Elena Adams Designs – News

I have been working crazily the last few weeks getting ready to release a whole new collection in time for fall. I’m finding the slightly industrial look, combined with smokey grays and blacks really inspiring, and using fall favorite colors like deep purple and endive to brighten them up. Here’s a little peak at one [...]

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If you’ve been keeping up with my chain maille videos, you will have seen the double helix chain instructions. It’s one of my favorites, and when you wind two strands together they form a thick rope. When I was teaching classes at The Bead Shop one of my popular sessions was hand-making small amounts of [...]

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It seems that the better you know someone the more trouble you have finding just the right gift. I get into a ball of stress every year trying to find something meaningful for my sister, but every now and then I hit on an idea that works out beautifully, if I do say so myself. [...]

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This long-strand necklace was really therapeutic to make. Normally making chain is a lot like knitting, in that I can just sit down and go for hours, but I always need to pay a little attention here and there, counting rings, checking symmetries and so on. This necklace formed very organically. Most jump ring lovers [...]

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I have a terrible memory. There’s a reason I write things down, because if I don’t and I see a moth, the thought is gone for good. After a bead show I come home with a truckload of things that caught my eye, and I spend a long time finding homes for all my new [...]

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The design for these earrings came like a lightning bolt. I’ve had lots of requests lately for shorter earrings, and I’ve been trying to work out how to incorporate my style with less room to work. I love the herringbone setting; it creates the perfect bail for stones, adding delicate detail while letting light shine [...]

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When I first learned how to make full Persian chain maille, I could not get over how flexible it was. The chain can easily make tight coils, and it feel spectacularly fluid. Of course my first response to learning a new weave is seeing how tiny or delicate I can get away with designing in, [...]

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I don’t often use carnelian. I love the color, but I rarely wear anything that works with orange so it doesn’t occur to me to try it. These slave earrings were simple, but fun to make. I haven’t made any slave earrings in a while, so I started digging through my component container for ideas, [...]

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Many thanks to Holly Reisem Hanna from The Work at Home Woman. Her incredible blog is featuring a short article by me about the trials of teaching you friends and family that you’ve transitioned from hobbyist to business owner. Read When Your Hobby Becomes Your Business here and if you work from home or have [...]

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Every designer hits a creative road block from time to time. It’s common to look back and realize you’ve created four pairs of earrings with essentially the same design in mind, and looking for new ideas seems almost impossible. I love making jewelry, but I’m no different. Here are some things I do to get [...]

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Every summer, the whole world gets excited about the color of turquoise, and this year, Pantone has announced that it expects it to be the hot color for 2010. It’s always fresh and pairs perfectly with both silver and gold, and works to brighten up almost any color palette. In fine jewelry, untreated turquoise is [...]

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Believe it or not, this necklace started life as a bracelet. I’d been playing with a new chain maille bracelet design a while back, but I was unsatisfied with how open the 4-1 European weave turned out. After working on the charity necklace, which used a more densely packed 6-1 version, I thought I’d just [...]

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I fell in love with a strand of these gigantic serpentine pieces about two years ago. One of my very discerning jeweler friends rolled her eyes at me, but I was addicted to oversized rocks at the time and happily ignored her. I knew they’d make great pendants on chain maille and might even have [...]

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Place your holiday orders early and avoid the dreaded December shipping crunch. Order now and let me know your purchase is a holiday gift and I’ll extend the 60 day exchange and customization policy until the end of January. It’s always stressful buying expensive gifts, and with jewelry everyone has slightly different tastes. Make sure [...]

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I don’t use a lot of jade in my designs, but when I saw these beautiful carved flowers, I had to have them. Made by hand, no two are the same and they make perfect centerpieces for jewelry. I’ve been trying to come up with some new slave bracelets and these flowers are just perfect. [...]

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I admit it; I’ve been in a rut lately. I mentioned this a few weeks ago, and said that I’d found a way to get back on track. Certainly, working has not been the issue; I’ve been on top of my bookkeeping and writing furiously, but I’ve had no inspiration when it comes to jewelry. [...]

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I present to you, the finished necklace to be auctioned with proceeds going to NARSAD, The National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression The necklace is completely comprised of sterling silver and took about ten hours to create. The necklace was created based on a photograph submitted by Melissa Mercier, a great photographer from [...]

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I think I’m done! I’m going to start photographing and spend some time looking at it. It’s one of those projects that’s gone on long enough that I’m never entirely sure it’s done. I’ve made quite a few changes to what I had initially thought I would. I’ve stripped it down a lot, which I [...]

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I’ve been hard at work cutting and filing the silver sheet, and finishing up the length of the chain. The necklace is starting to feel more “real” somehow, now that all the pieces are fully assembled. Here is the silver, part way through the cut. You can see a corner where I punched holes to [...]

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Life has a terrible habit of getting in the way of things. I’ve finally had a chance to make some more progress on the charity project. I figured out a way to attach the chain maille segment to the sterling silver plate. My main concern way being able to attach it in such a way [...]

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