out and start small to see if it may work for you.



I hope this helps you think about some of these things in new ways! If you have any advice or tips to share, I'd love to hear them in the comments below!

Allow Me to Introduce Myself.....

Hello!  I am Patti Vanderbloemen – the newest member of the Love My Art Jewelry community!  I am humbled and honored to be included in among this group of truly talented artists, whose work I have admired (and coveted!) for years!  This is my first posting – I do hope you will stick around to the end (I was a writer in my "past life" and my blog posts tend to be lengthy)!

I fell into this medium by accident – my mother, who lived in Florida at the time, had been creating all types of jewelry through the on site lapidary store located in her community.  She came up North for a visit and wanted to make a “quick trip” to the local bead store.  Quick – ha!  As I watched her stare at the hundreds and thousands of findings on the wall, my eye caught a book on the counter.  This book, by Irina Miech, is what did it for me.  It was not just the beads – but the METAL elements that drew me in.

I bought the book that day, spent HOURS (could have been DAYS) on the Fire Mountain Gems website, and patiently waited for my order to arrive.  In the weeks/months that followed, I attempted (notice the key word is attempted) each and every design in that book. That was December 2009.

The experience of working through the projects was an eye opener.  Most ended up in what I now call the "scrap pile" - but it did not deter me as I was intrigued.  The picture below (I am cringing here) is my first completed jewelry project.  I only wanted to make the bracelet, but there were so many extra beads!  The bracelet took me FOREVER!  The loops on those "handmade" eye pins are not even round!

It was not long before I discovered art beads.  I immediately fell in love with lampwork beads, and I once again bought book after book so that I could understand the process.  This bracelet below is one of my first creations that I sold in 2011 using gorgeous filigree lampwork beads by Susan Kennedy.

Lampwork Beads by Susan Kennedy of Sue Beads

On a side note, since I began selling my jewelry online in 2011, my least favorite thing to do is take pictures – it has always been such a struggle to find the right lighting, background, layout, props – you name it.  I have no idea “how” this bracelet above sold, as the picture is awful!  I have spent so much time researching how to take an adequate picture of jewelry.  I have done the foray of using an all-white background (HATE IT- so much editing involved and my jewelry looked altered in some way).  I have tons of scrap paper to be used as a background, which meant the background always seemed to distract the eye from the actual piece of jewelry.

I have tried natural light – both inside and outside – but never seemed to find the right “angle”.  The picture of the earrings below, circa 2012, were taken on my back porch stoop.  As I look back on this photo, I see the reflection of my patio furniture umbrella – ha!  I did however, prefer the gray color of my concrete stoop to the all-white background.

Lampwork by Pomegranate Glass - Enameled Bead Caps by Susan Kennedy

So, I tried taking photos at a different time of day – look at the horrible shadows!

Lampwork Beads by Maryse Fritzsch-Thillens of GlassBeadArt

Anyway, because I just could not find the right time of day (if the sun even made an appearance), I went back indoors.  I made a trip to the local nursery and picked up a HUGE slab of granite, and purchased two photography lamps.  I used this slab for well over 2 years – maybe 3.  Last year, it finally dawned on me (I am a slow learner) that the granite has a “green” tinge to it and made all the colors of the beads blend into the background. 

Basha Lampwork Beads

I am surprised that the earrings above actually sold – one cannot even begin to appreciate the beauty of those opal Basha Beads with the granite background – it blends right in! After years of trial and error with my photos – and lots of research – I now use an 18% Photo Gray card (link here) and photography lights (link here).  My studio is in my basement, and there is no natural daylight. It is also too cumbersome to drag everything outside to take photos (this translates to being lazy).  So for now, I am happy with the pictures. 

For the first couple of years, I only used sterling silver - I did not even try using copper until late 2012.  I am so sorry I waited that long!  While I loved the look of "antiqued copper", I had never used liver of sulfur and wasn't even sure of the complete process.  Everything I read said it smelled of rotten eggs (it does!) and I wasn’t sure I could handle the techniques required to achieve the antiqued look that I wanted.  But, I have to say – I am used to that smell and using it on a daily basis is now second nature.

Lampwork Beads by Donna Millard

Since the beginning, my journey in jewelry design has incorporated wire, usually with art beads.  I have taken a handful of jewelry classes through ArtBliss Workshops, a local (Northern Virginia) retreat that was the brain child of Jeannette Blix Oliverio-Ryan and Cindy Wimmer.  It was cancelled last year, and I am not sure if/when it will be resurrected.  Regardless, I am forever grateful for the few classes I did take with Richard Sally, Jessica Jordan, Kerry Bogert, and Stacie Florer.    These classes have proven invaluable to me for learning specific techniques and tips that I could not glean from a book or a video.  Soldering is the perfect example here.

Tiger Eye Cab and Ceramic by Karen Totten of Starry Road Studio

Now, as my work evolves, it includes almost all components made by me (except the beads, of course)!  Sheet metal has become a recent favorite as well – there are so many things that can be made from a simple sheet of metal!  And texture – oh my goodness – next to the caramel color achieved through the oxidation process, my favorite techniques ALWAYS incorporate some sort of texture.

I feel very blessed that I am able to create “what I want”.  As such, I donate the proceeds of my sales to Miracle Horse Rescue, a wonderful organization located in Idaho dedicated to saving abused and neglected horses. 

I am always excited by the possibilities of “the next” piece of jewelry that I am able to create and am so grateful for the support of the total online experience of like-artisans  -- from blogs, to Face book, to You Tube videos - who share, encourage, and contribute their knowledge of this fabulous medium we call jewelry design.