Handmade Jewelry for the Hair

As a jewelry designer we often focus on whatever is normally classified as your typical jewelry, such as rings, bracelets, necklaces, earrings and anklets.  But if we step back for a moment and look outside the box, there is another facet of jewelry making that can be explored, such as hair accessories and tiaras.  We don't always think about hair accessories as being jewelry, but it is.  In fact, hair accessories may be made with the same materials as jewelry designs are made up of:  pearls, gemstones, precious metals like silver and gold.  There is no end to what beautiful hair jewelry you can design.

I've done just that with the hair barrette below.  I used thick .925 sterling silver wire and after forming and hammering and adding gemstone beads to create this sterling silver hair vine accessory.  The gemstones are petrified wood with red sponge coral.  It's a beautiful hair accessory.  Great gift for a lady with long, thick locks. For more information, please click here.

Take Advantage of Free Shipping

A friendly reminder to all of my loyal customers and new customers as well:

I'm offering free shipping on most of my smaller items, thus most of my jewelry.  Basically any one of my items that fit in a bubbly envelope and is thinner than 1" will be eligible for free shipping.  I do my utmost to offer you the best possible shipping price and if by any chance I overcharge you with my default shipping price, I will, I guarantee, refund you if there is more than $1 difference.

I also want to remind everyone that I'm offering a 10% discount on all of my Etsy shop.  Take advantage now and start shopping here- Go to my Etsy Shop Bayside Wire Designs

Description of Handmade Turquoise Jewelry Necklace and Earrings Set: Turquoise, Moonstone and Petrified Wood in .925 Sterling Silver with large Mabe Pearl Shell Pendant and glass seed bead work on softflex (the best beading material available and will not wear easily.), finished with a solid .925 lobster clasp;  Earrings are short and dangle from a delicate stud earrings in .925 sterling silver.

Sea Glass, Beach Glass and Mermaid Tears

When I started making jewelry over 7 years ago, that's when I really discovered sea glass for the first time.  Not that I had never noticed it before when I was walking bare foot in the sand, but I never thought of it as something precious.  To be honest, I would be frustrated because in my eyes these were pieces of garbage scattered on the beach; a display of negligence and selfishness .  With time and a little bit of research, I've come to appreciate sea glass as being beautiful, frosty gems, gently tumbled with the tides of time; little pieces of coloured history as it may.

Every time I find sea glass, especially a rarer colour such as blue, aqua, mauve, orange, red or black, I ponder and try to imagine its journey. The Bay of Chaleur is so rich with history that one cannot help but wonder if some of this glass wasn't from an old English Ship, a French frigate from France, an Oriental cargo ship, or perhaps it was from the local lobster fishermen who after finishing their favourite drink, hid the evidence at the bottom of the Bay.  As you can see, the possibilities are endless.  Why don't you let your imagination run free the next time you spot these multi-coloured gems in the sand and come up with your own story; a romantic one.

Here is one of my pieces of wire wrapped jewelry with a beautiful greenish-blue colour of sea glass in .925 sterling silver wire.  Click here for more info on pendant and chain.

New Custom Order for Client

I made this Necklace and Earrings set as a custom order for one of my clients.  This necklace is made with a large, red Tigereye Cabochon and 14k gold-filled wire work.  The filigree design gives the overall feel of ancient, old world, Roman or Grecian Jewelry with a touch of Victorian.  I also handmade the chain links with a thick 20 gauge 14k gold-filled wire and finished it off with a sturdy clasp.  I really enjoyed making this design and I will put together a few more of these to add to my store as part of my new spring collection. 

This particular design would also be awesome for a wedding (by exchanging the red Tigereye for a whitish or even a Rainbow Moonstone would be awesome)!

I'm Now on Artfire

I was reading up on artfire.com and found that it was worth my while to open a store there as well.  I really like that you have a set monthly rate without any fees ever!!  That really appeals to me. 

I'm not saying I don't like Etsy.com.  I'm just saying it cost me quite a few bucks to relist my items often in order to get the traffic and the sales I did.  So, I'm running a test.  I want to see which is more profitable in the end.  I made a google search on artfire.com versus etsy.com and some people have transferred there whole Etsy store to their artfire Shop.  I don't know...  I'm still researching the potentials of both.  After a very short time on Etsy, I got quite a bit of exposure.  I'm just wondering if it'll be the same with artfire. 

I've added some items;  I only have under 20 items as of yet, but I'll be adding more shortly.  I've already joined a guild (team) and I'm looking around to see how to get more exposure.  Click here to see my new artfire store.

One thing I really, really like it the Quick Checkout link that I've setup on my blog; isn't it awesome! 

As of now, I am not yet running a Sale in my artfire store, but I am offering FREE Worldwide Shipping on all of my jewelry.