Welcome to the first featured item post of 2016, featuring the purple necklace and earrings set.
The featured item blog posts are an insight into how the items featured came to be made. This set started off as just the pendant and stud earrings, which are made of Jewel Enamel. Jewel Enamel is a type of Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel or UTEE for short. This UTEE starts life as a powder which has granules like sugar, its then melted down in a melting pot which doesn't take long. It can then be poured into a mould and looks a little like a subtle glittery marble. The glittery quality can only be seen when in bright lights or outdoors. Jewel enamel sets in less then a minute which makes it a perfect substance to work with.
With this set I heat shined the jewel enamel which involves carefully heating the top level of jewel enamel with a heat gun. It turns to liquid again then sets immediately after the heat source is taken away again to reveal a shiny surface. This technique gave more definition to the swirls in the pendant and makes it look like there is several different layers to the purple.
The earrings where harder to make than the pendant due to there size. The bigger the piece your pouring into the easier it is to pour. I had to be careful not to pour to quickly because it runs out of the melting pot quickly and its hard to judge when to stop the flow before it overflows. Jewel enamel gets darker with time, the longer its left in the melting pot which isn't a good thing when you want items like these to match! I got there eventually there and I'm pleased with the results.
The necklace took time to decide upon but after a trip to Hobbycraft and a new stash of beads (couldn't help myself!) I found the perfect beads for the projects. They are a deep purple crystal bead, 8mm in size with a facet that helps compliment the glitter of the jewel enamel. I coupled these with 2 bronze toned Swarovski crystals to keep attention on the pendant. I used my Vintaj bead looper and set to work stringing then in a Y shape, When I'd finished the necklace hung 16inches and I used a lobster claw fastening for the clasp.
I think the set looks very elegant on, the sort of thing you'd see an actress wearing on the set of a period drama perhaps. What do you think?
To buy the purple necklace and stud earrings set it is £19.99 with £3.20 UK postage and packaging.
You can find Fashion Magpie Jewellery at the below links
Folksy Website www.folksy.com/shops/fashionmagpiejewellery
Etsy Website www.etsy.com/uk/shop/FashionMagpieJewels
Pinterest http://uk.pinterest.com/fmjewellery/
Fashion Magpie Jewellery Blog is a celebration of antique and handcrafted jewellery, with regular featured items from my shop, antique jewellery showcase, interviews, reviews and tutorials.
No comments:
Post a Comment