sweet love heart keyring

These heart keyrings are made from thick grade jewellery wire fashioned into a heart shape with a variety of seed & pony beads and bugles threaded on in a random manner. In the picture below, the right hand keyring has an additional 'dangle' hanging in the middle of the heart.

These keyrings also double up as eye catching bag charms.

click on images below for enlarged view

blue glass and wire necklace

This necklace is made from glass beads, individually hand-mounted on handmade headpins and linked with jump rings. This is a long, continuous necklace which can just be slipped over your head - no fastening required.

While I enjoy working with other materials, glass beads and wire are my favourite media when it comes to jewellery making.

Click on image to enlarge

flamboyant green necklace

I've been experimenting with the light box in order to take shots of some of my jewellery.

This necklace is made from acrylic beads, strung on to 7 strand tigertail. This is a really eye-catching piece and not one for anyone who doesn't want to stand out in a crowd. The large beads are interspersed with glitzy 'dangles' which are individually strung and attached to the main necklace. This would look fabulous with a plain black or green plunge neckline top or dress.

click on either image to enlarge


This closeup shows the detail of the necklace:


I normally prefer to work with glass beads but, in this instance, glass would just make this particular necklace too heavy to wear. Overall I was very pleased with the finished piece. I especially like the way the acrylic appears to ripple as it reflects the light, so I would say it seems to have been a good choice of material.

For those who have been reading the saga of the light box, these shots were taken with two lights sources (one from each side) using a Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z6 digital camera set on macro mode. The results are more successful than earlier jewellery shots as I've managed to eliminate any peachy glow.

knitting & jewellery alterations

I've actually been getting on quite well with my scarf. Since my last post I picked up the knitting needles, decided the scarf was too wide so ended up ripping it out and starting all over again casting on fewer stitches. So far I'm happy with how its turning out and should have it finished by the weekend - at least I hope so as its so blooming cold here at the minute that I need it!!!!

Have also (this morning when I should have been making packed lunches for school) altered a necklace I made a while back but was never really happy with it. Will post up a photo in due course - light box not quite constructed yet - but basically it had too many "dangles" on it which made it look rather cluttered. So I removed some of those to give the necklace better balance. I then decided that I could do with a pair of earrings to match, so I added a dangle on each one of a pair of ear wires and Ta-Dah!!! instant matching earrings. Was quite pleased with the result. Is this the beginning of the end of my creative block? We shall see...

aqua necklace

This necklace is fashioned from aqua faux suede thong with pale blue organza ribbon knotted to it at even intervals. The dangles are individually hand strung glass beads in a variety of shades of blue. These have been secured to the thong in groups of three using jump rings. The necklace is secured with a toggle clasp. A nice lightweight necklace ideal for Spring and Summer. I also created a matching bracelet and earrings to complete the set.

red glass bead necklace

This necklace was designed some time ago using red seed beads and a variety of red glass beads and clear crystal beads. These were strung on 7-strand tigertail with a lobster clasp to secure. The drop is a large matt red glass bead fitted on a headpin (I cut off the head and created a loop - I don't believe in spending money on eye pins when it is so easy to create your own!) with 3 smaller matt red glass beads hanging off it.

phone charms

Phone charms can be quite expensive to buy but are easy to make. Buy phone lariats in bulk (ebay is a good source of craft supplies). A pack of ten can be obtained for less than £2 = 20p per unit. For one phone charm you will need:

• Mobile phone lariat
• Jump ring
• 3 head pins (use long ones to vary the length of dangles)
• Selection of beads in variety of designs / colours to your requirements
• Round nose pliers
• Flat nose pliers
• Wire cutters (to alter length of head pins)

Fit a jump ring to the barrel of the lariat - this is where the "dangles" are attached. Take a headpin and thread on some beads in the colours of your choice and close off with a loop. Repeat twice, altering the length of the remaining head pins to suit your requirements. Dangles look best when hung in odd numbers, so carefully fit the 3 on to the jump ring and there you go. One mobile phone charm for a fraction of the price that you pay in the shops!!!