Shawl Pin Giveaway by Ingo

This shawl pin is made with 16 gauge German silver wire and sage green with a hint of blue lampwork glass bead and small accent Czech glass bead.
It's 2"(5.0cm) long and 1 3/8"(3.0cm) across.

Please note that German silver contains nickel and has no silver in it. It's lead free.











Please note this Giveaway is extended until September 20, 2012.

Please read through, many people are not entering as required and won't be counted.
      
How to enter:

1. Please visit my website section of Shawl Pins and choose any shawl pin that you like.

2. Copy and paste shawl pin's URL - (the whole link from http://www.ingojewelry.com , for example http://www.ingojewelry.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=714&product_id=7304 ) and feature this pin on your blog or website. Please DO NOT link to this Blog - this is not considered an entry for this giveaway.

3. Please include 'Shawl Pin by Ingo Jewelry' in your Blog post title.

4. Come back here and leave a comment including a link to your post. Please include your email address so I'd be able to contact you if you win.

Please note:
* Only Blog or website posts will be considered as a valid entry to this draw.
* Featuring this Giveaway only is not considered a valid entry for the Draw.
* If you remove your Blog post by the end of this Giveaway thus making your link invalid your name won't be entered.

The draw ends on September 20, 2012 and a winner will be announced by posting a comment from me here.

Thanks and good luck.     

What kind of jewelry do you like to wear or to make????

As for me I have had many answers to this question. First of all, since I started making jewelry, my taste totally got changed.

The only thing I am sure about is that I love to work with metal and form shapes then hammer them and wrap them for more style.

Long time ago I liked lots of contemporary and modern jewelry with some geometrical shapes and forms, so I wasn't a flower girl in any way. Well, not anymore. Now I love flowers, more shiny and even kitschy things and surprisingly I really fall in love with vintage and vintage style jewelry. I have introduced my new Vintage collection and adding more items to it.

Here are some examples of my latest work using vintage and vintage style elements from ArtBeads website.

Disclosure: I received the products from http://artbeads.com/ free of charge and I have not been paid for my endorsement of the products and I have honestly reviewed their products .

My artisan metal shawl pins go a long way

I have been very busy lately with my Shawl Pins line and this is a piece of jewelry that I most enjoy making. I have been featured on Knitty.com and soon my new article will be published in Belle Armoire Jewelry magazine.

Check my customer blog here to read a review about my shawl pins.
To see more of my shawl pins and my other jewelry please visit Ingo Jewelry shop online.

Glass beads Vs. Stones

When I just started my jewelry business a few years ago I was only buying semi precious stones for my jewelry. And I still buy them a lot, but since I tried Czech glass beads for the first time I was totally hooked. The reason is very simple. I like to make earrings and being almost perfectionist I want to use exactly the same size and shape of stones for that. So in average half of each strand of stones I buy is not good for earrings because stones are slightly different or drilled in differently and therefore can't be used. When I discovered all beautiful Czech glass beads from Artbeads I was so happy that I finally could use each of them without worrying how to match them and how many pairs I can get.

They come in all different colors, shapes and size. Look at this beautiful Teal Picasso Drops that look exactly like turquoise stone. Now I am very happy with my earrings and especially with my matching process. I buy all possible colors and it's very easy now to satisfy my customers' needs.



Disclosure: I received the products from http://artbeads.com/ free of charge and I have not been paid for my endorsement of the products and I have honestly reviewed their products .

How I shop for supplies for the best results.

Oh, you know what I mean.??? How many times do we love and buy supplies that we find and then we have them stuck in our storage boxes for months and even for years? So finally I have developed kind of technique with my supplies' shopping. Being an impulsive buyer in general I trained myself to buy beads and stone only if I definitely imagine where and how I am going to use it. Also reading description and check sizing help a lot too.
So last time when I shopped for lampwork glass beads which I love the most, I saw a set of lampwork glass on ArtBeads website which surprisingly works so good for both copper and silver. Black metallic side of these beads complement my sterling silver pieces while yellow amber works so perfect in my oxidized copper jewelry. That was a good buy and had my new jewelry pieces finished on the next day.


Disclosure: I received the products from http://artbeads.com/ free of charge and I have not been paid for my endorsement of the products and I have honestly reviewed their products .

Another brilliant design idea

I was in the middle of new necklace design when I found out that one of link of my new chunky chain was totally defective and I had to cut that off which left me with one useless piece of chain.
I hate it when I need to waste my materials and I was looking for how to make something interesting our of this short piece of chain.
Likely, I had my new Charms I got from ArtBeads and other nice mini lampwork beads. By adding wrapped lampwork beads and chain extender I made it for the average size bracelet with adjustable length. The rest was done by adding gorgeous sterling silver charms from Artbeads.
What a surprise? I fell in love with this bracelet and next day it was listed in my Etsy shop. Now it is looking for a new owner.
Disclosure: I received the products from http://artbeads.com/ free of charge and I have not been paid for my endorsement of the products and I have honestly reviewed their products .

What's in your scrap?

With current prices on sterling silver I decided finally to send my scrap for credit and buy sterling silver wire instead. But before that I had once again to go through and evaluate my scrap pieces again. I found a lot of pieces of wire that I can re-use again.

I have collected 87 gr of sterling silver scrap and I think that being a self taught artist for 2.5 years this is not that bad.

By nature I am a person who likes to make something out of nothing. So, once in awhile I grab all my leftovers and make it into a new piece of jewelry. For that all you need is

1. Nylon jaw pliers for fine gauges.

2. Rawhide mallet for heavier gauges.

3. To be in creative mood.

With 20 gauge leftovers I made once those earrings and will all 22, 24 and even 26 gauges I made this beautiful necklaces. Even length of 12-13mm in length might work in design like that.

What your scrap looks like? Can you re work your wires? Try once it's a lot of fun too.