From Simple Pieces of Silver to Beautiful Earrings

I was supposed to go to my workshop this morning, to handcraft two pairs of earrings which a buyer has ordered, pack them up, get to the  post office and ship them, so the buyer will be happy.

Rioritajewelry - View from my window this morning.

Instead - I woke up and looked out the window. Not only was it pouring cats and dogs, but it was so misty, I thought I did not wish to drive to my workshop in this weather, so I decided I will not hit the road today. Although on one hand, I always thank God for the rain, I was kind of frustrated as it was not according to plan. But sometimes one must change plans, so I decided to write how I designed two pairs of earrings, from four simple pieces of Sterling Silver.

Only two pieces photographed.(Who needs to see FOUR dull pieces anyways - LOL)

I sawed two pieces of flat silver and gave them bean-like shapes with a "window" close to the edges. I hammered them. Then I made a pair of earring hoops for them, by sawing two pieces of 0.9 sterling silver wire on each side on the back of the hoops.Through the "windows" I thread fine silver wire dangles which I wrapped around themselves.

Rioritajewelry - Silver Hoop Earrings

For the next pair of earrings, I sawed two more silver pieces with the same shape .

Rioritajewelry,  Etsy - Gold  Peridot Earrings

This time I decided to hand craft a pair of silver dangle earrings. I soldered a silver bow behind each piece of silver, then added the sterling silver ear wires, and threaded green Peridot beads on fine silver wire ,wrapped the silver wire around them, then hung them through the sawed "window". Finally I gold plated them thickly with 22k Gold.

Rioritajewelry on Etsy - Gold Peridot Earrings

I suppose one can come up with many more ideas with a pair of bean-like shapes, or any other shape you can imagine, and we know, there is no end to creativity among us humans.

However, if I have more ideas with these shapes, I will definitely come over here and try to show them to you. Promise. Rioritajewelry

A very Happy New Year to whoever read this post. Big Smile!!

More Sterling Silver Ear Jackets

I feel as if I have boarded a train while it is on the move. Ear Jackets on my mind,  so I follow my ideas as they come my way.

 Here is another pair of Ear Jackets:

Sterling Silver Opal Ear Jackets by RioritaJewelry

I hammered flat silver to the shape of a half flower, as seen in the photograph above. Then I set three small Opal doublet cabochons on the flower.

To hold the ear jacket in place behind the ear lobe, I created stud earrings with a square Opal cabochon in the middle. The studs hold the earrings in place, by passing through one of the two holes I made on the back part of the earrings, as can be viewed in the following photographs.

These ear jackets can be either worn as seen above or - if you want a more demure look - you can wear the studs alone.

Sterling Silver Opal Ear Jackets by Rioritajewelry

Sterling Silver Opal Ear Jackets by Rioritajewelry

Sterling Silver Opal Ear Jackets - The studs without the Jackets by Rioritajewelry

These ear jackets will make great holiday gifts!

As I have a holiday sale with 10% off all the items in my Etsy shop, I will also send
all items by Express Mail for purchases over $70.00

Thank you for watching!

My Ear Jackets - New Pair of Sterling Silver Earrings

Lately I was going through various fashion magazines and saw there was a trend of Earrings called "Ear Jackets". Mostly these earrings go around the ear lobes and are connected to the ears with studs.

Friends told me - "We used to wear these earrings in the Eighties..."
Well - I was not handcrafting jewelry at that time, while today I am very enthusiastic about it!

I decided to try to make a few with my own designs, and find I enjoy making them.

Here is a pair I have made recently and found that they were rather popular in my Etsy shop:

The earrings are made of 3 combined hammered leaf shapes soldered like "steps" one next and on top of the other, and the final piece connects to the ears from the front, with ear studs, which enables you to wear them without the leaves too, as only studs.  I blacken the studs and the leafy design around the shiny parts, to emphasize the leafy shapes.

I have soldered a piece of sterling silver on the back of each earring, and made holes in them so that whoever wears them can adjust them properly to the ear lobes (as some of us have a longer distance of the ear holes from the lobes, than others).

I really Hope you like them.

My shop

Thank you for watching!

Empress Julia Domna – Ancient Roman Coin Ring

Julia Domna - was a beautiful important woman in ancient Roman history. 

She lived between  the years 170 AD - 217 AD. 

Authentic Ancient Roman Coin Ring

Julia was the beloved wife of  the Roman Emperor Lucius Septimius Severus and mother of Emperors Geta and Caracalla. Was known for her high intelligence and was most influential in political affairs.

Julia was born into a very rich Roman senatorial aristocratic family, from the city of Homs (historically known as Emesa) in Syria.

She had a happy marriage. She was well read and loved philosophy,  admired by the emperor - her spouse..

Septimius Severus became emperor in 193 and became involved in a civil war. Julia accompanied him at a time when it was rather unusual for women to take part in wars, as only men attended the battle fields at that historical period,  but she stayed with her husband, and to show his gratitude, coins were struck with her image.

Julia Domna (170 AD - 217 AD)

Her hair style was beautiful and unique, an inspiration for many hair stylists even to this day.

After the death of her husband, Julia’s two sons were murdered on different occasions.

Julia suffered of breast cancer. She ended her own life by committing suicide.

I handcrafted a silver ring and set an ancient silver Roman coin in it:
You can see the image of Julia Domna on this authentic coin.

Julia Domna Silver coin set it a silver ring by rioritajewelry

Authentic Ancient Roman Coin Ring- Inside the ring



The back of the coin shows the Roman goddess Diana.


Thank you for watching!

You will find more rings in my Etsy shop

Please view my ring section in my Etsy shop.

New Silver Gold Opal Ring

I have recently sold one of my Opal rings. Suddenly I had a feeling that my etsy shop needs an addition of a new Opal ring. I searched my box of stones. There it was, just waiting to be given all the loving attention it deserves - a  beautiful freeform natural Queensland Australian Pipe Opal stone.

I took it to my workshop and spontaneousely sat at my work bench and made this lovely ring:

After handcrafting the silver bezel and band, I felt I needed to add a few 14k tiny balls to each side of the bezel. This photograph shows how it looks when facing the ring:

I love the Pink, light Turquoise and  yellow glows of the ring with the brown sandstone which supports the Opal.

I am very happy with the result. I hope you will like it too after you hopefully

visit my shop. I believe you will find some more interesting jewelry pieces there.

Thank you for watching.

Silver Prehnite and Jasper Necklace

It has almost been a year before I visited this blog of mine. I guess moving from my old apartment to a new one, used up all my attention. Well, here I am again, and may I say, it is very nice to be here again.

This does not mean I haven't been handcrafting jewelry during this time. On the contrary, I've handcrafted quite a few new jewelry items. The latest and newest one is my Silver Prehnite and Jasper Necklace.

A few years ago I bought a row of beautiful large facetted Prehnite beads. It was love at first site. Such a beautiful Green color, facetted in an assymmetric way, with black inclusions here and there. Even though their price was higher than my budget, I bought them right away. Truth is I did not know what to do with them. How to do them justice and use them them best way I could, instead of just beading them on a string. Suddenly, a few days ago, I finally had an idea. I handcrafted a Sterling Silver bow, with two loops on each end, and twelve loops on the lower part of the bow. On each one of the soldered loops I hung Silver wires with twelve of the beads.

At first I only hung the Prehnite beads, but when I tried to see how it would look against my skin, I thought to myself "boring". Also, somehow they were beautiful, but against the skin they needed enhansement. So - I searched further among my beads and tried to match them with other much smaller ones of a contrastin color. I finally decided on the lovely facetted Orange Jasper beads which were lying there for a few years too.  I added them. Now, against the Prehnite they look awesome and enlivened my whole appearance. I loved the combination and decided that this was IT.

On each side of the bow I have added a smooth snake like industrial chain, with the thought that the chain should be a modest minimalistic one,so as not to compete with the beads. I added a hammered hook as a clasp and looked happily at the outcome. Hope you will like it too.

Rioritajewelry Silver Prehnite and Jasper Necklace

https://www.etsy.com/shop/rioritajewelry

My Large Citrine Silver Flower Ring


Have I told you  before? I love using the Repousse technique when designing and planning a new  piece of jewelry. Somehow I prefer this to making models in wax, which is what most designers do these days. Instead of using wax  I like to simply pick up a piece of flat silver and hammer it to a certain form . I carefully hammer to my heart's delight, measure, cut etc. until I am satisfied with the result. This flower ring is one example.

Giant Citrine Silver Ring by Rioritajewelry

For this ring I hammered two pieces of silver separately. I gave the larger piece a shape of a flower, to  the smaller – A shape which would be able to embed an oval bezel for a stone. I soldered them together,one facing the other, and finally soldered the bezel on top and set the Citrine stone in it, a silver band ring was added on the back.

I find the result is not bad at all. Don't you agree?

On the back you will find the Sterling silver hallmark and my personal signature. 

It is a One of a kind (OOAK)  item.

As for the Citrine stone - it belongs to a mineral quartz group. The Citrine colors range from yellow , reminding us of the  more expensive Yellow Topaz – to brown which resembles Smokey Quartz.  There are orange variations too.

Citrine is also known as the “stone of the mind” because there were ancient cultures which believed that when placing this stone on  a human's  forehead,  it would increase his psychic abilities. Well, as I have a few Citrine stones, and am not so very young any more, only at heart that is, I will try this on myself. Perhaps I shall even let you know the results...(Laughing Out Loud).

Getting serious again - When  Citrine crystals and  Amethyst stones are formed together by heating,  a  bi-colored gemstone is created - the Ametrine.

And more – most Citrine stones in the market today, are heat-treated Amethysts and mostly arrive from Brazil Although Brazil  sells natural stones too. More  Citrine stonescome to us from The Ural Mountains in Russia,  France and Madagascar.  The brown stone in my ring is a NATURAL Citrine stone.

Lower grade Citrine stones result from being heated at  high temperatures.  By using this process we receive a variety of orange,  and Cherry  colors.  The darker they get - the more valuable they are.

Thank you for watching!