Obsession Update

     It's been 3 weeks, maybe 4, since I started wrapping stones. I am really pleased with how far I have come in a short time. This rainbow fluorite was wrapped on January 23rd. The first one, which was done on my second day of wrapping, was just January 15th. Considering how odd the shape of this stone is, I am incredibly pleased with how it came out. 

     This lapis lazuli is another sort of odd shaped stone. While it is naturally mostly triangular shaped, is done with a copper wrap like the naturally square sodalite from my last post. I like this color of wire with this shade of blue. And I really like this wrap style. It's actually incredibly versatile.  

      I have a ton of gemstones already, and I have been purchasing individual stones and lots (did you know that people sell lots of stones on Mercari? I learned that recently), plus I went to a specialty stone shop and did a small almost bulk buy of hand picked pieces. I like stones that naturally are mostly oval, square, or triangular. I also like stones that are almost perfectly egg shaped, even though they are tricky to wrap. It amuses me to try. Apparently I like a challenge. This piece of carnelian came out well, but after I took photos of it, I lost it. I have absolutely no idea where it ended up. I don't even know if I will ever find it. 

     I also took an odd shaped stone, that I wrapped more simply, and turned it into a custom necklace. The bail on the stone is large enough that you can remove the stone from the custom chain to put it on a simple, plain chain, or a cord. I like options and I figure other people probably do as well. This piece was the first to get to my website www.blessed-by-fire-designs.com. More will be added soon. 

     When I picked out this stone, with a variety of others, it was from the specialty shop. Thistle Glass Crafts has a much larger variety of stones than any other place I have been. I was picking stones that I liked, without always paying attention to what they were. So when it was time to pay I had already forgotten this stone. Mary was also stumped for a bit, which almost never happens. She is incredibly good at identifying hundreds of stones by sight. This is one of the newer varieties she has and we worked out that it is ruby in quartz. I think it looks great wrapped in copper. It's funny how many things I have decided to wrap in copper, it's not usually a color I would gravitate towards. 

    This is a piece of tree agate, and it was very hard to get a good photo of. I should just bring it outside to the picnic table. Sometimes it's sunny. Not often, but sometimes. Brass (gold color) is also not something I would usually gravitate towards. But some stones just look best with it. 

     This stone was another that I forgot, almost right away. It MIGHT be rainbow moonstone, but it may also be Merlinite. What I should do is bring everything back to Mary, ask her, take notes, and pay more attention to what I am buying in the future. I know a lot of stones by sight, but there are so many less typical stones that I bought from Mary and I should have taken notes. 

     This was another different type of wrap that I really wanted to try. Sort of a floating stone thing. The demo was with a cabochon, just like most of the tutorials I have watched. and I had to adjust the design a bit to actually make it work for this stone (which may be sunstone, or hematoid quartz... or something entirely different). I like this, but it is not as solidly secure as I like. I have a couple of stones that I purchased that someone else wrapped, and they are secure, but can be wiggled a bit. I don't like my stones to have any wiggle, for safety. This stone might get rewrapped. I have ideas. 

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      I realize that not everyone likes really embellished pieces, so I tried something that was much simpler. This is another wrap that was meant for a cabochon, but I had a stone that was naturally fairly oval, and I tried it out. It's fun and different and I like it. I also know that this is definitely a rainbow moonstone. 

     Finally, with the idea that not everyone likes an elaborate wrap, I have been working a bit on some really basic wraps. The two stones on either side might have been super easy to wrap if I had the correct gauge of wire. The one of the left was too heavy and the one on the right was too light. They both worked out, but they are not as nice as I would like, though I think they could work if I get the gauge in the middle. They may also be a lot quicker than the fancier wrap, though they were not particularly quick because the gauge made everything harder. The stone in the middle I am actually pretty proud of because it was my concept and design. I took elements I had learned in tutorials and made up this wrap myself. The stone is not perfectly square in the front, it is sort of unevenly almost triangular on the sides, so it is a uniform and not uniform shape all at the same time. The overwrap on the top was to hide tool marks, which worked out fairly well, but might have been nicer with half round wire, instead of very thin round wire. I may redo this with different materials, but in the same style. I do like how it came out. 

     So after checked date stamps on photos and checked the calendar, I have been at stone wrapping for about 4 weeks. I have the fancy, swirly design down that I use a lot, and I am venturing into some other styles of wrapping as well. Not every wrap works well for every stone after all. Sometimes less is more, because of the shape or to showcase the stone itself. One thing is for sure, I am having a ton of fun with stone wrapping and am going to continue to learn new things about it. I have ideas for some more elaborate jewelry pieces that I hope to be able to work on soon.