dashery

My first memories of jewelry making didn’t include normal materials. When I was a little girl, I would sit in the huge grassy field and gather up clover flowers to tie together to make jewelry. Long ropes of them for necklaces, shorter ones for crowns and bracelets. The crowns were my favorite. But the jewelry making bug didn’t bite me back then.

When I was in college, I had a friend who had a fabulous chain maille bracelet. It was a stainless steel, dragons weave, endless loop and I coveted it. I wore it for a while, but sadly she wanted it back. I found a book about chain making and I was hooked! I cut out thousands of jump rings and crafted them into bracelets like this bracelet. http://www.etsy.com/listing/6266801/sterling-silver-queen-chain-maille

Then I was amazed to find that I could buy long strands of gemstones beads. All the pretty colors and shapes and sizes! Another love was born! I could use the same wire I was using to make my chain maille to make chains of beautiful gemstone beads like this necklace. http://www.etsy.com/listing/14339241/amazonite-harlequin-facet-nugget

More recently I’ve been fascinated with metalworking techniques. A couple of years ago I took some fabulous jewelry classes at our local Art Center. I learned so much fun stuff and started using those skills in my work. I learned riveting that I use in this ring. http://www.etsy.com/listing/80433279/rivet-copper-ring-with-blue-raku-ceramic

I learned chasing and repousse which is basically pushing the metal around from the front and back of a piece to make it three dimensional. I used these techniques to make this pendant. http://www.etsy.com/listing/67211847/copper-bird-pendant-handmade-finch-on

That’s my jewelry making journey up to now. I hope to keep learning and have fun adding to my skills.