My latest passion is making jewelry with crocheted wire. The possibilities, given the different gauges and colors of wire available, are endless, especially if you combine them with different beads or stones. My favorite colors to work right now are blue and aqua. Here is an example of what happens when you use a bead soup of Indian glass beads and combine them with three strands of fine gauge silver plated wire.
It is really fun to experiment with different gauges of wire, since you never know how a piece is going to turn out. Generally, I use very fine gauge wire 30) with swarovski crystals, pearls and semi precious stones, 208 gauge with beads like the ones above, and thicker gauge wire (26) with chunkier stones. Anything thicker than 26 gauge and my fingers can really feel it!
Here is an example of work with very fine gauge wire and smaller stones, using black instead of silver wire. The beads I used here are rose and strawberry quartzes, jade, pearls, and moonstone. Very different look, no?
Here is an example using gold plated wire and autumn colors, for a very elegant and sophisticated look. I used bronze and pink pearls, seed beads and crystals and made a matching set of earrings as well.
Finally, here is what a chunky piece using vintage jet beads and red accents comes out looking like. This piece was braided at the ends, so that the focus is on the red and black in the middle. Hope this gives you an idea of the extensive possibilities of crocheting with wire!
Most of these pieces can be found on my Etsy store at
www.penelopedesign.etsy.com
