Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Crochet Magic

I easily get bored so I have to try something new now and again. The latest "new thing" is wire crochet and wire knitting. I found the most fabulous shop on the net (recommendation of a very nice lady - wave to Kate) called Scientific Wires who have a great selection of wires in all sizes, gauges, colours, you name it, they have it! I also got a couple of great books on Amazon.

When the box from Scientific Wires arrived I couldn't wait, I just had to start making something right away. Below is my first attempt:


It's a bangle made from pre-knitted chartreuse green wire. The pre-knitted wire comes in tubes and different sizes (tightly knit, medium, and loosely knit). I've rolled up the tube and put a tiny tube of dark copper pre-knitted wire inside before I wrapped it up tightly and used thin copper wire to crochet the two ends of the tube together. I've used vintage peach/copper coloured beads as feature beads and vintage green seed beads for added sparkle. The bangle is comfortable to wear and looks lovely and organic.

This was my first attempt at the actual crochet bit. I haven't done crochet in a long, long time, but I did remember. Must be like riding a bike... This cuff bracelet is just under an inch wide and made with lots of vintage crystal seed beads. I've used vintage rings either side of the clasp which is also made of plain rings. It looks lovely - delicate and sparkly.

Here's the matching choker necklace. Very lovely in an ethereal way.

A close-up of the necklace.

Finally, the earrings. Made with crochet and a single vintage crystal drop.


On my third attempt I was getting more adventurous and playing around with a variety of beads - golden seed beads and Myuki cubes, with pearlised teeny Magatama drops. The centre piece are 3 golden roses which have been attached after the crochet was done.

Yesterday I felt like rose quartz. Initially, I wanted to do a 3-tiered necklace, but it worked out better as a 2-tiered necklace and a single string necklace with a pendant. For the 2-tiered necklace I've used rose quartz chips and teeny rose quartz beads plus larger round catseye beads in pale pink and white. For added sparkle I've used my vintage crystal seedbeads. They seem to work particularly well with the very thin wire.

Below is the pendant necklace made with vintage crystal seedbeads, vintage rose quartz nugget beads and a (modern) rose quartz pendant.

I've also added a vintage copper rose charm to draw attention to the gorgeous rose quartz pendant.

5 comments:

  1. Hi sybille,
    Ilike the first bangle best, the colours are lovely and i like the way that the larger beads poke out a bit!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Sybille, dont know if you got my comment just now, it disappeared from my screen!
    Anyway, just wanted to say that I love your new wire jewellery, it is FABULOUS!
    I especially like the silvery white cuff with the big rings, and I like the green bangle as well. How big are they, and how much are they?
    Penny.

    ReplyDelete
  3. hi
    great job, you will love crochet with wire, the more you do it, and experiment with different gauges and size hooks.

    I mostly use 28ga and size 4 steel hook, but love the loopy look with crystals suspended in the work.

    come by my site to get some more ideas, I wil try to also post some pattens on my blog.

    and I want to check out the wire site you found, I have never seen pre knitted wire! I have been using a wooden spool with 4 nails hammered in to make it.
    pat moses-caudl

    ReplyDelete
  4. and I forgot to leave the site, how dumb am I,
    http://imageevent.com/patmcaudel

    http://members.aol.com/patmcaudel/index.htm.

    http://patmcaudel.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi Sybille, Lovely work! Isn't crocheting with wire the most addictive thing? Try using tiny glass and silver beads and make a several strand necklace - looks magical. Also, if you like eyelash yarn, have you seen the new yarn by Sirdar called Zanzibar with gold tinsel bits in - it's the most beautiful stuff! Nice to see someone else as obsessed with making pretty things.
    Caroline B

    ReplyDelete

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