Necklaces

Sketch for an Acrylic, Cold Enamel and Silver Neckpiece

Some necklaces are showpieces whilst others are just one understated detail within an overall ensemble. My range includes necklaces that fulfil each of these roles.

My acrylic and cold enamel neckpieces are very clearly statement pieces. I wanted to create some big pieces, every element of which I had made by hand. I saw-pierced, heat-formed and drilled each individual element of the neckpieces. For the 'Acrylic, Cold Enamel and Silver Neckpiece', I made some cold-enamel-filled domes and cut out lots of little silver discs. The domes and discs were alternated so each piece had a dome and a disc showing (as you can see in the photo below). Each element was then joined together with sterling silver jump rings.

Detail of Acrylic, Cold Enamel and Silver Neckpiece

For the 'Acrylic, Cold Enamel and Nylon Neckpiece' I half-drilled lots of 'holes' in the acrylic elements and filled them with cold enamel then joined the elements will looped nylon thread.

Detail of Acrylic, Cold Enamel and Silver Neckpiece

I really love these pieces (Both come with matching bracelets shown below. The bracelets are mini versions of the neckpieces) but they are very time consuming and the neckpieces do not sell as well as the bracelets, so I am going to retire these humble statement neckpieces in their current form. I think they are a bit too much of a statement for most people but they look great on!

Photography: Kelly Dearsley

Acrylic, Cold Enamel, Silver and Nylon Bracelets

I am also 'retiring' these wee corrugated and cold enamel dome necklaces, in their current incarnation anyway. I could definitely improve on the neck wires that I used for these, they bend too easily and the kinks are hard to get out of them. I think they might look better on a coloured wire. Something to think about.

Sketch for Corrugated Silver and Cold Enamel Necklaces

Corrugated Silver and Cold Enamel Necklaces

Talking of coloured neck wires, my nylon framed neckpieces are a firm favourite with my customers and with me! They are fun to design and make and the result is a quirky, colourful and simple necklace that has been very well-received.

Nylon Framed Necklace

Nylon Framed Necklace

Nylon Framed Necklace

My only problem with these was that the company who made the coloured neck wires stopped making them and I have had to find a new source. I think I have found some good ones now, so these necklaces will be in my collection a while longer!

Other nylon necklaces I will be keeping in my range include these two looped nylon pieces.  I think they show off the qualities of the nylon really well and they work in different colour-ways too.  

Nylon Looped Necklace

Nylon Loops and Silver Rings Necklace

These fun, simple pieces have proven popular with people looking to add a bit of colour to their outfits but not make a huge statement. 

Enamelled Framed Necklaces

Enamelled Framed Necklace

My enamel work is on hold at the moment while I focus on my other ranges but as soon as I get my kiln firing again I will be working on updating these necklaces, which have attracted a lot of attention. I love using my kiln but I need to increase my skill level before embarking on big projects again. I plan to do an enamelling course at some point.

Enamel and Silver Necklaces

I made a couple of these acrylic and silver necklaces and they both sold. They are fun, light, colourful and simple to make. I have lots of acrylic in my workshop and I really want to make some more of these in different colour-ways, so look out for more pictures of these in the future. 

Acrylic and Silver Necklace

Acrylic and Textured Silver Necklace

 

I made these next two framed necklaces and a few different versions of them a few years ago and they were very popular. I feel I need to work on the sizing and construction of them but I will continue to make these (they have matching earrings which also proved very popular), as they are colourful and appeal to a wide range of customers.

Plastic Bead Framed Necklace

Anodised Aluminium Framed Necklace

 An early Valentine's Day special! These necklaces and the matching earrings and bracelets are very popular around St. Valentine's Day.  Again, when my kiln is back on I will make some more of these.

Enamelled Hearts Framed Necklace

I have saved the newest pieces until last in this post. I have some beautiful semi-precious stones and have made lots of necklaces from these, incorporating silver 'boxes' and sometimes nylon thread with the stones, to create simple yet striking and often colourful pieces.  They're something a bit different for my range but contain just as much, if not more, of the bright colour you'll find in my other collections.

These new pieces conclude my musings (for now) and my review of necklaces/neckpieces. I couldn't mention every necklace I have made but these were the main contenders and I think that by refining a few of them it will result in a more cohesive range across the board.



Feel free to let me know what you think about any of my pieces.





In the next few weeks I will be reviewing my Wristwear and Ring ranges, so look out for that along with some other posts discussing, among other topics, sentimentality for jewellery and working practice.

Earrings!

Right! I am on a mission. A proactive mission to get all my stock back out into galleries across the land. Then I am going to streamline my ranges.

Today I am going to focus on earrings. A bit of background on earrings from Wiki.

I love earrings, I have made hundreds of pairs of earrings in my life. I used to go to craft shops with my mum and we would buy beads and go home and make earrings. It was always a treat to go to Rockhaven or Letham. My grandad gave me some pliers and a wee tool box to keep all my bits and bobs in. Also remember getting given huge bags of beads and findings and broken jewellery after grandad had been at Dens Road Market!

I didn't have a very good experience when it came to getting my ears pierced. I was about 11 or 12 and my mum and dad took me to Debenhams (this is pre-Overgate Centre, so the jewellery department was about where Jimmy Chungs bar is!). I remember my ear getting very hot and I'm not sure whether I passed out or not but I remember the room swirling and nearly didn't get the second ear pierced because it was so uncomfortable.

I still have problem wearing earrings, probably because of my dramatics, I had put the girl doing the piercing off and now my ears are pierced very squint! One earring sits at a completely different angle to the other, not a good look it you are trying to promote your own earring designs!

Earring making was always a popular thing to teach at my HERA night classes. Everyone loves earrings!

So back to business, a look at the range of earrings by Ruth Gordon Jewellery. I could spend hours going through pictures of earrings I have made and sold but I have decided against this. This blog post is going to be written as the thought come into my head, a visual notebook as it were.

Corrugated silver earrings. I have so many different shapes, sizes and colours I don't have a clue what sells best. Maybe if I look closely at my sales history there isn't any great pattern and it is all to do with the individual pair of earrings and the buyer involved. This sounds quite right in my head but my paperwork urges me to have more of a system.

My plan is to choose a few of the styles and stick to them only varying the colours. This way my inventory and range will be a bit more organised. So the above pictures could be styles 1-4. Reading 'style 3 in blue and yellow' will be so much easier than reading 'Silver and cold enamel earrings (Yellow and Blue - small)'. To me anyway! Thumbnail images have also featured in my stocktaking to identify which piece is which. I have 25 different thumbnail drawings just for the corrugated silver earrings. That is ridiculous!

 

With regards to my nylon earrings I think keeping the simple, clean pieces like the ones below makes the most sense. I have made some quite experimental earrings using nylon over the past few years which have been more effort than they were worth aesthetically.  My nylon pieces have always been good sellers and I really enjoy working with the material.

 

 

I have decided to start making some of my 'Smarties' stud and hanging earrings again, simple, colourful pieces that are fun and easy to wear.

 

  

My acrylic and plastic earrings will get another wee outing too as they have proved very popular in the past.

 

 

For the time being I am going to keep my vitreous enamel work to a minimum, if I decide to do any earrings in this medium at all the will be these very simple enamelled disc on silver chain earrings. Straightforward to make and cost and they are very effective design.

Semi precious stone beads are lovely to work with and having just bought a rather large amount from a supplier I am currently working on designs to use them in. I have made several pieces so far such as this agate and crystal necklace.

What does this have to do with earrings? Well, the semi precious stone bead range is going to be the exception to my rule. I wont change this range as it would be impossible to have set pieces with so many different stones out there!

The moral of this blog is less is more.

In my opinion.

Next up. Brooches.

Footnote: Yikes aren't my photos grey?!