Ariel's Voice III and A Gift For Him!

I am currently enjoying a jewellery making hiatus. It should have been a proper holiday, but the hubby's schedule is crazy at the moment so I have had to be creative (for a change haha...)

 Anyway, I adore playing with different media as this blog will testify. Thanks to my uni course, I have been introduced to media and techniques I'd never have thought of tackling in a million years. I was so into the course at one point that I almost closed the jewellery side of things for good...then saner minds prevailed and I am learning to balance everything, which is so against my innate character lol. It's never too late to keep evolving right?

The gorgeous pendant in the photos is that of the latest piece made over a week ago now. It's Ariel's Voice III, the third incarnation of this particular Mermaid Amulet. The Ariel’s Voice necklace is based on the fairytale," The Little Mermaid" by Hans Christian Andersen. The idea is that the Mermaid's voice has been magically confined to within the swirling golden vortex of the Citrine Nugget gemstone at the heart of the necklace. It's a personal favourite and has proved popular in the past too. The original one (pictured below) was one of the first pieces I ever sold from the online shop... my photography has altered somewhat since then, for the better I think

The other photos are the result of messing around with making moulds, pouring plaster, painting them and making a mixed media book cover for the hardworking hubby. He collects all the experiments I do, his desk is littered with all kinds of stuff from uni, and terrible metal clay experiments from years ago -  I knew he would want to collect these bits of plaster too, so turning them into a gift for him was kind of perfect lol. We've been together over 17 years now, time has flown and my career diection  has completely changed too - it's a blessing that we can grow and evolve together - long may it continue! The book cover is meant to be a Shipwrecked Pirate Captain's book, which is oddly in the similar fantasy realm as a lot of my jewellery work lol...anyway I'll finish here and say I hope you enjoy the photos. Thanks for reading :)










(original Ariel's VoiceNecklace)



(Shipwrecked Pirate Captain's Book)




Bye for now xx



Samantha Braund

So Much In So Little Time!

 
AAA Cognac Quartz Art Nouveau Earrings

I can't believe it has been almost a month since I last posted here. The shame of it all is that I have been a constant presence online, photo editing and listing new items in the shop, as well as making new pieces.

The Art Nouveau Cognac Quartz earrings (above) were such a rewarding challenge to create. I  can admit to avoiding even attempting mirror image symmetry with my wirework - it is so much easier to do in metal clay lol. Yet, there they are, looking stunning dripping in "Gatsby Glamour" - I am totally chuffed to have been able to pull it off. I plan to make more, and am toying with the idea of making earrings based on my Bridal Coral Drop Necklaces too, as I have a kind of pattern to work from, so I will give it a go

As you can see from the Pirate's treasure chest of beauties below, there have been a lot of new additions to the Etsy shop . The complete Contessa Collection inspired by Countess Olenska from "The Age Of Innocence" novel by Edith Wharton, are in the shop now....the Queen of that collection (AAA Smokey Quartz gemstone one) has already been reserved, which is fabulous news.



Contessa Collection and Dragon's Eye Necklace



AAA Peridot Cubic Zirconia Dragon's Eye Necklace



Close up of Blue Aquamarine Contessa Necklace

There have also been a fair few sales too, which has been a lovely surprise given the usual Summer slump many of us sellers experience. Let's face it I'd rather be running around in the sea and the sand than internet shopping too lol....anyway inspite of the season, the various pieces below have all sold. I'm a very happy bunny  lol

Next on the to do list is to continue listing my never ending backlog of pieces to the shop - I have the Holi Charms and the Spider Conch Collections to go in next aside from any new work. I will also be working on media experimentation for my new shops, which is really exciting and I will be sure to expand upon that here first :)

The Free Earrings Giveaway is going great guns too, there are less than 100 likes to go before the Prize draw will take place. if you haven't entered before now, it is well worth a look, the prize is a good one for such a giveaway... it has only been running less than a month, but I expect things will slow down a bit with Summer, which will give me a chance to work on the video for it!

So thats a brief synopsis of the latest goings on ... thanks for reading  - even if I don't update here as often, my Facebook Jewellery page is always up to date, so you can find me there :)


Bridal Coral Drop (Turquoise freshwater Pearl)


Selena - White Beryllium gemstone and sterling silver necklace


Green Amethyst and Sterling wirewrapped Necklace


Teal Blue Fluorite gemstone Boho earrings

Bye for now xx



Samantha Braund

How To Change Your Privacy Setting For The Giveaway Post

The Giveaway is going well, so many likes and shares, yay! The only problem is the pesky privacy settings on peoples posts are preventing me from seeing who has shared the Giveaway post, which means that their names will not be entered into the pot for the prize draw

 So I thought I'd do a quick and easy to follow post about how to change the privacy setting just for the giveaway post - rest assured the rest of your page and contents will be private as usual, only this post will change

1.So here goes, as you can see from the image above, I have shared a post onto my personal page. Under my name the red arrow is pointing to the symbol regarding the privacy setting on the post. It is a symbol of "little people", which is the setting for friends only


2. Move your cursor and hover over the symbol, and a drop down menu should appear, as seen in the image below

 



3. Select the globe symbol from the drop down menu, that says "Public"

 



4.And voila! the post you have shared is now Public, and I will see it, and can enter your name into the draw

 


I hope this helps!!! Good luck to everyone xx






Samantha Braund

Mixed Blessings and Giveaways

Since I last blogged I managed to injure my hand slightly through being a little to cavalier with my metal files.The upshot was no jewellery making for a few days, which ended up being a bit of a blessing - I got to mess around with other media and work on my ideas for the second shop. The shop which has yet to be created on Etsy, will be different to the jewellery one, and will be full of altered art journals, polymer jewellery and mixed media art and paintings probably.

I have been doing experimentations in base metal clays, plaster and acrylic paints, and ended up purchasing way too many craft supplies - I suppose I got overexcited, but I always go by my instincts and this is how my wire and metal clay work got to be of a standard over the last few years. My experimentations always seem a little out there, and this stage seems never ending, until finally it all comes together and I refine my processes and the outcomes really start to take on a life of there own. Over time I am more accepting of my methods and enjoy the journey more...

Anyway the other thing I got around to finally is the Facebook Free  Giveaway. I have worked hard for all my incremental rises in popularity for my jewellery pieces, and had never felt inclined to do a giveaway before, but over time I had accumulated so much work, that I wouldn't even do anything with. Mostly it's because I think the work isn't good enough to put up for sale lol...and these earrings are a prime example of that. I have had them at home for ages, never worn and never listed in the shop. The reason is because I loathe trying to match earrings at the best of times - I am such a freeform artist that this degree of meticulousness is painful to me lol. So, after working on them for ages I realised I hadn't made them as mirror images, and they actually matched instead. I was livid, and put them away in a huff and left them there lol

The respite meant I a bit of spring cleaning and I found them again, polished them up, and thought why not put them up as a giveaway...well so far the reaction has been wonderful. I am getting new likes for my page and garnering a lot of positive feedback for my work in general. It makes me wonder why I had never done this before lol!

Anyway the giveaway is still ongoing, once my Samantha Braund jewellery page hits the magic number of 1111 likes, I will collect all the names of those who've shared the Giveaway post and will video Pete pulling the name out of a bowl or hat...it's all good fun and the earrings themselves are made from Sterling silver and rock crystal faceted briolettes...so it's a good prize too. If you are interested in participating then just hit the link HERE to my FB jewellery page and follow the instructions...

Well thats it for now, enjoy the photos of the earrings :)


 

 

 





Samantha Braund

Getting Back Into My Groove

(Selena Necklace - inspired by Lunar cycles - contains a White beryllium Gemstone set in Sterling Silver)

I can't believe how long it has been since my last post! I have been very active both in the studio and online, yet I haven't blogged any updates. The short version, is that the last month has involved me getting back into my jewellery creating groove. I have made some sales (more on this later), and have been making new pieces at a fairly regular rate, and have even started to put effort into metal clay experimenting (hush hush lol)

I remember when I started out a few years ago now. I was bedbound with a chronic back problem and had left behind my professional job in Medicine. My outlet for dealing with everything was this jewellery making outlet. I never really thought I would be any good at it, and the things I made were promptly stuffed into boxes all around the house lol. My ambitions were to bring in just enough money to pay for my passion, and did not extend beyond that intially.

So much has changed since those days - but one of the most rewarding aspects of this kind of work is how my little fantasy creations are of such significance to others. Engagement rings, Commitment rings, Proposal gifts, Significant birthdays, Anniversaries and now a Bride will wear one of my Bridal Coral Drop Necklaces to walk down the aisle!! Being involved in these real life narratives has been incredibly fulfilling, and unexpected. As a Doctor I dealt with the darker side of things, and was immersed in the pyschosocial problems of my patients - can you imagine the contrast therefore of now being exposed only to the sunnier slices of peoples lives. It is the equivalent of getting a natural high, and is life affirming, even if on the surface what I do now is so frivolous compared to what I used to do....funny the way everything works out isn't it?

Anyway, enough introspection and onto the pretties.... the two pics below are the latest pieces to be sold, and the other photos are of new items that will be going into the shop


(Gold/Green Freshwater Pearls, Fine Silver, Sterling Silver Barnacle Cluster Necklace)



(Copper Red Freshwater Pearl, Sterling Silver - Bridal Coral Drop Necklace)


(Labradorite Gemstone and Sterling Silver SeaWitch Necklace)


(Citrine Cubic Zirconia Gemstone and Sterling Silver - Fire and Ice Necklace)



(Rose Quartz and Sterling Silver Necklace)


(Smokey Quartz Gemstone, Fine Silver, Sterling Silver Contessa Necklace)


(Copper Red Freshwater Pearls, Fine Silver, Sterling Silver Barnacle Cluster Necklace)

As you can see I have been busy! The Seawitch Necklace is inspired by The Little Mermaid fable and is already in the shop, along with the Fire and Ice Necklace and Selena. The other should be going in this weekend. The rest of the weekend will be spent continuing with experimentations and working on a new piece. No real rest, but the sun will will be shining so thats a bonus :) Thanks for looking ...



Samantha Braund

The Joy Of Pebbles!

(Turquoise Freshwater Pearl and Fine Silver Spider Conch Necklace)

I have been trying to find different ways of photographing my jewellery, especially the more ornate organic looking sculptural pieces for the shop. As mentioned in the last couple of posts, I have been experimenting a lot with stone backgrounds, and black, white and grey gradients. However, the hubby brought home my favourite new photographic props, and who would have thought it would come in the form of smooth black pebbles lol. I stacked them in a Feng Shui zen stones kind of fashion, and lay them on a bit of distressed wood, and Voila! Gorgeous pictures! (if I say so myself.....)

So I've spent most of the weekend re-photographing old work including the rather ornate Spider Conch Necklaces, well the Green and Blue pearl ones, and they have turned out really well. I think it's the organic more natural setting that works, and the surrounding muted tones are unobtrusive to the eye, allowing the focus to rest on the jewellery. They really seem to pop, even when shrunk down to smaller thumbnails, which will come in handy for the shop I'm sure.I have bombarded my Facebook jewellery page with multiple of these pics in all my excitement, and they have proven popular, so I think it was all worth the effort.

Speaking of Facebook, I clicked one of those new shiny "Boost the post" buttons to see what it would do. I chose the little Bridal Coral Drops post to promote, it's still running, and has generated a bit more interest, so it might be worth doing more ads etc in the future . Anyway, after all that photoediting and promoting, and dealing with all the new queries and notifications, I feel it's time to get back to creating another piece. I have a lovely Labradorite gemstone that is too large and irregularly shaped for metal clay but would suit Wire sculpting....so that will be occupying the next few days :)

Enjoy all the pebble photos.....



(Green/Gold Freshwater Pearl , Fine Silver Spider Conch Necklace)




(Blue Aquamarine Nugget, Sterling Silver Mermaid Amulet)




(Serena - Green Aquamarine, Fine Silver Mermaid Amulet)




(Ebb and Flow Necklace I - Copper freshwater Pearls , Fine Silver)




(Turquoise Freshwater Pearl, Sterling Silver Barnacle Cuff)




(Sea Urchin Necklace  - Blue Aquamarine, Fine Silver)



Thanks for looking ...



Samantha Braund

Photography Quandries and Testimonials

I have been continuing to have a very productive time of late, even extending throughout and beyond my birthday. The latest collection , seen above and below is my Bridal Coral Drop necklaces collection. I have been trying forever it seems to come up with a design, for discrete pearl necklaces, based on the way I create my Siren Rings. It all came about as a result of a customer telling me that she loves to wear my rings as a necklace, which in turn made me think of how I fashion them, and how they could be converted into pendants. The final result is this collection, and I am pleased to say that they turned out wonderfully (I hope you agree). They also have a touch of Bridal wear about them, it's possibly the pearls doing that.

The complete set to date is pictured below. I even made a note of my process (something I never do usually lol), and so I am actually able to reproduce similar looking pieces as neccessary, making this collection commissionable! Freeform wirewrapping is far from an exact science, but the discipline of the Art course has helped me calm down and analyze as I go along. I don't think it's a coincidence that since I finished this academic term, I have been able to focus and create more effectively than ever before....long may it continue! Of course it helps cutting out negative influences from my life too...

I have even found the time and energy to get a bit more experimental with my jewellery photography. The frustration is that photography for the online shop doesn't always tally with how I want to photograph my pieces. I have posted some examples here to demonstrate what I mean.... the latest Coral Drops, really spoke of the sea and prettiness, and I got my shells and took shots of how they made me feel, but they are probably too busy and not high contrast enough for those infernal little thumbnails that exist on the shop. I could have gone ahead and put them in, but I caved and used a high contrast image for the first outwardly visible photo, and used my favourite Sea Urchin ones for other views.... very annoying lol . I can see me continuing to tinker and play around with these images in the shop anyway





Anyway, this is another of my new creations, another Mermaid Amulet, containing a cloudy Yellow Aquamarine Gemstone. Whenever I present these different colour Aquamarine gemstones there is always some confusion, as it is most commonly associated with the colour Blue, however,  Aquamarine gemstones are part of the Beryllium family of minerals, and come in a variety of colours, including whites, greens, yellows and the popular blue. I chose this cloudy yellow gemstone for this Amulet

Again I messed around with the photography and personally preferred the more natural looking photo of the the Amulet on the stone - but ended up plumbing for the bright white background for the shop....what do you think? I am still unsure lol. I think I keep making more work for myself lol
Mermaid Amulet on white background



Mermaid Amulet on Stone background



And finally this Fine silver and White freshwater pearl piece sold last week! I am thrilled (of course) especially as I know it went to a good home. The feedback I had when the customer recieved it was nothing short of amazing and incredibly touching...my hands were aching from making all six of those necklaces back to back, and those words made everything feel worthwhile

"Another absolutely gorgeous piece by the extremely talented Samantha Braund. The detail in this pendant is what really makes it so special; it's a wearable piece of art. Definitely one to pass on through the family when the time comes!" K P  (source HERE)

I am going to be reworking my website soon, and the header of the blog too, finally. I've decided to include a testimonials page on the website too, using the public feedback I have recieved since starting the shop. It's wonderful to go back and read those words when I lose sight of what I am doing and self doubt seeps in

Thanks for looking ...



Samantha Braund