When I started making jewelry, I was on an initial high. After my success making a beautiful necklace at the spa in Mexico, I thought I was a natural. All I needed to do was string together a hodge podge of beads randomly as they caught my eye. Since that was what led to my initial Mexican Fiesta success, I thought it would work every time. I thought I had a god given talent for jewelry making.
In fact, I was so confident when I returned from my Mexican vacation that I put myself on eHarmony. Now, you might scratch your head at the connection between jewelry making and online dating. But, here's how it worked in my head: "Hey, I am really creative, and it's likely that I am going to make some big money from my jewelry making. Plus making jewelry is so creative that I will be fulfilled and happy. And because I have recently lost a bunch of weight on Weight Watchers (another story), there is not a man over 50 that wouldn't die to go out with me!" I know, a bit delusional, but that's how it went. So, at age 63, I completed a questionnaire, labored over my profile, had some photos taken and made the plunge into the world of online dating. You have to understand, I had not had a date in more 13 years. So putting myself out there was a HUGE step. More on that later.
Within a week after returning from my spa vacation, I had invested hundreds of dollars into tools (chain nose pliers, round nose pliers, flat nose pliers, crimpers, cutters, bench block, ball peen hammer, files), wire (silver, copper, 14 carat gold filled, 22 gauge, 20 gauge, half hard, dead soft, flex wire), findings (those little metal things that you use to hang earrings on your ears or close a necklace), crimp beads, crimp bead covers . . . well, you get the picture.
Then I went for the beads. If you have ever been into beading, you know what a heady experience shopping for beads can be. I first ventured into The Shepherdess, a small bead and knitting shop in Old Town, San Diego. It was an old establishment, having been in business for more than 30 years. While the selection of beads was rather limited, the shop had some interesting vintage beads, and so that's were I started. A string of small clear oval beads caught my eye along with some interesting copper beads. Into the basket they went. No great damage done there. However, right next door was Lost Cities Beads, the mega mart of bead stores. I wandered over thinking that the shop had undoubtedly sacrificed quality for quantify.
What I found was that Lost Cities Beads has an enormous inventory of literally thousands of beads ranging from Swarovski crystals of all shapes, sizes and colors, to ancient bone beads, to semi-precious stones. I was overwhelmed. Wide-eyes and in a bead daze, I circled the store, fingering new jade, onyx, quartz, iolite, jasper, crystal, amber and many others. I eyed the fine gem stones under the counter. I was giddy at the sheer abundance of beads. A sales associate greeted me with a tin of chocolate chip cookies (beads and cookies, oh my!) and handed me a sectioned plastic plate with a pencil and paper to record my selections. I was a goner.
I selected what caught my eye...square crystal, new jade (a beautiful pale blue-green), tourmalated quartz (smokey grey briolettes), oval carnelian and dyed coral. Then I spotted some beeooootiful ancient Chinese coins and counted out six of them. Oh, and some wonderful square silver beads that were just so architectural. I had no idea of my investment at that point but knew instinctively that I needed to stop putting things on my plate ... NOW.
I approached the cash register, placed my plate on the counter and took a deep breath. The cashier cheerfully asked if I was on their preferred buyer list. "No," I replied. "This is my first time here." She explained that after spending $500, you receive a 10 percent discount on all future purchases. All I had to do was save my receipts and when I hit the $500 mark, bring them in so the shop can put me on its preferred buyer list. Ok, that sounded fine. However, I was doubtful that I would ever hit the $500 mark. I mean, how much could beads cost? She finished ringing up my purchases and handed me a tab for $211.35. I nearly fainted. How could a selection of beads that barely covered a third of my plate cost more than $200? But I was simply too shocked to return some of my purchases. And, frankly, I didn't want to. I had treasures in my hands. Little shiny, sparkly, colorful treasures to turn into something beautiful. I felt rich, excited and full of creative potential.
Half the fun of jewelry making is the anticipation. I'm not a planner, so I had no clue as to what I planned to create with my treasures. At home, I assembled all of my jewelry making paraphernalia in front of me, laid the tools out on a large tray, put the beads and findings in their cute little cubicles in my newly purchased plastic bead box, organized the wire by size and substance, placed my bead board in front of me, smiled at how darn creative it all looked, took a deep breath and tried to figure out where to begin.
My first attempts were disappointing: a pink and tan quartz and copper necklace that turned out to be heavy, clunky and downright unattractive. Then (pictured above) a necklace and earrings of painted glass beads, small red and white beads and silver links. The second one was "okay," but I could never picture myself wearing it, so was fairly certain that no one else would.
I bought a book on basic wire wrapping techniques, but my wraps never looked like the ones in the photos. I used copper wire to practice the basics because it was less expensive than silver or gold plated. But I was no where near ready to make the jewelry that I had pictured in my head.
The basic backwrap was my greatest challenge. It's so important because it is used to connect beads together when you don't want to simply string them on flex wire. I had taken a class in wire wrapping and nailed the basic backwrap in class. But for the life of me, I couldn't get it right after my initial success (there's a theme here). I kept trying but I just couldn't get it right. Invariably there was excess wire showing between the wrap and the bead, or the wraps overlapped, or the dang wire simply snapped because I overworked it.
So I had gone from my initial high to the frustrating reality that jewelry making is like any other skill. It takes more than a creative gift. It takes practice, study and time.
By the way, I discovered a great website - firemountaingems.com. The site offers a huge range of jewelry making supplies and beads. Although a bit pricier than Lost Cities Beads, I have found their selection of tools and supplies to be unmatched anywhere. More important, at least to me, Fire Mountain Gems offers a wide range of free tutorials from basic techniques to more unusual approaches. By watching the tutorials on wire wrapping, I am happy to say that I have finally mastered the basic back wrap!
Until next time.
Bette
"Twisted Wires" is all about jewelry-making; although you're forgiven if you suspected it contains dark, psychotic musings. The double entendre is no accident.
