Monday 17 March - St Patrick's Day!

So green Guinness and silly hats all round!

I managed to find a copper and bronze supplier at the weekend so I will be able to include some of these gorgeously coloured metals in future work – am very excited at the idea!

I also had a trawl around one of our local “antique” shops and managed to find some little keys which are clearly just crying out to be incorporated into jewellery – they are certainly far too interesting to be left in a box somewhere and will be making an appearance shortly.

The one completed project of the weekend was a crystal bangle – made with lilac ametrine, orange citrine, green citrine, garnets and some vintage lead crystal beads – very pretty and old fashioned – and I have just the perfect recipient in mind. Photos to follow soon.

13 March 2008

New stuff... this happened last night while I was experimenting with twisting some wire into coiled beads - it ended up incorporating a couple of bits and pieces from junk shop jewellery which I had taken apart, and some crochet wire with little crystals in the crochet stitches -- I wore it today and it seems to be very successful... I think the next one will be in silver and copper - this was only in practice wire. Anyway, I love it, and I can see more of these on the horizon....

Monday 10 March 2008

Fantastic storm! And as I live right on the Sussex coast we are getting the best of it (or the worst, depending on your point of view…)

I enjoy these storms – at least, I enjoy looking at them – trying to walk along the seafront this morning was a bit of a challenge, to say the least! The sea was all the colours of fluorite – purple, grey and dark green – and the waves were huge even though the tide wasn’t in. High tide is at 1.00 today so I will probably pop out to admire nature at her most frisky around that time, before running back inside for some tea and chocolate biscuits. In appreciation of the storm, I am attaching a pic of a bangle which features a fluorite nugget, and lots of frothy green moss agate.

Saturday 8 March 2008

It's really late and I've only been up for a couple of hours, all the good intentions of doing the housework and being a domestic goddess have been at least postponed if not altogether cancelled. Have just added another couple of links to the Essential Surfing list at the bottom of this site - Heather Powers Humble Beads site - the most gorgeous and subtle polymer clay beads you have probably ever seen, and Desiree's Desired Creations - new ways to use polymer clay in jewellery and excellent friendly well presented tutorials. Have a look at them both if you get the chance - they are highly inspiring!

Anyway - am off to wave a duster at some of the cobwebs - and when I feel I've scared the wits out of a couple of spiders, I can justify settling into some serious jewellery making....

Le Weekend!!!

The weekend at last! I am planning on beginning a heavy silver bracelet this weekend – double chained jumprings and silver beads…. I love the thought of it and it would of course be extremely versatile – but it may take some time to finish as I will probably have to order in more handmade Bali beads – and they can takes weeks to make their way across the sea….

Anyway – will be watching a local band tonight -- 1066 Rockitmen – and on Sunday will be going to another gig – Keith Foster – (truly excellent) and so the jewellery will have to be worked in around the fun!

Amberlet

Strange name, I know. This is a piece of amber (actually it is copal – ‘young’ amber) with a delightfully refractive crackled quality. It is set into a silver wire pendant which is made from slightly flattened, and then twisted, sterling silver wire. This wire is then wound through and around the stone, and where the resulting shapes seemed to demand it, hair thin (0.2mm diameter) sterling silver wire is woven across in a basketweave pattern. The bail is woven (I really like these woven bails – they make each piece look more ‘finished’ somehow).

The name Amberlet comes from a mix of Amber and Amulet – amber is after all supposed to have protective qualities and is considered to be associated with good fortune (not altogether surprising when you consider the price of it!).

Supplier of stone: Mr Bead

Supplier of sterling silver wire: Palmer Metals

Extra info: The wire was flattened out using a custom wire rolling machine designed and made for me by my father – bless him. It works beautifully and I am extremely grateful to him for the time and thought he put into it.

Pink Seashore Cuff

Pink Mangano, pink peruvian opal, rose quartz, garnets, goldstone, pearls, seashells, coral and lots and lots of silver - this is beautiful, contemporary, heavy and very, very eyecatching! Plus - it is shaped like a fish!

This one took a while – there are a lot of gemstones woven around the wave shaped silver wire interior. It is girly in the extreme and looks like it should belong to a mermaid... More pics at Seacandy