Volcano Man Necklace

VOLCANO MAN 

NECK WEAR

(Volcano Man: Keeper of fire, maker of spear tips, smelter of metal, a manly man, an ancient Cro-Magnon Cave Guy)

This piece slips on over the head - no clasp. Composed with snowflake obsidian, copper wire links (cold joined) and a nice antique Czech glass bead in red (representing the fire element) - the coin is an old, 'previously holed' (I didn't make the hole) & worn down silver Morgan dollar that looks like it's dated 1882 (the date is worn). I was carrying this buck on my keys ring, then decided it would be better re-purposed as a pendant. 

Might take this one to Eye Candy Gallery for display and sale.

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Easter Neckwear

EASTER NECK BEADS

About 19-19.5 inches long (including the hand fashioned copper clasp)

Strung on 7 strand Accu-Flex wire

Variety of vintage and contemporary Trade / Czech / Bohemian glass beads

The 3 focus beads are each a smallish vintage/antique glass Millefiori Venetian African Trade Bead

(I made these with a few children in mind)

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Ear Sweets Earrings

EAR SWEETS

Antique Venetian Glass Millefiori Beads 

18G Hand Crafted Fine Silver (.999) Ear Wires

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My beautiful daughter tried to try these on this morning and experienced difficulty with the larger gauge ear wires - she could not get them into her little ear holes and I suppose there is a strong possibility that most ladies might be a little uncomfortable with 18G (1.0 mm) ear wires, fine silver or not. I had a meeting and discussion with my friend & jeweler guru Rita Telaak ( Eye Candy Gallery ) and upon seeing some of my ear creations with the custom crafted 18G fine silver ear wire she did say that she thought 'most people' would be uncomfortable with that larger gauge ear wire. After some web research I find that the most common gauge for ear wire is 20G (.75 mm) or even 22G (.64 mm) wire (and I already knew that most of the commercial quality ear wires come in that gauge range) although it seems a one millimeter (18G) hole is what is most often shot through the ear to begin with - the hole probably just shrinks a little over time. Nonetheless, as an artist I cannot escape the gravity of my own preferences in that I really like the quality, strength and eye appeal of the 18G fine silver ear wire - and the fine silver won't tarnish as readily as the sterling silver. So what do you think? Of course any of the ear wears that you see in my blog can be re-fitted with standard 20G ear wires.

Big & Little Blue

"BIG BLUE"

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This piece is fashioned with a hand crafted fine silver clasp, 7 strand Accu-Flex beading wire (it's absolutely absurdly strong wire), various sized antique glass beads, a large U.S. copper penny dated 1838 (the year of the Trail of Tears) and a single U.S. Seated Liberty dime dated 1877 (the year Bell Telephone Company was incorporated with 778 phones).

"LITTLE BLUE"

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I am planning to give this piece to my daughter. 

I purchased the sterling silver heart toggle clasp from Embellish in Rocky River.

Hammered Hoops

HAMMERED HOOPS

Copper Wire & Sterling Silver Letter Cubes

I just hammered these hoops out the other night (the little silver letter cubes are free-floating) and was surprised that I was able to make a very closely matched set of hoops! The trick seems to be to hold the hoop shape together with your fingers while hammering them flat, so they maintain the basic size. After hammering the hoops I spent some time with the Polish Cloth (Sunshine Polishing Cloth, made in Japan) hand-rubbing up a decent shine & buffing out some of the roughness while also de-burring/buffing the ends - especially the ends that go into the ear hole :)

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Fancy Lanyard

FANCY LANYARD

Ditch the boring basic lanyard and instead hang your corporate I.D. in Fancy Style

This Fancy Lanyard necklace is 24-25 inches long and has no clasp, designed to slip over the head. 

Composed from a total of 16 individual hand-wound cold-joined chain links, most 18G solid copper wire but 4 wound of 20G sterling silver wire. 

The Beads: 

16 Antique Glass 'Cane Wound' North American/Hudson Bay Trade Beads - blue barrel shaped cane wound glass with red stripes.

28 Vintage Glass Millefiori (smallish)

Various small vintage glass North American Indian Trade beads, clear, blue, green, yellow striped, cream/peach.

You like?

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The Nickelace

THE NICKELACE

Neck Wear with Six U.S. Liberty Head Nickels

This neck piece is fashioned with a few different bead types: 8 Antique African glass trade beads, several contemporary Millefiori glass beads, 2 Sterling Silver Cube beads, 6 Antique North American Indian Trade Beads (2 of stone, I think, or sand cast glass) & a few contemporary stone beads.

The chain wire is solid copper of about 18G that has been hand wound into individual chain links & cold-joined together (no soldering) - pretty & strong!

The 6 coins are genuine U.S. Liberty Head 'V' Nickels dated 1901, 1906, 1908, 1910, 1911, 1912 and they have all been 'holed' by my own hand and buffed/shined/polished by hand with a polish cloth so they retain some of the original patina, however, they are shiny and meant to be so. The coins are cold-joined together by a chain of hand wound links made from 18G sterling silver wire.

The clasp is hand-crafted from copper wire, and the 'curve' is hammered (to really stiffen it up dontcha know) - all of the clasps that I make have a hammered curve to harden that curvy bend & keep the clasp stiffly in shape.

The overall length is about 25 inches 

(including the clasp)

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The "Unattributed Tiny Coin" Necklace

UNKNOWN TINY COIN

Maybe a Widows Mite?

This neck wear is composed of individual hand wound links of 18G copper wire cold-joined (no soldering) into a chain with a few different types of glass beads: Antique African Trade 'Melon Beads', round Contemporary Millefiori and various shapes of Antique North American Indian Trade. 

The clasp is hand fashioned of copper wire.

The coin is an unattributed copper - it's probably really old. I picked this coin up from Cleveland Coin Shop at Kams Corner, they had it in a neato little 'junk box' of ancient Roman coins, none of which were all that interesting at first glance, but this little guy jumped right out at me and I got it for 5 bucks. 

I holed this little coin and then began to feel like I didn't want to punch holes into coins anymore.

(time for me to learn how to solder)

20 inches long 

including the clasp

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The "A-Bomb" 1945

THE A-BOMB NECK PIECE

1945

U.S. Drops Atomic Bombs on Hiroshima & Nagasaki

This neck wear is fashioned with various antique glass Trade Beads that were intended for use - and may very well have been used - in the North American Indian Trade. The wire is solid copper of about gauge 18 and the piece is composed with two separate segments joined by a hand fashioned copper clasp and a pendant arrangement of 18G sterling silver wire, copper wire and glass Trade Beads as well as the very nice U.S. Walking Liberty half dollar dated 1945 - the coin has been purposefully shined & buffed and holed by my own hand.

This piece is 'close fitting neck wear' as it will not 'slip on' over the head - the clasp must be used to secure the piece around the neck. 

The approximate diameter is 6 inches.

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The "D-Day" 1944

THE D-DAY NECKLACE

1944

D-Day code name "Operation Overlord" lands about 150,000 men on the Normandy coast

And in August the allied forces finally liberate the city of Paris, France

This necklace is fashioned with 22 yummy chevron/mellon style striped Antique Venetian Glass African Trade Beads (I got these on EBAY from Africa and More a dealer of Antique Trade Beads with a 100% positive feedback profile on 2037 transactions) and they do show some beautiful age, so please click the picture to make it BIG and get a closer look! 

There are also 24 small and brilliantly colorful antique Millefiori beads (most probably they are of Venetian origin). The beads are strung onto two segments of solid copper wire of about 16-18G. The clasp is handcrafted from copper wire. The focus pendant is a single antique Walking Liberty type U.S. silver half dollar dated 1944 that has been purposefully buffed & shined and also 'holed' for hanging, and in this case I did punch the hole myself. 

I mention this because some of the coins I procure have holes in them already and some do not and I make a point of distinction between an existing hole and a hole I have punched.

The single bead at the pendant is an antique glass 'cane wound' blue barrel with red stripe. These beads, I am told, were created for use in the North American Indian Trade.

Isn't this a pretty neck piece?

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Remember The Alamo 1836

THE ALAMO NECKLACE

1836

General Santa Ana 'Puts Down' the Texas Rebellion 

This copper wire necklace is fashioned with classic antique cane wound blue glass red stripped barrel shaped trade beads, vintage czech speckled glass disc beads and little 'pony' trade beads (they got that name because the beads were carried on ponies for use in the Native American Indian Trade). 

The focus pendant is composed with a classic large copper penny dated 1836 - with a full LIBERTY - it has been 'previously holed' (in other words, I did not make the hole) and the penny has been cleaned and shined to a nice luster. 

The little clasp is simple and hand crafted from Fine Silver (.999 Ag).

The Alamo is about 24 inches long including the clasp.

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Pictured without the little fine silver clasp attached (yet).

Here hanging & with the fine silver clasp attached.