necklace for a September bride

As it is the last day of September today, I can now share a commissioned necklace and earring set I made for Karen a bride whose wedding day was earlier this month.  I hope the day was magical Karen

The necklace comprises of approximately 200 swarovski crystals, jet, pale peach and jet ab twisted onto black enameled wire and the earrings are black shamballa and pale peach on a black plate chain.

handmade bespoke jewellery by Angela Smith

bronze and turquoise

My new necklace design for today is a floating necklace with a twist, or several twists actually!
threading the beads as I would do for a floating necklace onto nylon coated wire, but adding tiny glass beads, on bronze wire and sewn together into small flowers with twisted stems.

handmade jewellery by Angela Smith

Macmillan Coffee Morning

Another year has passed by so quickly and here I am again in the Grosvenor Centre, Gnosall, for another Macmillan coffee morning, surrounded by friends it is such a lovely event to attend and marks the beginning of the run up to Christmas.
My stall all set up waiting for the rush!!!

A selection of tiaras

first outing for my tree

 I use the event to remind people about my jewellery as they are local it isn't so important for me that I make sales on the day- so any sales are a bonus. - Today was a good day
I waved goodbye to

 my oak leaf pendant

 these bronze wire earrings

and this bracelet
three of my more recent makes, plus several other items too, guess I will need to make up more jewellery next week:)

handmade jewellery by Angela Smith 

A touch of dicroic

You know how it is, you buy beautiful beads and you then don't want to use them because when they are gone they are gone and you might not manage to get them again, so I use these beads sparingly. But what is the point of having them if you can't use the them.; so here are a couple of pairs of earrings I made this morning!

both feature a dichroic glass bead  along with swarovski crystals and glass beads

handmade jewellery by Angela Smith

Carnelian and bronze

These carnelian nougats are a favourite of mine, I have used them in many designs over the years, but as I have only just started using bronze wire this week, I have never used them to make a necklace like this before. It is much heavier and chunkier than most of my designs but as I have to keep reminding myself delicate jewellery isn't everyone's cup of tea!!!

SOLD

handmade jewellery by Angela Smith

Oak leaf pendant

Autumn is definitely on it's way and this week I have been concentrating on making Autumn themed jewellery, including this Autumnal Oak leaf, fashioned free hand using bronze wire with a handful of Swarovski crystals woven into it. It is hanging on black cotton cord.

handmade jewellery by Angela Smith

Autumn in bronze and crystal

 I am definitely having an Autumnal week, having already posted two designs this week with an Autumn theme I have another to share today, with two more waiting in the wings also made yesterday and a couple more ideas in my head which will hopefully be completed later on this week, in between the restringings that I seem to be collecting at the moment.
Whilst looking around my work room I noticed my bronze wire stash that I had bought last month for another project which has been put on hold for the time being, so yesterday I had a play with the wire and made three different items, this being the first. It is my time working or playing with bronze wire and I have to say I like it very much, it has a totally different feel to the silver wire when using it and obviously has a very different look to it too!
I am classing this as one item when in fact it is two, as it is a set, usually I would sell items in a set individually and it will be the same with this, but deep down I would really like this to go as a complete set.

Autumn leaves with berries - bracelet and earring set

Each leaf has a Swarovski crystal in and the berries are tiny glass beads.

I have to say I am pleased I chose to make a bracelet rather than a necklace as the wire did get quite tangled when starting off, that isn't to say I couldn't make a necklace, if it was asked for - it would make a stunning necklace!

handmade jewellery by Angela Smith

Autumn Fairy

to brighten your day .......

                                                                 

                                                                       fairy

handmade by Angela Smith

Autumnal colours

A necklace in greens, browns and reds, inspired by Autumn .

handmade jewellery by Angela Smith

A new addition to my stall display.

With my new range of wildlife beaded pendants - such as the seahorses, butterflies and bees etc. and my fairies I decided I needed a new way to display them when I take them out to events. So yesterday my mind turned to making a wire tree. My display cloths are black so I opted for a black tree too.
Using very thick but bendy craft wire I formed my tree and wrapped some thinner wire around it to secure it before wrapping the whole thing in black ribbon.

I then found a pot to place it in, it is currently supported in the pot by some smooth pebbles, but that might change yet.

I can't wait to see what it looks like with lights draped over it and my pendants and fairies hanging from it.


handmade jewellery by Angela Smith

Keeping it simple

Here is another necklace made this week, it may not be as complicated a design as some of the other necklaces I have made recently, but these simple floating necklaces always look good for an every day necklace, whatever beads I choose to use, I was in a purple mood when I made this so I chose some round fimo beads along with some frosted glass and crystal beads.

handmade jewellery by Angela Smith

three strands of sparkle

Another new bracelet to share with you all today - this three stranded bracelet is full of sparkle and is made with glass beads

handmade jewellery by Angela Smith

A Vintage style necklace

Another beadwork necklace for you, based on the same design as the pearl one in my previous post. This one is made with glass beads and shouts out Vintage

handmade jewellery by Angela Smith

Vintage style beaded necklace

Simple beadwork can be so effective, I love creating delicate jewellery and this design is so pretty. Like so many of my designs, I had an idea of a necklace in my head and wanted to see if it would work, so yesterday I started threading and this was the end result - I am so thrilled with this.

This necklace has been made with tiny rocaille beads and Swarovski crystal pearls.

If you have a Vintage themed wedding this would be perfect, but you could equally wear it with so many other outfits too.

handmade jewellery by Angela Smith

wire and bead bracelet

shhh!! don't tell anyone but this was a salvaged failed design! It was supposed to be the second of the pair of these beaded coiled ear loops.

 But the coil had been wound with too much slack and ended up much larger than the first and I preferred the first earring so I stretched the coil out with the idea that I would dismantle it to re-use the beads, but realised that actually the stretched look worked as a bracelet, it just needed a bit of trimming down and a clasp attaching to come up with this!

handmade jewellery by Angela Smith

beaded coiled wire ear loops and matching necklace

Continuing on my journey with coiled wire, I added hundreds of glass beads into the mix.

These earrings deserved a necklace to match.

handmade jewellery by Angela Smith

Diamante and Swarovski crystal pearl stick pin

If you want some sparkle but don't want to go over the top with bling why not opt for a simple stick pin or brooch.
I made this simple stick pin attaching Swarovski crystal pearls around a diamante flower and then securing it to the pin. This is enough to dress up any outfit.

handmade jewellery by Angela Smith

coiled wire loop earrings - part 2

The possibilities with this earring design are numerous - I still have ideas I want to work on but for now here are a couple more pairs of coiled wire earrings with added beads completed yesterday.

Same basic design but with a couple of Swarovski crystal pearls added.

With these I have coiled a pink wire and a silver plate wire together and also some added Swarovski crystals.

handmade jewellery by Angela Smith

coiled wire ear loops

Not a bead in sight - just made by coiling wire -

Ear loops

handmade jewellery by Angela Smith 

Ear hook trial

I made the decision last week to attempt to make my own ear hooks and jewellery findings as well as continue to buy ready made ones in for the time being. I will be following instructions when I start in earnest, but today I just wanted to to see how plausible an idea it really is. So with my enamel coated silver wire I made these earrings -
I cut two identical lengths of wire and with my little hammer I flattened the very end which would act as a stopper for the glass beads and cats-eye I then threaded onto the wire. once I was happy with my bead selection I held both pieces of wire together and bent the wire half way around a pencil to form the bend. I then grabbed both ends with my pliers and gave them a little flick and then filed the tips of the wire until they felt smooth to touch. I know that hammering wire adds some rigidity to the form so I lightly hammered at the bend which I am trusting will help keep the shape. I believe this has worked, but has caused another problem as I only used enamel coated wire my hammering it has worn away some of the coating. This of course won't be an issue when I use metal wire!
They are good enough for me to wear but not for me to sell - but for a first attempt and not following any instructions I am very pleased with these.

 Handmade jewellery by Angela Smith

Three beaded fairies

This morning's work -

These three wire and bead fairies will be winging their merry way over to Gallery at 12 sometime this month unless they have worked their magic before hand and someone buys them before I next go over!

Handmade by Angela Smith