4 Wire Wrapping Supplies That You Need to Get Started

Have you recently found your passion for wire wrap jewelry?
If you have lot of free time in your hands, try making some wire wrapping jewelry and create some unique one of a kind wire wrapped earrings, bracelets and rings that nobody has.
Before you get started, apart from the wire, the four basic types of pliers that you will need for a start are as follows:

1. Wire cutter ('A' on the picture below): It is an essential supply for making wire wrap jewelry. This cutter allows you to cut and trim the wire of desired length. Buy the best quality cutter pliers to get neat edges to make professional looking jewelry.
2. Chain nose ('B'): It is similar to the round nose pliers but here the inner edges of the jaws are flat. Thus, they are used for providing better grip and closing and opening the jump rings. This plier narrows towards the tip that makes them valuable to get into small space, like tuck in the wire end. To get perfection, ensure that the pliers’ inside edges are not serrated or else there will be mark on your wire. 
3. Flat Nose ('E'): It is useful for bending and straightening the wire. This tool is used for a number of tasks when making earrings, bracelets, and pendants as it helps in holding the wire piece securely.
4. Round Nose ('F'): For me, they are an absolute must to get control of the wire when you make loops of any size. They are even needed to make the spirals. To get large loops it is suggested to place the wire near the pliers’ handles and for making the smaller loops, place the wire at the pliers’ tip. Buy good quality pliers that have a return spring mechanism in the handle to ease the task as neat loops are an absolute must to make professional looking jewelry.

These four supplies are not all; you also need a good instruction manual, book, magazine, ebook or search online for free tutorials that gives step-by-step instructions to make trendy and unique wire wrapping jewelry. There are many craft supply online stores that have a good collection of supplies to make wire wrap jewelry. But remember to look for coupons at Frugaa.com to the things at affordable prices.

Exciting Gifts that Were Work for a Man, but are pH Balanced for a Woman

There are sections of the department store that you’d generally associate with either men or women, but not necessarily both.  For example, you’d probably only find women with the makeup, unless Halloween is right around the corner or if the David Bowie concert is just a block away. You’d probably also really only to expect men in the sporting goods section. While there are obviously tons of exceptions, we have been conditioned with certain expectations that aren’t necessarily true.

A gilded, sparkling and perfect example of this is a Rolex watch. One generally associates this, the Rolls Royce of all wristwear to be for men, but no, that assumption is very far from the truth indeed. Rolex has a vast and glamorous array of stunning watches for women that will make any fashionista salivate and lust after.
Just as it is with its masculine counterpart, a female inspired Rolex watch is more than just a watch.  It is a piece of art, it is a piece of jewelry. If you don’t believe me, and I don’t know why you wouldn’t, check out the specifics of Rolex at rolex watch repair or rolex watch repair los angeles and see what all the fuss (I’m making) is about. You will be immediately impressed, surprised and inspired to wear one.

Another fun example is a yoga class. Listen, I go to yoga almost every day.  It works. It helps with my posture, it works wonders for my mood, and it positively informs the rest of my day. However, to say that I enjoy it while I’m there is a slight stretch of the truth. While I struggle and sweat gracelessly from one pose to the next, all of the women in there are relaxed and elegant flamingoes, effortlessly and poetically moving their bodies along with the teacher. Women are naturally more flexible and I for one am unnaturally less flexible. I feel like a Homer Simpson among Jessica Simpsons in there, but I wouldn’t trade it.

A great example of a gift idea that seem fine for a man but more suitable to a woman’s tastes is the divine gift of chocolate fondue. Sure fellas will love this; no human in his or her right mind would not. However, there’s a certain almost mythical chemical reaction that takes place when women and chocolate mix. It’s like a massage to her soul, a balm to her cravings, an assurance that today is a good day. We live in an exciting age in the evolution of food, and lately I’ve been seeing a lot of enticing chocolate bars with bits of hot peppers and orange and all manner of creative variations. Men, if you love chocolate like you should, good. But always sacrifice it for the woman you love and you’ll both end up winners.

Fragments, Fine and Fashion Jewelry

I have been so busy with work that my wire jewelry has taken a back seat for many weeks/months. Nevertheless, I still create a little and surf the web and discover other jewelry websites for inspiration and just to feast on others’ creations.

Now, what do you think of this?
"jewelry is our passion as well as our business"
Awesome? Sounds like me…hehe.
Where did I see this?
Have you ever heard of Fragments?

Well, they've been around for almost 30 years and I am admitting that I just discovered it recently. The “Our Story” page described that Fragments was founded by Janet Goldman back in 1984. Initially created to fill the void in the accessory market, Fragments is now one of the largest retailers in the jewelry industry, selling both fine and fashion jewelry.

Anyway, as I read on, they say, if you want to be discovered and launched your career in jewelry designing, then get discovered by Fragments first. Many of today’s celebrated fine and fashion jewelry designers have discovered and launched their career through Fragments.
Well, I hope to one day be one of them.

If you’d like to check out some of the designers on the Fragments, click on the "designers" link. Click on the individual designer and you will be brought to their page. Here you can read some background information and find other interesting details such as guilty pleasures and pieces of jewelry he/she never take off, and of course their creations.
Interesting!

There are many more beautiful jewelries over at Fragments, enough to inspire even if you are not buying.
Happy Sunday!

Wire Wrapped Jasper Donut Pendant

Seems like everyone is in shopping mood this month. Christmas shopping mood that is! It feels like only yesterday we celebrated Christmas 2009, and now 2010 is nearing its end. Are you in shopping mood as well? What do you want for Christmas? A sling backpacks maybe? Is that a hint? *wink*
I guess this is the best time of the year to shop.
Everywhere I go, I see sales, promotions, giveaways, holiday offers, special offers, etc. etc. 
Some are really very tempting but I'd go shopping early next month after payday :)
Before that, got to make more wire jewelry.
After all no moolah, no shopping!
K! Here is a recently completed piece of wire wrapped donut pendant.
Not sure about the type of stone but I believe its Jasper.

Love this stone as its cool and heavy to the touch. It is now with its new owner.
Hope she is happy and loving it.
You have a great day my dear readers.

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Murano Glass! Murano Glass!

When we hear about Murano Glass, what comes to mind is Venice or the Venetian island of Murano in particular. For centuries, Murano's glassmakers produced high quality glass, refining the glass making technologies including crystalline glass, enamelled glass (smalto), glass with threads of gold (aventurine), multicoloured glass (millefiori), milk glass (lattimo), and imitation gemstones made of glass. Today, the artisans of Murano are still employing these century-old techniques, crafting everything from contemporary art glass and glass figurines to Murano glass chandeliers and wine stoppers - Source: Wikipedia.

Outside of Venice, you can find 100% genuine Murano Glass hand blown in Venice at Murano Glass Gift Co, a company started in 2001 that carry a wide variety of art glass from around the world mainly Murano Glass and World Art Glass.

At Murano Glass Pendants you will find among others this Murano Calcedonia Pendant which has a Milky Way or Galaxy look to it. Calcedonia is an art form of Murano dating back hundreds of years. It refers to glass featuring veins of color running through the dark colored glass. This look is obtained by mixing various metal compounds in a certain fashion to imitate the natural stones such as agate, onyx and malachite.

Florentine Drop in brilliant colors. Something I would wear any day, anytime. Love those spirals. Very inspiring.

Besides jewelry, check out the Murano Birds. The love bird set would make an exquisite gift set. The details of the design is awesome and captivating.

In Feng Shui, a pair (of birds) is for luck. It's the symbol of love and union. Surround yourself with pairs of birds, and you wouldn't feel lonely :) That is according to feng shui.  Should we give it a try?
If you are a fan of Murano Glass or unique and beautiful glass creations, check out Murano Glass Gift Co.
They are offering free FedEx ground shipping to USA and Canada.

Pearls - Mikimoto Pearls

Yeah! I love pearls and I use them a lot in my wire wrapped jewelry. If you have been following, you know I have done lots of wire wrapped pearl pieces. But, none of them is comparable to what I discovered recently.

Mikimoto Pearls, the Originator of Cultured Pearls also synonymous with the finest quality pearls. The pearl house was founded by Kokichi Mikimoton in 1893, more than a century ago. With such long history, it is not surprising when only the best 3-5% of cultured pearls are deemed worthy to carry the Mikimoto's name? Just awesome!

Anyone who loves pearls should also know that Mikimoto invented the proprietary grading system of sorting and grading pearls (I just found out actually :)). This grading scale is the only qualified system which accurately and consistently defines six factors for grading pearls - luster and nacre quality, surface perfection, color, shape and size. Since then, many other companies have adopted this system. However, be extra careful when a company graded its pearls AAA or A+ as it does not mean they compare to MIKIMOTO's grades. It can be very misleading. So check your pearls before purchase.

Mikimoto has 4 Grades: A, A+, AA and AAA (highest quality) and 4 Sub-grades: A1, A+1, AA1 and AAA1 the '1' means a slightly more blemished surface.

Feast your eyes on some of Mikimoto's elegant pearl jewelry.