Copper and Bronze and Brass, Oh My.

It's been a couple of months since I posted, and I have to admit it's because I've been sulking.

See, back in my early teens my brother gave me a rather fetching copper ring with a kind of ivy pattern engraved around it. I loved it, but unfortunately the thick green band it left on my finger was also how I discovered I don't react well to copper. Over the years I've avoided copper jewellery, even though I love the colour. I don't even think about it any more.

I don't think about it to the extent that I spent six months enthusiastically buying cute charms and chain in bronze and brass. 'Cos they'd be fine, y'know?

Um, no.

This is a piece I affectionately named The Clockwork Owl's Nesting Place, although I'm not sure if owls actually nest. It's one of the first watch plate pendants I made. The owl and the leaf are antique bronze, with a matching chain.

After wearing it for about a week solid, I started getting really itchy around the back of my neck. When I took the necklace off I noticed that around the clasp the chain had gone a lovely copper colour. So I looked in the mirror and saw an attractive green streak along the back of my neck. And then I remembered that bronze and brass are alloys of copper.

And that's when I had a sulk. I'd got all those charms and things with plans to make myself some new jewellery. The Etsy shop was really only an excuse to make more of the stuff than I could ever actually wear, but now it's going to be an outlet for all the creations I want to wear but can't. Some of my designs I'm trying to rework in silver, but a lot of what I've got will have to go.

Expect to see a lot of bronze and brass in my shop in the near future, and lots of posts where I try to figure out alternatives to chain and metal charms.

Out of the Blue

And then, out of the blue, someone bought a pair of my earrings. It's a cute little pair of dangles made out of watch parts, and I'll be making a trip to the post office tomorrow to mail them.

There's been so much else going on lately, I have to admit to neglecting Etsy a little bit. I've got finished items to list, unfinished items to finish, half-thought-out designs to work on.... Mostly its a problem of daylight - in that I need it to take photos before listing anything, and I also prefer working in it to artificial light. Hopefully things will improve now we're on the upward haul to Spring.

Last week I tried to put some glass charms on faux-suede cords, but managed to cut both cords too short so they're more like chokers. I'll try again this weekend, and use the original cords for bracelets instead. I also made some charm bookmarks the other day. No photos yet (daylight!), but I really enjoyed making them and am trying to think of people to make more for.

Steampunk fossil necklace

One of the things that made me decide to make my own jewellery was when I found this bead on Etsy.

 

It came from a shop called Impossible Fossils, which specialises in steampunk resin beads. I had this one for ages before I had the vaguest idea what to do with it. In the end I decided to use it as the focal bead for a steampunk necklace.

The problem was that it wouldn't fit on a jump ring, and I didn't have any wire, so I used an antique bronze headpin and made a loop at the top. I hung a white glass pearl from the top to embellish the plain wire. On either side of the focal bead I hung charms made from silver and amber beads, pearls, and watch parts to create my first steampunk charm necklace.