Thursday, April 11, 2013

Raging Neptune Necklace Giveaway.

Hello Hello! Spring is here and its so beautiful all around, and after waiting for summer for so long I think you guys deserve another giveaway! Yay! For this month, I'm giving away this lovely Raging Neptune Necklace. It's made with a 14mm Lapis Lazuli bead, gold cube bead accents and short gold colored spikes. All hung on a 24inch gold chain. It's very beautiful.
Here are some additional images of this lovely piece. 



Why is Lapis Lazuli so beautiful? They're only mined from Afghanistan and it's name in arabic roughly translates to "heaven or sky stone". It has an intense blue color with flecks of yellow pyrite which look like gold dust. Each bead is different from another. The shades of blue can differ along with its dusty gold outlook.
 
How to Enter:
Use the Rafflecopter widget below!
The first entry is mandatory and you can earn additional points as well!
Number of winners: 1
Ending date of the giveaway:  May 1st 2013
Where it can be won: U.S. and International
The prize is from: www.panzell.etsy.com
Questions or inquiries? Leave a comment or email me panzelljewelry@gmail.com



My First Custom Order

About a month ago, one of my close friends told me about his buddy who wanted a custom ring for his girlfriend, which included a couple small stones that were her birthstone and those of her closest family. 
They wanted a wire wrapped ring in a size 7, and even though I knew how to wire wrap, I had never done it extensively before so this was a first for me. 

This is what I had to work with 

First thing I did was a couple of sketches to give my client an idea of how the ring is going to look. Usually with stones, designers use prongs or a bezel setting, and they have access to tools that help cut and polish stones to perfection. Since I had neither of those options I decided to hold the rocks together by sandwiching them between wire frames. 

My client was very happy with this sketch so far, so I began the process of making the ring.

I followed my sketches, and was able to easily get the first four stones to stay, the last one was a little too thick and I had to do some risky hammering, hoping to now fracture the gem too much. It was a heart stopping moment, but I was able to do it and carry on with the design. 


The final moments of the ring where I attached the ring band, and started to do the most intricate wire wrappings all around the frame to hold it together. In the end, it came out sturdy and beautifully, and I really surprised myself. It was my first intricate wire wrapping custom order, and proved to myself that I can do anything, and believe me I was having doubts midway into the project. 





Not bad right? I don't know if I'll ever do something like this, but it was great to find out that I could. 
My client and his girlfriend were absolutely happy, and the fit was perfect. Yay! 
Thank you for reading this post and joining in on my little custom order journey.