Mommy where does designer jewelry come from?

If you ever wanted to know how plain old metal becomes designer jewelry here is a little show for you. Well I didnt take a photo of the plain wire but here goes anyway. First I start out with 2 lengths of 8 guage sterling silver wire. I then heat and shape them to my desired shape. After doing this I let the metal cool and place it in a solution to take off the impurities that accumulate during heating. When thats over I placed the 2 shapes over each other in the desired position. Solder them together. Once again let the metal cool and soak in a solution for awhile.

After that I decided I did want to use that stone I had set aside. In this case I have a marquise shaped amethyst that is 1.47 carats in size. The two shapes together form a perfect marquise crevice to add this stone. The next step is to place the stone in the crevice and mark where I need to add prongs to set the stone into the pendant. Prongs are soldered on! We are almost there!

Lots of polished and filing later the pendant is ready to have the stone set into it. The stone is set and everything is polished once more.. This piece is ready for it's close up!

Hope you enjoyed this blog as much as I enjoy bringing this to you! This piece is now available on etsy along with all my other designer creations! Thanks for looking! New items are listed daily at JuliaCatherine.etsy.com

More beaded necklaces.

Yes I have been busy.. again. I recently made a few more beaded necklaces. These are even more exotic than the last ones. This time I have very large coin amazonite paired with smaller russian amazonite and black onyx beads. This is my first time working with Amazonite, I have to say i really love the stone. Just a gorgeous color. The necklace is finnished with sterling silver findings. Then there is the ever-so-interesting Turquiose and Mauve Pearl necklace. I really love this unique combination. I don't recall seeing the two mixed that often. But what a good combanation it is. The bright Turquoise with the softness of the pink pearl. Of course also finnished with sterling silver findings. Just perfect! As always these and much, much more available at my website JuliaCatherine.etsy.com, New items added daily! Thanks so much for reading!

New Fall/Winter Line-Sneak Peek!

Currently (Im a little late) Im working on new jewelry for my fall/winter line. (date for launch posted soon) I just wanted to post a photo of my favorite item so far. This gorgeous pair of earrings. A few items in the line will have the title "winter dreams" This is one of them. So as I hunt and gather materials, ocassionally I will post blogs with new things I have made along the way and other information on available dates. Please enjoy this little tidbit.. For now.
In the meantime please check out my etsy shop JuliaCatherine.etsy.com and snatch up my summer items while they are still available! Thanks so much for stopping by!

PMC stands for precious metal clay!

Recently I got my PMC starter kit in the mail. First I guess I should talk about what PMC is. It stands for precious metal clay. It's a clay that is just like any other clay you shape it and dry it then fire it.. Only thing is when you fire it it doesn't come out as ceramic it comes out at SILVER! It is also made in 22 kt gold I believe. How does this happen? Im not totally sure on the process but it's something like this. The clay is made from liquids and other binders with sterling silver particles. When fired all those things are lost and what is left is pure silver or gold. There is a tiny bit of shrinkage but not much to balk about. Im able to make jewelry in many shapes and even use impressions of molds or stamps. Very interesting stuff to work with. Last night I made my first item. I made a freeform disc with a floral like pattern on it. It antiqued or oxodized it with a black patina and all the sudden you have this gorgeous piece of jewelry! Im looking forward to working more with it in the future. For now this piece and a few others are available on my site for purchase at JuliaCatherine.etsy.com.

Va-Va-Va Vintage!

I think I have really flipped for vintage! Recently I purchased some vintage beads. Mostly Czech Glass which is my favorite. They are truly unique as they are only available in limited quantities. The photos are a sampling of my work using vintage beads. The earrings are like a topaz or champagne color with individually wrapped seed beads in the center that look like flower stamens. The Pendant is a similar style flower in a purple swirl color. The wire acts like sort of a branch or a stem for the flowers. Very lovely look on a ribbon necklace. They are available on my site for purchase at JuliaCatherine.etsy.com while in my shop search my shop using the keyword 'vintage' to see all my vintage items. Thanks for taking a peek!

Just Fabulous!

I was playing around with my supplies yesterday and starting making the most fabulous thing. I take a cable type chain (oval links) and wire wrap a bead on each link of the chain. The resulting piece looks like a beautiful cluster or a bunch of grapes depending on the shape of the beads. Simply fabulous! I made the first as a pendant. I used Sterling silver and very nice beads that were citrine, blue topaz and amethyst. They are all different sizes and wouldn't quite work for any other project so being the resourceful person that iam I came up with a use for them! The earrings are made from silver plated chain and these delightful seaglass type beads. They are all different shapes, some are frosted and some are polish finnishes. I really love them! Of course these and many other pieces are for sale on my website JuliaCatherine.etsy.com
New items added daily!

Crazy for tassels...

I have just started doing something a little different. I take very small seed beads and wire wrap them. When they get put together they have the look of tassels! It's such a pretty look I recently made 2 pairs of earrings with this look. It's kind of time consuming but well worth it! All these earrings are available on juliacatherine.etsy.com for purchase as always!

A little detour...

This week im on vacation (sun-thurs) for everyone who knows me you know that vacation means boredom! I always have to keep busy! So I decided to bring out the paint and do a few paintings. Painting Art has always been apart of my life. As a child I would spend everyday after school watching my mom make jewelry at work. Every summer I would watch my grandmother paint gorgeous works of art. I made two paintings last night. Very simple ones. They are basic and clean. I really love them. But don't worry make gorgeous jewelry is still my biggest passion! These paintings are available for purchase on my etsy site along with my jewelry at juliacatherine.etsy.com