A Night At The Opera - the Earrings

What do you picture when you think about going to the opera? No, no, no. I don't mean being bored and falling asleep. lol! When I think about going to the opera, I think about getting dressed up in the fanciest dress I can find, getting my hair done into an upsweep at the salon, and finding some glamorous, stunningly gorgeous jewelry to make the whole look really pop.

These earrings are definately that type of jewelry. The brass filigree looks drop dead gorgeous with the peridot Swarovski crystals and with every little movement you make, you get a new bit of sparkle.

Not only could you pair this up with a fancy dress, though, you could wear these earrings to dress up just about any outfit, even jeans and a t-shirt!

These earrings are 2.25 inches (5.06cm) long from the top of the oxidized sterling silver ear wires and are 1 inch (2.25cm) wide at the widest point.

These earrings are available for sale here -

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=22930078

Copper Viking Knit Bracelet

Viking knitting, one of the oldest known forms of knitting, is a looping technique that preceded traditional knitting by centuries. Many of these chains were found buried in tombs of some of the most famous and powerful Vikings. It is so lightweight it feels like lace!

This bracelet was quite a challenge for me (yay! I love challenges!). I have seen several tutorials online, but not one of them showed you how to finish it off and attach a clasp.

The weave turned out to be quite easy and went together really quickly. I even made my own homemade drawplate for this project. A drawplate is a metal or wood plate with holes of varied sizes through which wire is drawn to get the desired thickness.

Finally after about 4 tries, I think I finally figured out how to finish it off. Here's one way, and I know how to do one other way too. I've even promised some of my fellow jewelry makers on the forum that I would try to come up with some sort of tutorial for it. Guess I better get working eh?

For more information on this bracelet, check out the listing here - http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=8870664 or here - http://www.thefamily-jewels.com/braceletsandwatches/coppervikingknitbracelet.html