Another day has just flown right past me and i feel like I am in that film benny button because i feel my brain is dwindling away. I went to argos today to get play-sand for my sons exquisite masterpiece of a sandpit that i built lol. I felt a bit of an idiot as the only way i could get it to my car was by a sainsbury’s trolley so there I am walking through town with an empty trolley looking like some one from the funny farm and then having to push it back to my car and like all trolleys its got wonky wheels and i must have looked like a hippo on ice and i had to make TWO TRIPS! i needed a ventilator to get my breath back. It was all worth it in the end because Archie played in the sand all afternoon so it had a happy ending. Sue’s friend Lisa had her birthday yesterday and she wanted to make her something special as she has two young boys as well so she decided to make her a personalised necklace with the names of her two boys on it. We like the necklace that much we are going to start selling them on our site.
Its not the best photo in the world put we hadn’t planed on taking one and sue was in a rush but it will do for now. So what we have is a very long snake chain with a handmade ring attached to it. It then has two etched names with a gold vermeil heart between them and protected by angel wings on either side of the names such a beautiful looking piece. Ok that’s me for now I am very tired after my benny hill impression so bonne nuit.
Archive for the ‘Handmade Jewellery’ Category
Playsand and a Necklace
Monday, August 2nd, 2010New Personalised Name Bracelet
Sunday, August 1st, 2010Sunday night again! just cannot believe how fast the days go I am sure they used to go really slow when i was younger. This weekend has gone really quick as i have been building a sandpit for my boy, its all finished now just need some sand. I think i got my measurements wrong its huge but i don’t think my lad will complain though. I decided to build him one as the ones i have seen in the shops are pretty small and look lie they will snap after a week so i built one that will last for years lol. We didn’t get much time this weekend to work on the business but we did manage to get our new personalised bracelet on the website which we are very pleased about. All this miserable weather doesn’t help because i like to take my photo’s in natural light and it wasn’t easy on Friday but managed to get a few but i will take some new ones when the weather gets better.
Our personalised necklace is one our best sellers and we have had a few enquiries about personalised bracelets as not everybody likes to were necklaces so we got to work designing a bracelet which as you can see is very elegant and stylish. For the bracelet we didn’t think a thin chain would work we wanted one that would stand out and have a look of quality so we went with a chunky cable chain which suits the design. The tags are the same ones we use for the necklace to keep it in the same range. We used an adjustable toggle because we get a lot of customers who are not quite sure what size they are so we thought this would be the best option. On the toggle we put a lovely cluster of charms which consist of a sterling silver angel wing, a sterling silver padlocked heart and a gold vermeil key which keeps with the theme of the bracelet which is for love of the people past and present in your lives weather it be new babies, family members or friends who have touched your lives this is a great gift that you can keep and remember the good times when you look at there names. OK that’s enough of the Mills and Boons stuff that’s all from me tonight but hopefully will be blogging tomorrow, i wish you a bonne nuit.
Wedding Bells
Tuesday, July 27th, 2010Its Tuesday morning and the best day of the week well working week anyway, as my little boy goes to nursery for the day and we can get stuck into the business. I thought i would do a bit of blogging while i have the chance as I am never sure if i will get the time later. I am working on a few designs aimed at weddings at the moment and have just finished making a lovely bracelet and necklace set as you can see in the photo which i managed to take in between all this lovely British weather (RAIN) i thought this was to be the ice cream summer!
I guess you could say that this is the usual template for pearl necklaces but its how you add your own little extras that makes it your design and for me i like my pieces to look elegant and alive if you get where I am coming from if not don’t worry I am just mad. I have used AAA white freshwater pearls on the necklace and bracelet which measure 9mm which is a great size, not to big so they don’t look over powering but big enough to get noticed. The luster on these pearls are fab and they really glow with a warm and colourful feel to them. I love to make pieces with the best components i can get my hands on and i love these pearls. I have used only a couple of Swarovski crystals just to add a little more sparkle because i didn’t want to take anything away from the pearls. I have put sterling silver spacers in between the pearls as i think it just looks more elegant and gives it that look of quality. The little extra i have used is a sterling silver solid heart toggle, this toggle was handmade in Bali and has lovely decorative touches added to it. I have decided to do this set in gold vermeil as well as it looks even better in gold, I think its the beautiful colour of the pearls i just need to get all the components together and I’ll take a few snaps of them and show them at a later date so for the mo au revoir.
White Freshwater Pearl,Aquamarine and Blue Iolite Mystic Quartz Earrings, Necklace
Tuesday, July 20th, 2010Well it was nice to get some hot sunny weather back again yesterday as it allowed me to get a few photo’s of my earrings and necklace to complete my pearl and gemstone set which I am now pleased to have finished and put on our site for sale as this is a stunning piece of jewellery if i do say so myself and would grace any bride walking down the runway. I have made the necklace in a very simple way but it looks very elegant so as not to be over powering and in your face.The dangle measures about 3 inches long and consists of white freshwater pearls which are in two sizes, 3mm – 3.5mm and 5.5mm – 6mm and are gorgeous. I then added Aquamarine rondelles which are 4mm in size and interspersed amongst the pearls and then we have the stunning blue mystic Iolite quartz which measure 6.5mm – 7.5mm and absolutely sparkle. I put four blue Iolite stones on the dangle as i didn’t want it to be to top heavy and become a mess so that it just has that elegant look. It took me a while to figure out what design i wanted for the earrings as i didn’t want to put to much on them otherwise it would look a mess and ruin the whole set so i decided to go for just one blue Iolite stone which would dangle at the bottom of the chain and be the main focal point. I used the biggest stones which were 7.5mm so they would stand out which i think looked right, your eyes are drawn to the sparkle they transmit. As for the pearls i left more of a gap between them as i felt to cluster them like the bracelet and necklace would be a mistake and they would look to bulky and lose that elegant look that i was looking for. I used beautiful ornate sterling silver stud ear pieces to hang the earrings from which i think just complete these earrings.
You can see when the natural sunlight hits the jewellery how beautiful it really is.
Jewellery update
Sunday, July 18th, 2010Evening all, I see we are back to the normal British summer time with all the rain. I think I am having one of those periods in life when things continue to go wrong if that’s the right word. I have been laid up for the past week with a very sore back thanks to my little boy in which i have not been able to do any work up until yesterday when i managed to get a full day in the workshop and finish a few projects i had going which is very rare for me or Sue as we have our 2 year old son to look after and the fact that Sue is 7 months pregnant so time is a little short. Well that’s enough of the sob story and back to the jewellery, I managed to make the necklace and earrings to go with the new pearl and gemstone bracelet which is made with freshwater pearls,aquamarine rondelles and blue iolite mystic quartz and which is on our front page of the website so please check it out. I have no photo’s to show you I am sorry to say but with all the bad weather and my bad back i haven’t been able to get outside which is how i like to take my pictures if possible as jewellery looks so much better in natural sunlight but even that doesn’t do the gemstone jewellery justice. I also finished off one of my wedding/bridal necklace and bracelet combo’s again i have no photo’s but hope to show them tomorrow. I have also nearly finished my necklace and earrings to go with my fairy-dust bracelet which is made with rose quartz onion briolettes, pink mystic topaz and white freshwater pearls but i must have been having another off day as i ordered the wrong size rose quartz which is what i have been waiting on and because i buy most of my luxury gemstones abroad it takes time to see if i can get them and then get them shipped. We have been working on a new personalised bracelet which should be ready for photo’s sometime this week and hopefully we will have it for sale on the website as well as i think its a lovely piece and i cannot wait to get it on. Its pretty hard to write about jewellery when you do not have the photo’s to show people as your describing it so i will finish there for tonight and hopefully be back blogging tomorrow with some pics, But i will leave you with a few of our holiday pics so i bid you bonne nuit.
White Pearl & Gemstone Bracelet
Sunday, July 4th, 2010Aah Sunday night and have managed to get a few minutes to write some words of wisdom i hope. Since we got back from Holiday it has been chaos with orders and getting back into work mode which isn’t easy for me at the best of times as Sue keeps pulling me up about all the tea breaks i have, I keep telling her that my genius comes from my thinking time. At the moment i have about ten projects going on at the moment which probably isn’t the best way to work but it suits me, and the one I am going to blog about tonight is my new white pearl cluster bracelet. I actually got the idea for this bracelet from our holiday destination which was Brittany which is in France for those of you who would not no that. I had been looking at photo’s with beautiful soft sandy beaches with water crashing off the rocks which makes that white foam and is surrounded by patches of lovely clear blue/green water and then the darker blue water further out and having been there its even better first hand. I used two different sizes of AA white freshwater round pearls, The sizes of these pearls are 3-3.5 mm for the small ones and 5.5-6mm for the bigger ones which give it a fantastic style. I then added some 4mm AA aquamarine faceted rondelles which i interspersed along the bracelet which just made the bracelet glow and give it beautiful contrast to the pearls. I do like to add contrasting colours to my pieces but you have do it in the right way or it just looks a mess so for my second gemstone i used AAA blue Iolite Mystic quartz which were 6.5-7.5mm which to me just made the bracelet complete. I did add one last item to the bracelet which was a sterling silver Fleur de Lys charm which i thought was appropriate in more ways than one. This bracelet looks very suttle but has that eye catching look which i think is a must for pieces like this. I am working on the matching necklace and earrings for this bracelet so it will be a lovely set but that’s for another time and blog so i bid you bonne nuit
Handmade Silver Hoop & Gemstone Cluster Earrings
Thursday, March 11th, 2010Two posts in two days! I am running like a well oiled machine right now. All joking aside and down to business before I waffle on about this, that, and the other Sue has designed another beautiful pair of unique Handmade Silver Hoop and Gemstone Cluster Earrings. The first thing Sue made was the frame which is all in one and hand forged from sterling silver wire. The next step was to wrap fine silver wire around the frame in a random squiggle pattern with the balled up ends twisted together. Sue then came up with a lovely colour combination by using Pink Mystic Topaz, Tanzanite, Rainbow Moonstone, Rose Quartz and an Amethyst drop to give a subtle but very effective look. This is one of the hardest parts of designing gemstone jewellery as it can all go wrong if you don’t get the right colours which it has done for me on a few occasions! I told her she should call them sweetie earrings as they have the same colours as a packet of Love Heart sweets. The design is a variation of our popular Squiggle Earrings but with a splash of colour added and Sue is currently in the process of designing a matching necklace so this will make a fantastic set. This pair of earrings are fantastically sparkly for those of you who like a bit of sparkle in your lives. 
Handmade Silver Wire Wrapped Earrings
Wednesday, March 10th, 2010Sue loves to make wire wrapped jewellery and she has made another beautiful pair of Silver Wire Wrapped Earrings. The frame is all in one piece which she has hand forged into a pear shape to compliment the gemstone shape. She then tirelessly and carefully wrapped metres of silver wire around the frame and put her unique signature of coils spiralling up the stem of the ear wire. The frame was then oxidised then given a little light polish to brighten it up. The AAA Pink Mystic Quartz stone was then attached in the centre of the frame and sterling silver balls wrapped around the inside of the frame to enhance the design by having a contrast between oxidised and bright silver. Overall these earrings are stunning and are a great look for the summer as the Pink Mystic Quartz are absolutely sparkling. 
Handmade Personalised Latin Love Bracelet
Thursday, February 25th, 2010Well at last I can show our first piece of many from our personalised latin love range which I am well chuffed about. This has been a long time in the running and very time consuming to design and make but we got there in the end although there is a long way to go as I have other pieces to make but its a start. Firstly I used a sterling silver cable chain that is nice and chunky and has a good weight to it. I then hand pierced a heart shape from 1mm thick silver sheet and etched the phrase ” Te Amo” which translates into ” I Love You”. I then hand pierced 4 discs in which 2 were 16mm and the other two were 18 mm, On the 18 mm discs i have etched love phrases in latin. On one disc it has the phrase ” Amor vincit omnia” which translates in to ” Love conquers all” and on the other disc it says ” Amor aeternus” which translates in to ” Love forever”. The two 16mm discs are for you to put your own personal mark on with two initials in a beautiful font. I then blacked up the etched text and initals and put them in the tumble polisher for a nice shine to them. This bracelet looks great, is very elegant and would make a great treasured keepsake for someone special. Further details on this bracelet are available here.
Personalised Silver Slinky Bracelet
Saturday, February 20th, 2010Just a quick update on our slinky bracelet we have also put our etched name charms on this bracelet and it looks fab, this really does make a great treasured keepsake. I had a nightmare yesterday trying to get the photo’s of the bracelet, Firstly I lost all the etched charms down the skirting board as we live in a very old house nothing is very straight so there are slight gaps now and again but I managed to recover all but one. Then I dropped the light stand and broke the bulb which to my amazement cost £25 as I later found out so it wasn’t a great start to the day but I managed to get some shots and felt better even though I only had one light stand. I would like to thank all our recent Valentine customers for shopping at IndiviJewels and hope you like what you bought from us and for the kind words in your feedback we do appreciate this as we like to know how you feel about our Jewellery. I will leave you with a couple of pics of the bracelet as I have got to go back to work now as I have nearly finished another etched bracelet that will be part of a wider range so really looking forward to getting that on our site and blogging about it.
