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.

Sparkly and Wiggly Rings - Lapis Lazuli

Not so productive last weekend but managed two rings, only. Both are 8mm Lapis Lazuli wrapped with 20ga Sterling Silver wire.
I wish I have thicker wire for the wiggly ring.
With 20ga it doesn't feel that sturdy even after some hammering.

However, the one wrapped based on my Sparkly Crystal Ring method is just nice and strong :)

Headache been visiting for the last 24 hours and I am signing off right after this. 

Rest and sleep is the best cure for headache....so goodnight and sweet dreams my dear readers!

Sparkly Pretties, Time and Friends

How time flies when there are lots to do and learn. There are friends to keep in touch with, time for meeting, time for making new friends, time for work, time for family, time for play, time for yourself, time for blogging J, etc. etc. It is never enough.

Last weekend, I made these few pretties for a dear friend. They are mixture of colors of Swarovski crystals, wire wrapped with sterling silver wire. MH likes her jewelry to be as colorful as possible. According to her, colors make life more exciting, happy and not boring. Back in late 80’s/early 90’s, when we were still uni students….hmm….makes me feel old L, she gave me a batik printed nightgown -- with bright rainbow colors printed all over it…Can’t remember for what occasion but I still have it and it always reminds me of how colorful MH could be J

MH if you are reading this, the nightgown is still in good shape and colors, even after 20 years.

I am more of a black, gray and white color person but life is exciting and not boring at all. So, it’s not the colors is it? but more of how you view life and how you want it to be…exciting or boring regardless of colors…J what am I mumbling about?

……anyway…just enjoy the pretties and colors.

Somehow I couldn’t get nice pictures of them. Could it be the background?

Wire Wrapped Flora with Hammered Edges

After the first one and after Shuku suggested more hammering for the petals, here is the new wire wrapped floral pendant.

I really hammered the petals off as you know 19ga stainless steel wire is quite tough.
VERDICT: I really love the outcome....LIKE! LIKE! Thanks for the suggestion Shuku.
This time around I added an additional petals, making them six instead, added a glass leaf  and tourmaline teardrop that looks like a leaf too.
This is mine for the keeping :)

Happy Sunday!

Revisited - Iza's Woven Bead Cap but (but flattened), Rose Quartz

There are many wire jewelry artists that I admire and get inspiration from since I got addicted to wire.
As some of you may have known, I admire Iza Malczyk tremendously and I dream (since 2007) to be like her one day (still daydreaming :)).
There are many pieces that I made inspired by her creations as well as her tutorials. 
And here is the most recent one. This is based on the Woven Bead Cap Tutorial but instead of a cap, its flattened to become a spiral.
Now that I am looking at it, I should have weave the spiral tighter i.e smaller gaps between the wires. Hm...but I think it still looks great this way :)

This is the wire wrapped pendant attached to it, giving weight to the woven spiral. Or else, the woven spiral by itself will be too light to hang nicely down the neck.
Its Cat's Eye with Cherry Quartz and dyed coral beads on both top and bottom.
I added some chain to the bottom of this pendant too because without it, the pendant look "incomplete". That is just what I feel :)

More chains for the back of the necklace, beaded clasp and wire wrapped 10mm Rose Quartz.
Somehow the pink of the Rose Quartz don't stand out in these pictures. They look too pale.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy the pictures and get inspired by this post.

The Spotty One (Leopard Print) - Double Abundance II

This is a rare (at least for me) spotty donut pendant as I have never seen a stone like this before.
Maybe you have come across this stone. Any idea what its called?
D likes it at first sight too, so this pendant is made for her. Now on the way to her.....

Our net connection was down last Sunday till Monday morning. Now, I have lots of catching up to do.
Just one day/night down and I am way behind in lots of things. This is like a full time job! Duh!
Must get organize again to reduce this dependency!!!
Have a great week all.