silver wire and gemstone jewellery in development by Gayle Bird
I am SO freaking excited to be able to tell you that my online shop is now OPEN at Etsy. Just a dozen or so pieces up for starters but I’ve already sold a piece, which is exhilarating despite having sold thousands of other pieces in galleries and shows because this is my first ever online sale.
Wanna see? Of course you do. Here are the first items I’ve ever made available for sale online.
| Etsy gaylebird |
What would you like to see most in the shop?
I was given the honour of creating a wedding necklace for my friend Stephanie. She had a fall-coloured wedding and fell in love with the honey-coloured beach glass I’d had in my stash. It went beautifully with the carnelian and pearls she’d already chosen. We had a lovely evening together sorting out what style and size and shape she’d like best. She was exceptionally easy to please :)
I took a few in-progress shots as I went along, maybe you’ll be interested?
She was a beaming, gorgeous bride and I was proud to have taken a tiny, shiny part in that.
I’ve been itching to get back into polymer clay for quite some time, and this past week I finally pulled it out and had the most fun with it! I had all these teeny tiny watch parts from when Laird tore apart a bunch of watches for me and there were just so many that I really couldn’t use… they’re so small they either can’t be attached or they get lost within the design. So I’ve been collecting them in little watchmaker’s cases for a while now.
However, they’re perfect for pushing into clay! I wasn’t sure what kind of shape to make – I knew I wanted to create some kind of animal look like it had been made out of metal in Victorian times but it took a while to hit on the nautilus/snail shape. They were super fun to work on.
I made a bunch and then tried some hearts, which worked out OK but Laird pointed out that they were taking me forever to make, so I thought for a few minutes and figured out that the watchmaker’s cases made perfect circular cutters, so I made a bunch of those quickly to try and even out the time I’d spent on the more sculptural pieces :)
I varnished them after baking and will wrap them after. So there’s more to come!
After I made the hair clips last week, I had more time in my day so I looked around for something else to do that was different and new, and my eyes lit upon a package of fancy fibre-y yarn/ribbon thingums. I thought the little feathery bits would be a fun accent into a wire piece, but what else could I put in there? And it hit me: actual feathers! I dug out some dyed craft feathers I had and also a few bits of reclaimed leather, and went to town.
Simple and Fun! I think the bright colours will look fab in my booth at the Christmas Loft craft show this year.
I teased you with 3 new products last week and only just now have managed to get photos taken. And actually I only got photos of 2 of the 3 so you’ll still have to wait for the third one. That’s not me teasing you on purpose, that’s just me being stupidly busy.
I was making these up as I went along.
First, teeny little hair clips:
(Yep that’s me. Thankfully my ears were clean!)
Here’s how they operate (please ignore the skin falling off my fingers, it does that). Open:
And closed:
They clip pretty tight and there’s a little plastic/rubber strip in there that keeps them from getting stuck in your hair or damaging it. I love these little guys!
You know what, that’s enough for one post. I’ve got some work to do so I’ll post the others tomorrow.
One of a kind wire-wrapped jewellery handmade by Cape Breton artist Gayle Bird. Look for silver wire, labradorite, beach glass, gemstones, glass, beads, and a unique style.
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