Confessions of a Modern Witch: sterling

Weaving Wednesday - Labradorite in Sterling Silver

November 9, 2016

I found a stunning blue labradorite that was simply amazing. I wanted to put it in sterling silver.

Here's the finished piece.

Labradorite in Sterling Silver

Here's my process.

I took five, 12 inch wires in 20 gauge and 1 length of 26 gauge weaving wire and started a chevron type weave. Using two wraps on each base wire before moving to the next level.

Labradorite in Sterling Silver

I continued that pattern until stone was completely wrapped in the weave.

Labradorite in Sterling Silver

I then made a slight bend in the tops of the wires to crisscross the front two wires around the back to lock the frame.

Labradorite in Sterling Silver

I then use the weaving wire to secure the two wires around the back of the stone.

Labradorite in Sterling Silver

I ended at the bottom, trimmed the excess wire and created spirals to end the wires neatly.

Labradorite in Sterling Silver

After completing the bail with a figure eight type weave, I used the end of the bail wires create the decorative weave for the front and sides of the piece.

Labradorite in Sterling Silver

I used the weaving wire to create the main weave.

Labradorite in Sterling Silver

I used the weaving wire to lock the weave in place by looping once around the frame in places where it came close to the stone.

Labradorite in Sterling Silver

This is the finished piece. it turned out really well.

Labradorite in Sterling Silver

You can purchase my jewelry at my Facebook Shop and learn more about me on my website.

Weaving Wednesday - Bracelet

November 2, 2016

I saw a bracelet on a free tutorial in copper and I thought, why not try that in sterling silver. So this is what I came up with.

Photography and Jewelry by Renee Sosanna Olson

First you get 2 pieces of wire about double the length you need the finished bracelet to be. I used 20 gauge sterling silver wire. I find that 18 gauge works a bit better. I didn't have any on hand so I went ahead with the 20 gauge.

Photography and Jewelry by Renee Sosanna Olson

Next you'll fold both of these wires in half to create the bracelet. Using a 28 gauge weaving wire make 4 loops around the base of the first loop you created. Now bend the outside wires out to the outside of the bracelet and loop the next set of wires.

Photography and Jewelry by Renee Sosanna Olson

Continue this alternating pattern until you reach the tip of the bracelet.

Photography and Jewelry by Renee Sosanna Olson

To finish the bracelet you can wrap two of the leftover ends around the base of the bracelet and then create a hook with the other two. Or you can create a separate hook eye closure. It is pretty easy to work with so do what you like to do.

Photography and Jewelry by Renee Sosanna Olson

Here are a few more photos.

Photography and Jewelry by Renee Sosanna Olson

You can find more of my jewelry available for sale on our Facebook Shop Page and read about my story on Website.

Weaving Wednesday - Sterling Silver

October 12, 2016

I'm slowly starting to work with more sterling silver wire. Here's my latest piece with some lovely labradorite.

Photography & Jewelry by Renee Sosanna Olson

I started out with five base wires that were 22 gauge and a single weaving wire of 28 gauge.

Photography & Jewelry by Renee Sosanna Olson

I used a basic chevron style weave to create the frame.

Photography & Jewelry by Renee Sosanna Olson

After the frame was shaped I used one wire from each side to secure the stone in the back.

Photography & Jewelry by Renee Sosanna Olson

Next I set the stone.

Photography & Jewelry by Renee Sosanna Olson

I used four of the remaining base wires to create the bail.

Photography & Jewelry by Renee Sosanna Olson

After securing the bail, I used the two left wires to create a decoration down the right of the stone and then crossed the remaining two wires to the left to create a balanced design.

Photography & Jewelry by Renee Sosanna Olson

Here is a video of the finished product.

Mastery Continues - Silver Rings

August 26, 2016

I decided to try to create something a bit more unique. Here are a few more bands and settings I created.

Photography and Jewelry by Renee Sosanna Olson

Mastery Continues - Silver

August 15, 2016

I picked up some smaller bezel wire to work on some of my flat faced cabochons. This is my latest creation. The ring shank is made from 16 and 18 gauge sterling silver wire; the bezel from fine silver and the stone is a Rutilated Quartz. The back has a small heart cut into the silver plate to allow the light to come behind the stone.

Photography and Jewelry by Renee Sosanna Olson

Mastery Continues ... Sort of

June 30, 2016

Sometime there are those days when nothing seems to go right. Today was that day. I spent all day trying to get some pieces done. Yes, I know I'm practicing. I know I need to just be patient and work harder on mastering the basics but damn. Everything I touched turned to crap today.

Here's what mistakes look like.

Lets start with making a ring with three pieces of metal. A center band and two wire circles. Sometimes they just don't line up and it just looks a mess.

Photographer & Jeweler - Renee Sosanna Olson

Next I was working on creating rune rings in sterling silver. I heated the wires too much and they warped. Once bent like that they never straighten back up.

Photographer & Jeweler - Renee Sosanna Olson

Here I used too much solder. You can see the big glob in the center. I could probably heat it again and try to fix it but I was afraid I would melt the center wire like I did on the last one.

Photographer & Jeweler - Renee Sosanna Olson

This one started out really nice. I had a great stone and the bezel was perfect. As I was closing the bezel around the stone, the stone shattered. I had to dig it out and replace it with another stone. As you can see this stone is smaller than the one I had before and the bezel is out of shape at the top.

Photographer & Jeweler - Renee Sosanna Olson

This one is a little wonky. You can see the bezel is twisted and is not straight on the ring shank creating the oval leaning to one side.

Photographer & Jeweler - Renee Sosanna Olson

This one I was making a rune ring and I over heated the center, the pieces blew to the top and bottom creating what appears to be a double line.

Photographer & Jeweler - Renee Sosanna Olson

Even my wire weaving was bad today. In this one I used the wrong gauge base wire and created this super chunky rink It is so heavy. I need to just cut that wire off and start over.

Photographer & Jeweler - Renee Sosanna Olson

Finally there's this one. Yeah it is a mess. All the wires melted, over heated and then fused in the wrong place. Over all it was a pretty bad day.

Photographer & Jeweler - Renee Sosanna Olson

I shared this because I know sometimes as an artist I only want to share my best work. I want people to see the good things. But in those good things; sometimes bad things happen too. I have to just take a big deep breath and try again. I'm going to order some new supplies now as this disaster tapped out my stash. Hopefully next time I'll have something better to share with you.