Cassie’s Jewelry Beginnings

So, this sub-forum could use more action.

Like I said in an earlier thread, this is really a beginning hobby for me, and I haven’t accomplished much at this point, sadly. I also have a shitty camera, but I’ve recently ordered a new one, so when I get back home to my apartment, I’ll have my camera handy and will be able to take decent pictures of everything I have. In the meantime, I’ll share the one (unimpressive) piece I’ve actually finished, parts of another I have planned, and some of stuff I’ve purchased recently from one site.

Here are some pictures of a bracelet I made my sister. My only truly finished piece. Its very simple, didn’t take very long, and isn’t horribly aesthetically pleasing, but I did finish it and it hasn’t fallen to pieces yet:

Ignore my weird-looking hands (http://www.divshare.com/image/4221264-582)

The back. Again, ignore the hands ;-; (http://www.divshare.com/image/4221267-936)

The whole thing (http://www.divshare.com/image/4221268-85c). Hopefully, I’ll be able to take some better pictures of it later. The camera I took this with kinda dulls down the color and shine from the crystals.

I has a gift bag to put it in eventually! These things are neat and cheap. I will start making actual use of them when I actually start making stuff regularly (http://www.divshare.com/download/4221269-6b0)

Really shoddy picture of the pieces I plan to attach to some gold chain. (http://www.divshare.com/image/4221341-169) These are Swarovski pearls and some gold filled beads on gold headpins. We shall see how it turns out soon.

This thread is kinda pointless at this point, because the pictures are poor quality and I haven’t done much of anything. But there is one main purpose of this thread:

To people at FFS that I know, I’d like to offer you the chance to let me make something for you. No charge, as most of the stuff I’m doing now is kinda bad and for practice only, unless you want an actual (large) faceted gemstone in it. It is much much much easier to make something if you have someone in mind to make it for, and even better if they have certain colors, stones, and type in mind (bracelet, necklace, all beaded, pendant on chain, etc.)

So really, don’t be shy. You don’t even have to wear it or like it ;_; I just like to imagine I’m making these things for someone, at the very least. Help give me some inspiration. Post in this thread, toss me a PM, or catch me on IRC. I’ll even make something for a friend of yours (although I can’t guarantee you’ll want to give it to them in the end!)

cassie, i don’t know why you say it loos bad, cause i think that bracelet looks really good! it’s way better than anything i could make.

Cass, they are very pretty indeed. 🙂

It’s good to see that people are starting to make use of the new crafts forums too.

I’m never wore any type of jewelery and it’s not my thing but If you wanna make something "inspired" by me then I’d love to see some pics.

But really, these are awesome. feel free to post more pics of them and about how you made them. <3

It’s awesome that you made that yourself Cassie, it’s rather creative, you obviously have a knack for this sort of stuff so keep at it ^.^

I do not want or have any ideas for a request of any sort for Jewelry but since you were in need of some sort of inspiration, I thought I’d chime in 🙂

And there’s nothing wrong with your hands 😛

Thanks guys ;D

I just got my new camera, but I’ve sent my jewelry stuff back home, so it sort of defeats the purpose. When I am back home (couple weeks), I will take pictures of all my gemstones and beads and findings and tools and other crap, and hopefully I’ll be able to complete the gold necklace with the brown pearls and get pictures of that as well.

Awesome Cass.

Looking forward to it! 🙂

Awesome Cass.

Looking forward to it! 🙂

i am too!!

hopefully they are huge this time ;P

Okay, picture update. Some of these are really shitty quality because I have no idea how to use the settings on my camera much beyond the default/auto settings. Therefore, close ups with low light are tough to take. Hopefully they give you an idea, but it doesn’t really matter since the important stuff showed up well anyway! I’ve also scaled them down a decent bit, but I still doubt they are 56k friendly.

Most of my collection of cabochons. These are just gemstones that have been shaped and have a flat back. Some of the stones should be pretty recognizable (from L to R: amethyst, hematite (looks cooler up close), ?, really dark garnet, peridot, aquamarine, pink moonstone, and ruby at the bottom). The cabs are usually put in bezels, like the ruby stone at the bottom. How I actually got it to stick in there I have no idea D: Usually it takes glue or a special tool and I don’t even remember trying to make it stick in there, but when I dug them out, that guy was stuck right in the bezel.

Shitty pic. Sets of Swarovski crystal beads I have.

These are faceted stones. The blue is a sapphire, the clear ones are cubic zirconia, and the red one is a garnet. The color is so bright/clear because they are synthetic. The real stones are about 20x more expensive and richer, darker colors. I would like to make a ring of some sort with the garnet and cubic zirconias, but not sure how I should go about doing it. I certainly don’t have the equipment or funds for any kind of metal casting. I’ve been reading up on some ways to do ring work without having access to a studio/casting equipment.

Various findings and stuff.

Shitty picture of my silver findings and a silver chain that is pretty neat. Not sure what I’ll do with it yet.

This is one of the first things I bought. A really freaking thick sheet of yellow brass. Original plan was to get a jewelers saw and play around with cutting out shapes and other crap. I really really really underestimated how thick a few millimeters could end up being.

I did the same with the yellow brass wire I bought. I could probably still do some cool stuff with the wire, but its a bitch to bend. This picture turned out kinda arsty/neat, even though its just sheet metal and wire D:

And awhile back I talked about the necklace I was planning on making, including a shitty picture of the hanging parts I wanted on it. Here’s the finished result:

Bad quality, but shows you how it hangs

I bought the chain, clasp, and individual pieces. I attached the clasp and beads/headpins. It was a good idea, conceptually, but given the kind of chain I used, you can see that the chain doesn’t really work well. The center beads pull down a lot, so the necklace makes a sharp "V" and the outer hanging beads hang up higher than I wanted. Overall, I don’t think its too bad. Probably not something I’ll wear, unless I find something that matches nicely, but hey, its a completed piece.

Anyway, there you have it. I know this stuff isn’t very impressive, but be gentle, I’m still a beginner ;-; And half the struggle for me, as a completely non-artsy person, is just coming up with stuff TO make. The actual clamping and cutting and bending, etc. is what comes easier.

cassie, this is so neat! how much did those rubies and amythest and stuff cost, cause they seem like they’d be expensive.

the necklace came out really good! it looks really pretty.

Because most of the stuff is synthetic and small, they don’t cost that much. A few bucks, max. Some of it isnt the greatest quality either — the peridot cab has a flaw inside the stone that probably isn’t that big of a deal, but its certainly noticeable upon inspection.

natural stones are a lot more expensive. I’m buying these from hobby jewelery making places, so they aren’t like, major high quality stuff. But I know one site had a really small faceted emerald for like $30. If I was making a good piece for someone, I’d buy something like that, but for now, the synthetic stuff does me good.

cassie this is awesome!

Cassie, the bracelet looks delightful! Especially since it’s your first piece.
The necklace looks quite lovely too.

You have almost identical hands to one of my friends, right down to the nails.
It’s very strange.

Nice stuff …Thanks for sharing with us …keep going on ..