Floral Pendant Necklace Tutorial page 1

Here is the first page in a series of 12. This is a tutorial for my necklace set design shown here.
It is a relatively easy piece to do, with alot of choices you can make yourself on the complimentary beadwork that surrounds the pendant. Hope you have fun with it. Let me know if there is anything in the instructions that are unclear or confusing. I'm pretty new at this tutorial stuff so I need your input. Floral%20pendant%20Necklace%20Tutorial01.pdf

This is a test to see if I can still post to this blog.

Measuring techniques

Introduction to Wire Work with 24 Gauge

I've been getting approached alot lately with requests for some instruction on this kind of work so I've been working on some ideas. Here is some introductory comments to help those interested start to get an idea of what it entails. Later I will be writing on some techniques that are used in alot of my work and then I'll add some projects, once the techniques have been explained so I don't have to bore you with alot of repetition later.

The following talks about the building process of this style of wire work.


Working in this style of wire wrap requires that you string your beads first. With a specific design, then, you must count backwards so that the first twist you are going to make will be the last bead strung.


I envision a tree, with branches and stems and a trunk which I will use for my terminology. This will help you recognize where you are in the building process and help you start developing your feel for how to build your own pieces.

You need to know your path as you twist back to your base, and begin to get a feel for how much length to allow for twisting. As an example of a path, to form a tree with two branches, you would start “X measurement -( i.e. 1-1/2") ” distance into the wire and twist a stem of “x - measurement - (1.e. 1/2")” that would meet up with the branch, continuing your path of stems and branches that would eventually twist back to the trunk.

The numbers shown on the diagram below shows the order of twisting to help conceptualize this. The lines with arrows indicating the direction the twist would grow to.











When first working in twisted wire, you’ll want to practice with tin or brass. These metals in 24 gauge will break easily if you twist them too tight. (Also, later if you manipulate them too much - so PLEASE, don't try to sell jewelry made with these metals.) Practicing with these metals will give you a good feel for what the wire can withstand within this realm - though silver, and even more so, gold, will be more forgiving.

But remember that wire hardens the more it is manipulated, so you want to strive to only make one twist.


For designs that require exact measurments, like my ear cuffs, I make my measurements from the point on the ruler to the end so that I can bend the wire over the end to make my mark. I recommend trying to find a ruler that ends at the beginning of the measurement. (See the post entitled "Measuring" in Techniques to get a better idea of this.)

Many rulers have extra space at the end which you will have to compensate for in your measurements, ie, if the instruction calls for a ½” stem, and the ruler extends another ¼” from its numbers, your measurement will need to start from the ¼” on the ruler. Whew! No Thanks!
If you're doing something very repetitious in measurements, you might want to make your own measuring device.



I've been looking around for a good source for the ruler I use and the closest I've found so far are the rulers used to measure hems at your local fabric store. They still have a little extra on the end but they're pretty close.


If anyone knows of a good source for the rulers I've shown in the measuring segment, I'd love to know. I lost my once and wasn't pretty!

New listing on Etsy

I just added some new items to my Etsy store today. A couple of earcuffs, one in unakite and goldfilled and one in a limited edition of faceted carnelian with a drop that reminds me of a twig. I had originally designed this as a regular earring and then thought, why not make it for a cuff too, since most of my customers are for the earcuffs.

Recently, I've noticed more interest in the cuffs with drops from my customers with longer hair or the ones who are buying as an alternative to clip earrings. I thought this drop was so pretty and delicate that it was only fair to make it available to cuff only wearers. Hope you like it!

Hi Out There from a bloggled mind!

Okay, here we go. With a boggled (aka bloggled) mind on how to go about this blogging business I found myself paralized with options, ideas and mainly fear. So today, I'm just jumping in - and hoping the water isn't freezing!




Guessing the best place to start would be at the beginning - don't worry , not all of the way back 1954! (Hope you are as bad at math as I am!)I thought I might tell you a little bit more about my jewelry life to give you a feel for where the madness has been and may be going.




I began the Zannedelion jewelry business in 1998 - I think. I'm not good with dates - even had my anniversary date wrong for the first four years! My husband and I were working on a cruise ship as a musicians. There was a good amount of free time, and not much distraction out there at sea, so I was able to come up with alot of designs in a rather short amount of time.




Prior to the jewelry thing all my creative energy had gone into writing music - which you will logically conclude, didn't do all that well! Or else you'd know my name or something. Whether or not that endeavor was time well spent - I can't say. The pursuit of musical excellence teaches one alot about discipline, tenacity, ego, self-observation and a whole lot of other good and scary discoveries - so I'm guessin' it was! Anyway....




I wore my pieces on stage, so I had this great venue for promotion. The ladies in the audience would inquire where they could get the stuff and I, of course, was happy to lead them. Here are some of the pieces I did back then. Some thought maybe I needed to tone it down a bit. Funny, huh! I always felt, why do it if you're going to be timid about it! But "different strokes".... The earring shown is not my design. And I would love to give credit to their originator if I knew who they were. I originally found them in a boutique in the Los Angeles area. I thought they were fabulous and had to have them in every color - you know the type - so I learned to make them myself. It just went on and on from there. If anyone knows who started these, I'd love to hear.





When our ship contract finished we landed in Palm Springs, California. The city has a great Thursday night show called Villagefest. It's a juried show for handcrafted work only. I joined up and have done it every year since - except one - which is another post!

Through the encouragement of my customers at Villagefest, I expanded my line of twisted wire work to include earcuffs, also known as ear wraps. Ear cuffs are very tricky to make because they need to be positioned and shaped just right to fit alot of different ears. Most ear cuff designs are also quite a bit smaller to fit alot of different sizes of ear. The twisted wire medium wonderfully relieved that hinderance and challenge because it is so pliable. It can easily be shaped to fit almost any ear. As a result, it also allows for many possibilities in design, which is great for me because I've always got another idea - can't help myself. My customers of many years have enjoyed the great variety and choices.



I design for women who need an earring alternative. They either don't have piercings or have problems with them. Because they don't want the embarrassment of "naked" ears, they put up with clip earrings eventhough they're usually uncomfortable. My husband and I have worked very hard to produce a beautiful and comfortable product for that customer. We are often complimented for accomplishing that which is a major treat.


Also, in the last few years I've discovered a love for bridal design. Again, the twisted wire really lends itself to custom work because it is so fluid and allows alot of freedom. Especially with a floral feel. The brides have been fun to work. Their excitement over their new approaching life is catching. And it is such an honor to be asked to be a part of creating their look for that huge day in their life. This haircomb is one of my favorites in those endeavors.







We also launched the website, way back when. It has been a tremendous learning experience as well. Being do-it-yourselfers, there were some difficult times in the ole learning curve. But now, it is a substantial part of our income.




So that's what I'll be posting about. Discoverys in design, business, jewelry making, life etc. and hoping to get some feedback from out there.


Thanks for dropping by, hope to get a chance to chat. Zanny