Wired Up

Artistic Wire has been available for a number of years and though it came in an assortment of rainbow colors it was only recently that I discovered the beautiful finish called Non-Tarnish Brass.  Unlike the copper or bronze finish wire, the Non-Tarnish Brass has a lovely gold tone to it that works well with gold fill or gold plated findings. 

photo above ... Artistic Wire spools and my recently finished spiral beaded necklace

My first introduction to Artistic Wire was back in 2005 when I purchased a 12 spool assortment in jewel like colors for a beading course that I had signed up for.  The course required  very fine  wire at either 24 to 26 gauge.  Not normally a gauge that I would have much cause to use.  
In recent years Artistic Wire has introduced several new metal finishes that coordinate with the newer metals of today's chains and findings. 

Photo above ... close up of my handmade clasp and extender chain, made from Artistic Wire in non-tarnish brass.

Though I love the color the one downside is its non tarnish coating.  Unfortunately since the non-tarnish finish involves a clear coat of some substance (acrylic or vinyl?) it didn't take kindly to my flattening it with a hammer on a bench block.  I noticed that some of the clear coating chipped off during this process.  In the future I will have to forgo work hardening a piece and also make sure to use Tool Magic on my pliers to help protect this coating. 
If anyone makes wire findings or does wire wrapping I'd love to hear how you handle wire that has this protective coating on it.  Is there a clear sealant that one can use to "re-seal" this coating if it is scratched or chipped?

We Are All Valuable Resources...

Recently I've had the honor of working with a very imaginative and creative Etsian by the name of Ros whose shop, designsbyros , features her handcrafted wire work jewelry.

Photo above...One of Ros's lovely chain and wire worked necklaces. Love the colors in this masterpiece!

Ros was interested in a set of my handcrafted beaded beads that I call, BubbleBeads. Which I will discuss later, now however I wish to focus on Ros. As I mentioned she is a very imaginative young lady and she came up with an amazingly brilliant idea: She would make a pair of her hammered wire, handcrafted earrings with my BubbleBeads and place a link in her etsy shop announcement to my etsy shop and I would place a similar link to her shop and the earrings that she created using my beads. What a lovely win win situation !!! Sometimes the simplest and most effective means of promotion is right in front of us and that is using each other as resources. Each of us are indeed valuable commodities and excellent resources for both information and promotion.

Photo above...Ros's hand hammered wire holds my lemony yellow BubbleBeads making for a sweet and fun pair of dangly earrings.
Photo below...My BubbleBeads. These are in pale lemony yellow but I also have some in pale light green.

Photo below, and another view...

The design of the BubbleBeads is not of my origin. I'm sure anyone can go online and find many different version of this little bead, unfortunately the instructions I came across must have decided that this tiny piece of art would only be looked at, never worn, never handled. My first attempts at creating my first few beaded beads were less than stellar...the beads fell apart almost instantly. I understood why but had tried to have faith in the instructions which were...shock and disbelief...WRONG !!! Anyway I adapted and did what was necessary to create a structured and strong beaded BubbleBead. I love them and when they are topped with a jaunty Bali sterling silver bead cap...well what can I say but that they are adorable.

Photo below...Shows different beads capped by beautiful Bali sterling silver bead caps. These lovely caps always remind me of flowers and the dangles pictured below feels like a garden of fantasy flowers.

Ultimately I think we should all keep in mind the high value that each of us has and the vast potential that we can offer one another. Ros of designsbyros I thank you for shining that light my way. :)

TO VISIT DESIGNSBYROS CLICK ON ANY OF HER LINKS ABOVE OR CLICK HERE: http://www.etsy.com/shop/designsbyros