A collection of Crystals and Keepsakes

A collection of crystals on hand-crafted wire stands in my lounge. The snake skin in front is from my resident Mole snake, Mollie, which she shed a couple of weeks ago

A collection of crystals on hand-crafted wire stands

A vintage bowl filled with earrings and brooches and a display of some of the insects I make

A few watercolour bird paintings and some Keepsakes jewellery

Rose Quartz crystal wand on hand-crafted wire stand

Rose Quartz crystal wand

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Wire and Iridescent Glass Jewel Brooch

A brooch I made out of silver wire with an iridescent blue glass jewel in the centre. The brooch pin is behind the thick silver solder at the top.

The back of the brooch

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Stained glass leaf pendant

Green stained glass cut into the shape of a leaf with silver wire and silver solder, a perfect depiction of nature's splendour. Our lives, just like the leaves, will be forever falling and then growing again. If you’re not happy now, you will be. You may not return with a consciousness of what you used to be, but you will return. Don’t count the seconds of your fleeting life. Multiply them.

If words were leaves
Rustling in the breeze
Whispering with ease
Thoughts and feelings
I will then say
There will never be enough leaves
On any tree
To express me

 Can be worn with a silver chain or leather thonging for a more earthy feel

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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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Lilac Stained glass pendant

Step out of the box with this lovely Lilac stained glass pendant, encased in silver solder and surrounded by silver wire. Hanging from a silver rope chain.

When one works with stained glass, you have a lot of off-cuts, a LOT! I just love making stained glass jewellery out of these lovely pieces of glass. There is something about the process with its many, many steps done in a certain order that I find very relaxing. It's a really satisfying creative process, as no two pieces can ever be the same.

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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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Blue flower brooch

A brooch hand-crafted out of blue glass beads, silver wire and solder. This is from my range of ‘Afrika Street Jewellery’.

Flower detail – blue glass beads held by silver wire with a solder centre

Detail of the leaves – one pink glass leaf and the silver leaves are made out of silver wire filled with solder

Back of the 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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Goggo/Insect range - Leopard Tortoise

A Leopard Tortoise hand-crafted with a shell, painted with oil paints, with soldered edge and feet. The head is a yellow glass bead.

Within my house of patterned horn
I sleep in such a bed
As men may keep before they're born
And after when they're dead.

Sticks and stones may break their bones,
And words may make them bleed;
There is not one of them who owns
An armour to his need.

Tougher than hide or lozenged bark,
Snow-storm and thunder proof,
And quick with sun, and thick with dark,
Is this my darling roof.

Men's troubled dreams of death and birth
Pulls mother-o'-pearl to black;
I bear the rainbow bubble Earth
Square on my scornful back
- Elinor Morton Wylie

Southern Africa is very fortunate to have the largest variety of animals in the world. It is home to more than 800 bird species, 150 mammal species, about 50 snake and lizard species, 11 tortoise species and thousands of invertebrate animals like insects and arachnids.

The Leopard Tortoise (or Mountain tortoise - Geochelone pardalis) inhabits a wide range of habitats, from dry Bushveld to moister coastal plains and is the most widely distributed and also the biggest of the 12 species of land tortoise found in Southern Africa. It is believed to take its name 'mountain' tortoise from its size rather than its habitat. ('Leopard' tortoise' comes from the black and yellow blotched patterns on its high-domed carapace.)

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Glass and wire mesh brooch

A shard of glass from a broken lampshade, wrapped in copper foil to enable soldering, and silver wire added to form a wire mesh. First I attached a thick copper wire circle and then wove the thinner silver wire around and through it to form the mesh. A coat of black patina was added to give a vintage look.

Back of the brooch

By changing the angle at which you pin the brooch, you can get quite a few different looks

Back of the brooch

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Goggo/Insect range - Hermit Crab

A Hermit Crab sporting his brand new shell he has just found!

This Keepsakes range consists of insects (for the insect-lover!) to display as ornaments but some of them can also be fashioned into brooches. Hand-crafted with silver, copper, pewter, glass jewels, silver wire and shells, each Goggo/insect can take 3 or more hours to make. Only materials of the highest quality is used and great attention is given to detail and these little animals are unique, one-of-a-kind designs not to be repeated.

Although the items should be treated with care, each item is strong and sturdy. Taking care and cleaning of your unique insect is as easy as scrubbing gently with a toothbrush and Sunlight Liquid and giving it a good rinse with cold water, drying gently with a soft cloth. A natural patina develops over time, adding charm to the item. Each insect comes with its own descriptive card, unfortunately no card available for this one.

Hermit crabs are decapod crustaceans of the superfamily Paguroidea. Most species have long, spirally curved abdomens, which are soft, unlike the hard, calcified abdomens seen in related crustaceans. The vulnerable abdomen is protected from predators by a salvaged empty seashell carried by the hermit crab, into which its whole body can retract.

Hermit Crabs are very social animals and can live 10 years or more, changing shells, moulting several times throughout their lives and growing up to six inches in length. Did you know that Hermit crabs are sometimes kept as pets? Hermit Crabs are docile and are easy and economical to care for and their crabby antics, like climbing, digging and shell switching are as entertaining as they are educational!

 

 

The underside of the crab 

 

 

A lot of research goes into making these little creatures. I use photographs for reference, live study where possible and also Google the necessary information regarding their size, habits, lifestyle, etc. Hand-crafting these little animals has taught me so much about nature and given me a new respect for all Mother Nature's beauty.

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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.