Rae’s Creations The Blog  

I love making wire-wrapped rings. I am not as widely known for rings as other Etsy sellers such as starrydesigns and farafield, but I have had a fair share of successful ring designs of my own:

• the Ruby Cluster Ring (it was featured on Etsy homepage once),
• Seafoam Aquamarine Wire-Wrapped Ring (a definite attention grabber, only a few left to sell, unfortunately!),
• Blue Rose Wire-Wrapped Ring (back when I first listed it, it was the only wire-wrapped ring featuring a carved rose; this style has since become very common on Etsy), and
• The Green Spring Ring (I need to get more of the prehnite rounds from my supplier!).

Most of them are set for retirement, so I wanted to come up with some fresh new ring designs. There are standard-sized stones that can easily be wrapped and turned into a ring, but I always felt that the center stone of a ring needs to pack a little more “punch”. The fine faceting and organic inclusions in the Aquamarine Ring make for that punch, and so does the disco-ball look on the multi faceting of the prehnite stone. This time, I wanted to use some interesting-looking free-form nugget stones. The advantage is that the resulting rings have the unique, one-of-a-kind quality; the downside is of course that these rings become limited edition, and might require individual photo shoots, which adds to the price. ( continued… )

As a designer, I go through a phase every once in a while where I am hooked on a certain design element. Flowers are, for me, not one of them: it seems that I am perennially in the state of being hooked on them. :-) Thai silver flower charms and beads have always been my favorite thing to work with; I am also always on the lookout for flower-shaped gemstone beads with high-quality and detailed carving.

Continuing from my last designs of rose branch earrings, I created three additional earring pieces designed around rose blossoms. There are also a couple bracelets and a necklace featuring Thai silver flower components. Continue reading below for larger pictures!

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OK, so my creative juice hasn’t exactly been flowing since my last sale of new designs. Many reasons… The sale kept me busy for a while which got me exhausted. I felt slightly guilty since I wasn’t making much progress in my day job. Also, I recently purchased a whole lot of gemstone briolettes, and while briolettes are the most beautiful among bead shapes, I find they tend to dictate simpler designs and not so much bursting creativity (or maybe that is just my own tendency ^^).

Well, I finally got my act together and made something new. Lovely rose branches, one with blue amazonite roses and another with red coral roses. The wire weaving techniques used in these earrings are not completely new to me — they are variations of my other designs such as these tourmaline earrings. I have always wanted to incorporate flowers in them, so here they are. I think they turned out nicely.

Labradorite marquise leaves are cascading atop blue amazonite carved rose beads. I am loving the combination of colors here — cool blue flashes on the labradorite beads and warmer pastel blue of amazonite.
(UPDATE: available now in my Etsy shop!)
(UDATE2: This pair was featured on Etsy front page on August 28th! It racked up 400+ views that day and 200 more the next. And it sold soon after. All hail to the power that is front page feature…)
Carved red coral roses are blooming under silky gray moonstone leaves. Well, let me tell you about the moonstone leaves. They are exquisite with intricate carving and excellent sheen. I’ve always found red and gray to go nicely together, so I was lucky that I had these red coral roses handy.

You’ll notice that I made the two pieces of these earring pairs asymmetrical — one with three leaves and the other with only two. I think this arrangement accentuates the natural and organic look of the design. When I list these in my Etsy store, however, I will probably give an option to make these pairs symmetrical, since I can understand if my customer favors a bit more conservative look.
(UADATE: I went back to my supplier to buy more of the coral beads. And they were all out! Occasions like this feed my already overblown hoarding instincts. Sigh…)

I have one last set of new designs to show off before new items go on sale in my Etsy shop next week!

New bracelets are shown in the top row, “berry branch” necklaces and charm necklaces in the middle, and earrings with oversized oval earwires at the bottom.
 

 

 

Please take a closer look at each design on this page: ( continued… )

I came across these while going through the big pile of my jewelry paraphernalia: a sunflower charm (11×14mm), a heart charm (9×9mm) and a leaf charm (10×10mm).

I made these charms while I was in a metalsmithing class, circa 2003 I believe, at University City Arts League in West Philly. This was my first project for the class. I picked up a piece of red wax and sculpted the original models, which then my teacher Claire took to a metal casting place to have them cast in sterling. After I received the cast pieces, I had to re-shape, oxidize, polish and give them the finishing touch. I was particularly happy with the way the sunflower charm turned out, so I had a mold made along with a couple duplicates. I enjoyed working tiny corners of wax figures, and it was such a delightful sensation to see those tiny, red wax blurbs transformed into weighty and shiny silver pieces. I’d love to try more in the future.

The jewelry class of UCAL had the most relaxed atmosphere — it doesn’t have much of fixed structure at all but feels more like a shared studio space with a teacher present. Each student picked out what she/he wanted to make, and Claire the teacher would help them out. There I learned how to cut, solder, hammer, polish and finish metal. Fun time! I was quite lucky to be living so close to such a wonderful establishment. If you live in or nearby Philly, I highly recommend checking out University City Arts League.

Unless I am just imagining it all, my best known work are my “pompom” earrings. They sell consistently, and they often get chosen by fellow Etsy users to be featured in their Treasuries. One pair (with rhodochrosite, the red pair on the right) even had the luck to grace the front page of Etsy.

It all began with the chrysoprase pair shown at the top. This pair occupies a special place in my heart in many ways. It was the very first item I listed in my Etsy shop, and it was my very first Etsy sale (within hours of listing as a matter of fact). It was the most-viewed (2000+ views) and most-hearted (66 hearts) item in my shop until it finally sold out after a year-long run on May 18th, which it achieved all without ever being featured on Etsy front page! Needless to say, it was something of an emotional moment for me when the last one in the stock sold, taking down with it all its hearts and views. (Now I only have enough chrysoprase beads to make a couple more pairs.)

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I had a bead-shopping budget set that was meant to last into the fall season of this year. Well, it’s been exhausted. I really have to stop making little trips to Namdaemun market convincing myself that I am juuuuust going to pick up one strand of beads. :-) The good news is that I have been diligently making new things with new acquisitions. The bad news is that the speed with which my bead stash grows has to be at least 30 times faster than the speed of my beads getting used up. All the more reason for having a sale in July I suppose. :-)

Shown here are some of my latest earring designs. I was delighted to find that vibrant colors are dominant on them, which I think is a nice contrast to my new collection of necklaces and bracelets most of which had a rather subdued feel in their color schemes.
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Lately I have been into more rugged look and feel of wire-wrapping using larger stones and thicker gauge wire. As a result, my thinner silver wire hasn’t been seeing much action. Well, finally the mood struck: it was time to make many tiny wire wraps around many tiny gemstone briolettes. These maneuvers are truly enjoyable only when I am in no particular hurry, which pretty much sums up my mode of operation these days. :-)

Among my stash of tiny teardrop-shape briolettes, two kinds of stones were ruled small enough for the task: garnet and tourmaline. I decide to link them linearly for an elegant, draping look. Its mobile-like construction creates intriguing shifts and movements: individual briolettes swing around horizontally while the vertical axis is preserved. Definitely delicate and feminine in its effect. A pair in garnet is shown on the left.
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How many different kinds of gemstones can you spot?

I am usually not big on mixing colors. Most of my designs are about constructing a balanced and pleasing form around a single dominating color of the main gemstone. The task of creating a pleasing color palette employs a whole other dimension of design focus, so it produces varying degrees of success when taken up simultaneously with pursuit of form. (To put it simply: colors can distract away from form.) That is probably the reason why I find it not only easier but also ultimately more satisfying to stick to my single-color and single-gemstone design scheme.

But it doesn’t mean I am never tempted! This time, I decided to go completely overboard with colors in the necklace above. The truck load of gemstone beads that I have amassed over the years surely rose to the occasion. No gemstone bead in the design was used twice! (A few Thai silver beads have been repeated.)
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I have been on a creative binge since I announced my Etsy shop’s closing. It feels great to be able to concentrate on the creative side of things without getting weighed down by the responsibilities of running a shop 24/7.

As a designer, I would go through phases in which I get fixated on particular design elements. Right now, I am hooked on chain. Especially, I am in love with the lush and cool texture of oxidized and polished Sterling silver chain. I just can’t stop buying new chains, cutting them up, oxidizing and polishing them! As a result, many necklaces and bracelets have been born. Time is just right too, as the summer season means lots of exposed necks and wrists that need good accessorizing!

Below are some of the new designs I have produced so far. They will go on sale in my Etsy shop early July. Yep — I plan to offer a quick sale of new designs. Not only do I miss the mad rush I get from making sales, but also these will make such perfect accessories to summer outings that it will be a shame to let this sunny season pass them by. :-)

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