Archive for the 'Jewelry' Category

Inspira Jewellery – Lake Quidi Vidi, Newfoundland

In the tradition of my other Inspira pieces I’ve created a bracelet inspired by the Lake of Quidi Vidi in St. Johns, Newfoundland:

Lake Quidi Vidi

Tito and I shot the lake during the blue hour. It was a very serene spot. I love the deep blues and the reflections in the water.

Lake Quidi Vidi

The Quidi Vidi bracelet was created using chocolate Japanese delicas, sterling silver bead caps, ocean blue Swarovski crystals and quartz crystal stones.

Lake Quidi Vidi

Lake Quidi Vidi

Lake Quidi Vidi

Lake Quidi Vidi

Western Canada is breathtaking – but give me the East Coast any day, that is where my heart lives :)

One of my favourite things

I love hyacinths. Love love love. I love the scent, I love the colours, I love the shape of the little flowers, they are my very favourite flower. Tito found one for me at a Sobeys and brought it home – and of course before the blooms were done I had to press a few and make some jewellery :)

Hyacinth resin jewellery

Hyacinth resin jewellery

Preparing the hyacinth is tough. The blooms are small and delicate, and lose their colour if allowed to dry out too much. Press them too soon however and the juices in the petal make it stick to your pressing surface. I definitely had to work to find a sweet spot.

Hyacinth resin jewellery

I love how these turned out – the colours are just gorgeous! The texture of the petals came through as well. I’ll definitely try this again, but with one of the bluer tones.

Hyacinth resin jewellery

The care of a potted hyacinth is very easy, but I was dismayed to find out that store-bought indoor plants will really only bloom once. Something about the way the bulb is treated ‘forces’ it to bloom out of season and the result is a plant that will not bloom again afterwards. I don’t have a lot of experience with plants – does anyone know if this is true? Should I keep watering the plant, or say goodbye to it? So long as it looks alive I’m keeping it, even if it doesn’t bloom again. Anything else would feel mean.

Hyacinth resin jewellery

The one above was a lark – I made that by crushing dried petals from the already dead blooms and mixing them in with the resin. The colour wasn’t retained as well, but the texture is interesting and I thought it was a worthwhile experiment.

Hyacinth resin jewellery

Next up will be experiments using orchids, which I’ve never managed to keep alive, so I’m really crossing my fingers here ;)

Hyacinth resin jewellery

 

 

 

We have a winner!

It was tough to pick from such beautiful crafts (knitting, card-making, crochet and scrap booking were popular), but the winner of the necklace is Rosemary!

Rosemary wrote:

Quilting, sewing, beading, kumihimo. Over the years I have tried many things. These are my top 4 currently.

I picked this one because this is first I’ve heard of kumihimo – which is a Japanese form of braiding. I googled some images and really loved them, and I think I’ll be giving it a try.

It looks like it can be done with and without beads as well. Thanks for entering Rosemary, and for adding something new to my creative world! Please send me your mailing address for your necklace :)

DIY Swarovski Bracelet

I wanted to share a super easy technique for bead weaving that I used to create an adorable Swarovski crystal bracelet, at less than a tenth the price.

DIY Crystal bracelet

I needed 32 large frosted Swarovski beads, 16 clear ones and 32 small copper beads – you might need more depending on what size you want to make. Play around with different beads – this technique will work with almost anything!

Step 1 – thread a really long piece of beading string with 2 needles – one at each end. Pick up one bead in colour A, one colour B, another colour A and end with one more colour B.

DIY Crystal bracelet

Step 2 – Insert needle B back through the last bead added, so now both ends of your threads are coming out of one colour A bead, like so:

DIY Crystal bracelet

Step 3 – Pick up oneĀ colour B bead followed by a colour A bead on needle BĀ . Pick up one colour B bead with needle A.

 DIY Crystal bracelet

Step 4 – Take needle A through the colour A bead.

DIY Bracelet

Repeat steps 3 and 4 until it’s the length you want:

DIY Bracelet

When it’s a good fit, pass both your needles through the base of your clasp and back through the end bead. You are now ready to add the side beads. Make sure they’re small enough to fit comfortably. I recommend doing both sides of the bracelet at the same time. You will pass the needles back though the last colour B bead, pick up one side bead with each needle and go through the next colour B bead, like so:

DIY beaded bracelet

Keep going this way until both sides are done:

DIY beaded bracelet

Tie off the end by passing through the end bead and the other end of your chosen clasp a few times. Weave your ends back through the bracelet after tying them off.

And voila! Your own beaded bracelet!

DIY beaded bracelet

DIY beaded bracelet

Enjoy :) And feel free to write to me with any questions.

Don’t forget about my contest folks – tell me your favourite craft for a chance to win a lovely resin necklace from the Blue Brick! Click here for details.

 

 

 

100,000 folks are interested in stuff I make

The Blue Brick Blog – at a mere 1.5 years old, is about to hit 100,000 hits! I’m so stoked I’ve decided to celebrate.

Firstly, though I’ve never understood the appeal until now, I’ve now got a twitter account. Hook me up, @CraftKninja (kninja, get it? Very clever…) to hear and share even more in the wonderful world of crafting goodness.

Secondly – a contest! At that many folks I’m really feelin’ the love – so I want to give some love right back. One lucky winner will get this lovely resin necklace in the mail:

To enter, leave me a comment telling me what your favourite craft is. If it’s something I don’t know yet, maybe I’ll take it up! Contest closes on Wednesday January 18th. I can’t wait to hear about everything you wonderful folks love to do.

From the bottom of my crafty little heart, thank you :)

 

 

 

Reclaimed Glass Jewellery

I was so inspired by some of the sea glass jewellery I’ve seen that I decided to make my own, but I had to do things a little differently!

Seaglass jewellery

For a start, Toronto is nowhere near the sea, so I had to make do with glass from the Leslie Street Spit. Since the Spit is all made from construction refuse, glass that had been polished by the waves was easy to find.

Seaglass jewellery

The next problem was that I don’t have a glass drill, so I used silver heavy gauge wire to wrap each piece. I think the results are still quite lovely.

Seaglass jewellery

I love the Leslie Street Spit – and I couldn’t stop thinking of the possibilities for jewellery made from it. After working with polished glass I tried an experimental piece with glass that was still rough looking, but smooth enough to wear:

Seaglass jewellery

It looks like rough quartz – I love it!

Seaglass jewellery

Lastly I experimented with what I believe were broken pieces of tile that were also strewn around the beach.

Seaglass jewellery

The tile had been similarly wave polished. To give the ends a more finished look I used silver filigree cones.

Seaglass jewellery

I polished it off with simple magnet clasps. I definitely enjoyed this little exercise, can’t wait to try making more!

 

Presents…

I know, it’s been all jewellery lately, but I do have knitting to share – I’ve just been having so much trouble getting it photographed in these short, dark days!

Today I just wanted to show off 2 necklaces that were worked in sterling silver. I don’t normally work in this medium, but these two ladies were special so I went all out :)

lariat necklace

Both of these are lariat style necklaces with clasps in the back. This one features a 6mm square cut swarovski wrapped in a sterling silver band.

lariat necklace

And this one was a replacement for a friend who’s home was broken into recently. Among the things that were taken was a necklace she had purchased from me. As she pointed out, while the break in was annoying – the theft choices were oddly flattering.

lariat necklace

For this one I used sterling silver elements with brushed silver finishes. The small ring at the bottom contains a circle of maple leaf preserved in resin.

lariat necklace

I’ve already given this one to it’s recipient and she loves it :) Lariat necklaces fall so beautifully when you wear them – such a cute, classy look.

I love gift giving, and gift making – best part of the holidays!

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