The Blue Brick | Photography and Handcrafts by Shireen Nadir

When I came home on valentines day these were waiting for me on the bedside table :)

Of course before they died I had to put a few away for jewellery. I preserved them and finally had a chance to make something of them this week.

This is a 2 inch wide silver plated bezel on a white gold chain. The tulip petals are preserved perfectly inside using jeweller’s grade resin. Can anyone guess what book I’m using as a background? Here’s a hint: ‘Take me with you, for laughs, for luck, for the unknown. Take me with you’.

I love how vibrant the colours in the tulips stayed. After I had preserved them they had an almost metallic sheen to them. The texture is just gorgeous.

I also did silver plated cuff-style bracelets. The bezel in this case is 21mm square x 5mm deep. The centre of the tulip was used for this; they had deep purple centres that retained their colours beautifully!

This front-on view shows the pattern well. I arrange my compositions before I preserve them, so there is a minimum of fussing with the afterwards. The pieces are very delicate, more so than with preserved leaves.

The piece of pottery I’m shooting on is a piece by Phillis McCulloch from Clay Design here in Toronto. She is an extremely experienced and talented potter :) This piece is a 21mm square bezel ring, also silver plated. I love the variety of colours and tones in this one.

I also did 1 round piece – this one is 21mm in diameter. The shape is lovely, though I confess I’m partial to the square designs.

Sometimes you just hit a sweet spot – I’m really happy with how this round of jewellery turned out and sorry that I only made 4 pieces. I kept over some of the tulips, a light pink series that I’ll be starting this weekend. I’ll be aiming for more necklaces this time as well. Stay tuned :)