Jewelry Making

I came across some elegant jewelry through Style Bakery the other day. Carrie Schafer of Original Hardware creates beautiful necklaces, earrings and bracelets characterized by earthy colors and textures. Taking much of her inspiration from nature and travels abroad, the Colorado-based artist uses rustic handmade silver paired with warm-colored precious stones like carnelian, smokey quartz and jade in her pieces.

I especially like her use of hand-dyed chocolate colored silk and leather to compliment the natural colors of the stones and oxidized silver pieces. Another common design touch in her work includes the use of loops and ovals of silver with gemstones hanging within. Carrie is all about the “road less traveled” and that’s clearly reflected in her design… here’s a blurb from her website:

My design philosophy is simple: make pieces that reflect the strength, beauty and individuality of its wearer… I like to make pieces that are off-the-beaten path and incorporate the cultures and colors of the exotic places I’ve travelled.

Here’s an example of one of her necklaces which combines two squares of silver inscribed with Chinese characters along with different colored Carnelian drops.

The pendant combination is held together by a loop of tiny green jade rounds connected to a double strand of chocolate colored silk. The necklace is 18 inches long and like many of her pieces are extremely limited - in this case, there’s only 2 of them!

Missing Asia Fine Silver Necklace - $125
from Original Hardware