Radiant Pearls Cause of Return to Wire Work...

GemGeek

GemGeek

Pearlista
Joined
Sep 20, 2006
Messages
9,196
Hi Gang,

I have made very few things this year due to my concentration on school. However, I made a visit to John Tu recently and bought some pond slime pearls and these sweet little pearls pictured. Of course, my wire skills did a major backslide - hmmm.... how much wire do I need for each pearl? Oops!

Anyway, just focus on the pearls. By the time I get farther along, the loops will be smaller and prettier. I hope. :::fingers crossed:::

So here is the start of what will be a necklace...

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Cheers,
Blaire
 
Blaire, it's beautiful. Post pics as you go along so we can see the changes. I love an art form you can't screw up.
 
I left some pearls for you! ;) Oh, please tell John that his pearls were quickly put to use.
 
Thanks! I haven't ever had to make tiny loops before, so I started with my old standby pliers:

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I got back from lunch and was feeling sheepish about how big the loops were, so I switched to the world's tiniest tips:

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These are the pliers I like the best:

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The loops aren't consistent yet, but much smaller. I'm thinking about finishing this as a bracelet and starting again on a necklace. <whew> ;) I'm still nutzo over these pearls!
 
The bracelet looks fine. I'm getting better at smaller loops, but still need to work on it. Here is the start of the necklace...

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Beautiful pearls Blaire. I work with alot of delicate beads and tiny spaces--would literally love to find the worlds smallest tipped pliers--The smallest I found was a beadsmith with a yellow handle. My camera is not working so I cannot take a photo. Any suggestions?
 
My Lindstrom round nose pliers are pretty small, you do mean the round ones? They are about .75mm at the very tip-----but of course they graduate to larger, about 3.0mm at the widest. I do find them very nice to work with.

BTW, thanks Blaire for leaving me some pearls! I try to go on wholesale morning, sometimes I get a chance to chat John up a bit, he is delighted about the PR he gets here---
 
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claudenancy said:
Beautiful pearls Blaire. I work with alot of delicate beads and tiny spaces--would literally love to find the worlds smallest tipped pliers--The smallest I found was a beadsmith with a yellow handle. My camera is not working so I cannot take a photo. Any suggestions?
Click to expand...

There is a fellow I like at the Gem Faire who sells tools and I've bought a lot of them and never been disappointed. He said these pliers had the smallest tips of any quality plier. I can't verify that, but I can't see how they could be smaller. They are Teborg from Sweden, model 46,9590, and they are available online from Gesswein and other sellers.
 
Wow -- cool bracelet Blaire. Learning how to do wire work is my next thing -- your pearls are beautiful and inspire me:)

Pattye -- I can't wait to go to Portland next weekend to Gem Faire and get some Tu pearls. I've been looking forward to it for months. Waiting until Gem Faire gets to Eugene at the end of the month is too far away, so I plan to make a day trip from Corvallis. I seriously am beginning to think I have pearl obsession. Hmmm -- I could go to both the one in Portland and Eugene:rolleyes: Yup, definitely an obsession!! Kate
 
I finished the bracelet with a regular filigree pearl clasp and I'm wearing it at work today. It looks very nice with Sarah's kasumi pearl ring!

One thing about John Tu's pearls - there are so many pearls, and so close together, that it can be easy to overlook great ones. Take your time. John sometimes adds terrific closeouts to the inexpensive stuff on the table.

Have fun! ;)
 
John definitely has a lot of stuff and I noticed that he had some great buys on his inexpensive table. The last time I went (which was the first time) I didn't get as much as I could have because I was a little overwhelmed and my eyeballs were spinning in my head with excitement. This time I will be a little slower and deliberate about my shopping:eek:
 
Thanks! For tiny pearls, they have a lot of character. I need to get back to work on the necklace now. ;)

Cheers,
Blaire
 
Blaire, it is GORGEOUS; I can't wait to see it finished. The gold is a fabulous compliment to the colors of the pearls. drool drool!
 
Skypearl said:
Blaire, it is GORGEOUS; I can't wait to see it finished. The gold is a fabulous compliment to the colors of the pearls. drool drool!
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Droolworthy pearls, thanks! I agree with you, though, about how well they go with the yellow gold color (GF). It makes me wonder how they would look with silver...
 
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