Ring a Rosy... More jewellery

 Some rings for a change. They are all copper with handmade little 'bowls for the gems to sit in.

  Blue chalcedony with blue opalescent seedbeeds - size N - £12 + P&P

 Pink chalcedony with pink filled seedbeads - size N - £12 + P&P

Shell and copper - size M - £10 + P&P

 To buy any of these rings, send me a mail using the Contact button on the top right. Payment is by PayPal or cheque (UK only, item will be sent when cheque has cleared).Matching necklaces, bracelets and/or earrings available upon request

Christmas Presents...?

Teal Green Wrist Warmers

Made from Artesano Baby Alpaca - soft and warm.

A simple rib/cable pattern with a picot edging at the top. Cute and useful. The perfect present for a dear one or a winter warmer for yourself. A bargain at £20 - since it's almost Christmas, P&P is free.

Vulcano Earrings

Again, the perfect present or something reallys pecial to show off at the Christmas party. Lava, fire opal and orange (dyed) chalcedony. Gorgeous. £18 and free P&P

 

Sky Blue Earrings

And, finally, another pair of earrings, something totally different to delight a dear one or to adorn yourself. Lava, moonstone and blue (dyed) chalcedony. Perfect. £18 and free P&P

 

 

Feel free to contact me for custom jewellery and knitting. There's still a little time...

Pink Grapefruit Set

... and because it was so much fun to make felted beads... I made some more. LOL
Here's my Pink Grapefruit set. I love pink grapefruits and it's one of my favourite juices to drink in the morning. The colour combination of pink and orange has always fascinated me. I love the combination of the two colours, but I know a lot of people don't like it, although it's used widely in India and other Asian countries.

Pink Grapefruit Set

I've used the felted beads I made, but this time I used vintage brass bead caps that almost look like flames or the green tops you get on tomatoes. Very organic. For the smaller beads I've used vintage bead caps shaped like little flower petals, again brass. All the chain and other findings are brass too. The clasps are handmade as per usual.

The beads I've used are soft pink chalcedony, pale pink rose quartz, lovely lemony citrine and deep orange carnelian.

The stars of the show are of course Paul's fabulous Tangerine Dream 3 beads (Firedance Beads) on both the necklace and the bracelet.

The large felted beads are three-tone: palest pink, bright golden yellow, and deep orange. The smaller ones also have teeny threads of pink silk felted into it - the same kind of effect as you get in handmade paper that has rose petals included.

Earrings

I am really proud of these as they are so unusual. They are feather light and easy to wear and they are great on their own.


I've dangled the pink chalcedony, pale lemon citrine and bright orange carnelian from the bottom of the earring.


Bracelet

The bracelet is made with two different vintage brass chains and more fuzzy grapefruit balls and the lovely Tangerine Dreams 3 beads. For the centre bead, because it's smaller than the other two, I've used different vintage brass bead caps. On either side of the big fuzzy beads are chalcedony beads in lovely soft pink and deep orange carnelians.




Necklace

The necklace is made with three of the large orange fuzzy felt beads, two more of the Tangerine Dream 3 beads and a mix of chalcedony, citrine, pale rose quartz and carnelian. I've again used the same two vintage chains to make sure the chain will hang nicely and to add a little texture. There's a small little fuzzy bead hanging from the clasp as a little dangle.




I am really pleased with the set, but I think it's a 'love it or hate it' set as it's so unusual - the colours as well as the design. However, I really like all the different textures - the fuzzy soft felt against the smooth glossiness of the handmade glass beads and the precious glow of the semi precious beads against the dark patina of the aged brass. I also love the fact that it mixes old and new and the colours are so soft and yummy. The necklace reminds me of high summer and a party at the beach.

This set, like the two bracelets from the previous post, will soon appear in my Etsy shop. :-)

The Dragon's Heart - Set

There's something about dragons that just seems to fascinate me. I was going to makes something really feminine with those handmade beads with rose gold, but the design would just not come together, however, once I started to think dragon, it was all there. LOL Remember the Dragon's Tale necklace? I bought both sets of beads from the same supplier and I am so pleased I did, they're absolutely wonderful.

Dragon's Heart

Here is the necklace of the set.


I've used: handmade beads in pink and gold, oval garnet, red coral, pale rosy pink chalcedony, white turquoise, deep red mookaite, carved big and smooth small ebony beads, and finally a lovely vintage heart shaped copper wire cage.

I've made my own wire swirls to give the necklace texture, I cut, filed, shaped and sanded copper sheet into a dragon's tail complete with a scaly texture, I made my own clasp and jump rings. Each bead was wire wrapped with different gauges of copper wire.

Finally, the necklace was dipped in liver of sulphur, cleaned, and polished with olive oil.

Here's the dragon's heart in detail: a vintage wire cage attached to the chain with sterling silver wire and the heart made of garnet and coral.


Here's the pretty clasp. One lovely round hook and a round ring wrapped with thinner wire. You can also see one of the lovely handmade beads in detail.


Here is the dragon's tail in detail:


A selection of the wonderful beads. The ebony beads are from my supplier on Etsy e&e Bungalow - the same one I used for the Sea in a Nutshell necklace. The necklace is very long, but can be worn wrapped around the neck, or with a particularly slim neck three times wrapped around. :-)


Here is the matching bracelet although it's more versatile than that as is can either be wrapped three times around a medium sized wrist or worn as a necklace. The materials used are the same as for the necklace above, except, I used a small vintage copper wire cage rather than the large heart cage.


Here's the cool clasp I made - it's meant to look a bit like a curled up dragon.



Here's the bracelet when worn three times around the wrist. It looks all luscious and gorgeous with an abundance of beads.

Both available in my Etsy shop soon... Promise!

Botanical Theme and a bit of Night Sky

Despite my cold I couldn't help myself but make some jewellery although it did take a lot longer this time... Sigh!

Here's what I made over the week.

Anemone Earrings

My dainty little anemone earrings were made with little brass cups that I made using my new shaping tool and the dapping punches. I then filed them and sanded them into shape and drilled a hole into the centre. There's a little moonstone rondelle set into each cup and it hangs from brass wire that has been hammered to keep its shape. The cups have been lightly oxidised to give them a deep old gold colouring. The longest stem also holds a crackle quartz, drop shaped bead and I've used small, very dainty ear wires to hold them. The jump ring is as per usual handmade too. The earrings are fairly long, but not too long and very light. The flowers dangle beautifully when worn.


Below you can see how filigree the wire is and you can see the moonstones and quartz in more detail.


Below you can see the cups and their lovely scalloped edges close up.



Willow Earrings

These must be my favourite earrings I've made so far - although it's a close run with the anemone earrings, which are so sweet and dainty.


The earring are made from oxidised copper. I made two heavily textured willow leaves and added a lovely chartreuse green flower with a little Japanese seed bead in olive with a copper lustre. The second dangle holds a lovely large chartreuse dagger bead. The ear wires are so cute with the little spirals (also handmade) and I think they match the earrings perfectly.


Below you can see the texture on the leaf and the beads in more detail.


And even more detail. Note, these earrings are longer than I normally make them, however they are so light and lovely and sway when worn just like real willow. Anyway, long earrings are the latest trend...



Blue Ginkgo Leaf Necklace

I have a thing about ginkgo leaves, I love their symmetrical shape and the detail in each leaf. So here's another example.



The gingko leaf was cut from copper sheet, I then shaped it using my new tool and pliers and bashed it to get a lot of texture. I then shaped the edges using files and sand paper and drilled a hole. At first it was going to be another bangle like the Ivy bangle I made recently, but when I looked at the shape I thought it would work better as a pendant. I haven't quite given up on the idea of making a ginkgo leaf bangle. So watch this space.



I added the deep blue quartz faceted beads in two sizes, and the lovely pale blue chalcedony faceted bead. The chain is bought, the jumprings handmade. A lovely handmade clasp in a new design finishes it off.

In the two pictures below you can see the pendant hanging and also all the detail of the texture (almost like bark) of the copper leaf. To add more depth the leaf has been oxidised and then polished to bring back some of the original colour.




Fire Seed Necklace

This is my lovely Fire Seed Necklace.


All the little cups were shaped and cut from copper sheet and they are very dainty and took ages to file, sand and shape. They are so very small (the largest is just over 1 cm in diameter) and each one is an almost perfect sphere.


Below you can see the beads I wired into each of the little cups. There is bright red coral, deep red ruby, bright orange fire opal, and lovely muted red jade. The beads are all very small, some smooth, some faceted. The beaded cups have then been hung from fine chain and handmade jumprings and attached to a deep red frosted glass ring. The glass rings have been handmade (not by me) and I have used them throughout the necklace. They are all a little different in shape and colour; they range from deep red to rusty red to coral red. The dangle of fire seeds feeds through the large ebony ring to close the necklace allowing the length of the necklace to be adjusted at your pleasure.


I've used lots of of different types of chain, handmade large copper rings, handmade copper jumprings, the glass rings and one large ebony wooden ring for this lariat style necklace. I like the different textures and shades of copper. The little spheres have been oxidised twice until they had a lovely charcoal shade. The large jumprings are oxidised with a blow torch and are therefore different shades of deep red to very dark red. The jumprings have been oxidised and then lightly polished, the chain ranges from antiqued to bare copper, all adding texture and colour to the necklace.



Constellation Necklace

Okay, this is not quite botanical, but the pendant looks a bit like a flower... on a dark night. LOL



I started off with thick copper wire and made a spiral which I then shaped using my new shaping tool and a dapping punch and a hammer to add texture. Next, I oxidised the pendant and then added the big lava bead that fitted perfectly in the half sphere of the spiral. To add more interest I wired on the little moonstone beads in a pleasing pattern.




Antiqued copper chain, handmade jumprings and clasp finish the design. It's a simple design and wood work well every day as well as for a night out.


Here you can see the pendant hanging.


I will try my best to get all my recent designs into my Etsy shop this weekend, so if you're interested check back soon and hopefully the little Etsy shop window in the top corner will have changed to lots of new designs.

Newsflash - Etsy Mini has changed!!! :-) All the items in this entry are now available in my Etsy shop with more to come.