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Showing posts with label featured item. Show all posts
Showing posts with label featured item. Show all posts

Tuesday, 3 May 2016

Featured Item Red Wire Brooch


Each week I pick a piece from my shop Fashion Magpie Jewellery to talk about on my blog. This week is one of my unique wire brooches the red wire brooch.
I mainly sell these brooches at craft fairs because a photo doesn't look as good as seeing them in person. There made very simplistically and add a little someone to a outfit.
There's only 4 parts to these brooches, tiger wire, copper welding wire, beads and a clasp for the back.
The copper welding wire is the main base to the brooch and forms the shape, I have also used it through the middle on some of the other ones for added support. (This brooch just has the copper wire as its main shape.)
I never plan out these brooches, instead I find they look better if you just let loose and see where your creativity takes you. I start by taking a very long length of the tiger wire and winding it around a starting point. Usually I'll chose to use the joining point for the copper wire as my starting point for the tiger wire. 
 
 
This type of brooch is useful when you have a lot of single beads left from projects or some beads you brought because they where pretty but don't have a plan for.
In this brooch I used a mix of red beads and Tibetan silver connector beads left over from another project.
 
 
When filling the tiger wire it's best to leave the beads some room to move before wrapping the end around the copper and going off in another direction. I do it this way because I've found it stops the wire bending in the design and its personal preference also. I like how you can hear the beads moving on the brooch when it's worn and it shows off the colour of the tiger wire.
 
If you would like the red wire brooch it is £ 6.00  with £1.95 UK postage and packaging from Fashion Magpie Jewellery 
All jewellery brought from Fashion Magpie Jewellery comes to you wrapped with tissue then placed in an organza gift bag.

You can find Fashion Magpie Jewellery at the below links




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.
To be the first to hear the latest news from Fashion Magpie Jewellery blog you can find me on FacebookTwitterPinterest and Google+

Sunday, 17 April 2016

Featured Item. Cog Diamanté Ring

 
Back at the end of Summer 2015 I was doing a lot of experimenting with making rings and using cogs from old watches to get a steampunk feel.
This weeks featured item is the result of some of those experiments, it is the Steampunk Adjustable ring for Fashion Magpie Jewellery.



The face of the ring is set on a sieve blank ring base which is adjustable to fit any size. For the face I used a silver head pin which I threaded with various watch parts. I liked the two tone effect between the silver and brass so used that as an idea for the design. Starting small I gradually upped the size of the cogs and then found two larger pieces which I fitted together to cover the sieve on the ring blank.

 
Now I was happy with the design of the ring I used the rest of the head pin to wrap around the ring base and secure it in place. To finish I added a dab of glue to the two bigger pieces to stop them spinning and then added diamante for decoration.


The steampunk adjustable ring is £4.50 with £1.95 UK P+P.

All Fashion Magpie Jewellery come wrapped with tissue in a organza gift bag.

You can find Fashion Magpie Jewellery at the below links




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.
To be the first to hear the latest news from Fashion Magpie Jewellery blog you can find me on FacebookTwitterPinterest and Google+

Saturday, 19 March 2016

Featured Item. Purple Leaf Bracelet


The featured item this week for Fashion Magpie Jewellery is the Purple Leaf Bracelet.
The idea for this bracelet can from the colours, I love the way turquoise blue plays with deep purples, I think its a stunning combination.
The embossed leaf at the centre of the charm bracelet was an experiment its self. I had just got the deco emboss part for Christmas 2015 and was eager to try it out. It was after painting the embossed coin with Vintaj patina inks that the idea started to form in my mind for how the bracelet should look.
I knew it needed to be bronze, it's my preferred metal to work with and I wanted the piece to show off the colours of the beads rather then be shiny like silver.


I used purple vine leaf beads along the length of the bracelet to mirror the pendant leaf and joined this with some bronze charm leaves. Next I brought in some turquoise with some 8mm facet beads and filled up the gaps with small 4mm crackle glass beads.
I love how full this bracelet looks and how it rings when its worn.



The Purple Leaf Bracelet is £10 with £3.20 UK postage and packaging.

You can find Fashion Magpie Jewellery at the below links




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.
To be the first to hear the latest news from Fashion Magpie Jewellery blog you can find me on FacebookTwitterPinterest and Google+

Friday, 19 February 2016

Featured Item. Purple Butterfly Bracelet



This weeks featured item is the butterfly bracelet by Fashion Magpie Jewellery.
I tried to keep this bracelet simple and not overly clutter it with pieces. The central focus of the bracelet are, of course, the beautiful shimmering butterflies which I got free in a big batch of beads I ordered.


 
I wanted soft feminine colours so I picked small 6mm baby pink Swarovski crystal which mirror the shimmering of the butterflies. I also choose to use a deep purple faux pearl which I experimented with wrapping it with silver wire. I used a long head pin which I threaded the bead onto and made a loop on the top as normal but in stead of cutting the excess wire off I wrapped it around the base of the loop then round the bead to wrap the last of the wire around the base of the bead. It looks really elegant and adds to the feel of the bracelet.
 

The butterfly bracelet is £10 with £3.20 UK postage and packaging.

You can find Fashion Magpie Jewellery at the below links




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.
To be the first to hear the latest news from Fashion Magpie Jewellery blog you can find me on FacebookTwitterPinterest and Google+

Monday, 25 January 2016

Featured Item. Owl Necklace

 
This weeks featured item is the Owl Necklace from my online shop Fashion Magpie Jewellery.
The owl necklace is a bronze coin which was pressed onto a pattern with a Vintaj Big Kick embossing machine. The embossing machine rolls the blank coin with a deco embossing pad sandwiched between to clear pieces of plastic. The rolls pressed the coin down onto the pattern and emboss it.
Next I took the patterned coin and polished it with a nail file pad. This technique helps to polish only the pattern on the coin and relieves it. The next step was to add colour, I did this using Vintaj's patina ink which I dabbed onto the coin with a paint brush. the colour I used is called Moss green. Before it dries and while its still tacky I took the nail file pad to it again and polished the patina from the pattern so the green only remained on the background.
 
 
To keep the shine I coated the entire coin in patina glaze, again by Vintaj. this helps to keep the metal pristine.
When the coin had dried I wrapped a four star shaped filigree around the back and then added holes with a hole punch where I wanted the owl to hang from (it already had the hole in the top.) 
 
 
The owl is a bronze charm with a front and back to the owl. I hung him from a jump ring and added him to the bottom of the coin.
The chain is made up of a mixture of 8mm bronze filigree beads and 3 beads together, 2 brown beads and a moss green faux pearl. 
 
 
 
To buy the Owl Necklace it is £12.95 with £3.20 UK postage and packaging.



You can find Fashion Magpie Jewellery at the below links




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.

To be the first to hear the latest news from Fashion Magpie Jewellery blog you can find me on FacebookTwitterPinterest and Google+

Sunday, 17 January 2016

Featured item. Red and blue necklace



Each week I take a piece of my jewellery from my shop to write about for you in my featured items blog post. I aim to use this post as a insight into the inner working of Fashion Magpie jewellery.
This week I have chosen to feature the red and blue necklace, which is one of my favourite Jewel enamel pieces.
As with most of my necklace pieces I started with the pendant. It's this pendant which I love the most about the necklace. It's a plain brass coloured disc but it's the Jewel enamel within which really catches the eye. This piece typifies how unpredictable the Jewel enamel is. I used sapphire blue and Burmese flame.
Burmese Flame jewel enamel is my favourite jewel enamel. When it first melts it has a pure gold glaze over the top of the colour, so if you pour it straight away you will get a deep bright red with hints of gold in it. However if its left a little longer the gold disappears and your left with the red you can see in this necklace.
I love the way the pendant almost looks like an alien world, with blue seas and red continents. Perhaps this is what Mars used to look like?


The chain on this necklace is made up of a mixture of red beads with turquoise crackle glass beads. I wanted to keep the look of this being of another world, so the red beads all look like stones and the crackle beads look like the oceans whirling around.


I'm really pleased with how well the colours all match up in this necklace. Measuring 24 inches long, it would be ideally worn with a high necklace top to best show it off.

 
To buy the Red and Blue Necklace it is £12.95 with £3.20 UK postage and packaging.



You can find Fashion Magpie Jewellery at the below links




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.

To be the first to hear the latest news from Fashion Magpie Jewellery blog you can find me on FacebookTwitterPinterest and Google+

Sunday, 3 January 2016

Featured Item Purple Necklace and Stud Earrings Set.


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




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.

To be the first to hear the latest news from Fashion Magpie Jewellery blog you can find me on FacebookTwitterPinterest and Google+

Saturday, 2 January 2016

Featured Item. Blue Heart Necklace


This week the featured item from my shop is the Blue Heart Necklace.
This necklace was inspired by the heart of the ocean necklace a replica of which is worn by Kate Winslet in the blockbuster Titanic.


To explain how this necklace came about I first need to explain a little about last year when I was coming up with the idea for this necklace.
At the beginning of 2014, my nana was dying she had cancer and it was gradually taking over her whole body. Over her years she had picked up various bit and pieces of arts and craft and tried them then stored them. Unfortunately she was now too ill to put them to use and knowing her granddaughters where just as crazy about arts and craft as she was, she called us all up and had us come over. She told us all her hiding places and we happily spread the pieces out among our selves and listened to her tell us stories about the pieces she made and how easy or hard she had found doing them. In my stash of items I had found beads and clasps. Nana said she had tried jewellery making because she loved the pieces I had made and decided to give it a go. She reminisced about a beautiful springy bracelet and spending ages threading the beads together only for it to spring from her fingers and send beads flying through the air. Her fingers weren't strong enough to do the loops which jewellery making demands so in the end she had admitted defeat and packed it all away. (She said granddad was getting sick of cleaning up all the beads anyway!)
In one pack of clasps I received gratefully that day was the flower clasps used in this design although it would be a few months more before I would use them.
By August of 2014 I had started to blog regularly and one of those first posts was a post about the heart of the ocean diamond. ( if you'd like to read it click here) The movie prop had always been one of my favourite pieces of jewellery from any movie and even more so after researching it for the blog post.
so I sat down with my jewellery enamel one night and made the heart pendant of this necklace with sapphire jewel enamel and a pinch of black to darken the colour down a bit. The result looked fantastic as I heat polished by warming it up with a heat gun until the surface just started to melt. The heat brings out the colours and gives it a shine.
I thought about just adding it straight onto the chain but instead decided to take a look in my box to make sure there wasn't anything else I could do. It looked a little plain sat on the chain all by it's self.
Sure enough the first thing I saw when I opened the box was the flower clasps from nana. I smiled and couldn't help but wonder if nana had guided me to them!
I decided instead of using them as a clasp behind the neck I would use them as part of the pendant design.
Ever since making this necklace I have loved it and it remains one of my favourite pieces in my shop, I have to admit I will be a little sad to see it go when it eventually sells but at least I know it'll be loved and worn!

If you would like to be the one to buy this Blue Heart Necklace, it is £12.50 with £3.20 UK Postage and packaging. I do also post aboard.

It will come to you wrapped and in an organza gift bag.

You can find Fashion Magpie Jewellery at the below links


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.
 
To be the first to hear the latest news from Fashion Magpie Jewellery blog you can find me on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Google+

Saturday, 7 November 2015

Featured Item. Green Bow Crystal Earrings


The featured item for Fashion Magpie Jewellery this week is the Green Bow and Crystal Earrings.
Made to be light weight and wearable for everyday use, I have made them from a gold bow charm which I painted with green patina ink and then distressed to bring back some of the shiny gold again. This has given the bows a weathered look which I sealed with glaze to help preserve the effect.
Below the bow is a tear drop clear crystal which gives a nice contrast to the weathered bow.

 
Set on bronze ear wires, these cute little bow and crystal earrings are £6.00 with £1.95 UK postage and packaging, I also post to Europe, Untied States and Canada.

You can find Fashion Magpie Jewellery at the below links




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.

To be the first to hear the latest news from Fashion Magpie Jewellery blog you can find me on FacebookTwitterPinterest and Google+

Sunday, 25 October 2015

Featured Item. Blue Choker Necklace

 
Each week I feature an item from my shop Fashion Magpie Jewellery for you to read about. The item this week is the Blue Choker Necklace.
The necklace sits around the collar bone of the neck so is quite short with a large pendant. The pendant is a bronze disk with blue jewel enamel and glitter. Jewel enamel is a UTEE resin which sets like marble and appears to have several layers to the colour. The glitter I used is a heat sensitive glitter which bonds it's self to the hot jewel enamel when it was setting.


I decided the beads should repeat themselves so I started with light blue Swarovski crystals which sparkle almost as much as the glitter in the pendant. I spaced these with oval beads of the same shade of blue then contrasted with a darker blue. In between the dark blue beads, I decided to use bronze tone accent beads, to mirror the bronze of the pendant.

 
For the upper half of the necklace I set out the beads the same way but instead of the diamond shaped bronze tone accent beads I used a pretty round flower patterned bead.
 
 
 
 
 To buy this Blue Choker Necklace it is £12.95 with £3.20  UK postage and packaging. I also do international postage.


You can find Fashion Magpie Jewellery at the below links




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.

To be the first to hear the latest news from Fashion Magpie Jewellery blog you can find me on FacebookTwitterPinterest and Google+

Saturday, 17 October 2015

Featured Item. Red and Blue Necklace.


This week the featured item in my Fashion Magpie Jewellery shop is a brand new item, I've only just listed for sale. It is called the Blue and Red Necklace.
Its made with one of my favourite materials to work with, Jewel Enamel. I first discovered jewel enamel while watching the jewellery maker channel and found them featuring this brilliant stuff which melted down from a powder quickly to a liquid which could be poured into mould and then set within a minute and could be handled. I feel in love instantly and I've never looked back.


The pendant for this necklace is made with Apitite blue and Burmese Flame which is a red jewel enamel which has a gold frosted look when it's melting.
Each time I pour jewel enamel into a mould I never know what result I'm going to get which is half the fun of working with it. This particular pendant looks fantastic I love the flowing lines and mix of the colours.
Originally I had been planning to make this necklace mainly blues but the pendant dictated the colours to me and I decided instead to work mainly with red and accents of deep turquoise.
I placed the pendant on a bead board and planned my necklace on there, experimenting with how much turquoise I could use and trying not to go over board with the red.


I settled on using two different types of turquoise crackle glass and a red bead of a similar size with the same sort of crackle design. In between then I used red seed beads the same deep red as the jewel enamel.
The design only goes as high as the collar bone and then I used bronze chain to go behind the neck making it 24 inches long when worn.


 To buy this Red and Blue Necklace it is £12.95 with £3.20  UK postage and packaging. I also do international postage.


You can find Fashion Magpie Jewellery at the below links




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.

To be the first to hear the latest news from Fashion Magpie Jewellery blog you can find me on FacebookTwitterPinterest and Google+

Monday, 12 October 2015

Featured Item. Gold Bead Brooch



This week the featured item is the Gold Bead Brooch which I made with welding wire.
These brooches from my shop Fashion Magpie Jewellery are great to make when you have some beads left over from a project but there is not enough to make anything else.
There made by bending some copper welding wire into a shape you like then, doing some loops through the centre of the shape, before winding the end of the wire around its self to secure. To prevent the end scratching sometimes it can be necessary to file the end a bit.


Next I use tiger wire, in this case gold, to wind around and through the shape adding beads as I go. There doesn't have to be any rhyme or rhythm to the design just let your imagination take hold. I find it's easier if you don't over load each branch of beads with to many because they can begin to bulge upwards and make the design look too fussy. It also looks good to mix up the beads size and textures, like this brooch which has gold coloured filigree, 4mm faux pearls and pearlescent tear drop beads.
Where the tiger wire meets the copper wire I have wound the tiger wire around 2 or 3 times before continuing with the next length. This method helps to stop the tiger wire slipping around the copper and makes everything more rigid.


When I am happy with the design I use the tiger wire to secure the brooch back to the copper wire by just winding the wire through the holes on the brooch back fastening until it doesn't move as much any more.
These brooches never fail to get positive feedback when there worn.

To buy this Gold Bead Brooch it is £6.00 with £1.95 UK postage and packaging. I also do international postage.


You can find Fashion Magpie Jewellery at the below links




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.


To be the first to hear the latest news from Fashion Magpie Jewellery blog you can find me on FacebookTwitterPinterest and Google+

Sunday, 4 October 2015

Featured Item. Mixed Metal Bracelet.



This weeks featured item, is one which I had been planning for a while to make. I loved the idea of using more then one metal and complimenting then with each other. From that idea was born the mixed metal sun bracelet.

Made with a Tibetan silver sun charm which I cut the loop off, it was then glued onto a copper filigree which mirrored the suns shape to suggest the rays.
To the filigree I connected the bronze triangle connectors and picked out some fiery red reds to compliment the design.
The red beads are all porcelain and finish the end of the extension chain as well.

 
 To buy this one of a kind mixed metal bracelet it is £10.00 with £3.50 United Kingdom Postage and packaging. I do also postage post aboard.

You can find Fashion Magpie Jewellery at the below links




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.


To be the first to hear the latest news from Fashion Magpie Jewellery blog you can find me on FacebookTwitterPinterest and Google+

Sunday, 27 September 2015

Featured Item. Bright Red Necklace


My featured item this week has been seeking a lot of attention recently in my Etsy shop, it is the Bright Red Necklace.
There's no guessing where the name for this one came from, I must have been feeling very matter of fact when I named it! Bright red beads and a red jewel enamel pendant, make a necklace to be noticed.

 
 
It is a beautiful necklace hanging 20 inches long to the pendant, it would be perfect with a strapless or V neck top to best show off the piece.
The pendant is an oval jewel enamel cabochon in red and with a hint of green, it shimmers in the light with the glitter inlays in the jewel enamel and is held in place by a Vintaj filigree piece, it even looks just as beautiful behind the pendant.


Underneath the pendant hangs a nugget wrapped with leaf patterned filigree bead caps, for a regal look.


To buy this one of a kind Bright Red Necklace it is £12.50 with £3.50 United Kingdom Postage and packaging. I do also postage post aboard.

You can find Fashion Magpie Jewellery at the below links




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.


To be the first to hear the latest news from Fashion Magpie Jewellery blog you can find me on FacebookTwitterPinterest and Google+