red bracelet

this is a my first fabricated piece of jewelry. i made this bracelet as a hostess gift for the christmas party we attended. i really learned alot from making this piece. if you notice on one of the circles, it is pink/purple, this is the underside. the top is oriental red.

i'm in love.....this rocks!!

this is the best thing ever...i am loving it!!

i could gush all day about how great this is. i have been in my studio for the last three hours enamling these pieces...i just couldn't stop...i finally ran out of copper pieces to enamel...i have to get the dremel out to put holes in the rest of my copper so that i can get started again...i wish the picture could do the colors justise, but it doesn't. i have to work on my picture taking skills...i will try to post a better picture later...

my first enamel piece...

turned out better than i could have wanted or imaged! i am very excited that i was successful. i have always loved things that are enameled so when i got the wild hair to take my jewelry making to the next level..this is what i wanted to do! as with everything in life...patience is a must...i have to tell myself that i am learning..i tried again tonight and was not as successful..i think it was the metal i was working with, i hope and not me..but i will try again tomorrow with a different type of copper i have and go from there..

the pictures i have posted are my first piece..1st sift/fired; 2nd sift/fired; 3rd sift/fired...it still has a little orange peel look but i will take it!

my first metal piece...

is a bomb! so i tried to make a copper ring out of copper wire. i found copper wire, probably 12 or 14 gauge at michaels...and thought cheap...finally something relatively cheap and no shipping costs..i annealed the copper to make it easier to bend..well.. while bending the ring, it starts to get marked/scratched up...then i'm thinkin', man this is kinda hard..not sure if i need flux or solder for copper..i do some reach through the books i have found/purchased to assist me in this and can't really find anything that states to flux or solder for copper...so i go inside to search the internet...found some sites that said flux and solder have been used but you got to purchase and i was in the middle of trying to fabricate this ring and didn't want to wait to have to buy anything nor have to wait anymore!!! so i have flux and i use it...take the torch to it and it doesn't seal..so flux doesn't work..i decide to put it in the pickle and this is what my first attempt at metalsmith looks like....

my studio

my studio is finished! i have added more things from what the pictures show. i am very excited to start making jewelry but am feeling apprehensive about it. not sure why but i will begin soon...