Jewelry Making

I often like to check out what jewelery (er, jewellery) makers are doing across the pond. Some of the best looking and more unusual pieces we’ve discovered have been from countries outside the U.S.

Designer Kate Wood hails from London and is top notch at creating airy jewellery pieces featuring muted tones and textures. Pearls and vintage-colored metals seem to be two of her current favorite materials for making a good selection of bracelets, necklaces and earrings. There is almost a bit of an art-deco feel to some of the items but with a hint of a more modern touch. From her site:

Glint jewellery is feminine and flattering, striking and subtle, characterised by soft, organic forms and strong combinations of colours and surface textures.

The entire range of earrings, necklaces and bracelets is hand crafted by the designer, Kate Wood, making each piece unique. When worn, this jewellery comes alive with movement and light, enhancing your individual beauty and style.

Continue reading “Glint Jewellery” …

California jewelry designer Sharla Samuelson has a great selection of delicious looking items at her site Sharma Designs. As usual, I got there through a crafty collective portal (this time around it was Indie Designer Labels). Sharla makes a wide variety of fresh and interesting necklaces, bracelets, and earrings.

Although she does use some of the standard colors for precious stones, I liked that she also had some alternative “darker” pieces that featured material like Onyx, Carved Bone and Horn, Dark Jasper, Carved Horn, and Brown Jade. A bit more unusual choice of material, which makes for an interesting look.

Some info from the “about” section of her site:

So, how did my personal quest for unusual jewelry morph into a business? Unintentional advertising. After I made my own pieces, I took them out on the town. And, well, the town took notice. Some people sell their creations out of the trunks of their cars, I was selling them right off of my own neck. I quickly realized that I needed to set up shop.

So you know I treasure my own individuality, but did you know that I treasure yours as well? Every piece is a one-of-a-kind. Sure, I might riff off of themes, but no two necklaces are ever identical.

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I found some more jewelry that’s on the funkier side the other day at Lluvia Designs. Phaedra A. Torres makes unique necklaces, bracelets, earrings out of a kaleidoscope of different items. Some pieces feature “found” components such as shells and buttons, while others use handcrafted silver (often made by her family in Mexico) as focal points.

A lot of her items have a playful, bohemian flair to them, but I also get the sense of a deeper organic look to a lot of the pieces especially in the use of knotted leather cord and shells. There’s almost a sort of connection to the landscape in much of her jewelry.

Some background from her site:

I started selling my unique pieces several years ago after many requests for purchasing my handcrafted jewelry. I am based in Los Angeles, and began making jewelry as a hobby over 15 years ago. All items available for purchase are handmade and one of a kind. Most of the silver used is handcrafted by my family in Mexico, who have been metalsmiths for generations.

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I found some interesting and cute stuff over at the UK jewelry site (that’s actually “jewellery” for many sites across the pond!) Aurora Bloom the other day. Jenny Hudson designs all the pieces and has been making bracelets, brooches, earrings, necklaces and phone charms for a number of years, but only set up her online shop this year.

Although the color scheme of many of her pieces tends toward the more pink and/or girly (which is usually not a style we gravitate toward), I liked her choice of unusual components such as shells, cameos, polished stones and vintage plastic in the work which makes it a bit different than many other DIY designers who have similar items.

From her site:

The findings and beads used to make our jewellery have been carefully sourced from a number of suppliers. The current range is made up of components from the USA, Africa, Czech Republic, Austria, Bali, Japan, Germany and the UK. There is a strong emphasis on ‘the unusual’ and mixing the past with contemporary styles.

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Whenever I’m surfing around on DIY jewelry sites and come across an interesting piece, I almost always file it in a “Check Out Again Later” bookmark folder. I was going through my folder the other day and I came across Bella Jolie Designs again. Tricia Miller, who has been designing the jewelry for Bella Jolie at her home studio in Washington state for the past four years, creates elegant and fun necklaces, bracelets and earrings using hand picked precious stones. She uses a wide variety of gem materials including Tourmaline, Peridot, Citrine, Amethyst, Rubies, Garnets and Sapphires. These are combined in her jewelry with a choice of 14k gold filled or sterling silver findings and wirewrap.

Some information about her design process and philosophy from her website:

I create jewelry because I have a passion for the process. From selecting high quality tools and materials to completing a piece of jewelry- I love every bit. I am inspired by beautiful gems and stones. I hand select them much like most people would a diamond: in my case for richness of color, the cut, and quality. By the time I get these treasures home, I am already excited to begin creating. I love putting different shapes and colors into my hand admiring the beauty of them. Next I spend hours happily working these gems into the finished products you see on my website.

Continue reading “Bella Jolie Designs” …

I came across some really beautiful jewelry through Stylebakery’s Designers on the Rise yesterday. The company in question is called Indulgems Jewelry and from their name you might be able to guess a little bit about what their philosophy regarding jewelry is. From their site:

At Indulgems we believe in something very simple: Indulgence should happen often, in small dosage or large, to add that necessary warmth and pizzazz to life.

Our one-of-a-kind jewelry creations are hand-made with this idea in mind. We want you to pamper yourself, to wear exquisitely crafted jewelry with confidence and joy. We also believe that indulgence does not need to come with a shocking price tag…

If you believe that indulgence is a necessity and pampering is a must; if you have the confidence to stand out from the crowd, to express your inner poise with outer beauty; if you aspire to adorn yourself with jewelry that makes heads turn, and to never shy away from compliments, then you have come to the right place.

I think that’s a pretty wise way to go… for while the pieces at Indulgems are not exactly your everyday affordable item, everyone needs a little something special once in awhile. As long as you don’t go overboard, these types of gifts to yourself are important!

Indulgems main jewelry designer is Grace C, who like quite a few designers is self taught and sort of fell into the profession through business school. She creates one of a kind necklaces, earrings, and bracelets that feature luxurious precious stones often wrapped with silver, gold and gold filled wire. Her pieces can be very ornate but for some reason I was really drawn to them especialy in their frequent usage of vibrant, multicolored stones (something I don’t tend to gravitate to usually) and twisted wire work sort of in the style of “French Beaded Flowers” that I mentioned in my previous entry.

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Creating a folded crimp is one of the most important techniques for stringing simple bead and gem necklaces. Generally, you will be using some sort of jewelry wire or cable for the stringing. While other materials such as silk can be knotted, you will need a strong enough termination point for wire. This is where bead crimps come into play.

In this article, I talk about the basic technique of making a simple folded crimp using crimp beads and crimping pliers.

Tutorial on Using Crimp Beads and Bead Crimping Pliers

You may just want to join the Naughty Secretary Club, but not because there’s anything particular naughty about it! I always maintain that a catchy or unusual name for a DIY jewelry company can make all the difference in the world and this is a good example.

Not that they’re hiding at all behind their slightly flamboyant name. Jennifer Perkins from NSC (as we shall abbreviate hereafter for this review), creates funky jewelry that emphasizes one of my favorite aspects about DIY jewelry making - reused and renewed items from the past. Along with her mom and sister, she has created a myriad of unique necklaces, bracelets, earrings and brooches that are very colorful and creative. She also features a large selection of non-jewelry items that are just as cool including home accessoires, purses, and fashion accessories like hair clips and belt buckles.

NSC has three basic lines for each jewelry category which include Revamped Vintage (creative pieces made from older, antique jewelry bits), Nostalgic Notions (older antique jewelry stock that have not been worn or used before) and Nouveau (tasteful newer reproductions of vintage costume jewelry).

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I’ve been meaning to put up an earrings article that used sterling silver chains in the design and finally got around to it. These Easy Flower Earrings are fast to make once you get the hang of them and use basic materials, but still look really nice. This technique is pretty versatile: you can change out flowers for beads or crystals, or use a different length and number of chains.

Because you buy the silver chain pre-made, it is considerably faster than wirewrapping. Here’s a picture of what the finished Flower Earrings will look like.

Tutorial on Flower Earrings

I surfed into the Twigs and Heather website completely by accident, but decided to post about their designs here because they were so unusual. I’ve said before that I dig unusual jewelry, in particular interesting metal cast jewelry. And the work here certainly fits the “unusual” tag!

This is also pretty cool: Heather and Kerry Collins, who run Twigs and Heather, are TWIN silversmiths who create mysterious but beautiful silver castings out of the natural items around their home in New England. Their casting methods mix a bit of old school (wax and natural burn out casting) with some newer innovations. Here’s some information from the about page of their site:

Based in Kittery, Maine, Twigs and Heather uses twigs and plant life native to Atlantic Northeast. Born and raised in Nahant, on the North Shore of Massachusetts, Heather & Kerry’s profound love of the ocean, and the trees that grow around it, first fueled the inspirations for their work.

They are super imaginative in the type of materials they use. The resulting jewelry ranges from cuffs and rings cast from rolled Birch Bark to handcrafted Maple Seed necklaces that look almost like silver insect wings! They also make jewelry utilizing beach glass as well as more traditional looking silver charms.

Continue reading “Twigs and Heather” …