Rose of Sharon Jewelry

Inspiration for creating handmade jewelry can come from anywhere. My new At Dusk necklace started with a thumbnail picture on eBay. The pictures weren’t the best but something about the long oval scalloped beads just said “Buy ME!”

I could tell the pressed glass had a vintage look including the slight edge around each bead. The picture showed swirly, soft hues of cream, white, lilac, brown and pink. Something just told me I had to have these.

When the package came, I was thrilled to discover that my instincts had been right. The shape is wonderful and the colors better than I anticipated. See for yourself below -

So now I had 5 new glass beads. Time to dig! My beads are divided by color so I pulled out yellows, browns, pinks, creams and whites. I quickly decided against yellow or white as they created to much contrast.

I was thrilled when I found the perfect Rhodochrosite beads in medium pink with just a touch of brown to soften it. Next was a strand of brown Rhodochrosite that I had bought the month before.

Rhodochrosite beads usually are a blend of colors such as both pink and brown stripes or swirls. The beads I had were color sorted and came from two separate vendors.

Keeping the vintage element in mind, I added antiqued gold over brass bicone beads and daisy spacers and a antique gold over pewter toggle clasp.

A simple single strand of straight stringing just seem best for this piece where the color theme is the most important part of the overall design.

 

The creative and planning process took over an hour as I sorted through all my options.

No, No, No, Maybe, No, Yes, No, Yes, Yes, Yes!

 

At Dusk is available in the Rose of Sharon Jewelry store.

 

 

 

I love the finished necklace which I call At Dusk and hope you do too. Enjoy the pictures and don’t forget to leave your comments.

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I’ve been gathering up jewelry components of silver, gold and copper that needed antiquing. I mixed up a nasty batch of liver of sulfur from my bag of chunks. Mom and I spent the evening merrily dipping, swabbing and wiping with some very interesting results.

A wax-casting gold mounting was toned down so the real gold looked less like plastic and more like 14K. The finding (surrounding a turquoise cab) was purchased by my Dad several decades ago when gold was affordable. With a little antiquing, the pendant is now ready for Mom to repurpose into one of her necklace creations.

Some bright, bright silver chandelier earring components were transformed by the process. Some came out antiqued like a vintage piece. Others took on a peacock shine with blues, lilacs and pinks. A few sets immediately turned golden, then took on a rose gold tone. Yummy!

After smelling that rotten egg smell for way too long, I decided  to order some of the new gel formula of liver of sulfur known as Patina Gel from Cool Tools. Reviews have been very favorable in use, storage and effectiveness. I’ll keep you posted.

I’m a gadget and tool geek. I own tons of useful and plenty of not so useful jewelry making tools. What your newest favorite tool?

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Pink Jade is such a luscious bead. The ladies of Rose of Sharon Jewelry love pink so you’ll see it used frequently on our different lines. This wonderful new 3-piece set from Betty is our newest original artisan design. Named Contessa for its elegant look, the necklace, bracelet and earrings are true statement pieces – and not for the timid!

Making Contessa

Betty started with a lovely pink enamel flower from China. Since she loves Swarovski crystals, she added them along with a glass bead to create the one-of-a-kind centerpiece.

The pink Jade beads came next (a wonderfully juicy choice).

 

 

She added shiny black faceted glass beads to make the “grown-up girl” pink even more luxurious looking.

The final choice was the Swarovski rhinestone spacers. Gold-filled findings continue the rich look of all three pieces.

 

 

 

Bold and Bright

You can really see the sparkling Swarovski spacers in this elegant bracelet. Both bracelet and necklace have gold-filled toggle clasps.

Finishing Touch

The matching earrings complete the set but would be a great choice to wear alone with a more casual outfit.

Are you a pink lover? Or does pink just make you think of silly little girls?

P.S. I’m starting my physical therapy for my ankles soon but I’m feeling stronger and will be blogging daily starting with this post!

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Tiny mars on my silver wire  really bug me, especially when making the tiniest loops for silver earrings. Beadalon as an solution – nylon jawed round nose pliers! The nylon jaws are replaceable and the construction seems durable.

I haven’t seen these in person but it appears that the points aren’t very fine but any good tool is a very good tool!

These should be available at your favorite bead store or Beadalon wholesaler.

 

 

As a professional business person, I would never want to compete with my customers so it seems strange that jewelry suppliers market and sell finished jewelry.  Would you run your business that way?

To keep costs low and quality high, I am always searching for trusted suppliers. This means I am always searching the Web for “wholesalers” and suppliers. So many sites advertise that they offer “wholesale to the public”. I’ve worked in several different industries as a marketing professional and I find simply false advertising. Either you are a legitimate wholesaler or you are just a company offering a progressive discount system for anyone with a credit card.

But it is the companies that sell beading supplies at “wholesale” and imported finished jewelry that offend me. As a handmade jewelry artist and managing partner of Rose of Sharon Jewelry, I spend a lot of my time establishing our brand and our perceived value. This is a critical action for anyone creating a craft/art/design that value is set by desire and what the market will bear more than commodity items.

If you’ve ever heard “I could make that for half that price”, you know that setting value can be tough. And many crafters/artists/designers tend to cave in and lower their prices. The last thing we need is to have the suppliers we do business with contributing to this obstacle.

Beads bounce! Seed beads spill. Earring backs fly! So many beads so little time to crawl around looking for strays. But I do hate losing costly Swarovski crystals in the studio carpet. And my 3-year-old grandson,  Kael just loves to use my bead soup container as a maraca! Shake – shake – shake – oh, oh!

So when I came across the Craft Vac by Darice in a craft catalog, I thought I might have found a solution to bead runaways. The $9.95 plus $5 shipping seemed okay and since I hate running around town to save a few pennies, I ordered it through their web site. That was my primary mistake – not being able to look at the product and read the package fine print.

Upon opening the plastic packaging, I immediately felt I had wasted my money. The pink Craft Vac pieces were ill-fitting and the battery cover was hard to keep in place. But the biggest issue was the extremely flimsy and torn filter. As everyone knows vacuums need filters and only the torn filter was enclosed. With the instructions clearly warning “Do not operate without filter”, I had a useless vac.

These magnificent faceted honey quartz beads were posted by a Flickr friend - Gemsbeads. They post tons of pics every week and I can never resist the feelings of lust. If only I really were a bead millionaire. . .

I love sharing the art jewelry I find online with my readers. Today I found handmade metal jewelry by Nathalie Girard, Metalsmith on Etsy. Her shop Canadian Rockies Art has some wonderful oxidized silver earrings. Her designs are modern without being too far out for those of us who love classic designs. Stop by and see her great work.

Mea culpa - I copied a photo from her Etsy store so you could drool over her work, too.