Mermaid's Tears

Quick little pair of earrings here - these gorgeous turquoise-blue apatite briolettes caught my eye, maybe a bit too early for such a summery colour but I kept coming back to them when deciding which stones to use!

I love the wrapped jump rings at the top, they are just over a centimetre in diameter and remind me of little daisies. I've added a freshwater pearl in between, along with tiny freshwater seed pearls at the bottom of the coiled tear drop frames. I'm really enjoying wrapping again! :)

Winter Snowdrops

I always seem to have huge problems photographing anything with a lot of shiny silver - these in particular were incredibly frustrating! I started these a while ago, I have quite a few unfinished projects that I'm determined this year to complete.

I wrapped a fine silver 'art nouveau' style motif to the coiled wire frames, with peridot briolettes, and fine trace chain drops with tiny seed pearls, and vibrant green chrome diopside. Very shimmery and glamorous!

Lemon Merengue

That's merengue the dance, not lemon meringue... (a play on words, I'm not really that bad at spelling!).

Phew... not especially difficult these ones, once I'd worked out how I was going to do them, but quite simply a lot of careful coiling and wrapping several times to get the effect I wanted!

Gorgeous sunshine yellow citrine, with lemon quartz and freshwater pearls. How fab would these look with a suntan?!

Forget-Me-Nots - Sapphire and Pearl Bracelet

I decided that this year I would try to diversify a little and do some different pieces, rather than just earrings! This is quite a simple piece design-wise - but involved many, many hours of patient coiling and wrapping!!

I made the links with sterling wire, soldered together, then coiled with fine wire and wrapped again with tiny peacock freshwater pearls. I attached chain in between the links with more wrapping, then added clusters of peacock pearls, white Swarovski pearls, and gorgeous faceted sapphires.

I have forget-me-nots growing wild in my garden that keep self-seeding each year, I'm never quite sure where they're going to turn up! I'm hoping this piece has the same humble charm :-)

Vintage Rose Earrings

I've soldered individual heart shapes together to make the top component on these earrings. I then wrapped the centre with tiny goldfilled beads and added a pink freshwater pearl.

The cloisonne beads caught my eye while I was shopping for something else... they go perfectly with the pinky shades and the goldfilled beads. I've added a very full cluster of wrapped freshwater pearls and a faceted rose quartz briolette at the bottom.

Pearl and Labradorite Bracelet

Behind with posting again! So a couple of completed projects here that I just haven't got round to showing.

A bracelet for a change this time, I made the chain and clasp too, which were fun to do. The shapes that make up the focal were soldered together, then wrapped with silver wire, tiny white freshwater pearls, silver beads and faceted labradorite in the centre.

I have oxidised the whole piece, which was then tumbled and polished. I've noticed some people leave their pieces quite dark, which can be a great look - but I chose to keep on polishing this. I love the effect - hard to tell from the photo but it turned to have a lovely soft antiqued finish. Like a piece of old silver from your grandmother's jewellery box ;-)

Sweet Violets - Tanzanite and Iolite

I have the tiniest little patch of violets that manage to peek their way through my wild front garden every year - in fact I tend to forget that they are even there until they start to flower and catch my eye. On my mental list of things to do this year, re-vamping my little square of garden at the front is high priority. I must remember to move those violets somewhere safe, before they get buried in a layer of gravel!

I've shaped the frames with sterling silver wire, soldering in between the scrolls for added strength. I then added a frilly picot edging of Hill Tribe faceted silver beads along the bottom, with peacock freshwater pearls, faceted tanzanite beads, and finished with little iolite drops.

Desert Rose Pendant

I forgot to post this! I made this pendant a couple of weeks ago - another one that differs quite a lot from my original idea... but I'm very pleased with the result!

I soldered some heart shapes a while ago for this project, when I actually put them together into the flower shape I realised I'd need something else to strengthen the shape. I put a large closed jump ring underneath, but then actually quite liked the way it looked so decided incorporate it into the design!

There are some more twisted wire filigree details, and the beads are faceted andalucite with Hill Tribe seed beads and a pale pink freshwater pearl.

Ruby Bloom - Layered Pendant

I know, I know - it looks all festive!!! I didn't realise until after I'd taken the pictures. I'm really NOT one of those people who start thinking about Christmas in September... I don't start shopping until about a week before!

Complete coincidence as I wanted to make something using these gorgeous raspberry-coloured seed beads. I made the large frame first - wrapping the petals with seed beads and sterling wire. The inner petals were then formed separately, and wrapped with fine gauge silver wire, before adding a pale gold freshwater pearl and gorgeous faceted rubies to the centre.

And yes, I guess it would look good at the office Christmas party... :-)

Autumn Bronze Earrings

Autumn is now here I guess - not that we really had summer! You just can't beat the wonderful colours that go with it though - and I'm anticipating them with these earrings!

Wonderfully rich red faceted garnet marquise beads dangle from these fan-shaped frames, coiled with fine gauge sterling silver wire, and wrapped with topaz-coloured seed beads and bronze freshwater pearls.

Green Amethyst & PMC

Firstly apologies for this dreadful pic - I will try to photograph these again sometime, I just can't seem to capture the sparkle and colour in these earrings!

This is my first attempt at making something with metal clay - these were great fun to make! I'm so pleased with the way these came out - how cool is it being able to make your own components?! First try with my new tumbler too... :-)

The dangles are gorgeous pale green amethyst 'onion cut' beads, pale gold freshwater pearls, and golden shadow Swarovski crystals - subtle colours, and very sparkly!

Netted Pearl Pendant

I love this wire netting technique, it takes a while to get it right - I'm still not there yet, but I'm very happy with the way this turned out!

I first shaped and hammered the frame, then coiled it with sterling wire. I added the pink freshwater pearls to the inside next, then formed the net in the centre with the wire.

Tourmaline Drop Pendant

This pendant has been made by shaping one continuous length of wire, with wrapping in between the circles. I've then decorated the circles using tourmaline (again, sorry!), sterling silver beads, seed beads, and a freshwater coin pearl (a happy coincidence that the top circle was just the right size for the pearl!).

This was one of those occasions where I thought of the frame shape first, then decided how to finish it afterwards! I have a couple of frames ready and waiting for me to decorate them at the moment... sometimes I know exactly what I'm going to do on a piece and other times I have to wait for inspiration!

Olivine Pearls and Garnet

I found the colours on this bracelet really hard to capture - these 'olivine' green freshwater pearls are much brighter in real life! I've used for the focal a large maroon Swarovski pearl, along with smaller bronze ones. Also on this bracelet are peridot crystals, garnet, and silver bali beads. I've attached wrapped wire 'dangles' near the toggle clasp - this helps to balance the bracelet when it's worn.

Pearl and Crystal Bracelet

I love pearls in all shapes and sizes! This bracelet has coin-shaped white freshwater pearls, and the large focal pearl is a Swarovski one called 'Tahitian' in this lovely teal colour. I've also put some faceted smoky quartz beads in here, with some more Swarovski crystal - blue 'Montana', and two gorgeous silver Bali beads. Finished off with a sterling toggle clasp!