Jewellery Party Specials - Part 2

I have a jewellery, knitwear and accessories party this Thursday evening, 26th November.


Here are some more specials:


Lovely Flower Brooches

African Fabric and Lace Brooches

A mix of African fabric (polka dots and flowers, in the colours of Delft porcelain), glittery blue and cream net fabric, organza and (vintage) lace. Decorated with buttons and beads, some of which are also vintage.

 

Vintage Fabric and Silk Flower Brooches

This one is made from a wonderful brightly coloured vintage fabric, some turquoise shimmery, silky fabric, turquoise net fabric and burgundy organza. A turquoise button and a few blue beads are added for decoration.

This one is made from a different, brightly coloured vintage fabric, pink satin, burgundy dupioni silk and burgundy net fabric. The brooch has been decorated with a vintage bead, a flower button and some sequins.

Fake Fur and Leather Brooch

Black leather, one petal layer with the smooth side up and one with the suede side up, black net fabric, a layer of fake fur and a layer of organza, decorated with vintage beads.

Prices for the brooches depend on the material and the amount of detail, but start at about £8. If you'd like to reserve any of the items, send me a quick e-mail or leave a comment.

Due to a harddisk crash earlier this year, I have lost lots of e-mail addresses, so if you didn't get an invitation, it's not because I didn't want to invite you, but because I couldn't! If you'd like an invitation, please leave a comment with your e-mail address or send me an e-mail and I'll send you the details. If you live in Cambridge or the surrounding area and would like to come, just leave a comment with your e-mail address. And don't worry, your details won't be plastered all over the net, I moderate my comments and will just take the details and then remove the comment.

Finally - The Raspberry Sorbet Jelly Clutch Bag

It took forever and a day since the original post of the jelly yarn bag, but - after waiting for the second ball of yarn (due to customs and slow shipping), unraveling and re-knitting and waiting for some beads to match the gorgeous colour of the yarn, here it finally is:


The Raspberry Sorbet Jelly Clutch Bag


This new design is still similar to the original design but I've changed the front and side panels, which gives it more rigidity and pizazz. The little plastic berry beads are vintage and they've been sewn onto the bag with illusion cord to make sure they stay where they are and the thread isn't visible. It also allows the bag to be gently washed in soapy water.


Since there was some yarn left I thought I'd add a little purse, either for money or makeup or an MP3 player.



The perfect bag to take out on a night in town. Nobody will have one quite like it - total glamour. :-)


If you want to make something with jelly yarn, here are a few tips:

• Use the wipe that comes with the yarn regularly, it makes it a lot easier to knit/crochet the yarn if it's not sticking to the needles/crochet hook.
  
  
• If you make something with a regular shape (rectangle, square, triangle etc), pin the item onto some cardboard and gently blow dry it with the hair dryer set to its hottest setting. This will have the same effect as blocking with knitted/crocheted garments and straighten out any irregularities and give you nice straight edges to sew together. Leave to cool before sewing together.
  
  
• Knitting/crocheting jelly yarn is tough on your hands, so make sure you take breaks now and again or your hands and fingers will be really sore.

And here are a couple of links:

To order or buy it in the UK, I Knit London.

To order it at the manufacturers in the US: JellyYarns.Com This page also includes some free patterns and info.

News:

My raspberry seacell and merino shrug is also nearing its completion. :-)

London, True Love Too and Blue Leafy Earrings

Had a very busy half term week so far. Went to London on Tuesday to meet Penny with her son Toby and Caroline with her daughter Stacie. It was great fun but far, far too short, although we managed to fit in lunch at the World Cafe in Neal's Yard, a coffee at Covent Garden and, of course, a quick (expensive) trip to the bead shop in Neal's Yard.

At the bead shop I managed to pick up the final missing piece of my True Love Too necklace. The copper heart necklaces have proven very popular so far, so I decided to make another along similar lines.

True Love Too

This one was another labour of love as I punched holes into the heart which I then filed out and connected to make the filigree pattern. I also used the hole punch to make little 'dents' in which to set perfect little vintage diamante stones in ruby red.

The pendant, as you can see below also has the lovely lampwork heart that I bought in Neal's Yard on my trip to London attached to it and a lovely vintage key charm.

The chain was created with handmade jump rings, wire roses (like in the Candy Roses Bracelet but smaller) and lots of vintage beads of varying sizes and shapes in red and black. The final touch was some double-ring copper vintage chain.


Below you can see the little dangle I added to the back of the chain next to the handmade clasp. I've used a lovely vintage heart charm in red and a vintage heart charm in black plus a little copper heart made by yours truly and set with another of the vintage ruby red diamantes.



The visit to London was inspiring, there was so much to see and look at. However, nothing like the earrings below. :-)


Blue Leafy Earrings

These were fun to make. I designed a paper template for the little twig, then cut it out in copper twice and filed, sanded and brushed the twigs and drilled a little hole in the top.


Then I made the 'blossoms': one is a whole lot of blue topaz chips threaded onto copper wire, the other is an aquamarine wrapped in thinner copper wire.


To finish it off I added the gorgeous spiral ear wires and threaded the leaves and blossoms on. To make sure it all stays in place I added a lovely little copper saucer bead and a crimp bead.

Watch this space, there will be a matching necklace and bangle coming soon.

The Stargazer Lily earrings have now been sold, but there will be a necklace with similar little flowers soon. Possibly even a bracelet.

Today I went to see the new Indiana Jones film with a friend and four kids. We all thought it was great fun and well worth watching.

Bloomin' Marvellous

Nope, I haven't been working my fingers to the bone, these are all pendants I've made a while back and didn't have any chain for, or as in the case of the last one, hadn't decided quite what to do with them. I bought some lovely sterling silver chain at the BMF on Saturday and I think I've put it to good use. :-)


Daisy, Daisy... Necklace

I love the simple shape of daisies and I wanted to make one in sterling silver wire, so I did. LOL I added lovely crayon red Japanese seedbeads and wrapped them around the centre.



The pendant is very light but quite large (5cm or 2") and it hangs from a lovely 40.6 cm (16") chain.


Here you can see all the tiny red seed beads wrapped around the centre of the flower (the back is flat and all wire ends have been securely hidden).



Pretty in Pink Necklace

This is similar to the Daisy, Daisy necklace but I've used a thicker gauge sterling silver wire and added the most gorgeous, delicious fuchsia pink chalcedony briolette to dangle in the centre.


The heart has been hammered, oxidised and polished to give it texture and a lovely satin shimmer. I've used lovely smooth, bright sterling silver snake chain and the wire wrapped around the chalcedony bead is also lovely and bright in contrast to the oxidised heart.

I'd tried lots of different ways of hanging this heart - handmade chain, larger chain, satin rat tail in bright pink, leather, belcher chain, nothing quite worked, because the heart is so striking it needed something slinky and stylish to stay the star of the show.

The chain is 16", the pendant just over 2" (5.5cm).



In Bloom Necklace

I love this necklace - it's full of the colours of Spring.



I've made 'branch' from shaped, textured and oxidised very thick silver gauge wire, then wrapped lots of semi-precious beads.

I've used carnelian (orange), prasiolite, peridot, amazonite, and chalcedony and hung the pendant from more lovely sterling silver snake chain, this time 18" (ca. 45 cm). The pendant is just over 2" (5.5cm).



Calla Lily Necklace

Another labour of love. The calla flower was made from copper sheet: first cut, then shaped, hammered, filed, sanded and oxidised.



Next, I've added lovely beads - freshwater pearls in white and taupe, mother of pearl, and a white tiny shell. The pendant is again about 2" (5cm) in length and hangs from a double-link vintage copper chain about 16".


Free Necklace

The making of the copper bird has been described earlier, I've further oxidised it and achieve a lovely colouring - almost like oil on water.



I've added home made figure of eight links and vintage lucite and glass beads, rock crystal, and white jade to make up the chain. The beads and chain are graduating in size from small starting on the wing of the bird to much larger back to the tail feather of the bird.

The necklace has no clasp and just slips over the head.

Here you can see the detail of the colouring on the swallow. It looks like it is flying and the chain looks like those pictures showing the flight of birds in books about birds.



Below is the chain in more detail: