After seeing a question someone posted in a jewelry forum about setting small stones (and the link she posted to metalworkers.org) I was inspired to try it out for myself. This stone is no where near as small as the ones she was asking about though. I decided to try the technique with a larger stone so I could work out the basics of it. Now that I have an idea of how to do it I'll start trying it out with smaller stones when I get the time (I have some 4x6mm rhodochrosite cabs that I'm dying to try this out on!)

This one obviously needs a lot of work. There are a too many mistakes to count,and a couple spots look quite sloppy, but it feels like a good starting point to me.

Since this is only a practice pendant (and not for sale) I decided to use craft wire for it instead of sterling silver and gold filled wire. The stone is a dark Amethyst crystal point.
 
  

For several months now my web-site has been down so I could re-do it (again). Not that it actually took me that long to do all the work. In fact, once I got started, it only took a few days to do it. I'm just one of those people who tends to put things off for as long as possible. Last week I finally decided enough is enough and made myself get to work. Today, after working an hour or so here and there over the past week, I got sick of it still not being done. So I planted my rear end in a chair and for 9 hours straight I did nothing but work on getting my web-site done. Hey, it was either that or do my taxes. What would you rather do?

Well, after 9 hours today (13 hours if you include last week's work), my brain is mushy and making crackling popping sizzling noises as though it's sitting in a frying pan full of hot grease, my hands hurt so bad I can barely finish typing this, my joints are so stiff they feel like someone stuffed cotton into every one of them and my rear end is a little bit flatter and 3" wider than it was this morning. But, *cue angels singing "Hallelujah"*, my web-site is DONE.

The best part about the re-design is I had always been putting off offering instant downloads of tutorial purchases on my site because I was too lazy to do the work to add it. Since I was doing all this work anyway, adding the instant downloads really didn't add much extra work at all. So now anyone who doesn't want to wait for me to email them the tutorials they buy, (like they would when buying from my etsy and artfire shops), can order from my web-site and get their tutorials almost immediately! Who doesn't like instant gratification, right?

Here's hoping I don't get bored with it any time soon (like I usually do). I really don't want to have to do all that work again! lol


BTW, here's the link: http://www.gailavira.com

Created with flickr slideshow.


Working on two things at once: a new ring design and a blog post comparing different brands of craft wire. The rings are actually a variation of an older design of mine, Genesis: On the First Day. I wanted to see if I could use that ring design to hold a cab instead of a bead. For the rhodonite and red glass rings, I pretty much stuck with the same basic design, except I used a different weave and made the spirals smaller (easier for most people to wear). For the blue one I decided to use coiled swirls instead of spirals. So far, I think that one is my favorite. :)

All of the silver rings are done with parawire (which is why I didn't oxidize them). Since I've always had so many students asking me which brand of craft wire is the best I've decided to start playing around with a few of them so I can do a review. Hopefully I'll get that done and on my blog soon.