I can see clearly now - Brooch and earrings

Brooch (on the left) and pin earrings (on the right) - Clear glass jewels inset into copper for a crisp, no-clutter look. Both the brooch and the earrings have been patinaed for a vintage look.

The hook earrings are fashioned from silver wire, filled with silver solder with blue glass beads and silver baubles dangling from the top centre. A coat of black patina has also been applied for a vintage look.

The brooch displayed on a lace table cloth showing how clear the glass jewel is.

Earring extravaganza

Hand-crafted from copper, silver solder, wire, stained glass and glass jewels.

 

Amber Glass Jewel Earrings and Brooches

A collection of amber glass jewel earrings and 2 brooches (top left). The round brooch is adorned with filigree hand-crafted out of silver wire. The teardrop-shaped earrings are with pin and butterfly, the other three pairs with hooks.

Cosmic Orbit

 'Cosmic Orbit' - Silver wire pendant strung on leather thonging to enhance the earthy feel and matching earrings 

Connect to the Universe from within.

How do you activate the Cosmic Force?
You can use smiling energy. Rub the mid-eyebrow, spiral, and slowly breathe the Cosmic Force in through the mid-eyebrow and the nose. Hold each breath for a while.

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Steel, Wood, Silver and Air - Choker and earrings

This is a piece of small, flat steel bar surrounded with silver solder and decorated with silver wire and a wooden bead. The choker is silver wire and solder.

Steel, Wood, Silver and Air - each of these elements represent an aspect of a dynamic process, a process's phases of change.

Wood - rising, development (of an action), impulse, expansion, decampment
Steel - sinking, contraction, declining
Air - represented by the hole drilled in the steel - Air is vital to human survival
Silver - represents the purity and abundance of life  

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Blue glass jewel brooch

I crafted this brooch by cutting a hole in the centre of a piece of copper, soldering in a clear blue glass jewel and then crumpling the copper with my small flat-nose pliers to get an interesting shape. A brooch pin was soldered on the back and I applied a layer of black patina and then buffing it with some very fine steel wool to achieve a vintage look.

 The back of the brooch

Brooch with blue glass hook earrings

 Blue glass jewel brooch paired with a clear glass jewel brooch

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Clear Stained glass jewel brooch

A brooch hand-crafted from copper, crumpled into a pleasing shape, with a layer of black patina to give a vintage look. A clear stained glass jewel is used in the middle.

Back of brooch

Two brooches in different colours

Matching teardrop earrings with pin and butterfly

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Amber, warm and powerful. Necklace

Scouring some vintage shops like I normally do, I came upon these loose Amber beads in an old tin on a shelf and when I enquired whether it was for sale, the lady said yes and I was surprised at how affordable they were and snatched them up immediately!

They obviously came from a previous neclace, so I just threaded some tiger-tail wire through the holes, attached some clasps and earring hooks onto the two I used for earrings and voila! a warm and powerful necklace with matching earrings!

While often considered a gemstone, the glowing amber is not actually a stone, but fossilized resin from ancient evergreen trees. The oldest amber discovered on Earth is about 320 million years old. Imagine the incredibly powerful energy this amber contains!

Young amber stones are less than 100,000 years old; the most valued pieces of amber are much older than that. (It takes a long time for the tree resin to become true amber). Isn’t it mind boggling to know that the amber jewellery you just bought contains such old, wise energy?

The most obvious quality of amber is its old, old, (very old!) energy. With it comes the accumulated wisdom of the earth and its natural kingdom. You can often see little insects trapped in the amber while it started as a tree resin; this gives the amber stone quite powerful magical properties. It is believed that amber:

• Balances emotions
• Attracts good luck
• Eliminates fears
• Relieves headache
• Clears the mind
• Dissolves negative energy
• Helps develop patience and wisdom

Amber clarity ranges from transparent to opaque and it has a resinous lustre. Most amber specimens have pockets of air bubbles and various other inclusions.

Out of difficulties grow miracles

Copper with clear glass jewel brooch and earrings

I chose this back-ground for the photograph "Out of difficulties grow miracles" because I had one heck of a time making this set! The clear glass jewels are set on top of copper and, as I was soldering the jewels to the copper, the flux kept on running under the glass, causing black spots. I tried over and over again until, eventually, I just gave up and soldered it, ignoring the black spots and hoped for the best. But once I had finished the pieces, added the black patina for an aged look and washed and cleaned them, there were no black spots to see! The few that remained just added to the charm of the earrings (top left in the picture).

For the brooch, I cut the copper to shape and size and crumpled it a bit with my flat-nose pliers for an interesting texture and soldered the brooch pin to the back.

These earrings have pins (with butterfly) but could also just as easily have been hook earrings 

Silver solder with clear glass jewels hook earrings  

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Bone Pendant and earrings

 

A pendant hand-crafted out of silver wire, silver beads, flat bone beads and long pieces of bone on a silver chain.

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Energy, passion and peace

The colour red is the colour of energy, passion and action. It is a warm and positive colour associated with our most physical needs and our will to survive. It exudes a strong and powerful masculine energy. Wearing red clothing or jewellery shows a vibrant personality and a passion for life.

Being the colour of physical movement, the colour red awakens our physical life force. It is the colour of sexuality and can stimulate deeper and more intimate passions in us, such as love and sex on the positive side or revenge and anger on the negative. It is often used to express love, as in Valentine’s Day.

Vibrant red oblong glass jewel earrings. The ease and simplicity of these earrings make a statement on their own, but when teamed with a matching brooch, adds extra whammy!

Red oblong glass jewel brooch hand-crafted with silver wire and silver solder, clasp at the back.

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Blue is the coolest colour - the colour of the sky, ocean, sleep, twilight. Blue is often the chosen colour by conservative people. Blue is the calming colour. That makes it a wonderful colour to use in the home and to wear as jewellery.

Blue gives a feeling of distance. Artists use it to to show perspective. This is a good way to understand the energy of the colour blue - it allows us to look beyond and increase our perspective outward. It contains a cool vibration that is helpful to communication.

Round blue glass jewel brooch surrounded by copper and given a coat of patina for a vintage look. Clasp at back.

The vibration of blue can be used to open energy flow where it is blocked. So wear blue jewellery often to relax and encourage feelings of communication and peace.

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Tamboti leaf Choker and Earrings

If you are a porcupine, the thought of chewing on the bark of the Tamboti tree is enough to send thrills down your quills. If you are a black rhino you will seek out the slender, leaf-filled branches and eat them with relish.

If you happen to be of the species Homo sapiens then beware - Tamboti spells danger! The tree contains a white, milky latex which is poisonous to humans. This latex is characteristic of all members of the Euphorbia family (Euphorbiacea). The tree does have important medicinal value and the roots, bark and even the sap (latex) are used to cure various ailments although nausea always results and a heavy dose may even cause death. A little sap dabbed on an aching tooth is said to bring relief but liberal quantities may result in permanent relief from all pain - an early grave.

The Tamboti tree (Spirostachys africana) is sought after for the making of furniture as it is a hard, fine-grained wood. An interesting contrast is created by the light, creamy sapwood and the dark brown heartwood. The heartwood is resistant to decay and termite attack and is therefore used for building huts and as fencing poles. Of course, great care has to be taken when working with the Tamboti wood as the sawdust is poisonous. Even the smoke from a Tamboti fire is poisonous and could result in you painfully re-examining the contents of the previous night's bush braai.  The wood should not be used for cooking fires, although once it has burnt down, the glowing coals can safely be used.

The small, green leaves turn to magnificent shades of yellow, orange and red and a grove of Tamboti trees in autumn is a sight to behold. It was during autumn, when my tree was ablaze with colour, that I was inspired to craft these Tamboti leaf earrings with matching choker, using silver wire and silver solder. The choker also has a single Tamboti leaf suspended.

Other common names: Tamboti (Eng.); Tambotie (Afr.); umThombothi (Zulu); Modiba (Northern Sotho); umThombotsi (siSwati); Ndzopfori (Tsonga); Morukuru (Tswana); Muonze (tshiVenda)

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