Winter Jewellery 2017

9 years ago or so I posted about some new charm bracelets I'd made inspired by the wonderful Cold Mountain, a novel by Charles Frazier.  I'd been studying it with my A-Level English Literature class and all those the dark/light contrasts of snow and bark and crows and sky were very important to their study and to me. 

Those charm bracelet days were right at the start of self employment for me followed by moving to Scotland and moving on to work with silver and sea glass. All that time I've wanted to make a set of monochrome black and white sea glass, pottery and silver jewellery, still thinking of the contrasting tones used so expertly by Frazier. 

Finally I've done it and they are on show at the splendid Number Four Gallery's winter exhibition.

If you've been with me all this time from early wire experiments, through various online shops, wisdom teeth complaints, house moving complaints, name changes, disappearance when I went off to run a gallery and sporadic posting since, thanks muchly!

Blue Willow's Secret

You are probably familiar with the blue willow pattern and perhaps even aware of the legend created in conjunction with the tableware in the late 18th century. However, the pattern holds another secret within it's blue and white decoration which I only noticed recently.

The chequered section found near the edge of blue willow crockery looks like this:

However, if, like me, you take a hollow core drill to a shard of blue willow patterned pottery and cut a circle out you will discover that this chequered look looks like it is made up from rows of heart shapes ↓

I know, mind blown, right?! You are welcome!

Enamelled Copper and Sea Glass Earrings

What do you get if you mix old water pipes with some cold fire enamel, sea glass and recycled sterling silver wire? 

These dangly earrings emerged through the layer of tools, off cuts and shards coating my work bench and I did enjoy pairing a pop of colour with the pale, white sea glass.

The aforementioned studio clutter forced me to find an alternative photographing position and lo I discovered that if I open the bathroom door, our landing gets light from two windows on opposite sides of the house thus squeezing as much possible light out of the not always bright Scottish skies. Sprawling out on the landing with camera atop elbow propped hands may become my default jewellery photographing style. We shall see.

Recycled Sterling Silver Wedding Rings

What an honour to make wedding rings!

 I love making such special pieces of jewellery and it delights me that more and more people are taking into consideration where the precious metal for their precious wedding bands comes from. This pair are made from 100% recycled sterling silver and were exchanged in a super special sea side ceremony on the east coast of Scotland this summer.

♡

Spring Stockists 2017

Spring has been rather fine in the Borders this year and brought me new stockists. I have updated the list on my website and for Spring 2017 you can find my work at these fine establishments:

Chirnside Gallery, Scottish Borders

Creative Recycling Gallery, Chorlton, Manchester

Crown Studio Gallery, Rothbury, Northumberland

Harbour Lane Studio, South Queesnferry

Number Four Gallery, St. Abbs, Scottish Borders

Tweedside Gallery, Newtown St Boswells

White Fox Gallery, Coldstream, Scottish Borders

Laura Johnson Jewellery at Tweedside Gallery, Newton St Boswells

This lovely lot have been delivered to Tweedside Gallery in Newton St Boswells and as well as enjoying making the jewellery I had a fiddle with some display cards.

A very pleasurable hour with ink, card and tape framed in the use what I've got mindset produced these:

Sea Glass Bottle Stopper Necklace

Finding bottle stoppers on the beach is one of the most exciting discoveries! Especially when they are beautifully weathered but whole. Over on instagram I have been enjoying sea glass posts from across the world; in a sea glass challenge, yesterday's prompt was stoppers and instagrammer posted an image of the most wonderful collection of stoppers including a purple one. Purple!

I made this pendant from what I believed to be the base of a bottle stopper and finally got round to photographing it with a complete stopper R found at the beach at the weekend. I must say it is very nice to have actual weekends again!

You can see the central round impression on the pendant piece of sea glass where, at one time, the rest of the stopper would have protruded. If stoppers are a rare find, perfectly rounded stopper bases are even rarer; this is the only one I have ever found.

Winter Warming

Now we are into January, the media warns us of impending thundersnow and, even if there's only a sprinkling of snow it is distinctly chilly.

My lovely mother in law treated herself to a sumptuous woolly poncho before Christmas and this week declared it was no good as she didn't like the flappiness of it all. So, the poncho was kindly given to me, the daughter in law of frequently purple hands with a penchant for drapery; it's lovely!

Before the cat spotted the poncho lap of joy I took a few winter inspired shots of some jewellery. I then spent the afternoon editing them with the laptop perched on the arm of the sofa with the cat claiming her rightful spot on my lap!

Wishing you all a very happy new year!