Paper Jewels

Silver is beautiful. It’s also - how to put this politely - okay. Call it a Challenge to photograph

I have some lovely vintage glass jewels in my Jewelry Supplies Shop on Etsy:

I’ve recently gotten some silver plated settings for my pretty vintage jewels - and I’d forgotten what a challenge silver can be to photograph! If it’s clean and shining (like these settings) - it reflects nearby colors almost like a mirror. Place the settings on a wood background - which is usually a good choice - and guess what? The silver looks tan, beige or bronze - the color(s) of aged brass! Well brass is wonderful - I use (and sell) a lot of it - but the point here is to show the silver!

I’m working on it. The composite above shows some of the pics that worked - and as you can see, those silver settings are highlighted by a lot of colors besides just “silver”.

This is going to be an ongoing project - better pics, more silver (plated) settings, more silver all around - and more of a learning curve. So - stay tuned, this will be continued!

I’ve started doing “pet photo jewelry” lately and people are so enthusiastic about their pets, furbabies, fuzzy kids, whatever you call them - I have a feeling these are going to be fun!

There’s a twist though. I don’t just use straight pixel-for-pixel photos (well I can, but that hasn’t been the focus so far) - instead, I make a sort of portrait of your furbaby, and use that as the basis for the earrings (or pendant). For example, look at these sweet beagle earrings:

Custom Pet Photo Earrings or Pendant

These would be fun anyway, because this is a much-loved pet and her human really cares about these earrings - and the extra fun part is that, these aren’t copied from an “exact” photo. At my customer’s urging, I played with the photo a little, I changed it, stylized it, turned it into a mini-portrait. (Yes, I photoshopped it!)

I think it’s going to be interesting to go down that road a little more

The earrings are a great conversation starter, if you’re into that. And they’re a great keepsake gift for someone you love (hmm, can we can “paper anniversary present”?) For someone who loves their pet!

PS I’m going to be putting up some new and different examples soon - stay tuned for further developments!

There’ve been tons of studies on how color affects us, and I’m no expert on any of them. What I do know is that color makes us happy, gives us a smile, and is a great way to add a little boost to our spirits (especially right now when it’s still so cold!)

So I’m specially happy to be able to offer some lovely vintage jewels in yummy colors in my Artfire jewelry supplies shop and also in my Etsy shop. Like these pretty jewels:

and

They feel like Spring to me - and that’s of the good

Aw, this is nice. One of my lines is “your logo on jewelry” (find more info at Weekend Jewelry Logo Jewelry pages and Logo Earrings (and Pendants) and today I’m featured on Cuteable.

I actually did two versions of the Cuteable logo - one with glass, and one with a reclaimed (recycled! yeah!) scrabble tile:

and
They really are cute

Cuteable is super fun to look through anyway, even when I’m not featured You’ll love it, go peek!

A happy day - I got a new shipment of yummy brass fittings. Gentle aged patina, perfect to fit stones I already have, all I have to do is put them together and voila! yumminess.

It’s never that simple though, yknow? The “gentle patina” (the vendor didn’t use the word ‘gentle’ - I think they said “mild” or some such) is, well, varied. That’s inevitable with brass, especially when it’s not new (I don’t know the age for sure - so can’t guarantee 20+ years vintage). Brass varies. The copper content varies (brass is basically a zinc and copper alloy). And metal ages differently.

But - every piece is different! Some pieces are so faded they’re almost silvery. Some are so warm they’re almost coppery.

And that’s enough grumbling. Because on the other hand - using genuine brass pieces that were rescued from an old warehouse - you get pretties that are unique, and they were already made or mined or whatever, so there’s practically no (new) footprint to mar this nice little planet we have… and that’s worth a LOT.

Also it produces pretties like this:

and that’s worth sifting through to find just the right fittings

Paper Jewels make great presents - especially anniversary presents. If you think about it, this makes sense - each Paper Jewel is made by hand, and each is a pretty piece of jewelry that can be customized for the recipient. (ike I said in a previous post - it’s all personal.)

And Paper Jewels are even perfecter (if that’s a word!) for first year anniversary presents - the “paper anniversary”. You can get a pendant or necklace for your wife (or your husband!), or a pair of earrings with both your names - in English or in Japanese or Chinese. You can get a heart with her initials - or with both your initials. And you don’t have to spend a lot of money.

You can get exactly the personalized present you want for your sweetie. And that’s kind of what anniversary presents are about