Beads & Jewelry Making Supplies by WigJig Newsletter 10/02/2006

These earrings present an opportunity to incorporate colored gemstones into earring designs.  The earrings at right use man made sapphire gemstones with sterling silver wire and chain.  Any other brightly colored gemstone would also work.  We don't recommend clear, simulated diamonds for these earrings with silver wire because it would be to monochromatic.  Simulated diamonds with gold wire might work. 

These earrings were made using a peg pattern on our WigJig Centaur or WigJig Delphi jewelry making jig.  This pattern could be easily adapted to our WigJig Olympus or Olympus-Lite.  In our techniques section below, we discuss how to adapt a pattern from our WigJig Delphi to the WigJig Olympus. 

Our one caution is that we would not normally use the shepherd's hook style of ear wires with gemstone earrings.  For these earrings we were out of both lever back ear wires and post style ear wires when we made the earrings.  We do recommend using either the lever back or the post with ball style of ear wires with these earrings. 

To view our instructions for how to make this jewelry item please select here or select either picture above. 
 

Jewelry Technique:
This weeks jewelry making technique is a discussion of how to adapt a pattern made on our WigJig Delphi to be made on our WigJig Olympus or Olympus Lite.  With this weeks new jewelry making project, we used the WigJig Centaur or Delphi to make the earrings shown above.  This paragraph will try to discuss what to do to adapt a pattern from one jig to another. 

Our jigs are designed to have a square pattern when oriented on the horizontal and vertical as shown on the left above, and to also have a square pattern when oriented on the diagonal as shown on the right above.  Because of the way our jigs are made, the pattern on the diagonal is significantly smaller than the pattern on the horizontal and vertical. 

To convert a pattern from our WigJig Delphi to our WigJig Olympus or Olympus-Lite you need to translate a pattern on the horizontal and vertical on the Delphi or Centaur to the diagonal on the Olympus or Olympus-lite.  You can view a web page where we show pieces made on each orientation on each jig here.  

Nostalgia Corner:
This weeks featured design in our Nostalgia Corner is the design for our 5+1 Beaded Chandelier Earrings shown at right.   These earrings were selected because this design can be easily modified to replace the 8mm bead in the center of these earrings with an 8mm gemstone set in the low wall bezel setting just like this weeks new jewelry project above.    

This earring design could also be modified to incorporate chain just like our new project above.  In fact the bottom wire component from these earrings is very similar to the bottom component in our new jewelry project above. 

This is a relatively easy design to make and should look great with an 8mm gemstone in the center.  Here is a way to make some really spectacular earrings using colored gemstones like aquamarine, blue topaz, emerald, ruby, etc. 

Please select here, or select the picture at left to view our instructions for making the 5+1 Beaded Chandelier Earrings.
 

We are continuing to improve our newsletter, so please feel free to provide feedback at custsrv@wigjig.com. 

Announcements:
Online Books.  If you are looking for new and interesting jewelry projects -- try one of our Online Books.  Our most detailed instructions are for sale online.  Please select here to view our selection of online books.  These books are delivered over the Internet and there are no shipping costs on an order with just online books. 

Shipping Policy.  We waive the shipping charge on orders over $60 shipped within the US (as long as these orders remain over $60).  For International orders we ship via FED EX or UPS international service and charge $34.95 (our average cost) for this expedited shipping service.  Please select here to view our entire shipping policy.

WigJig University.  We provide Over 2,200 web pages of free information, tips, techniques and free jewelry making designs in WigJig University.  We encourage everyone to view this information as a source for new ideas, projects, or a way to learn new techniques.  We now have a page in WigJig University that shows our designs sorted by the WigJig tool used to make them.  Please select here to view that information. 

International Vendors.  We do have vendors who sell our WigJig products outside the US.  We encourage customers to contact these vendors in their home country.  Please select here to view our list of overseas vendors.  We are also happy to sell our WigJig tools to stores.  Please send us an e-mail if you are interested in selling our WigJig tools. 

Classes.  We have a listing of various jewelry making classes using our WigJig tools that are offered by bead stores throughout the country.  If you are interested in classes, please select here.  If you know someone who has classes in using our WigJig tools, please ask them to send us an e-mail at custsrv@wigjig.com so that we can include them in these pages. 

SHIPPING WAIVED ON ALL ORDERS OVER $60.00 SHIPPED TO USA - Customer Care - WigJig, PO Box 5124, Gaithersburg, MD 20882; (800) 579-WIRE (phone), (240) 597-2262 (fax), custsrv@wigjig.com (email).  Privacy Policy.  All content on this web site including jewelry and wire designs are copyrighted© by WigJig.  WigJig® is a registered trademark.  Last modified: 10/02/2006