The Silver Jewellery Workshop will soon be adding a range of mens jewellery to its collections. The exciting new range will include mens bracelets, pendants, necklaces and rings. Our wedding collection will also contain a selection of cufflinks to accompany our bridal jewellery. All our new pieces will, of course, be guaranteed sterling silver and competitively priced. Regular updates will be posted when the range is launched and as new products are added.
Spiral Earrings
Silver Spiral Earrings With Pink Crystal
Every woman at one time or another has lost a pair of earrings. the problem is that earring backs can be caught when putting on and taking off clothing and are easily pulled from the earring. Traditional ear wires can also slip from the ear if they are caught and there is nothing more frustrating than spending time searching for one of your favourite items of jewellery.
A handy solution to the problem of lost earrings can be spiral wire earrings; the earrings are worn by winding the spiraled part of the wire through the ear making them easy to wear but almost impossible to lose. The design allows a variety of different shaped crystals, beads and stones to be used , add almost any colour and the possibilities are limitless.
The Silver Jewellery Workshop has just added sterling silver spiral wire earrings to our collection, a collection that will continue to expand and grow in the coming year. To view our new spiral earrings just click on our store links found on the right hand bar.
New Handmade Jewellery Blog
We are pleased to announce a new blog specifically concentrating on the world of handcrafted jewellery.The Bespoke Jewellery Blog is an exciting new blog written by our designers focusing specifically on the world of handmade jewellery and will include articles, discussions, tutorials, tips and advice. The Silver Jewellery Workshop blog will continue to discuss and review the latest news and trends and give advice on selecting, purchasing and caring for your jewellery.
Holiday Break
Although we are currently holidaying in the French Alps taking a well deserved snowboarding break I still managed to make some polymer jewellery this afternoon. My nephew Matt made a lovely necklace for his girlfriend as well and a polymer covered pen for himself. He did really well for his first attempt. Will be snowboarding for the rest of the week and post another entry as soon as I return.
Silver Jewellery Workshop On Twitter
The silver jewellery workshop is now on twitter. Get the latest updates, news and opinions. To follow The Silver Jewellery Workshop just click on the twitter symbol located at the top right hand corner of the page.
Pandora Style Bracelets Still In Fashion
- Pandora Style Sterling Silver Bracelet With Beads & Charms
Although the craze for Pandora style bracelets has been around for some time there is no sign of this particular item of jewellery going out of fashion. In fact, with the current trend for wearing multiple bracelets and bangles, these Italian style bracelets with the accompanying beads and charms have remained a firm favourite with all age groups.
The beauty of these bracelets is that any number of beads and charms can be combined to give varying styles and colours. They are also good value for money, a quality sterling silver Pandora style bracelet can be bought for as little as £24.99 and the matching sterling silver and glass beads for less then £5 individually. The choice of charms are virtually limitless; animal charms, alphabet letters, beads with stones and crystals, dichroic glass beads, pearl and jade beads, gold plated beads and many, many more. Once you own a bracelet your options are limitless and the beads make an ideal birthday, Christmas or anniversary present. They are also fun to collect, I have two bracelets and have beads to match virtually every outfit and accessory that I own.
- Sterling Silver Charm With Red & White Crystal
The bracelets can be bought in a variety of sizes and generally vary from the smaller six inch bracelets, suitable for children or those with small wrists, up to larger eight and a half or nine inch bracelets. Although the bracelets have been available for quite a while an exciting new development is the introduction of accessories to accompany your Italian style bracelet. Rings, necklaces and earrings that hold one or more bead are now the perfect partners for your charm bracelet.
So what are you waiting for? Why not join one of the biggest jewellery trends and start collecting now. To view a selection of bracelets and over 200 different charms and beads, all in sterling silver, visit The Silver Jewellery Workshop. If you don’t already own a bracelet there are also a number of bracelet and bead starter packages available.
Monday’s Jewellery making Class
- Everyone working hard on Monday
On Monday five ladies from the Gran Alicant area attended a polymer jewellery making class at Tutti’s bar and restaurant. We started at midday and after selecting the colours we wanted started making geometric canes for our jewellery. After forming our canes we shaped them into beads for bracelets. Whilst the beads were baking in the oven we formed pendants and matching circular beads. After 2 and a half hours we were starving so took a well deserved break and tucked into delicious sandwiches supplied by Sirus, the owner of Tutti’s.
After lunch the lesson continued using silver wire to make links for the bracelets and ear wires for earrings. Once the polymer beads and pendants were cool they were varnished and 15 minutes later we started to put our jewellery together. Five hours after the lesson began we were done, everyone had made a pendant with matching beads, bracelet with silver wire and polymer beads and a set of earrings. We even had time to make jazzy key covers and charms for our keyrings!
So at about 5 o’clock the ladies went home for a well deserved rest. My husband and I tidied up and had a quick coffee before heading home. In conclusion I have to say the lesson went really well and would like to thank Sandy, Sue, Denise, Jackie and Anne for being a great class and for all their efforts during the day. If you would like to see a selection of the jewellery they made it can be seen in the students gallery.
Leather & Wood Effect Polymer Jewellery
- Polymer Wood Effect & Copper Wire Earrings
The other day I was blogging and discussed the materials that I thought would be great for mens jewellery. Now the great thing about polymer clay is that, by combining colours and using different textures you can create almost any effect you want; stone, wood, leather, amber. You name it you can make it.
So I sat down this afternoon with ideas flying round my head and just started to mess around with the clay. When I start working with polymer I never really know what I’m going to end up with, sometimes it’s great and other times I end up really frustrated not really being able to put my ideas into the finished piece. My first thought was what colours do you find in wood? I sat down with the colours I had chosen and after an hour or so ended up with a pendant and set of earrings. I finished off the earrings with copper ear wires and hey presto! Not bad for my first wood effect piece.
Polymer Leather Effect Pendant
Spurred on by this I thought I’d have a crack at something with a leather effect. The hard thing with leather I found is creating the right texture. I picked out a colour fairly easily but had problems trying to create that “leather look”. I messed around folding the clay, twisting it this way and that until I was happy with the overall shape but it still didn’t look right. So I started messing around with the edges and came up with a torn ragged effect, I didn’t have an exact idea of what I wanted but carried on until I was happy with the results. T0 finish off the pendant I added a different coloured and textured centre piece and popped the pendant on a copper coloured cord.
Caroline
Jewellery Making Classes
I’ve spent most of this evening preparing for my upcoming polymer clay jewellery class which is on Monday. Five ladies are atttending the class at “Tutti’s” restaurant in Gran Alicant. The owner Sirus lets me use his upstairs room and supplies a delicious lunch as well. We are going to make geometric design polymer beads on silver wire; bracelet, pendant and earrings. Everything is made from scratch, including the findings. The ladies have a jewellery class about once a month and have learnt, among other thing, jewellery making with art clay silver, silver wire and polymer beads. I always like to practice what I’m going to do beforehand as occasionally something crops up that I hadn’t thought about.
Tonight I had major problems conditioning some of the clay. Some colours are harder to condition than others and crumble a lot, my hands were really hurting afterwards. A good tip is to put just a drop of baby oil on your fingers when conditioning the clay by hand and this helps to soften the polymer. It shouldn’t be a problem on Monday as I am taking my husband and conditioning the clay is his job. Well enough of the talk, the beads are due out of the oven. I’ll post some pictures of the stuff we made on Monday.
Mens Jewellery?
Today I have been thinking about making jewellery for men. What jewellery would the typical man wear? Last night we were watching the T.V. series ‘Spartacus’ and most of the gladiators were wearing leather cord necklaces with various big, chunky pendants. My husband wears a thick leather cuff decorated with a big rectangular, beaten piece of silver. He wears it every day and his male friends are always commenting on what a great piece of mens jewellery it is.
So, I guess, leather is popular for mens jewellery but what else? Would men wear beads? What materials would be best for mens jewellery? I like the idea of some simple, clean, bold designs in wood or something similiar. I have been working with Polymer clay creating a wood effect so I could definitely incorporate that in mens jewellery. I also like the idea of using silver and/or bronze for mens jewellery. Tribal jewellery is another idea I would like to explore. I’m going to sit down at my bench this afternoon and start working on something. I’ve no idea where I’ll end up but I will keep you posted.