Hammered Clasps

This is a picture of a clasp I made today. It's red brass, but I'm not sure the color can be seen too well. The wire is 14 guage. I tried a new technique with these - I finally used the beautiful mirror finish chasing hammer I bought from Szarka a few weeks ago. You can find one here: http://www.magpiegemstones.com/catalog/item/5307716/5380927.htm

Szarka, this pic is for you, darlin'! Check out the hammering :-) It made the wire a bit more difficult to twist, I had to get out the really big pliers. Overall, I'm pretty happy with the outcome.

Fish Hook Sharpener

When we took the children to Port Aransas a couple of months ago, I picked up this fish hook sharpener. I want to thank my dear friend Sherry http://sherrysjewels.blogspot.com/for the awesome tip! It works great to clean up the burs left on the wire after snipping with the wire cutters. I was using a flat file and sometimes the wire would slip and scratch it. This handy tool takes the work out of angling the wire. A quick rotation of the wrist while striking the wire down the length of the sharpener yeilds a beautifully filed end and no scratches! I use this tool almost as much as my round nose pliers. Sherry, your the best!

SCORE!! at Nomadic Notions in Austin

I found these drawers at Nomadic Notions today! I love the fact that they're used and from a popular jewelry store, they have a background and fun story. There were more for sale, they currently have the smaller drawers. I like these because they're larger and I can store my strands in them. Usually, I open a strand, take many beads off to get the perfect bead for my creation. I don't like to take the time to restrand them, so I put them all in a ziploc baggie. I'm thinking about going over to this system for all my beads so I can mark on the baggie more info about the beads - where I bought them, how much they cost (including s/h, etc.) and of course, what type of stone the bead was labeled. Anyway, back to my find - saw these on the floor in the back and had to beg for them. The ladies who work there are so sweet and sold them to me even though they weren't put out for sale yet.

new necklace creation

This piece is my newest necklace creation. I finally got up the courage to mix up some color. The focal is a faceted dyed red agate. Most of the other red beads are faceted red agate. The blue beads are one of my favorite - amazonite. There is only one faceted amazonite, the square ones are sort of faceted. Another interesting dimension I added to this piece is that the red beads are faceted and most of the blue beads aren't. The extension chain and clasp are handmade with solid copper wire.