More Wire-y Fun!

I was taking some time out in the studio - not so often now...there's no air out there, so I'm relegated to early morning, or evening (maybe). I did get some time in - and decided to just play and see what I came up with.

I was thinking of the Fruits of the Spirit - and thought they would be a nice basis for a pair of earrings....I took an oval wire shape (thanks Beadalon!), and began wrapping it with 24 gauge wire - then leaving a long-ish tail. I alternated directions of wrapping, so that every other one would naturally either go to the front or back. Once that was done, they looked very odd and spikey - but the wrapping I was pleased with.

Then I got out my precious box of Swarovski crystal bicone beads - all those sparkly colors! I began putting a different color on each spike, then making a spiral with the wire tail to give it interest, and keep the crystal on. I continued with each spike, turning them either to the front or back - and when I was done - I loved the oval shaped filled with swirls and bright bits of color - perfect!

The oval accomodated nine spikes - which just happens to be how many fruits of the spirit there are....and gave each color a corresponding fruit:

Love.................ruby
Joy..................clear/AB finish
Peace................sapphire
Longsuffering......emerald
Kindness.............purple
Goodness............copper
Faithfulness ........amythest
Gentleness..........antique rose
Self-control.........lilac

Somehow the colors just seemed to go with the names....at least to me! I attached them with two tiny Argentium jump rings to sterling silver french earwires.....just a lovely sight!!

Here is how they turned out.....and you're seeing them before they hit my iCraft store!!

Thought it appropriate to photograph them on a leaf...

A closer view....

And the reverse side....just as pretty as the front....I like that!

As always.....any feedback is much appreciated!!

Where There's A Will.....

I remarked the other day on twitter (twitter.com/tryshz) that now that I have a brand new computer - I am finding out which of my trusted and true programs are not compatible
with Vista. This time it was hardware - my beloved scanner, that I have been using since 1999 (!) is not compatible with Vista. According to the Epson website and Vista - they do not have a driver for it to make it compatible - and don't plan to. Bummer!

I disconnected it and put it in the other room.....until...I remembered my trusty old laptop (from 2004) - was out in my studio - and it has Windows XP on it! YAY! Took that scanner out to the studio, re-arranged the furniture a bit to find a horizontal space to set the scanner - and fired it up - viola! Back in business!!

On the same kind of note - as some of you may know, I have been trying for weeks (or is it months?) to make a new canopy top for our gazebo on our back deck. Last year a strong storm took out the old one (made of really awful fabric - ripped when you looked at it wrong). So, here I've been, with my 13 yards of lightweight fabric called ripstop - hopefully, it'll live up to that, trying to re-create that top. And Wednesday.....it was done!!! The moment of truth - for if it didn't fit - I was done. That fabric is wonderful, but so slick it keeps sliding off the table! Took it outside - put it on.....and all six section pockets FIT the ends of the six spines of the top - it's not the prettiest thing I've ever done....but it WORKS! Even better - ever since, we have had rainstorm after rainstorm - winds - just awful weather.....and that top survived it all!! Cost me about $100 to make it, but worth every penny - and now, we can enjoy our gazebo again!!

As long as we're off topic (can you tell I haven't had any time to make jewelry this week?) - I have been doing more web work - for which I do get paid....and for a new project, I was looking for a free flash slideshow program. I must have looked at twenty of them - and I truly dislike the ones that 'say' they are free, then tell you all your images will have a watermark, and banner ads all over the place. Guaranteed I would never buy that one!
I did find a cool one, though - it is called the Photo Flash Maker - Free Version, and it's pretty customizable - I fooled with it a little, more to be done - but I was pleased at what I came up with in just a few minutes - it's very easy to use! Check out the results on my site that I have yet to develop! trishStyle.com - would appreciate any feedback! And, it you'd like to snag it for yourself, here's their website: Photo Flash Maker-Free Version

Now....this weekend I AM taking some time to play in the studio - have some more wire ideas - can't wait to share them.....til then....

Now for the other earrings...

Stealing another moment, just because I wanted to share my other wire-wrapping technique with y'all. The earrings started out as an experiment - and I really like how they turned out.

I have been wanting to try mixing metals for some time now, and it is a big trend in jewelry right now - the look is different and fresh, and gives a whole new flavor to designs! I basically just wove a thinner silver-color wire over and under around a thicker copper wire shape. They actually shaped themselves as I wrapped, which I thought was way cool. It was much easier than I thought it was going to be - and opened up a whole new world of possibilities! Look for more of these experiments in the very near future!!

Here are the earrings:

So...that's it! I would love to hear what you think of them.....

The Never-Ending Story...

It just seems that once this ball starts rolling....it finds a hill and goes down it! Got my new machine working....there was a conflict between my online backup (www.Carbonite.com - a great program!) and my anti-virus. The anti-virus lost, as the subscription was almost up - so switched over to Internet Security by PC Tools. So far am liking it - and no conflicts (meaning no 'blue screen of death').

Then had a problem with the host of 12 of my websites that I manage for a client....they 'help' folks were less than helpful. So....I just said, if we can't resolve it, I will go elsewhere. They didn't seem too interested...so I moved them. Found the BEST host ever! If you need a host for your website, with a reasonable cost, and a real commitment to customer service - check out www.timbury.com - you won't be sorry! And, guess what....the problem the other folks just couldn't solve? Done - right away. Ahhhh....such a rare treat - someone who cares!

Needless to say....guess what suffered? Yep - making jewelry...sigh. I did get a couple of things done in between all this really fun stuff. They are all over at my site on iCraft - but I wanted to show them off here too....might be a tutorial on them coming...

Here's one - my cobweb earrings and necklace pendant:

And the necklace:

More to come!!

Am I Back??

I hope so - it has been a literal nightmare trying to recover all my programs and data for the third time in as many weeks. Truly hoping that is over.

I am starting something new (aren't I always?) - trying to jump start my sales on my iCraft site. They are having a "Sellers Bootcamp" - and I signed up. It is already day 2 - behind already! But there is a wealth of good ideas - some of which I am already doing! Yay me!

I am hoping (so much!) to have some time tomorrow to go out to the studio and do something, anything! I am feeling 'crafting deprived!'.

Hope to be more organized and 'with it' tomorrow - to let you know what new things I'm learning at the Bootcamp - and hopefully some pics of my crafting....

Meanatime, you can check out my shop on iCraft - it is called Studio 2:14 - and let me know what you think!

Disaster de Jour...

This is the kind of 'deja vu' I can do without. After just 16 days of having my computer back and supposedly 'fixed' - it dropped dead again. Just shut off, and won't even turn on now, much less try to boot up. Wonderful.

Two upsides tho - one, I DID sign up with an online backup service to backup said 'dead' computer - and Sunday I'll find out if that's worth keeping and paying for - am on the free trial now. The second upside is that, since I no longer trusted that computer - I went ahead and got the 'pieces' for a new, state-of-the-art computer. I am blessed to have a son who builds them - and he is an invaluable resource! He told me what to buy....from the 1 Terrabyte hard drive ( a terrabyte? Wow!) down to a new DVD combo drive. The only things I'll be using from the dead computer will be the keyboard and mouse. All else will be new. It will be really beefed up in the graphics area so I can do my video editing etc. and never have to worry that the computer can't hack it!

Meanwhile, I am working from my 2003 laptop - which is filling in really nicely - I've even gotten used (again) to the tiny keyboard that is NOT ergonomic, and the really small screen. Ah, what I used to think was the be all-end all in laptops back then!

So...for the rest of this week - I'll be limping along here....

New and improved come Monday!!

Fun With Wire-Wrapping!

Took some time to go out into my studio yesterday and got in a little bit of beady fun! Sometimes that's hard to do - lots of stuff tends to get in the way....

I have had these pretty blue foil-lined square beads for a while. I love them, and was waiting til I found just the right thing to do with them. As I was straightening up the extremely slightly messy countertop, I found a package of pretty German silver by Beadalon, made just for wire-wrapping. The light-bulb went on, and I abandoned the cleaning in favor of trying my idea out.

I wanted the wire to all be one piece, add decoration, wrapping, and a loop at the top - and it was surprisingly easy! I was thankful the holes in the pretty beads were large enough to pass the 24 gauge wire through twice!

Here is what they look like - and you can find all the rest of the details on them on my site at iCraft!

I have more to come - but I want to try my hand with the camera again - see if I can get creative with the photos! Stay tuned....!