wireART by vikky

Finally, I found a nice web design that I can be comfortable with for my wire art designs. Here are the first few items, but I will be adding more in the next days, and weeks.

I discovered my passion for designing jewelry and accessories when I came across a wire spiral pendant on the web in 2001. Almost instantly, I was conjuring up my own designs, all in my head, and in my dreams, and wondered where I could get the wire to create them with.

Galvanized wire from the hardware store just won’t do. Then on an afternoon visit to Quiapo, I found a store that  sold artistic wire (copper wire plated with colored plastic), and gold and silver wire by the meter, which turned out to be very very very expensive, but I did purchase a few meters of each. Finally, I discovered the supplier, Wellmanson on Villalobos St., of thicker aluminum wire (by the kilo), artistic wire in various colors and gauges, as well as the gold-plated and silver-plated wire. However, I purchased the gold-filled wires and almost pure silver ones online from various suppliers. The rest is history.

My designs are all wire-based and hand-crafted, no glues, no soldering, yet flexible for daily wear. To make life a little easier on my hands, I use some simple tools such as dowels and round-nosed pliers. I’m a perfectionist so you will see the weaves are almost as even as machine-made creations.  And all the wire ends are safe and snugly tucked away inside and behind another wire.

Surely, no two items are perfectly the same.  Even when I make 5 copies of a certain design (because a friend wants to use it as a friendship bond with her amigas) , there will  be at least one aspect of the item that will be different (shape, width, color, size, stone/gem, or technique).

Many of my items start off as designs made from aluminum wire in gold and silver, sometimes embellished with colored artistic wire too.  I’m amazed though that these ones also attract buyers.  Often, a friend would insist on buying the prototype wrist cuff I am wearing for lunch.

Then I create similar designs from 92% silver or gold-filled wire, stones or swarovski crystals. The combination increases the value of the designed piece drastically.

Most of the items that I will feature here are those I’ve created for myself, my three daughters, and favorite nieces.  But some will also be for sale.

So watch this page, and bookmark it.  The very least it will provide you is a refreshing visual feast.

Vikky

This little 6-pointed star metal frame was inspired by a star lantern that I saw at Ikea Los Angeles in October 2009.  The lantern maker used flesh-colored twine woven around the metal spines, to create a very attractive Christmas lantern.

I then created a much smaller version on one side of the lantern, and instead of 5 points, I added an extra point to create the star.  Two major differences from the metal-and-twine lantern.  My six-pointed star is neither glued nor soldered; and I used two colors of metal wire instead of twine to create it woven design.

I added a short chain and a large key ring, so the star now hangs as an attractive charm on my black bag.

My most popular cuff design…. I call it the Almost Spiral. Not only is it versatile, it also is very attractive, whether plain-woven, wire meshed, or embellished with a variety of stones or gems. It is best worn solo, standing on one’s arm and attracting it’s own attention.

Over the past 2 years, I have created a hundred or so of one-of-a-kind variations of the Almost Spiral, many of which were given out as gifts to my daughters, nieces, and dear friends.