Rae’s Creations The Blog  

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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Well, it felt wrong to vanish without posting a few of my new designs first (and of course, I had to get one last “making-new-listing” rush ^^), so here they are. These will be listed with an announcement in the item descriptions, so they will hopefully help draw people to my shop front to learn about my shop going on vacation. Please check them out in my Etsy store.