Katiedids Jewellery Components

Wednesday, October 13, 2010 - Leave a Comment

At CHA in July, I had the very great pleasure of taking a class with Katie Hacker. Katie's bio in the jewellery making industry is extensive and among her current titles she is an Ambassador for Swarovski Crystallized Elements, a Design Team member for Beadalon, an author of more than 20 books and her latest gig is as host of Beads, Baubles and Jewels. So when you take a class from Katie, you are really getting an expert!

Earlier in the year Beadalon released her hot new line of Katiedids components. These are seriously cool bezels designed to simulate the look of channel set stones but without the need for metalsmithing skills. I posted some of the pieces we made in class in an earlier post. I really loved that class because I'd seen the components online but they weren't yet available in Australia. I was itching to try them and Katie generously gave me some extra pieces to have a play with.

So first up, I decided to work with them in a traditional jewellery making sort-of-way.

All these pieces are made with the Scallop shape (Curve - 2 holes) and 24g silver plated wire.

Spring Serpent

The bracelet is made up of 8 scallops strung together, placed end to end which created a serpentine shape. The beads are 4mm round Czech glass. A magnetic clasp holds the bracelet firmly together.

This second piece looks really simple but I made hard work out of the bail. I've created a teardrop shape by threading beads above the scallop shape and then formed a bail from the wires. It was a bit tricky getting the wrapped bail to work here as I was working with two separate pieces of wire but in the end it worked out and was neat enough but I will probably redesign this part of the necklace next time.

Pebbles

I always enjoy unexpected colour combinations and I think that's why I love putting gold and silver together. The gold filigree balls in these earrings look great offset against the bright silver of the Katiedids scallop components. The earrings are quite similar in design to the pendant but after making hard work of the bail on the pendant, I decided to give some thought to how the wreaths would connect to the earring wires before I constructed the earrings - a much tidier finish!

Golden Wreaths

So far I've only worked with the scallop pieces but Katie gave me some circular components to play with too and I have some totally different plans for them. But that will be a post for another day.

In the meantime, if you'd like to try the Katiedids components and you're in Australia, you can get them from Photocontinental in Brisbane. They also offer a mail order service if you're unable to get into the store.

'Til next time.....