PURPLE SAGE ORIGINALS: JEWELRY AND WATCHES

Saturday, March 3, 2012

Jewelry Making

Designing your own jewelry can really be enjoyable and rewarding. I find it very relaxing to sit, meditate on many things and create unique and unusual pieces. I find the most enjoyment in making pieces for others rather than myself. I have made several pieces for family and friends... I’m very sure that I will continue doing just this for years to come! Sometimes I even put a few pieces in my Etsy Store. It is nice sometimes to make a little money from my pieces from time to time!

This one I made as a wedding gift for my daughter in law. I made it with Lavender Swarvoski Crystal Pearls. It turned out so nice I made a dark purple for myself for the wedding, since the wedding colors where shades of purple. I have had several friends ask me to make them one like this necklace I made for Stephanie.

This one is Sterling Silver chain and Swarvoski Crystal Pearls. This one I had in my etsy shop for while, I will probably put it back in the shop. It turned out so beautifully that I do have a hard time parting with such beautiful, delicate and unique piece. This one really has a classic princess style feel and elegance to it and would be fitting for any special person in your life... even ones self!

This one was made with Bordeaux Swarvoski Crystal Pearls. I had made it for a friend who had just lost her husband. This one turned out so nice and looks so elegant, it was hard to part with also.

I was experimenting with chain again when I made this one. I had this one in my etsy shop for sale and a friend came by to visit one day and she was looking thru all my pieces she like it so much that I gave it to her as a gift. This one I made with Black Cathedral Czech beads, hematite beads and a nice gun metal chain.

Another piece that I made for a good friend while living in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. I made a necklace and bracelet similar to this one for myself. I varied the Cathedral and Hematite beads to every other for a real classic look.

This one I made for another friend, it was made with Hematite beads and Crystals. I added a magnetic rose clasp which gave the necklace a delicate classic princess look.

This one in the gold metal I made for myself... a few years ago my husband bought me a few stand of natural stones for my birthday. These stones are Lapis, they are mostly blue but have veins of gray and brown. I had enough beads to make two necklaces, so I made another just like it in silver metal and sold it in my shop on etsy.

I was creating here, trying my hand at some metal work. I made all these crazy eight pieces and the clasp for this necklace and used natural stones which are Amethyst.

These two tear drop necklaces are a made with Tanzanite and Crystal with sterling silver beads and clasps. I gave one to another very dear friend that I do miss very much since moving from Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

This one one the left I made for another very dear friend that I also miss very much, she lives in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The one on the right is one I made for myself, when she saw mine she ask my if I would make her one like mine. This necklaces are made with Garnets and Fresh Water Pearls.

You can check out my Etsy Store at http://www.etsy.com/shop/PurpleSageOriginals

I haven’t been able to create any new pieces lately to put in my shop, but I hope soon I will be able to do some creating! So come back... check it out from time to time and see my new creations. The reason for not having any jewelry in my shop is... A few months back we moved into our new home after having everything in storage for about four months, just after we moved across the country from Baton Rouge, Louisiana to Southern California. I’m very glad to be settled finally. I still haven’t had a chance to get into my craft room and get it set up again, but it is coming soon. I’ve made a promise to myself that I would get it done before spring time.

You know when you move into a new house, some furniture finds a new home in the new house where in the old house it was maybe used in a different area of the house. Well everything that I had in my craft and sewing room has been utilized in a different area now, except for my sewing machine and sewing table. I guess this means I get to buy all new things, create a new look, figure out how I want it to look, what will work best. Wow…. I’ve never had these choices before. I don’t even know where to start!

Friday, December 30, 2011

Bracelet Watches

I have a real passion for creating and really enjoy making jewelry. I find it relaxing when I'm creating some new design of wearable art!

A few years ago I made myself a watch bracelet. I choose this antique style watch face, sterling silver bali beads and then for a twist, I used beads that had the same effect as the old mood rings did years ago...(ya all remember those?) When I wore my watch to work, I had lots of comments on it from my co-workers, and a couple of them wanted me to make one for them. So... I set out to make a few watch bracelets, hoping to design something that they might like.

This was a little scary... not knowing if I could capture their style and personality in one of my creations! It is truly easier creating for ones self!

Wow... I guess I was being put to the test a bit!
Usually we all just go buy what we like, not to many times are we having something custom made for ourselves!

Here are some pictures of the watch that I made... that inspired all these watches below. I wear it so much and have had it for several years, that it is getting a little worn around the metal on the mood beads. I do have more of of these beads, so I might need to take it apart and redo it, because the bali beads are sterling silver and will last for ever!

Here is the color progression of the mood beads.

It was really hard to capture the true color changing. For the picture... I started with the watch being really cold... I put it in the fridge and and as the beads warmed up I took these pictures. I'm sad to say I couldn't get the true essence of the color changes, but enough to show that it changes from brown, amber, yellow green, green, blue green, blue, gray, and purple. What is so neat about these beads as they all change a different intervals, they don't change at the same time.

This was my first commissioned piece... Jill a co-worker of mine, commissioned me to make a watch for a real good friend of hers while I was living there in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The watch was a birthday gift for her friend. In my mind I'm thinking...WOW! This one is going to be hard, I don't her at all! So... after asking Jill several questions about her friend what she could tell me about her likes and dislikes, what her favorite colors and metal preferences were, I started gathering up everything that I needed for this project. The next thing I needed was her friends wrist size and if she like bracelets (loose fitting dangles) or a real watch fit (snug) to the wrist. Boy... that was going to be hard for Jill to gather this information since this was going to be a gift, but this was the most important part of the process, because everybody has a different wrist size.

This Bracelet Watch turned out so nice, I didn't want to part with it when I finished it. It fit me perfectly on my wrist also!

Jill loved it! She was so pleased at how nice it came out, that she paid me $10 over the price that I had originally quoted her. This made me feel good that I hit the mark, she knew her friend better than me. Jill also came back and let me know her friend really love the watch and she was so ecstatic about her gift, then Jill asked me to make another watch for her sister inlaw for the coming Christmas.

So we went through the same process with this watch. Now... the only difference is this watch would have a theme, an emphasis on Fleur-de-lis, with just a little french flair!

Again... after I finished this watch I really wanted to keep it also. Lucky for me I have enough of these fleur-de-lis findings that I can make one for me!

Amanda another co-worker about month later asked me if I was ready to make her a watch. When I asked her if she had any ideas what she wanted her watch to look like, since she had seen both of Jill's watches. She shared "I don't know... just make me one, whatever you make will be great." Again, Wow... such a vote of confidence! I really felt under the gun to turn out something special.

The next day, I brought in something that I had been working on for awhile to see if she like it. If she did I would move towards creating something out of the jumprings that I had made from scratch. I had been practicing making jumprings, because I was going to make a chain maile rope necklace for myself. She like it... so we are moving ahead with some ideas.

Amanda's mom liked her watch so much she wanted to keep it... so Amanda had me make another one just like hers with a different color crystal. Then we dicided to do a gold tone watch instead of silver one for her mom's birthday.

This one below... I made for my daughter inlaw Stephanie. This is another one that I really liked and wanted to keep for myself. The gift is in the giving... almost everything I make I give away to someone.

A dear friend of mine... Onyema, wanted me to make a her a couple of watches. She wanted them to fit snug like a watch normally would fit.

Before I moved from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, I had alot of watches, neckace and other things in my Etsy store. During our move I put eall my listings in inactive status, because everything was in boxes and in a storage unit for several months. Well... now that were settled in to our home, I guess I need to be busy and relist everything in my store www.purplesageoriginals.etsy.com .

Come visit from time to time, I'm always adding something new. I will be putting some of these items below in tmy shop soon.