Elena Adams Designs – News

One of the biggest steps of designing with chain maille is figuring out how to include in jewelry in creative ways. Making strands of chain is great, but this time we’ll just use it to embellish a pair of chain earrings. Chain maille doesn’t always have to be the focal point, and knowing a little chain making can  just be a great addition to your skill arsenal.

Pick any jump rings you like for this. Mine were perhaps a little heavy for the light chains I picked, but I bulked up the beaded section to balance it out. Be sure to watch the Byzantine chain video first.

See the video here and don’t forget to check the archives for more.

Tags: chain maille, chainmail, designing jewelry, earring ideas, earrings, garnet jewelry, gemstone earrings, How To Make Jewelry Video, jewelry, making jewelry

Crisp, fresh green peridot is so pretty, which works beautifully with lots of other colors. It easily transitions from spring to fall palette and is the birthstone for August.

Pronounced “peh-ree-doh”, it is widely mined throughout the world, including in USA, Australia, Brazil, China, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan. It is a variety of Olivine, and is commonly found in deposits brought to the surface by lava. Gem-quality peridot nearly always mined, and is rarely found at surface level.

Peridot is a protective stone, traditionally used to keep evil sprits away. It is excellent in releasing guilt or obsessions, alleviating jealousy and spite and the stresses they create. It is also effective in sharpening the mind.

Here from Facebook? Click here to view the interactive version.

Tags: birthstones, buying jewelry, buying jewelry as a gift, earrings, gemstone earrings, gemstones, gift ideas, jewelry

I have been working crazily the last few weeks getting ready to release a whole new collection in time for fall. I’m finding the slightly industrial look, combined with smokey grays and blacks really inspiring, and using fall favorite colors like deep purple and endive to brighten them up.

Here’s a little peak at one project that’s just about done:

I’m all excited about fusing again so there has been lots of fun with torches and hammers! More to come soon.

Tags: bracelets, designing jewelry, fashion, gemstones, how to make jewelry, jewelry, jewelry website, magazine styles, making jewelry

It’s my birthday!

I know, I can’t believe CNN didn’t cover it either. To help you get over that shocking failure of the mainstream media, get 25% off today only by using code: birthday

Sale ends tonight, July 20th at midnight Pacific Time, so start shopping.

You must enter the code to receive the discount. Discounts and offers cannot be combined.

Tags: buying jewelry, jewelry, sale

Grab your earplugs, boys and girls, because after an day of being bombarded with diamond ads while researching upcoming trends, I have a bone to pick with the world.

It’s the height of wedding season, which means all the unwed ladies have stars in their eyes and are starting to leave engagement ring advertisements littered around the house as less-than-subtle hints to their men.

If you aren’t aware of the destruction and death caused by the diamond industry by now, you must have been living under a rock. Ever since Blood Diamond became such a talking point, society has become more and more aware of the deadly trail that the industry leaves behind. Striking these gems is a death sentence for small nations, with civil war, slavery and gang violence ripping apart lives.

It’s no secret, so why on earth do people insist on buying these gemstones? Marilyn Monroe may have proclaimed that “diamonds are a girl’s best friend”, but wouldn’t you host an intervention if your best friend was doing harm to others?

It’s a debate that has been played out ad nauseum, so I will only say this: given the information you have about diamond trade, why do you insist on diamond studs for your birthday, and why won’t you settle for anything less than a diamond engagement ring?

It comes down to this: we look at the shocking images and read the terrifying stories of these people and sadly declare that the problem is too big. It is not too big. This is one of those issues where the trite “change starts at home” concept applies 100%.

We bought my engagement ring without knowing the problems of diamonds. As much as I love my ring, I would never, ever buy it again if I could go back. Lab-grown diamonds are absolutely perfect, and the abundance of precious, colored stones means we should have more environmentally friendly options open to us, so the insistence on buying diamonds that may have cost lives is purely desire driven.

I’ll add to that the fact that I find clear diamonds completely boring. Wow, you found a stone with no discernible qualities beyond the fact that it’s clear. Congratulations. Does clear water impress you too? The only reason people want them is because we’ve been told for years and years that this is what we should want. They’re not particularly rare, they have no interesting characteristics beyond their hardness level, and the high prices are completely manufactured.

Stop following the herd, find a stone that speaks to your character and help end the atrocities. Find jewelers who refuse to carry natural diamonds and buy from war-free zones. Accept that there is chemically no difference between the lab-grown and the real, and tell your boyfriend that you’d rather a ring in sapphire or topaz that doesn’t carry the same history of blood-shed.

Here endeth the rant.

Now, go and find earrings with no diamonds, that are all the prettier for it.

Tags: bridal, buying jewelry, charity, diamonds, fashion, gemstones, jewelry, wedding

For those of you that don’t know it, Polyvore is a site for creating fashion-themed collages. Brands, designers and users can bookmark clothing, shoes and accessories from the internet, and then users can create little showcases for blogs and other media. I’ve used it a few times to show how to wear some of my designs.

It’s always flattering to have your work recognized, so I thought I’d feature a couple of Polyvore users who chose to include my jewelry in their pieces.

Lunch date by neeny

Those are my moonstone earrings up in the top right. I love the idea of combining them with a green outfit – it’s not a combo I’d thought of and it looks so fresh and crisp!

Dress like Selena by DancerluvJB(Taking Requests)

My blue tiger’s eye necklace joins this Get-the-Look creation.

Campus Life Rocks! by phatelara

Here’s one for the guys with a college wear-theme, including my silver and copper men’s bracelet.

I’ve found a few more of these, which I’ll post in a later entry. Do you use Polyvore? You can see some of my items here.

Tags: buying jewelry, designing jewelry, earring ideas, earrings, fashion, how to wear it, inspiration, jewelry, jewelry website, wearing bracelets, work fashion, work style

Its crafting time! The time for my old jewelry photography light box to retire has come. Lined with paper to reflect light back on the jewelry it did a pretty good job, but the paper was looking sad, the cardboard a mess, and I found another blog with a great idea for getting good results. Seeing as how I’ve never read an instruction manual in my life I grabbed a knife and started cutting. Despite my skills with a pair of pliers, the second glue and paper become involved the whole thing gets messy. I had a lot of fun making this, but it has that wonderfully homemade, my-god-is-it-supposed-to-look-like-that vibe.

I had some old fabric left over from a project I never got around to, so I used craft glue to cover the open sides. The fabric is thin enough that light will pass through it easily, creating the perfect tent cover.

Here it is completed. I added a curve of cardboard to the back to act as a white background for the base and back. I have a really good lamp that I found at a hardware store for about $5 with a nicely diffuse light bulb, and on the left top I have a slave flash that fires along with the ring flash I have on the camera.

For my last box I had my husband make me a set of stands out of Lego to support a wire for earrings. That worked pretty well, but I wanted something more permanent since I mostly make earrings now. Using craft wire, I attached a length of Beadalon and weighted it with some heavy beads. It’s not pretty, but it works! The beads are heavy enough to keep the beading wire nicely taut so the earrings stay separated instead of drooping to the center like an old couch.

Never one to say no to a bit of Lego, I now have a much smaller, single stand with a plastic tube attached to the top. The tube is the perfect size to clip an ear cuff, making a quickly adjustable modification to the setup.

As delightfully home-brewed as it looks the results are fantastic. Here’s the test shot I took using the box. No Photoshop, and lots of beautifully highlighted silver, with preserved depth and texture.

Tags: jewelry, macro photography, photographing jewelry, photography, photoshop

If you’ve been keeping up with my chain maille videos, you will have seen the double helix chain instructions. It’s one of my favorites, and when you wind two strands together they form a thick rope.

When I was teaching classes at The Bead Shop one of my popular sessions was hand-making small amounts of jump rings in different sizes to make a pair of spiral earrings. This pendant is the same technique, using a larger variety of rings and finished with a large ametrine drop.

Ametrine is a form of quartz and it’s labeled as such when the elements that create the colors of citrine and amethyst form in the same stone. This results in a beautiful purple and orange gem, and this one has a unique fracture through the center which gives it a green tint.

The bail is a Peruvian handmade silver piece. I like how the shape reflects the shape of the stone, and it has gorgeous etching that picks up the look of the chain.

Finally the necklace part of the design is a simple rope weave, one which I’ll feature soon in a video. It’s super dense and feels great on.

See the Sterling Silver and Ametrine Necklace here.

Tags: chain maille, chainmail, designing jewelry, how to make jewelry, How To Make Jewelry Video, jewelry, making jewelry

It seems that the better you know someone the more trouble you have finding just the right gift. I get into a ball of stress every year trying to find something meaningful for my sister, but every now and then I hit on an idea that works out beautifully, if I do say so myself.

Ever since my sister read Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes, by Eleanor Coerr, she has collected pretty origami papers and made paper cranes. I’ve always loved everything Japanese, and even took four years of the language in high school (I don’t remember more than about three words, sadly).

For my birthday last year she sent me a pair of lacquered bowls and chop sticks decorated in silvery blue. Never one to do things simply, Laura filled the box with cranes of all sizes made from the most beautiful paper I’ve seen. I strung all but two of them up and now they hang in my window.

Once Laura’s birthday rolled around I turned the remaining pair into earrings by adding sterling silver chain and tiny sapphires. I’ve seen similar earrings before but with her gorgeous choice of paper and my love of gemstones and silver I think they turned into something really special. If I had time to practice with the paper I’d start a line of these.

Tags: designing jewelry, dressing up, earring ideas, earrings, gemstone earrings, gift ideas, jewelry, making jewelry

It’s time for a more challenging weave! Full Persian is a really tricky one to start – a higher aspect ratio leaves lots of room at first, making it harder to tell how to hold it and where to connect your rings.

It’s a good idea to develop a collection of “starter sets” – keep about an inch of each weave in a standard size on a paper clip. Each time you want to make chain you can continue on from what you have, then remove the starter amount. It’s so much quicker and less frustrating than trying to start from scratch each time.

Once completed, Full Persian makes a beautifully silky rope of chain that is super-flexible. Full Persian (also known as Foxtail) is what I used to make my favorite Persian Knot necklace.

Again we’re looking at adjusting what you already know, so go take a look at Byzantine and Queen’s Link first. I’ll show you how to make another tiny adjustment to product a whole new look.

Check out the archives, or get started with Full Persian Chain Maille.

Tags: chain maille, chainmail, how to make jewelry, How To Make Jewelry Video, jewelry, making jewelry

I love that one of my all-time favorite gemstones is my birthstone! Ruby, the red version of blue sapphire, is one of the top precious stones, along with sapphire, diamond and emerald. An incredibly popular stone, beading-grade ruby is nearly always dyed, to produced a stunning, but opaque, finish. Natural rubies are commonly mined in Thailand, Cambodia and Afghanistan, with newly-discovered deposits across Asia and the Middle East. They are very popular in Indian jewelry, and are usually paired with gold and sapphires.

Ruby is wonderful for energy, and stimulates and balances the heart. It also acts as a powerful protector against psychic attack, and aids in retaining wealth and passion.

Seeing this on Facebook? See this entry with interactive links on the images.

Tags: birthstones, buying jewelry, earring ideas, earrings, gift ideas, jewelry, ordering jewelry, ruby

On Saturday I hit San Francisco for the Thread indie designer showcase. There was such a spectacular range of creators, super high energy, great music and even a central fashion show. I thought I’d post a handful of photos I snapped throughout the day.

You know how addicted to chain I am, so of course I love the idea of these full torso chain accessories. They looked incredible over tank tops.

Most of the pictures I took were of jewelry stands. I love seeing what people come up with to display their work and I’m always on the lookout for ideas. This designer used grassy-looking patches to work with her leaf-motif.

Getting the right blend of height and shape on a display is really challenging. I love the idea of stacking the neck stands behind earring boards. Most used decorative frames as a way to add height, but placing the necklaces behind creates a far more interesting horizon line, and you don’t have to worry about covering your risers so much. The only downside was that it created too much of a wall between the designers and the customers.

Yes, more jewelry. The trays for earrings and pendants gave this a yard-sale feel without being cheap. Customers love delving for items, always on the lookout for a bargain.

I couldn’t really use my flash, so these are pretty blurry, but the range of colors and shapes were fantastic. This black and white A-line skirt was one of my favorite pieces.

So many of the models were in pink, salmon and plum. While these are all summer outfits, I think the colors are going to be big even in fall. I adore the hat on the left. The slightly different hue between the shirt and the hat make for a better blend, so she looks colorful and bright without looking like she tried to match.

I had such a great time. Thread comes back to San Francisco in November, and I may just have to apply for a booth. Designing in a vacuum is never good, so it’s always wonderful to step outside and get a boost of energy and inspiration from talented artists. What events can’t you wait for this year?

Tags: buying jewelry, designing jewelry, earring ideas, earrings, fashion, gift ideas, inspiration, jewelry

This long-strand necklace was really therapeutic to make. Normally making chain is a lot like knitting, in that I can just sit down and go for hours, but I always need to pay a little attention here and there, counting rings, checking symmetries and so on. This necklace formed very organically.

Most jump ring lovers will tell you they have a bag of mystery rings – you find one on the ground, or there are just a couple left over from a project. It seems a waste to recycle them, so you usually just throw them in a central place. It’s great if I need to find an odd size to attach a clasp or fill some other specific need.

This necklace is basically the product of one of those bags. I just linked a long series together into double spiral weave, paying almost no mind to what ring came next. Now and then I’d make a switch if the sizes didn’t mesh with the weave, but it grew happily on its own. Once I had a long length of it I wrapped up some large turquoise and divided up the chain into uneven parts.

The necklace is 36” which is plenty long enough to slip over your head. The beads are so nicely heavy, but the chain manages to fill the space without looking flimsy and without adding too much extra weight.

Turquoise and silver always look fresh together and are so great for summer wear. See the necklace here.

Tags: chain maille, chainmail, designing jewelry, inspiration, jewelry, making jewelry, necklaces, turquoise

I have a terrible memory. There’s a reason I write things down, because if I don’t and I see a moth, the thought is gone for good. After a bead show I come home with a truckload of things that caught my eye, and I spend a long time finding homes for all my new toys. Naturally after a week I haven’t the slightest clue what I bought and finding them afresh is like an Easter egg hunt.

Months after one particular show I found three strands of mixed-color sapphires. The mineral sapphire comes in a huge variety of colors. It’s called sapphire in all variations except dark pink and red, which is ruby, so this necklace technically contains both.

The pendant was the first thing I made. With such tiny gemstones, I love doing tiny wraps and clustering them on jump rings. The basis of the pendant is a little bit of chain maille, in a simple weave I’ve seen referred to as boa chain. I wrapped all the colorful sapphires and grouped them by color, the linked them onto the out rings of the weave the create the bands of color.

Finishing the pendant with a briolette seemed right, but I was unhappy about the idea of introducing a new gem. Finally I found a dark blue sapphire drop leftover from these earrings and attached it to the base.

Next I looked at options for the necklace part. A plain chain looked nice, but the pendant looked a little luxurious against just the silver. I had a whole lot of the clear sapphire left over, since I didn’t want them in the layered pendant. I thought about wire wrapping them, but decided the softer finish of knotting them on silk would be much nicer.

Knotting such small gems is not easy – a tiny, even knot between each one means lots of hours and eye strain, but it turned out perfectly. It’s a single strand on silk, finished with a delicate silver box clasp.

See the Multi-Colored Sapphire Necklace here.

Tags: designing jewelry, gemstones, jewelry, knotted necklace, making jewelry, necklaces, sapphire

I’m going to try something here: every now and then I’ll post something random from around my apartment. Some of it will be fashion related, some will give me a platform to talk about myself, and some will just be an excuse to play with my camera.

I’ve always loved glass jars. I’m not sure when this stated, but I remember receiving a really delicate perfume jar from my mother when I was quite young. I’m sure that’s long since broken, but I still love the look of stained glass.

For a while I tried out a little herbalism so some of them were dusted off and used for a while, but mostly I just like the way they catch the light. Now and then I find something that borders on useful for them like this green jar, which makes a perfect makeup brush holder. To be honest, I don’t use the brushes all that much, but the idea of having lovely things scattered around is a very feminine, guilty pleasure.

What little lovelies do you have that serve no purpose, but you’d hate to lose?

Tags: inspiration

I am the proud owner of two new, gigantic handbags that I really didn’t need. How could I resist them, when this season has brought back jumbo bags with zippers, detailing and colors that would defeat even the most budget-conscious girl?

The biggest downside of my new lovelies is that they don’t have a whole lot of shape when all they carry is my wallet and cell phone and so they create even more than the standard pressure to fill them with things I don’t really need on the go: an extra compact and some lipsticks I never wear, a light sweater even though it’s 80 degrees outside, and of course jewelry.

Now picture it in a tiny, crumpled up ball.

We’re all guilty of this: as the work day starts to wrap up, the temptation to yank off those earrings gets stronger and stronger. That necklace clasp is starting to bother you just a little too much, and the sound your bracelets make on your desk is no longer cute, but a distracting reminder of how long you have to sit there while the sun is shining. Finally you succumb and those jewels invariably land in your overstuffed, never-seen-the-light-of-day handbag.

A week later you find the chains in a nightmarish tangle, a bend in your ear hooks that will never be the same, and you’re pretty sure you’re missing a charm from your favorite bracelet.

Aright, we’re bad people and a menace to good jewelry everywhere, so what can be done? That habit sure isn’t going away, so here are some preventive measures so you never have to pull out the tweezers before accessorizing ever again.

The Jewelry Roll
A staple in your mother’s traveling bag, we modern gals have tended to neglect this little lifesaver. They come in sizes soft and small enough to fit in bags and the best kinds have little clips and latches so that you can keep delicate chains separated.

The Mint Box
Never lose another stud by adding an empty mint box to your bag. Make sure your earrings go in there and there alone and you’re saved. Want something a little prettier? Try a vintage cigarette case or a fabric-covered tampon case. Find something so adorable you that you’ll look forward to pulling it out of your bag to show off. If you hate the rattling sound of earrings in the tin, layer a little tissue paper or felt along the bottom.

Zip Locks
Far less romantic, but one of the cheapest jewel-saving options: a couple of zip lock bags will provide a safe zone for your bracelets and necklaces. Easily tangled styles can be stored with the clasp zipped into the top so that they don’t have the opportunity to mingle into an unrecognizable mass.

The Cell Phone Pouch
When was the last time you actually put your cell phone in that pouch? You may as well get some use out of it, so use a needle to punch a few small holes (don’t do this to your Vuitton!) Earring posts can be hooked through the holes, with the chandelier parts safely nestled in the pouch.

Be good to your jewelry and enjoy it for decades to come!

Tags: earrings ideas, jewelry, storing jewelry, wearing bracelets, wearing earrings, wearing jewelry, wearing necklaces, work fashion, work style

There, I said it. Half of you are probably already drafting hate mail, plenty of you either have no idea what that is or don’t care, but hopefully, just a few of you are agreeing with me. Let me explain.

I’ve watched quite a lot of the show, including the first movie, so don’t barrage with me letters about how I don’t know what I’m talking about. Secondly, I know my opinion is not your opinion, so let’s agree to disagree.

The Vapid Pursuits of the Upper Middle Class
I realize it’s all in good fun, but these are a group of women with little better to do than shop, drink, chase after men, and shop some more. Of course we all do that to some extent, but there’s more to life. Naturally, it’s a television show so they have no obligation or room to discuss everything from politics to science, but pick up your average copy of Elle or Marie Claire, and you’ll see that women are pretty well rounded, and good at multitasking when it comes to life. Aspiring to be these women borders on insulting, and god forbid I ever have to worry about more than my nail polish not matching my shoes – it might just send me into a tizzy.

A writer who can’t write
We know that Carrie works as a columnist and author, but the little tidbits of writing that she does find time for between her fashionably sexual escapades, are not exactly though provoking. The show tries to use her writing as a way of propelling the plot, but other than, “life is tough” and “maybe you should find a new man”, they don’t ever provide decent insight. All we can do is pray that we’re not as shallow and calculating as she and her friends and hope the rest falls into place.

This is totally worth three months of ramen noodles, right?

A poor grasp of financial responsibility
Okay, they like to shop. I get that, I really do. But do you know what else I like to do? Pay my rent, put away savings, and ensure I don’t have a lifetime of debt to deal with because of a shoe habit. Yes, this is coming from someone in the retail fashion industry, but even I understand that you should never risk losing your home over a new toy. With American credit use at an all-time high (and still rising despite the financial crisis), people losing their homes through poor financial planning, and young adults looking at never moving beyond their meager beginnings, doesn’t a show that centers around consumerism have just a little responsibility to its viewers in teaching them to say “no” once in a while.

Alright, alright, I’m a little conservative when it comes to my spending, and I have trouble imaging the woman who can’t live without a new handbag at the expense of adding to her savings, but there has to be a middle ground.

It’s All About Me
Michael Patrick King, the creator of the show said that Sex and the City was always less about choosing a man, or a bag, but “It was about, choose yourself”. I agree that women need a little confidence, and the show has done a lot to make women stand up for what they want, but Carrie manages to take that to a new level with each and every challenge. When she isn’t cheating, lying, or shopping her way to the poor house, all she thinks about is herself. In the real world any sane man would have seen through her “oh help me” facade and realized her for the conniving, self-centered piece of work that she is.

Clearly I dislike the character, but her complete disregard for everyone around her while she “finds herself” is nauseating. She’ll leave a man in her dust, not understanding what on earth she wants, then insist on a long and drawn-out conversation about how sorry she is, piling on the self pity. For a show that’s supposed to empower single, professional women, this is hardly a good message. That’s right ladies, it doesn’t matter how badly you screw everyone in your path, doe eyes and a little penance does the trick every time.

Here endeth the rant.

Have I misinterpreted Carrie and her friends? What’s this phenomenon really about, and what am I missing?

Tags: fashion, rants, sex and the city

It’s been an incredible month. So many of you have left me nice notes on Facebook and Twitter. Those of you with blogs and your own online stores know that it can be hard to see the end of the tunnel when we try to create in social vacuums, so thank you for your support and generosity over the last five years, and here’s to at least another five! I had nearly 500 entries into the giveaway! I am absolutely floored by the response.

Congratulations to Jennifer F!

And here’s one final bonus for you lovely people. One fan on Facebook today will win a $30 gift certificate. I gave out a couple of these this month, so here’s one more to say thanks. Find me on Facebook here.

Tags: anniversary, giveaway, jewelry, winner

I find the easiest way to learn anything new is to figure out how it relates to something you already know and then learn the differences. It applies to a lot of things, but especially so to chain making.

If you’ve had a chance to look at my Byzantine tutorial, you’re going to find Queen’s Link much easier than starting from scratch. In this new video I talk about the tiny difference between the two techniques, so you can get going on a new project with no fuss.

See the video and get the ingredient list.

See the free video archives.

Tags: chain maille, chainmail, how to make jewelry, How To Make Jewelry Video, jewelry, making jewelry

May has just about come and gone, which means you only have a few days left to enter the jewelry giveaway. Get over there right now and leave your comment on why you want to enter. The prize is worth $270 so what are you waiting for?

Tags: giveaway, jewelry, win