Hello Mr Snowman

Now where do I start? Well, I was awake at a very early hour this morning with my head swimming with jewellery related thoughts. And whilst I waited for my family to awake I thought I would write my weekly blog post and this is what I ended up with....a poem? Or is it a verse? Not sure really because I did fail my English O-Level the first time around.

So here goes, this was inspired by our Mr Snowman who sadly melted away recently.

Hello Mr Snowman standing tall and proud

You look mighty handsome with snow all around

With your bottle top eyes and carrot for your nose

But don’t you get cold not wearing many clothes?

Mr Snowman

And as the snow around you started to melt away

You just kept on going to see another day

I apologise for removing your scarf, hat and gloves

But staying warm in winter is one of my loves.

Melted Snowman

Bye Bye Mr Snowman and please come again

And for next time a new carrot I will try to obtain

When the snow falls again and sticks to the floor

We will see your face smiling back at us once more.

Thanks for reading!

Mick

Unusual custom made jewellery requests

I have been really busy since Christmas with custom requests for my jewellery that sometimes I don’t know how I am managing to fit it all in! Some of it may be due to the run-up to Valentines’ day, with the usual love heart sweet pendant requests and some probably because word-of-mouth is spreading.

Amongst the requests I have had a few unusual jewellery designs. I love making every single one of my pendants but when a custom jewellery order comes along for something a little bit different, I find it exciting and sometimes challenging!

The first pendants I am going to show off are these resin pendants that contain Silver Birch tree bark. These are extremely important for the family who asked for them because the bark was taken from a tree with great sentimental value.

Silver Birch tree bark pendants

The second pendant contains the world’s smallest rubber duck, along with a miniature dice (to represent the birth day), and is bordered by two locks of hair.

Rubber duck, dice and hair pendant

The next piece of memorial jewellery was interesting to make; the pendant contains the ashes from a much loved pet and I was asked to make it gothic looking.

Gothic memorial jewellery for ashes

Finally a keyring containing salad! I have incorporated miniature slices of cucumber, tomatoes, egg, onion, lettuce and even celery into the charm.

Salad keyring

...great for those watching their weight or if you are just fond of salad! The salad keyring has given me inspiration for a new range of unusual jewellery so watch this space!

Mick

Featured Artist - Equine photography by Hoof Behind the Lens

The really nice thing about making custom jewellery for people is that I often meet some lovely people that I may not otherwise have met. This happened last year when I was asked to make some horse hair jewellery for Nell Best who lives in Cumbria. Nell is an equine photographer and travels the area and beyond taking beautiful photographs of peoples horses. She started her equine photography business ‘Hoof Behind the Lens’ last year at the age of 16 and it is going from strength to strength.

I asked Nell if she could do a little interview that I could share with you and thankfully she agreed. All the photos below were taken and kindly given to me by Nell.

Firstly can you tell us a little about yourself?

Right, Hoof Behind The Lens is an equine photography business based in Kendal, Cumbria and owned by Nell Best. I am an equine photographer and I take photos of horses out at shows, at home with their owners and also offer photography for horses that are for sale, so that owners have photos that will best show off their horses to potential buyers. I offer prints of the photos that I take, in various sizes, both normal and poster sizes and can mount photos if required. I cover the areas in and around Cumbria but am willing to travel if there is a demand for it.

Equine Photography

Whatever kind of shoot I do, I strive to create beautiful photos that owners will be able to treasure forever.

I can be found on Facebook or Search for Hoof Behind The Lens - Equine Photography.

Horse Photography Cumbria

You take beautiful photographs of horses, how did you come to learn your art?

Thank you. Well I've been at it for a while really, I started taking photos of my horse Bella when I got her in May 2010, just on a little compact camera, and took more and more, but I got frustrated that I couldn't be that creative with a compact camera, and couldn't get the quality of photographs I was aiming for. Then in December 2010 a friend of my Dad's had a Canon DSLR camera he had owned for a couple of months but not used, and he said he saw my talent from the photos and asked me if I would like it. So since then really I've just kept at it, taking photos daily, mostly of my very patient horse (and model!), Bella.

Equine Photography Cumbria

I then set up Hoof Behind The Lens in March 2011, really as something to take my mind off things as I had recently lost my Grandma, and it grew from there, with more and more people wanting photo-shoots. So it's just endless practice really that's got me where I am now, and I still have a long way to go!

Hoof Behind the Lens

What inspires you?

I'm inspired by horses in general really, just the way they move, interact with both people and other horses, and just generally everything about them. I think they're stunning creatures, and I strive to create photos that reflect that. There's not really a main human figure that inspires me, there are many Equine Photographers that I look up to, including Tim Flach and Bob Langrish, but I am mainly inspired by the beauty of the equine species itself.

Horse photographer

What's your favourite photograph you have taken and why?

You know what, I really couldn't pick. I do have a few that I really love, nearly all of those are of my own horse but really, I love all the photos that I take, and am just as excited about the ones I've taken and love already, as the ones I haven't even taken yet, because I want to take better photos each time.

Hoof Behind the Lens - Dog Photo

Do you have any tips for anyone starting a photography business?

I'd say just practice really, keep on taking photos, never stop, and always look critically at your work and try to see what you could do better - then do it! Start doing shoots for friends and family, and start up a website and/or Facebook page as they're great publicity, and get the word out about your business. I started from nothing not even a year ago now, and now I've got a successful little business at the age of 16, just by getting out there, taking as many photos as I could and getting the word out that I'm different. Also, never ever give up! It's a hard business because everyone nowadays has a camera, but keep at it and you can only improve!

Horse Photo - Bella

What is my favourite photograph?

Well that is an easy one for me but I am biased! Nell posted this photo onto my Facebook page last week. It is a photograph she too of the pendant I made for her last year and it is awesome!

Horsehair Jewellery

Oh and this one!

Horsehair pendant

Nell has definitely got a photographic talent and business awareness that will see her good for the future and is definitely someone to look out for. She is also already a great role model and inspiration for any young person who wishes to start a business.

Thank you again Nell for letting me share your equine photography story so far....

Mick

Custom made Poppy flower paperweight

I was recently asked by a lady if I had anything suitable that could be used to preserve a Poppy flower. She wanted something making as a gift for her friend and we discussed different items of jewellery because initially she wanted something that could be engraved. I then suggested making a custom made paperweight containing the Poppy; she loved the idea and knew her friend would love it too.

Remembrance Day Poppy

Rather than using a real Poppy, I suggested using a traditional Remembrance Day Poppy and that she could then write a message to her friend on the back of the leaf. But she had an even better idea! She would create a poppy herself by painting an image of the Poppy onto a piece of card making it an even more personal gift for her friend. I received her Poppy picture and it was a wonderful painting! She had also written a personal note to her friend onto the back of the picture and this can be seen through the base of the paperweight.

Custom made Poppy flower paperweight

I encased her Poppy picture into a domed resin paperweight, mounted the paperweight within a leatherette box and sent it directly to her friend and she loves it!

I must say I have made several custom made paperweights recently and haven’t even got around to advertising paperweights on my website yet!

Mick

Real pressed Fuchsia flower jewellery

I had a lovely custom jewellery order to complete recently. The order was actually first place last July however it has taken until now to complete. The lady first contacted me after seeing my Fuchsia flower necklace within my online shop which was unfortunately out of stock at the time.

The lady grows Fuchsias to show and also collects Fuchsia lore so she was quite keen to have a pendant making! I suggested that she may want to send me a few of her own flowers and after giving her advice on how to press them this is what happened. A couple of months passed and then I received a lovely selection of Fuchsias in the post from her.

Using her fuchsia flowers I photographed a few pendant designs and an example can be seen below:

Fuchsia Flower Jewellery Design

These are the pendants that I made for the lady; the first is a resin teardrop shaped pendant containing three small Fuchsia flowers.

Fuchsia Flower Pendant

The second pendant is again a teardrop shaped pendant (which really does lend itself to the shape of the Fuchsia flower) and this contains a single large flower.

Fuchsia Flower Necklace

And finally a sterling silver pendant with a small Fuchsia flower set against a silver backing that I also engraved. This pendant was to be given as a Christening gift to the lady’s niece.

Fuchsia Flower Jewellery

I love making jewellery like this where the customer has contributed towards the design and has even supplied her own flowers; which reminds me, I must remember to press a few Fuchsia flowers of my own this year!

Personalised Memorial Jewellery

I have been making quite a lot of memorial jewellery for cremation ashes recently so thought I would show off some of the designs. I am often asked how I cope with handling the cremated ashes from loved ones or pets. To be honest I do not think about it when I am working other than treating it with the utmost dignity and respect. As with my lock of hair keepsake jewellery I find that I can distance myself from it as I did not personally know the people involved. I do get immense satisfaction though when creating any kind of memorial jewellery as I know that I am providing an important service to the families.

Unlike traditional memorial jewellery for ashes, the resin jewellery that I use permanently encases the ashes with the pendant. Because of this there is no risk of the ashes from being lost and the jewellery is unlikely to break or smash if accidently knocked or dropped. The other benefit of using the resin to encapsulate the ashes is the jewellery can be further personalised with other small objects. For the following pendant I was asked to further personalise it with items that are important to the family. The lady was extremely fond of VW campervans and her son had sent me a VW sign from a toy car to encase with her ashes. She also liked anything red and glittery so the second request was to include lots of red glitter in there too.

Personalised Memorial Jewellery

I am often asked to include small Forget-me-not flowers within the memorial jewellery; the following small charms contain both the ashes and Forget-me-not flowers. Not only are these flowers symbolic but they are very pretty too!

Charms for Ashes

And finally these bracelet charms contain ashes, Forget-me-not flowers and small gold stars.

Keepsake Jewellery for Ashes

If you would like to find out more about my keepsake jewellery for ashes, please visit my Memorial Jewellery website page. Mick

Jewellery Made From a Broken China Cup or Plate

I have always been a huge fan of the work by Marjorie and her Cracked Plate Jewellery. I have great admiration for her ability to take a broken shard of a decorated plate, china, porcelain or ceramic and turn the item into a piece of art. A china plate or teacup is often an extremely sentimental item and one that may have shared many happy times (especially when involved with slices of cake and cups of tea!). So to accidentally chip or break a piece of china can be devastating to the owner.

No longer does a cracked piece of broken china need to be thrown away. Marjorie expertly wire wraps the piece of china and the results are stunning.

Marjorie’s Cracked Plate Jewellery

Marjorie also shares my enthusiasm in creating custom jewellery for people who want to preserve memories of loved ones. This leads me to a recent custom jewellery commission that I had and one that led me to contact Marjorie and in turn write this plog post.

I was contacted just before Christmas by a lady who wanted a special Christmas present making for her Mother. Her Mother had recently broken her favourite china cup and the lady had managed to retain a few fragments of the cup. Initially I thought that the ideal solution would be to have them formed into one of Marjorie’s creations and even suggested this to her. However the china fragments were extremely small and far too small to be wire wrapped.

Broken China Cup Jewellery

I set the three china pieces that the lady sent to me within a teardrop shaped resin pendant and coloured the background green. I was very pleased how it turned out and I am sure it was a lovely surprise when it was opened on Christmas day.

I hope that everybody has a happy and healthy New Year and I look forward to sharing more of my jewellery making journey with you in 2012.

Mick