Jewelry for Gifts -- Do You Like To Receive It?

I am still in Edmond with ALL of my jewelry supplies, and some of my sewing supplies.  I have started making Christmas presents for the girls, although the entire time I am making them, I am thinking:

WHAT if they hate this?

WHAT if they don't realize the many, many hours I put into this, and they think it is junk?

WHAT if they SAY they like it so they don't hurt my feelings, but then they throw it away?

I can't remember any jewelry I have received as a gift that I really hated.  Of course, I haven't received much.

I am NOT kidding when I tell you that I have now spent over $5,000 on supplies to make jewelry.  I imagine I COULD sell some pieces in my store, but I don't really want to do that.  In THAT case, I'm not worried that people WON'T like it -- I'm worried people WILL like it, and then I'll have to make more and more and more ....  I don't want to HAVE to make it.  That would spoil all the enjoyment.

Good heavens!  I would have to charge $100 or more for each piece if you count my time making it.  I spent EIGHT hours on one silly cabachon, and since I'm still not happy with it, I will probably spend EIGHT more!

Here, I'll show you.  FIRST, let me show you what a "cabachon" is.  I never heard of one in my life until I started ordering jewelry stuff.

I ordered a COLLECTION of various-colored cabachons.  For some reason, Fire Mountain thinks "various colors" means all GREEN!  I was wearing a blouse that had green in it the other day, so I decided to TRY to make a pendant with one of these green stones.  There is NO HOLE in any of them.

I found a "pattern" on Craftsy from some lady that makes jewelry.  I paid $6 for it.  It was 48 pages long and it was titled "ADVANCED".  I looked at the picture, and it didn't look that advanced to me, so I bought it.

This is what the pendant looks like if you make it totally according to the directions:

I TRIED to make it totally perfect according to the directions
BUT
if you noticed,
my cabachons are NOT that shape.










The lady that wrote the directions mentioned that you need to be a mathematical genius if you use some other shape.

GREAT!  As if bending all that wire wasn't hard enough.

I decided the worst that could happen is I could totally screw up the wire, but the cabachon would still be okay.






EIGHT hours later, this is the cabachon pendant I came up with:

Notice how great it matches the green in that blouse I made.  That was actually the ONLY thing I liked about it.

The spirals on the bottom looked pretty good.

Look at the ORIGINAL pendant up above.  Notice the curly cues at the top of the cabachon that hold it in the frame.

I MADE curly cues, but they would not hold this stone in because my stone is a different shape.

Duh!  Guess that is where the math comes in.

I needed 4 instead of two.  I decided to take some wire and just wrap around from here to there and over there and over there.  It made kind of a star shape.  I thought it looked pretty good until I took pics of it.  I could see I had deformed the frame so it stuck out on one side and not the other.  PLUS, the wraps around the bail look HORRIBLE!

This is the BACK.

It looks good enough for a back,
but I certainly would not win any awards.

The cabachon sure wasn't going to fall out!

So today, after I made a pendant for a Christmas gift,
I decided to cut the "star" wires off and try to redo it.

I didn't do much better.

I will probably start over again tomorrow while I'm waiting for the lawn man to bring dirt for my garden.  That's always fun to wait for.













ANYWAY,
here is take two.

I cut off all the little wires, and I tried again.  This time, I ended up with 2 loops that look like hangy boobs, but I did manage to get a little spiral at the top.

One wire goes over -- then under.

One wire goes under -- then over.

I think that is why the shape is not the same.

I wrapped the bail some more, and it looks a lot better.






That project is still in the works.

It is for me, so I have the rest of my life.

Another pattern I bought turned out really cute.  It is also a pendant, but much easier.

I have made a silver one for my granddaughter,
and a gold one for my daughter.

I think they are darling, but you never know what they will think.  I am going to make myself some.

Here they are:

Need to make earrings to go with, just in case, the recipients actually like them.

I've GOT to get out of this chair, and walk or jump or something!  Too much sitting.  I can feel my butt spreading like warm butter, and it certainly doesn't need any more of that!

Hope you are enjoying FALL.  I love it!  Our brand new Sam's Club opens tomorrow, and I will be there!  Thank God, they don't sell jewelry components there!




















Hugs, Joy