Handmade Swarovski Elements Statement Necklace

Almost done, Handmade Statement Necklace, Swarovski Elements

The focal is almost done, then everything else are going to be less challenging. :) I have to think really hard next time before I take up a project that requires a lot of precisely calculation and tedious work, not that I don't like to, but with a toddler and a baby I can't really stay focus for too long, and it takes longer time to get back in mode each time. 😅 

Still excited to see it almost completely nonetheless. 

Happy Thursday all! Vanilla #SwissRoll with Raisin goes really well with finest #EarlyGreyTea, thanks #khcalendar for keeping me in check.

📰 Blog: http://jewelry.de-cors.com

📧 Mail: corra@de-cors.com

Almost done, Handmade Statement Necklace, Swarovski Elements

Wire Jewelry Malaysia – Silver WAU-Hoop Earrings, Finalized Version

Silver WAU-Hoop Earrings

Silver WAU-Hoops (Right)

Silver WAU-Hoops (Left)

Silver WAU-Hoops (Side View)

It's been almost three weeks now since I've last picked up wires - Malaysia had officially entered the raining season of the year, and if you are visiting Malaysia right now you will see many people walking while coughing. I had been coughing and not able to sleep until I went for X-ray to confirm there's nothing weird going on in my lungs, and then, those drugs made me drowsy and tired all the time, I figured it certainly is not fair for my customers if I were to create anything and sell it to them then, so I hang on to it until I am 100% recovered.

So now, I am presenting you the finalized Wire Jewelry Malaysia - Silver WAU-Hoop Earrings in 92.5 silver now! :) They have 4cm diameter and each one of them weighed 4.3gram. All metals are silver, adorned with Yellow Zircons and Gold color Swarovski Crystal Pearls. To wear them, please open the hoops side-ways instead of pulling them left-right-apart to preserve it's shape, wide them with anti-tarnish clothe before put them back into anti-tarnish bag or jewelry box.

I guess I am back in designing and creating again now then. :) Do check back often for updates!
Take care!

Corra @ de Cor’s Handmades

[Prototype] Wire Jewelry Malaysia – Silver WAU-Hoop Earrings, Version Three

Presenting Version three of Silver WAU-hoop earrings. Sorry for the delay, I have been down with cold and have been coughing my lung out for almost 6 days now, went for X-ray (yes you heard me right) and doctor said there are white dots around my lung, I saw the film too, it looks like a spider net, friend said it’s shows that my lung is infected, but good thing is doctor confirmed that there isn’t any abnormal growth. All these were due to the poor quality of air I am breathing in recently, lots of family members and friends fell ill due to our dear neighbor Indonesia burn their forest yet again – and if you don’t already know, this had been their yearly activity that had never failed to happen, usually it happens in mid of the year, although this year they had delayed it, but now we are still blanketed by smog from forests fire in Indonesia, Singapore didn’t escape this time.

Well back to WAU-Hoop Earrings version three, customer confirmed on this design (as I have expected), and I am going to break my silver to construct it as soon as I recover from my cough.

I have used 20ga, 18ga, 28ga and 30ga wires for this creation. Hope you enjoy viewing!

Corra @ de Cor’s Handmades

[Prototype] Wire Jewelry Malaysia – Silver WAU-Hoop Earrings, Version Two

 

As promised, version two this is. :)

After showing Version one to the customer, he was happy with it but I felt something is missing. Those are just very very simple loops and swirls and I thought I could do better than that, so I went back home and gave it another go.
I have used 18ga, 20ga, 22ga, 28ga, and 30ga wires for this. Same materials, different wires arrangement that’s all.
Stay tuned for Version Three! :)

Happy weekend all!
Corra @ de Cor’s Handmades

[Prototype] Wire Jewelry Malaysia – Silver WAU-Hoop Earrings, Version One

Custom Jewelry design is definitely picking up in Malaysia, myself and other Malaysian Jewelry artist friends was just talking about how our customer base had slowly changed from solely foreigner market to having Malaysian customers, and instead of like how they used to turned their back when we told them our price, they came to us with correct budget now, and they understand it’s silver nature that they will turn black (tarnished) after awhile.

Here’s another commissioned order by a Malaysian customer. This time I made a Wau-hoop earrings.

Extract from wikipedia:

Wau bulan is an intricately designed Malaysian moon-kite (normally with floral motifs) that is traditionally flown by men in the Malaysian state of Kelantan. It is one of Malaysia's national symbols, along some others being the kris and hibiscus. The reverse side of the fifty-cent coin of Malaysia (1989 series) features an intricately-decorated wau bulan with a hummer on top^[1]. The logo of Malaysia Airlines (MAS) is also based on this kite.

There are many types of wau in Malaysia, each with its own specialty. Wau kucing (cat kite) and wau merak (peacock kite) are some of the variants.

This is the first attempt, and it’s a prototype, so please bear with me if you have spotted any flaws. :)

I made 3 versions of WAU-Hoop Earrings for my customer to choose, not because he’d asked for it, it was just me who’d thought I can come up with better designs - and I was right, he chose the 3rd version.

I will be posting them soon – so stay tuned and check back often!

Corra @ de Cor’s Handmades

Handmade Wire Jewelry: Silver Lotus Earrings for Wedding, Finalized.

Finally It’s here! I have been totally busy lately and last evening I decided that if I don’t execute this project, this pair of earrings won’t be able to make it for the 1st Oct 2010. I can’t help it but would like to rant a little: I have never seen a couple that can trust me so much! They basically just won’t chase me for it and I actually thought may be they don’t really care nor will they be bothered if I could not deliver this earrings in time!

Handcrafted Costume Bridal Jewelry in Malaysia

Anyway I zoomed home directly after work, had a brief dinner, showered, and immediately started to work on this pair of earrings. A solid 6:30pm to 2:30am work without break in between. Boy is it tiring or not? Any handmade jewelry artist would know when you kicked start a project you won’t want to stop working on it until it is done, and all of us knows sooner or later we will need one of this thing.

So yes, the earrings are ready for pick up now, and don’t worry, though it’s completed over a night, nothing gets compromised – all details are well taken care of and all components were assembled exactly the way they are supposed to be. This is the payback time for making prototype pieces before actual project execution, I strongly suggest everyone do the same. :)

Bridal Earrings Measurement:
All metal are Sterling silver 92.5, adorned with white Swarovski Crystal Pearls, Donut Cubic Zirconia beads, Faceted Rock Crystals, Round Rock Crystals and Tear-drop Moonstones.
Earrings weigh 4.1gram each, and they are 1¾” tall and 1¼” at it’s widest measure.

Can’t wait to see them dangling on the bride’s ears! :P
~ Corra that does handmade wire jewelry

Custom Book Publishing to Apple iBookStore

 

Tada!!!

I have finally finalized a eBook Cover template for custom book publishing and listed this service in Etsy!

 

Like I said having a pretty, clean, timeless and presentable cover for your book is critical, why?

Because, when you are selling electronic products such as book or software that’s to be delivered or downloaded digitally over internet, without having a chance to convince or promote your product to your customers, according to research, you only have TWO seconds to secure your sale. Yes, nothing more than that golden TWO seconds, if you get their attention and at the same time delivered the message of what you are selling to them in that two seconds, chances are they would stop and flip your pages – to see your product descriptions or probably, check out who you are.

 

The cover design is the make or break of the deal, period.

Like I said in the previous blog post, that I have conducted an unofficial survey to gather feedback from people that’s in various area, including IT professionals that would spend their lunch hour surfing the net buying stuff from ecommerce website than going out for a social lunch), financial analyst whom get excited in seeing the bank notes and figures, COO and CEO of consulting firms which write and read proposals more than a highschool teacher marking student’s exam papers, a 3 years old that would only jump when he sees Barney the purple dinosaur...

And this is the most acceptable cover so far!

Who owns the copyright of the cover
By engaging this service you will be the sole copyright owner of the created cover(s).

How do I start:
1. Submit your original eBook cover image (or you might take this opportunity to change your eBook cover page)
2. Submit me your logo image
3. Wait for less than 24 hours
4. Finalize and confirm your cover design in within 3 revisions. (Check the sample covers I have shown in this listing)

THAT IS IT!!! You will be the owner of the cover image I have created for you, and you are free to use them for your eBOOK cover no matter where you publish it - Be it in Etsy, ArtFire, Smashwords and iBookStore(Apple).

 

Here’s some examples!!!

Special thanks to Anya and Gene for contributing Rosalie Ring picture LazziKittie picture respectively for demonstrations, they both now have the cover image (without the SAMPLE stamp) for their future usage. :)

And please, take a look at how my craft eBooks look like on iPad’s iBook shelves:

Lovely, isn’t it? :)

Hope to see your book on Apple soon!

 

Corra @ de Cor’s Handmades

Wired Chinese Knot – Silver ROSE Studs and Pendant

This set of jewelry are result of combination of Wired Chinese Knotting with Wire Weaving. :)

Wired Chinese Knot ROSE Studs:

The ROSE focal is made up with two Wired Chinese Knotting, and the base is composed with basic Wire Weaving technique. 

Wired Chinese Knot ROSE Pendant:

A slight twist from the ROSE studs in becoming a ROSE pendant, that I won’t lie. Hehe. When the order came in the reference item used was CZ ROSE Pendant Build 7.0 finalized in April 28, 2009. Client said the owner didn’t like the coils, and would like it to changed to be the same base as stud. I said no problem, of course.

Design Background/ History:

I made the very first pair of ROSE studs in January 15, 2010, while prototyping Christine’s earrings in January 2010, finalized in February 2010, and have been receiving orders for ROSE studs since. I can’t remember how many pairs of ROSE studs I have made and sold, but as of now I am still spending 7 hours to construct a ROSE stud no less. There are too much details to take care of – the studs base’s measurement, the weaving path, setting the focal, hiding the wires tails and adjusting those petals.

To make these Silver ROSEs, you need to combine two instructions delivered by Rosabella +  Rose

Related Blog Posts that you might be interested:

• Oh my poor fingers: ROSE Stud {Colour Mixing}
• Rose Stud with CZ
• Revised – Rose Surrounded by Diamond Cuts CZ Stones, Studs
• 張三丰的智慧

 

Have you ever had a moment like this, that when you are focusing on making your design, you make them full-hearted and 100% of your concentration… When done, you found that you can’t take your eyes off it…
I have a dream – that one day I will create my design with precious, precious metal that shall not tarnish, that would not fade. Instead of Cubic Zirconias, it will be Diamonds, instead of Sterling Silver, it will be Platinum, or Rose Gold – to match the name “rose”.

Hmm…
Perhaps I should reposition the whole thing.
I shall set it as a “Goal”, instead of thinking it as a “dream”. :)

Wish you have a wonderful week ahead.





Corra @ de Cor's Handmades

Wire Wrapped Jewelry

 

I got this pretty stone from Tammy about 2 weeks ago and was then too occupied to post an entry for it. :)
I still don’t know what stone this is, perhaps you could tell!!!
So the ultimate request is – remove the stone from the frame (without having it scratched or chipped), and then transform this into a wire wrapped jewelry.

A very interesting knowledge I’ve gained though when I go search what wire wrapped jewelry really is all about, and I think the described key differences between wire wrap jewelry making with other approaches to make jewelry made sense, that wire wrapped jewelry is made of wires, and findings that made with wires too such as ear wires, jumprings – you can totally construct all these elements by shapping wires into the desired form or cut them into pieces to give you what you need to compose your design; and wire wrapped jewelry is made using mechanical connections between components or elements WITHOUT soldering or other heat treatments. :)

Now I know what is my core. I have a soldering gun since 2 years ago, I haven’t lighten it up not even once, though I would agree moving towards soldering would bring my whole jewelry making experiences into a complete new stage, but I still love what I do now – making everything by throwing out an “organic” challenges.

More pictures, and cookies (Dao-Sa-Pia) from Up North Malaysia, Penang. :) Thanks Tammy, I’ve finished them before I get to post this article, and I can’t finish them all, so I shared it with my colleagues that’s well known Dao-Sa-Pia lover. :)

 

And this is me with my cookies. Yum! :P


I want to design something slightly extra-ordinary, wish me luck, people. :)


Category: Wired Chinese Knot
Corra @ de Cor's Handmades

Lost and Found

One of my greatest fear is: what if my customer didn't like what I've made?

Designs are subjective, they are so subjective that sometimes no one would like what I like, or, I can never go along with somebody’s idea. I love what I create, it's like a mother can never dislike her child, to me whatever I've created are pretty, including those that stays in the box underneath my bed. I love them, all of them, for a simple reason - cause I've created them, each one of them despite them being imperfect they contributed in refining my skills somewhat somehow.
Remember SeaWave earrings? I twitted about it’s owner have lost it awhile ago, I cried aloud out the moment I've gotten the bad news, next thing came into my mind was - how am I supposed to recreate them? Honestly, I never reproduced anything if I haven’t written them into tutorials – I forgot how I make my pieces, everytime I create it’s a clean start to me. I think sometimes forgetting is blessing in art field, only then you will be able to invent.

So I’ve gotten the bad news in Facebook’s inbox, I replied after I’ve calmed down:

“。。。。找不回來嗎？左邊還是右邊呢？我不知道能否複製呢。 ”("Sure you can't find it? Left or the right side of it? I am not sure if I can reproduce...")
Then, it was a complete silence from her. For about a week. I was certain that she must be trying to find it, and was certain that I should give her some time. So I left her alone for a week.
“得空要回答我一下啊親愛的”("Reply me when you can, dearie.")
“親愛的Corra，掉了右邊的，唉，真是的。心裡不捨呢，但是不強求啦，不能複製也沒關係。 ”(Dear Corra, lost the right side of it. Sigh, can’t bare the loss but I guess just had to let it go, it’s okay if it can’t be reproduced.”

She sound like she was giving up. And I felt guilty for not even giving it a try to reproduce! So on July 9 at 2:07pm , I wrote to her again to tell her to pass me the left side of the earring, and I am going to try to reproduce the left side of it.
And then on the July 10, the universe did it’s magic! I got a message from her early morning, telling me that she’d found it. It’s in a recycle bag (RECYCLE BAG!!! MEANS SHE COULD HAVE THREW IT AWAY!!!) that she used to keep her documents, and it’s inside one of the file - She found it when she wanted to add some more documents into that file.

She blogged about this too, and as you can see, she took great photos as well:

P/S 失而復得的不止是你而已文心，謝謝。

Corra @ Malaysia

Bridal Jewelry Set Challenge

A new custom order I’ve received. Her wedding’s in October, and hence I have plenty of time to work on this. Ms. H has a pair of perfect earlobes, round and the pierce were perfectly done – she told me she was going to let down her hair, and she will be wearing my designs for the wedding dinner (how honored!).
How to design a bridal jewelry set or wedding jewelry set

Initiate everything from asking this question: “When do you want to start, how do you want to pay?”

Then, carry out following tasks:
First: Obtain following items:

1. Picture of the bride, with her gown on and preferably with her hairdo, get her to put on a pair of white round pearl earrings (studs), too, cause a pair of round pearl studs earrings usually tell a thousand stories.
2. Picture of the groom (who say groom isn’t significant?)
3. Length of the bride’s neck starting from the end of earlobe to collarbones.

Second: Study and Observe

1. Observe the gown’s color
2. Observe the bride’s skin tone
3. Observe her face shape
4. Observe her earlobe’s shape and her ear pierce position – you can decide if she should go for studs earrings or dangling earrings.
5. Observe what her man’s going to wear, the color of his gown is something you have to watch out for. Ideally, she shouldn’t have more than 3 colors around her, if it has to be more than 3 colors, then time for you to refer to color wheel.

Third: R&D, Design

1. Sketch and discuss – please take note that the bride might have already been bias towards you cause they already liked your work and hence they came to you, be happy if you can please them but if the bride is overly happy with your design in your very first attempt – don’t join her too soon, thank her for liking your design but come on, you do know you need an honest, or rather, rationale input from the alien men species. Men don’t have to know what and how you made the jewelry, just ask him one question and expect “nice” or “not nice” as answer, after all the bride won’t get to see herself that much as compared to the groom, we got to take care of the groom’s feelings too (so that in the future, say on their subsequent wedding anniversaries, mother’s day, Christmas or Easter, they know who they can turn to for an easy way out).
2. Prototype your pieces using cheaper materials – don’t break your precious metal such as silver or gold wires until you are sure it’s going to be useful, if you are going to use precious stones for your actual design, find something similar in terms of color tone and shape for your prototype pieces first.
3. Photograph your prototype pieces – cut down on digital editing this time.You are not going to list this item in your online store and wait for someone to fall in love with it, you have a targeted customer this time so make sure your customer sees what they are expected to received. Wear the prototype to let her see how does it look like as in overall.

Forth: Execution

1. Give them your account number, or create a listing for them to check out, ya know... whatever – just make sure they commit to the transaction. This is to protect your interest so be flexible about it, perhaps you would want to get the down payment first so that’s fair for both parties.
2. Break your silver or gold, make your design.
3. Send them to her.
4. If time permits, ask her if she need any bridesmaid jewelry, or is her bridesmaid in safe hands.

If you are planning for your wedding, here some reference you can check out from Amazon. :P

I am off to the drawing board now, and I will keep you posted with the progress, so, stay tuned!

Corra @ Malaysia

Handmade Jewelry Challenge, Wired Chinese Knot perhaps

I was about to start working on a series of beach jewelry for the summer, but my dear customer, Tammy, contacted me for a new project. It’s a transformation challenge! This beautiful stone belong to Tammy’s very cute mother (trust me she’s cute, but I won’t show you what I saw from Tammy's Facebook (er you don't know what Facebook is? :P) profile of her and her cute mother LOL!), that according to Tammy, cute-mama said she would like it to be oblong instead or vertical as the original.

Here’s another view of the original look:

 

Handmade Jewelry: Goal
I am totally excited for this project!!! Although Tammy told me she’s not sure what stone is this but I think I can pretty much tell what it actually is when I get it. Hmm I don’t know what I will do about it and what will I do with it YET, but I am confident that it will turn out beautifully because I know myself well that, my goal – my ultimate goal with my handmade jewelry business, is to create something one could pass down! I am determine to make it happen, and i know I CAN make it happen. :P

*turning into Malaysian English slang*: SO, AH-YI PLEASE WAIT FOR ME!!!

P/S I am meeting Tammy this Sunday (hello babe, all the way from up North to KL, thank you for trusting me!), and I will work on this gems as soon as I got them. Can’t wait!
Stay tuned!

Category: Wired Chinese Knot
Corra

Finalized Silver Perianth Earrings, Wire Jewelry, Earrings

 

:) A little different from the prototyped piece indeed.

Weight: 3.7gram each, 7.4gram in total. They are 6cm tall and 1.8cm at it’s widest measures. All metals are 92.5 Sterling Silver directly source from the States, adorned with fresh water pearls and Swarovski Crystal pearl.

Hope you have fun viewing, and do help yourself with a great weekend! I know you have been having this face on for the whole week:

Photo sauced from iPAD’s collection of wallpaper. LOL!

-Corra Liew @ Malaysia-

Classic PIPA Pendant with Little Black Dress, JiaSha with Amethyst Earrings, Wired Chinese Knot

*Cough Cough*
A happy innovator I am, featuring JiaSha Earrings and PIPA Pendant. I put on my own little black dress to take this photo shoot for a preview for it’s owner, because this pendant is meant to go with a little black dress for a formal occasion.

Item listed and sold @ ArtFire!

Fine Art Jewelry, 100% Handcrafted.
Signature Design @ de Cor's.
This is a 2 in 1 design, you can wear it with the frame or without. This order is specifically made for a formal function and it is designed to go with the pendant owner's Little Black Dress, hence the pendant came with that beautiful a necklace featuring semi-transparent ribbon and leather cords.

Weight: 3.3gram
Earrings measure 3cm from ear wires, 1.8cm at its widest measure.
All metal are Sterling Silver (92.5)
Material: Cubic Zirconia, Swarovski Crystal.

Thanks for visiting! And hope you enjoy your week!
-Me-