New Tutorial Release - Crystal Hoop Earrings aka "Honey I Shrunk the Bracelets

These wonderful hoop earrings evolved from my Swarovski Crystal Bracelet design. They can be made as big or as tiny as you like – I’ve “shrunk” them down small enough for a nose ring and of course they started as a bracelet :). This is a high-level beginner to intermediate project. The project is not complicated, but does assume you are familiar with; basic wire handling skills, such as cleaning, straightening wire, turning a basic loop, and completing a basic binding wrap.
The tutorial is available in both my Etsy Shop and my new Artfire Tutorial and Supplies Shop. I hope you get a chance to check it out - while you're there check out other fun designs you may have missed like the Knot a Ring, and Cuffs and Vines Earrings.
♥Wrap Happy,
Bobbi

2 Hinged cages and a Locket - Tutorial

After 2 computer crashes, countless re-writes, and a heavy teaching schedule, I finally finished my newest tutorial - 2 Hinged Cages and a Locket. It grew much larger than I originally planned, with 3 FULLY ILLUSTRATED variations. I seriously considered separating out the Locket variation as a stand alone tutorial, but the "leave it in" part of my brain won the toss.

This tutorial teaches you step by step how to create a basic hinged cage, with or without beaded embellishments. This is a wonderfully versatile design to hold a favorite stone, maybe a love note, or a treasured trinket. Once it is on a chain, it is virtually impossible to come open by accident.
As a bonus this tutorial also includes 2 COMPLETE step by step variations including a crossed wire and locket style cage.
The owner of a local bead shop showed me the mechanics of the hinge close to 15 years ago. A very dear friend of mine, Master Wire Worker Ed Sinclair, created a published one in 1994. He has generously given me permission to share my versions of the basic cage and a crossed wire technique that he developed years ago.

This is an advanced level tutorial - it assumes you are familiar with basic wire techniques and improvising when needed. It is 28 pages with 67 steps and over 100 crisp, clear photographs. The file size is 2.3MB.

Don't be intimidated by the length and number of steps - This tutorial covers 3 FULLY illustrated pieces. While this is an advanced level tutorial, intermediate wire workers with a solid foundation of basic wire wrapping skills can, with patience, complete this design.

Thank you for visiting....... Bobbi

"Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared." ~Bhuddha

Getting Your Work Noticed On-Line Be Seen, Be Seen, Be Seen ~~PART 3~~

Okay - class?, class?, class? - oops sorry, had a Sister Mary Elephant flashback.

Before I move on, I’d like to share a small experiment I did recently using elements from the first 2 Be Seen articles. You did read them didn’t you?
I recently put 4 photos up in my Flickr account – 2 of the Mens' Diamond Ring, and 2 of the Double Swinging Topaz pendant (both are in the gallery here). One each (ring and pendant) photos, I just added to my jewelry groups I belong to. The other set I added to my groups AND added them to Diigo, Mr Wong, Delicious, and Stumbleupon. The view differences were staggering. For the ring photo 1 (heavily bookmarked) the views were 134 for one day, while the un-bookmarked photo 2 received only 43 views. The same for the pendant photo 1 – bookmarked, the views were 271, and photo 2 received only 15 views. Social bookmarking DOES work.

Google Tools

Now that you've added your work in every social bookmark you can, (http://mywiredimagination.blogspot.com/2009/10/getting-your-work-noticed-on-line-be.html ) and started a blog (http://mywiredimagination.blogspot.com/2009/09/getting-your-work-noticed-on-line-be.html ), now it's time to for more tools to get you into searches, and see how well things are working, AND see what needs to be changed to be more effective.

First you’ll need to get a Google account if you don’t already have one. Now before you start groaning about having another e-mail account (I can hear you), aside from being about the best e-mail service on the planet (no I don’t work for them), it is loaded with simple, but very useful tools. Gmail is free, and though it may take a little getting used its well worth it.

1) You have the ability to enable POP3 settings (without having to pay extra like Yahoo), so that you can still use Outlook, and Outlook Express mail.
2) You can have all your other mail accounts forwarded to Gmail, and access them all from one location, and set up filters and folders to easily keep track.
3) You have labels and filters, you set up so your mail is automatically sorted and labeled, and be color coded. Corra helped to put this one to the best use, as I have it set up to sort my sales, and PayPal receipts.
4) There is built in chat with other Gmail contacts, with one click…
5) A one click vacation responder with personal message…
There is a search mail function that actually works well, and tons of other features.
2 of the most useful features (I bet you thought I wasn’t going to get to it) are Google Alerts and Google Base

Google Alerts "http://www.google.com/alerts"
I have igoogle as my homepage, so to get to alerts, I just click on the “my account” link at the top right. Underneath your profile and personal settings are the tabs to access all sorts of useful goodies besides Alerts and Base.
Adsense -- Blogger -- igoogle -- Talk -- Docs -- Orkut -- YouTube -- Gmail -- Picassa Web Albums -- Adwords -- Groups -- Web History
If you click on “more under try something new”, you have a full page of tools worth checking out.

Once you are on your account page, click on alerts. For the most part you will want to choose “comprehensive” to get the most information from your alert, but you can set the alert for specifics, such as news.

Now you enter your search terms – You’ll want to create a new alert for each term. Set up alerts for your name; your user ID – all of them if you have more than one; your shop name, again all of them if you have more than one; your products, especially if they are very specific, such as the name of a tutorial or a very unique design to YOU (try not to use just the term ‘tutorial’, you’ll be flooded with all kinds of miss-information); the title of your blog(s), the address of your blog(s); your username at every site you’re registered at, or have an account with such as http://www.facebook.com/people/Bobbi-Maw

There are no limits to how many alerts you can create, so ‘cover all your bases’. Set up a folder for “Google alerts”, and color code it so it doesn’t get lost in your mail.

Not all returns will pertain to you, but those sometimes provide useful info too, in helping to refine your alerts, and see what people are searching for. I set my alerts to once a day – that’s once a day for EACH alert, which depending on how many alerts you have, will determine how much info is returned. Most alerts will show what folks were searching for, and where they finally landed in their search.

Google Base "http://www.google.com/base"
Now to help move you along, there is Google Base, a free service for submitting all kinds of content for Google to host. You manually put your products and info into Google search engines. You can post items one at a time; use a data feed by uploading a spreadsheet or XML file which allows you to uploaded multiple items at one time; or for the techno-savvy there is API.

All 3 options have wonderful, very detailed instructions.

If you already have an Etsy shop – http://letsets.com has a free Google Base formatter. You just enter your user name or ID number and click “fetch my items”. It returns a complete list of all your shop items. At the bottom of the list, is the link to save the XML file to your computer, and even a link right there to take you back to Google Base to input your whole shop into Google.You can set it to renew on a monthly basis, or delete and re-create it, it if you have a lot of changes in your shop.

Now if you've stuck with me through all this go have a beer, cup of hot tea, or play at recess – you earned it.
Thanks for listening….SEE ya soon...........
~Bobbi
http://MyWiredImagination.etsy.com
http://www.KarmaWired.blogspot.com

Getting Your Work Noticed On-Line Be Seen Be Seen Be Seen ~~PART 2~~

There's lots of tips and tricks I've tried, too much for just one or two articles, so here's is another 'installment' - Hope you find it useful.

Did you finish all the suggestions from the first article? No??? What ever have you been doing? snicker - sorry - ahem - There's a little more to Blogs and Flickr, I wanted to mention....

For those of you just starting out, if you don't already have a blog - Get One? Blogspot.com makes it incredibly easy to create one - there is a nice selection of standard templates, and tons of help and how-to guides for creating one. They are easily updated when you get brave enough to mess with the html code...And before you start groaning (I can hear you), if I can do it, anyone can! Now there was a time I swore I would never have one, and couldn't for the life of me see the point - Now I have 2. Aside from showing off what I'm up to jewelry wise, they're fun and a great "release" of sorts.

When you start getting your work "out there", people want to know what you're working on, how you made it (what inspired you). When people start to find your blog more and more, they become more interested. You can even attract followers - folks that like what you're writing about, and want to keep up to date. Talk about your shop you have, Etsy, Artfire, or whatever - do a post about the latest craft fair you went to and/or were in - a great new piece you just struggled to make and now your tickled pink with. Every now and then, throw a personal post in there - not the new sexy nitey you got to wear for hubby, you won't like the followers you get with that - but say - What you got or made yourself for your birthday - A great holiday to Australia you went on - Your roommates hilarious attempt to bring a motorcycle home in the car. Something that adds a feel for who you are, what you're like - a more personal touch to the jewelry they are going to go buy in your shop. And yes people become interested in your work, and want to buy it - or ask do you have a tutorial for it. That's exactly how I got started selling tutorials on-line BTW. I have taught in person for years, but it wasn't until my blog that interest in tutorials came about - Well that and the encouragement of a very dear friend.

When you write your posts, make sure you add photos (blogspot does most of the work on this one too), but try not to over load it, remember some of your readers might be on dial-up. I try to keep the number somewhere around 3 or 5. The odd number comes from my art and photography classes, many years ago - It helps keep the piece balanced and pleasing to look at. If you write just a short post, use just one photo, place it to one side, and wrap the text around it.

One of the biggest things to remember about adding photos, is to make sure, they are crisp, clear, and well focused. You don't know who's going to look at them, and while they may look okay on a small screen, you have to think about if someone is going to look at them from a bigger screen computer, or if they are going to blow it up to get a better look.

Once you have a blog and Flickr started - tie the 2 together. Blogspot makes it so easy to add a slide show from Flickr. All you have to do is go into your 'dashboard', click 'layout', select 'add a gadget', enter your Flickr user name, click 'save' - poof you're done. That wasn't so painful, was it? If you already have an Etsy shop, you can add your 'Etsy Mini' in a similar fashion. Artfire has some great promo buttons, that unlike Etsy, actually link back to YOUR shop.

Both Flickr and Blogspot have wonderful widgets to add to your Flickr and Blog to provide more information, or to be entertaining, just try not to get TOO carried away - (I'm still working on that one BTW)......

see ya soon.....I'll Be Back with more :)

~Bobbi

Getting Your Work Noticed On-Line - Be Seen, Be Seen, Be Seen

While a couple of articles have been written on this already - I thought they left out a lot - So here's my 'stash' of useful goodies and thoughts...
Whether you have a shop (or two) on-line, a blog, or just pictures of great jewelry you make - none of it means anything if people don't see it.
Here lately in my own efforts to get my work "out there", I've ran across a lot of ideas, tips, and tricks for trying to 'get seen' - Some work, others, not so well.
The first is a collection of what's called "social bookmarking". Bookmarking services (free), keep track of your bookmarks on-line (useful in itself in the event of a computer crash), but in my opinion, under-utilized in promoting yourself.
The light went on for me when I got an Artfire shop. It comes with wonderful 'shop stats'. Besides showing how many hits you've gotten - it also shows the referring URL - where and what someone was looking at, when they came to your shop/blog/whatever. There are great widgets you can put on your blog, and Flickr that will provide similar stats. Flagcounter, and Feedit's LiveTraffic are 2 of my favorites.
Addthis.com provides free code to add the "Share Button" to blogs, Facebook, MySpace, and stand alone web sites to make it really easy for others to share your work too.
Back to the bookmarking - This is the 'short list' of what's out there - Some work, others' don't, and some may not pertain to what you're trying to accomplish, but you can try them out for yourselves. - I have an account (free) in about 90% of these, and I'll go through and highlight some of my favorites. You can 'Google' any of these to get the actual URL, and a short description.....
Some of these you'll notice aren't exactly 'social bookmarking, but they perform a similar function...The idea being to get SEEN... When you set up an account, make sure you put links in your profile of everywhere your work can be found and/or purchased.

Ask - Furl - Reddit -
Backflip - Google Bookmarks - Segnalo -
BallHype - Kaboodle - Simpy -
Bebo - Link-a-Gogo - Slashdot -
Blinklist - LinkedIn - Spurl -
Blogmarks - Live - STUMBLEUPON -
Delicious - Magnolia - Tailrank -
Digg - Mister Wong - Technorati -
Diigo - Mixx - Twitter -
- Multiply - Yahoo Bookmarks -
Fark - myAOL - Yahoo Buzz -
Faves (Bluedot) - MySpace - Flickr -
Favorites - Netvouz - Yardbarker -
FeedMeLinks - Newsvine - Yahoo - MyWeb -
FriendFeed - Propeller - YouTube -
Flixya - BlogLog

Now you're probably wondering how social bookmarking can help you - Here's how most of them work - You bookmark a site, photo, item, whatever, and most offer the option for a short description and TAGS, so that your bookmarks are search-able by other users. Be as thorough on your tags as you possible can, and make sure when the option comes up, that you set your bookmarks "public". (Don't worry, most have an option to set each bookmark as public or private). One of your primary goals is then to bookmark YOURSELF. Now you don't want to bookmark just yourself, you'll turn some people off thinking that's all you're are doing is advertising.
Bookmark your friends sites and offerings, artists you admire, wonderful stuff you run across on the web - you surf, you know you do, use it. After a while (a very short time on some) other users will see your style, and tastes, and frequent your bookmarks more often.
My favorite, and according to my stats in Artfire, one of the most used - is STUMBLEUPON. It has free toolbars to add to your internet browsers, and a nicely laid out account format - You can even acquire fans :). Stumble yourself, your newest listing, latest post on your blog - they will get seen! Stumble is wonderful!
Delicious, Diigo, Mr Wong, Magnolia, BlogLog, MySpace, Facebook, and YouTube, rank close seconds. Delicious, Diigo, and Mr Wong, also have browser toolbars available.
Flickr is under-utilized too in my opinion. There are millions of photo fanatics on the web - use them. When you have an account, (and I posted more info on this at http://www.jewelrylessons.com/jewel/node/7967 ) don't just include photos of your jewelry. Include pics of your animals, a great wedding you went to, beach photos, your kitchen remodeling project etc, and tag really, really well!! Someone searching for kitty cat pictures for example, finds your photos of your babies, and 9 times out of 10 will look at some of your other photos. They see your pics of your newest works, and while they weren't intending to shop searching Flickr, your pieces peaked their interest, and they will look for links in your profile, to see where you sell. Before you think that's all to Flickr, search out any and all groups, (there's even one for JewelryLessons.com hint, hint) that you can contribute related pictures to..
Here's an example of what I mean - I love and raise Parrots and Lories - I joined every group I could find related to them, from Pet Birds, to Lorie-ographers, and posted pics of some of my babies. I actually get people from jewelry un-related groups to come and look at my work. They came to look to see what other great bird pics I have, and end up seeing my jewelry. One woman from a Lorie group, made her way to my Etsy shop - Bingo!

Don't be afraid to join jewelry groups either, even as a 'newbie', they can be a wonderful source of encouragement and ideas, and again, your work is making it's way around the net. People mark their favorites, and someone else looks at their favorites, and marks some of their favorites, and so on, and so on.

One more before I go - (I know you're thinking you're reading a revised version of War and Peace) - Don't forget TWITTER - Now again don't just post sales or listings, people will tend to get annoyed, and stop following you. Make new friends, keep up with current ones, subtly keep them up to date on what you're working on...

As I run across new outlets and ideas, I'll come back and share them here - I couldn't go through all of what I've tried in one article, you'all might fall asleep :))

Thank you for visiting.........
~Bobbi
"Don't part with your illusions. When they are gone you may still exist, but you have ceased to live. "~Mark Twain

NEW Tutorial Release ~~~ Ornate Double-Terminated Focal-Clasp

Hi All - Just finished my newest tutorial, and am really excited about it! The primary project in this tutorial is a progression of my Swarovski Crystal Bracelet. It assumes you either have that tutorial, or are familiar with that style of bracelet. Only the modifications to the ends of the bracelets to fasten to the Cab Top Clasp are covered, not the entire Swarovski Crystal Bracelet tutorial.
When finished the Cab Top creates a nearly INVISIBLE clasp.

This tutorial teaches you step by step the techniques needed to create the Cab-Top Invisible Clasp, along with variations that include the Multi-Strand Bracelet, the Watch-Top Invisible Clasp, and the Ornate Focal Clasp for necklaces. This is an advanced tutorial, though if you’re comfortable in the basic skills set, the steps are detailed enough a patient intermediate level wire worker can accomplish these projects.
I hope you get a chance to check it out! Also available in my Shops - a Bracelet Tutorial Package for both the Swarovski Crystal Bracelet and the Ornate Double-Terminated Focal/Clasp. Purchasing them together saves you 25%!

Many, many thanks to Perri J ShaktipajDesigns for her continued support, friendship, and wisdom.

Background art in the cover photo, courtesy of Sabrina.


Thank you for stopping by.....................Bobbi
"Art is not a handicraft, it is the transmission of feeling the artist has experienced." ~Tolstoy

Where's The Mens Cab Ring Tutorial

I recently posted a new tutorial Mens Cab Ring. It has since been pulled from publication on all my sites. It was reported to me, that someone I have respected for a long time felt my design looked to close to theirs. While the text and images and construction is my own, in deference to this person I have removed the tutorial from sale. I felt I developed improved techniques for constructing a ring of this type. The text that I wrote and the pictures I took reflected these improvements in techniques.

While I realize this is a disappointment to some of you, I felt this was the correct thing to do. I may apply these same improved techniques to another project, and will certainly let everyone know when that happens. I appreciate your inquiries, and support.

thank you for visiting.....................
Bobbi

“Be humble, for the worst thing in the world is of the same stuff as you; be confident, for the stars are of the same stuff as you.” ~ Nicholai Velimirovic

Seriously Addicted - Thank you Miss Perri

I have been seriously addicted to Perri's (Shaktipaj) wickedly wonderful wired beads for a long time - Come to find out addiction has been re-defined with Perri's newest tutorial Doric Column Beads.

I got the tutorial as soon as it was listed on Etsy, and ended up being up ALL night - I just couldn't stop. I spent several hours feverishly going through my bead stash, and there is probably another 10 combos laid out on my bench.

The silver and faceted amethyst was the first, and I need to work on my oxidizing skills since that's a fairly new avenue for me - I'm a gold girl, but am drifting to the dark side .

My favorite (so far) is the 3rd one (1st photo) that I did. The pictures don't show it very well but I used one of the newest Swarovski colors, 4mm Fire Opal and 2mm Crystal AB - the bead is barely 1/2 inch long.

The last one I did is in mixed metals and Labradorite drops. I need to work on that idea some more since it didn't turn out exactly as it was in my head. I was aiming for a 'sea-anemone' look, and though I like it, and its close, its not quite there yet.



Thank you thank you Miss Perri!!!!!

Thank you for visiting.............
~Bobbi

"It is good to have an end to journey towards; but it is the journey that matters in the end." ~Ursula K. Le Guin

New Tutorial - Lesson in Patience Ring and the Atom Pendant

Hi all -
I've just published a new tutorial - Its actually 2 designs in one - A solitaire style prong ring, and a prong pendant.....









I hope you enjoy the designs, and they delight and inspire you...

Tutorial available in both my Etsy and Artfire shops.

thanks for visiting.......................
Bobbi

"If at first you don't succeed, do it like your mother told you to." ~Unknown

When the Show Melts, You Find Butterflies

My very dear friend Corra gave me an advanced copy of her wonderful new holiday tutorial - SnowFlakes Wired Chinese Knot Earrings. I had ( along with many others), pestered her so much about it, she stayed up all night one night to do it. It is based on her Cubic Knot Earrings tutorial, which was great by itself, and these are even more fun.
I went to town when I got it, and by accident, created my own variation..... After the first butterfly was born, I was thoroughly addicted. I've tried not to get carried away, but they keep evolving, and I love playing with different color combination's. The purple one is my favorite (so far), and the blue one is on it's way to Germany as a gift to a customer. If you're as fascinated by this design as I am, please visit Corra's shop at Etsy, or her blog DecorsHandmades. She has 9 delicious Wired Knots Tutorials, and 5 mini-tutorials available. Fall in love with all of them and she has 3 different tutorial packages to satisfy your need for knots.

Thanks for stopping by - stop back again soon...................
~Bobbi
"Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep." ~Scott Adams

YIPPEE - Its Finally Finished - Tutorial - Prong Pendant - Slider Style

This one was a real struggle - My camera died part way through - Sooooo I had to bite the bullet, get a new camera (OUCH ) and then re-do the images (and the tutorial pendant) several times to complete the tutorial.
I'm very happy with the way it turned out.

This tutorial teaches the techniques to wire wrap a slider style pendant, with a prong setting. It can be altered to set either a cab, or faceted stone. Modifying the gauge of wire and number of prongs, it can be used to set almost any size and shape of stone.
You can find this and my other tutorials in both mt shops at ArtFire and Etsy.
Thanks for taking a peek....
~Bobbi
"It is better to fail at originality, than to succeed at imitation." Herman Melville

Custom/Commissioned Opal Pendant

Several of my fellow artists dislike custom/commissioned work - I absolutely love it! It's a chance to break away for the norm, and a challenge at the same time. The challenge being, to take someone else's idea - one whom I never actually get to talk to in person - and turn it into a piece of jewelry that matches as close as possible to what they had in mind.
I recently had such an opportunity..... A very wonderful lady, Barbara, purchased my favorite opal from my Etsy shop and requested I turn it into a pendant as a birthday present for her daughter.

Her requests were simple - pendant in 14k GF wire - special birthday present - no pressure, no pressure. Her request left a lot open for interpretation, and while I was excited to do the work, I was a little sad to see such a beautiful stone go...(I was still trying to justify adding it to the 'Me Collection').

After several emails back and forth we settled on a design, and I got to work. The morning came to package and ship the pendant. There had been minor issues with one side and the bail, that had become increasingly annoying, and at the last minute - I cut the piece apart and started over. The stone was/is spectacular, it deserved no less of a setting. The finished piece shown her
e is the second attempt, and while several people saw the first attempt and saw nothing wrong, I am much happier with the outcome of the second attempt. I could not in good conscience send it, if I wasn't willing to wear it myself. Barbara emailed me several days later, after she received it, and was totally thrilled with it - which made all the stress over getting it 'just right', more than worth it. Barbara said, "the hardest thing now is to hide it from my daughter, until her birthday in October". - Good luck 'Mom' :D.




Thank you for visiting - stop back again soon.....
~Bobbi
There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth; not going all the way, and not starting. Bhuddha

Why I Do What I Do.....Showing Off Some Gifted Artists/Students

This post has been a long time in the making - mostly because of what had become a very hectic schedule for a time - but now that things have calmed down a bit, I thought I'd share some work of some very talented artists, who have chosen to take a bash at some of my designs..... After all the hard work that goes into writing, photographing and publishing a tutorial, nothing is more gratifying and flattering than to get photos from fellow artists, who have chosen my designs to create with...... It is why I do what I do and makes all the hard work well worth it....

Kelley from Silvery Ever After... chose my Swarvoski Crystal Bangle Tutorial - and did a wonderful variation in Sterling Silver, and a great blue-green-champagne color combination......
I love her color choices, and in Sterling, she created a stunning bracelet.

She modified the clasp a bit to better suit her needs, and all in all did a wonderful job.




She recently purchased my Fancy Band Prong Ring Tutorial, and I can't wait to see where she takes it to.





My dear friend Marika, chose my Antique Style All Wire Earrings Tutorial, and created a wonderfully vintage looking pair of earrings in Sterling Silver.....



Marika's wire wrapping skills are growing in leaps and bounds, and she has lots of wonderful pieces in her store on Dawanda.

Then there's Karlene who fell in love with my
Fancy Band Prong Ring Tutorial. After her first ring, she went to town, and tried her hand at a double stone ring similar to one shown in my tutorial.
I think she did a wonderful job....
You can visit Karlene at Celtic Gardens Creations.



.And lastly, but certainly not least is Shi . She also fell in love with my Fancy Band Ring Tutorial, and fell hard :)....
This is the first one that she did and featured on her blog.
I can tell you , there is never any better compliments, than when a fellow artist falls in love with your design, and creates such beautiful pieces. You can visit Shi at her Etsy Store ShiJewels , for these and other fabulous goodies.




I hope you've enjoyed seeing these wonderful creations from some of my fellow artists, as much as I have enjoyed sharing them.....
If you're interested in learning and creating your own versions of my designs, please visit my shop on Etsy. - I've recently added new patterns in the Complete Kit/Tutorial section.

Thanks for visiting....................~Bobbi
An idea that is developed and put into action is more important than an idea that exists only as an idea - Bhuddha

My 3rd Tutorial - YEA :)

Fancy Band is an advanced level project, although the instructions are very clear and thorough, and I've had many, many beginner to intermediate students successfully complete this project. It is 15 pages, with 43 clear crisp photos, and a total file size of 963KB.

This tutorial teaches you step by step, the techniques used to create this design, some of which were inspired by Dianne Karg Baron and Mr Jorgen Greftegraff. It is wonderful design to create an elegant lasting piece of jewelry.

I do suggest you have at least the basic skills and familiarity with wire wrapping before attempting this ring. If you'd like to build your skill set first, please see my other listings for beginner and intermediate level tutorials.

Please visit My Shop for this and other tutorials, and for complete kits that are also available for this -

Thank you for stopping by - see ya soon..................

~Bobbi

I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world. - Albert Einstein

Swarovski Crystal Bracelet Tutorial

I'm very proud to finally offer this tutorial - it's been a long time coming, and alot of hard work. I've taught wire wrapping in person for many years, but writing instructions for someone I will not be teaching in person, has been to say the least challenging. My style of writing is not as 'formal' as some, but after much consideration and countless re-writes, I realised I needed to stay with what I know best. This tutorial is written as if I were teaching you in person, as much as possible - since I've taught this in person, I know the pitfalls you're most likely to face, and do my best to head them off -The bracelet in this tutorial is my personal favorite. It was inspired partly by my birds, my Rainbow Lories ~ Murphy, Gabby, Pluck & Feather, in particular. Everyone that I’ve taught this to, and who has made one, interprets the colors in their own way ~ as it should be.

Other beads can be used for this, in an infinite number of combinations however, square beads are easier to manage in the beginning. The techniques I’ve developed, and teach in this tutorial, create a stable ‘tough’ little bangle; and unlike some other ‘versions’ of this style, the means to create a bangle at near perfect to perfect length. After we have completed the basic style, I will walk you through an additional (really cool) variation, plus some other design ideas.Materials to create a basic 7 -7 1/2" bracelet: I prefer GF wire, but you’re welcome to use sterling or even copper – ½ hard or dead soft. Q=the best to use? A=Use what you have.• 48" 20g square wire • 9" 22g wire (square or round)• 32" 16-20g ½ round wire (I prefer the heavier gauges in ½ round wire, and ½ hard for this project – it forms crisper wraps)• Minimum 12 6mm cube crystals• Optional : 2, 4mm Bali spacers per crystal, if you don’t use spacers, you will need to increase the number of crystals needed, by 2 or 3; 1 extra cube as a ‘little helper’.

Tools: wire cutters, ruler, flat-nose pliers, round nose pliers, large round dowel or something similar for forming - optional: tape, Sharpie marker, cleaning cloth.
This is a PDF file - To view this tutorial you will need a free copy of Adobe's Acrobat Reader, which can be downloaded here:http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html, however most computers with basic programming are already capable of reading a pdf file.

This tutorial, and others can be purchased from My Shop at Etsy. Thank you for stopping by - please visit again........................................
~Bobbi

The only real failure in life is not to be true to the best one knows. -Bhuddha

Imaginations and Ideas ~~ Where do they come from.........

I've been thinking alot about imagination lately, and not just because it's a big part of the name of my shop, and the jewellery adventure I'm on...... It just never ceases to amaze me, what wonderful things ideas and imaginations are. For me, jewellery ideas seem to (on occasion) come about without any real intervention on my part - I mean most times when I sit down at my workbench, there's a stone, or string of beads I've recently gotten still laid out - (I'm not really good at putting stuff away) - and I grab some wire, my favorite pliers, and look at what I have, and try to figure out, 'what it would be best suited as'.

Once the ideas start though, I can hardly keep up. I try to sketch little notes for later projects, (I can't do everything at once), and I wind up with hundreds of little sticky notes everywhere..... I have these notes in my car, my purse, on the desk in the living room, and (what was supposed to be the 'handy catchall), a little black book, filled with little sketches, and notes for projects. Sometimes, halfway through a note, it shoots off into a totally new and different idea.....I have enough of these to date, to keep me at my work bench 24/7 for quite some time. And if that was not enough, I've started to subject my friends to this.......sort of - one project leads to another, and another... - To show you what I mean - in an earlier post, I introduced you to a recently made friend - Spike - who suggested a collaboration between us, in what is a perfect marriage of arts ~ he cuts gorgeous cabs in natural stone, and I'm a skilled wire worker - simple! right? Wrong. - It took, I think, all of 2 days, before before I started bombarding him with ideas for specially cut stones I wanted for 'experimental projects' I had in mind, and to my amazement, he was all for it. And at no point has he ever said "no", (which sooner or later, he'll slap his head, and question that, but for now I'm safe.) This was the first of many pieces I've asked for (or am going too *insert sheepish grin here*). I wanted a heart shaped stone, cut in 2 - my plan was to wrap the 2 pieces so they would finish as a pendant set - his and hers - with an old prayer - "Lord, watch between me and thee, when we are absent one another" - It hasn't quite worked out that way though - the mechanics of how it needs to hang, just isn't co-operating - but someone already saw this on Spike's Flickr, and she and I have talked, and I'm confident it will become what she needs it to be - but the point, I guess of this little tale is that, it's fueled a whole host of ideas (imagination).

Now I realise I ramble a little, but you're still reading so...... Another friend I've mentioned earlier, Corra ~ well her ideas, and imagination comes from an entirely different place. Her passion for wire, is a recent one, and we 'met', when I purchased one of her tutorials, and she thought my intentions were , shall we say, less than stellar. She had recently been 'attacked' and accused of using someone else's ideas, and thought I was just another one to join the angry linchmob..... I am most happy to report that I was not. Those slinging accusations, were by the way VERY wrong in their assumptions, and although after some time, finally concluded they were wrong, never did apologize - but the point is, they backed her into a corner, and she turned around and used that to her advantage - and then some! One of the 'statements' made was that she didn't know enough about what she was trying to teach - boy did they do her a FAVOR! ~

It's funny (well it is now), I honestly believe their intention was to 'run her off", and all they succeeded in doing , was spur her on to greater things - She has since then,
incorporated something she KNOWS very well into her wire - Chinese Knots - which has produced some stunning work and designs. This piece here, is one of her newest, a pendant called 'Skylark on Coins'. (the photo is a link to this listing on Etsy if you're interested). Her 'imagination and ideas', while they didn't have the happiest of beginnings, are fueling some wonderful pieces and ideas. She has a new tutorial coming soon for a bracelet!, that I got a sneak peek at. I've asked her for permission to use the photo she sent, but I'm in USA, she's in Malaysia, the whole day ahead or day behind thing, anyway if she okays it, I'll edit this post, and show everybody what to look forward to. Just got e-mail from Corra with a couple of pics of her upcoming bracelet tutorial -

Pretty Sharp!

I read alot of listings on Etsy, and blogs from different artists, and it really does amaze me where their ideas, and inspirations come from............... Some, like Eni Oken have find their ideas and inspirations in nature - Eni has whole 'series' of pieces revolving around the ocean ~ one of my favorite pieces ~ 'Marine Relic' ~ is a perfect example.

I just love her work - would give body parts for half of her 'mad skills'.

Well I've rambled on enough for now - my roommate, reading over my shoulder, asked - "why is your work , and what 'triggers' you not in this?" - hmmmm, guess there will be a part II :) .

thanks for stopping by...............

~Bobbi

All that we are is the result of what we have thought. If a man speaks or acts with an evil thought, pain follows him. If a man speaks or acts with a pure thought, happiness follows him, like a shadow that never leaves him. - Bhuddha