On the Fly

On The Fly!

I've never really done this with any success. Sunday my friend's family threw a party for her birthday. It was family function but they invited Neil and I as well. I planned to wear one of my favorite dresses (I've had it for 7 years now), normally when I wear this dress I wear the pair of earrings featured in Layers that I've had for [about 10] years and rewired because they had become tarnished. But Sunday I decided to make a pair of earrings to wear to the party ... just an hour or so away.

I opened my box of beads and realized I had several shades of blue, most of which are in my dress. So for about a 30 minutes I played around with settings and chain and findings to get it just right. And with just a few minutes to spare I ended up with these.

I like that the beads are different shapes and sizes, and the lengths are different as well. You may notice I do that a lot in my designs.

Once we arrived at the party Shirley, my friend and neighbor told all of her granddaughters that I make earrings,

"Really?"

"Yes, in fact I just made these!"

I tried this once before, I made a pink and white pair that I never bothered to put up because I really didn't think they were any good. I wore pink and black from head to toe one day and wanted some pink earrings but didn't have any black beads at the time. I wore them on the day and just shoved them aside, I think they're still in tact but I don't even think about wearing them again.

But these are a different story. Grant it you'd have to have a dress like mine to make it work. Or maybe you just like the colors, or have an outfit with the same blue, grey and black combination. Whatever the situation is, if you'd like a pair of these just give me a shout.

How 'bout a beer?

Sea Glass - Beer bottles

 

I used to go to a friend’s house to hang out and he had a bottle opener that exclaimed that phrase. Another friend loved it so much he used to say it all the time. Maybe it’s from a movie or something, I don’t know. But looking at the last pair in the collection I’d think sea glass this color would have come from a beer bottle.

 

These oblong light brown glass beads are wrapped in non-tarnish wire and fitted with silver-plated fish hooks. The beads are also triangular which was a bit difficult to wrap. They hang just under an inch and a half from the ear and since they are larger will probably be a bit heavier than the other earrings in the collection.

 

I hope you enjoyed our visit to the sea side. I've always enjoyed looking out for shells at the beach but Neil has turned me on to sea glass too. So the next time you’re on the beach or on a river bank keep an eye out for one of those gems. And try to figure out what it would have been when it first went into the water.

£4.00 including UK shipping or $8.15 including US shipping

P.S. I have added a reviews section to the Facebook page so please leave a review of your purchase and if possible pictures. Thanks!

Vague

 

 

When Neil collects his sea glass there are sometimes pieces of glass that you cannot tell what they were before. And in addition to the glass he’s found pieces from pottery and crockery. He did some research and discovered from the manufacturer’s mark that one piece is from a plate dating back to the 70’s. Again you can check out his collection of sea glass on his blog. I tried very hard not to make any blue earring for this collection but I just couldn’t help it.

 

I wore this pair to church last week and I received so many compliments on them. They probably are my favorite of all the designs in this collection but honestly I don’t know what this would be if it were sea glass. It’s too blue to be a Coca-Cola bottle and too light to be a poison bottle. I suppose it would just be a random piece of glass that could have come from housewares that were discarded and made it into a drain leading to the ocean, traveled the currents and landed on a shore somewhere.

 

The light blue glass is wrapped in non-tarnish silver-plated copper wire and fitted on silver-plated kidney wires. They hang just under an inch from the ear.

£4.50 including UK shipping, $8.65 including US shipping.

Wine Bottles

Wine bottles

 

This won’t be a long post partly because it’s so late and partly because the main story I told last week.

This pair is made of green glass that if it were sea glass it would probably have been wine bottles in a previous life. This pair is rather small, they hang just under an inch from the ear. As always the findings are silver-plated and the glass is wrapped in non-tarnish silver-plated copper wire.

£4.00 including UK shipping, $8.00 including US shipping

Crystal

Crystal

We are in the middle of a heat wave here in the UK, hopefully today is the last day of it. Today is the longest day of the year which to some is a sacred day – the Summer Solstice. It is a special day for Neil and I too, the first two years we were together we did fabulous things on this day. In 2014 we went to Box Hill for the evening, I took drinks and dessert and we sat on a bench on the hill eating our picnic and watching the night fall. We were even treated to fireworks going off in the distance. That night for both of us was the night we knew we were in love. The following year we went to Stonehenge, actually we went the night of the 20^th to bring in the day of the 21^st. After taking a short nap in the parking lot at Stonehenge, we spent the rest of the day going around to other sacred Druid sites like Avebury and Silbury Hill. Unfortunately last year we were too busy preparing for our wedding to do anything like that.

I have a few designs waiting to meet the public. If you follow me on Instagram you’ve seen the preview of Crystal. I thought I’d bring out the elegant one first and now that I think about it Crystal was probably a fitting design to release this week. After all, people are leaving Stonehenge this morning and heading to Glastonbury for the festival. And Glastonbury is known for its mysticism, if you ever go there are crystal shops throughout town.  

These crystals are mystic though, they’re Swarovski. They are round, almost teardrop shaped and not flat the crystals in my wedding pair from last year. Also these crystals are iridescent and not truly clear. The crystals themselves are a third of an inch but they hang from a length of silver-plated chain, making the total length 1 and a quarter inches. The finding are all silver-plated as well and the earrings can me fitted with either fish hooks (shown), kidney wire or clip-ons.

I think what I love most about this pair is that they are simple enough to wear during the day and yet elegant enough to wear with something fancy. And once again the big perk of buying earrings from me is that if you would like the chain longer or shorter I can adjust it to your liking. I have several crystals left so I can probably make three pairs. Let me know if you’d like one.

£4.50 including UK shipping, $8.38 including US shipping

Periwinkle

Periwinkle

I know what you’re thinking; isn’t this the same pair from last week? Well, not quite. The beads for this pair also came from the pack of glass beads I just purchased. The pack contains several colors of beads and each color has several shapes. The only problem with assorted bead sets is that there’s no consistency. There are several beads each color and shape but not necessarily in the quantities to make a pair (or two) of earrings.

This periwinkle pair hang about an inch and a half from the ear. In addition to the glass beads there is a pearl and all the findings are silver plated. And like the beads in Sunny, you can see a swirl pattern in the coloring of the bead.

 

In case the pairs from the past two weeks have left you a bit bored, not to worry. I have a few things coming up that are quite different including one which is a bit earthy and another that's slightly elegant. So keep your eyes open for the next few posts.

£4.50 including UK shipping, $8.55 including US shipping

A Treat for Myself

I had hoped that the fair on Saturday would be a great debut for this pair that I made for myself. I made them a few weeks ago and I’ve been wearing them out but I hadn’t posted them yet. Initially I didn’t even know if I would post these because I really made them for myself.

For Christmas I made a small wish list; three items. Leather Gloves, a DNA test (so I can find out my family history and if I have any genetic disorders) and couple’s jewelry (necklace or ring). When I gave my list to Neil he said he couldn’t buy me any of them; he couldn’t get to a department store (he was sick around Christmas), he had to order the jewelry well in advance to get it by Christmas and he WOULD NOT get me the DNA test; he doesn’t want to know if I’m genetically predisposed to any diseases. So I had to make another wish list. I don’t remember what the other things were on it but one was a tablet and that’s what I got. For my birthday Neil was feeling a little better so we went to a store and we found some leather gloves. But still no couple’s jewelry.

Then one night it hit me; I may not be able to make a necklace (although I can try), but I can make myself a pair of earrings. And since I had some garnets anyway I’d just have to get Neil’s birthstone. So I sent away for some topaz (yellow) beads. I didn’t get exactly what I wanted; unfortunately they didn’t have smooth beads like my garnets. But fortunately I I realized I had some larger faceted beads that must be knock off topaz.

So one Sunday (I wrote about that day here) I made my earrings. Boy was it tough! The small faceted garnet beads are so small the holes will not accommodate my headpins. So I had to thread them with a smaller gauge wire which unfortunately is silver and not gold like the rest of the findings. But that was the only way I would get these threaded.

The earrings feature 6mm smooth garnet beads, 4mm faceted garnet beads, 6mm faceted topaz beads (plastic) and 4mm faceted glass topaz beads. Most of the findings are gold-plated, but as mentioned above the 4mm garnets are threaded by silver-plated wire. All the beads hang from an eyepin and look like a bunch of grapes hanging from my ears. The earrings hang about an inch and a third from the ear.

I must admit when I looked at couple’s jewelry at Christmas I realized that our birthstones look very nice together. How can you go wrong with red and gold? While these are mine and Neil’s birthstones I will make the same (or similar) earrings for anyone who like them. You can let me know your preferred stones and I’ll let you know how much they’ll cost. My supplier is pretty reasonable and delivers next day if the order is placed by midday.

Finally, after a lot of thought I’ve decided to stop using gold-plated findings. While I prefer gold to silver in jewelry I do not think that gold plated findings age well. I find that after a year the findings start to turn. Earrings made of silver plated findings do not turn or at least not as fast as I’ve noticed the gold turning. I want the best for my customers! I don’t want anyone buying one of my items then stops wearing them after a year because they’ve turned. I know the earrings are reasonably priced (I do that on purpose) but I want you to love for as long as possible.

As shown £6.00 including UK shipping or $10.20 including US shipping.
Special order price TBD