Through a Glass Darkly

MCN: CQ2RK-9UQUG-4URSD 

I've always loved this phrase and wondered what it meant and how it (probably) has a different flavour for each one of us. This is how it looks to me. :-) The phrase is from the Bible, 1 Corinthians 13:12 - see here.


There are three more images in this series, which I'll post over the next few days. :-)

Part of my new series of images for licensing on Arcangel-Images - use this code: SYST-0049  

Created with my own photographs in Photoshop, no stock used.

Jewellery Party - Final Post

The jewellery party went really well and lots of items went to new good homes....

...I've just finished the modifications for some of them and one commission.

Items no longer available are:

The wonderful Klimtesque necklace

I have just shortened it and added a different dangle so it will go with some other jewellery sold to the same lovely customer a while back:

And here's a detail of the intricate wire work:

 

The Constellation necklace is gone too....

and here are some matching Starlight earrings I just finished:

... here's a detail shot of the earrings - I've used a handmade soldered rose copper hammered ring and attached some teeny labradorite rondelle beads to it with antiqued copper wire. The earrings are really small and perfect for a little everyday glam with the gorgeous blue fire in the labradorite rondelles.

I've also modified my Willow Mk2 earrings to make them a teeny bit shorter:

I sold the lovely copper Leafy Blue bangle...

Both of the Dragon's Heart necklaces - the short one and the long one:

Crochet Wire Squares set:

I sold loads more, including the lovely red hat.

A big thank you to all my lovely customers and friends who came to the party and bought presents and treats for themselves and the biggest thank you to Caroline who helped me out with lighting and lots of support in every way.

There is still time to order your Christmas presents... or a treat for yourself if you've already done your Christmas shopping.

Earrings: Feeling Blue, Emmeline, Isabella, and Ophelia

All started because I was feeling blue yesterday, so I decided to make myself a pair of earrings to cheer myself up. :-)

It worked too!

Here are my earrings:

Feeling Blue

I've used the most wonderful pale blue dimpled vintage lucite orbs and combined them with red AB coated vintage faceted beads. The findings are all black powder coated and new: black beadcaps with a filigree design, black chain (the chain is turned in on itself i.e. double and created the 'o' pattern quite by accident), and black earwires. I love the red against the pale blue, and the black findings just seem to make it 'zing'. :-)

However, I just had to get some more of those gorgeous pale blue orbs so I can make myself a matching necklace, none of my other ones seems to work with the earrings. Sniff. ;-)


Emmeline

Don't these remind you of a Victorian tearoom with it's cosy gaslights? Hence the name Emmeline. :-)

I've used muted orange vintage lucite globes that have a sort of stripey pattern etched into the surface with coppery red metallic coated vintage faceted glass beads. The enamelled black bead caps at the bottom between the two beads are vintage too all the other black findings are modern but no less lovely for it.

The orange bead glows in artificial light almost like a halloween pumpkin:


Isabella

IMHO a very Gothic earring, hence the name Isabella. I was thinking of Isabella in the Castle of Otranto, forgetting totally about Isabella in Twilight. Both work. A very feminine pair of earrings with a Gothic touch...

All the beads are vintage: the small pink ones are glass with a rose motif carved into it, the silvery flower spacer beads are vintage plastic with a metallic coating, and the large drop shaped beads are charcoal grey faceted glass beads with a lovely almost aged mirror glass coating.

The chain and other findings are modern, but really bring out the romance because of the starkness of the black/charcoal grey findings against the purple and silver.


Ophelia Earrings

Yep, I've been watching Desperate Romantics too. I like the Pre-Raphaelites anyway, but it was seeing the painting in the series that inspired these earrings:



All the beads, beadcaps, earwires, chains and charms are vintage. The only new thing are the black headpins, jumprings, and the black chain.

I've used wonderful frosted, dimpled oval beads for the flower head, soft green lucite flowers for the petals, two different types of beadcaps in copper and brass for the stem and a bronze coloured faceted bead. The gorgeous brass earwires have a stylised lily design at the front. The three chains are all different - one has figure of eight links, one has textured oval links (both brass), and the black chain has little box shaped links. The beautiful leaves are vintage brass with a lot of patina.


The bottom three pairs of earrings will be available in my Etsy shop shortly. Promise, I will definitely get round to it. It's not my fault there are only 24 hours in the day and some of those need to be spent sleeping.... even if sleeping is for wimps! ;-)

Sweetheart Necklace

For a while now I had this idea going round in my head of a long necklace in greens and blues, but when the green/blue yarn arrived for the Where the Land Meets the Sea shawl, it suddenly all became clear:

The necklace isn't quite as long as it looks on this bust (the bust is only about 3/4 of a REAL person). However, it is quite long and can be wrapped around twice.

I raided my drawers for all sorts of beads, chains and charms that I thought would work well together and there are:

• vintage beads and beadcaps,: lucite, glass, enamelled, copper, brass and gunmetal
  
• new beads (glass, resin and fabric)
• recycled glass beads from Ghana and new glass pearls and hollow glass beads
• vintage and new chain in black, enamelled blue, copper and brass
• vintage and new charms in brass, copper and pewter.

I love the colours and I like the fact that I've combined various metals so I can wear bracelets in the various metals with it rather than having to stick to one metal. The recycled glass has wonderful bumps and inclusions, the vintage has a lovely patina and all in all the necklace celebrates variety.

... and this one's all mine. LOL

However, if you'd like a similar sweetheart necklace with the sweetheart charm and different colours, let me know. I am happy to make another. Indeed, I might make another one anyway. LOL

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.

Lover's Kiss Necklace and Twilight Series Review

A book review and a necklace may seem an odd connection, but read on and you'll see why...

Below is my latest necklace - and it's MINE - so don't get your hopes up. It's a prototype where I try out a new technique (or in this case several) and I need to wear it to make sure it works or if I need to modify the design to make it work. I am pleased to say it DOES work and it's great fun, although I am intending to make one little change. It needs a clasp after all, despite it's length as I prefer to be able to wrap it round twice if I feel like it. :-)

Below is a picture of the necklace in natural light. I wanted to show off the beautiful colours of the cherry and raspberry quartz, coral and the organza and tulle I used.


The picture below is the necklace wrapped round twice and with flash.


Most of the findings and makings are copper, although the filigree is antiqued brass. I oxidised the copper including the chain to 'harmonise' the colours.

Below you can see two of the different strawberry quartz beads I used plus one of the coral beads.


Each of the little organza flowers has been made separately from a layer of gold and wine red organza with a layer of burgundy tulle at the bottom. Holding everything in place are dark red Magatama drop beads and raspberry red seed beads. The flower sits on a vintage copper daisy bead cap. The flower is then sewn onto the brass filigree with a Magatama bead at the back to provide a weight to keep it straight when worn, and because this makes it look pretty even if it flips over.


Below you can see the third type of quartz beads, these are smooth in contrast to the micro facets of the other two quartz beads. I've used two types of chain - one a vintage Greek key design, the other a plain design.


So, here's where the Twilight series comes into this... I've just finished reading the series and it must have still been on my mind when I named the necklace - an extremely soppy name for me....

The series is about a girl who falls in love for the first time and her intended turns out to be a vampire. That's the gist of it. There's of course far more to it, but I don't want to spoil the fun.

Although the book is intended for young adults, it was a really good read. Each of the books is a page turner and I enjoyed reading them, although there were times when I wanted to shake some sense into the main character, however, in the end it turned out all right. :-)

The thing I thought was depicted particularly well was this feeling of first love, the confusion, the joy and the sheer bloodymindedness, which brings me back to my necklace. The lovely colours of the strawberry quartz - the soft pink of the large one, the golden hued and soft pink blush of the medium quartz, the romantic pink of the small, smooth beads and the deep intense red of the coral together - for me at least - show the facets of first love really well. The same colours are picked out in the organza and framed by the copper and brass.

I could have named the necklace Twilight after the first book in the series, but I'd just named a bracelet 'Forever Twilight' so it didn't feel right and 'Lover's Kiss' reminded me of a description of a kiss in the books.

So there you are. :-)

Earrings - Hoops, Black Cats, Lambs, Shells, and Heavenly Blues

I've been having fun with black plated hoops and other goodies I bought from Studio Sen on Etsy (materials for the first 3 pairs of earrings).

The first two pairs of earrings are mine... but I have more of the 'ingredient's available.

Going in Circles Earrings

The blackplated hoops are 2" (5omm) in diameter and adorned with a lovely hammered sterling hoop. The ear wires and head pin are also sterling silver.


I love the contrast between the smooth black matte hoops and the shiny textured sterling hoops. The black plated hoops are very filigree and look elegant against the silver.



Black Cat Earrings

The little black cats are made from mother of pearl and I love their cute little faces. They are surrounded by laser cut filigree hoops in the same smooth blackplating as the hoops above. The hoops are quite large (55mm) but because of the elegant filigree design also extremely light. The findings are all oxidised sterling silver.



Little Lamb Earrings

These are so cute - little mother of pearl lambs surrounded by green frosted Japanese seed beads (aka grass) on silver plated just over 1" (30mm) hoops. The headpin is sterling silver. These will either go in my Etsy shop or you can buy them directly now for £10.



Shell Circle Earrings

These are just sooooo stylish and elegant. A vintage brass shell with a lovely gingerbread patina hangs within a blackplated hoop. I've used blackplated ear wires for these as well. The headpin is oxidised brass. Available now or later from my Etsy shop for £12.



Heavenly Turquoise Earring Selection

My friend as me to make her some sterling earrings with the long oval design that I have used for other earrings (e.g. Pink Grapefruit Set and Happy Tears Set). She wanted pale blues but I wasn't quite sure what kind of feel she was after so I made three different pairs.

The first one is my personal favourite.

Pebble Earrings

I've used wonderful beads in striated blues - one pebble is a turquoise frosted blue, the other is a creamy very pale matte blue - and combined them with seedbeads in coordinating blues. The ear wires are handformed and hammered and the earrings are about 2" long. These will be £12.


Rose Bud Earrings

In this set I combined lampwork beads in a blue,white and pink rose design with Swarovski beads in pale blues and a very soft rose colour and a few matching seedbeads. The sterling silver ear wires are handformed and hammered and the earrings are about 2" long. These will be £12 now or later from my Etsy shop.



Blue Daisy Earrings

These are so pretty and dainty. Glass flowers are combined with faceted and seed beads in coordinating blues and embellished with little drops. All findings are Sterling silver. The sterling silver ear wires are handformed and hammered and the earrings are about 2" long. These will be £12 now or later from my Etsy shop.