JEWELRY EXPRESSIONS BY ANITA: Egyptian Coil Bracelet

Friday, April 16, 2010

NEW CREATIONS IN COPPER/TRAVELING WITH WIRE

I finished these copper pieces this week. All of the wire work is completely handmade, and the beautiful lampwork bead swirled with colors is by my friend, Jeanne.

I did some of the wirework while I was at my daughte's home following the birth of her baby, Summer Abigail. One thing about wire is that it is very transportable and easy to work on without taking up a lot of space, especially in someone else's home! I tried some new things with the wire and it gave me a stash to create with when I returned home. I took 16, 18, 20 and 24 g. wire, tools for cutting and wrapping and mandrels to make jumprings. It all fit in a small 8x11x2" box.

I hope to get these new pieces posted on Artfire this week! Thanks for looking. Blessings, Anita

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Egyptian Coil Bracelet

I took on a new wire project this week - an EGYPTIAN COIL BRACELET. I downloaded the free tutorial from http://mckjewelry.blogspot.com/2006/08/egyption-coil-tutorial.html. So my thanks to Marie Cristine! I had fun making this bracelet, starting out using inexpensive 19 gauge stainless steel wire that I picked up at a local hardware store. Having never worked with stainless steel wire, it was harder to work with than copper as it stiffens up as you work with it. But the end result was worth the effort. After making my first piece, I moved on to 18 gauge copper wire with the results pictured. I am very pleased with this piece and my advise if you decide to make this bracelet is to keep each wire length the same, check each piece after coiling to see that each piece is still the same length. Be consistent in each step you do so that the final piece comes out well balanced. I really thought the bracelet was beautiful in its natural copper coloring, but decided to patina it and absolutely love the antiqued look from this process. If you decide to make this, please share a photo with me! If you have ANY QUESTIONS regarding this piece, or anything else on my blog, please e-mail me through the blog!
Have a great week.
Anita

MARKETING YOUR WEB SITE

I recently posted a question to http://askszarka.blogspot.com/ regarding ways to drive traffic to my new jewelry site at ajhearn.artfire.com. I did not want to attract unwanted spam, so asked for their feedback on how to accomplish this in a cost effective way. Robin Hawke, who does freelance PR and Marketing, shared the Jewelry Marketing information she learned at the Tucson Gem Show. Robyn's feedback was informative and practical, especially for the budget-minded entrepreneur. And, it does not simply apply to jewelry marketing. Go to Szarka's blogspot listed above. You will also fall in love with Szarka's jewelry designs. You can also visit Robyn's web site at http://www.magpiegemstones.com/.

Anita