Turquoise Mermaid Amulet

 

 

 

 

The latest Mermaid Amulet containing a stunning Turquoise gemstone with a beautiful black matrix running through it :) The whole piece is meant to resemble a piece of barnacle covered piece of coral, fit for a  Mermaid on her wedding day !!

 

 

The Eye Of Poseidon - Mermaid Amulet

Finally after about a year of rehab and recovery following a torn shoulder tendon, I have been able to wire sculpt again!!

This piece is a Mermaid Amulet called the "Eye Of Poseidon" honouring the all powerful God of the Oceans and Tempests, which seemed particularly fitting as this piece is a veritable maelstrom of crashing waves and turbulent waters, woven loosely into my interpretation of his eye




I feel this piece fits in nicely with the rest of the pieces in the Mermaid Amulet collection - there have always been stand alone pieces such as Ariel's Voice, and Cascade but all in all I think this is one of my favourites. I won't lie it was tricky to make, as I had to take a slowly slowly approach to making it, rather than my usual 16 hour straight approach lol - but I feel she was worth it in the end :)

Ariel's Voice II

                                 
                      Cascade Mermaid Amulet

 

There are a few Mermaid Amulets still available in the shop at present including these two personal favourites of mine....anyway follow the link HERE to see them all

 

 

 

Seafoam Mermaid Amulet, the blog post on this piece can be found HERE

Yellow Aquamarine Gaudi inspired Mermaid Amulet available to purchase HERE

 

 

I do love photographing my work against natural textures such as river rocks, pebbles, wood and stone - it adds to the organic nature of the work. I hope my shoulder continues to behave from now on and allows me to create this kind of work again soon :) Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the rest of the photos

 

 

 

Thanks for looking ...



Samantha Braund

Humble Beginnings

 

It has been a long time since I have been able to do any wire sculpting, due to a Rotator Cuff tear of my shoulder...so you cannot imagine the joy I felt today in creating this little nugget of swirls lol. It is the humble beginnings of a Mermaid Amulet :) So far the shoulder hasn't reacted badly to doing this, but we'll see...if all goes well then wire work can be officially part of my rehab too (yay)
Thanks for looking ...



Samantha Braund

Snow and St Valentine

 

We finally got some beautiful snow fall in the UK this week. Where we are it was just enough snow to make everything look pretty, but not enough to cause any real disruption, i.e. the perfect amount lol. The above shot is of the snow covered loveseat in the back garden, with a lovely view of my Art Nouveau style clock in the conservatory (isn't she elegant)

 

The romantic in me has been getting excited for Valentines Day this year... and I noted that I have such a range of colours represented in gemstones in the shop now, that I had to put together some luscious Garnets, Coppers and Carnelian reds as part of a Valentine's promotion. You can find them here . Below are some of the pieces featured...

This Garnet Gemstone Circle Necklace was purchased straight away, I am happy to say (below)...

 

Anyway thanks for stopping by, I hope you follow the link and see the Valentines themed pieces we have in store :)

Thanks for looking ...



Samantha Braund

The Tudor King and I

 

 

It's been a lovely week for us, the highlight being attending the hubby's official PhD Graduation ceremony! As a newly anointed Doctor of Philosophy he got to wear this fab ceremonial outfit for the day. It's very Tudor-esque, especially the hat! I felt like I was with a Tudor King or at least a member of the court lol.  Anyway, I've posted some pics of us both on the day, I hope you like them - I don't normally post personal stuff here, but I wanted to document it for virtual posterity :D

 

 

 

I also made a couple of sales this week, of some special pieces - a Steampunk inspired piece containing a Purple Glass cabochon, and my beloved Bicolour Lemon-Smokey Quartz Paisely Necklace. See the pictures below :) I have also been busy working on prototypes for my Arts shop, and have come up with some interesting ideas for combining my jewellery and mixed media work to create some Gothic, Pirate themed pieces. I am pretty excited about the prospect, so watch this space :) All in all I would say it's been a pretty fab week :)

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for stopping by :)

Thanks for looking ...



Samantha Braund

Sorry For The Recent Inactivity!

 

 

I have been on a health kick this year, while trying to keep things ticking over with the creativity. Unfortunately I have sustained a few exercise induced injuries along the way. The latest is the most annoying, as it involves a slipped intervertebral disc in the neck, which has resulted in the nerves in both arms being affected, so I am busy "rehabbing" but am unable to do much with the arms and hands.

Once I am over the worst I will be back to making more pieces for the shops. The good news is that I have achieved significant weight loss and my fitness has improved too despite the current predicament lol. I have also sold a few pieces including the Cascade Mermaid Amulet featured in the last post (she will be missed)

  Anyway, thanks for the support and I look forward to creating and posting here again xxx Thanks for stopping by




Samantha Braund

Meet The New Mermaid Amulet Queen!

Having been immersed in making Pirate Treasure chests for the past week, it was only natural for my strange mind to turn to making another Mermaid Amulet for the shop. This one started as a rather modest composition around the central green pearl, then it started to grow, and grow , and grow!

The piece has cascades of my signature swirls and embellishments falling from the pearl, culminating into this Art Nouveau style sculptural feature. It is a real statement piece and the new Queen of the Mermaid Amulet Collection in my mind. You can find her here in the shop . I've included plenty of views so that you can appreciate the detail and intricacy that has gone into the piece. I hope you love her as much as I do!


















Thanks for stopping by




Samantha Braund

AAA Olive Quartz Dreamcatcher Necklace

This is the latest Dreamcatcher Necklace which is already in the shop . I completed the piece yesterday and was so thrilled with it that I had to list it today. I am really enjoying getting to play with Goldfill wire (which is 14 karat gold) , and if ever there was a gemstone begging to be sculpted in gold, it's this one!

The gemstone itself is a very rare quartz, it is my understanding that you have Lemon Quartz and Smokey Quartz which brown, and often coexist. Where they meet you can on the rare occasion get a range of beautiful greeny gold hues as a result of the merging of the colours. I have used Bicolour Lemon and Smokey and even have one in the shop right now (in another showstopper piece) which also does a similar thing, but usually you see distinct bands of Lemon and Brown, but not in this one...it is totally a homogenous stunning intense olive green. Nature is wondrous isn't it?

I've taken several shots and included a few extra props including Pete's distressed Jade Gothic book I made this January. Enjoy the photos :)











Thanks for stopping by




Samantha Braund

Sea Urchin Mermaid Amulet Gone To A Mermaid!

I had to post about this piece, one of my absolute favourites in the shop, has been sold
Inspired by the textures and form of a Sea Urchin I constructed the radial wire sculpture and fused it to the fine silver sculpted metal base. It is a technique I have pioneered and is unique to me , which makes this piece totally one of a kind. I know this amulet is going to a good home for a very special occasion and I am thrilled about that :) I even made a little certificate card to go with the piece as she  travels across the oceans onto her new Mermaid owner

I hope you love the photos...she will be very missed...






Thanks for stopping by




Samantha Braund

Cassie's Celtic Forest Book

Happy Valentine’s Day all! I haven’t been around much this week due to pesky hospital follow up appointments etc, but I have finished a little project for a dear friend that I wanted to share here



My friend Cassie loved the grungy effect on Pete’s box book thing (technical term) and has been hinting heavily to get me to make her something similar. She is a bit of an amateur chef and collects recipes from everywhere, so I decided to try out an idea for an organiser notebook on her, as a gift.

She wanted something “earthy” and “Tolkien-esque” Blimey! Not an easy request lol…. Anyway, I finished it today and will present it to her later as a sort of Valentine’s Day pressie. I saw a couple of You Tube videos on mini book album making and combined a couple of them to come up with this design. It has a signature of good quality plain paper, either end, with 2 pages in the middle with pockets galore to store her recipes in, adorned in pretty patterned paper. The plain paper can be written or even painted on





  There are many niggles to iron out with the design, like making the spine a shorter width and curving it more gently before strengthening it. There is an obvious kink, which bugs me. I have diligently written down my process, which is so unlike me, but I am determined to do it again and improve upon it! I think I’ll also watercolour paint my plain paper first before binding, it needs some subtle background colour

  The front cover, has lots of texture, created with die cut shapes and stencilled modelling paste (my new favourite thing to do). Then the whole piece has been painted in acrylic paints, with additional touches of metallic, courtesy of Decoart Metallic Lustre - "Iced Espresso". The focal is a copper wirewrapped Snakeskin Jasper gemstone that compliments the earthy tones I think. I was going for a forest, Celtic kind of look, but grungy! Well, I hope she likes it - she better lol, “Tolkien-esque” indeed!

I entered this piece into the following challenges:
Country View Challenge #12 Painty Pleasures

Anyway, thanks for stopping by :)




Samantha Braund