Obsidian Cascade Earrings

Another entry in my 'I <3 Real Stone' blog series, here are my Obsidian Cascade earrings. The obsidian chips swing within and below the hardware bits, adding an element of organic design into what is otherwise a very industrial style.

Although I love colors, I find designing in black and metal to be very easy.

Everything is copper, except for the obsidian and the hardware ring-dealies (again, their technical name). The ring-dealies are about 1.5 cm in diameter, and the earrings measure about 6 cm in length.

Reclamation Earrings

This is another of my re-purposed hardware jewelry creations. It's very industrial chic.

These earrings have another hidden benefit: they are windchimes. If I turn my head quickly while wearing them, or a breeze blows through them, they ding gently.

Delightful in some circumstances, but, I'd assume, more than a little irksome if one is attentively focused on something and doesn't desire to hear a soft, "ding, ding, ding" from one's earwear of choice.

These guys are about 5 cm in length, while the largest of the rings is about 1.5 cm in diameter. They are made from copper chain, copper jump rings, and round hardware thingys (yes, that is the technical term) of various materials.

RAW Part 3: Yggdrasil Blossom Bracelet

This is one of the coolest things I have ever made. I love it. I designed everything for it myself, too, with the exception of the RAW two-level base (in size 11 seed beads).

Besides the seed beads, there are two glass beads, some copper chain, and then there's the wire, 22 gauge copper. 22-gauge is the best, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. I love the little leaves. Have I mentioned that I love this bracelet?

The flowers are made out of these little plus-sign-shaped copper bits I bought at the hardware store. I colored them myself, holding them with pliers over a flame. Yeah, yeah, I know, that was safe. But it worked! And then I bent them using pliers, and superglued the double-petaled flower together. They're held on the bracelet by the center beads and the seed beed stamens. The leaves and thread are sewn onto the RAW base.

I need to make more stuff like this.

Steampunk Kanzashi

I am continually inspired by Steampunk and other styles where hardware becomes jewelry. I enjoy the feeling of going into a male-dominated hardware store, making my purchase with care, and then using the metallic things I bought for the typically feminine art of jewelrymaking. I like the contrast between masculine and feminine, hard and soft, geometric and organic.

Thusly the Steampunk Kanzashi was born, bringing into play my other constant artistic influence, traditional Japanese aesthetics. That and the fact that I noticed that even in modern Japan, many women like hair ornaments that involve small swingy, dangly things, and I think that looks neat.

It's about 4.5 cm across, and the central nut has an interior diameter of 2 cm. The entire dangle extends for about 5.5 cm from where it meets the nut.

The decorative elements were already strung together when I bought the hair comb on a whim. I always seem to have pendants lying around, ostensibly for necklaces, that never get used as such. I found this interesting piece, lashed it to the comb with 28 g copper wire (utilizing the wire already in place) and it was done.

It consists of: a nut, a smaller nut-washer-thing, 28 g copper wire stringing and nesting a few slightly opalescent pink glass drops I bought at the last bead show I visited, jump rings, copper chain, a Sand Opal 4mm Swarovski, and, on the dangles, a 6mm pink Swarovski and a 4mm Cantaloupe Swarovski that changes color between blue and green depending on the amount of sunlight it's recieving!

I love it. I'd wear it constantly if my hair wasn't so slippery.

If you're interested in kanzashi and what they are, check out this site.
New to Steampunk? Visit the ever-helpful and/or interesting  Wikipedia.