Arrowhead Necklace for a Man

Today I completed a new arrowhead necklace for a man. My friend Bernice (with whom I share the Wire and Ice Facebook page) sent me over some Arrowheads from Pennsylvania. I’m going to use one of them to cast some sterling silver arrowheads, but the one I used for this necklace really stood out, because it reminded me (for some reason) of heraldry and stuff like that. It inspired me to create a sort of shield to front the arrowhead. I had to form the shield by hammering and filing sterling silver into shape and pushing the arrowhead into place  - you can see in the picture, the arrowhead is held tightly inside its silver shield using silver wire.

It seemed to need a plaited leather necklace to complete the look, so I took three strands of Greek leather and plaited them. I finished the necklace off with sterling silver clasps. Finally I hung the arrowhead and its silver shield, from the necklace using a silver bail.

I got the shield hallmarked too in Edinburgh at the assay office.

Hope you like it!

Arrowhead necklace for a Man

Susie Morrow is My Name

I’ve decided to change the name of my company to Susie Morrow because, well, just because it was getting confusing and the name Lynwood Jewels never really gelled.

So form now on Susie Morrow is the name of my company: Susie Morrow Art Jewelry for Men and Women. Its designed and made by me so I guess the name should reflect that.

Another great thing that happened this week is that Boticca, the greatest accessories online sales site ever, did a designer interview with me which you can see here: http://boticca.com/blog/designer-interview-susie-morrow/

So new year, new name (well old name actually, but you know what I mean)

Here’s me, in my workshop:

Me in the workshop hammering stuff

Sugalite, what a beautiful stone

I bought some sugalite beads recently and i was stunned at the beautiful purple  violet hues. Sugalite, also known as luvulite, has a complex chemical formula: KNa₂(Fe,Mn,Al)₂Li₃Si₁₂O₃₀ (I like things like that as I used to be a chemist). It may be complex, but its beauty is simple.

Apparently it is associated with the astrology signs, Virgo and Sagittarius. It’s also known as the love stone.

Whatever your views on stones and their meaning, you can’t deny this stone is lovely.

I loved it so much I made a number of pieces, including this silver bracelet:

Sugalite Bracelet using sterling silver wire wrapping

Earrings are Great

I love earrings, i love dangly ones, I love long ones, I love studs, i love them in all colours, shapes and sizes. But guess what…I can’t wear them! How cruel is the universe. I get very sore ears, even with precious metals. How annoying is that.

A pair of earrings can really set of an outfit. They can turn very ordinary, everyday wear into something a bit glam.

I made these earrings recently. I found a pair of vintage briolette earrings, in a local flea market in Tynemouth on the north east coast of the UK.

They were a pair of orange briolettes hung on sterling silver ear wires. The silver wires were not suitable for wear and so I thought I would rework them into a pair of briolette earrings with a modern vintage twist.

I took the brioletttes, which hung from a sterling silver chain and cleaned the chain up. I then hung them, again from some new sterling silver ear wires, making them wearable. I then made some silver hearts using polymer metal clay (PMC, 99% silver). I hammered the hearts and gave them a slightly distressed look. I then hung, on each earring, a silver heart, partially hidden by the briolette.

If only I could wear them.

Vintage briolette earrings

Winner of the Turquoise and Jasper Bracelet is…

Wendy Lee Peron! Who had the winning share for our competition on the Wire and Ice facebook page.

Wendy – get in touch and we will post out the bracelet to you.

Watch out for more competitions!

Handmade bracelet competition prize

Jewelry for Men

I truly believe that jewelry worn by a man can be highly masculine and very sexy. If you think about it, throughout history men have worn adornments. I’m not sure if the reason a  man wears jewelry is different from the reasons a woman would wear it, but it seems that, to myself anyway, jewelry is worn by a man is for similar reasons, including strength, symbolism and power imbued by wearing precious metals and stones. Men have worn jewelry in battle too, just look at the Celts and the Romans.

An interesting paper which mentions the use of jewelry by Celtic men can be read here: http://www.greyhawkes.com/text/celts.txt

I live near the ancient Roman settlement, Vindolanda: http://www.vindolanda.com/ and there is ana amazing collection of Roman jewellery there which includes jewellery worn by men.

So what’s the point in this post? Well I have decided to create a few pieces that are mainly for men (although women could wear them too) and my first collection has been inspired by stone and obsidian arrowheads that I bought whilst in Pennsylvania in the USA (an example is shown below). I am going to develop this collection and create pieces inspired by the kinds of jewelry worn by men from ancient cultures, so watch this blog space…

Mens choker necklace with arrowhead and Botswana jasper stones

Some of my recent jewelry for men can be found here:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/suzedablooze?section_id=10351366

Competition! Win a Beautiful Handmade Bracelet

You can win a beautiful handmade bracelet, made by myself from Leopard skin jasper and turquoise beads, wrapped with sterling silver wire.

All you have to do is go to our Facebook page (linked below) and share any of our links on that page (thats hit the share button not the like button):

here: http://www.facebook.com/wireandicejewelry

 

Alternatively, you can share the link to this competition on your Facebook page

The more links you share, the more times your name gets entered into the hat.

On the 1st of December 2011, we will then collect all of the names of those who have shared links on our Facebook site and place them in a virtual hat and randomly pick the winner. The winner will be announced on this blog and on our Facebook page Wire and Ice

The competition is open to worldwide users and I’m happy to pay the postage, but if you live outside the UK you’ll have to be responsible for any customs charges: although there shouldn’t be any as it’s a gift.

Handmade bracelet competition prize

Legal bit (sorry!):

By accepting a prize, all winners agree that the Host  will have no liability whatsoever for, and will be held harmless by winner for any liability for any injury, loss or damages of any kind, to winner or other persons, including (without limitation) injuries, loss or damages arising out of or relating to death, and, injuries, damages or losses to property, due in whole or in part, directly or indirectly, from the acceptance, possession, use or misuse of the prize or participation in this promotion.

An Anglo / US Alliance

I have a friend called Bernice who lives in a place called Lords Valley in Pennsylvania in the USA. Bernice makes jewelry. In fact in many ways Bernice has a similar approach to jewelry to myself. She loves beautiful stones. She likes large statement pieces and sees jewelry as something that expresses the personality of the wearer.

But, Bernice’s appraoch to making jewelry is quite different to my own. Bernice is a brilliant wire wrapper. Whereas, I tend to set stones in silver, Bernice will wrap them in intricate wire designs.

My jewelry designs and Bernice’s are complimentary. So we have decided to create a Facebook page called Wire and Ice (see our badge to the right of this post) to promote our designs. And to celebrate 1000 likers we are going to run a competition, so watch out for the next blog post here.

But while you’re waiting here’s a picture of ones of Bernice’s creations:

Snowflake Obsidian Wire Wrapped Pendant

Wire and Ice Facebook page can be found here: http://www.facebook.com/wireandicejewelry 

Jewellery for the Home: Why Not…

I’ve been thinking about doing sculpture for a while now. In my misspent youth I used to sculpt in clay – mainly life sculpture, so it’s always been an interest of mine.

Over the New Year I decided to take the bull by the horns and go for it and it hit me that the techniques I use in making silver jewellery, can also be applied to abstract sculpture. So it occurred to me, why not make jewellery for the home: After all, aren’t objects that you decorate your home with just a sort of adornment?

Here is my first ever sculpture in metal – sterling silver, to be precise. With the addition of a large cushion cut citrine s a centre point. I used techniques such as soldering, hammering and stone setting to make the ‘Crazy Triffid Thing’ – hope you like it, although it is very abstract!

Abstract Triffid Sculpture

Button Stud Spiral Earrings with an Anglo Saxon Twist

Lynwood Jewels likes to keep on top of trends but we also like to put our own twist on them. We have created a range of earrings to celebrate the return to fashion of the button stud earring, but with a  twist of Anglo Saxon. The Anglo Saxons often used a geometric design which was based on tightly swirled gold, bronze or silver which formed a spiral.

This image of a celtic cross, shows the type of design I am talking about:

Celtic cross showing spiral design

Close up of spiral design

Using this idea we have created these stud earrings from sterling silver wire work, soldered onto a sterling silver ear post. Hope you like them, you can get them in our shop now:

Button Stud Spiral earrings