Swarovski Crystal Patina Hearts

Have you seen the new Swarovski Crystal Patina finished hearts? I recently came across a giveaway of some through JillyBeads and I was so lucky to win a pack of 10. They are beautiful, They have the sheen and sparkle you would expect from Swarovski but also a vintage feel to them too. 

The hearts measure 10mm x 10mm and I have decided already to use a few as part of gift I am making as Christmas presents this year. (I'm sure I will be able to share photos of them soon). I feel so lucky to have gotten my hands on so make lovely Swarovski hearts so thank you to all at JillyBeads I'm really going to enjoy incorporating these into my Christmas presents.

Ah Thank You!

I only this week noticed that the Jewelry From Home blog featured my necklaces on their Makers Gallery section twice over the last few months. They said lovely things about them all so I'm really happy. 

My Jigsaw, Heart and Star pendants where featured on their March Makers Gallery Post (which you can see here). 

My Copper Spike Necklace (which you can see here) was featured as part of their April Makers gallery post. You can see my tutorial for that piece here.

Oh Lovely Things Came Today

I ordered some things from Beads Unlimited last week using the £25 voucher I received from Beads and Beyond Magazine when they printed my picture last month, and today they arrived. 

I'm so happy with everything and always love the quality of Beads Unlimited products. My favourites have to be the ceramic owl beads. I have no idea how I'm going to use them yet but when I saw them I had to add them to my basket. The teapot clasps are fun looking and the toggle bar is a spoon. I did get some basics, glass beads and glass pearls but also got some new things I hadn't ever tried working with before like the large wooden heart pendants. I have a bit of an idea for those already so hopefully you will be seeing pictures of them again soon. 

I think I'm going to have a bit of fun playing with all of this today.

New Pendants and Some Fun

Yesterday I spent a few hours in the workshop making up a few new pendants. I had one final (for now) jigsaw puzzle pattern to try out as well as a new heart and star. I of course went with my hammered finish but for the heart I didn't think it would suit so I gave it a nice high shine polish instead. I'm glad I did. I think it suits the piece much better.

Later on I spent some time with my two little cousins making bracelets. They really need no help with this at all now. I cut the elastic and tie the knot thats all they want me to do. They both love to lay out the beads and play around with the order the want to put them in before stringing them which is fantastic to see them at 5 and 6 doing.






I think I will be stocking up their bead box for their birthdays next week. The box they have has suddenly gotten very empty and I'm afraid they will start "shopping" in my bead stash.

Red Wire Wrapped Heart

Today I made another wire wrapped heart but this time I used red wire over copper and added a few beads. I used large gold coloured seed beads. I'm liking wire wrapping and have a few more ideas now to make a few new pieces. I haven't decided yet weather to make a beaded chain for this pendant or just you a plain copper or silver chain to hang it on. I think the pendant is fussy enough without a beaded chain added to it so I will have to try it out and see what works best.

Some New Pieces From The Workshop

I cut out a butterfly and heart pendant on Monday and today I got back to the workshop to finish them both. They are both made from copper sheet and finished with a high polish and then a hammered finish. I had wanted to make a butterfly for a while but kept putting it off when I had other things I wanted to make. I'm really glad I got back to make it now because it turned out better than I thought it would. The heart is a plain and simple heart shaped piece but has a lovely pattern with the hammered finish. Again I love a hammered finish and I'm using it a lot at the moment, I'm sure I will move on from it at some point but right now I really think it is suiting the pieces I am making. They are plain pieces and the hammered finish just adds that little extra.

 I then decided to make another heart shaped piece. (It must be all the valentines related things I'm seeing online at the moment.) I made an aluminium heart and a copper heart outline of the exact same size. They are only connected with the jump ring so they move about independently of each other. I really love this piece and for once I'm also really happy with how the pictures turned out, I think they show it off really well.

Copper Wirework Heart

I recently picked up the February 2014 issue of Making Jewellery Magazine and fell in love with Sian Hamilton's Wired Heart tutorial.

Using the copper wire that I've been gathering out of old scrap electrical cables I made the heart.

To make it a little bit more Valentine-y I made a beaded chain using red seed beads and silver plated wire.

I love how its turned out.

Today in the Workshop: Brass Heart

Today I went to the workshop with absolutely no plan on what I wanted to do. I just started sketching simple little shapes and decided on a heart. I haven't made any heart shaped pendants yet and I haven't used my brass sheet metal either. So a brass heart it was.


I drew a basic heart shape and pierced it out sanded, polished and hammered the surface to give it a nice finish. (I love hammered finishes if you haven't noticed yet.) I'm happy with the finished piece. I'm getting better with piercing straight lines and round without having to go back and fix it a bit with a file. I have again no plans for tomorrow in the workshop so I guess we will just have to wait and see what I come up with.

First Piece From My Workshop

So yesterday I made my first piece at my new bench wanting to just get used to my saw again. I used my saw and new little drill and polishing sticks and have to get used to the polishing sticks a bit more as they are very new to me. When I was training I used a bit polishing machine so doing it by hand is going to take some getting used to. The drill is hand operated and again Im used to a power drill but this one I got is simple and easy to use so takes no getting used to.

I had thought I would have problems with the saw (it has been 6 years after all) but really its taken no time at all I havent even broken a single saw blade which I was always doing when I used it all day every day so Im pretty happy about that.

The piece I made is simple and it has a few little issues (I drew the heart freehand and Im not great with getting a heart to be simetrical) but all in all Im happy with how it turned out. I havent decided weather or not to use this as the center piece in a bracelet or just add a simple bit of chain to each side as a pendant. It measures 3 cm x 1 cm and is made from aluminium. Either way I know I will wear it.

I was up very early this morning and back out in the workshop by 8am and spent most of the day working on an other piece that required a lot more piercing so as I can test where I am at skill wise now. The piece Im making is something that wouldnt have taken much time when I left off 6 years ago but is taking a lot more at the moment but Im happy with were its going. Still no broken blade in my saw so thats a plus. I have a market day tomorrow so I wont get to work on it but I should have some photos of it in a bit better condition during the week.

Red Heart Necklace

I have had a lot of people tell me they love this piece and I do as well. The colour is beautiful and its not too overwhelming when worn which I guess you can tell by now is my style of jewellery and accessories. I don't like when it looks like you are covered in jewellery I would rather have a stunning understated piece so that's what I make.

I bought the pendant for this necklace about 4 years ago when I was in London and found a great little bead shop called Bead Aura in Neal's Yard. I just so happened to stumble upon a sale when I was there so I bought so many pieces it was about 2 years until I got around to using this heart. I think I spent about 2 hours in the shopping and I ended up with quite a few of these hearts in loads of different colours. Red was a very different colour for me to use which is probably why I left it so long to use.

I have recently submitted this piece into a Valentines themed contest run by Make Jewellery Magazine on their online forum.

Please feel free to leave comments on any post, due to spamming I have to moderate them first but don't let that stop you from submitting one!

Beaded Hearts

I spent a long time last might trying to get the white pearl heart done and it took about 4 hours. The pink one took only about 1 and a half hours. Its the first time I've done bead weaving or the right angle weave but once you have the stitch in your head its quick to get going on the next one.

I made the heart trying to make something for a Valentines Themed contest run by a few beading magazines i read. I found a free tutorial online by Off The Beaded Path for the heart which was done in crystals but I decided to try it in pearls first.