One can never have too many earrings

I made a decision to only blog my jewellery makes in groups of 4 or so because I never have a whole lot to day abut them. As a result, you are getting over a year's worth of jewellery (minus the wedding earrings) in one fell swoop.

For the past three years, I've been making my family jewellery for Christmas.^* In 2012, it was the Merry Christmas tree earrings; the next year I made F an owl pendant and Aged P a tree of life pendant. Last year, I went back to the tree thing and made everyone Xmas tree pendants which used to be a free project from the Interweave Jewelry Making store, but now seems to have disappeared.


The pattern calls for square wire, which I couldn't find, so I used 20-gauge brass wire and flattened it with a hammer. Doing this before shaping made it oddly challenging to bend the wire.

This year, in spite of (or maybe because of) the lack of snow, I went for beaded snowflakes. I bought way too many seed beads for this, so I might have to do a beaded shirt or something to get rid of them.



That big snowflake is Sandra Halpenny's #4 ornament, only with 15/0 seed beads and 3mm crystals as per this blog post; sadly, the pattern she linked to has disappeared from the internet and I couldn't find it among Halpenny's designs. This was the closest thing to it, but I need to play with the pattern because I don't like the openness in the middle and the last row of beads detracts a bit from the overall shape. I didn't give this to anyone because it's too a bit too big for earrings or a pendant.



I made the actual gifts using this pattern and 15/0 and 11/0 seed beads (because I forgot to get 8/0 beads) and mixing it up with 3 mm or 4 mm clear or blue-tinged crystals. This resulted in snowflakes of a slight variety in size and look. I made earrings for me, Aged P, and my MIL, and cluster pendants for my two SILs.



I made the next two pairs of earrings last February. I've been wanting to make another pair of the Eva earrings from Making Vintage Jewellery since I tried to freestyle the purple pair two years ago, only with stirling silver and aquamarine beads. I've had a jig for a while now but never used it properly before this, and despite my problems with large curves, it's brilliant for things like this. I kind of want to redo the purple pair, but the DC likes their artisanal flavour. Plus, I'm lazy. So we'll see.


Two years ago I bought a few strings of coloured hematite blocks from Arton Beads to bring a purchase up to a stamp-worthy $50. These bronze block chandeliers are based on the "graceful chandeliers" from the Fall 2009 Step by Step Wire Jewellery magazine. The original earrings have small spiral danglers which I think look silly; I'm quite pleased with my version and wear them a lot. Another example of good jigging. Getting jiggy with it? Do we still say that? The ear wires are too thick, though.


The last pair were the ones I made for NYE last year to go with my Gravity Well dress. It wasn't exactly a planned purchase, but they go together so well I'll have to make some slightly more casual ones to go with the matching cardigan. Because it's important to have choice.



Gold-coloured hematite blocks on gunmetal wire and the same crystals used for the Xmas tree pendants from the beginning of the page. Which brings this post full-circle.


^*Adorably, my MIL is the only one who actually wears the stuff I make for them. She makes a point of wearing them when we go over for dinner. D'aw.