Sterling Silver - new territory for me

Apart from the odd chain on which I have strung pendants I have not really used sterling silver. I think I was just a bit too scared. Anyway I bit the bullet and ordered some findings, some lovely cabachons and sat down today and made these items. Can't quite make up my mind which colour I prefer, the Paua shell in blue or the Carnelian in red. Let me know which one you prefer.

Prom Night

My teenage son is due to leave school next summer and they have already started talking about the prom, what they are going to wear and more importantly for my son what method of transport is going to get him there. I think I have finally managed to convince him that a Ferrari is out of the question. Anyway it set me thinking and I know that in America there is a tradition of the boys bringing their date a corsage. Here is my take on it, you never know it may take off here in England too. I have called it Prom Night

Pandoro Style

Since I started selling my jewellery at fairs I have had quite a few people ask if I had Pandoro bracelets. Well there is no way I could afford to buy the pieces to make these bracelets and I would imagine that most of my clientelle probably wouldn't want to pay the full price for them either. However at the trade fair I was at last Sunday I managed to buy some glass lampwork pandoro style beads of various colours. Then when I was running around like a headless chicken yesterday trying to get everything done in readiness for the jewellery party on Wednesday I spotted some new snake silver plated bracelets and necklaces and large silver plated beads in my local bead store. Needless to say an idea was born. Here are the finished results and therefore my new make for Friday.

Victorian Influences

Very occasionally I just sit with the beads in front of me and no set idea in my head. Thursday was one of those days. The idea just came to me when I saw what was in front of me. Often when I buy my beads I have no idea what I shall make with the beads, I just buy because I like, (I am a bit of a magpie). However normally when I start to make something I know exactly what I am planning to make. These blue beads have been in my stash for a long time, but coupled with the silver plated connecters it all started to make sense to me. The finished result looks very Victorian to me, hence the name Victorian bracelet and earrings.

Rainy Days

Well I don't know about you but we have spent the last two days alternating between rain and wintry showers, bearing in mind that I live in the sunny English Rivieria, I feel more like I am in my hometown of Aberdeen in North East Scotland. So I decided to cheer myself up and looked through my bead box and found these lovely gold coloured beads. The end result is a necklace and earrings set. I have called then Gold Puddle necklace and earrings, because of the weather but also because the finish on some of the beads reminded me of the colours you can sometimes see in the puddles.

Not enough time in the day

Well, it's been a weekend of mad rushing around. I am holding my first jewellery party on Wednesday evening and yesterday I began to panic what if I don't have enough stock, or display items. So trips to the wholesaler, the local craft shop, and the large general superstore that sells everything all came onto the radar. I managed to get everything that I wanted and even managed to photograph the wholesale items. Just need to upload them onto the website now. I have all the equipment to make the new display item, photo frames, wadding and fabric, just need to put them all together, hopefully manage to do that today (or sweet talk hubby to do it for me). I did manage to make some new handmade items to put on this blog for my one a day challenge last night, will photograph later today and post tonight. Anyway logging off for now to do major tidying in the house, shopping etc all the boring bits of family life but just before I go I do have one picture to upload. One of my customers has sent a picture of her Mum wearing a necklace and earrings that I made for her. Thought that I would share it with you.

How to get in a mess with glue

On Sunday I was invited to a trade fair and although I don't buy anything it is quite good to go along and see what the big boys are saying is going to be on trend for Summer. One of the main things that I saw was lots of necklaces and earrings made out of dice. Anyway this set me thinking and after looking through my bead stash I remembered that I had some dice beads to use. So last night I went to make some earrings as another of my makes a day and I made four pairs. Three of which went to plan but when I came to make the fourth pair I decided to glue a pair of dice beads to studs. I got the glue out and managed to glue the beads, earring posts, my fingers and the beads to my working board. I was using quick setting glue so panic began to set it. Anyway to cut a long story short managed to unstick my fingers and remove the bead from the working board. The good part is that the beads stuck to the earring post and the finished result is below.

Clip on earrings

Well, I have managed to kill 3 brids with one stone (or something like that). By doing this post I have managed to fulfill my one a day for Monday, my stock of handmade earrings was running low after Chrsitmas and finally I have managed to find a site that sells clip on earrings findings. Whenever I do a sale people are always asking for clip on earrings but I have never been able to find the suitable earring pieces to attach beads to. Anyway enough of my waffling here are the pictures of the three pairs of earrings that I made. I don't give my earring's names but maybe inspiration will come to you, if you can think of a name then leave a comment and I will name them as you wish with a credit to the most creative person

.

Night Sky

Sometimes a bead just talks to you, when I saw these blue moon stones they reminded me of blue skies with clouds floating across them. In my stash of beads I have had for a while these silver and blue beads with faces on them, they reminded me of the man in the moon. Every thing started to come together. Add a few stars some chain and finally a pendant with the moon and stars on and you have the finished article. I have called this Night Sky.

Feeling Alive 2

My final part of this set. I decided to lighten the darker shade of the red malachite with some clear crystals. This bracelet is more traditional in that the beads go all around your wrist. However I believe it complements the simpler detail in the matching necklace.

More Red Malachite

The next batch of red malchite that I open has less markings and is more of a darker brown with white speckles throughout. Now I know that not every one likes a large necklace and they prefer something simple so I placed a head pin through the slab and attached it to a sterling silver chain. I have called it Feeling Alive as red malachite is said to brighten and bring harmony into our lives, reminding us to celebrate being alive, regardless of the situation.

Final part of the set

Finally I made a pair of earrings to match. I have attached a red malachite slab to some silver plated chain and then in turn the chain has been attached to some silver plated earring wires.

Daisy Chain bracelet

I have carried on the theme for the bracelet, which is also called Daisy Chain bracelet. I used smalled flower shaped beads with the Red Malachite slabs on one side of the bracelet and on the other I have used a double chain of silver plated curb chain. The toggle clasp is silver plated. You may notice on the picture that there is a little hand shaped charm attached to the bracelet. It has been etched with hand made and I try to attach one of these to every item that I make.

Red Malachite semi-precious stones

I have just started using semi-precious stones and I received a large amount of them through the post this week. I purchased a couple of packs of Red Malachite freeform slabs and you can see by the differences in colour how they can vary from one to the other. However there were 2 distinct themes going on in the colouring and I decided to make a couple of sets with the 2 themes. The first 3 items are made with a lighter version of the red malachite with a cream stripe running through them. The first item I made was a necklace which I have called Daisy Chain necklace. The chain and toggle clasp are silver plated and the daisy beads although look metal are actually plastic, so the necklace is not too heavy.

My new makes as promised

Well, I did promise that I would show you my latest makes as part of my new years resolution to make one a day. First of all there was a shop where I live that was having a closing down sale and they had these lovely flowers made out of leather look fabric. Well when I saw them ny crafting brain started working and I could see them being used as a piece of jewellery. I bought four, so here is the first one that I have turned into a choker for you to wear. I added sparkly silver ribbon and obviously put on a clasp. I think it turned out ok, what do you think? I have called it A Rose By Any Other Name.

Hello and welcome

I am new to the world of blogging but I am a member of a forum where I have agreed to try and make one item a day of my handmade jewellery. Although I will probably be able to keep to this new year resolution I shall probably only post once or twice a week showing you what I have made. You never know you may all become my new best friends and this could become my new guilty pleasure. Anyway I have made 5 items already this week and I am about to try and make some more. I shall post some pictures on here tomorrow or Sunday to let you see what type of items I make.