I don’t know what it is about jewelry artisans, but we tend to hardly ever make something to keep for ourselves. I wear my own jewelry all the time, but mostly it’s identical to something that’s for sale. I do have my gunmetal tryzantine bracelet that I wear often:
And I also wear a copper & gunmetal flower chain chainmaille bracelet regularly that I sell:
But other than that, I really don’t have much that I’ve made intentionally for myself. I am a nurse for my day job, so I don’t wear a lot of jewelry because of the job. I do have a few pieces of fine jewelry I’ll wear, my current favorite being the 5 carat mystic topaz necklace my parents gave me for Christmas last year.
Maybe it’s because I don’t wear much myself, maybe it’s because I truly enjoy making jewelry but focus on designing for other people…there are several possibilities as to why I don’t make much for myself. I certainly don’t make anything high end to keep.
That is, until this weekend!
I had bought a silver and mother-of-pearl carved flower clasp at a bead expo about 6 months ago. It’s one of those things that I didn’t have a clue what I might do with it, but the style intrigued me so I paid the $12 for it anyway. And, it’s sat in a drawer for 6 months. I’ve taken it out often to admire it, but still never had an idea as to what to do with it.
I’m a seller on etsy, SquareEffects. I’m also a shopper, and have recently bought more than I’ve sold. I found a supply seller who is the co-leader of team ESST, the Etsy Supplies Street Team. Carla of CarDon Creative Designs is the co-leader, and also happens to live near me. I found her shop by browsing for supplies, and I’m glad I did! One thing she had for sale was lava beads, which I’ve wanted to try to do something with but hadn’t bought any. I purchased some from her, along with several other items.
When I got the lava beads, I thought they would go terrific with the mother of pearl clasp. I love the texture of the lava beads, but as they’re solid black in color I wanted to keep the other beads simple. I had the round crocheted beads for months as well; they’re a plastic inner bead with a thread crochet covering in black. They work great along side the lava, keeping with the black color with lots of texture. I wanted something else as well however, and thought sardonyx would be the perfect compliment to finish the bracelet. I’m used to seeing sardonyx as almost all black with the occasional shot of white through it, although when I got to Market Beads in Baldwinsville, I was thrilled to see she had one sardonyx in stock that was in bands of browns and tans, PERFECT for a compliment to the color of the clasp!
Lava, sardonyx, mother of pearl clasp
