Design This - Sheep Jewelry

When a friend of mine visited the Happy Holidays Pop-Up Market and spied my lampwork sheep earrings, she said her mother liked all things sheep. The only problem, she saw with those earrings was that her mother did not like long earrings and the metal in her jewelry needed to be sterling silver.

We talked about some options and we decided I would mock up a bracelet design for her consideration. After some back and forth on that design we reconsidered what my friend's mom would likely enjoy the most. We went back to discussing earrings. I had some

sterling silver posts with a loop to attach the sheep to that would create shorter earrings than the pair on French ear wires she saw at the market. She decided to go with this option and I made them up in time for her to take them with her for a Christmas gift. I was thrilled when I saw my friend after the holidays and she reported that her mother loved them.

In my next post I will share what I have done with the bracelet mock up that sat on my bench for a couple of weeks.

Design This - Matching Earrings for Aqua Necklace

Will someone want earrings with this necklace? I often ask myself this question when designing new pieces. Sometimes I make matching earrings and someone just wants the earrings or the necklace. I normally will split a set I have made but the customer will lose out on the discount I usually factor into the price of a set. Often I don't make matching earrings and occasionally someone will ask about their availability. I think custom orders for necklaces or jewelry sets will be the only time I will get the answer to that question right 100% of the time because I get to ask my customer beforehand.

I was at a show earlier this year where someone fell in love with one of my necklaces. She said she really loved the colors I had used. The next thing she said was to ask if I had matching earrings. I told her I was not positive whether I still had any of the beads left I had used in the necklace. Luckily she wanted the necklace either way but I could tell she really hoped to be able to get fairly short dangling matching earrings too.

I took her contact info and shortly after the show I was able to go through my stock and see what I could come up with. Luckily I still had a couple of the small dark aqua beads that I had used in the necklace as well as some of the dark AB coated spacer beads. I also had some smaller faceted gold beads that I thought would be better suited for the size earrings requested than the gold bicones I had used in the necklace. I had not asked if my customer preferred posts or French style ear wires so I sent a mock up photo with both choices for her to look at. After sending the photo, she asked that I phone her because she felt more comfortable nailing down the details that way. She wound up picking the French ear wires. After receiving her payment I popped the matching earrings in the mail and was pleased to find an email a few days later from her letting me know she had received her new earrings and that they were just as she had envisioned.

If you see some of my jewelry sets and only want one component or fall in love with a necklace that does not have matching earrings, feel free to ask if I can split a set or make a matching pair of earrings, depending on your needs.

Design This - On Trend and Trending Jewelry

A good friend and customer of mine has had me design several pieces of jewelry or accessories for her over the years that represent a current fashion trend, a favorite fashion element of hers or to honor a family member or family event. Earlier this year I was pleased to work with her to create two pair of earrings and two necklaces that incorporated all three.

It had been a while since she had mentioned wanting to incorporate fleur de lis into some jewelry in honor of where her husband hailed from. This was the easy part. I had had my eye out for some fleur de lis that I liked since her earlier comment and had some to show her when we met to catch up and discuss potential new jewelry pieces. She liked them too and wanted a pair of earrings made out of them. One of the other components that I showed to her was a filigreed moon. (Moon, sun and stars are a favorite fashion element of hers.) She loved it and shared a photo of a necklace that the moon made her think of and that she wanted me to use as inspiration for her project. She also wanted me to incorporate at least one star into the design.

It turned out that the inspiration necklace was actually two layered necklaces. Layered necklaces that can be worn independently or together have been trending lately. Unfortunately I did not have any star components that really spoke to my friend so I looked towards my suppliers and an upcoming trade show. I also needed to see if I could find some antiqued silver chains as my selection of silver, silver plated and gunmetal plated chains did not seem to be quite what was needed either. The right stars were difficult to find! I was beginning to despair when I came across some wonderful pave stars and a pave moon and star combo. I also found an antiqued silver chain I thought would be perfect for the project.

Now it was time to make up the earrings and mock up a couple of necklaces for the layered look. After looking at the first image in this post my friend said yes to the earrings but wanted to see the components in person. I brought along the components in the photo as well as some stainless steel chains I had recently purchased. After seeing everything in person she decided a simple single star on a stainless steel chain was what she wanted to layer with the moon and star necklace as pictured in the mock up. She also decided that another of her signature fashion statements, mismatched earrings, would be perfect for some of the other pave charms. Once we had all of the details in place, I created the necklaces and earrings to those specs.

I have seen my friend several times since then and she seems to be having fun pairing different necklaces for the layered look. I have always appreciated her great sense of style. I found it quite interesting how much of a trendsetter she seems to be when I read in a recent jewelry trade mag, "Mismatched earrings and name jewelry was big on the fall runways…", since she has rocked the mismatched earrings look for some time now.

Design This – Geode Crystal Necklaces

I appreciate it when my friends and former customers come to me to see if I can create the type of jewelry that they are looking for. Last year one of my friends sent me a link to a search on Etsy that she had done for crystal or geode necklaces. Basically she was looking for a simple pendant necklace similar to what I had made for her previously but with some type of geode slice pendant instead of an ammonite. She was hoping to purchase a few necklaces to give as gifts. She also had a budget that she needed to stay within and wondered if similar necklaces could be made for a bit less than what she had found online. Since she was local, of course I would be able to save her on shipping but I needed to check out the link and see what I could do.

I did not have any geode slices on hand so after looking at the range of geode pendants that my friend liked the most, I worked up some cost estimates based on what I had seen similar components go for at the most recent trade show I had been to. My estimates showed that the pricing she had seen in her search was pretty close to spot on. I did have some quartz, citrine or amethyst crystal points that I could use to make pendant necklaces in her price range. I even had a listing I could show her. She had her heart set on the other style however, so since she had some time before she needed the gifts I told her I would keep an eye out for some supplies that would allow me to bring the pricing in line with what she was hoping to find.

Luckily after some time I did manage to find a really nice and reasonably priced strand of solar quartz (stalactite cross sections) at a show. In addition, I had a friend who had purchased some amethyst geode slice sections long enough ago and was willing to sell some to me at her cost so they would work for this request. I met with my friend so that she could pick out the gemstones to be used in her necklaces. She picked out a lovely sun quartz cross section and two amethyst geode slice sections. Next I needed to make some chain suggestions for the necklaces. I sent her a mock up photo of a couple of chains that I thought complimented the stones nicely. My friend liked the chain I had paired with the amethyst sections but wanted to know what else I might have for the solar quartz. I suggested a black silk cord with a traveling bail to hang the solar quartz from. She liked that idea so now all I had to do was commit the materials to the agreed upon designs.

I am always happy to entertain a "can you make this" request. I will not copy someone else's work but I will make something in a similar vein that satisfies the request if I have or can find the needed supplies. Sometimes these requests even lead to something I decide to list in my shop, as this request did.

Design This – Chicken Feather Jewelry

What to do when your fine feathered friend meets an untimely demise? If you are like someone who contacted me last year, you save some feathers and look for somebody to make earrings for the two upset gals in your life. After searching, this person saw a pair of my blue feather earrings and contacted me to see if I could help him. He was concerned that I would laugh at his request, however he needn't have. I was honored to be considered to help memorialize the chicken they had become so attached to.

I wanted to see photos of the feathers and asked several questions about the recipients since I would not be working directly with the people who would ultimately receive the jewelry. (It was to be a surprise birthday present for each of the gals.) I also sent links to several examples of previous feather earrings and necklaces that I had made so that my customer could give me some design ideas based on what he knew of the gals' preferences. After I had a ballpark estimate for my customer based on his feedback, he sent the feathers in my direction. After mocking up some examples and showing some components I could use to accent the feathers, we were close to finalizing the designs and types of jewelry that I would make. I would use the smaller feathers for the earrings and the wing feathers for necklaces so that each recipient would get a pair of earrings and a necklace. I had planned on making a simple rolled leather necklace of the requested length for each wire wrapped feather pendant, however something that my customer asked got us thinking of using some of the beads that I had shown as possible accents for the feathers to make a beaded necklace for his daughter instead of the leather one.

I really liked the beaded necklace idea but had to ponder a while on how best to attach the feather wrap pendant to it. When I make a simple leather cord necklace, I slip it through the bail I make on the wire wrapped feather pendant. My solution was to wire wrap the feather to one of the picture jasper beads that I would be stringing as part of the beaded necklace. Once I had a green light to proceed with our final design ideas I started on the earrings.

Feather earrings are usually easier to make than feather wrap pendants, however such was not the case this time. One set of feathers wanted to make a shorter pair of earrings than I had planned to make and the other needed additional feathers and some stitching to make them come out right. Initially I was not as happy with those earrings as I wanted to be so I contemplated making two more pair earrings using most of the remaining feathers not destined for the necklaces. The problem was, I only had enough feathers for two earrings not two pair. I thought of another custom customer of mine that liked mismatched earrings and decided some black bear fetishes and picture jasper beads would complement the feathers nicely. I would include them as freebies with the custom order and let the gals figure out how they wanted to split the 4 earrings up into pairs. (Let me know in the comments which earrings you would have paired together.)

These feather earrings went together lickety split. Now that I felt more confident again, I turned my attention to the feather wrap pendant necklaces. Luckily these did not present as many challenges as the first two pair of earrings had. In fact I was so pleased with the beaded necklace that if I had created that necklace from my own materials with the intention of selling it, I would have kept it instead. The picture jasper beads were the perfect foil for the lovely feathers from the Golden Laced Wyandotte chicken.

I sent pictures of the completed feather jewelry sets to my customer and he replied, "Who knew chicken feathers could look so amazing???" I enjoy the challenge of custom orders and I am always thrilled when one turns out to be at least as good as what the customer originally had in mind. After my customer delivered the birthday presents, he thoughtfully wrote to let me know how thrilled each of the gals were with their gifts. I was very happy to find out I had created jewelry that paid meaningful tribute to that lovely young chicken they had raised from a tiny chick that had been cut down by a baby rattlesnake just after she started to lay eggs for them.

Some of my favorite creations have come from custom requests. What do you want to challenge me with?

Design This – Snowy Owl, Crystal n Pearl Jewelry Set

At a recent trade show I purchased some pretty pearls from one vendor and a fabulous collection of nature themed hand painted porcelain beads from another. At the time I didn’t know some components from each purchase were destined to become part of the same jewelry set even though both the pearls and the porcelain beads were by far my favorite finds from that show. I did know that I liked the snowy owl porcelain beads so much that I wanted to make a necklace and earring set for myself, so I bought extras of those beads. (Click on the images if you want to see a larger view.)

As I was unpacking and putting away all of my purchases I noticed that the colors in the freshwater pearls perfectly complemented the lighter colors in the snowy owl beads. This gave me the inspiration I needed to start pulling together other beads with colors that might also work into my project. From this large grouping I picked out a subset of pearls, crystal and coated glass beads that looked like they would play off each other well. Then I set about designing my necklace. After trying a few different designs, I hit on one I really liked and strung it up. Then I paired a couple of the smaller components with the small snowy owl beads to complete the matching earrings.

If any of the nature themed porcelain beads in the link above speak to you in such a way that you want to inquire about a custom piece for yourself, please contact me and I’d be happy to discuss your options.

Design This – Beaded Necklace to Match Azurite and Malachite Pendant

Two years ago I purchased a beautiful azurite and malachite cabochon that had been formed and set in a handmade sterling silver mounting by Donato 2 Hawks. I looked forward to making a beaded necklace to incorporate the pendant into. The azurite is such a beautiful blue but it is different than most of the blues that I have in my bead collection and I didn’t have any malachite greens either so I needed to do some searching for the right materials. There was a bit of light blue in the pendant that reminded me of some of my turquoise beads.

At each trade show I went to after that I looked for appropriate beads. I found that some chrysocolla beads had potential. During the first year I found some nice large rounded rectangular chrysocolla beads and some faceted dark green synthetic beads. At the beginning of the second year I found some medium sized spherical malachite beads but the azurite blue continued to elude me. Just recently I found what I hoped would prove to be the final pieces to the necklace puzzle. I found some small, spherical, high shine colorful chrysocolla beads and two sizes of faceted agate spheres that were dyed a blue that looked like it would complement the azurite. I normally don’t purchase dyed components but these were a nice color that didn’t scream fake, so I brought them home.

Soon after, I had a chance to see if my collection would allow me to design a necklace that would do my pendant justice. In addition to the beads I already mentioned, I also included some silver and some opalite beads in my pile of components that looked promising. After laying out some different combinations, I settled on a few turquoise teardrops and small spheres, the rounded rectangular and high shine chrysocolla beads and both sizes of the blue dyed agate that turned out to be a good foil for the azurite in the pendant. Once I had a design that I liked, I began to string it up. Before finishing off the second end, I took a moment to see how the necklace would wear and found that the very large bail of the pendant was going to cause the pendant to slide too easily back and forth along the necklace.

Luckily this was only a minor setback. Looking closely at what I had already strung up, I saw the potential to create a loop that would keep the pendant in place. It turned out that the loop idea worked well to corral the pendant if I could find some smaller beads to allow it to bend tightly enough. Again I was lucky in that I had some dark blue seed beads in my stash that worked perfectly. The first try at making the loop took some attention away from the focal pendant however. Before I tried downsizing the loop I took a photo so I could compare my second attempt to the first one. I was pleased with the second loop. (You can see the first and second attempts above.) Now that I had a pleasing and functional design it was time to finish off the second end. Since the pendant was sterling silver, I also used sterling silver findings to complete the necklace.

If you have a special component that you would like to have incorporated into a custom piece of jewelry for you, contact me to see if I have what is needed to accomplish that for you.

Design This – Hearts and Pearls

While displaying my creations at a show last holiday season, another vendor spied a pair of stick pearl earrings that she really liked. They were unusual in that they were drilled longitudinally. Unfortunately, they were also part of a necklace and earring set that I didn’t want to split up because I did not expect to be able to find more pearls to make new earrings to match the necklace exactly.

Earlier this year I came across a pair of matching stick pearls drilled in the same fashion. I emailed the vendor to see if she still had an interest in a similar pair of earrings to the pair she had seen last year. She was, so I took a few mock up photos for her to pick the color bead that she wanted to accompany the pearls. During this process, she also asked if I had any small heart beads to make some simple heart earrings for her too.

My first thought was, “If your business name is Merry Heart Face Painting, it makes sense that you would like hearts and want to wear them.” (It turns out I must like hearts too as I had quite a selection of heart beads from which to choose, including gemstone, glass and cloisonné hearts.) After choosing the three types of hearts that she liked the best, her wishes for the completed earrings was that they be small and minimalist. After sending images of some mock up earrings showing different combinations of beads that I had on hand to accompany the selected hearts, we settled on the designs.

After completing all of the earrings and getting approval from the photo proofs that I sent, payment arrived and I shipped everything off. I hope the new earrings will come in handy for a bit of branding for Merry Heart Face Painting or just for plain enjoyment. (If you ever need a face painter, she does great work.)

If you are looking for jewelry using a special component please contact me to see if I can fill your request.