Over the last few weeks I shared two pendants without applying the liver of sulfur (LoS).  LoS is a tarnishing solution that gets into the weave of the pendants and really brings out the detail.  Here are those same two pendants.  I'll share a before and after.

Photo Credit Renee Sosanna Olson

Photo Credit Renee Sosanna Olson

Photo Credit Renee Sosanna Olson

Photo Credit Renee Sosanna Olson Here is a video of each of the finished pieces.

This is a laboradorite tear drop I worked on a few weeks ago.  I'm adding the raw photos first and then will follow up with the tarnished ones.

Photo Credit Renee Sosanna Olson

Photo Credit Renee Sosanna Olson

Photo Credit Renee Sosanna Olson

Photo Credit Renee Sosanna Olson

Photo Credit Renee Sosanna Olson

I ended up evacuating for a flood from Hurricane Matthew and didn't get a chance to get this post scheduled.  So here it is finally ....

Jewelry & Photography - Renee Olson

I started out with five base wires and created a wide weave due to the size of the stone.

Jewelry & Photography - Renee Olson

 I think wrapped it around the outside of the stone and joined the wires at the top to begin working on the bail.

Jewelry & Photography - Renee Olson

 To create the bail I pulled four of the wires up straight to the top and started a type of figure eight weave to create the bail.  To of the front wires are pulled around the back to lock the stone in place.

Jewelry & Photography - Renee Olson

 The bail weave is created and tided into the back of the piece.

Jewelry & Photography - Renee Olson

 Using the remaining wires I pair them up in sets of two/three/four and create decorative weaves to go along the sides of the piece.

Jewelry & Photography - Renee Olson

 These are the final pictures.  I needed up using the plain wires across the front to add a bit of a decorative element to the front of the stone.

This piece is available for sale and can be purchased on the Facebook Page

Jewelry & Photography - Renee Olson

Jewelry & Photography - Renee Olson

Jewelry & Photography - Renee Olson

This is one of the best pieces I believe I have ever made. It turned out amazing.

Photography & Jewelry by Renee Sosanna Olson

I started out with five 20 gauge base wires and 1 26 gauge weaving wire.  I added peach seed beads along the top of the first wire.

Photography & Jewelry by Renee Sosanna Olson

Photography & Jewelry by Renee Sosanna Olson

I wrapped the weave around the stone and secured the stone in the setting by attaching two of the base wires across the back of the stone.

Photography & Jewelry by Renee Sosanna Olson

 Next I did a figure eight weave around four of the base wires to create a bail.  I pulled those bail wires around the front. On side one I did a two two weave and used it to circle the bail.

Photography & Jewelry by Renee Sosanna Olson

 After circling the bail, I took the wires down and created curls in front on the right side.  On the left, I did an alternating 3x4 and a 2x4 weave to create a fluid swoosh down the side.

Photography & Jewelry by Renee Sosanna Olson

This is the finished piece prior to applying Liver of Sulfur.

Photography & Jewelry by Renee Sosanna Olson

 This is the piece after Liver of Sulfur has been applied.

Photography & Jewelry by Renee Sosanna Olson

 Side view to show the light from the Labradorite.

Photography & Jewelry by Renee Sosanna Olson

My jewelry is available on my website and on my Facebook Page.

This week I decided to do a little Malachite pendant.  I hope you enjoy!

Here's the finished piece.

Photography and Jewelry by - Renee Sosanna Olson

Now for the steps!

I decided to try a three base wire wrap.  The pattern is based on a weave from a tutorial which I will share at the end of the photos.  CSL Designs has a great YouTube Channel and offers a lot of great videos.  I highly recommend going and checking them out.  Now this weave is based on the Alternating picot weave, I just changed it up a bit.

Photography and Jewelry by - Renee Sosanna Olson

 I completed the weave enough to wrap around the stone but leaving it just a little short so I could frame the stone and keep it from falling out.

Photography and Jewelry by - Renee Sosanna Olson

 Next you have to wrap two of the wires around the back to set the stone.  This is when I realized I should have picked a different weave.  There was very little space between the base wires to get the weaving wires in. I tried to spread them with a crochet hook and ended up stabbing myself twice with the hook.  So note:  If you intended to set a stone in this weave, use a larger weaving wire so the space is bigger to get the wire in.

Photography and Jewelry by - Renee Sosanna Olson

 I had extra on the two base wires to enclose the back so I took them around the front of the stone for a little added interest to the front of the piece.

Photography and Jewelry by - Renee Sosanna Olson

 Next I worked on the bail.  The bail is a basic figure 8 type weave using four wires.  It gets a little tough as you get further up the wire.  But I managed ok.

Photography and Jewelry by - Renee Sosanna Olson

 Here's a look at the front with the bail partly attached.

Photography and Jewelry by - Renee Sosanna Olson

 Here's the finished piece before oxidation.

Photography and Jewelry by - Renee Sosanna Olson

 And here she is.  All finished.

Photography and Jewelry by - Renee Sosanna Olson

 Not a bad weave.

Photography and Jewelry by - Renee Sosanna Olson

Look for this piece as well as my other work available on the my website at Sosanna's Closet




Now the tutorial for the weave from CSLdesigns!

For my post this week I decided to do a stacked stone setting.  I wanted a unique looking piece as a gift for my sister so I created this.  I'll include the tutorial by Oxana at the end.

Photography & Jewelry by Renee Sosanna Olson

I followed the tutorial basically for securing the stones in place.  This is one of my biggest challenges. I love Oxana's tutorials she does an amazing job.  Here's the photos of my process

Photography & Jewelry by Renee Sosanna Olson

Photography & Jewelry by Renee Sosanna Olson

Photography & Jewelry by Renee Sosanna Olson

Photography & Jewelry by Renee Sosanna Olson

Photography & Jewelry by Renee Sosanna Olson

Photography & Jewelry by Renee Sosanna Olson

Photography & Jewelry by Renee Sosanna Olson

Photography & Jewelry by Renee Sosanna Olson

I did a really simple bail instead of the long one she made in the tutorial.  The key behind these tutorials is that you use them to learn the techinque and then create your own magic.  It is so great that these folks take the time to record these.  Oxana is one of the best and I highly recommend checking out her YouTube Channel and following her for great ideas!

I usually put my Weaving Wednesday projects up for sale but this one is going as a gift for my sister.

Till next time ...

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.