Leather flower bud earrings

My Mom is a furniture engineer and some time ago she worked at a furniture factory where they used leather among other upholstery materials. That’s how I ended up with some leather swatches. It took me some long years to find a way to use them in my handcrafted jewellery to my satisfaction :). And here it comes – a new material combination and a new design.

Leather and frothy lava earrings - by Uva - DaWanda

Leather was always one of my favourite materials to work with. It has the same live warm feeling as wood. I made a bracelet and a pair of clip-on earrings from Mom’s old gloves back to my teen years. I still have them although those black leather clip-ons look slightly out of fashion nowadays. So, as you can see, I have a long history of nice emotions dealing with leather.

I prefer to use leather cord for the most of my handmade necklaces in my present jewellery designs. I think it goes perfectly both with lava and silver, creating that Earthy, organic yet modern look. Now I’m happy I have found a way to incorporate this wonderful media into my earring design as well. Hope you will like it too :).

Silver lace and frothy lava....

   The design of this necklace is one of my popular ones  (although two items are never the same). The previous few versions had one or two lava beads, were with or without garnet chips outside, but always with that lacy silver ball with a little secret (garnet chips) inside. Simple but somehow appealing idea I guess judging on successful sales.

This version is again a little bit different - instead of a fine silver ball there is an oblate spheroid (a little bit flattened sphere) in the middle. This subtle transformation of shape shifts the design rhythm towards curvier and more feminine look.

And it definitely has one more advantage - the necklace is not rolling off the table :)

Silver lacy shape and lava necklace with garnet - Necklaces - by Uva - DaWanda

Magic of butterflies

Butterflies have something magical about them - either it's that surrealistic metamorphosis from caterpillar, or their fragile colourful beauty.... or possibly the powder stuff on their wings which can be a fairy pixie dust...

...in any case we are fascinated by them... in nature... but it turned out to be one of my most popular designs too :). All my handcrafted silver butterflies are different - either it's a necklace or earrings, but I dare to hope all of them carry a touch of that magic and charm those live butterflies graciously owe.

This is my next version of these wonderful creatures in fine silver:
Silver butterfly earrings with pearls - Earrings - by Uva - DaWanda

Maybe they'll bring some magic in your live too? :)

BORAX quest

       To solder silver you need a solder and a flux (apart from a pair of non-shaking hands and few other things). Not that I was planning to solder day in - day out, but it was interesting to try at least. Moreover, it would come handy in one of my handmade jewellery projects – to be able to solder sterling silver findings if a design requires or just for strong connections.

       Anyway, I started with a check-list. It turned out that I had most of the things needed (yes, even a pair of non-shaking hands) but flux. I even had a solder which I was not aware of when I bought it a year ago.... well, I was sure I was buying just usual silver wire and the shop assistant couldn’t explain me in plain English what type of wire it was. To be fair, he tried it in plain Icelandic but my Icelandic vocabulary did not stretch so far as types of silver wire at that time.

       

Silver heart earrings w/black volcanic sand - Earrings - by Uva - DaWanda

Silver heart earrings w/black volcanic sand - Earrings - by Uva - DaWanda

Silver double heart necklace w/black volcanic sand - Necklaces - by Uva - DaWanda

Silver double heart necklace w/black volcanic sand - Necklaces - by Uva - DaWanda

New necklaces

I have recently finished two necklaces with lava from Hekla volcano and two more are waiting for a leather cord, which I hope to get tomorrow. Those ones will also be with lava and lava beads.

Going to make more and maybe better pictures and put them up on my website and in DaWanda shop .

Meanwhile have a sneak peek! :)

The beginning...

Starting a blog was not initially in my plans. But then I realised that I needed some place to record my thoughts, my tries and errors during the process of creation (creating, not manufacturing - that's what I like to think I am doing). And maybe somebody else will find it interesting and will enjoy this journey with me.

I love to create things and can only hope that the style and the feel of my handmade silver jewellery and felt accessories will be appreciated by other people and will bring some magic vibes from Iceland to their life.