Secret Heart II and more jewellery

I thought it was time to show off some jewellery again. This is 

 Secret Heart II

A commission that made its way across the pond yesterday. It's always been one of my favourite designs. I love the barbed wire chain and the caged heart. Sad, I know.

Here it is once before the oxidisation process, just the bare bronze and then again, oxidised and packed, ready to go. This design takes forever and caused me some very sore fingers. Each part on it, except for the wire (different gauges) and the bead, is made by me. Each barbed wire link takes about 10 minutes to make. The wire heart took me most of an afternoon. Even the jumprings are handmade.

 Dragonfly Necklace

This was a present for my friend Helen back in October. I am so pleased with how this turned out. Different chains, different mostly semi precious beads and vintage chains and charms (apart from the swallow at the bottom. Click on it to see a larger version.

A Walk in the Woods

Christmas present for my friend Caroline over on Uniqart. I love wooden beads and seedpod beads and have accumulated quite a few of them (as you can see). I've used every singel one of them plus everyhting else that fitted with the theme including paper beads, fabric beads, Kashmiri beads, a little vintage bear bead, a glass heart, semi precious beads, mother of pearl, horn....

Viking Ships

Christmas present for my friend Helen... She loves blues and purples. The colours reminded me of the sea and the ships on it, hence Viking Ships. Wooden and glass beads, vintage and new, lava and kimono fabric beads, resin and semi precious, even a sead pod or two.

Pomegranate

Pinks and greens and reds... another Christmas present for my friend Liz. :-) Her favourite colours and all the beads I had in those exactl colours. LOL

Pink Eruption

Final jewellery Christmas present for another Caroline. :-) This was one of my silver art clay experiments I liked. I loved the heavy texture on it and thought it worked really well with the pink Calcedony.

That's it (for now anyway). I am always open for commissions, even with older pieces. Just send me an e-mail and ask, if there's something you fell in love with and just have to have. :-)

Featured in the Treasury West: Raspberries and Blueberries Bracelet

What a Day! I just found out my Raspberries and Blueberries bracelet has been featured in the Etsy Treasury West by Cait from Barefootweaver.



Check out her Etsy shop for lovely woven cuff bracelets and shawls in the most yummy colours. :-)

Movie Magic

I've been busy with presents and a commission.

I was asked to make a pair of earrings like the ones the lamia witch wears in Stardust. There are some pictures of the whole costume here. I love the film, it's one of my favourites, so I agreed and here's my take on them:


It was quite difficult to find all the different materials for them as everything was slightly unusual and certainly not 'off the peg'.

I ended up with a lot of improvising and I think - although the feel of the earrings is similar - they look lovely and different in their own right. I hope to get some images of the finished costume as the earrings are to go with a whole outfit for a big party.

Alongside this commission I've also finished the purple polka dot wrist warmers and the silk flower (see previous post) and I've been working on a silk scarf with an intricate leaf lace pattern. However, this scarf keeps being put aside as other projects come up.

Currently I am working on a special secret project for my baby sister. She's going to come next week and stay with us for Easter. I CAN'T wait. It'll be lovely to have her here.

A Little Heart of Two Hearts - Commission

Here's a heart necklace I made as a commission for a dear friend.

I made her heart earrings for Christmas and this is the matching necklace ordered by her husband and sons for Mother's Day.

The heart was cut from sterling silver, filed, shaped, a hole punched into it so I could attach it to a chain. I also bashed the living daylights out of it to give it a textured look and stamped two tiny hearts into it.


I included 2 prehnite faceted beads into the design:


Below you can see the tiny little hearts stamped into the big heart.


Here are the matching earrings:

I just had a text from her and she loves it. :-)

Funky Fuzzy Felts

Here are my first two experiments with wet felting. This is something I've never done before, so I am really proud of them.

Kingfisher Bracelet


The felted beads are two-tone and so are the square glass beads: bright green and teal. I love greens and blues together, but the shades have to be just right. All the findings are sterling silver including the funky silver bead caps. There's a little flower dangle made from a teal lustre flower bead and a teeny tiny bright green frosted Toho bead.


The bracelet is a little longer than my normal medium sized ones, but if required can be shortened, although, saying that, because of the size of the beads it is more comfortable if it is a little larger than you would normal wear it.






Raspberries and Blueberries



This bracelet has also been made with two-tone felt beads, this time in purple and pink. All findings are sterling silver and the beads I used are sugilite and purple jade. I love the deep purple of sugilite, which I'd never seen before I'd bought it.






I have to say wet felting was great fun and I've got some other experiments on the boil including a necklace and bracelet set made completely from felt and silk. I am also about to embark on some needle felting. LOL I can't wait!

Wire Fever Still Raging...

Well, I've been busy... as per usual. I just can't get enough of the wire! It's addictive. You may also notice that my jewellery is becoming more sculptural. I just love the way you can bend and hammer the wire into almost any shape.

Here are my latest creations.

Keishi Petal Necklace

This is a necklace made with handsawn and brushed silver tubes, keishi petal pearls in silver grey, a single white new jade bead and lots of sterling silver wire. The pendant is a flower made with keishi petal pearls and the new jade round bead. The clasp is handmade too. At the bottom is a picture with a penny so you can appreciate how delicate the necklace really is.






Cranberry Sweetie Necklace

This is a necklace I made for myself to go with all my silver bangles. I wanted something to go with everything and this fit the bill perfectly. It's been made with handsawn and brushed square silver tubes, tiny garnet rectangles and lots of silver wire. The clasp is also sterling silver wire but bought. Again, at the bottom is a picture with a penny to show the size of the necklace parts.







Cloudberry Bracelet

Little hammered, flattened, shaped and partially brushed clouds made with fine sterling silver, filled with a variety of beads: pale blue and powder blue facetted chalcedony, white jade, crackled rock quartz cubes and frosted rock quartz rounds, lace agate in cube and chip form. A lovely opalite drop near the handmade clasp together with a handmade sterling silver heart and another frosted rock quartz round bead.








Cherry Blossom Earrings

The cherry trees are in bloom all around which inspired me to make these earrings. I've made oxidised sterling silver wire swirls, hammered and bashed them into shape, added some pale pink chalcedony, bright pink candy jade, and some lovely hot pink fossil beads to make it all work. The earwires and jumprings are also sterling silver wire and made by my own - not so fair - hands (the wire works is taking its toll).



Black Sun Necklace

This was inspired by the big black chalcedony I used as a pendant. I added lots of different beads to bring it all together, there are coral sticks, carnelian (chips and beads in dark red and orange), golden amber chips, and orange and sunny chalcedony. There are three lovely handmade bronze connectors and the findings (chain, jumprings) are a mix of copper and bronze which I oxidised.








Dragon's Tale Necklace and Bracelet

This one's ALL MINE. :-)

I bought these absolutely stunning, gorgeous handmade beads that looked to me like dragon's scales. I just couldn't resist making something with them almost the minute they arrived.

The necklace is shaped like a dragon with a bronze wire flame shape at one end and the beads getting smaller and smaller towards the end of the dragon's tail. I've used a variety of beads, from the beautiful handmade beads to lava beads, citrine, a plethora of glass beads, green coloured two-tone crystal, jade cubes and Miyuki cubes and Kyanite and black chalcedony rondelles. Mixed in with this are my handmade swirly connectors and there's a litte wire heart at the end of the dragon's tail. The dragon's tail fits through the flames at the beginning. Very mystical, I know. ;-) The bracelet is made with mostly the same beads but the tail doubles back on itself.

It took forever and a day to make all the links and string the beads, so it's a tale and a half, but well worth the effort.












Tattoo Necklace

Sorry guys, this one is ALL MINE too! I love making swirls and this one turned out looking like a tattoo, even more so when worn. It's made with two thicknesses of fine silver wire, the swirls made, then hammered flat, and lastly tied together - imagine puzzle shapes - with much thinner wire. A last tender bashing of the thinner wire to make it all stay in place. Least but not last, I've attached very thin sterling silver chain and a bought clasp and oxidised the lot. Voila!






Klimtesque Vine Necklace

Can you tell yet that I do like swirls? This one is made in the same way as the tattoo necklace but this time with copper wire and chain. I've made a clasp for it and added a lovely little dangle with a beautiful teal copper framed beads.







Ginkgo Necklace and Earrings

This set must be one of my all time favourites. It's absolutely stunning in real life (rather than on a picture on a computer... sniff).

I've shaped a Ginkgo leaf from thick copper wire, then added the veins with much thinner copper wire giving the leaves a look of skeleton leaves. Lovely golden yellow chalcedony beads dangle like little flowers in the centre of each leaf. A little dip to oxidise them, then I added the gunmetal chain and put the earrings together - the earwires and jumprings are handmade too, apart from the ones attaching the pendant to the chain, the handmade ones were too thick to get through the links of the chain.







Cityscape Bangle

This is a freeform double cuff bangle. It was quite difficult to do as I had to hammer the bronze wire between the be to ensure that it would be firm enough to put on and take off. The beads look like little sweeties - white with green and blue stripes respectively - and the pretty little opalite cubes add interest. More texture is added with the little spiral connectors above the candy (furnace) beads. Finally, I added a spray of Miyuki drops to one side.







SOLD - to Penny. :-)


Jewellery Display

There's no space in the house left to hang my jewellery so I had to get creative with some more wire.

I made the frame from silver plated copper wire, the used two thicknesses of black iron wire to create the 'web'. Took half a day to make. Oh well, only another 11 more to go....