I'm Kind Of A Big Deal...

Art jewelry necklace with text and reproduction of a 

vintage image behind glass. 

You like?

On My Workbench: Wire Wrapped Peace Sign Necklace

  

A peek into my workshop...

Wire Wrapped Peace Sign Necklace 

When I put the photo below up on my facebook page

Friday night, I entitled it "The Friday Night Special!"

I was playing with some fine gauge sterling silver wire before you know it, the peace sign appeared! ...I had some beads in mind that I had been in the mood to work with - mainly the small rainbow moonstones on the right.  I decided to add just 2 or 3 of them to the pendant as accents. 

Problem was, once I had the moonstones attached they faded right into the peace sign design! This would not do... so I used a Liver of Sulfur mixture to patina the silver, transforming it into a dark gray. 

This is what it looked like after I removed it from the 
patina solution.

Next I took a polishing cloth with some old silver polish
 on it and just polished it up a bit, removing some of the gray
so that you could see spots of the shiny sterling silver.

Finally finished!

My favorite finish is to show great contrast between the dark black and the shiny silver. 
I love the way this turned out! 


What do you think?


Pin this post!

How To Make A Scarab Necklace

Remember scarabs?

Scarab beetles were worshiped by the ancient Egyptians. 
Mysterious!

 I've always liked scarabs because #1, I think they're interesting 
and #2, I think they make unusual & unique jewelry. 

Check out how I turned some scarab beads into jewelry pendants!

On my workbench... I'm going to turn these carved stone scarab beads into one of a kind 
necklace pendants. 

My sketch inspiration. The page says I sketched this one on 2/7/08! Sometimes ideas and designs
 stay on paper a long time until I actually fabricate them into finished works. Half of it is finding the
time to try out new designs, the other half is being in the mood! Mood is everything!

The first thing I did was cut a 4" length of 22g sterling silver wire, strung on my scarab, and made a wrapped
loop on each end of the wire. The top loop will serve as the bail to hold the chain. The bottom loop 
is where I will attach a few beaded accents of coordinating beads. Notice how I made the 
directions of the loops opposite each other. 





Here's the wrapped loop from the bail end that will accommodate the chain. 
I make that loop a little larger than the one that will be on the bottom.

And then there were three. Now for the fun part...

Choosing coordinating beads for the beaded drops. I use a selection of gemstones, pearls and or crystals.

I used sterling silver headpins for the beaded drops and simply made three drops for
 each scarab and attached them to the bottom loop with another wrapped loop. That's it!

The finished scarab necklaces.

A few types of scarab beads:

What do you think? 
Do you like scarabs? 



Pin this post!

On My Workbench: Dinner Knife Handle Bell Pendant Necklaces

A peek into my workshop...
Dinner butter knife handle bell pendant necklaces

What better way to upcycle family heirloom? 

These are all made from vintage & antique dinner knives.

Take a look and see how I transform antique & vintage 

silverware into one of a kind beautiful jewelry. 

Creating bell necklaces from antique dinner knives.

The sound is a delicate chime.

No two that I create are exactly alike. Each is unique!

I accent each with different beads, either a gemstone, pearl or crystal. 

(left to right: faceted amethyst, pearl, crystal, pearl, garnet, crystal)

all designs copyright � Laura Beth Love 1989 - 2013

(Click here to see the necklaces in my shop)

What do you think?

Pin this post!

Want to learn to make your own?
Check out my new book!

Spotted on Celeb Style Watch!

Imagine my thrill when I was contacted yesterday by Etsy Admin to let me know that my jewelry and my Etsy shop were going to be featured in Kaboodle's Celebrity Style Watch!

The article, Etsy Inside Scoop: How to Snag Celeb Style was a collaboration between Etsy and Kaboodle, and spotlights celebrities seen wearing items made by Etsy artists.

In the article, True Blood actor Tanya Wright is shown wearing a necklace that I designed and made for her. Other celebs in the article include Christina Hendricks, Katy Perry, and AnnaLynne McCord who were shown wearing designs from madredeolivia, Blackbirddesignhouse, dishfunctionldesigns, NewYorkCouture and LuaLosAngeles.

Thank you Tanya, Etsy, and Kaboodle!

View the article here: How to Snag Celeb Style