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 Bookmarks + Alphabets

With all the tablets, pablets, smartphones, computers and e-readers around, I thought bookmarks is an "extinct" species already.

Who needs the old bookmark when you don't read "physical" books, novels, etc. anymore?
I am the first to admit that I have not read a physical book for a very very long time.
8 years maybe.

However, recent request for my wire bookmarks give me some hope that the old bookmark would still be around for a little while :D
Here are a few completed last week.

 For letter A, Y and R

Cat Eye and fire polished beads.

For letter D, E and J.
Stainless steel wire - 16ga.
Tough! but I had fun hammering them :)

New Tutorial in My Shop - Wire Wrap Daisy Ring

I first started making this dainty Daisy Ring exactly a year ago this month.

Didn't name it Daisy Ring then but always referred to it as sparkly ring instead.

Look here, here and here.

The tutorial is now available in my Etsy Shop. This link below will bring you there:

Wire Wrap Sparkly Daisy Ring

Tutorial will be downloadable immediately.

Now more waiting :)

This is a quick project.
Once you get the hang of it, you can complete one ring within 15 minutes.

Wire Wrap Sparkly Daisy Ring

Couple of variations, with pearl and coral beads.

Hope you like it.

Wire Wrap Sparkly Daisy Ring

Wire Jewelry - Roses Are Red 2

Remember the Adjustable Wire Rose Cuff from the other day?
One of them is that plain looking wire rose cuff.
I decided to add some color to it and here is the result.

Not so plain anymore.
This time around the crystal are tinier - 2mm Swarovski crystal bicone beads

Which one do you prefer?
I prefer the "Now" :)

Adjustable Rose Ring Tutorial is available at my Etsy Shop via direct download.

I did it Upside Down

Don't get any naughty ideas :)
I am referring to the Coiled Filigree Earrings by Emily.
Tried out the project yesterday.

Well, I didn't follow through the tutorial.
Reason being I got flooded with other ideas halfway through the project.

First, while making the hoop, I decided to change it from dangle to hoop earrings.
The size of the hoops are maintained at 2.5cm in diameter.

Then, when the coils were completed, and I was getting ready to attach it to the bottom of the hoop, another idea came to mind.
Ermmmm....how would it look like if attach to the inside of the hoop instead?

That is how I ended up with an upside down version of Emily's Filigree earrings. Instead of this

....a hoop filigree earrings

The beads, coral and pearl were wire wrapped to the bottom.

How do you like my version of the Coiled Filigree Earrings :)?
Hope you like them.
I love them.

If you would like to learn how to make a Coiled Filigree Earrings, check out Emily's Tutorial here.
Who knows you might be flooded with more ideas than me.

Emily, thanks for the inspiration.

Emily Secret Passions and Other Links

Here are some of the recent happenings and links that I would like to share.
Hope you'd find them informative and useful too.

First thing first.
Emily Secret Passions
The multi-talented Emily just joined the club.

She recently opened her Etsy Store, EmilySecretPassions (Handcrafted Wire Jewelries, Gifts & Tutorials).
She is in the process of getting her shop populated.
At the moment there are several items listed including two wire jewelry tutorials.
Emily is multi-talented because she can do crochet, beading (ah...too strenuous for my eyes), sewing and twist wire into beautiful jewelry.
Not only that, she is a good cook too :)...need to learn from her one day.

Here's a sample of Emily's Crochet Earrings.

...and here's one of her wire jewelry tutorials.

This will be one of my projects this weekend.
I'll share with you the outcome after that.
Emily takes the time and effort to explain in detail each step (with close up pictures) in creating this earrings.
Won't fail, for sure.
You can check out the tutorial Here.

Etsy New Delivery Process for Digital Goods
Etsy finally introduced its new delivery process for digital goods.
This is really good news for me and many many others who sell digital goods at Etsy.
No more manual emailing of each and every tutorials :D
You can read more about it here - Click here

Following this, I have updated my Etsy store to make use of this new delivery process.
Now, when you purchase tutorials from my Etsy store, you don't have to wait for me to email you the tutorials anymore (except for tutorial packages that I still manually ship or mail them out).
After the payment process, you will receive an automatic email notification letting you know the file is ready on the Downloads page.
Just click on the blue link, which will bring you to the download page.
Click Download and save the file in your computer - see pic below.

Oooo...bliss! bliss! :)

Fastener Type Chart
Then, there are all kind of fasteners which I came across at Bolt Depot - Fastener Type Chart.
Now I know what to call my fasteners.

Bird Nest Jewelry
Something I have been wanting to make but always pushed back to the back burner.
Mortira of Inspirational Beading put together an awesome list of Bird Nest Jewelry Tutorials which I think is a very good source of reference.

Made by Joel
Another new site I discovered is Made by Joel.
Lots of art, craft, DIY projects for children.

Ok, that's it for today.
Hope you enjoy the links.