****DIY Sundays on Mondays****

I hope everyone had a great weekend and hooray, it's DIY Sundays on Mondays.  Can't wait to show you what I've been up to....

So I have a very long to-do list.  Well, actually, I have more than one but we will just focus on the one for Naughty Baubles.   One of the many on this to-do list is to experiment with new techniques and there is one in particular that I have shied away from constantly...since like the very beginning of my jewelry making journey. What is that technique you ask? All things wire.  I know, its really vague but I have just stayed away from it all together. And yes, this aversion stems from a pretty bad experience.  Rather an ugly experience. I attempted to make a wire wrapped bracelet and not only did the damn monstrosity slice up my wrist but when I showed my grandma she was still laughing when I came home from work.....8 hours later.  From then on the only wire I used was in the form of already made jump ring, eye pins, head pins and of course chain.

This remained true until this weekend when I stumbled across a bunch of videos on You Tube all teaching me how to make some of the most precious wire wrapped baubles and trinkets.  So I present to you my lovely new ring.  Its gold plated wire that, according to the package, is tarnish free and one huge chunk of amethyst, my birthstone. Granted I had to re make it three times just to get the size correct. The tutorial suggested using a ring sizer mandrel but unfortunately I didn't have one so I used a nip bottle (too small), a rolling pin (too large), and lastly an aluminum pipe (I gave up resizing it until I get the tool....amazon.com here I come).  I also used a the wooden pole on my decorative mini bust form but found out after I finished the ring that I couldn't get it off thanks to the bust form on one end and the flat wooden bottom on the other (serious blond moment).

In the first picture you will also notice a pair of earrings.  Just about everyday I am scribbling down notes, saving pictures onto my computer and archiving magazine articles and pictures that in some way inspire me.  It has officially turned into a chaotic mess of overflowing hat boxes, disheveled notebooks and drawers filled with bits of worn paper.  Anywho, I came across some sketches when I changed purses and decided to go for it.  And I'm glad I did, the earrings came out pretty cool. 

The earrings will go up on my Etsy shop by the end of the week but the ring is all mine...mostly because it barely fits my big fingers (or my boyfriends..lol) and partly because I tend to absolutely adore the first item of anything new that I make.  However, stay tuned because now that I can successfully wire wrap, many pieces will be finding their way onto my site.