Year of Jewelry begins!

Okay, I started this blog specifically to give me a place to track and ramble on about my Year of Jewelry posts. I had a nice blog over on AOL Journals, but the service went away. I'll see about reposting some blasts from the past if they seem relevant to the week's theme or the piece I'm working on, but that is for later, I think.

So welcome, YoJers!

The first week's theme is Gone with the Wind. I'm not much of a movie buff so I'm probably going to do the artists and period themes more than the movies. Instead of staying strictly on theme this week, I decided to feature a piece that places me exactly where I am, home base if you like.

One of my specialities is micro-maille, using 22g sterling wire in sizes appropriate to the weave. This byzantine is 2.5 mm, and is my most favorite to make and to wear. It has more weight than most commercial chains so it balances better with a wire-woven pendant without being so heavy that it draws attention away. On this one I used a commercial clasp. I go back and forth about commercial clasps. I love to make and wear custom clasps, and you'll be seeing bunches of them this year, but in real life I have noticed that jewelry artists are all about the custom clasps while wearers of jewelry are as happy or even happier with store-bought. There is a sense of security that some wearers seem to like. In this case, I had a cute heart-shaped clasp in the right scale so I went with that.

The pendant is a Danish Knot. Way back in the beginning of time, I received a charm in a CWJ charm swap that had a tiny Danish Knot. I fell in love with it, and spent a lot of time figuring out how to make it. Since that time, it has become one of my signature techniques. This is a large one, 18g, 8mm id. I mounted it on a herringbone bail, another of my signature techniques.

The finished set was a gift to my niece, Lucy, a college student, musician, and beautiful young woman. I gave it to her on New Year's Eve, and she put it right on, so I guess she liked it. If you go to my Facebook page, you'll see it in the family pictures for the day.

I'm also planning on blogging some other topics from time to time, so if you come looking for jewelry and find a recipe at the top, scroll on down. It'll be there.

So, on to the Stone Age. I do plan to try that theme.