Jewellery Party Special - Summer In Nice

A while back, when I made Spring in Paris, Alison asked me when I am going to make a 'Summer in Nice' necklace. Well, here it is. :-)

Summer In Nice

Blues, from watery turquoise to deep teal blue:

I have used the most wonderful recycled glass beads, mostly from the African Fabric Shop, which have the most beautiful texture and colours. They almost look like sea glass. There's some info about them here.

I've combined the lovely beads with some ribbed gunmetal beads and matte black findings.

The pretty organza and taffeta flower sits on a vintage filigree that has been painted and 'be-glittered' by me and then covered in special varnish.

Here are some close-ups of the beautiful beads. The beads graduate in colour and size along the necklace.

Next to the flower is a little dangle with a dragonfly, again painted and 'be-glittered', a little altered lock and a row of teal glass pearls. Each of the little 'dangles' hangs from a different chain.

The main chain is the most beautiful deep blue (enameled) with a lovely texture and weight.

The necklace can be worn round your neck long, or you can wrap it round twice. It has a clasp which makes adjusting it much easier.

The necklace will be for sale tomorrow at the jewellery party. If it doesn't sell.... I might just keep it. :-)

Sakura Blossom Shrug

This shrug has been finished for a while, but I wanted to get some daylight pictures of it as well.

Here's the shrug on my petite mannequin with the very, very tiny waist:

I have used pink variegated (hand spun, hand painted) merino/seacell for the main body of the shrug. The sleeves are made from Rowan Kidsilk Night in pale pink. All the flowers (painstakingly knitted) have a glass pearl centre each and are all made from various shades/types of Rowan Kidsilk (Night, Spray and Aura). The flower at the bottom in the centre is actually a brooch that can either be worn on the shrug or anywhere else - for example, on a bag. There is a pale pink organza ribbon to hold the shrug tight round your waist as well.

My friend Caroline (the one who is running the marathon - see the link on the left) kindly modeled the shrug for me. She's petite but the shrug will fit up to a medium/large due to the cut of the garment.

Here you can see the back of the shrug.


And here you can see the width of the sleeves.


The sleeves - although warm and perfect for a wedding in Winter/Spring in a cold church or registery office - are soft as clouds.



Finally, above the beautiful flowers in various shades of red/pink.

The shrug will go in my Etsy shop by the end of the week. If you want to snap it up before, it's £70 + P&P.

Stormy Sea

This is a lariat style necklace I made for Caroline. Check out her blog here.

It is special, for one, it's been made just for her, secondly because it's so pretty, thirdly, because I used loads of different techniques and different beads, bits of chain and things, and, lastly, because it's a swap. A little dragon made by Caroline's fair hands for my son in exchange for the lariat.

If you ever feel you'd like to swap rather than buy, make me an offer I can't refuse! It has to be handmade though, or something to make something with.... Surprise me!

Here it is in all its glory:

The whole lariat - it will fit twice around your neck or can be worn long like a flapper necklace or it can be hooked together any way you like using the links.



Here's a selection of the beads and different types of chain I've used.



A wrapped bit of smooth sea glass as one of the centre pieces:




The dangle that can be pushed through the puddle shaped wire form (see below) if the necklace is worn as a long lariat with 2 pieces of sea glass (one polished, one not polished) lots of beads, pearls, Magatama and Miyuki drops, and a vintage seahorse charm.


The free form puddle shaped other end of the lariat.


Hope you'll enjoy it Caroline.

Mermaid's Garden

Sorry, got a bit carried away with the pictures. I just felt it needed to be seen from all possible angles. :-) This is my favourite lariat yet. Oh, and just so you know, it's MINE. Going to wear this tonight too. Nope, I am not going to look like a Christmas tree, it's all going to be stylish and elegant. ;-)

Here's the whole lariat.

It includes: mostly sterling silver findings, although there are some (vintage) findings that are more silver coloured, but they worked so I didn't care. :-) You will also find a lovely vintage stamping of a seahorse, sea glass, lots and lots of glass beads (shells, nuggets, dimes, rounds, art glass, faceted and plain), lovely silvery grey fresh water pearls, palest green jade cubes, chalcedony chips, and sterling silver sequins, and various connectors, from wavy to twisted. The large leaf shape was made by yours truly, my very first attempt at hammering the life out of a piece of metal....



Here you can see the chain and beads in a bit more detail.



More detail with seahorse:

Same detail, different angle (look, I did warn you in the first sentence!). :-)

Finally, the sea glass and the seahorse's head in detail:


The sea glass when I'd wrapped it up with those lovely vintage beadcaps and the little leaf bezels, reminded me of flowers and leaves, hence the garden. The sea glass is in three different shades of turquoise blue, starting with palest icy blue to almost teal blue.

The last of 2007

Here's some jewellery I prepared earlier. ;-)

Blackberry Heaven

The first creation is a bracelet made of memory wire, silver plated curved beads, little round spacer beads and vintage blackberry AB beads. These are absolutely wonderful. They are black with a gorgeous AB coating. The bracelet is very light and there's nothing like this out there.



Circles within Circles

This is one of mine. :-) I love circles and used all the rings I had in my secret stash to make this. There are vintage flat rings, round rings that are either plain, hammered or patterned of different sizes, and a single oval ring, but all are connected with oval jump rings that have been soldered by a little pixie I know. To finish it off I've used my favourite 'Chanel' toggle clasp and I added a little tail to the back of the necklace with another set of rings attached.


Bracelets

Oyster Cult

I got myself some gorgeous pearls and had to make something with them. The colouring of the large pearls used in the bracelet below reminded me of oysters. I have teemed them up with smaller copper coloured pearls, old rose gold and green Givre daggers and beads, little faceted pale green round beads and Magatama drops. The bracelet has a lovely fluid feel and look to it that is organic and sparkly at the same time.

Early Autumn

This bracelet combines all the colours of early Autumn - from pale golds to greens to ambers and reds. I have used small green and chocolate brown freshwater pearls, deep red carnelian drops, golden shimmery amber, and Magatama drops in pale frosted amber and translucent gold.



Roses are Red (or sometimes white)

The following bracelet reminds me of a brother Grimm story called 'Snow-White and Rose-Red', which I read as a child. I've used a vintage chain with modern findings, pearlescent Magatama drops interspersed with ruby red Swarovski bicones. I love the slightly spiky look the bracelet has, although, trust me it doesn't feel like it. :-)


Honey Dew

The colours of the next bracelet are very soft and it looks almost edible. I've used Citrine, mother of pearl (round beads and chips), white jade (round beads and chips), honey coloured jade and topaz chips with glass pearls and deep chocolate brown Magatama drops.



Red Clusters

The next bracelet is a very different design from the others. I've used connectors made with deep ruby red Swarovski beads and copper bead caps to link clusters of beads (Magatama drops, tear drop beads, frosted and crackled round beads in shades of red that have been strung on bits of copper chain). A lovely coppery flower charm finishes off the design.



Starshine

This bracelet is mine. I made it for selling but found when I got ready for a Christmas party that I needed something to go with my gorgeous vintage butterfly necklace. This was the perfect match. I have used icy heart and star charms on bronze chain with pearlescent Magatama drops in creamy and stark white and very, very pale green.




Snow and Ice

Here's another white creation. I have used a mix of silver grey Keishi and small nugget freshwater pearls in grey and larger ones in white, white carved bone beads, and Matagama drops in pearlescent white and very, very pale green. I love the icy look and shimmer of the bracelet on the silver plated chain which is finished with a little snowflake charm.




Chocolate and Blueberries

Another 'yummy' creation. I've used shell beads in blue and dark chocolate brown, mixed them with dark amber and blue crackle beads and chocolate brown freshwater pearls and daggers in metallic brown and peacock blue. Frosted intense blue Magatama drops finish it off and give it an organic feel.

Wire (Crochet) and Sea Glass
And finally, here are some more of my sea glass creations. There are more to come. I've made some more this year which will be in a new blog entry.

By the Sea
I love this necklace, it's so special. Very heavy, too. I've used an oval frosted stone found by the seaside (see the upcoming 'Trips in 2007' blog entry) in Southwold, a piece of sea glass (probably found by Alison somewhere on the beach in Nice, and a gorgeous rock quartz nugget (very large) all encased in antique gold wire crochet. The chain is vintage brass and the 'pendant' was finished off with Magatama drops in cream and white, white jade and carved bone beads, and glass pearls. The clasp is particularly pretty with lovely little swirls.


Sea Bed
Another sea glass creation, this time with a large piece in pale green, wire encased and embellished with (real) amber, chalcedony and sapphire nuggets, with a pale blue glass pearl, Miyuki delicas, and an Art glass bead thrown in for good measure.