finished jewellery 2013

[MadelineBunyan]

is it very naughty of me to make beads without any glass at all?


Handmade Silver Beads by madelinebunyan, on Flickr


Handmade Silver Beads by madelinebunyan, on Flickr


I also made these while I had the disc cutter out:

Handmade Silver Beads by madelinebunyan, on Flickr

I haven't done any silver work other than coring the odd bead for ages but I had an order for a pair of the beads, so I made some extras! I'm pleased I haven't forgotten how!

[Margram]

Been experimenting with bracelet styles


Bracelet - 'Natura' by Maigret Lampwork, on Flickr


Bracelet 'Verdigris' by Maigret Lampwork, on Flickr

[nemeton]

... and a bit of grownup stringing for a change 



I had totally forgotten I even had these encased Red Hot Sal lentils, found them lurking in my lampie stash while I was looking for something quite different  But I'm glad they'd lurked for long enough for me to acquire these blue dyed agates (or are they jade? either way they're a lovely translucent denim blue) because nothing else in my entire bead collection was the right shade of blue! I added haematite, a fine silver pendant from Becci Crabtree that had also been lurking in a box for an embarrassingly long time, and one of George's elegant hook clasps. I am sorely tempted to keep this...

[GaysieMay]

I made a necklace similar to this a while ago and have had lots of positive comments about it - mine is in warm ivory and roof ile red tones.  I enjoyed making the beads so much that I made some intending to put them with some blue agate chips I got at Harrogate but in in the end thought they went better with these ivory seed beads - same as my own.


Romance in the Air! by GaysieMay, on Flickr

[GaysieMay]

I just got the urge to make a brooch this weekend and had a stash of glass that had been given to me and I'd kept separate so these were all new colours to me:


Spring Brooch 008 by GaysieMay, on Flickr

[conras]

Two pair of earrings (my first go with silverwire).


DSC_0056 by cr-glas, on Flickr


DSC_0054 by cr-glas, on Flickr

[Pandanimal]

I found these wonderful hand dyed silk cocoons on Etsy and just had to buy them. Then I had to think of a way to use them!

DSCF9861 by Pandanimal, on Flickr
and not one lampwork bead in sight! (sorry)

[GaysieMay]

I had a commission from a third year costume design degree student to make a brooch using the colours from the Suffragette movement.

Suffragette brooch 004 by GaysieMay, on Flickr

Also I've been making rather a lot of large discs and wrapping them with copper - I needed something substantial to hang them from so decided to do some viking knit - highly addictive and quite therapeutic while watching/listening to the TV!

Delft and Viking Knit by GaysieMay, on Flickr


Plum and Viking Knit by GaysieMay, on Flickr

[noora]

My lampwork studio is currently packed in boxes, so I have to make beads in other ways. This was an attempt to make a beaded egg 
Happy Easter (or anything else you might be celebrating)! 

[flowerjasper]

I collected the second 50 rings from George at Flame off yesterday,
She was sooo right the clasp is perfect 
Tis a lovely , heavy weight bracelet and all mine!

butterfly wings 029 by Flowerjasper2, on Flickr
sandy

[nemeton]

I am very chuffed and a bit gobsmacked to have won the GBUK jewellery competition... here are a few pictures

Not brilliant pictures I'm afraid - will I never learn not to use pastel colours and white in things that I need to take decent photos of?  - but I hope they'll give you an idea.



I had real trouble choosing between 'Nursery Rhymes' and 'The Final Frontier'! I was briefly tempted to try to render Captain Kirk and Mr Spock in beadwork, but decided that would be beyond me... and then I was doing an FHFteam search on Etsy (as you do, or at least you do when you are me and a total bead addict  ) and saw some lovely rosebud beads by Cecilia Lawrence (Midget Gem Beads). 'Ring A Ring A Roses' popped into my head and refused to go away.



Rings of roses? Yes, those I could do. But I needed something else to make the design specific to this rhyme and give it an edge, otherwise it would be just another pretty necklace with pretty flowers on it. I almost gave up and went back to the Final Frontier idea... then I started thinking, perhaps Kirk had it all wrong and death, not space, is the final frontier... and remembered that Ring A Roses has a myth attached to it, one that has been debunked many times but still persists, the idea that it's about the Black Death.

'Atishoo, atishoo, we all fall down.'

Yes, that was my edge, and a way of combining both themes, and a macabre twist that appealed to my wicked side If I could find some little lampwork skulls, I could make little wreaths of little dead people to go in amongst my pretty flowers and beaded bead posy pomanders 

'Ashes in the water, ashes in the sea, we all jump up with a 1 - 2 - 3!'

And I could put little specks of ash grey in amongst the pretty colours, and use marble spacer beads for a hint of tombstones... oh yes, I was having fun thinking outside the box!

So I put out a call on here for someone to make me some little skulls, and the lovely Ruth of AR Beads answered it and made exactly what I wanted (even though at that stage I couldn't tell her exactly what I wanted them for  ) and they worked brilliantly



Of course the piece was made at the last minute and in a big rush and there are things about it that I probably should have done differently, but it made me smile and thankfully it hit the right note with the judges too 

It was fun working with beads by FHFteam makers whose beads I hadn't used before - it's always nice to spread the love  Huge thanks to both of you ladies, this win is a team effort really! 

[conras]

A new bracelet - leather and sandblasted beads - to match the new spring color: yellow.


image by cr-glas, on Flickr

[Aruala]

This weekend, my partner in crime brought round our glass stash, the torch, the safety glasses.... but forgot the tiled board that stops us burning either of our houses down when we drop hot glass. So instead of the lampwork I was planning, I got forced to fall back on silversmithing for my crafty fix and made this ring with the last of my silver sheet.


Chunky silver and Oregon jasper ring

I have the board now so I won't be foiled again this weekend!

[DementedMagpie]

This is my first reasonably successful attempt at more "sculptural" beads, or at least ones that aren't either round or shaped with a press. It's not exactly new - the beads were made a few weeks ago, and I showed off the finished article at Flame Off a bit, but it only reached its final destination last Thursday. The final destination being a friend of mine, last Thursday being her birthday.
She seems to like it rather a lot, so I'm feeling pleased with myself.


Jenni's Dalek by Demented Magpie, on Flickr

[Kaz]

I made this pendant and earrings set and these earrings this morning. Fab findings by George!


IMG_1582 by Kaz ~ CheekyCherubDesigns, on Flickr


IMG_1616 by Kaz ~ CheekyCherubDesigns, on Flickr

Kazx