Weaving A Gem Of A Life » sterling silver

Back to Jewelry

Peg Cherre — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 01:11:44 +0000

My next show is the Letchworth Arts & Crafts Festival. This is the only juried show this year where I will have my jewelry. It’s also the last juried show that I plan to bring jewelry to. Period. From here on, weaving only. But I’m committed to jewelry on Columbus Day weekend.

I have very little jewelry stock left, so have to focus on that for the next few weeks. Earrings are usually the easiest to make, and the easiest to have fun with, so I started there.

Hmmmmm……why am I having a hard time?

To begin with, my hands have lost the quickness and sureness to make the same loop in the same size repeatedly. So practice is in order before I start wasting supplies.

The real problem, however, is lack of sufficient inspiration. All I want to wear, and therefore all I want to make, are relatively long, dangly earrings. I had one idea in my head, so started there.

These are a very dark green agate rondelle. I made the same earring in a dark pink agate.

These two weren’t enough. I made them in a blue triangle glass for a brighter look.

That still didn’t exhaust my desire for these 3-stroke dangles, so I made a pair, a bit shorter in case everyone doesn’t want them quite as long as I do, with an 8mm amethyst round.

Then I played with sterling silver wire. This is one version of the earrings I made.

After every pair of earrings, I felt like I was again empty, devoid of inspiration. It was a struggle to come up with something else. I kept opening my drawers of beads and waiting for something to pop out at me. I had a pair of blue cane beads that I like.

Next some hematite teardrops said, “use me.” Although the two agate pairs are my favorites, these run a close second.

After what felt like several hours at the table, I have created only 18 pairs of earrings. I need to make 3 times that many, for sure. Plus necklaces and bracelets.

Sigh.

Your turn: where do you get inspiration when you need it?

October Winner

Peg Cherre — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 00:37:35 +0000

Congratulations to Kathy S, who won the October contest. I’m sending the handmade bracelet, crafted from sterling silver, porcupine quills, and red jasper her way.

I’m hoping she’ll send me a photo of it on her wrist!

Be sure to check back soon – I’ll post the November contest in the next day or two. (I have to squeeze out a few minutes to make the prize first.)

September Contest Winner

Peg Cherre — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 18:32:48 +0000

Yeah, it’s taken me forever to post this. Sorry. Getting ready for 2 shows back to back, one of which requires me to clean my house thoroughly, has kept me really busy. Anyway…

Congratulations to Joyce, the winner of the September contest for the starry earrings! Check out her blog – Joyce takes some amazing photographs!

And if you haven’t yet entered the October contest for my new handmade bracelet with porcupine quills, red jasper, and sterling silver, what are you waiting for? Leave me a comment for your chance to win free jewelry!

October Contest-Free Bracelet

Peg Cherre — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 20:56:49 +0000

It’s fall. Although the grass is still green, browns, reds, and ochres predominate here in the hills of western New York. I decided that the prize for my free handmade jewelry contest this month should somehow reflect the autumnal season. In fact, this bracelet is a new design of mine.

I’ve had a few different designs of porcupine quill necklaces and porcupine quill earrings for several years now, but bracelets present particular problems when working with quills. Quills are fragile; they bend, crack, and break easily, so need to be strengthened by being threaded onto sterling wire. Regular beading wire doesn’t provide enough stability, and stretchy cord is simply unacceptable. Trust me, I’ve tried them all. I couldn’t come up with a bracelet design that both supported the quills and pleased me. Until now.

This bracelet is made from porcupine quills, red jasper, and sterling silver, including a sterling silver handmade clasp.

I’m often asked how I prepare porcupine quills for my handmade jewelry. It’s a lengthy process. After the quills are removed from the porcupine, they need to be cleaned in warm, soapy water, sterilized with a bleach solution, and then laid in the sun to dry. Both ends must be cut off to remove the barbs, and then it’s trimmed to length. Tedious and time consuming.

I like to use red jasper in my handmade jewelry designs. In addition to providing a nice, rich, warm color, red jasper is a great healing gemstone. It helps improve self-worth and enhances body image. It protects against negativity and promotes beauty, grace, and healing. Red jasper is also helpful in understanding and improving family relationships.

So how can you win this handmade bracelet? I’ve decided to repeat last month’s challenge. Simply leave me a comment on any one of my blog posts this month (entries must be received by midnight on Friday, October 30) to be entered into an end-of-month drawing. I’ll notify the winner on Halloween.

If you love the concept of quill jewelry, check out my necklaces and earrings. Unfortunately I haven’t had time to put them on my website, so you’ll have to come to one of my shows or contact me for pictures.

I can’t announce the September winner yet; I’m waiting to hear back from her. (Check your email to see if you’ve gotten a message from me.)

September Contest – Still in the Sky

Peg Cherre — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 22:31:01 +0000

I fully intended to have a bracelet be the prize for the September contest, but when I went to make choices, I kept getting called back to a celestial theme.

This pair of earrings is made with (manmade) hematite stars. I fancy that the hematite orbs dangling from them are planets, and the sterling wraps indicate their spinning or the rotation of their moons. Like all my silver earrings, they hang from sterling silver earwires.

Since we’ve been having very clear skies for the past several days, the stars are AMAZING! Being an early riser, I’m more likely to be gazing skyward at 5AM than at 11PM, but regardless of when you watch, they heavens offer great viewing. Before the full moon, I got great views of the Milky Way in the early morning. And it’s always a pleasure to me to give a morning nod to Orion, Taurus, and Pleides, the three constellations that I can find and identify easily. For reasons I cannot identify Pleides, sometimes called Seven Sisters, always brings a smile to my lips.

We had a full moon just last night, and after missing it for several months, Margaret & I finally got a great full moon hike in. It was perfect – not too hot, not too cold, perfectly clear, and both knees and backs were in good shape. We loved it, as did our dogs.

As I promised some people verbally at the Elmwood show last weekend, this month’s contest is REALLY easy! All you have to do is leave me a comment, on any of the posts I make this month, and you’ll be entered into the drawing for the free earrings.

I got this post up late, so the contest will run four weeks, ending at midnight on September 25. Comment on this post, or wait for something that tickles your fancy and comment on that, but don’t forget to comment!

In the meantime, if you’re anywhere in the northeast, enjoy the gorgeous weather, the return of children to school, and the beginning of the changing of the leaves.

June Contest – Free Gemstone Earrings!

Peg Cherre — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 23:34:27 +0000

I’ve promised you another easy contest this month, and I’m true to my word. Here’s all you have to do.

Leopardskin Jasper & Sterling Silver Handmade Earrings

Leave me a comment that includes the web addresses of blogs that you really like. Just for leaving me a blog address, your name will be entered into the contest.

Here’s the really good news – you can enter as many times as you wish. You’ll get your name entered AGAIN for every blog address I like well enough to link to!

What could be easier?!

And what’s this month’s prize? A free pair of handmade earrings. These beauties are little leopardskin jasper hearts. Of course they’re dangling from sterling silver earwires. I made the head pins, with an extra special twist of wire down the length the earring. Total length from top of earwire to bottom of heart is 1½ inches. In my next entry I’ll tell you about the healing properties of the gemstone leopardskin jasper.

Entries are due by June 26th.

Start sending in your favorite blog sites!

May Contest Winner

Peg Cherre — Thu, 28 May 2009 22:23:31 +0000

Handmade Sterling Earrings

Charlene from Olean, NY is the winner of the handmade sterling silver earrings. When learning that she won, Charlene wrote, “WOW! I’m not usually a lucky person when it comes to drawings these earrings will be extra special. Not just for the luck that goes with them but because of your excellent design and craftmanship. And silver is my metal of choice.”

I’ll get the earrings into the mail for Charlene promptly, and trust they’ll look great on her.

Watch for the June contest – it will be easy, too!

May Contest – Free Jewelry!

Peg Cherre — Thu, 07 May 2009 19:39:23 +0000

Last month I made the contest too hard, discouraging some folks. So this month it’s MUCH easier!

All you have to do to enter is leave me a comment, telling me what’s delighting you this spring. Choose your sweetie, the weather, your budding garden, our new President, anything! Give me a bit of insight into your choice, and your name will be entered into a random drawing.

You can certainly leave me more than one comment, but your name will only be entered into the drawing once.

I’ll collect all the commenters’ names on May 25, put them into a hat (ok, it’ll probably be a bowl, or a basket, or a vase, but it’ll work just the same) and pull the winner’s name. I’ll notify you (the winner) by email, and will post your first name and city.

Handmade Sterling Earrings

Oh, yeah – what will you win? A pair of my handmade earrings! (If you don’t have pierced ears, we’ll work out another prize of equal value.)

So comment away!