Wristwear

I am continuing with my range review and in this post I will be looking at wristwear - bangles and bracelets.

I'm going to start by looking at my acrylic bracelets. These were discussed quickly in my necklaces post.

 

They are made by saw-piercing and heat-forming acrylic and adding cold enamel domes, silver discs or filling half-drilled 'holes' with cold enamel then joining the elements with hand-dyed nylon or silver fittings.

I really enjoy these pieces, both making and wearing them. They are very striking and have been popular with customers. I have made bracelets with the cold enamel domes in a blue and green colour way as well and I think the results are really beautiful.

I will continue to make these bracelets but with a few tweaks. The design is evolving, which is healthy.

Staying with bracelets, I have a number of 'charm' bracelets made from enamelled discs, semi-precious beads and silver.

These pieces are always popular and they are very enjoyable to make. I like using different chains and a variety of materials to create fun pieces that are easy to wear and are fashionable. My charm bracelets have so many incarnations and they are constantly evolving so I expect I'll be making them for many years to come.



So onto bangles...

One of my favourite and most popular designs is my cluster bangle. They are chunky silver bangles with clusters of cold enamel filled silver domes attached in various positions around the shank. They are fun and quirky and make an excellent jangling sound when the wearer moves their wrist! These will be a Ruth Gordon staple for many years to come.

The design inspiration behind these bangles is quite interesting. As I have mentioned in the past, I was inspired by the Smarties atop my 'top hat' cakes (see above picture) but the idea to attach these coloured, filled domes to a bangle came from a piece of jewellery my Grandad gave me years and years ago.

 My Grandad used to go to the local market in Dens Road, Dundee (pictured above) and buy big bags of jewellery and bits and pieces from house clearances so I could fiddle about with the oddments and make jewellery of my own. In one of the bags was a bangle with little bells attached at three different points. I thought it was great and the design must have stuck in my head all these years. The picture below shows one example of a Ruth Gordon cluster bangle inspired by Grandad Lindsay's discovery (and cupcakes).

I also make several bangles with nylon charms, including the ones pictured below. I make bangles with both round and square frame charms. The square charms have knotted nylon rather than the loops shown in the round frame.

I also make bangles with silver rings and loops of nylon as charms. These also make a lovely jangling noise when worn but are less statement pieces and more for those wanting a slightly subtler adornment.

I have also introduced a few bangles incorporating semi-precious bead charms. These are intended to complement my new semi-precious bead necklaces.  

All of my bangles will continue to feature in my ranges, evolve and inspire me to make new work.

The next and final range review will be on rings.

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.

A good days work.

For the first time since moving down here I had all the tools and materials I needed to start making jewellery.

I have been planning for the the last few days what I would make first and decided to start small, making small silver elements to complement the semi precious beads I bought last week.


It felt good to saw, file, solder and even score metal however I am a bit rusty to say the least!

I might need to dig out my copy of Jewelry Concepts and Technology by Oppi Untracht.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Jewelry-Concepts-Technology-Oppi-Untracht/dp/0709196164/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1327608578&sr=1-1

My metal was measured out very carefully on Tuesday while I was watching Blithe Spirit!

My coffee break today allowed me to go into the back garden and take a few photos of interesting textures. I just missed getting a photo of the beautiful rainbow.

 

 

 

 

But I had to get back to work...

I made a round frame to be used with my Fluorite coins and a square frame to be used with my White Agate cubes. I just need to put the 'tops' on the frames to make them into 'boxes'. The round frame was fairly straightforward but the square frame was made by slightly scoring the corners so that the metal bent into a square easier. I need to practice my scoring!

Excellent, my vertical drill seems to be on strike so I had to drill the holes I needed in my metal by hand. The first one took 14 minutes! I got my time down to 5 minutes though. I'll need to try and fix it tomorrow but because I wont get very far by hand drilling everything!

The three 'bits' I made today. I am very chuffed with myself and I would have keep working but it gets very cold in the workshop after the sun goes down.

I really like the hammered texture on the silver box. Fluorite is such a lovely stone and this photo does it no justice at all. I need to work on the design and stringing of this piece but I am very happy with the progress of this afternoon.