AdornmentCraft

de Cor’s Handmades on Etsy is offering detailed tutorials for making two styles of elaborate wirework earrings. The pair above - Love Knot PIPA Earrings - combines Chinese knotting techniques with wirework for a truly unique look.

The design below - Layer-coiled CrystalPearls Earrings - uses wire binding knot and multi-layer coil techniques. (It’s really interesting to see the results you can achieve combining knots with wire.)

Each tutorial is available for $9.95 and includes lots of photos (58 in one and 69 in the other!). Consider giving one a try if you’re looking to improve your wire-weaving skills this year.

If you subscribe to Art Jewelry Magazine, don’t forget that you have access to “user downloads” on its website. (I had forgotten, which is why I’m posting about them now.)

This week, the download is a project - specifically, this sweet little metal clay envelope pendant by Elaine Luther:

If you’re not a subscriber and would like to subscribe, click here. To access the download page, with all available subscriber downloads, click here instead.

(Hm . . . I just realized that I haven’t written a review of Art Jewelry Magazine yet, even though I’ve been a subscriber for quite a while. I’ll put that on my calendar for BellaOnline.com Jewelry Making, and update this post with a link soon.)

Speaking of beads (which I’ve been doing a lot of lately), here’s something else I recently discovered online at onlyhangers.com: Glamhangers.

According to the supplier:

“Glamhanger” is a new generation of hanger. It transforms a typical way of displaying clothes into a decorative art form. Glamhanger is based on a French decorative concept, which can be described as original, sophisticated and chic. Glamhanger expresses originality into all closets and adds style and glamour to your clothing collection. Glamhangers are as durable as they are beautiful . . . . Glamhanger: The creativity to change an ordinary object into a must-have decorative tangible, the hanger becomes a jewel!

I believe these are beaded hangers! How funky and cool. If I owned a clothing boutique I’d definitely give these a try. Of course, you can use them to glam up your own closet, too. (Why not? You’re in there every day.)

As far as making your own version of a beaded hanger - that would be a bit of a challenge. You would need a strong metal frame, and beads with holes large enough to fit over them.

If you have you own ideas for dressing up hangers, with beads or otherwise, please share!

Lately I’ve been on a quest for a Moroccan style hanging lamp, but I haven’t found just the right one for my space. However I did find some amazing bead fringe lamps on a site called Wunderly.

The tops are intricately pierced brass, and the fringes are long and striking. Some models are even tiered for a sort-of refined waterfall effect. (Wow.)

The process for making beaded fringe is pretty straightforward, but it’s also time-consuming - especially on this scale. I’d be interested to know how many hours each piece takes to complete.

Here’s some stunning Wunderly inventory:

(Inspired?)

This morning’s discovery:

According to the site:

metalchasers is a site that promotes and supports the field of jewelry and metal arts.

Here Jewelry and Metal Artists come to network, find inspiration and are free to express their creativity. . . .

This site is for beginners to advanced artists with absolutely no membership fees or restrictions. Feel free to browse around, or sign up and start meeting others who share the same interests.

The young site is very well put together and has quite a few members already. I decided to join.

The registration went smoothly, but I hit a snag when my confirmation email failed to arrive. (You must receive the confirmation email in order to activate your account.) You do need to check your spam filter for such emails, of course, but for some reason mine didn’t show up there either. I’ve had the same issue before when using my beadjewelry.net email account . . . so I’m beginning to suspect that the hosting company has some additional spam filter that I’m not aware of. (If so, it’s only blocking things I sign up for, and not ads for “E.D.” medications or body-part enlargement, unfortunately.)

Anyway, I submitted the Metalchasers contact form to report my challenge, and site admin Marcy emailed me back almost immediately. She had manually confirmed my registration, and her email was very courteous.

The Metalchasers site is set up as a social networking site (like MySpace). You can create your own profile and your own customizable page. (Mine is still boring because I haven’t modified it yet.)

You begin with one default “friend” (just like with MySpace), and of course you can add friends over time whose avatars will appear in the friends box.

In addition to a profile page, you also have:

• a gallery where you can upload images of your designs
• a blog, and the ability to add other blogs to your favorites list or browse recent blog entries
• a place to view streaming video related to jewelry making, and to add your own video stream (from a source like YouTube)
• access to the forum and chat
• a place to post ads to sell your wares
• groups you can join or create
• a collection of jewelry-making polls to participate in - or create your own
• and several other interesting things, including a planned “MCtv” page where you’ll be able to view video channels devoted to jewelry making and metal arts.

As you can see, there is a lot there already, and more unique services are planned. If you’d like to give it a try, and find out what the Metalchasers future holds, click here to sign up!