New Jewellery Preview

A sneak preview of some new pieces for the site!

Petal Necklace; I've hand-patinated this brass petal-shaped focal which is wrapped with a gold-plated double leaf spray, added brass chain and enamelled wire, adding freshwater pearls, Czech glass and Swarovski crystal; the necklace is full of wire wrapped Swarovski crystal, Czech firepolish glass, freshwater pearls - a variety of contemporary and vintage components. The clasp is to the front/side to make the necklace easy to put on and take off and is finished with a brass clasp. Necklace measures approx. 16.5 inches / 42 cm; the pendant/focal/dangle element measures approx. 5 inches / 12.5 cm. 

Green Leaf Necklace; with an American artist-made Raku pottery lily pad leaf, this necklace also features antiqued bronze findings, a lovely copper leaf charm, bronze wiring, silk cord and a range of collected beads from around the world and through time - starting with a Victorian green glass bead, the green stripy satin glass bead (1930's), some 1960's Japanese beads, contemporary Swarovski crystal, Swarovski crystal pearls, contemporary gold-lined Murano glass, and ceramic spacers; the necklace is finished with hand-stitched green silk cord, so you can tie this at the length you want. Necklace measures approx. 35 inches / 89 cm end to end.

Green Leaf Necklace with handmade Raku clay pendant

Flying Necklace; with an American artist-made Raku pottery double wing pendant, antique and vintage beads and components including Victorian Venetian glass beads, 1930's Bohemian glass beads, 1940's Vaseline glass, a copper leaf charm, lots of freshwater pearls including a square and stick pearls, all the components are wrapped with bronze wire, bronze and patinated copper swallow, rings, beads and to-the-front clasp which makes the necklace easy to put on and take off; the necklace is finished off with a scrap of teal silk (which can be removed if you would prefer); the necklace measures approx. 18.5 inches / 47 cm and the pendant measures approx. 1.75 inches / 4.5 cm.

Flying Necklace

Green Leaves Earrings; these American artist-made Raku pottery leaves are beautiful - I've wired them with oxidised (blackened) sterling silver wire and green freshwater pearls; the sterling leverback fittings have been left shiny. The earrings measure approx. 1.5 inches / 4 cm.

Taking Flight Earrings; these American artist-made Raku pottery wings are gorgeous - I've wired them with oxidised (blackened) sterling silver wire and freshwater pearls; the sterling leverback fittings have been left shiny. The earrings measure approx. 1.5 inches / 4 cm.

Falling Leaves Earrings; these American artist-made Raku pottery leaves are gorgeous - I've wired them with oxidised (blackened) sterling silver wire and freshwater pearls; the sterling leverback fittings have been left shiny. The earrings measure approx. 1.25 inches / 3 cm.

 More to follow....

Tessa Heirloom Tiara

This is a piece I've made for the site - its been sitting on my desk waiting for me to finish - I made a comfortable wired band, then used a 'sieve' type fitting to wire in some good stuff - I've had this English bone china cornflower brooch for ages, and used lucite flowers and leaves, Czech glass flowers and leaves, Swarovski crystal , Swarovski crystal pearls, goldtone wire, seed beads, freshwater pearls, and some old and collected beads, fittings and findings from my bead boxes - the asymmetric style is very popular with brides who don't want a full-on tiara and this one makes me think of Engish summers.

Upcycled Necklace - Beau Belle

I finished this a few days ago.   Sometimes, when I go to an antique fair I get so excited I almost faint - finding this gorgeous marcasite-set enamelled brooch was one such occasion.   It doesn't seem like vandalism to me to take off the back of a brooch and make it into something else, especially as everyone is wearing bows at the moment - I went down to our local shopping mall (the huge Trafford Centre) to see everyone, the world, his wife and their sister wearing great huge drippy trails of outsize faux pearls and bows, I know, its been in for ages.  I don't really do outsize jewellery all that much - with all the fashion in right now, the colours, the shapes, its so reminiscent of the 1980's when I was a kid - and I've only just got over that.  

Anyway, I digress.  I've had this piece on my desk for ages, and I knew exactly what I was going to do with it but just hadn't got round to it - mainly because I was having difficulties locating the right shade of green freshwater pearls for it - having said that, trawling through my bead boxes turned up these, and I thought I was going to use dark metallic Keishi pearls but ended up using this softer grey instead.   The piece is made to be worn asymmetrically - that is, with the bow to one side and with the clasp showing - why put on a great expensive sterling silver and marcasite clasp if you're going to hide it at the back.

Amazingly, the bow stays exactly where it was put - I know this because I couldn't resist test-driving the piece whilst down at the Trafford Centre and I near enough got mugged for it in Monsoon and Molton Brown, though its always nice to have pieces admired.    The lady in Monsoon was telling me she made clothes -- its a pity we don't all wear t-shirts saying what we like to do, because I'm sure we'd make some great friends....anyway, hope you like the pics.

Saskia Heirloom Comb

This is Saskia Heirloom comb - as soon as I saw the huge c.1980's vintage clip on earrings I knew they were too large for the ears of any human being, but I knew exactly what I would do with them - they were an unusual shaped piece of Mother of pearl overlaid with goldtone brass filigree and then some nice beadwork and crystal twinkles - I took the backs off and then sat with my head in my hands for a while regretting that - how, when I had taken the fixings off was I going to be able to wire them back into something?  
I sorted that one out in the end then had fun wiring Swarovski crystal pearls and beads, freshwater pearls and other tiny treasures into the comb - making the middle join up was a challenge because every time I put in new beads, the earrings parted company which meant going back to more wirework; to me, the important thing about using vintage items in a fresh new piece is that is that the entire finished piece should look as 'seamless' as possible; despite my telling you there are vintage items in there, the join between the new and the old should not be obvious. 
I've made the comb a bit flexible so that it can be inserted against the hair rather than perch on top...in the end, I was pleased with the piece and can't wait to see someone wearing it!

New Bracelets

Latest bracelets I've made for SLC Designs - these have yet to go on the site, so this is a bit of a preview - if you are interested in any of these, please just get in touch at stephanie@slcdesigns.co.uk

Above - first of a series of 'Upcycled' vintage pieces - 1950's brooch and mother of pearl bracelet link, acrylic silvertone flower, Swarovski crystal and Swarovski crystal pearls.