Mar 30, 2014

New Fun Earring Range

https://www.etsy.com/nz/listing/184199858/sterling-silver-and-pink-aluminium

As mentioned a few posts ago I am launching a new range of fun chainmaille earrings, and the first two listings have bow been posted.

The Shaggy chainmaille weave is a very simple and fun weave, essentially just adding extra "loose" rings to a central chain of 1-1. This weave looks especially good when used for earrings. Having got several different coloured aluminium rings left lying around this weave seemed to be an ideal use for them.

https://www.etsy.com/nz/listing/184444957/sterling-silver-and-green-aluminium

I have therefore produced several different pairs of these shaggy chainmaille earrings in a variety of colours including pink, green, orange, purple, yellow and red.

As you can see from the links the first two pairs, in pink and green, have now been listed with the others to be gradually added over the next few days.

Mar 27, 2014

Turning Mistakes Around



This is one occassion when a mistake quite literally had to be turned around!

Having received the pictured gorgeous piece of pink fused glass in a group of pieces that I bought from a beading buddy I proceeded to wire wrap it into the pendant you can see above.

So what was wrong?

Well, if you look closely, you can see some pink glitter on the top of the pattern within the glass. Well this pink glitter effectively draws a couple of flower pictures. The trouble is, as the pendant has been made above the pictures are lying on their side. I actually hadn't realised they were there until after I had completed the pendant!

So after sitting on this mistake for several months I finally got round to fixing it. I took the pink glass cab out of the frame I had made for it, and wrapped a new frame around it, this time with the glass the right way up!

https://www.etsy.com/nz/listing/184097265/pink-fused-glass-and-sterling-silver

And the original frame?

Well that was adapted to fit a piece of green agate that I had.

https://www.etsy.com/nz/listing/184099223/green-agate-and-sterling-silver-pendant?ref=shop_home_active_1

Mar 23, 2014

Lampwork Owl Pendant

https://www.etsy.com/listing/183603900/lampwork-owl-and-sterling-silver-pendant?
One of the materials that I love to work with is Lampwork Beads. These are beads that are individually handmade. When still in Brisbane I was lucky enough that one of the women who came to our monthly Brisbane beading meet, Debbie, was a lampworker, and so I was able to buy several lovely beads off her.

The bead that I used in my latest pendant is no exception. This is an absolutely gorgeous owl bead. The eyes are pronounced in a rich blue colour, as are the feet, with the main body and wing picked out in a mixture of shades including brown, beige and yellow.

Having such a lovely bead I anted to ensure that I framed it properly, with the silver wires helping to accent the focal bead. The wires were also placed in such a way as to ensure that the owl was fixed facing forward. With the swirls and coils and a mixture of weaving techniques I have hopefully created a frame worthy of the owl bead that helps to show how special it is.

Newly listed, this owl pendant is now available on my etsy store.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/183603900/lampwork-owl-and-sterling-silver-pendant?

Mar 19, 2014

March


Welcome to March, the third month of the year!

 March was named after Mars, the Roman god of War. His month Martius was the beginning of the season for both farming and welfare.


March is the first month of Spring in the Northern Hemisphere and the first month of Autumn or Fall in the Southern Hemisphere.

The birthstone of March is the Aquamarine (as pictured in two of my sold pieces of jewellery pictured above) and it's birth flower is the Daffodil.

The lovely pieces of jewellery below, from members of the Jewelry on Etsy team, all feature the Aquamarine. Also below are some lovely handmade creations, from gifted crafters based in New Zealand, featuring the Daffodil.

https://www.etsy.com/nz/listing/158624024/175-carat-pale-blue-aquamarine-and?ref=favs_view_6




https://www.etsy.com/nz/listing/170404743/earthy-moss-aquamarine-beaded-gemstone?ref=favs_view_5



https://www.etsy.com/nz/listing/72905559/aquamarine-sterling-silver-earrings-mer9?ref=favs_view_4



https://www.etsy.com/nz/listing/177929716/small-yellow-white-daffodil-rose?ref=favs_view_3



https://www.etsy.com/nz/listing/161312960/promise-original-painting-new-zealand?ref=favs_view_1

https://www.etsy.com/nz/listing/80032504/daffodil-scarf-hand-knitted-wool?ref=favs_view_2

Mar 17, 2014

Turkish Round Chainmaille

https://www.etsy.com/nz/listing/181574287/sterling-silver-turkish-round

Turkish Round is one of those chainmaille weaves that is relatively easy to do, compared with some of the other weaves, and yet looks so elaborate and fancy. In actual fact I would almost describe Turkish Round as a cross between roundmaille and byzantine as it uses the 'folding rings back' feature of byzantine but is built up as a round weave in a similar way to roundmaille.

I recently completed the above bracelet, now available in my Etsy store, in a chainmaille marathon, preparing pieces ready for a medieval market. As you can see, it is a gorgeous looking bracelet.

The piece pictured below was a necklace that I made in the Turkish round weave using bronze rings. Since the weave was a bit to thick to go around the back of the neck the ends of the chain were in inverted round weave, This necklace has since been sold.


Mar 16, 2014

Nature - Patterns in the Sand


 I'm sure we all enjoy nature to greater or lesser degrees. While we may not enjoy "getting back to nature", going camping or getting primitive, and I have to say I don't, I think what most of us can enjoy about nature is its beauty.



As artists, whether it be fine art, jewellery, glass work or any other number of expressions of art, it can be so interesting to see the natural patterns around us that have been formed by nature.



Walking on the beach with my dogs the other day, the tide was out and I was able to appreciate the natural patterns that had been made in the sand, the drier sand having blown across the wetter sand. I took a few pictures with my phone so I hope you enjoy them too.





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