New pieces from K S Jewellery Designs

Hooray! The school holidays start here.... and soon we will be going on our family holiday. Here are some new pieces of jewellery that will be listed in my online shops on my return from holiday.

Lapis Lazuli Tail Feathers Pendant................. Kyanite & Sterling Silver Loopy Hoop Earrings

Iolite Random Links Bracelet..................................... Hoop of Colour Pendant

Pink Tourmaline Tutu Earrings

Serenity

I made this pendant a while ago but have just listed it in my Etsy and Folksy shops (please click on the pictures for more details).

SERENITY

Fluorite and Labradorite Sterling Silver Spiral Adorned Pendant

Green Trefoil Pendant & Green Leaves Earrings

Another trefoil pendant with co-ordinating earrings... this time with beautiful swirl glass beads made by Jenn of Kanna Glass Studios.

I am really enjoying 'drawing' with my wire at the moment and love watching the wire spread out when I hammer it. These beauties are now on sale in my online stores (please click on the photos for more details).

The last leaves of Autumn

During a recent clear out and tidy up of my work area, I found these sterling silver leaf charms in my collection. I have had them for quite a while and when they arrived from my supplier, I thought they were a bit uninspiring (flat-shaped, cut-out charms with rough edges).

So I got out my sanding pads and started to sand and polish them to a lovely shine... they started looking better already. Then I decided to give them a more realistic 3D shape by creasing them in the centre and curling the edges a little.... yes, much better. (This photo shows the before and after.)

Feeling much happier with them, I think they are now worthy to be included in my jewellery for sale (Etsy and Folksy). I have teamed them with beautiful deep orange carnelian nugget beads to make these delicate, dangly earrings. They remind me of the last leaves of autumn waiting to fall.

AUTUMN LEAVES - Carnelian & Sterling Silver Leaf Charm Earrings

Smooth Hammered Circle Earrings

Currently I am very busy creating jewellery for a charity table sale I am doing on Sunday 20th September at Denbies Vineyard in Dorking. My range of 'Hammered Circles' jewellery always seems popular so I've had a bit of a production line going. The gemstones here are amethyst, kyanite, amazonite, turquoise, green aventurine and carnelian.

Please click on the photo for a more detailed view

These hammered circles are silky smooth thanks to my sanding and polishing pads. Although I've made these earrings for the table sale they are also up for grabs in my Folksy shop including some moonstone earrings not shown here.

Coiled Jewel Pendants and Earrings - A Holiday Project

Regular readers of my blog will recall my recent frustration at losing my motivation and inspiration for jewellery design last time I went on holiday. It took weeks before I felt I was back 'in the zone'. So as I was packing for our 2 week family holiday to Brittany, I decided to take my sketchbook and a few tools and materials. I felt a bit guilty at first as I was 'on holiday' but a few days into the holiday I put down my reading book and picked up my tools.

Inspired by the beautiful coastline we were staying at and feeling nicely relaxed, I really enjoying creating these Coiled Jewel Pendants and co-ordinating Coiled Jewel Earrings.

I will be listing some of these pieces in my Etsy and Folksy shops over the next day or so.

Blog giveaway - Spiral Loop Circular Pendant

This Sterling Silver Spiral Loop Circular Pendant is the latest piece from my developing 'Spiral Loop' range of jewellery...

... and here is your chance to win it in my second blog giveaway.

All you need to do is take a look at my Etsy store and leave a comment below this post to tell me which is your favourite item. I will randomly draw the winner's name from my pot a week from today (that's Monday 27th April) and post it on my blog. Please remember to check back to see if you won.

If you want to double your chances of winning - please put a post on your blog about my giveaway (send me a link to your post) and I will put your name in twice.

Good luck

Kristin :)

Matching bracelet

Here is the bracelet that I made to go with the Fluorite necklace. It has a handmade silver spiral charm at the end of an extender chain. Both bracelet and necklace are now listed in my Etsy, Folksy and eBay shops.

Little Flowers

I think I have finally cracked my new design of little flowers made from one length of wire. It took several attempts and quite a bit of silver wire (why, oh why, didn't I practice with silver plated wire first?!). The design is based on my Daisy Flower set I made last summer (necklace, earrings and hairspins).





This time I wanted to include a gemstone in the centre that is held in place by the end of the wire. I worked on this over several evenings struggling to get a final piece that I was happy with. I was probably 're-inventing the wheel' (my husband often accuses me of this) but I haven't seen a tutorial that offers this design. Also, it is quite satisfying when you puzzle through your difficulties. Mine were mainly how to make the flower sturdy as well as neat.




I reckon there is a lot of potential in this design and have already made a pendant to match the amethyst earrings and am thinking about pointed petals, more petals, double petals, hammered petals, textured petals ..... Any further suggestions, anyone?

Joining the 21st century

I thought it was about time I joined the 21st century a little bit more and started my own blog. I'm a bit hesitant as I probably spend too much time at my computer anyway and this will just be another excuse to sit here for longer to avoid the housework! I suppose the real reason for starting a blog is I want to document my journey in jewellery design.

I began making jewellery in the autumn of 2007 when I was browsing on eBay and came across a seller who sold a 'bracelet making kit'. It was very basic - a silver plated large ringed bracelet, a few silver plated headpins, some glass beads and simple instructions. I thought I'd give it a go. I borrowed some of my husband's tools and hey presto! I had made a charm bracelet. I was so proud of it and wore it immediately, showing it off to friends and family. However, it wasn't long before the silver plating discoloured and some of the charms didn't look so secure!

By this time, I had moved on to making earrings with beads, headpins and earwires. The tools I was using were not really good enough for jewellery making and my loops were more triangular than circular. Therefore, the next stage was to invest in some decent tools (round nose pliers, wire cutters and some chain nose pliers). Next I bought some instruction books and my journey had begun...

A few months on and I had presented lots of my friends and family with their own pieces of my handmade jewellery and had even persuaded my local post office to have a display stand in their window. I made little display cards from black card and hand wrote the details and price in silver pen. I even sold a few pieces!

I look back to all that now and see how far I have progressed with my journey already. Each step required more investment in time (new techniques to practise) and money (more tools and better quality materials). It was a big step to move on to sterling silver wire and findings - I hate waste and was worried about making mistakes and having to throw away valuable metal. It was another big step to move from glass bead to gemstones. My latest step is experimenting with Art Clay Silver - an amazing material that when you fire it, it becomes 99.9% pure silver.


Along the way I have realised the importance of finding your own style. I was selling at a Christmas fair the other week and a customer commented that she really preferred chunkier jewellery. I found myself apologising that my jewellery tended to be fairly delicate. Later on, I thought 'Why was I apologising? I make what I would wear myself and that is my style. It doesn't suit everyone and wouldn't it be boring if everyone liked the same things!'