Sterling, Garnet and faceted fiery Labradorite Dragonfly

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May I present to you -- the latest of my Muse's inspirations! A dragonfly made of 20ga, 28ga and 30ga sterling silver that has been cut, bent, balled, soldered and FINALLY woven...This was a fun exploration of new techniques and tools.

The initial intent was for it to be a necklace pendant but I believe this one will be more suited as a pin and one of heavier gauge wire for the body be fashioned as a pendant. This is nice and lightweight and would work perfectly as a pin...How to attach the pin finding (without glue of course!) will be the next challenge. :) *see update below!*

Dimensions: 2" from top to bottom x 3" wingspan

Click here to see more information on this piece.

Oh! By the way, I also made the flower the dragonfly is sitting on. It is made from shells I collected from our beach. :) If you would like one of your own, I have them for sale in my mom's store in Claremore, OK. It comes complete with a poem I wrote -- the roses symbolizing our walk with Christ and our lives as broken shells.

UPDATE! I am very pleased to say that the dragonfly is now a PIN! I sat down this evening with wire and tools and was able to fashion a pin back and successfully wrap it onto the back side of the body. Nice and tidy! PERFECTO!!!

Beading Storage Dilemma

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I had recently been involved in a thread/conversation of a wire wrap jewelry Yahoo group regarding the dilemma of storage and organization of beads, tools and materials. I shared my roll around beading station with them and several thought it was a great idea so I thought I'd share it with you all here!

It all started with my sister showing me her roll around cart. It was a simple project that morphed into what you are about to see. I just can't leave well enough alone.

I took a trip to the local Target and picked up a nice heavy duty Rubbermaid type 4 drawer roll around cart style cabinet...after I loaded it up with all my stuff I quickly realized that rolling it on the tile with all that weight the wheels literally came off...so off to Harbor Freight we went and picked up a light duty furniture dolly to set the cart on. I had a couple of sheets of pegboard that was just behind a door that held strands of beads, findings, etc. for a few months. I screwed one of the pieces of pegboard to the back of the cart (not only had the wheels fallen off but it became "rickety" from rolling across the tile) which gave it immediate stability! Since the pegboard was taller than the cart I also had storage on the back side of the pegboard (seen standing in front of the cart) for more storage. I then drilled holes on both sides to hang my bead bins (aka hardware storage bins usually found in a garage for screws and such) and hung one on each side of the cart using pegboard hooks. To make it easier to roll around, since the furniture dolly is slightly wider than the cart, I screwed a cup hook on each end of the furniture dolly exposed top and one into the end of a stick long enough to use as a handle... :)

TA DAAAAAAAAA!!! Works perfectly as a roll around cart that can be stashed away in a corner (note...clean out corner to store cart in. LOL).

I have another one for my soldering/fusing and miscellaneous out in the Florida room - pool side! :)

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