Featured wire jewelry designer: Anna Cordner from Noria Jewelry

Welcome to a unique and fantastic world of intricate and at the same time very detailed and delicate statement wire wrapped jewelry. The world of Anna Cordner, the owner of Noria Jewelry. She runs her shop from her home studio in northern Virginia. Anna opened her shop in April of 2009.

“My mother’s father is a geologist and lapidary, my dad made jewelry when I was young and my mother involved me in her many arts and crafts projects. 

I always had a keen interest in rocks as a child and my grandfather’s knowledge and enthusiasm fueled this interest. 

The crafting and creative atmosphere my parents provided for me led to a talent in drawing. As a youth I made jewelry from beads I made from polymer clay, strung glass beads on necklaces and learned to use needle nose pliers to open and close jump rings.

Making jewelry was a very natural, easy and fun activity but it wasn’t until after the birth of my first son that I considered selling jewelry. I found I needed to seriously undertake a creative outlet to help me adjust to motherhood but to justify the cost of buying supplies, selling my creations had to be a part of the equation."

"I started out making beaded bracelets. 

Then one day I was on the internet and stumbled upon another artist’s wire wrapped jewelry. I had never seen advanced wire wrapping techniques and was highly intrigued. 

I researched wire wrapping online and decided to venture beyond beading. 

Through much trial, error and experimentation I began to understand and eventually gain a command of wire wrapping. 

My long-forgotten drawing skills have been put to use drafting sketches and designing new pieces."

“It is the continuous experimentation and learning that I find so enjoyable, besides pouring my mind’s fanciful wishes and artistic fantasies into something tangible.”

Can you describe the steps you take in designing and creating a piece?

“I start with a sketch. I know some designers prefer to create more organically but I rely on having a precise roadmap for my pieces. 

I can recreate them almost exactly if I have my sketch. 

Generally, I begin with a base shape of wire then embellish with ‘supporting’ detail flourishes. Other times the stones primarily determine the design.” 

What inspires you?

“I find inspiration from Indian mehndi and henna and their use of bold colors. 

I also find much inspiration in the vast elements of Victorian and Edwardian styles, particularly the floral motifs and filigree lines. 

Stones are inspiration to me, from the rough and uncut specimens to sparkling gemstones. 

Lastly, nature is a great source of inspiration. Sometimes when I find myself at a creative roadblock, I look at various types of flowers, finding patterns or color and delicate lines to help me along in generating my own designs.”

What inspires you?

“I find inspiration from Indian mehndi and henna and their use of bold colors. 

I also find much inspiration in the vast elements of Victorian and Edwardian styles, particularly the floral motifs and filigree lines. 

Stones are inspiration to me, from the rough and uncut specimens to sparkling gemstones. 

Lastly, nature is a great source of inspiration. Sometimes when I find myself at a creative roadblock, I look at various types of flowers, finding patterns or color and delicate lines to help me along in generating my own designs.”

Featured designer: Sarah Thompson - Sarah n'Dippity Designs

Sarah Thompson lives in Spokane Valley, Washington. She is a 31 years old and she has been interested in making jewelry since she was 14. “Jewelry became my quiet way of expressing myself. Soon after high school I met my husband and within 6 months we were married, it will be 13 years in March. We ended up having 5 kids pretty close together. 

Having kids has brought a new depth of patience to my work.  I have learned to not get frustrated if the design is not working out as I would have it or if I just made a mistake. I have learned that I cannot force my work, that if I step back and let the design grow and evolve from the original idea the end result it is far better.   

My workshop consists of a secretary desk next to the dining room table. It would be nice to have my own space but I think I would also miss having the family around me as I work.”

Sarah is a self taught jewelry makes. She has not had any formal training. Instead, she has learnt everything she does today through trial and error or through books and magazines.

  “My parents have always been very good at encouraging me to explore my creative side.  As a family we were always recycling old and used things to make into new accessories.  If we wanted to learn a new skill there was always the library.  My mother was always taking us and we would spend hours going through the books discovering new creativity.  The passion for jewelry came when I was 14.  After that the local bead store became a constant for me as well as I dove into bead books and explored the multitudes of beads.”

“Designing begins with a stone.  I then sketch the design out around the chosen stone.  Sometimes I sketch out a few ideas before I begin working.  This sketch then becomes my blue print to get started.”

Sometimes the finished piece looks really close to the design.  Other times as I work new ideas emerge, or I find that the wire wants to bend in a different way.  Slowly as I work the design grows and becomes more than I had originally envisioned.  

A while ago, I almost gave up wire working. I could see what I wanted to create in my mind, but I couldn’t seem to bring it into reality. I realized that I was trying to do it all in one step and that I needed to use a layering process to achieve my imagined multi-dimensional designs. 

In my beadwork I often used a layering process, going back over the work many times to build a dimensional piece. I learned to apply this same concept to the wire work. I started using the wire-weave like a beaded peyote stitch, which creates a foundation that I can then build upon.

A few years ago I was at a pivotal point in my life. I had just given birth to our fifth child and I was trying to decide if I wanted to continue the dream I had started the year before in turning my hobby of jewelry making into a business.

“The year before had not been successful due to the economy crashing and I wasn’t sure my business was even feasible any more. While looking over my inventory I noticed an old discarded wire project, for years I had unsuccessfully tried to create a specific vision I had using wire. 

While looking at this unfinished piece an idea came to me. That night I sat down and made my first finished wire pendant. I was so excited, finally success after 5 years of trying. That pendant led to another then another. With each new design more ideas would emerge with what I could do with the wire. 

Within a couple of months I had enough to try out this new wirework at the local fairs. It was an instant hit.

While my other beaded jewelry didn’t sell, my wire work did. The week after my last show my first pendant was posted on Etsy, followed quickly by my first sale. While it is not easy juggling family life with running a business and I am up way too late working, it has all been worth it.”

“I have began teaching two years ago and am really enjoying it.  Currently I teach at Fusion Beads in Seattle Washington, and Beyond Beads in Spokane Washington.  As my kids get older I hope to be able to travel more.”

What are the steps you take in creating a new pieces?

“I sketch out the basic elements of my designs first. This allows me to engineer the primary structure and shape, and to plan where to make connections and place the focal stones. 

The drawings help me visualize where I want wires to start and stop, and what wires and weaves I want in the back versus the front. I use my drawings to get started, but from there I allow inspiration to take over.”

“As I am working on a piece, I find that new ideas will emerge or that the wire wants to bend a certain way, so I deviate from my original plans and allow the piece to evolve. I don’t fight this. Some of my favorite designs were products of happy accidents. 

Most of the layered work in my designs is freeform, and is added one wire at a time until I feel that the composition is balanced and complete. The finished result is often more beautiful than I imagined.”

What inspires you?

“I love Celtic designs, and fantasy/ sci-fi art work.  But I also find  inspiration in classical work as well.  I don’t seek out inspiration but feel that I have been inspired all my life.  That everything that I have seen has come together into the designs you see.”

Text: Sandra Kemppainen, Sarah Thompson 

Photos: Sarah Thompson from Sarah n'Dippity Designs

Tutorial: by delilah - Two Spheres Ring

This is an easy to do ring, I think anyone who has ever held a wire in his/her hands can make it out. No

need for many materials and it can apply to any spheres at hand, any color, any sizes, if you like. The silver

plated also, can be replaced, with copper or sterling silver one.

All we have to deal with in this tutorial is a bit of wrapping and... that’s all.

10 cm of 1 mm silver plated wire, and no more than 1 m of 0.315 mm wire.

Of course, don’t forget about the spheres.

Let’s start now!

Material List:
-10 cm of 1 mm silver plated wire,
-about 1 m of 0.315 mm silver plated wire,
-2 spheres/agate/beads

Tool List:

-flat nose pliers,

-round nose pliers,

-wire scissors,

-wire cutter,

-a mandrel or something round

Take about 1 m of 0.315 mm silver plated wire and start wrap it around the 1mm wire, patiently, leaving about 1 cm unwrapped at each end of the 10 cm long wire, for the spheres.

When almost 40 cm of that 0.315 mm wire is wrapped and we reach its end, we add the first sphere and

then bend the 1 mm wire close enough to make a very small loop as in the 2nd picture. Just when the loop is done, we bend it close to the sphere, as in the 3rd image, in a right angle to the main wire.

All these being done, we continue wrapping , straight to the other end of the 1 mm wire, close enough, but keeping in mind we must add another sphere there.

Once the sphere is attached, we do the same operation as we did before: create the small loop, bending it close to the sphere.

In the 9th picture we continue wrapping the wire till we entirely cover the 1 mm wire.

All done so far, we have in front of us an entirely coiled wire with two spheres at its ends, waiting to be bended on a mandrel, or why not, on the finger!

Turn the wire into a ring

In the last step, we have two pictures of the final ring, already bended, and ready to be worn.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this lesson and I can hardly wait to see your variations of this ring.

If there are any questions about it, please, feel free to ask me, I’ll be glad to answer to all of them. The

most important thing to me, is to make sure you understand all the directions/steps.

Sincerely,

delilah

Visit Delilah's shop.

Gemstone Special: Arizona Wired Elegance

Ever since I joined Etsy, an enormous online community for buyers and sellers of handmade, vintage and supplies products, I have been browsing for beautiful items. That is how I came accross Arizona Wired Ekegance, an online shop with stunning handmade wirewrap jewelry. So I decided to interview its owners for Design Jewelry and Accessories magazine.

“Tell me about who you are, where you live, the location of your shop, workshop, who creates the jewelry.”

“My husband, Ryan DeWitt, and I created Wired Elegance two years ago. It’s been an amazing experience for us to share - one that is away from the daily grind of work and the hustle and bustle of raising young children. Located in Tucson, Arizona, my husband works as an electrical engineer by day and a jewelry artist by night! He comes from a very artistic family and has experimented with different mediums, but he found his niche in jewelry. He makes all of our wire wrapped pieces and is currently experimenting with other forms of jewelry making. Soon, we hope to add a few new types into our store! A former teacher, I now stay home with our three children. My days are filled with preschool, sports activities, and diapers. During nap times and night times, I create the chainmaille pieces in our store and maintain the business (customer relations, online store, taxes, etc.)

Our garage has been transformed into a full lapidary shop so that we have the ability to cut and polish cabochons. We have a silver-smithing workbench in our garage as well, where my husband is experimenting with textured silver and various other types of jewelry. Our chainmaille and wire wrapped pieces are created in our home. My husband has a set up in our den, out of reach from little hands. Each night he sits at the desk and listens to music as he creates beautiful pieces.

Currently, our jewelry is sold online as well as at art/craft shows in the Phoenix/Tucson area.”

 

“Do you have a favorite stone you work with?”

From Ryan DeWitt:

“I wouldn’t say that I have a particular type of stone to work with, but I do have a favorite shape that I enjoy. I really like the challenge of working with the bizarre, odd shapes. They provide me an escape from my standard patterns and force me to be more creative. I often have to think “outside the box” with these pieces and find that the finished products are quite rewarding in the end!”

“What do you feel influences your designs?”

Ryan DeWitt:

“I really believe ‘less is more’ when working with wire. I prefer simplistic

patterns that flow and highlight each stone. The stones themselves are beautiful. I use the wire to form organic, fluid movement in an attempt to highlight their beauty in an elegant way, not to detract from them. It’s hard to say what exactly influences my specific designs because it is more of a feeling than any particular attribute. When I look at a stone, I mentally develop different possible designs based on its size and features and then go from there. As I’m wrapping a piece, sometimes I’ll get inspired to try something new…sometimes this doesn’t work, and other times I am pleasantly surprised. My mistakes also guide my designs, and are often a blessing in disguise!

If I make a mistake, it forces me to brainstorm and be creative to find a solution. Truth be told, most of my designs are an indirect result of my mistakes!”

“Which is your favorite item ever created?”

Ryan: “I would have to say the Carved Amber Pendant is my favorite piece that I’ve done thus far. I had never wrapped a carved stone before and was a bit skeptical of the outcome. The shape of the stone and the design carved in the amber appealed to my creative nature. The finished result was stunning! It was so unexpected and completely different than anything I’d ever done.”

If we were to select a fellow jewelry designer as a ‘favorite’, it would be Scott McNeely from Maya Canyon. His work is exceptional. He has the same philosophy of ‘less is more’ and really lets the pieces speak for themselves. We have admired his work for years, and are able to stay in touch each February as he and his wife travel to Tucson for the Tucson Gem & Mineral Show.”

“What is your dream for your brand in the future?”

“We love to dream about the possibilities for Wired Elegance. We hope to grow as artists and explore creating different types of jewelry. If we are dreaming big, we’d also love to have someone from every country in the world wearing a piece of our jewelry! Knowing that something we have made is being worn by someone on the other side of the planet is an amazing feeling!"

"Who is your favorite designer and why?”

“My husband comes from a very artistic family. Their life-long work has definitely inspired him and influenced the way he views art of all mediums as well as in the way he designs his jewelry. If we were to choose a favorite artist, it would have to be a tie between his grandmother and aunt, Pat DeWitt and Wendy DeWitt. Their talent truly is amazing!”

“For years, we have always admired the various wire wrap artists that we have seen. We enjoy the chance to talk, share our common passion and truly appreciate all the effort and talent that goes into their work.

feeling. It’s definitely surreal! We also dream that one day, people will see our jewelry and recognize it, knowing that it came from us.”

“Ultimately, we’d love to continue finding success and growth in our store! We took my husband’s artistic hobby and his passion for minerals and were able to turn it into a business. It truly has been a remarkable journey and we are only at the beginning! We look forward to expanding and reaching new levels of success, whatever they may be!”

Arizona Wired Elegance online:

Website:

http://www.wiredelegance.com

Blog:

http://wiredelegance.com/we-blog.html

Etsy Shop:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/ArizonaWiredElegance

Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/WiredElegance

Twitter:

http://twitter.com/WiredElegance