What went wrong?

When I showed my 'creation' to friends, most were full of praise for the items.  Frankly, this is what most of us are yearning for.  LOL.  That is why we always show only those we think will receive a lot of 'Oo's and 'Ah"s.  Thick skinned, huh?

Anyway, not all my work is presentable (perhaps 50-50).  Even if it does look good, it may be flawed when it is worn.  

This is one of the first few earrings that I made.  The beads were salvaged from a piece of old jewelry.  Beading can go GREEN too!!!  My daughter, Yuan, liked it a lot and has worn it a few times.  However, I noticed the shape of the loops were different each time she wore it - sometimes rounder, sometimes more elongated. What went wrong?

I think it was the material which I used for the loops - Tiger-tail wire.  Tiger tail is Nylon Coated Stainless Steel Jewelry Wire.  It is easily bendable thus each time Yuan handled it while putting it on, the loops were accidentally being altered.  There is yet a solution for this problem.

I have the same problem with this pair of hoop earrings:

What went wrong? I think I did not harden* the hoop enough so that the shape would not change.  (* by hitting it lightly with  hammer)

Look at this lariat necklace which I made for a friend:

Unlike  typical necklace, a Lariat does not have a clasp; rather, it is characterized by one long strand that can be tied or wrapped in a number ways: 

           http://charmsoflight.blogspot.com/2009/06/how-to-wear-lariat-necklace.html 

My friend has lost the lariat and it was due to design failure!  What went wrong?  I think the elements which I used for the drops (the metal leaves) were too light.  The lariat untied by itself and slipped off her neck.

  

Sigh, these were lessons learned and hopefully I can remember to apply them in future projects.

Wire Work Challenge

No, I have not been busy beading that I have no time to update my blog.  Neither have I fallen sick.  I have been trying to take photo for some of my latest works with my new little camera! I'm still struggling with it but will try to seek help from my fellow beader friends from Beading Daily @ http://www.beadingdaily.com .

Beading with wire is so fun because by twisting and turning the wire, you can come up with surprising design.  My friend Sally has given me two pieces of glass stone and challenged me to use it creatively.  Ta da, and here they are:

The green one is a failure as I did not end it nicely at the bottom where the black bead is.  I like the other one (orange) so much that I made it into a short necklace:

Oh I'm so pleased with myself because I have gone beyond my own standard.  Haha!

Wire Work - Earrings

After 6 to 7 of no-beading years, the beading work of a friend's daughter has brought my interest back. Instead of seed bead beading, I have begun to try my hands on wire work.  The above earrings are only a fraction of what I have made.

During those crazy days, my mind was full of beading, beading and nothing but beading.  Though I was just making the earrings simply by matching different beads and other components, the possible outcome was endless.

I got hooked on beading!

My beading appetite got bigger after few months of doing simple wire looping, I ventured into wire wrapping: 

.....and also other wire techniques: 

I like to bead but what am I going to do with so many pairs of earrings?  Of course I kept some for myself. Some were given away as gift but most were donated to my church for its Church Building Fund Raising event.  Not bad huh? At least the work did not go to waste.