Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Wire Jewelry Artist # 2- Alaiyna B Designs

Faith Oriold creates exceptional one of a kind wire jewelry from the finest of components. Shes uses a variety of semi-precious gemstones,Swarovski crystals, freshwater pearls, handcrafted Balinese and Thai silver. She uses .925 sterling silver wire in her creations. Hand wrought silver is used to create wire wrapped beads, clasps and other components. Each is hardened and machine polished to a brilliant shine.
She has been creating her "Wearable Art Jewelry" since 2005 in her Chicago studio. She also has started creating her own lampwork art glass beads that she uses in her wire jewelry designs. She is a pround member of the SRAJD and also SRA-"Self Representing Artist-Glass Artist". Her site is located on Ruby Lane. Ruby Lane is a very well respected art, antiques and jewelry website that offers individual stores for artists. Rest-assured when purchasing on Ruby Lane. They have a very secure site, customer friendly return policy, and all there members have to meet quality and professional standards before opening a store. You will see some of Faith's work below, just click on a picture to enter her store.....I hope you enjoy.


Sunday, September 9, 2007

Wire Jewelry Artist # 1- Krista's Korner

Krista's Korneris owned and operated by Denise Perry. She creates her one of a kind wire jewelry from her home based studio. Designing wire jewelry has become her passion and her full time job, other than being a stay at home mom. Denise's store contains a variety of wire wrapped pieces-pendants, earrings, and bracelets. Many are one of a kind and can't be made twice. She only uses the highest quality components she can find. .925 sterling silver, 14K gold-filled, Swarovski, and Bali beads to name a few. She spends hours searching for the highest quality artisan-made lampwork beads to use in her designs. Denise has been featured in Lapidary Journal's STEP BY STEP Wire Magazine in the fall of 2005-in Colored Stone Magazine in Nov/Dec 2006-American Style Magazine in Nov/Dec 2006. So with that said.."Shop with confidence". You will see some of Denise's wire jewelry below, just click on a picture to go to her site..Hope you enjoy.


Saturday, September 8, 2007

SRAJD

You may not be familiar with the acronym above. It stands for Self-Representing Artist Jewelry Designer. The SRAJD is an organization reserved for artisans who handcraft and sell their own jewelry. A Self-Representing Artist does not sell mass produced jewelry. When you buy from a SRAJD, you are directly supporting the artist and their craft. When you see the logo below, with the exception of the "not valid" part, that is the verification that the jewelry designer is a legitimate member of the SRAJD. To learn more and to see the roster of all the members of th SRAJD click here or just click the logo.

Friday, September 7, 2007

Wire Jewelry


Wire Jewelry has been around for thousands of years. It's a simple type of jewelry consisting of different kinds of wire wrapped around a variety of objects. Some examples would be polished gemstones, both precious and semi-precious, gaming chips, and glass lampwork beads.The wire that is used most commonly today is sterling silver, however you can find gold-filled wire and some made from artistic wire. Many people think that pendants and bracelets made from small strands of wire would not be very durable. I have found out that with reasonable care your wire wrap jewelry could outlast you. Many pieces of wire jewelry have been passed down for many years and still look as nice as when they were first made. You can even find wire jewelry in museums, so that has to tell you, it going to last.

Wire Jewelry has gained a lot of interest in the past few years, mostly due to the internet. Many artists still sale the wares in local craft shows, but many have turned to the internet. As you probably know there are thousands of these websites out there, so I decided to find only the best artists, saving you a lot of searching, and letting you know where to find them.