Da Doo Ron Ron

Last post about wedding jewellery for  a while, I promise! 

Yesterday was Becky and Arron's "vintage" themed wedding. Sadly I was only able to be there in the evening as I had to work during the day (*damn you, day job!) but it was a pleasure to be part of a fabulous evening of music, dancing, doughnuts and divas! I have shared some photos of the bridesmaid's hair accessories, as made by moi, on Facebook. If I get permission, I'll post them on here too. There isn't a close up photo of the hair comb I made for Becky's bridesmaid Emma, but I posted a photo of it here and a photo of the hair band here when they were first made. 

Below is a picture of the hair clips of doom as they began to be known as! I had a few issues getting the beads to stay where I needed them at first, so I helped them along with some glue. I then made the fateful error of storing them in a resealable bag, like I do with all the jewellery I make... The glue had a reaction in the bag and the clips were ruined! So I started again, this time careful not to store them erroneously...Then I accidentally wired one of the clips shut! But they were eventually finished and actually looked gorgeous in real life. They are made with a vintage clip base, pink tear-drop shaped glass pearls and hot pink seed beads.

Becky looked stunning in her vintage style dress. I am a bit useless at knowing the styles from different eras, but I'd say 40's-50s? Becky was in a beautiful white (well duh!) dress with an amazing tulle skirt, and the most awesome shoes ever and the bridesmaids were pretty in pink. As Becky is a musician, there was an element of performance to the wedding. Arron had had a few singing lessons on the quiet and sang a Lionel Ritchie song for Becky, and then later on Becky returned the favour by singing "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man" later on in the evening. I have heard Becky sing before but this was something else. It made me cry, it was so beautiful - and I don't cry at weddings! (I don't know why because I cry at everything else!)

Anyway, as I said, last wedding post for a while. I have a new venture in the pipeline and also am getting into Christmas commission season! If you're in the Romsey area, I am hopefully doing a stall in November at Academy Studios. More details to follow!

Beautiful Brides

I know all of my recent posts have been about weddings... I have been a bit consumed by wedding related jewellery recently - with Rachel's wedding in August, Becky's coming up in October and my best friend's wedding in March, I am tiara-a-go-go. I have a vested interest in the jewellery for Anna's wedding in March as I am a bridesmaid!

Rach has kindly shared some photos of her wedding to show off the jewellery I made for her. I saw her and her husband (eeep!) at a wedding of a mutual friend this past weekend (more on that later) and Paul told me that the jewellery I had made was beautiful which made me really really happy. All I can do is try to make what I think will work and suit the bride. To be told I have made something beautiful is lovely.

Here are some photos of the gorgeous Rachel (and Paul) on their special day...

Are those not the happiest two people EVER? I love the look of sheer joy on Rachel's face in the first one. You can see the earrings in both shots and the bracelet in the second. Awww!

Anyway, on to the other wedding. Hannah married the lovely Michael last Saturday in Great Bookham in Surrey. Han, me and Rach have known each other since secondary school, and whilst we lost touch a bit, the magic of Facebook has kept us up to speed with each other's lives. Han was at Rachel's wedding and Rach advertised my wares so well that Hannah asked me to make her some earrings for her wedding. Of course, I agreed - and was able to make something that fitted her exact specifications! But, life is never simple... 

I made the earrings, and also two bracelets using semi precious fluorite and freshwater pearls beads for the mother of the bride and mother of the groom. These I packaged up and posted of to Hannah with at least 6 days before the wedding... The Friday before I enquired if they had arrived safely, safe in the knowledge that I had posted them first class. No, said Hannah's lovely mum Cecilia, but not to worry the postie hadn't been yet... Later that day I had another message from Cecilia. Still no package. Panic stations! I decided to make another set and try to get the earrings to Hannah before she walked down the aisle... A wedding relay if you will. I managed (just!) to scrape together enough beads for two more bracelets as I was running low on the fluorite beads at this stage... I took them with me to the wedding on Saturday, hoping it would all work out. Thankfully I got a message from Cecilia as I was waiting at the church - the package had arrived earlier in the week but she'd forgotten about it! :) Phew!

These are the earrings I made for Hannah (a photo of the bracelets to follow when I have better light to take a photo of the "copies"! These are freshwater pearls with Swarovski crystals on sterling silver ear wires. Very simple but they suited Hannah's outfit and colour scheme perfectly!

All in all, it's been a busy few weeks beading. And now the Christmas rush begins!! I will update again soon!

Wedding Bells

Ok, so I didn't manage a post per week after my last one, but it's been less than a month, so that's progress!

I've been away in the Czech Republic with a group of Explorer Scouts from Kent. We had a great time although I was a bit gutted that I didn't manage to find any bead shops in Prague...I was hoping to pick up some Czech glass beads at bargainous prices but it wasn't to be! Never mind.

I have seen some photos from the lovely Rachel's wedding, showing off the jewellery I made her. By all accounts her and Paul had a great day and Rach looked as beautiful as I knew she would. I am now heavily in the throes of making jewellery for my friend Becky who is getting married in October. I think I mentioned in the previous post that I was making a birdcage veil for her - never done that before so this will be a challenge.

I've also been challenging myself with some tiara making. I may have some exciting news on that front regarding a commission so I've been having a fiddle with some wire and pretty beads. I am quite pleased with the outcome!

As always, if you know of anyone who is getting married and wants bespoke jewellery, please put them in touch. I love making wedding accessories!

Experiments in Wedding Jewellery...

Well, I have not been good at updating this blog. Perhaps I should set myself a reminder to update it at least once a week... I think that's do-able.

I've been busily making lots of beautiful jewellery recently. I did a craft fair yesterday (that's a blog post all of it's own) and I've also been lucky enough to have been asked to make the bridal jewellery and accessories of three of my friends. (I've got to that age where all my friends appear to be getting married and having babies!). I think it's a really honour to be asked to make the jewellery for someone's wedding. I know it's not what people are looking at, but good jewellery can enhance a wedding dress. This is particularly challenging for me because I am making things I have never made before, including a birdcage veil and a tiara!

The first wedding I was commissioned to make the jewellery for was for my gorgeous friend Rachel, who I have known since secondary school. We were very good friends at school and through sixth form college but then lost touch a bit during university. Recently, through the magic of Facebook we have been put back in touch and Rach is one of my best customers! When she asked me to make her jewellery I was really pleased. Luckily she gave me a very clear brief, wanting very simple earrings and a bracelet, with a hint of orange using gold findings. So, I found some tiny Swarovski crystals in "Fire Opal" which was the perfect shade of orange and teamed them with gold findings and stunning freshwater pearls.

I also made a pearl bracelet using more freshwater pearls and a final pair of earrings as well. Rachel wasn't sure which ones would look best with the dress - the long dangly ones might be a bit much - but now she has a choice :) I love the heart clasp for the bracelet - fitting for a wedding I felt!

My next project is a birdcage veil for my friend Becky's wedding...I'll put photos up when I have finished it. I have also made her bridesmaid a beaded hairband which compliments the colour of the dress. The hairband photos appear to be on my phone so once I've worked out how to get them off I'll put them up here...

Update: Here is the picture of Becky's hair band for one of the bridesmaids. See next post for the matching hair comb!

If you're getting married and would like some bespoke jewellery for the occasion, please get in contact.

Competition Time!

I am very pleased to announce that as now that over 100 people "like" Clarity Beads on Facebook I have decided to run a competition!

Here is how it will work...Below are 4 peices handmade by me. All you need to do is comment on the post and tell me which one you like the best (or would like to win). After a week of comments I will pick names out of a hat and the lucky person wins the item they chose!

To make it easier, I have put the pieces up in Facebook as well and you can comment on the pictures with "mine please" to enter.

Make sense? Awesome!

Glass Pearl Bracelet

Blue Bag Charm

Sea Green Pearl Earrings

Purple Wire Wrapped Pendant

Have a look at our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/claritybeads

Busy Busy Busy

 

Sunset Sweetie Bracelet

My new month resolution to update this blog every week has fallen by the wayside again, apologies! I did have an excuse as I was flat on my back for a week with a really bad back - jewellery making is bad for your health! But since I have recovered I should have been back at the writing...Anyway, I have been very busy creating a variety of lovelies for various people and just for the pleasure of making things!

Fijian Dreams

I spent the day with my beady friend Jen (check out her lovely things -www.folksy.com/shops/JenB) and was inspired to try some new techniques, and also add to my growing collection of designs. I have since made a number of memory wire bracelets as you can see in the pictures... Then I spent another day (it was half term) with the lovely Rachel of Fleeces Pieces (look her up on Facebook - gorgeous) and whilst we didn't make anything, she inspired me to play around with semi precious stones and so the bracelets below were born...
 

  



After this excitement, I was asked to make a lot of earrings for my good friend Linnéa who was treating herself for her birthday. It challenged me quite a lot to make all the pairs to her specifications but I think I managed it!

Recently I've been completing items for a Scout fair on Sunday, so these will go up on Folksy if they don't sell next week! I am also moving back down to Hampshire to be an Assistant Houseparent at the school I worked at before so hopefully I'll get some time for some lovely beading there as well... On that note...I should probably pack!

   





Productivity

As I have mentioned before I have recently become re-unemployed (re- because until recently I was a student...). This is very frustrating and depressing, especially as there are very few jobs about for SLTs of my experience (nil) at the moment. The NHS is making cuts left right and centre and jobs to apply for are few and far between.

Anyway - what has this got to do with making and selling jewellery? It means that I have a lot more time to play with beads, learn new techniques, use different materials! All positives - silver lining and all that. On a weekend away in Loughborough last week I visited the local bead shop (http://www.bojanglebeads.co.uk/) and had a lovely time browsing all of their gorgeous stock. In consequence I have acquired a lot more beads! So today I thought I should really concentrate on making some new lovelies so I can make back some of the money I spent!

Pinky&Perky - £8

Pearls, rose quartz and Czech glass beads combine to make this delightfully girly bracelet!

Woodland Wonder - £20

This bracelet uses the fashionable "sweetie" charm bracelet style and combines gorgeous glass leaves, silver plated leaf charms, freshwater pearls and Swarovski crystals for a beautiful dangly effect.

From Copper with Love - £15

This bracelet has a chunky antique copper chain and clasp and is decorated wtih pearlescent discs, stars and coral coloured freshwater pearls - gorgeous.

Pearly Queen Pendant - £15

Gorgeous Czech glass pearls are combined with freshwater pearls on silver rings to create a beautiful cluster pendant.

Pearly Queen Earrings - £6.50

Daisy Daisy Earrings - £7

Trinty brass Daisy charms and lilac glass leaves on silver ear wires make these earrings really cute.

Tulip Earrings - £6.50

Purple glass "trumpet" flowers, silver decorative headpins and fluorite beads - beautiful and classy.

Blue Hearted - £6

Blue foil lined glass hearts with iridescent red/turquoise glass beads on silver plated ear wires.

Delightful Danglies

(Am beginning to wonder how many alliterative titles I can think of...)


Before Christmas and this week I've been making lots of pairs of gorgeous earrings. I've got a lovely collection of different types of beads (acrylic, pearl, glass) of all shapes and sizes that I've been putting together to create some really pretty earrings. The only problem is I keep making things I want to keep....

Ruby Red Earrings - £5.50

Oceana Earrings - £6

Purple Pearl Earrings - £5.50

Ice Queen Earrings - £6

Chip off the Old Block Earrings - £5

Navajo Earrings - £7.50

Oriental Earrings - £6

Midas Earrings - £6

Oyster Pearl Earrings - £6

Cupid Calling

What is that I see? Yes, the shops are full of red, pink, fluff, glitter and all sorts of other schmaltz... it must be Valentines Day. What ever your thoughts are on the day of St Valentine, it is pretty much inescapable!

So whether you are a woman who wants to drop some hints for their other half, or a man looking for inspiration, have a look below at some of the beauties that I've made, especially for Valentines Day! I have been mainly using Rose Quartz stones as they are a gorgeous pink colour and also lovely to work with...

Beautiful Buttons - £15

Buttons may not be to everyone's taste, but I think they're really cute. These pink and purple buttons have been teamed up with creamy pearly buttons on a silver plated charm bracelet. The heart shaped clasp and "Made with Love" tag charm make this perfect for a gift on Valentines Day...Supplied in an organza pouch.

Rose Quartz & Freshwater Pearl Charm Bracelet - £18

Rose Quartz is known for it's healing and calming properties. It is a semi precious stone and as such each rondelle is unique. Combined with freshwater pearls this bracelet is really something special. It is on a silver charm bracelet and comes supplied in a gift box.

Rose Quartz Heart Pendant - £10

This rose quartz stone has been shaped into a heart and has a small freshwater pearl above it. This would look lovely on a silver chain which can be supplied for a small extra charge. Supplied in an organza pouch.

Rose Quartz Bracelet - £15

Lastly in the rose quartz section we have this simple bracelet made with gorgeous rondelles of rose quartz combined with a "Made with Love" tag charm. Supplied in an organza pouch.