Entry 036 - Angie Wiggins - Website - Email

Earrings measuring 2 1/2"x5/8" from very top to bottom. They were made using precious metal clay, sterling silver, and copper tube. I formed all components except the bead caps at both ends of copper tubes. My challenge for myself was to incorporate the spiral throughout the piece - from the focal PMC, to the end caps, and to the wire wrapped onto the copper tubes. A design teacher in collage gave me words I try to live by--'Simplicity is a virtue' - but that is so difficult to do!!

Entry 037 - Debbie Kelly aka my4jewels - Website

Braiding and weaving have always held a fascination for me. This past year, I started making with simple braids with wire, and then graduated to more complex braiding and weaving. Everything I had done, however, was repetitive, making the same moves over and over, to produce a uniform design. I took these uniform braids and started to experiment with adding some freeform moves in the wire. Not only was the outcome much more interesting, but these designs became much more fun to make. By mixing 8 strands of differently colored wire, it added a completely new dimension to my freeform braiding. I really enjoyed making this neckpiece and bracelet set. I call it "Braided Spectra".

This entire set has been handcrafted from colored craft wire mostly by hand, aided with a few simple hand tools. Each side of the neckpice is a nearly perfect mirror image of its counterpart. No solder, glue, or premanufactured parts have been used in my design.

Entry 038 - Lynn Blakeley

My pendant is made from 4 copper washers, riveted together using the "screw" rivets. In the center of each copper component is a sheet of anodized aluminum which I had colored using dyes. When taken out of the tumbler, I realized the dyes must have been semi-permanent, not permanent. After my pity party, I glued the copper "links" to the aluminum. The links are made out of 18g copper wire, which I made myself. The center disk is made from nickel silver which I had drilled a hole in the center, and the "stitching" was made using 20g sterling wire. The bail I made myself using 24g silver sheet. The pendant measures 3-3/4" by 1-1/2".

Entry 039 - Mary Jo Griffin

I made this charm bracelet using mainly silver - several charms are mixed silver with copper or brass. No soldering was used, only cold connections and wire wrapping. The bracelet is made of silver coils, connected with jump rings. - I added several bead charms, using beads that have an earthy/stone patina, rather than using faceted stones. The entire bracelet was patina'd using LOS.

I used this as an opportunity to practice making layered charms that are connected using rivets or bolts, texturing the metal to be highlighted by the LOS application.

All metal charms were handmade and most were cut/formed by hand - I used only 4 premade metal forms - 2 brass 'coins' and 2 silver 'connector'
pieces.

Entry 040 - Gwen Youngblood - Website - Email

Honorable Mention

This is a piece I envisioned when I initially etched the copper and brass sheet. The necklace incorporates brass, copper and sterling sheet metal, as well as sterling silver and copper wire. The chain was hand forged from 16G sterling silver wire, hammered and textured, patinaed and polished - all by hand. The sterling silver links are joined by handcrafted copper coils formed from hand-twisted 20G copper wire. The discs and washers were cut from copper, brass and sterling silver sheet with a disc cutter. The sterling silver discs and washers were textured, patinaed and polished by hand. The sterling silver washer also has 3 decorative copper rivets. The copper and brass discs and washers were cut from sheet metal that I had previously etched. The clasp is also hand-formed and textured. The only purchased item is the jump rings used to attach the discs and washers to the necklace.

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