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.

Moon Blossom

A while back I bought this beautiful shimmery shell pendant. Whilst rummaging through my bead chest I looked at it again at the weekend (some beads have to mature in the bead chest before they are ready to be used in a design...) ;-) The time was right to do something special with it, so here it is:

Moon Blossom

The idea behind the necklace was that I wanted to do something moon-ish, but rather than take it too literally, I decided to take a 'Haiku' approach. I wanted it to look and feel like I felt about the moon, if that makes any sense at all? Well here it is anyway.

The centre piece is the shell pendant. I've then used a beautiful opaline glass drop and added moonbeams with chain. The opaline glass drop represents the effect the moon has on the sea, the moonbeams have three drops at the end representing the three phases of the moon and 12 round-ish beads to represent the 12 moons in a year. I've used dark chain, because I liked the contrast but also to represent the night.


The end of the chain has a little 'dangle' with 12 drops plus one large drop at the end.


I am very pleased with the necklace and I am not sure I can part with it yet. If I can part with it... it will be in my Etsy shop.

Black Daisy and Peach Blossom - Bracelets

My cold is finally gone and I had some leisure and energy to make some jewellery at the weekend. Here are the results:


Black Daisy
I recently bought some wonderful beads from EJR Beads. The lovely daisy beads in the bracelet below started the whole design. I could have gone with a white and gold theme but wanted something more interesting so I added topaz nuggets, hematite hearts, vintage faceted antique gold beads, and some Czech gunmetal beads to the design. To finish it off I used some wonderful gunmetal Magatama drops and some more Japanese seed beads (Toho and Miyuki). All is 'tied' together with the gunmetal chain and findings.


Here you can see all the wonderful beads in detail. The bracelet is now for sale in my Etsy shop.


Peach Blossom
This bracelet was inspired by the wonderful copper lined crystal cathedral beads. I added more copper lined beads and a few vintage peach copper coated faceted beads, frosted flowers, lots of Swarovski beads for extra glamour and Magatama and Miyuki drops for shimmer and texture. I love the contrast of the copper with the green/teal of the Swarovski and faceted green beads and the organic feel created by the Magatama/Miyuki beads.

The bracelet is now for sale in my Etsy shop.

Lariat or Spectacle Chain

Spectacle chains are great for Summer and Winter as they make sure you keep hold of your (sun) glasses whilst looking pretty at the same time.

However, lots of people have been asking for the spectacle chain designs as necklaces. Now I am giving you the choice. The designs below (except for two of them) are unfinished and can be either - a spectacle chain or a lariat.

They are now available in my Etsy shop (link on the right) today or tomorrow but you've seen them here first. To look at a finished spectacle chain check out the previous post.

All of the designs are made with a silky cord and an array of different beads.


Art Deco

A stylish Art Deco style design with beads in black, white, black and white, and silver, from frosted to glossy, from shiny to matte.


Redder than Red

A gorgeous, yummy design - berries red from the deep, dark red of a cranberry to a bright strawberry red, from metallic shiny to soft and translucent.



Pink Butterfly

A girlie pink design with beads in pale soft pinks to a bright pink, glittery Czech beads, soft shimmery shell butterflies and everything in between.



Purple Haze

A myriad of textures and different shades of purple make a stylish sophisticated design.


Sea Blue

Soft pale blues mixed with teals and turquoises make this a soft sea-themed design.


Annis' Spectacle Chain
This one is not for sale, it's for my friend Alison's daughter Annis. Hope she approves. :-) She does and it will go into the post to France today.



Treacle and Toffee Lariat
This lariat is finished and uses lots of different beads - from Japanese Miyuki cube beads to wood, to horn, to glass pearls, to shell butterflies, to an amber coloured glass heart, to Czech softly lustred to Indian feature beads.

Fimo, Magpies and Foxgloves

Been having fun today. I was off work and it seemed like a perfect day to get the Fimo out.

I am in the process of opening an Etsy shop and Ben suggested to make a special necklace for it - a Magpie Magic necklace. Like a real magpie I've been collecting bits and pieces for a couple of days now, some beads here, a charm there, special chain and everything that I thought might work. However, to pull it all together I wanted some feathers and so I made them.

Here's a picture of the beads I made today - the lot of them on the baking tray, fresh out of the oven.

Here are some of them - for the Magpie Magic necklace - in a close-up. I hope Toby won't mind that I nicked his idea for the round beads as I covered them in glitter, in just the way Penny explained it to me. Promise they won't all go together on a bracelet, but they're just so perfect for the Magpie Magic necklace...

And here are some more for the foxglove necklaces I made today. See further down.


Below are the finished necklaces:


This one is fuchsia with pink Czech faceted beads (not all of them as every single flower trumpet is different). Haven't quite decided if I can bear to part with this one.


Been wearing the black one ever since I finished it.
This one is a gorgeous bright red:


The final one is a deep burgundy red with glorious glittery bits - some were already in the Fimo, others I added to the inside of the flower trumpets.