64 Arts

Arm Yourself in Sparkles

64 Arts

Of all the jewelry I own, bracelets are the least practical for daily wear. For the most part they’re best left for dressing up when all you have to do is pose prettily.

Think about it:

  • Bangles clatter and jangle against each other
  • Charm bracelets snag on delicate skirts and fluffy sweaters
  • and practically all of them become uncomfortable when you spend 9 hours a day typing on a computer keyboard!

Ribbon and bead cuff with daisies

Which is why I’ve lately become enamored of cuffs. Cuff bracelets tend to be low-profile, especially on the underside of the wrists, which is good for typing and they stay put perfectly. The trick, it seems, is to find ones that fit correctly but that’s easy enough to do if you make it yourself.

You know there was going to be a project, right?

Beaded Daisy Cuff

What you’ll need:

  • Cuff form
  • Ribbon
  • Straight pins
  • Needle and thread (regular and beading)
  • Beads
  • Fray check (or other seam sealer)
Starting the ribbon weaving for the cuff Draw out a long length of ribbon (a yard or a bit more) and loop it through the center of the frame. Weave one end in and out around the frame a few wraps and then secure it with a pin before continuing.
Wrapping the ends of the cuff frame At each end wrap the ribbon around the curved bit before weaving in the final stripe. Pin it secure and then stitch along the curve to keep the ends in place. Dot the knots with seal sealer as well as the cut end of the ribbon to keep things from fraying. Repeat on the other end.
Adding the beaded daisy to the cuff Now, this is a pretty enough cuff on it’s own but I wanted to make something a little more decorative so I added 4 beaded daisies scattered along the length. 

Each daisy starts with an e-bead center, 5 petals of 2 seed and 2 bugle beads each and 3 pollen clusters made of 5 very tiny beads.
With the edging and cluster beading Still not enough and not entirely happy about the shifting of the ribbons along the frame, I added a line of beads along the perimeter of the cuff, just inside the frame. Stitching every 4th bead with a backstitch helps the entire thing hold together. (Make sure to leave spaces for the daisy petals that overlap the outer edges, otherwise the petals with scrunch together.)

Finally I added a cluster of 3 beads between each flower to finish the cuff. Trim all waste threads as close as possible and dot all  knots with seam sealer to prevent losing any beads as you wear it.

Having the frame made this a quick project. Another option is to use bracelet-sized memory wire (it comes in oval, too, which is great for cuffs–I’ll be experimenting with that later) and make your own frame, either spacing the ends apart by a beaded bar or joining them in points at the end with interlocked loops. Using ribbon for the body of the cuff means this bracelet isn’t going to be scratchy against sensitive skin.

Belting it Out

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Back in my belly-dance days I was completely enamoured by the sparkling, jingling coin belts, the beaded hip belts and more sequins than you could shake a sequined dance cane at. But all of those things cost money–those costumes were hand-beaded and you paid for every stitch.

What’s a just-over-broke single girl to do?

Beaded Belt over LBD

Beaded Belt with a Little Black Dress

Get crafty, of course.

There are some things best left to the pros but many things you can do yourself if you’ve got the time on your hands (perched in front of a Lifetime movie marathon comes to mind). After all, budget is one of the main reasons many choose to d-i-y. Today’s project isn’t just for the dancers–leave off the bells (maybe even the extra chains) and you’ve got a great belt to jazz up a little black dress or to sling over your jeans for a night out with the girls.

Now, I made this belt years ago and don’t really have a use for a second one, so this won’t be a step-by-step tutorial. It did get broken at some point and one of the links lost so I can show you that as I replace it. Otherwise, the basic procedure is easy enough.

What You’ll Need:

  • Small-link chain
  • Lobster-claw clasp
  • Beads: e-beads, focal beads, and metal-toned spacers
  • Beading wire
  • Basic jewelry tools (needle-nose and round-nose pliers, wire cutters)
Beaded Belt laid out in a circle on the floor

This belt is long--I'd need a panoramic lens to get it all in straight!

Putting it all together:

  1. Measure 2 lengths of chain long enough to reach around the top of your hips. If it’s too tight it can break as you move but if it’s too loose it’ll slide right off.
  2. Attach the business end of a lobster claw clasp to one set of chain ends with a beaded link (medium-sized focal bead with a wrapped loop on each end.
  3. Join the two chains every 6th loop by inserting a beaded bar between them (see step-by-step, below). Start with a short bar at the beginning of the bet, increasing to to desired width and decreasing as you get to the other end of the belt.
  4. Join the two chains at the opposite end to a single length of chain by way of another beaded link. This additional chain allows you to adjust the length of the belt to accommodate different weights of clothing or wear-ability options.
  5. Attach bells, beaded drops or additional chains to the loops of the beaded bar depending on how you want to finish off the belt.

Making the Beaded Bars

Beaded Bars How-To

  1. Make a small coil at one end of your wire and slide on an e-bead or similar.
  2. Slip the beaded wire through the link of the top chain and add the beads that form the spacers between the chains.
  3. Slip the beaded wire through the corresponding link of the bottom chain and add a final e-bead.
  4. Make a wrapped loop to finish the beaded link.

~~~oOo~~~

In case it’s not ridiculously obvious, I’m having a ball with these jewelry posts: I’ve been making various baubles since I checked out a book on coiled-wire jewelry from my Middle School library, using Mom’s pliers and some spare copper wire. Still to go I’ve got a fun bracelet project and, yes, even a make-your-own tiara tutorial! Plus maybe a few other bits thrown in for good measure before we move on to perfumes in May.

Making a Statement Without Saying a Word

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Collar-style Necklace Trio of Statement Necklaces Lion Collar Necklace

Actions speak louder than words, it’s true, but our very presence can speak volumes and a stand-out necklace can say to the world that you’re as large and in charge as your accessories.

I’ve been watching a lot of Bones via Netflix, lately–it’s great to have on in the background while I’m drawing–and Dr. Temperance Brennan (or, rather, the show’s stylist) loves big, ornate, vaguely-tribal or ethnic necklaces. These sorts of statement pieces are making a comeback in everyday women’s fashion, too, made of all sorts of materials and designs.

When we wear these sorts of necklaces, though, it takes some forethought to keep our statement clear and our visual “words” unjumbled.

How to Wear a Statement Necklace

1. Let a single signature piece rule the day.

Faux Lariat Necklace in Purple and SilverBack when I was in high school the “fashion” (and I use the term loosely) was to wear several necklaces, big dangly earrings and rings on as many fingers as possible. I’m quite happy to have grown out of that stage and into one that knows when to whisper and when to shout.

By wearing a single statement piece–be it earrings, necklace, bracelet or ring–you allow that piece to stand out and be noticed.

2. Complement or contrast, but don’t argue.

You’ve got two ways to go when wearing a piece of very vocal neck-ware: you can complement the colors of your clothes or contrast them but it’s easiest if you keep busy patterns away from a bold necklace. If you’re matching a necklace to the pattern of your skirt (I’ve designed a couple specifically for that purpose), keep your shirt a sold color that coordinates with both and creates a bit of “white space” (even if the shirt is black, orange or any color other than white).

3. Match your necklace to your neckline.

Repurposed Belt as NecklaceGoing back to Bones, the very literal doctor always pairs her large-and-in-charge necklaces with either an open neckline or a tank and blazer combo. The necklaces are framed by these clothing choices and rest against bare skin–but it’s not the only way to go.

Another way to pair a neckline with a necklace, especially useful in winter, is to wear a solid turtleneck or other high-collar shirt as a backdrop for your jewelry. If you go with a button-down shirt, make sure the necklace completely clears the collar edges and that the buttons are covered by a placket (not only can they take away from the style of the necklace, they can pose a catching hazzard for the more fiddly styles).

Celtic Horse Etched Slide NecklaceFinally, by lengthening a standout necklace to below the bust-line (you can extend many styles with ribbon or additional chain purchased from the craft-store and attached to the existing clasps) eliminates any neckline confusion and adds a bohemian flair to the ensemble.

So, now that you know how to wear them, learn how to make one with the Etched Slide Necklace tutorial I put up over the weekend and let me know if you give them a try!

From Rings to Ropes

64 Arts

Not only did they differentiate between ear ornaments and necklaces, they didn’t even put the two one after the other. As much as I like going in order, it makes more sense (to me, at least) to go straight into the rest of the jewelry world and skip slightly ahead to…

~~~oOo~~~

The 19th Art: Jewelry

These are of two kinds: necklaces ornamented with jewels or ornaments worn around the hips, used mostly for the theater.

Well, I think there’s a whole lot more to jewelry than necklaces and hip belts–more than two types of necklaces even!

First there’s length: do you want to wear a snug, choker-style or one that drapes just to that delicate hollow at the base of your throat. There’s also longer lengths and what will look best depends on your own size plus the neckline of the shirt or dress you’re wearing.

Next is style: chain links or beaded (or both)? single-stranded or multi? focal bead or pendant (or neither)? There are everyday necklaces that go with everything, artsy necklaces you wear when you want to be noticed or make a statement and the fancy stuff that comes out on special occasions.

And then there’s the details like colors and materials and all sorts of other things that determine whether this necklace goes with that outfit or your mood.

I’ve got a few projects to show you over the next couple of weeks (including a hip-belt! they’re not just for the theater!) but if you just can’t wait, check out these articles I wrote during my eHow days:

How to Do Viking Chain Knitting: this method of weaving chain makes impressive necklaces and gives you something to do with all those leftover allen wrenches from your last IKEA purchase.

How to Crochet with Wire and Beads: shows you the basics of forming beaded crochet bracelets and a bonus earring pattern that I designed by accident but love to wear.

How to Bead on a Loom: you might find the loom in the kids’ crafts section of the store, but there are some amazing bracelets, necklaces and more than can be made with it that are far from child’s play.

If I Had $100 for Every Proposal I’ve Had…

64 Arts

I could pay off my two lowest-balance store cards.

No. Wait. If we include all the times the first guy asked me after he took it back, mid-planning-the-wedding, I could pay off my third store card.

Easily.

What have we learned so far?

  1. Scraps has been proposed to lots. (6 engagements before I was 26)
  2. Scraps recently totaled up her credit card debt. Ouch. (I can’t be the only one who glances at the account balance and concentrates on the available credit, right?)

And even the guys that didn’t propose, they liked to give out jewelry. Several of them liked rings, especially, and up until a recent purge of my bauble collection, I had all of them stored away.

I have a motto: Why waste good jewelry?

Of course, what makes a ring “good” or not, is largely a matter of taste.

 

Rings on a Mandrel

My Preciouses

Tastes Change

Growing up, I wasn’t the girl who fantasized about her wedding as much as I knew what sort (or shape) of diamond I wanted. Not something too fancy, a simple solitaire in a marquise shape on a gold band and I would be a happy girl.

The first of those engagement rings I received? Pear-shaped.

It wasn’t quite right, and neither was the boy. Though I wouldn’t believe it for quite some time and a repeat of the situation. Weren’t we all that way, once?

I did get that marquise-shaped diamond, eventually. Still have it, in fact, and one of these days I might get around to having it reset in something I’ll be able to wear.

Repeat after me: Why waste good jewelry?

But these days not only am I less enamored of diamonds in general (though, being my birthstone, it’s never a truly bad choice) but the “little boat” shape of the marquise does very little for me. In fact, I seem to be gravitating more to a square-shaped stones (maybe because it’s a shape not currently in my personal inventory).

Thinking Outside the Diamond

Thanks to DeBeers, a diamond is what most people expect when marriage is on the table and, let’s face it, society is changing but the engagement/wedding ring is still the most important piece of jewelry in many a girl’s life.

But there are options, ladies, and some worth serious consideration–even if you’re shopping for yourself, just because. We’re going to borrow those 4 c’s of diamond selection and take a walk on the wilder side of finger-wear.

Cut: Not the Same as Shape, But Who Cares?

In diamonds, cut refers to the number of planes and surfaces on the finished stone and is incredibly regimented. If you’re not shopping for a faceted stone or a major investment, cut isn’t going to matter as much to you as the shape.

Do you know what makes some of those stones so expensive? (Besides, of course, the marketing campaigns that convince us certain stones are “acceptable” and others aren’t.) The amount of work that goes into them (number of cuts) and the risk taken every time a cut is made–all that risk and money to take parts of it away!

That’s why, if you want more bang for your buck, looking at less-processed stones may fit your bill. You can find many semi-precious stones in all the major shapes (round, square, pear/teardrop, marquise, oval, etc.) as well as in unfinished states.

Color: All the Rainbow and Then Some!

While diamonds do come in other colors than white/clear (I’ve been known to drool over those chocolate diamonds, myself), they’re not as common as the clear version. With so many other options out there it seems almost foolhardy to limit yourself to just one stone.

Aside from the color of the stone(s), let’s talk about the settings and bands, as well. Gold and silver are your basics, with platinum making up the holy metal trinity. I used to wear gold pretty much all the time (and there used to be a rule about not mixing gold and silver but I think most folks ignore that these days) but something always bugged me: I could see the difference in color between 10K, 14K and 18K yellow gold.

And they clashed.

So I switched, several years back, to all silver (or white gold), all time time. Because sterling silver has pretty much one designation if it’s worth wearing: .925 and it all looks the same.

And, too, for the buyer on a budget, silver prices remain much more reasonable compared to the wildly escalating gold market.

Clarity: Know What You Want and Why

Again, in diamonds, clarity is a specific measure of the “identifying characteristics” of the stone–namely blemishes (outside) and inclusions (inside). And, of course, the fewer flaws the more valuable it is because the more rare is it.

But everyone has flaws, why shouldn’t our jewelry?

Those so-called “flaws” are what make us unique and a few inclusions here and a scuff or two there show a stone that is worn and loved and has been through a life.

Take my mainstay ring: the big teardrop lapis lazuli. Pyrite (fools gold) is a part of all lapis but many jewelers try to minimize the amount present. When I shop for pieces for myself, I’m on the lookout for the pyrite streaks–they show me it’s less likely to be a fake if present–and the deepest blue I can find.

I want a ring with some character, one I’m not afraid to wear for fear of messing it up. Kinda like the people I surround myself with: they’re all characters!

Carat: Size Matters, Am I Right?

Ah, the old quantity vs quality debate.

I think miniatures are amazing, truly breathtaking when done well. But small stones? Those chips are hardly worth the money you pay to have them set.

Those little diamond chips you see in some jewelry? Each one is a point (roughly 1/100 of a carat) and their resale value is absolutely pitiful. They don’t even sparkle enough on their own, they have to be set with plenty light-reflecting material around it to give the illusion of more carats than are really pleasant.

As much as I appreciate delicate craftsmanship, when I’m looking for a ring I’m looking to make a statement so I want something with a little size to it–either the stone or the setting or both. This is why I love that cocktail rings have come back in style in a big way.

Rings on Paper

Rings on Her Fingers

Rings on Her Fingers

For those of you who know I draw comics, too, you probably won’t be surprised that I made a comic (though not a mockery) of my ring-centric history with men. To understand just how I ended up so many proposals (but only 2 marriages and the divorces to match) and why Todd was told (in no uncertain terms) to never buy me a ring, head over to Cocktail Hour to read Rings on Her Fingers.

And, for those of you who’d like a signed copy of that story (professionally printed, 24 pages plus cover, I have about 16 in stock and no immediate plans for another print run) I’d be more than happy to sell you one. They are $5, payable by PayPal, and include mailing.


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