Elvish Circlet

It hath long been a dream of mine to own Elvish jewelry. Who could not, if they but once hath seen The Lord of the Rings? (By the way, today I am randomly writing in semi-Old English. Just so you know.)

Such silver filigree as never known! Such delicacy, detail, wonders to behold!

And then, to the greatest of all dismays, dashing wild hopeful hopes to the ground and slathering them with the mud of disappointed, I made the amazing discovery that... any replica, of whatsoever quality, costeth at least $30. The beautiful detailed intricate creations... somewhere in the $200 range.

AND THEN I GOT AN IDEA.

Make my own.

So, I hereby present to thee... A Circlet (no kidding)

Much fun was gained from this pleasurable experience. Listening to some music (not to mention music and music), I worked with wire for a couple hours. There is nothing like the joy of creating something beautiful... (or, not so beautiful, but at least an attempt at beauty)

HERE IT IS!!! (I'm proud of it, even though its not much.)

I used 20 guage wire and one fake pearl bead. To connect the various swirls of 20 gague wire, I twisted floral wire around it. A couple of easy-to-break places I added a touch of fingernail polish to hold it steady. (You know you are a crafty [muahahaha] when you use more fingernail polish on projects than on your fingernails.)

The hook in the back was made with a beaded chain with an S-hook at the end. With this chain, there is no need to secure the circlet with clippies!

My apologies for a lack of better pictures. Sometime I will try to get one with a black background.


 EDIT:
 Guess who got pictures-- nearly a year later?! This has been a favorite tiara with all the little (and not so little!) girls playing over at our house! You can definitely see the wear and tear (and bending, from the swirls tangling in hair, which I didn't bother to correct) in these pictures.


Sorry there is so many; my sister was such a compliant model and too sweet.

On black; the one twist has obviously slid up. An easy fix had I caught it before I snagged the picture.

It can be worn as a crown instead of tiara!

She got a little annoyed at the end... she wanted to play princess, not take pictures!

Harder than it looks- wire crocheting

I once heard something about wire crocheting- apparently you can make some really cool things with it. So me being me (and I love to experiment) I pulled out my smallest yarn crochet needle and some floral wire.

END RESULT: My fingers were very sore. My poor needle was dying a slow and painful death from erosion. And I had only finished two rows.

I don't think I'm ever going to try that again.

How to make an S hook

     One thing about tiny towns is that you can't find craft supplies... you are therefore forced to make your own. Case in point: S hooks.
     These are perfect for all your jewelry. They can easily be clasped with one hand (think bracelets) and aren't a pain to attach (think lobster claw clasps). Use with jump rings.

 Step One

Use round needlenose pliers to create a loop.

 

Step Two

 Take the wire and carefully twist it around your pliers as shown. Make sure you twist it the correct direction- opposite of the loop you just made.

 

Step Three

Cut the wire halfway down the curve you just created. Use your pliers to pinch the part you just cut- shown here:

 

Congratulations! You have made an S hook.

How to make jump rings

These little fellas are really helpful. They make a perfect hook and eye clasp when used with an S hook. They can also be used to make chains, chain maille, or dangling things. :)

Your materials:

• Wire
  
• Wire cutters
• Crochet or knitting needles (to get exact measurements). Round pens can also be used.

Step One

Wrap the wire in a tight coil around the needle or pencil.

Step Two 

Take the coil off of the needle and cut out individual rings.

To open the jump rings, pinch the ring in a pair of needlenose pliers and gently pull. To shut, gently pinch pliers around the ring.


Tah-dah!!! Alot easier than it looks!

A Necklace and a Hair Thing

More pictures of stuff I made! A butterfly neecklace and an Elvish hair clip.

This is the butterfly necklace. I used floral wire and seed beads to make the butterfly. I used these instructions to make the beaded chains that attach the butterfly to the colored hemp cord. For a clasp I made my own jump ring and S hook.

 

The hair clip! Perfect to go with an Elvish or fairy costume! Now, if only I had one of those... :) The leaves are Czeck glass. Basically I just took some 20 ga and floral wire, twisted some beads in it, and tied it onto the clip.