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

Vintage Bride and Dreamcatchers

 

I saw this vintage photo of a bride to be on Pinterest (one of favourite places in cyberspace!), and had to paint her. I drew a loose outline of her in pencil first , then went in with diluted indian ink. I think I prefer drawing/ in indian ink and a brush, it's a lot more expressive than pencil. I then overlayed washes in acrylic paint and added opaque white for the highlights - because the indian ink is so dilute it accepts glazes of overlaying paint, and takes I quite well

 

 

 

I've also posted this image of the Dreamcatcher Necklace collection onto my FB jewellery page 

These pieces are inspired by the legendary Native American artefacts, I created a protective Dreamcatcher style amulet to be worn to bring peace and dispel bad dreams, like a good luck charm

They are traditionally circular hoops containing a woven web, and adorned in feathers, to hang above the bed of the person to be protected. The Dreamcatcher is meant to dispel nightmares, catching them in the web, only allowing beautiful thoughts and dreams to pass through

These necklaces are a woven myriad of golden and silver circles encircling a beautiful luminescent AAA quality faceted gemstone at the centre. You can find them here in my shop :) I am going to periodically highlight different pieces and collections I have in the store, it's a lovely way to see the ideas behind the collections and I personally love seeing all the pieces sitting together on a page lol

 

Valentine DreamCatcher Necklace

This is an image laden post so be warned !

This is the first piece of jewellery I've made since July 2013! After protracted illnesses and mixed media experimentation, I have returned to my beloved jewellery making lol. I chose this beautiful Rhodolite Garnet gemstone to make my comeback with.... I had bought this gemstone to make a follow up piece to my Lemon Quartz Dream catcher necklace I made last year. I love the Native American myths surrounding Dream catchers - I go into detail in my item description here

Also the hue of the gemstone is such a romantic translucent pinky red that I felt it was very in keeping with Valentine's Day. I hope you like the photos ... I actually got my act together and listed it in the shop already too (follow the link in the paragraph above)








Here is the first piece in the series made in April last year. This is also still available in the shop at present , you'll find this piece here






I am also very pleased to announce that I've made some wonderful sales over the last week or so. Necronomicon with it's rich Blue Topaz gemstone has been sold. I'm so happy about this, she is a real favourite of mine and has gone to a good home :) . Ariel's Voice III sold as well as a pretty dainty Rose Quartz necklace as seen below. I hope next week is as thrill inducing lol....











Samantha Braund

Seafoam Necklace and Dreamcatcher

It has been a very productive period since I last posted. Firstly, I have actually posted new pieces of jewellery into the shop! I believe it has actually been about 16 months since I last put anything new in the shop at all. It's a wonder it has survived at ll to be honest lol. Fortunately the sales have not reflected my lack of involvment, and from now on, I will make more of an effort with regard to the shop

Secondly, I have made some new pieces, and I am very happy with them. The first is the Seafoam Necklace. This necklace is inspired by the original Hans Christian Anderson fable "The Little Mermaid". It is a hauntingly sad tale, (as opposed to the charming Disney version)

The Little Mermaid has been caught in a spell whereby if she doesn't claim the heart of her Prince she will dissolve into Seafoam.... her sisters make a deal with the Seawitch where if she kills the Prince she will be able to revert back into a Mermaid and live for a while....but even in her heartbroken state she saves the Prince and his new bride instead. As a reward for her selflessness she changes into an immortal air spirit and never dies....

I have always loved the Little Mermaid, and this melancholy story. Inspired by it I made a Seafoam necklace, depicting the crashing turbulent waves in sculpted Sterling Silver wire and beads, and the gentle notes of Seafoam is captured in the Aqua tones of the Chalcedony faceted gemstones







This is the other new piece, my Lemon Quartz Dreamcatcher Necklace, that I complete yesterday.The legends behind Dreamcatchers are bourne from Native American Culture, they are traditionally circular hoops containing a woven web, and adorned in feathers, to hang above the bed of the person to be protected. The Dreamcatcher is meant to dispel nightmares and bad dreams, catching them in the web, only allowing beautiful thoughts and dreams to pass through

Inspired by these legends, I loved the idea of creating a protective Dreamcatcher style amulet to be worn that could bring peace and dispel the bad dreams, like a good luck charm. This necklace is a woven myriad of circles encircling a beautiful luminescent AAA Lemon Quartz faceted gemstone at the centre
Both of these pices are in the shop now, along with 5 other new pieces, including the Necronomicon (HR Giger) inspired necklace, I had blogged about before. Anyway, I hope you like the new work and the new work ethic lol - it will be fun trying to fit all this in with the uni course but life is more fun when there is a positive challenge in front of you isn't it?









Thanks for looking ...



Samantha Braund

Paisely Easter Holidays

I'm back to making jewellery now that the Easter Holidays are here, and I'm on a well earned break from university work. This is the latest piece, a rather substantial  sized necklace containing a large faceted bicoloured Lemon-Smokey Quartz gemstone. The whole design is inspired by Paisely patterns. I took my time over it, and included a couple of sections of coiled wire - a technique I haven't used in forever... it was great to feel I had the time and the sense of calm to mix it up with my wirework methods. I think it turned out very well in the end...

I took a look back and noted that I hadn't fabricated a new piece of jewellery in almost a year! It was strange coming back to the discipline, but I loved every minute of it. So far,  my holidays have involved finishing a repair/commission piece for someone, dealing with sales, and taking pictures of new pieces for the shop. I have been so neglectful of the shop, and yet it does manage to tick along without my intereference lol. Anyway, I will be editing some of the new photos and the result will mean that there will indeed be more items in my shop - at last lol.

I am also in the process of designing a new metal clay/wire sculpted piece with a gorgeous Labradorite gemstone. I am excited about the prospect and am also just a tad nervous about it. Uni wise I have organised to meet up with a couple of tutors in Metal and Glass workshops in April , so I am keeping my hand in there too...no rest for the wicked as they say







Well thats it for now, hopefully there will be more prettiness and items in the shop soon...




Samantha Braund