Chandelier Prism Copper Wrapped Pendant

I dropped by the Town Mission's Salvage Store the other day (I'm a regular), and it seemed they had some kind of sale, or something. I found several things that I liked for really no price at all, which is less than usual. Among them were two brass candle holders with a prism tied into the middle of each them in a flimsy way. It didn't look good but I could tell the prisms were good and unchipped. So I bought the candle holders, snatched off the prisms, and handed the candle holders back to the chashier. I said, "Guess you can sell these again, huh?". When she recovered from the surprise, she looked at the price tags and noted "I don't even have to change the price..." and put them on the out-shelf again. And I was happy not to have to take two cheap brass trinkets home with me. I have enough of those already.

As I got home, I realised that it's really all or nothing, because five of my Hong Kong pendants had arrived in the mail as well, so now I had seven nice pendant beads that begged for some attention. But I felt the most for the prisms.

I quickly decided on the "Strukova pattern" as I like to call it, thusly named after one of my absolute favourite wire artisans Elena Strukova. I usually don't make it like she does, I put on variations and stuff in all directions, just as to not copy anyone's work.

I picked 2 glass briolette beads to adorn it with, and voila, it looks like i just took a piece of a chandelier down and hung it around my neck. Well, not quite, but almost. I'm pleased. I plan to make the other one a bit like it but maybe use brass wire or coloured briolettes, or whatever comes to mind at that moment.
This pendant will be listed in my Etsy-shop very soon.

ABOUT: Rogaland Anorthosite

A type of stone that I often use for jewelry is the indigenous Norwegian anorthosite from the Rogaland area in southern Norway. It has no official name but is often referred to as "Blue Eyes" or "Labrador Antique" in interior decoration referring to the names used for marketing Larvikite as "Light Labrador" or "Dark Labrador" since it has many similarities with that rock. This rock has a soft brown background colour to the occasional fiery blue shillering crystal. And that's where similarities end because this rock is made up of other minerals and has other characteristics. But most strikingly it has a completely different origin and age (900 million years).



En sten som jag ofta använder i mina smycken, är en anorthosit från södra norge, som jag för enkelhets skull kallar rogaland-anorthosit. Den saluförs med många namn, bl.a. "blue eyes" eller "labrador antique", vilket syftar på utvinningsfirmans andra produkter, larvikiten, som saluförs som "ljus el mörk labrador" "blue pearl" eller "emerald pearl" då den påminner om den stenen men är som bottenfärg brun istället för grå. Det är egentligen inte alls samma bergart, utan har en annan sammansättning, ett annar ursprung och en helt annan ålder (900 miljoner år gammal).

Som smyckessten är den en diskret sten utan särskilt blank yta eller extremt färgspel, förutom spridda ögon av klarblått, turkos eller till och med lila, mitt i det milt bruna. I dagsljus framkommer detta mycket tydligare än i inomhusljus. Stenen har inte samma hårdhet som många andra smyckesstenar, och därför formger jag nästan alltid med stenen skyddad eller något inlindad i metalltråd om smycket sitter på ett utsatt ställe (armband eller ring).

Lite information på engelska:
Norges geologiske undersøkelse - The Rogaland Anorthosite Province

Copper Wire Bracelet with Rogaland Anorthosite Cylinder Beads

This bracelet was made in the same style as the previous necklace and bracelets with Larvikite. The soft brown of the anorthosite goes very well together with the oxidized copper for a casual look. See this post for more info on Rogaland Anorthosite.

Labradorite Necklace For A Friend

This is a copper wire necklace with a large wrapped toggle clasp in front that serves as a focal. It is embellished with wrapped sticks of indian green/gray labradorite, and the chain is hand made by me link by link. Not for sale.

Detta är ett kopparhalsband med ett stort lindat togglelås mitt fram. Det är dekorerat med lindade hängande pinnar av indisk labradorit, och kedjan, som är handgjord från koppartråd (av mig) är dekorerad med en och annan snurrad snurr och labradoritpinnar.
EJ TILL SALU

Kambaba Jasper and Copper Necklace

Kambaba Jasper and Copper Necklace, $34

This necklace contains so many of ny favourite design elements that I don't really know if I will be able to part with it. But of course I will.


First of all the kambaba jasper is my absolute favourite of the jaspers. That deep forest green, the oolites and swirls, the shiny surface and hardness of the jasper. Then the fact that life's early history is written in these stones - they are fossilized stromatolite algae, one of the earliest forms of life on our planet.

Copper has gone from being my practice wire to being a favourite material in its own right. The warm brown of oxidized copper. Mmmmm.

The Indian Eye shape of the focal stone making it look like some kind of leaf from a prehistoric plant. It has movement and life in some way.

And last, but not least, the design element of wrapping rolo chain onto the outside or inside perimeter of a frame using fine gague wire.

I have used small kambaba rice beads 6x4mm and a flattened curb chain in copper. The unusual clasp is, of course, my own design.

For sale in my Etsy shop for $34.

Svensk översättning kommer snart.

Firepolish and Moonstone Copper Diamond Cable Bangle

Diamond Cable Bangle with firepolished glass beads,
copper wire and moonstone rondelles. $50

This bangle was made from 4mm chinese firepolished glass beads, a couple of rainbow moonstone rondelles and copper wire and Miyuki seed beads.It looks very frail but is really very sturdy in its construction.The hammered, handformed floral focal is the clasp although it can pass over even my big hand without opening. A 1mm copper wire runs inside the bangle. This will look great on your arm with that summer tan or during white christmas.
For sale in my Etsy shop.

Ett armband av firepolished facetterade glaspärlor sydda i netting-teknik med seed beads och små miyuki. Själva kabeln är nästan genomskinlig. Ser väldigt lätt ut men känns väldigt gedigen. Som spänne sitter en blomma av koppar med små månstensrondeller i mitten. Armbandet stängs med en hake under blomman.
Skirt och vintrigt, eller skirt och somrigt - som man vill.
Till salu i min Etsy-shop.

ABOUT: Larvikite - Norwegian Labradorite

Same bead from three different angles.

Larvikite is one of my favourite rocks. It has it all. It's totaly indigenous to a small plutoon in southern Norway, where it was formed by geologic processes about 280 million years ago. technically it's a monzonite with plagioclase feldspar (like all labradorite rock) but it's uniformly steel gray and blue in its schiller effect. Very easy to match with other elements, so to speak.

It comes in a variety of shades of gray, and intensity in the blue of the schiller effect, totally depending on where it's mined. It is commonly used for facade decoration, and for example the University Library in Oslo is totally covered in a darker variety of this rock. The UN building in New York also features this stone. In my home town Stockholm in Sweden you can admire polished slabs of this rock on the facade of the building opposite Åhléns City, and unpolished slabs in the pavement outside the entrance to the Scandia Bank on Sveavägen, among other places.

The name "Larvikite" causes some trouble in non-scandinavian countries, and it is thusly called "Norwegian Moonstone", "Black Labradorite" or simply "Labradorite", which is in a sense correct, but a bit misleading because most people associate the word "labradorite" with a strong blue/yellow/green/orange/purple shiller effect in a gray/brown background, like the rock mostly used for jewelry and decorative purposes and that is mined in Madagascar and Canada. This is a visually very different stone, and the name Larvikite, coming from the town of Larvik/Laurvik where it was first mined is much more descriptive and correct.

Way back when, the Norwegians built foundations and churched with unpolished blocks of this stone, and it wasn't chosen because of its lustre but rather for its abundance. It was used as ballast of ships, which has lead to it being found in the great lakes of North America as well as in Great Britain. But geologigally speaking it is only found in one very special place - Vestfold/Telemark in southern Norway.

More about the rock which was elected Norwegian National Rock in 2008:
Norways National Rock

 

 

OM - Larvikit, norsk labradorit

Samma larvikitpärla från 3 olika vinklar

Larvikiten är en av mina absoluta favoritbergarter. Den är helt unik för södra Norge och har uppstått ur geologiska processer i oslofältets pluton för c:a 280 miljoner år sen. Tekniskt sett är det en monzonit, med plagioklas fältspat (som andra labradoriter) men den är helt grå med grått eller gråblått färgspel i shillereffekten. Väldigt lättmatchad således.

Den finns i några olika varianter beroende på var den bryts, en lite svartare med något grönaktig färgspel, en blåaktigare med stark schillereffekt och gråare varianter, både ljusa och mörka. Stenen används ofta till fasadsten, och t.ex. är hela universitetsbiblioteket i Oslo inklädd i denna iögonfallande sten. I Stockholm finns den på flera fasader, bl.a. Axelssons dammode i korsningen klarabergsgatan/drottninggatan (mitt emot Åhléns).

Ordet "larvikit" verkar vara svårt internationellt, och den kallas (förutom rena felstavningar på ordet larvikit) för "Norwegian Moonstone", "Black Labradorite" eller bara för "Labradorite" vilket i och för sig är korrekt men kanske missvisande, då folk väntar sig en sten med stark blågul/grön/orange/lila schillereffekt. Namnet kommer från staden Larvik, i vars närhet man först hittade och började utvinna stenen.

Tidigare byggde man husgrunder och kyrkor med stenen, men de var opolerade och användes inte för sin lyster utan för att det fanns så rikligt av den. Man använde den även som ballast på båtar, vilket har gjort att stenbumlingar av larvikit återfinns lite varstans i världen som på engelska kusten och i de stora sjöarna i nordamerika. Men rent geologiskt finns stenen bara på ett enda ställe i världen - Vestfold/telemark i södra Norge.

Mer om larvikit som korades till Norges nationalbergart 2008:
Norges nya nationalbergart

Larvikite Cylinder and Copper Necklace

Larvikite and Copper Necklace $18

A necklace handmade by me from copper wire and copper chain with 5 larvikite stone cylinders, a form of black labradorite only found in southern Norway. (Read more about the Norwegian National Rock Larvikite here.) The clasp is a design element and located on the side of the neck, well visible from the front. It has a twin spring link on the other side. 

The chain around the back of the neck is of a scroll/myriad type, and the whole piece is relatively short albeit not a choker style necklace. It rests on the collarbones.

I can list this necklace on Etsy.com or Artfire.com if you are interested in purchasing it.

There is a matching bracelet for this here.

Halsband av koppar och larvikitcylindrar

Halsband av larvikit och koppar $18

Ett halsband i koppar med larvikitcylindrar som ska matcha armbandet med 5 larvikitcylindrar. (Läs mer om Norges nationalbergart här) Haspen sitter på sidan väl synligt framifrån, och har sin motsvarighet i en kopparfjäder på andra sidan. Runt nacken går en kedja av skroll-modell (scroll chain, eller myriad chain, eller vad man nu vill kalla det). Halsbandet är ganska kort och sitter högt så att larvikitcylindrarna vilar på nyckelbenen.

Jag kan lägga ut detta till försäljning på Etsy.com eller Artfire.com om du är intresserad av att köpa det, eller köpa det av mig personligen i Stockholm.

Det finns ett matchande armband till halsbandet här.

Introduction

In the foreground; Diamond Cable Bangle with Hematite and
Sterling Silver + a Small Larvikite Stone Bead, $70. In the
background; Diamond Cable Bangle with wax beads, copper
and a lemon quartz bead $45.

This blog will be showing all my designed and handmade jewelry for sale, and those items already sold as well. All jewelry can be purchased through Etsy.com, or ArtFire.com and if it's not already there I can list it upon request. You can also buy items in person in Stockholm (cash only). And of course you will get a receipt either way.

It will probably take me a while to post all the jewelry I've already made, but hopefully all new creations will be posted immideately along with photos of the creative process. Hopefully someone else might find that just as as interesting, like me.


Denna blogg kommer att visa alla mina designade och handgjorda smycken som jag har till försäljning på Etsy.com, och ArtFire.com så väl som det som redan är sålt. Det som inte finns i webbshopparna kan jag lägga upp om du kontaktar mig genom shoppen, eller så kan du köpa det av mig personligen i Stockholm, kontant. Kvitto får du naturligtvis ändå.

Det kommer att ta ett tag så här i början att lägga upp alla smycken jag har gjort hit intills, men förhoppningsvis kommer alla nya skapelser att läggas upp direkt och jag planerar att ta med bilder från skapandeprocessen som ju kan vara minst lika intressant.