A wire gift - it's a tree...

Kody is going to be a new Aunt!  She got the news from her brother a few months ago and immediately started thinking about what she wanted to give her sister-in-law in celebration.  She decided to give her a wire wrapped tree, to symbolize life and growth.

She wanted to have everyone that was attending the shower pick out a bead that would be built into the tree.  Birthing beads on necklace and bracelets have been something that has been popular since before the store was opened... people pick a bead that is symbolic and something (necklace, bracelet, tree...) is created with those beads for the mother-to-be/bride-to-be to wear during pregnancy/on her wedding day, etc.  The beads can be anything really.  Beads have been chosen based on their metaphysical properties (rose quartz for love, citrine for confidence and courage, amazonite for relaxation during childbirth), they've been chosen because they remind people of experiences they've shared (blue for a trip to the ocean) or just because they've liked them. 

Wire Tree wall hanging

Supply list:

Wire:
80ft of 18ga soft temper round craft wire
90ft of 20ga soft temper round craft wire
135ft of 22ga soft temper round craft wire
* she used various colors - smokey quartz, vintage bronze, brown, some gold

Frame:
one 11x14" frame, should be very sturdy

Beads:
48" of gemstone chips for leaves
beads selected by family and friends

Hardware:
heavy duty staples

For removable pendants:
wire to wrap beads
chain
hooks from hook and eye clasps

Steps:

1 - hammer heavy duty staples around top and bottom of frame, these are your anchor points for your roots and branches
2 - cut all of your wire into 3 ft. sections; you'll need about 90 sections
At this point, you'll be following the steps/directions from the Branching Out Tree class or really any "Tree of Life" tutorials
3 - twist/braid sections of your wire together to create the trunk
4 - create and secure all of your roots to the staples at the bottom of the frame.
5 - create and secure all of your branches to the staples at the top of the frame (adding your beads, chain with hooks and leaves as you go)
6 - wire wrap beads for pendants and hang on hooks

After the roots had been secured, Kody started to layout where the beads would go

.

The start of the branches

Leaves and flowers

From Kody:

It's finally complete!

The finished tree

This was a Baby Shower Gift for my Sister-in-law, Amanda. The Tree of Life symbolizes creation, and of course, my new baby nephew! 

Each member of the baby shower was invited to bring one bead to contribute to this Group Gift. Each bead you see here has been turned into a removable pendant. Each pendant has a unique meaning pertaining to Amanda and each member who participated in this Gift. This way, Amanda is able to wear a little piece of us during her last few weeks of pregnancy. This tree shall provide her with a peaceful transition into motherhood. ♥

Rose Quartz and Flourite adorn this tree, as well as a whole lot of ~Love~ from Amanda's circle of friends/family.

  * * * 

Thank you so much to Kody for letting us be involved in this project, it was a lot of fun and a great learning experience!  To see more of her pieces or to request something custom, you can contact her via her Facebook page.  Are you interested in making a wire wrapped tree (a wire tree of life) on your own?  We offer the Branching Out Wire Tree Pendant class about once a month in our Denver bead store - The Colorado Bead Company.  

How to tell if amber is real or resin

Amber is beautiful, but with so many imitations (a lot of them very good imitations), how can you tell if it's real or not?  We recently got some amber into the store that was... suspicious.  So I decided to find out. 

I did some researching (which means that I called my dad and he Googled it while I was on the phone with him).  From AmberGallery.net, we found an article about how to test amber and decide if it's real or fake.  Here's an excerpt.

Testing: It's not really difficult to tell real amber from fake plastic or copal.  You can try just a few simple tests:

1.Copal (immature resin) and plastic fake amber do not hold up to solvents.  Take a few drops of acetone (fingernail polish remover) or alcohol and drip it over the surface of your piece.  If the surface becomes tacky, or the fluid takes on the honey golden color of the substance, you can bet it's not amber.  Amber is not harmed and will not dissolve under these solvents.

2.Amber does not melt.  It will burn away like incense.  Copal will melt, as will plastic. However, the plastic will release a horrible chemical smell upon burning, while copal may release a smell similar to that of amber.  Amber smells sweet, piney and pleasant when burnt, the very reason it has been used for centuries as incense.

3.Amber is buoyant in salt water.  That's why it is easy for locals on the Baltic Coast to find it washed up on beaches, especially after storm events. The amber gets stirred up from a layer known as blue earth, which is beneath layers of silt and clay on the ocean floor. To do this test, mix about 1 part salt to 2 parts water and dissolve the salt completely.  Drop your piece into the mixture.  Plastic and copal will drop out, while amber floats. 

I decided to go for #2.  Robin, an awesome customer, also recommended this method, and to be honest, it sounded like the most fun.  I took a bead and stuck it to a knotting awl so I could light it on fire and not injure myself.  However, I don't have a lighter in the store, no matches either.  Thankfully, our friends at Fat Jack's sandwiches did have a lighter that they so kindly let me borrow. 

The result:  NOT AMBER, these beads are resin.  They definitively smelled like burning plastic.  It was also not as cool as I would have thought, I thought the bead would actually catch fire, but it didn't, it just, got warm.  Lame.

A dainty little bracelet

The prettiest, dainty little bracelet came in this morning for a bit of lengthening.  It was given as a gift for Christmas this year, from a daughter to her mother, and was just a smidge too short.  I found it to be just beautiful though and I fell in love.

What would I need to make something similar?  I wanted a necklace though, I NEED a new necklace.  :)  NEED.

Supplies:

Chain - you'll want fairly thin chain, if you're planning to stay with the delicate feel (1mm or so), I think the original was a 1.2mm, I used a 1mm on mine.
Jump rings - you'll need 5 jump rings, 4 4mm rings and an 8mm ring.  The original had a twisted jump ring, which I don't have, so I just went with a regular one.
Clasp - this bracelet uses a spring ring clasp; I put a lobster on my necklace, just because it was what I had laying around.
Briolettes - however many you'd like, this one uses two of different sizes (there is garnet and citrine in the bracelet; I used a chalcedony briolette that Sarah got me when she was in Austin for Christmas and an aquamarine briolette that we had here on the single bead table)
Charm - the charm on the bracelet is hand stamped and has the initial of the owner; I went with a little feather though.  I love feathers.
Wire - it should fit through your briolette holes, sometimes they can be very tiny, I'd guess you'll need a 24 or 26ga.  For my briolettes, I needed 26ga for the chalcedony and 24ga for the aquamarine.


Steps:

1 - wrap your briolettes
2 - attach your briolettes and charm to your 8mm jump ring
3 - cut your length of chain, you'll need two pieces of equal length; I wanted a fairly short necklace so I went with 8.5"
4 - attach 4mm jump rings to each end
5 - connect one jump ring to your clasp

and you have yourself a beautiful little piece of jewelry.

Here's mine.  I LOVE it.  I'm very happy with how it turned out!  In fact, I'm wearing it right now.



Anne.

Thank you so much to the firemen!

Are there those people in your life that you really just want to say Thank You to?  There are so many people in a community that do good and a group of them that we love are our local firemen. . Station #8 is just two blocks north of us, they're very close.  They have been a wonderful help in the last few years -whether they're responding to medical emergencies, or that the time the girl on the bicycle got hit by a bus, vehicle accidents, any number of things, they're the first here.  We really appreciate them and their efforts!

Titus and Trinity on a firetruck!

So, tonight we took them dinner.  Aimee made chicken enchiladas, refried beans, rice, and homemade salsa.  Ohmygoodness, it smelled so good.   We also took them some cookies, fresh from the grocery store.  :) 

Two of Aimee's kids made the trip with us and the firemen let them check out one of the trucks, which totally awesome of them and a ton of fun.  Those firemen, they just keep on being awesome.

From Colorado Bead Company to our friends the firemen, thank you thank you thank you.

Anne.

Colorado Creative - success

Colorado Creative was yesterday! Colorado Creative Arts and Craft Fair is an arts and craft gathering that was Dec 9th, 2012 from 2-7pm at the Parkside Mansion.  And it was AWESOME!

There were so many incredible vendors.  So many (including us, obviously).  I didn't get a chance to walk around the whole fair though  :(  Out of our little area though there were some vendors that I particularly loved -

Bella Calla - I got two incredible air plants in vintage light bulbs, completely amazing

Bitter O'Clock - Kelli has been a friend for years and I was happy to share a craft fair with her and her crazy cute crocheted hats.

Pocket Full of Stones -  Jessica with Pocket Full of Stones has been a customer for a while, but I haven't really seen much of her finished work.  I was super impressed

Zshanna - what an artist and she does pet portraits!  I ordered portraits of our dogs for my husband for Christmas from her, I'm sure they're going to be amazing.

And of course, a huge thank you for all of their efforts to Becky with the Denver Craft Ninjas and Stephanie with Pandora.  :)  Those ladies are super incredible.  

wire loops - how to

Making loops is an important skill for any jewelry maker to master, especially if you want to make earrings.  We have jewelry making classes in our Denver bead store location, as well as at our bead store in Greeley, and we're more than happy to help you anytime!  

Head pins - are straight pins with a disc, ball or other fancy shape at one end.  You can use these to create dangles or as the last bead in a series. 

Eye pins - are straight pins with a loop at the end.  You can use eye pins when you're planning on connecting multiple pieces together. 

How to make a simple loop:

1. slide bead on pin
2. cut pin down so that the excess is 1/4" to 3/8"
3. use your fingers to bend the wire to a 90* angle
4. using your round nose pliers, grasp the end of the wire (where you cut), and roll your pliers towards the bend, creating your loop (make sure your loop is closed all the way so that your ear wire or other pieces don't slide out)
5. you can open and close these loops just like you would a jump ring (clockwise or counterclockwise)

How to make a wire wrapped loop:

1. slide bead on pin
2. use your chain nose pliers to create a 90* angle, 1/4" above the bead
3. use your round nose pliers to form a loop with the rest of the wire crossing over the bend
4. wrap the excess wire tightly around the 1/4" space you created
5. wrap all the way down to the bead and trim any extra wire 

 <3 anne.

Kody's custom wire wrapped piece

Kody has been doing some custom wire wraps lately and yesterday she brought in a steam punk inspired piece that is just fantastic.  It's sterling silver wire and copper wire around a beautiful Boulder Opal that she got here, that we got from the Tucson Gem show last year.  The chain is a gunmetal chain that we carry, it is nickel and lead free, so it's hypoallergenic, which is nice.