Playing with wire (or One Down, Three To Go)

This here is my newest toy:

And this here is my newest obsession, the result of which is the first completed project from my Pay-It-Forward venture:

That's right, I've picked up yet another craft: hammered wire jewelry. I've done a fair bit of jewelry-making in the past (see here for some examples), but most of it has simply involved putting different elements together into an interesting completed object, not necessarily creating the elements that go into the finished project. The above is my first attempt at doing a bit of the latter, by bending wire into cool shapes and hammering it flat so it holds the cool shapes. I must admit that I was greatly influenced by some of the amazing artists on Etsy, especially Nicholas and Felice, who make the best ever shawl pins.

I started off my adventure with some simple sketching. I had the idea for the earrings first, and then I went on to make the necklace.

I learned a lot during the process of bending and smashing the wire. One of these things was that you shouldn't bang a piece of wire with beads on it... more likely than not, your beads will get smashed. I also learned that beads break easily if you try to force them onto a piece of wire that isn't straight. I think the most important lesson, however, was to look before you cut. To show off all my mistakes, here's my pile of failure:

Anyway, for a first attempt, I'm very happy with how they turned out. My mom, at least, who was the lucky recipient of this jewelry, seemed to like it, and now I've payed her back for the pretty dress she made me:

Here are some more pretty pretty pictures: