Saturday morning and school half term is here again! So getting ready for the trip to the seaside with the kids, seriously did we have this many breaks during the school year? I just seem to get a head of steam up and another one pops along. Now please don’t think I don’t want to spend some quality time with my over loud, over tired, under active, destroy all things minded little cherubs! And then there’s the dog which I’m not going to even list his points, Anyhow I wanted to write this blog up before I left as it will be June by the time I get back. This design came along by accident if truth be told I was actually making something else when I just started messing around with some beads and it sort of came together but I’m not complaining as it turned out rather good if I do say so myself. I must admit I do like making cluster bracelets as my mind tends to wonder (Mainly about being on a beach with a book and a bottle of wine) as I go onto auto pilot, I love the color coordination and the different components you can use. So to break this bracelet down to the base I used a new chain for this bracelet, Not my normal belcher 4 oval chain, It’s a really thick cable chain, As I knew I would be using lots of beads. When using freshwater pearls you are limited to colors and sizes and the availability of them so because I was looking for something a little different I used Swarovski crystal pearls which are fab, Little cheaper then normal pearls but I love the different colors you can buy compared to freshwater. So the two pearl sizes I chose were 3mm and 5mm and the colors are Rosaline – a lovely pinky color and cream very warm colors with a stunning sparkle to them but that’s Swarovski for you! I then added the trusty crystal quartz rondelles which make any design that little bit more elegant. I still needed a good contrasting color and bead then whilst digging through my box of goodies I found some AAA graded Garnet onion briolettes that I’d been keeping for a rainy day and they worked a treat. As I neared the half way point I decided to personalize it as you don’t seem to see many cluster bracelets with that personal touch and makes it even more unique.  So I slipped on a charm holder and added one of my mock hearts I use for making designs. On this heart you can have 26 characters and that includes spaces but as always if you want more text we can make you a custom heart no problem. As happy as I was looking at the bracelet I just felt it could do with something extra and then I saw these little sterling silver open butterfly charms and that was that, It filled the cap that I could see so now it was just down to the back of the bracelet. Again I needed something to offset from the rest of the bracelet so I used the Swarovski BeCharmed crystal heart it really is stunning and to me give it that contrast I was looking for. The heart looked a bit lonely on it’s own so I have had this wonderfully detailed rose charm that I had wanted to use since I bought it but hadn’t really made anything to date which it could be used for until now, Considering the color combinations I had used it just fit in like a glove. So with all said and done it was finished before I really knew that it was, Maybe I should go on auto pilot more often. Oh just one last detail which was the heart toggle which I use on other designs it’s one of those dependable components not to mention it looks good. Well that’s it for this month I guess but while I’m away I can finish my next cluster bracelet off! Yes I’ve already started the next one and this one is using freshwater pearls because I’m just using white so I will be back on in a couple of weeks with that one. Till the next time don’t be like the rest be an IndiviJewel!

Well that was a quick month!! Well as it’s the last day of the month I thought I would write about my last new product from last year, Yes another wire wrapped piece! Sorry lol,  I have become very fond of making this type of jewellery probably because I’m not to shabby at making it if I do say so myself, It’s only taken an age. So like my last couple of  wire wrapped charm bracelets I thought I would complete the set and make a 14K Gold fill and entwined pearl “Bird’s Nest ” ball charm and eventually turn into a charm bracelet like others at some point but wanted to be a little different with this one and make a necklace with it but I have added a twist by adding a gemstone. Now when I started to wire wrap the Gold wire I did notice a big difference from the sterling silver and Rose gold wire, It’s like trying to wrap a steel bar lol, It’s a lot tougher and the top of my fingers are similar to a tea bag – lots of perforated holes, If you manage to stab yourself  in the finger whilst weaving the wire your going to know about it – It sharp and it hurts and I’ve done it quite often! So with the Nest made with the pearls entwined on it I rummaged through my box of goodies, Now I could do with a maid with regards to this particular corner of the workshop, It’s no joke I look at it and have such good intentions in my head to sort it all out and put everything in its own compartment but I just think its a mental block lol. OK so I find my stash of gemstones and putting different colors against the nest and then I come across these sparkly beauties, Pink Mystic Quartz that I’ve had for a while and had actually forgotten about, That’s what happens when your stash is just piled on top and top and lost to depths of the eerie sweetie tin I keep them in. Now Gold and pink just pop when put together so I just new that this was the one for me, So once attached to the bottom of  nest job done! I love this unique design, I already have a few alternatives in my head but I’ll leave that for another day. So if you like your jewellery unique & sparkling then you can’t go wrong with this necklace. So that’s your lot for Jan and now we move on to the love month, Checkout the website by the way, Lots of Valentine’s goodies to choose from and we have a discount code so don’t be like the rest be an IndiviJewel.

So I finally got round to making this coin pearl bracelet to go with the necklace that I made a while ago, Maybe in future I should try making them together now there’s a thought! Men, Multi-tasking just doesn’t really work together lol. I love working with coin pearls especially if you can source out real quality ones otherwise it’s not worth it as I guess you could say I try to be a bit of a perfectionist. I’d have to admit I’m very fussy when it comes to materials, I have so many designs on paper but I only like to use top quality bits and bobs that’s why I have so many unfinished designs hanging around the workshop. You don’t really see to much coin pearl jewellery about and it’s a bit different from the norm so like I said I love working with them especially when you have a good design you can make some wonderful pieces of jewellery. When I’m in the workshop late at night having a brain storming session! Which let’s be honest doesn’t happen to often lol.I love mixing pearls and gemstones it’s one of my favourite parts of designing  but you have to get the mix right for it to have that elegant and sellable look. One of the best combo’s with pearls and gemstones I feel is white/cream pearls with blue gemstones, Just something about pearls and blues it makes me think of sandy beaches while watching an Ocean or Sea  or I’m I just thinking of where I would lie to be right now! Focus, I have used Aquamarine for this design as you might have read in the title of this blog!  But lots of other blue stones would look good as well such as London blue Topaz, Tanzanite or even Sapphire but I went with a warm colour that blends in well and not to over powering but just to give it a little contrast. So to start with I have used a solid and elegant sterling silver charm holder with a whopping 14mm graded coin pearl which has a lovely iridescence about it. Mingled in and around the coin we have AA graded 3mm Aquamarine faceted rondelles which give it that little bit of sparkly needed which are accompanied with beautiful 3-4mm round pearls so overall it makes a wonderful center piece. Now for the rest of the bracelet we used 8-9mm coin pearls to tie in the bracelet as a whole, These little beauties have a wonderful shape and colour about them. Now I have changed the clasp used on the necklace to one which I think suits the design a little better, As you can see it’s a beautifully designed twisted heart and arrow clasp and yes it will also be on the necklace from now on( Yes I’m a professional lol). I have to say the bracelet is very feminine and elegant and would look good on any women’s wrist, That’s not being big headed I’m just very proud and happy to have made this piece and if you don’t have confidence in your work then your in trouble. So all I have to do is make up some earrings and bing bang boo what a lovely set we shall have for you lovely people to wear. OK it’s Friday afternoon, It’s only taken me a week to write this blog! The day is just starting for me, No rest for the wicked I have to re-take some photo’s of our new personalised silver and rose gold bracelet which I hope to chat about in a few days. Till the next time, Don’t be like the rest, Be an IndiviJewel!

Morning one and all, What a gorgeous sunny day we are having this fine Sunday, It’s amazing how a bit of sun puts a spring in your step and a smile on your face! So before I have to drag the kids off Batman 3 to take them and the mad mutt out I want to get this blog up and running, Told you I was getting on a roll with making stuff. Well I’m excited about this design, Some pieces you just get a good buzz about and that’s how it was when making this Coin pearl necklace With the summer season fast approaching it’s even more of a reason to show your pearls off, The way the sunshine reflects off pearls to show the different colors in the pearl are amazing. OK enough about sunshine as I’m getting a bit delirious thinking about a beach and a cocktail, I feel like booking a holiday now, Focus man there is work to do! In any case I need you guys to buy this necklace first so I can go on my travels lol. So first up it’s really hard to find an elegant charm holder bead, There’s not that many around but I have managed to source one out which I’m more than happy with. So on the charm holder I have attached a whopper of a coin pearl, A 14mm one which as you can see from the photo’s looks great quality to which it is! otherwise I wouldn’t use it! Around the pearl I have added a little cluster of 3-4mm round pearls and mingled in between are some beautiful 3mm aquamarine faceted rondelles, I love using faceted gemstones they just look more classy and give off a wonderful sparkle when the light hits them. So now we have our main focal point it’s onto the rest of the necklace, Now I did try using round pearls for this and it did work but I felt it just wasn’t right so I found these lovely cute 8-9mm coin pearls which when I put it all together just clicked straight away, As per usual I added the sterling silver spacers in between the pearls as I just think it looks more classy and elegant. Now the look of the necklace is unique (As always) and it gives the necklace it’s own identity and as you know I like my designs to flow and have the same look all over. So all in all I’m really happy with it and will be making the bracelet at some point today ready for photo’s during this coming week (Fingers crossed). Just as I near the end of another fact based roller coaster of a blog the sky is now GREY! Unbelievable so instead of a nice relaxing stroll in the woods thinking about summer jewellery it will be two head to toe muddy kids and a soggy boggy mutt to clean this afternoon! Right time to say bye for now so see you next time, Be an IndiviJewel!

OK so two posts in two days, Whats going on I hear you say! Well I’m at home today as the little one doesn’t go nursery on Wednesdays so while he’s playing Scooby Doo I thought I would grab my chance to jump on the computer and do a little much needed work as ever. Now I very much doubt I will finish this post today but here’s hoping. Now another new product we have recently made is our range of personalised charm necklaces for girls, This has been on our to do list for some time so we are very relieved to have it finished and just in time for Xmas. For those of you that don’t no we now have the tools to make our own shapes now so they can be unique to us to which we think will help us grow the business as we become even more unique to potential customers. So for our first batch of shapes we went for the more well known ones, Heart, Star, Flower, Angel Wing and a butterfly but I do have a few more I would like to make but lets just concentrate on these ones, I do have a tendency to think to far ahead! So once we had decided on the shapes of these charms we cut them out and personalised them with an initial, added a sterling silver belcher chain and hey-ho a lovely cute personalised girls necklace which makes a lovely gift for numerous occasions such as Birthdays,Weddings, And christenings. We have also given you the option of adding a beautiful gemstone, Yes that’s right a real graded gemstone not some awful looking bead that you see elsewhere to add to the quality and the overall elegance of the necklace because that’s how we like to roll lol. Now as usual it’s not as easy as that a lot of hard work goes on before we send them out such as the hand polishing of these small charms which isn’t easy as some of you will know. I’m just in the process of making pearl necklaces with these charms, It’s amazing how many ideas you can make out of one design but they will be for another day. OK so it has only taken me a few hours to write these few words! But I’m happy I got it finished today lol so I’m off to play Indiana Jones with the little one, Till the next blog.

So here we are again, Monday night or should I say late Monday night in fact its nearly Tuesday probably will be by the time I’ve waffled on and finished this post, The start of another productive week well fingers crossed anyway. Well it was my son’s 4th birthday today and it has been Scooby Doo all day long although  I’m not complaining as I do like the old Scoob cartoons. So now that he’s nodded off I get to do some more work, “Yes” as you can imagine I’m jumping for joy! Who I’m I kidding I love talking about new pieces of jewellery I’ve made and I really love this Sterling Silver Coin Pearl bracelet which due to the design some people call a “Sweetie Bracelet” and to be honest it sure does look good enough to eat I must say. I love designing romantic feminine jewellery and at the end of making this one it made me smile because it turned out better then the image I had in my head. The focal point of this bracelet is a huge 15mm freshwater coin pearl, Very round in shape also very smooth and a vibrant glow to go. Coin pearls of this quality are really hard to find so I had to make something nice with them didn’t I. Around the coin I made a cluster of mixed round freshwater pearls from 2.5mm ones to 5mm, And amongst these I added a few Crystal Quartz rondelles for a little sparkle or two. I love the silver rings we use on our bracelets, Two jump rings soldered together to make a nice and shiny weighty bracelet, It’s nice to be IndiviJewel and different from everyone else who makes similar jewellery with the same components, It just gives it a unique look which is what we are all about. Now the heart toggle I have used lately I think I’m going to use this on quite a few of my designs as it is really good quality, Nice and sturdy and a lovely stand out component on its own. Now when I make bracelets I always like to add something near the toggle, I just think it looks classy and if you use the right component can make your jewellery have a nice contrast like I’ve done with this bracelet. I have used a very beautiful and big grapefruit quartz fat pear, I’m I allowed to say that or will I get told off by the PC brigade, Anyway it breaks the bracelet up and gives it a bit of razzmatazz, No idea why that word popped into my head, Must be watching all those retro cartoons earlier! Now on this bracelet I’ve used a heart charm which I’ve used before and will in the future due to its intricate detail which makes it such a cute little charm which I adore and think everyone else would as well. So that about completes the story of this bracelet, Like my last silver rings bracelet the Angel wing  I will be making necklaces to go with but trying to work on the designs at the moment because these are heavy bracelets if I made the necklaces the same your head would be bouncing off the pavement! Which wouldn’t look classy now would it. Now to look at the bracelet you automatically think wedding but like all the jewellery we design and make we do try to make it so that you can wear it with most things from T-shirt and jeans to business clothes to even a wedding maybe there’s a thought!. The design of this bracelet is to be a stand out piece without being over the top hideous “Look at me” which I think we achieved because when your wearing this your wrist will get looked at and you might even get asked where you got it from so please do tell them!, It’s so much better to see in the flesh this bracelet than the photo’s show, Even though the pics are good it doesn’t do the bracelet justice, It’s one of those where its just so alluring and desirable when looking at it that if you had one you wouldn’t want to take it off, If I was a women I know I wouldn’t! At the end of the day it’s the quality of components that make this bracelet look the way it does, You can have a great design but if you don’t have equally as good materials then it won’t work, All the materials used on this bracelet are really high quality so as you can see by this blog I’m happy so I’m off to bed now, See yer next time if you have a minute or two to spare.

Well here we are, Autumn creeping upon us again, Dark nights closing in so its just as well we are here to brighten you up with some colourful sparkling jewellery. Our latest piece is a heavy weight Sterling silver rings bracelet, Some people may call it a sweetie bracelet and it does look good enough to eat, BOOM BOOM! come on that’s really good for me. As you know we have so many new designs just waiting to be made, Ive had this idea for sometime and now the new website is up and running (Nearly) we want to add non-personalised pieces as well as personalised as not everyone wants something with text on although any of our designs can be personalised due to making them ourselves so if you like the design but want it personalised then just let us know. OK so I have to say I love this design it just has everything a piece of jewellery should have, Sparkle, colour, elegance, quality and just all round desirable.  So first of all we start with a sterling silver belcher chain, This is a heavy piece so needs to have a solid base. We then have the sterling silver rings which are two jump rings soldered into one to make a unique look. Now for the main cluster of charms we have the sterling silver Angel wings charm with the little gold vermeil  heart that makes a great contrast. Next we have the sparkling gemstones, On one side we have a lilac Amethyst briolette pear drop and on the other we have a London blue Topaz briolette pear drop which is equally dazzling and to add more contrast we added a freshwater round pearl. To finish the bracelet off we used a lovely heart toggle and on the heart toggle side we added a couple of more charms, One is a very hard to find coin pearl which has a great shape and luster to it and the other is a very cute heart which has two different sized hearts inside the main one making it a very intricate charm. Overall this is lovely bracelet that can be worn from day to day or for a special occasion such as a wedding, Again this design is unique to IndiviJewels so you can only purchase it from us and you sure will receive great comments and asked where you bought it from, So why be like all the rest be IndiviJewel!

OK feel I need to get on with some serious blogging as I’m getting to far behind so here I’ am “Mr Sadurday nite” yes thats right SADurday nite and welcome to my madhouse, a screaming baby and a very loud toddler wanting to play my computer games and one mad hound stoating round the house looking for dropped food lol. Well I’m blogging for a reason tonight and its to write about another new piece which is our personalised silver rings bracelet. Our other rings bracelet with the gold and silver rings has been a great success but we had quite a few enquiries about an all silver one as not everyone likes gold. I had planed to put both bracelets on at the same time but due to lack of time, yes I know someone get the violins out! lol and lack of certain stock items I couldn’t get it on until now.Somethings you really do like to make and I love making this bracelet, its just so unique and something different to all the other bracelets out there that just look so similar to each other. I have added one new finding which I will add to the other bracelet which is the charm holder which looks fantastic on this bracelet and to me just completes it. I couldn’t believe how hard it was to find a charm holder, I did plan to use this in the original design but just couldn’t get my hands on one. If I wasn’t a bloke I would love to wear this but people might think I’m a big girls blouse as they say which there’s nothing wrong with but I have a reputation to pretend to have lol. Will have to look into designing a manly version! OK back onto the subject matter. The good thing I like about this bracelet is the person detail you can have on it, A name of a loved one or a special date in time that means so much. My favourite  is inspirational words because my niece is at university and for her last birthday I made her a gold and silver rings bracelet with three charms which had the words believe,dream and inspire just to give her a little boost when she finds it tough going. OK that’s enough waffle from me at the moment.

Well what a wonderful Royal wedding we had the  privilege of watching. Thought the occasion was fantastic with the large crowds that gathered up and down the wedding route. I was trying to see what jewellery was on show and I have to say there wasn’t that much and to be honest some of the guests pieces were dreadful, should have shopped with us! lol. Right now to our new product, might as well join the bandwagon and make a piece to coincide with the wedding. This is a personalised necklace for all those girls who would love to be the next princess. We are currently working on a range for this piece but in the meantime would like to see how this takes with our customers before we commit to other pieces which we are very confident in as with past history. We decided to make a simple piece to begin with which started with a sterling silver disc which measures 16mm in diameter and 1mm thick. We then etched the word princess and a picture of a crown which will be standard and then the name of your choice in this case we choose Kate for obvious reasons. The disc hangs from a beautiful bail which makes it more elegant and appealing and finally we  have given the option of having an Amethyst or Rose Quartz gemstone to sit along side a luscious white pearl.

Back again! Two posts in one day, Not bad. I wasn’t going to blog till next week but had an email earlier tonight about an order for three gemstone and leaf cluster bracelets which arose from our little break in the countryside last week in the North Yorkshire Moors. It was Sues birthday last week so we decided to take off for a quite break and celebration with our  two young boys in tow. We stayed in a log cabin at Keldy forest near a place called Pickering which took me by surprise because it was beautiful and so was the whole surrounding area, little quaint villages and stunning countryside which I didn’t think existed anymore in good old blighty. Listen to me I sound like a travel guide, anyway as usually you get talking to people in your resort and this we did. Sue took a few pieces with her but it was one piece that got some attention which was the leaf & gemstone cluster bracelet shown below. Its amazing how chatty people get when you tell them you make jewellery, So we handed out a few cards and have ended up with a few sales with a few more on the way by the sounds of it. This is the beautiful log cabin we stayed in as you can see we had a rather early party guest.