Happy Friday: Mostly chainmaille

Hi everyone,

The week's seem to fly by, don't they?  Now that it's getting towards Spring, we have been taking advantage of some sunny but cold days to get out and about and do some swimming.  That's Lucca swimming, not me or Phil!

This was great fun and Lucca got a good workout for his dodgy elbow. Then one of those swans that you can just see in the background decided to swim over to remind us whose territory it was!  

Amazing what you see when you're dog pulls you to every available river.  From the distance, we did wonder out loud whether this was a toy helicopter!  We all thought it was a bit showy to have it on the lawn, but I suppose if you've got one, it's a challenge to find parking spaces big enough.  Not a problem I think I will ever have. The chickens seemed to be quite happy with it there. 

Jewellery wise, still mostly chainmaille. How long can this obsession last? Some of these bracelets are quite heavy - it's amazing how the weight of the rings builds up.

I love that this one looks a bit like knitting.

The weave here is held in place with faux brown leather cord. 

This one is my favourite, with a rainbow of faux pearls.

Which do you like best?

Here's the link to see what others have been creating this week at Planet Penny .http://planetpenny.co.uk

Alison x

Handmade Monday - more of those tassel necklaces

Happy New Year blog followers. I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and New Year break.  Here's a quick pic of Lucca the dog enjoying the beach at Broad Haven on Christmas Day, when it was bright and windy.   

I kept crafting all the way through the break, and I'm still a bit obsessed with making dangles for the interchangeable chain necklaces. Because I always want my jewellery to have a touch of the ancient world about it - I like things to look like they could have literally been dug out of the ground! - I always love to use pearls, glass pearls in this case. 

That one is a bit Cleopatra, don't you think?

Five pearls in a row.

A lovely textured ring charm.

And some chainmaille with green Quartz beads. 

Would love to know which you like best?

One of my New Year resolutions is to do more tutorials on this blog, so please make sure you nag me if they don't appear, won't you?

Here's a link to Handmade Harbour where you can see what other crafty people have been making this week. http://handmadeharbour.blogspot.co.uk

Alison x

Handmade Monday: Wedding jewellery

This week I've mainly been making some jewellery for me to wear to a family wedding.  I can't reveal the pictures as it's a family secret until next weekend, but I'll just say that my dress is bottle green and the statement necklace involves deep green and purple glass bead chain maille flowers, there's a lapel brooch, a bracelet and some tiny bead earrings. 

I started, and then stopped, making a fascinator, as my OH said it looked like a helicopter propeller, and I have to say, he is always an honest and very good critic and I could see the resemblance myself as soon as he said it.  So no fascinator, or hat, or tiara - just bare hair! The other pieces do meet his approval, but I'm not sure whether I should wear all of them together.  Hopefully, I won't be looking back on the photos in a few years time and wondering what on earth I was thinking!

I thought I'd show you my other wedding pieces in the meantime.  These always sell well in my shops, and it's lovely to have something, in some cases personalised, to celebrate your special day. 

This one has all the elements I think you need for the special day and the marriage afterwards - luck, love, a posh dress, the right shoes, and the key to your beloved's heart.  Have I missed anything?

There are some couples who, dare I say it, need a bit more luck (!), so this one has a four-leafed clover and a guardian angel too. 

This one is personalised with a rustic style stamped charm, and has a traditional pearl for the wedding - and a bird, as the person receiving this one has a particular love of them. I hope they had a lovely day on Friday.

This one was intended for wedding favours, or bridesmaid's gifts with their initials.

I was once the bride, but a long time ago now, and before I made jewellery myself.  I would probably choose pearls if I was a bride now, and this necklace is my favourite piece of wedding jewellery.

It's a metre long, with luscious vintage faux cream pearls and rock crystal cubes.  It would be great for a twenties, flapper style wedding.  The camera doesn't really do it justice.

This one was bought by a lady for her daughter's wedding.  It was lovely and delicate with the coin and potato pearls, and I think a surprise gift.

Which do you like best?  What is your favourite wedding jewellery?  When have you successfully pulled off the fascinator/big hat/no hat/tiara/discreet hair comb look?!  Share with us.

Have a great crafting week.  Here's a link to see what others have been making.

See you soon,
Alison x

Wordless Wednesday - Strawberry cream tea anyone?

Introducing the 'brangle'

This was really a mistake, but I think I might have created something unique by doing it!

The pearls came in a batch of different colours. The gold ones were the ones I thought I probably wouldn't make up. Nothing wrong with gold, just not one of my favourite shades.

But I thought I'd see if the holes were large enough for memory wire, so started experimenting with the gold ones, and seeing if some topaz crystals would co-ordinate with them.





As you can see, they went on and I was pleased with the crystal effect. Quite a tight fit though, and as I teased them on, something happened to the memory wire. It sort of expanded and lost it's curl.


I finished it off with a jump ring and crystal, just to see how it would look...





And now, I think I've got something half way between a bracelet and a bangle. It has enough flexibility to slip on the wrist but is quite rigid like a bangle. Could it be I've invented the BRANGLE?!

Here's the finished article. The colour is really growing on me now, and I'm thinking of putting it in the shop. What do you think?