Purple Agate Pendant 2

Making the cage to hold the agate was a little harder than I thought it would be as I wanted to make sure that it would never fall out.  The half hard copper wire is a little harder to make good 90 deg folds than perhaps a dead soft wire but is much stronger.

Creating the cage on the back

Taping the existing wrapped wire to the stone helps keep things in place.  A few coils makes the back very pretty.

Holding it all together

At this point I started deviating from the original design.  Making coils and wrapping wires, trying to balance out the piece by eye.

Changing the location of the drop bead, and adding an extra coil to the bottom looked more natural to me.
It turned out beautiful.

finished back

finished front

I tried a few different cords and chains with the completed purple agate pendent and decided that only a made to order chain would look best.  Having a few of the beads I used for the drop off the pendent I added them to the chain with a few accent beads to create the perfect accompaniment.

just a little bling

handmade links and clasp

Don't you love how you can wear it front or back showing?  I wore it out to dinner last night and received numerous compliments, I'm keeping this one for myself.....it is purple after all, my favorite color.

Purple Agate Pendant

Purple Agate Pendent

I thought I would try the design and plan method for a beautiful purple agate slice.  So getting out the note book I traced the stone and tried to design a few wire wrap variations.  I'm not very good at the design part of jewelry making and so far have just designed as I went.  Here are the variations I came up with.

page 1

page 2

I rather liked the center design on page 1 and added a few beads to it and a few notes to keep the ideas straight in my head.

Pretty stone slice

I was so pleased the other day as I was digging in an old box looking for model car paint for my mom when I came across a small jar of agates in different colors and sizes.  New things to play with.

Having decided on the design and planning how it went together was a different story.  Easy enough to say that this is what you want the pendant to look like but you have to make sure that the stone stays in place.  Unlike a bead that has a hole you can string a wire through, a cage is need to make sure the stone doesn't fall out.

Out comes the wire box, the tools, and get organize so you don't have to dig for anything. I like to have things at hand.

Time to start

Then I guess, just dive in.  Wrapping the two 20 gage wires is a little harder than you would think and I found it difficult to be consistent in my tension.  I have a tenancy to wrap tighter and tighter.

Following the design, (ok I did deviate a bit) until it was time to make the cage.

ready for wrapping

making the cage

That was as far as I got on Thursday and hoping to work a little more on it today.  Will let you know how it comes along.

Longarm Retired

After 8 years of working on the longarm, I decided to sell it.  It was a hard decision but one that I had been thinking about for quite some time.  I am so glad that a very nice quilter from Mission bought it and is excited to be starting a new passion for herself.

I'm also excited that I am on a new aspect of discovery for myself and have a huge list of things to try out over the next while.  A little wire work, a bit of glass fusing, a bit of bead work, add some painting, learning to use the serger and maybe a course or two should keep me busy for a while.  Quilting is still on the list as well and I am still enjoying volunteering at Century House quilting a few times a week.  I'm also hoping to hone my skills at machine quilting and creating a few fiber arts pieces that I have had designed and not had the time to get to.

My son picked up a video camera the other day so I am hoping to make a few "how to" videos to post on this blog as well as You Tube.  So keep tuned and check in from time to time to see what's on the board.

Terry