Three Bracelets

Three wee bracelets for you today, all quite different from one another. 

Most frequent readers will know that I *love* colour in general, but I think it's fair to say I tend toward to vibrant. I reached for the softer tones here though, and I'm pretty pleased with it's gentleness. We can always do with a wee bit more gentleness in the world.

Ceramic bird - Something to do beads

Polymer rondelles - Alison Sachs

This bracelet seems very 'me' to my eyes. I love flowers (especially in bead-form, it must be said!), I love turquoise and orange/red and I love birds. And if you add in a piece of vintage brass chain from Paris, it can't hurt, can it? Unfortunately this bracelet is an absolute pest to photograph. The chain section just doesn't behave when sat on a flat surface. Much better on the wrist. I hope you still get a good idea of it nonetheless.

Polymer birdie - Tree Wings Studio

This last one is a bit different in more ways than one. It's a return from Stringing magazine, where it was published in the Winter 2014 edition. The first issue with some of my designs featured - I was pretty chuffed! It was part of the issue's 'delicate femininity' section, and I love, love, love the palette which Stringing selected, part of which you can see below. Hand-cut tiny gemstones, a bit of organic rusticity alongside it's delicate palette and general dainty-nature. My quandary now is that I just don't know how to price this type of piece. It's unusual that I would use quite so many gemstones in one piece. I get most of my gemstones from Precious Sparkle Beads and honestly, the quality is second to none. So I am keen not to undervalue a piece like this with the wrong price. It may be that I just *have* to keep it for myself.....oh well, it's a hard life and all that! 

Multi-coloured Facets - Joyful Earrings

I *love* colour. Really and truly - it is something that brings me joy on a daily basis, and is one of the reasons that, despite taking a few silver-smithing classes and looking into developing the metal-work side of my jewellery work to involve more hot connections, I am continually drawn back to the beads. I know I could never give them up, and the joy and exhilaration that their colours bring to my daily studio life. 

So when a favourite bead artist of mine popped these lovely beads into her shop, I knew they had to be mine:

Beads by Earth Tones

They arrived with me only yesterday, but straight away I fell in love and knew I had to turn them into something wearable immediately. 

Joyful

I tried combining these colourful, brimming-with-happiness beads with many different beads - red, lime, blue, metallic - but ultimately, it was these sweet and simple pale grey rondelles from Beads by Laura and matte, rustic seeds from Indonesia in a pale sky blue that did the trick for me. 

Do they speak to you as they do to me? You can find them here in my etsy shop. 

One element that I do like a lot but don't always feel quite fits me, is geometric design. I think it's the precision and evenness that can go along with it....but here, the rusticity of the rounds means that the facets and me are a perfect match. 

I did a little searching on Pinterest for more facets in design to inspire me - some full of colour, some simply letting the facets do the talking.

Found on Pinterest

Found on Pinterest

Found on Pinterest

Found on Pinterest

Found on Pinterest

Rebecca is a Scottish jewellery designer, currently living in Belfast, Northern Ireland. You can read more about her and her work at her blog, songbeads.blogspot.com and at artbeadscene.com, and see more of her jewellery at songbead.etsy.com. She also has a supplies shop at thecuriousbeadshop.etsy.com.