Ivy Bracelet - Revisited

In the previous post I said I'd show you if I decided to oxidise the ivy bracelet. Well, I did. LOL

I think it looks much better now. The green is more intense and the detail on the ivy leaf is much clearer.



I have no idea how to part with this... LOL However, I did say it was a present and a present it is - not for me, just in case you thought this was my get-out clause....

Sterling Silver Ivy Bracelet

Sorry guys, this bracelet won't be available in my shop. It's a birthday present...

I've been making rather a lot of ivy recently, but all in copper. I thought I am now experienced enough to make one in Sterling silver. In fact, I made three, but only used one for this bracelet. Using three would have made it 'feel' too heavy.




Here's the ivy leaf in detail. You can also see that the clasp is handmade and that I've tried to re-create the little tendrils and shoots you get on ivy in the clasp and the wire the ivy leaf is hanging from.

Here you can see all the different beads I wire wrapped together to make the double bracelet chain: there are lovely frosted deep green Japanese seed beads, bright green coral stick beads, Czech faceted two-tone glass beads and gorgeous Chrysocolla rondelles. Unfortunately, the Chrysocolla looks much darker on the picture than in real life where it is a mix of vibrant greens and dark turquoise and navy blues.

Since the ivy leaf was silver I wanted to show the different greens of the ivy in the chain.


I might lightly oxidise the bracelet to bring out more detail in the leaf and the clasp. If I do, I'll post some more pictures.

A New Year, New Ideas, New Designs - Part 2 Sterling Silver and Semi Precious

I've recently been going Chalcedony-mad. I love Chalcedony. It's a lovely semi-precious stone that comes in all sorts of wonderful colours.

Below is a set I made for myself. The earrings use sea green Chalcedony faceted briolettes, wrapped with sterling silver wire. The findings are all sterling silver. They are very simple but effective. :-)


I wanted to have a matching necklace, so I used a slightly larger, onion shaped faceted Chalcedony bead, wrapped it with Sterling silver wire and hung it from two Sterling silver swirly connectors. The chain is silverplated as I didn't have a Sterling silver chain fine enough for the necklace.


Chrysocolla and Aquamarine Earrings

These were made for a friend of mine whose birthday it is today. The findings are all Sterling silver and the round beads are Chrysocolla and the briolettes are Aquamarine.



Watch this space. There will be more Sterling silver wire designs with semi-precious gems to come.