Jewellery etc

Last Post to Blogger!

noreply@blogger.com (Virtude) — Thu, 22 May 2008 16:54:00 +0000

I've moved!!
Please update your links and RSS subscriptions, this blog is now at www.virtudej.com.

I had to move as later this year I shall be offering a multilingual site and unfortunately I just can't see a way to do that within Blogger.

So click on over to the new site, where you can read about my latest adventures in the Wild West (of northern Spain!) aka Galicia.

See you there!

Connemara

noreply@blogger.com (Virtude) — Tue, 06 May 2008 21:30:00 +0000

I'm taking a break from Pride and Prejudice jewellery at the moment, although I added this nice little image index on the left, and I'm planning to revisit it in a while.

So onwards I go to...Ireland! About five years ago when my sister Lisa and I were both living in Hampshire, we took a week off in March to visit the West coast of Ireland around Connemara.

View Larger Map

To be honest I can't remember why we went there, specifically, except that the main theme was riding horses. I do remember the huge impact the wild beauty of the place had on us.



From Connemara

Connemara is also famous for a very beautiful green marble mined in the region, and I recently used some tube beads and rounds to make a simple wire-wrapped necklace and bracelet. See below:

Wire wrapped choker

Wire wrapped bracelet

Here in San Sebastian I'm not aware of any locally-mined minerals, but I'm going to do a little research-and you? Do you know what is mined in your region?

Pride and Prejudice Jewellery Part IX - Mrs Jenkinson

noreply@blogger.com (Virtude) — Thu, 01 May 2008 16:19:00 +0000

Mrs Jenkinson is a minor character, but we see her here gladly offering up the use of the piano in her room that Lizzie might improve her skill.

Miss Anne de Bourgh, Mrs Jenkinson and Mr William Collins

Her necklace seems to be a chain with drops in jet, possibly. I created a version with Swarovski faceted beads in Jet Hematite (a special coating which gives a kind of steely shine) and combined it with drops of sparkling Black Diamond:

Wire wrapped choker

And then I made matching earrings:

Wire wrapped matching earrings

Pride and Prejudice Jewellery Part VIII - Mrs Bennet

noreply@blogger.com (Virtude) — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 13:54:00 +0000

Mrs Bennet, I'm sure this character never had so much life breathed in to her as when Alison Steadman's played her; she was so shrill, so annoying but utterly wonderful and I'm glad that she continued to work in period dramas after this, her first performance in this genre.

Mrs Fanny Bennet

Here we see her wearing some simple-looking drop earrings, possibly coral judging by the colour and from the fact that coral was available around this time. I personally do not use coral as a material, but I do have some plain rounds of rose quartz! To match the colour better I should use Cherry Quartz, a dyed version but I prefer the subtler, more watery natural version.

Various Rose Quartz Beads

In order to make them look more "vintage", I worked in some Bali silver components. Although jewellery components with filigree work such as this might have been around, they would almost certainly have been in gold. But no matter, you can still see the "the look" I'm aiming for here:

Rose Quartz Earrings

I thought them rather pretty so I added a bracelet too:

Rose Quartz Bracelet

Pride and Prejudice Jewellery Part VII - Elizabeth Bennet

noreply@blogger.com (Virtude) — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 14:26:00 +0000

Of course no discussion of Pride and Prejudice would be complete without a mention of our heroine, Lizzie:

Miss Eliza Bennet

Everywhere in the BBC adaptation she seems to be wearing this very simple cross, even on her wedding day:

Mr Charles Bingley, Miss Jane Bennet, Mr Fitzwilliam Darcy and Miss Elizabeth Bennet

In my interpretation I decided to use a Swarovski cross, but only the simplest one available- crystal clear. I wrapped it with some heavy-ish gauge Sterling and another Swarovski bicone to create a bail:

Elizabeth: Swarovski cross and 5301 bicones, free rainbow with every one!

Then I also wrapped each end of the Sterling chain with a little crystal, including at the back. it's such an over-looked area but highly visible if you have short hair or wear your hair up. And here's the finished article:

Elizabeth: 46cm chain with a 3cm drop

Pride and Prejudice Jewellery Part VI - The Real Regency Period Jewellery

noreply@blogger.com (Virtude) — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 11:37:00 +0000

Pride and Prejudice Jewellery Part VI - The Real Regency Period Jewellery

Diana Scarisbrick has written a number of books on jewellery. I have one of her books, "Jewellery in Britain, 1066-1837", a heavy and serious-looking hardback which I confess I haven't read from cover to cover but rather, dip into as and when the need arises. Such a need has now arisen as I was interested to see the comparison between the BBC interpretation and the research in this book.

Our interest lies in the Regency period, which I believe is the period in which all of Jane Austen's novels were set, and lasted from 1811 to 1820. In the book this period falls under the chapters of "The social context of later Georgian jewellery 1790 - 1837" and "The categories of later Georgian jewellery 1790 - 18372".

Apparently it was a time of opulence and wealth, in 1817 an American ambassador was reportedly astonished by the lavish range of luxury goods including expensive gemstones. The prince regent, (appointed in 1811 and the reason for the naming of "The Regency Period") led the way with very high expenditure on jewellery. Other foreign visitors remarked on the "gems and plumes and pearls and silks...".

A contributing factor to the abundance of gems could be the fleeing émigrés of the French Revolution which finished just over a decade earlier.

Pearls were highly popular, but other materials were also used: amber, ivory, elk claw and bog oak!

Here are a few picture from the book, as you can see they all fit very well with the styles displayed in the BBC adaptation.

Incidentally, if you're interested in the fashion of the era, then the Pemberley site has a wonderful collection of images.

Pride and Prejudice Jewellery Part V- Mrs Gardiner

noreply@blogger.com (Virtude) — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 21:07:00 +0000

What a wonderful character Mrs. Gardiner is- so sensible, dignified but warm, gracious and kind also. She's one of my favourite characters in the book and I love Joanna David's effortlessly wonderful performance. We see her here at a soirée with a rather complicated-looking necklace and some graduated pearl earrings.

Grace and Serenity Personified: Joanna David as Mrs. Gardiner

I re-created a version of these, pausing for thought on whether I could possibly squeeze in some sparkly crystals, but decided against it, and so here is the resulting pair of earrings:

Mrs. Gardiner's Earrings

BTW I'm sure you know this already but here's a piece of trivia- in real life Joanna David is the mother of Emilia Fox, who played the young Miss Darcy in the same BBC adaptation!

Pride and Prejudice Jewellery Part IV - Lady Catherine de Bourgh

noreply@blogger.com (Virtude) — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 21:39:00 +0000

Lady Catherine de Bourgh is a very wealthy but incredibly bad mannered character from Pride and Prejudice. In the BBC adaptation her home and gardens are so wonderfully over the top- teetering on the edge between impressive and vulgar. Here we see her in her self-appointed throne-like chair:

"What, All five out at once?"

I haven't been successful thus far in capturing her necklaces, and I only had fleeting glimpses of her earrings, but they seem to be pearl drops, so I designed a pair with wire wrapped loops in a heavy gauge of Sterling silver wire and made them as important-looking as a simple pair of pearl drop earrings can look!

Lady Catherine Earrings: Fancied-up Ivory Pearl Drops

BTW For Her Ladyship I used Swarovski pearls, as I thought the slight, natural variations to be found in freshwater pearls (at least in my stock!) would have been found wanting...

Pride and Prejudice Jewellery Part III - Charlotte Lucas

noreply@blogger.com (Virtude) — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 17:42:00 +0000

Next up is the impeccably mannered Miss Charlotte Lucas, best friend of Lizzie and wife of Mr Collins (Jane Austen succinctly demonstrates the economic realities women of that era had to face). We see her here with a plain string of pearls:

Miss Charlotte Lucas

Well I obviously couldn't just string some pearls and leave it at that, could I? So for fun I interspersed some extra Swarovski Silver Rondelle Spacers, in a prime number pattern:

Charlotte: Swarovski 5810 and Swarovski 5820

And here's a bit more of the detail:

Charlotte: Close-up

Plus a little pair of earrings I put together to match:

Charlotte Earrings: Swarovski 5810 and Swarovski 5820

Pride and Prejudice Jewellery Part II

noreply@blogger.com (Virtude) — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 18:10:00 +0000

I recently re-watched all six parts of the fantastic BBC dramatisation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Along the way I captured screenshots of the lovely jewellery and put them in my Picasa Album.

I thought it would be fun to "re-invent" some of the pieces, or if you like, use them as inspiration.

So here is Part II, the star of which is Jane Bennet.

The gleefully awful Mrs Bennet with Lizzie and Jane

I noticed she was wearing a dainty string of pearls with a pendant, possibly a pearl drop. I liked the idea of a drop, but I also wanted to add some crystals in the mix so I used a small Swarovski flat briolette in silver shade to give it sparkle and add a little more interest, without going crazy with a large focus pendant. And once I had started with the silver shade crystals I kept going...interspersing 5301 bicones, take a look:

Jane: Swarovski Pearls, Crystals and Briolette

Jane: close-up

Although I didn't actually notice Jane wearing earrings on screen, I made a little pair of earrings to go with the necklace anyway.

Jane: Swarovski Pearls and Crystals

Another Birthday - Making a Birthday Present

noreply@blogger.com (Virtude) — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 20:43:00 +0000

It seems that April has its fair share of birthdays! Thursday was Paula's turn, she's a super-charged tornado of energy, an ex-athlete who used to compete at international level (for Spain) and who speaks with as much energy and speed as does everything else. (For a foreigner like me she can be tough to keep up with sometimes!). Anyway, it was her birthday and as we had been invited over for supper, I set about making something for her.

I had recently received some beautifully faceted Swarovski 5523 (aka Swarovski Cosmic) beads in Crystal Silver Shade. The special coating together with the slightly asymmetrical faceting make these stunning crystals interesting enough to stand on their own as a pendant. I wanted to make it a fairly short necklace so that the Cosmic crystal would be on show, and instead of just a plain chain I thought some little Swarovski 5301 bicone crystals also in Silver Shade would be a subtle addition, setting it apart from "high street" jewellery:

Paula: Swarovski 5523 in Crystal Silver Shade

And here's a closer view of the pendant, bail and flanking Swarovski 5301 bicones:

Paula: Swarovski 5523 in Crystal Silver Shade

Soon...matching earrings!

Ring a Ring of Roses...A Pocketful of Posies!

noreply@blogger.com (Virtude) — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 11:26:00 +0000

I have some basic tools like pliers, files, a saw, and hammers.

I like hammers.

One time in a friend's back garden they let me chop wood with an enormous axe...it was an amazing feeling. The axe was heavy and smooth, and once I got into a rhythm of swinging the axe up and letting it fall and seeing the wood splinter in two, it felt almost effortless and like it would be more effort to stop, a bit like that feeling of running with brand new trainers.

So where was I? Ah yes, hammers. So I was playing with a hammer today, I'm waiting for my little anvil/bench block to arrive, but in the meantime I just used the jaws of my bench vice to hammer some 18 gauge wire against. The idea I had was a posy of roses, initially I wanted green interspersed like leaves, but I decided just to leave (npi) it as you can see below:

Posy Necklace

On second thoughts I'm not thrilled with my use of the Swarovski 500 Light Siam beads there, I think either 5301 bicones or flowers would have looked better, but anyway I'll see how I get on with it over the next few days as I'm wearing it. I always wear items using "new technology", this is one of my good habits left over from my previous life. But I like the posy, and I can feel that once my new kit arrives I'll have lots of new ideas!

Posy Pendant

Jada - Swarovski Pearls and Crystals

noreply@blogger.com (Virtude) — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 21:49:00 +0000

I recently cleared my desk, well it's an ongoing battle I have with myself and recently I have been making more of an effort to be more tidy because I find when I have a desk I can actually see, the creative process feels easier- perhaps there is something in that Feng Shui stuff after all...?

Anyway, I found a collection of 6mm Swarovski pearls and 5301 bicone crystals in olives and greys that I had obviously set aside with some greater purpose in mind ;-) and subsequently forgotten all about! This morning I decided to arrange them in a symmetrical pattern and make a little jewellery set. And here they are: (I forgot to do the "before" photo but anyway...)

Bracelet, Necklace and Earrings

BTW I give names to all my ranges, even for one-offs. What may appear to be clever marketing (who me?) is actually just a simple way for me to identify the different ranges e.g. when talking with customers on the phone. I got the idea from one of the IKEA founders, although I doubt highly that I'll ever have a range called Sniglar...

And so the "thinking" behind this is that "Jada" means precious green stone, well at least according to babynamesworld.

Pride and Prejudice Jewellery (Part I)

noreply@blogger.com (Virtude) — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 16:19:00 +0000

A while ago I bought a stock of freshwater pearls, the colours looked like lovely earth tones. Unfortunately, when they arrived they were a little brighter than I had expected and so, too lazy to return them, they ended up in one of my drawers waiting for inspiration to strike me.

Pretty Enormous Pile of Pearls

At long last it has! I was watching Pride and Prejudice (1995 BBC adaptation) while making jewellery this morning and saw some simple little necklaces using pearls. This one is based most closely on the one Mary Bennet wears when playing the piano at one of the gatherings. Her version is with white pearls, this first example is a salmon pink or coral colour:

Necklace and Earrings Set

Very simply it consists of only Sterling silver and freshwater pearls. I used lengths of chain and some simple wire-wrapping to join the pieces of chain together and finished with a simple lobster clasp. The earrings are based on the little drop at the front of the necklace. I have called this set "Mary" and I'm sure I will add more colours, and probably a bracelet to match...

Indian Sapphire - How to use it and why it's called that

noreply@blogger.com (Virtude) — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 18:50:00 +0000

I received a new batch of Swarovski crystal recently including some sparkly new Swarovski Indian Sapphire AB 10mm faceted rounds (style 5000). I have a well-established range called "Bali Crystals" and I decided to make add it as one of my key summer colours in this range.

Below are the results of this morning's work:

Necklace - 42cm with an extension of 6cm

Earrings - 3.5cm

Bracelet - 19cm with an extension of 4cm

As for what Indian Sapphire actually means, it appears to be simply a description of the colour. According to Encyclopaedia Britannica:

The sapphire (blue variety of corundum) is considered one of the most valuable of precious stones. A sapphire's colouring usually indicates its origin. Those from Myanmar are deep blue. The Kashmir (Indian) sapphire is cornflower blue and is highly prized, being quite rare. Sapphires from Thailand are very similar in colour to those from Myanmar; those from Sri Lanka are of different shades.

I also like this text from Passione Jewellers as it includes explanations about Padparadscha and also Montana, these are another two Swarovski colours that I had wondered about!

Jewellery Hospital

noreply@blogger.com (Virtude) — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 16:39:00 +0000

I'm really lucky with my in-laws and particularly so with my mother in-law. She's French and wonderfully kind and thoughtful. Last birthday she bought me a piece of jewellery, a lovely faceted teardrop of blue chalcedony hung on a leather cord. I have worn it lots but now the wear and tear is beginning to show up on the cord, as you can see below:

Jewellery Hospital's first patient: Before

I had some 6mm blue lace chalcedony beads in my stash, and I had already decided that I wanted a vintage-style feel to the new piece, so I used my "Ava" range as my basic model.

I used some soldered jumps, Swarovski crystal and 0.7mm Sterling wire and you can see the results (click on the picture for a close-up):

Jewellery Hospital's first patient: After!

I am rather pleased with the end result! So much so that it has made me want to go raking through old jewellery and find new "patients"!

Grandmother's Garden (Part II)

noreply@blogger.com (Virtude) — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 11:05:00 +0000

I quickly put together a couple of sets of little sparkly earrings to complement my Grandmother's Garden bracelets, here they are:

Spring Colours 1

Spring Colours 2

Birthdays

noreply@blogger.com (Virtude) — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 13:13:00 +0000

One of the uniquely fortunate aspects of my new career is that I can make thoughtful gifts for friends and family. Gone are the days of searching for something appropriate, all I have to do now is source the right materials!

So then, it's my little sister's birthday next week. She's fun and bubbly so I thought that a funky necklace with a fused-glass pendant would be a good idea for her. I recently purchased some fabulous pendants from Miss Popko's Etsy shop with this intention in mind.

Rather than just stringing it on a plain chain or leather thong I decided to make a double-stranded creation- Sterling chain and organza to give it durability but also a splash of colour.

Happy Birthday Little Sis! (Click Photo to Enlarge)

I added an extension chain - as it's always nice to be able to adjust necklaces to suit, and finished with with a few dangling Swarovski crystals in Tanzanite and Light Tanzanite. The photo has made the pendant look a lot darker than it really is, and shows none of the dichroism but oh well, I'm happy with the end result, I just hope the birthday girl likes it too!

Grandmother's Garden

noreply@blogger.com (Virtude) — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 18:32:00 +0000

It's April, and I just love the lilacs, yellows and fresh new greens of this time of year!

My grandmother's garden is always full of daffodils and bluebells and so it was this, as well as the spiky shoots of new grass that inspired a new bracelet...

Then then I did another with the purples and greens:

I love that they're so simple and sparkly and translucent like big droplets of rain water on blades of grass!

I'm going to make a clear version, to be posted later. I'm also going to make some earrings to match these. But that's all for now, tx

Record breaking earrings and shopping

noreply@blogger.com (Virtude) — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 21:12:00 +0000

Today I shut my eBay shop since Spain's post offices are shut from tomorrow (Wednesday 19 March) until next Monday. It's a bit of a shame as last week I had record-breaking sales of 5 items sold in less than an hour!
Here are the record breakers...

And today was all about shopping!

Groceries (busy), supplies for my business (much needed) but also...beautiful
handmade items from other people on the wonderful Etsy.

I had had my eye on some handmade fused glass pendants by
Miss PoPkO. She makes some truly lovely pieces, and is just charming to deal
with. She's also making me some custom cabochons for a special piece of
jewellery that I have in mind. Once it's finished I'll post it here.

AB

noreply@blogger.com (Virtude) — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 15:49:00 +0000

AB stands for Aurora Borealis and is named after the atmospheric phenomenon otherwise knows as the Northern Lights.

In jewellery making it refers to a metallic coating applied to crystal to produce a shimmering effect of different colours, which vary depending on ambient lighting.

Mother of Pearl

noreply@blogger.com (Virtude) — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 15:16:00 +0000

Mother or Pearl is the nacreous interior of a pearl-producing clam. Nacre is the iridescent material which builds up in layers coating the insides of the shell, and also forming pearls themselves.
Mother of Pearl may be dyed, but in its most natural form is either black or white.

Venetian Glass

noreply@blogger.com (Virtude) — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 15:01:00 +0000

See Murano

Murano

noreply@blogger.com (Virtude) — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 14:57:00 +0000

Murano is an archipelago of islands linked by bridges. It lies about a mile north of Venice and is famous for its glass making, particularly lampworking.

In 1291, all the glassmakers in Venice were forced to move to Murano due to the fire risk that their ovens posed to the predominantly wooden structures of 13^th century Venice. In the following century, Murano became famous for glass beads and mirrors, later for chandeliers.

Today, the artisans of Murano are still employing century-old techniques, crafting a wide range of beautiful wares.

There are many imitations and mass-producers (notably from China) and these components should never be called “Murano” but instead, for example “Murano style”.

Tahitian Black Pearl - What is it?

noreply@blogger.com (Virtude) — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 12:23:00 +0000

Tahitian Black Pearls, or Black Pearls are so special because of their rarity. These pearls, ever though cultured, can never be mass produced (like freshwater pearls) because of the precise conditions required by the black pearl oysters (Pinctada margaritifera)

The Tahitian government has produced a set of pearl grading standards; the following characteristic are based on those.

Six Pearl Grading Factors

Pearl Shape: Round, Semi-Round, Semi-Baroque, Ringed or Circle, Baroque.
Pearl Size: 8MM to 21MM.
Pearl Surface Quality: Clean-Very Lightly Blemished (A), Light Blemished (B), Moderately Blemished (C), Heavily Blemished (D).
Lustre: Very high (AAA), High (AA), Medium (A), Soft (B).
Nacre Thickness: Thick, Thin.
Colour: Body colour plus overtone.

Tahitian pearls can take on all the colours of the oyster shell which produces it and have a wide range of body colours. The predominant basic colours are

black,
grey,
blue,
green and
brown.

Tahitian pearls also have beautiful overtones in

blue,
pink,
gold,
silver,
reddish purple/aubergine and
peacock green.

These overtones may be present in a variety of combinations and are considered a definite plus factor.

Generally, the darker the Tahitian black pearl, the more valuable it is.
The finest and most highly sought after black pearls have a peacock green overtone.