It's one thing to wire wrap beads or gemstones to metal frames. But it is another thing to come up with original designs, all with cut gemstones and in the most colorful palettes.

Tracey Pettingill of Baltimore is the artisan behind bellajewelsII. She explains she is a "Self taught metal smith with a background in apparel design and textiles, jewelry designing has been my full-time professional career for the last thirty years."


Her background explains her strong sense of pattern and color.  She creates rainbows from many types of gemstones coupled with precious metal wire work. I have not seen such a wide variety of gemstones in a single design. She uses some of the less common types.

My favorites are her earrings.  I love how she sometimes uses ombre colors or graduated sizes for the gemstones she uses.  Her versatility includes making motifs as well as vine-like botanical inspired creations.

Tracey explained her design process , "Rarely do I plan out designs or draw them. Instead I just snip off a piece of wire and go at it! Since I am not a very neat worker, curls and scrolls and other shapes I have formed from metal, as well as piles of gemstones, sit all over my work bench and I am often inspired...finding bits and pieces of a design in this tangle of elements."

What beautiful "tangles" they turned out to be. See more of Tracey's work on her Instagram.











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Original Post by THE BEADING GEM
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