Designing Woven Silver Jewelry

The necklace below is woven from fine silver.   The Swarovski rhinestones are set in sterling silver and added one at a time as the weaving progresses.   I love designing these pieces, doing the weaving, and constructing necklaces, pendants and bracelets with woven accents and details.   These jewelry pieces sort of evolve from the basic structure I drew out in my design layout and this  evolutionary process delights me.   I sometimes alter the pattern a bit to include a special element or stone that seems to belong in the piece.

Many of my pieces are small pendants.  They are wrapped in a woven band so that they often appear to float in their setting.   I’m constructing the woven bands from 18-20 gauge fine silver and the weaving is done with 26-30 gauge.   As my hands have become more arthritic I’ve been working with elements under 14 gauge.   My most recent designs are woven crosses.