Saturday, November 20, 2010

Bling Bling I Made Some Rings

My order finally came in from Artbeads.com. I got my ring mandrel, which was the most important thing I was waiting for. And, I of course ordered some beads. But I have to tell you, I was soooo disappointed in my beads this time around. Not because of the way they look or the quality...Artbeads always puts out gorgeous products. The problem is, I am not good at picturing 10mm vs 20mm in my head. That dang metric system! lol The beads that I thought were going to be pretty substantial in size were actually so flippin' small. Not big enough for bling rings. Bummer! But, they are pretty and I'm sure I will use them in something someday. One day I'll need the perfect thing, and BOOM there it'll be. Love it when that happens. So they will wait for another project on another day.

Making wire wrapped rings looked so easy on the video I watched. It's actually very tricky to get the hang of. I've wasted so much of my wire on the mistake rings already! Frustrating. I should have ordered two spools of it. I'm having a hard time getting the sizing right. When you wrap, you wrap bigger than you actually want the ring to end up. So I'm finding out by trial and error how to get a size 7. So far they have been smaller. Too small for my chunky monkey fingers! I think a 7 is about average. What size do you all wear? Leave me a comment so I can take a poll and start getting some averages.

I took photos and am posting them for you to see my first attempts at wire wrapped rings. I had a lot of fun making them.


 
This blue bubble ring turned out to be pretty small, so I gave it to Sara. She really likes it.  I have more of these beads, so I think I will do a couple more like this.
I really liked the mix of colors in this one.

oops.  I should have cleaned my fingernails...don't look! lol


 I really like this one a lot.


(Man, I have been having nothing but troubles making this post tonight.  It wouldn't upload any of my pics, then it was going to something called Cloud Picker that I had to sign in for and then gave an error message.  Ended up having to clear out all my cookies.  Great.  Now I get to put in all my passwords for all my pages again.  Joy.)

Anyways.  On with the rings.  What do you all think of my first rings?  I really kind of like the look of the big, chunky rings.  I love the square Venetian Glass ones.  Got those from a previous Artbeads order that I thought I was going to use and didn't.  Thought they worked out perfect here.  Wish I had some gold colored wire, too.  Guess I will be making another order to Bello Modo.  Have you ever shopped at Bello Modo?  They have wonderful customer service, and their orders process quick.  Most of the time I get a free little goodie in my package, which is always fun.  Free shipping, too.  But, if you are looking for something particular on their website and don't see it, don't give up!  Email or call Pam and ask her if she has what you are looking for.  I found out that she usually does and it's just not on the website yet.  Prices are great, so the checking is worth your while.  The wire I just received from them was a great example.  I wasn't quite sure what I was looking for as far as wire goes, so I just shot over an email with a question, and she answered very quickly.  Got my order quickly, too.

So here are my poll questions again, in case you forgot.  What size do you wear or do you think is average?  Do you like the direction of the styles I am choosing...the chunkier blingier look?  Also, what colors are your favorites?  What colors do you see other people wearing a lot of these days?  I can get the wire in colors.  Would you wear colored wire to match the beads, or do you prefer the basic silver or gold colored wire?  Tell me your thoughts on rings in general.  I had fun making them, so I'm thinking that if I can get some good feedback I can make some and put them in my Etsy shop, and maybe actually sell something.  That would be something different!

Ok.  I think I'm done.  It took me forEVER to make this post because of the Blogger issues, and I'm about Bloggered out for tonight.  Enjoy the rest of your weekend.  Short week next week and the holidays officially start!  I love the holiday season.

2 comments:

Jan said...

Hi Lisa,
Personally I don't like huge rings. Maybe it is because I put my hands in my pockets so often and big rings interfere with that. But I do like the look of the wire wrapped rings, I would just choose a smaller stone. I have small hands, a size 6 ring finger.
I think your rings look pretty good, especially when I know you haven't been doing wire work for long. Have fun!

Lynn said...

The bigger the better in my book! I love the statement rings - they are such fun and yours are excellent! Your wrapping is so good (I guess you decided not to show your practice pieces lol).

I like the silver wire, but that's just cause I like silver vs gold. My hand is very small - size 7 fits on my first (pointer? index?) finger. I think my 'ring' finger is a a 4 1/2 or a 5, but I'm not sure.

I hear you on the size confusion too! Happens to me all the time. But like you said - just something to add to the stash :)