Mother of Pearl Stained Glass Pendant

An oblong piece of Mother of Pearl iridescent stained glass pendant (changes colour as the angle of view or the angle of illumination changes) with silver solder surround, silver wire on the front and a few white glass beads hanging from a silver chain.

The technology for making glass dates back at least 5,000 years, and some form of stained glass was used in European Christian churches by the third or fourth century A.D.

Glass is made by fusing together some form of silica such as sand, an alkali such as potash or soda, and lime or lead oxide. The colour is produced by adding a metallic oxide to the raw materials.

Read more on how stained glass is made.

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Rose Quartz Place-name Holder

Rose Quarts set into a shell with silver solder border and a silver wire stand. Can be used as place-name holders at a dinner party or just to hold an inspirational message next to your bed!

Rose quartz is pink quartz that is often called the "Love Stone." It is a stone of unconditional love that opens the heart chakra to all forms of love: self-love, family love, platonic love, and romantic love. The high energy of quartz gives rose quartz the property of enhancing love in virtually any situation. In turn, this lowers stress. All in all it is a very soothing and happy stone.

Emotionally rose quartz brings gentleness, forgiveness, compassion, kindness and tolerance. It raises one's self-esteem and sense of self-worth. It helps balance emotions and heal emotional wounds and traumas, even grief, bringing peace and calm. Rose quartz removes fears, resentments and anger. It can also heal and release childhood traumas, neglect, and lack of love, in part by enhancing inner awareness. It can help with reconciliation with family and others. Overwhelming or unreasonable guilt is eased by rose quartz.

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Green Stained Glass trinket box

A trinket or jewellery box made out of green stained glass, with a hinged lid and a little chain to hold the lid when it’s open. The legs and stretcher are made out of silver wire, patina-ed to give it a vintage look.

From my range of “Glass Art”.

Read here "How Stained glass is made".

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Happy New Year!

Another creative year has flown past and it’s almost 2015. No resolutions for the new year though, I’m just going to go with the flow…

I'm hoping for a interesting year ahead, I’m hoping to have a creative year with lot’s of new interesting technologies to try out and learn, write some code, take up a new hobby, write a book, compose a painting masterpiece or just write interesting blog posts!

So my wish to you for the new year is to go out there in the world and be creative!

Happy New Year!

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Cigarette Lighter case

Hand-crafted by myself

A cigarette lighter case crafted out of copper with a soapstone bead insert.

I cut a piece of copper that would wrap around the lighter and cut it to size and solder the edges together. The I cut an oval out of the copper and soldered it to the bottom of the lighter and added the soapstone bead in the centre. I then brushed on a coat of black patina for an aged look and buffed it with some fine steel wool.

The copper sheeting I use for my items

My studio where it all happens

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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Goggo/Insect range – Baboon Spider

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 and silver wire, 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. Although the items should be treated with care, each item is strong and sturdy. These little animals are unique, one-of-a-kind designs not to be repeated.

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 a descriptive information card.

Ground-dwelling, these hairy spiders are among the world's largest, ranging from 2-6cm (body length). Various species exist in South Africa, all of them living in burrows. They have large fangs which can inflict an unpleasant bite, but without serious envenomation.

A collection of a few Goggos.

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A collection of art and jewellery

A collection of paintings and jewellery. The birds are painted in watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm.

The clock-face and orange jewel bracelet is from my "Keepsakes" range, as is the Pin Brooch with photographs and the necklace with photographs, lace and a rose petal.

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Black Stained Glass trinket box

Easy to make, this stained glass trinket box is constructed purely of flat panels of glass and soldered together, no curves or intricate patterns. The lid consists of one sheet of glass cut at an angle into four pieces and then soldered together, the bottom is one sheet of glass and the four sides are cut into strips and soldered onto the bottom sheet.

A single long hinge, constructed out of a copper metal tube with copper wire inserted through it, is attached to two copper wire rings soldered to the back of the box.

A flat piece of copper covered in solder is soldered to the front panel with a little wire hook for keeping the lid closed

A trinket box is also known by other terms such as jewel case or casket and has been used from medieval times on dressers to store anything from jewelry to all those little mementos such as photos and beads as well as precious ear rings, rings and anything else that has a priceless personal value to you.

You can read here on How Stained glass is made

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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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Stained glass business card holder

Hand-crafted by myself

Materials used : Stained glass, clear window glass, silver wire, copper foil, solder

From my range of “Glass Art”.

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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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