Included in this photo gallery are many of my jewelry pieces, organized into several major categories. These are not necessarily arranged by style, size, or materials used, but rather by themes or other groupings the pieces lend themselves to.
Special Orders
Many pieces or jewelry sets in this gallery were custom made for specific customers. I don’t have photos of all of them being made, but below are a few pictures of a crystal Y necklace and earrings custom made for Samantha Burton of Port Alberni, BC for her high school graduation.
When a customer comes to me with a custom order I work hard to find the right materials, create the desired style and measurements, add any special effects needed, and deliver the finished project on time. When Sam’s grandmother, Beverly Fournier came to me with a sketch of what she wanted I asked her exactly what kind of crystals she was wanting and she said “the same kind and size as the ones in that necklace you’re wearing today.” I took the necklace off to look at the beads more closely and discovered the jeweler ‘s clasp was coming undone so I decided to take my necklace apart to create this set on time for Sam’s graduation. Because Samantha can only wear her diamond stud earrings, between Beverly and I we came up with the earrings you see in the picture that have open loops without ear wires so she can wear them with her stud earrings. I ordered more of these beautiful swarovsky crystals and will eventually get around to remaking my original necklace, but I was happy to fill this order on time and very pleased with the way it all turned out. Thanks for allowing me to share your beautiful pictures on this website, Samantha!
Totems or Symbols
Totems and symbols are good words to describe animals or objects that come to have special meaning to each of us. Because our experiences are all different in life, so are the totems and symbols that remind us of them. For example, I didn’t sell the monkey necklace below and wear it often to remind myself to “get the monkey off my back” when I’m inclined to try to take on problems of others that they need to be taking care of themselves. In my book, To Heaven Through Hell, I share numerous incidents where totems become constant reminders to me of important lessons I’m learning in my life. Raccoons, rainbows, bears, butterflies, to name a few. When making jewelry for yourself or others, try to incorporate some of these wonderful totems. If you are going to sell your work, there are many popular universal symbols your customers will be drawn to like the lotus, rainbows, and butterflies. The geko necklace below was a special order for an 85 year old lady who just loved gekos….probably reminded her of many trips to Latin countries where these little guys are featured all over the place!
Polymer clay is a key ingredient in many of my totem pieces. You can make it into all different sizes and shapes of beads, create disks or donuts, or even cut out background objects like hearts and butterflies, using candy cutters, and press all kinds of objects into the clay. A beautiful antique earring is the decoration on the butterfly necklace shown here, and the jungle animals came off an old belt I got at a flea market many years ago. Clay can also be used to make molds and reproduce totems like the loons on the donuts. I made the loons out of white clay then painted them.
Timeless Treasures
In this series, I use gemstone beads, chips, and cut pieces… for example…square green serpentine, rectangle redline marble, and round feldspar in the three necklaces laid out on my dining room table. The necklace and earring sets in the jewelry boxes are a combination of gemstone chips interspersed with various beads…clear glass with the turquoise, amethyst and lapis lazuli…miracle beads with the jade and pink marble…and hematite beads with hematite chips.
A First Nations lady bought all three of the necklaces with cut gemstone beads and ordered matching earrings, shortly after I showed them at this car show in Tumbler Ridge, B.C. while we were living there. Many North American Indians value stones which have been in the earth since time began…timeless treasures which are now available and reasonably priced so everyone can enjoy them for their beauty and properties attributed to them. Pictured with me on this day is Jennifer Clark, my dear artist friend with whom I’ve spent endless hours designing and creating things to sell, keep, trade, or give away as gifts.
A Touch of Tahiti
This series was perhaps the most fun I’ve had designing jewelry! It started with an old beaded curtain from the 30’s I got at a garage sale for $2.00. It was loaded with little hand-carved hardwood beads, probably teakwood, and full of dust and cobwebs. I took it onto the front porch of my house in Tumbler Ridge and began to remove and wash each of the 40 some odd strands in warm soapy water. Then I removed the beads from the dusty string on which they were strung, rinsed them, and laid them out on towels to dry in the warm sunshine. I had no idea what I would do with them and put them into a large round container and thought on it. Imagining locals on a small island in the Pacific fashioning these beads, and being a geography teacher, my mind drifted to the island of Tahiti and the carefree life there with the blue sea, bright colored birds and tropical plants. And there a name for a new jewelry series was born.!
Using colored wooden beads with flowers painted on them, the small wooden beads from the curtain, and various colored glass beads,I began making 36″ necklaces that could be worn long or double-wrapped to create more bulky 18″ necklaces, along with matching earrings. I laid the first 5 sets out on my dining room table and when my neighbor came by and ordered the blue and green sets for two of her daughters, I decided to mass produce this series for a show that was coming up. They sold like hotcakes for $35.00 a pop! A while later, I was shopping at the Salvation Army bag sale and found this darling toucan bird and set of hibiscus napkin holders, which became the centerpiece for this new series. The last photo shows a variation of the pattern when I ran out of some of the beads I used in the first series. I have since bought more of the original beads and have lots of little wooden teakwood beads left to create many more of these darling sets.
Sautoir Necklaces
One day I took my newest creation, the necklace you see pictured in the first row, to show my friends at the museum in Tumbler Ridge. The summer curator, a university student who was studying French, said, “Oh, that’s a sautoir necklace!” I just thought it was cool and didn’t have a name for it but when I got home I looked it up, and sure enough, that’s what it is. According to COW Necklace Styles and Definitions “A sautoir necklace is a long necklace or neckchain, strand of beads or pearls, often terminating in a tassel or pendant.” My creation was a somewhat elaborate version of this style, with 3 strands of beads braided and ending in a 6 strand tassel. This necklace was designed for Brenda Holmlund of Tumbler Ridge. It started with a bag of large green seed beads Brenda brought back from Peru. She asked me to design something with them to remember her trip by. I got busy making large feature beads from clay, intermingling the same green as the seed beads with other bright colors, then adding large, medium, and small blue acrylic crystals, making a multi-colored set that goes with nearly anything. When I showed it to my artist friends, Darcy Jackson and Jane Kelley, Jane tried it on, Darcy snapped some photos, and voila!
Pictured in the center row are two more sautoir necklaces. The first is a double strand necklace made with large acrylic feature beads and finished with milfiori chips and miracle beads. The second is a cluster of very large beads on a long chain. I just call it a bubble necklace but it’s also in the sautoir family. Necklace definitions overlap, but “long” seems to be the common denominator in all types of sautoir necklaces. In the last two photos, I’m modeling my latest tripple strand sautoir necklace made with large and small wooden beads and various kinds of glass beads. In the second picture, you can see that these beaded sautoirs can be worn with the tassel to the front or back to create two different looks.
Delightful Dinosaurs
Tumbler Ridge, B.C. is known world-wide for it’s recent incredible dinosaur finds. I created these dinosaur necklaces and put them on consignment in the Tumbler Ridge Dinosaur museum. Many kids who visited the museum returned to their homes wearing these necklaces, some not so little kids too. I purchased the dinosaurs from the local dollar store and used my various jewelry-making supplies and materials to create this 12 dinosaur series.
General
In this last section of my gallery I ‘ve placed a sampling of the many other pieces I’ve created. You’ll note the abundant use of pendants. There are so many pendants you can purchase, ready to attatch to a chain, metal necklace form, or complimentary string of beads. I usually make earrings to match, sometimes bracelets too. Many of them, like the leopard and zebra pendants are metalic clip ons and can be removed as needed. Memory wire is used in a number of bracelets and necklaces pictured. There are too many pieces that contain recycled materials to mention, but note the two black sunflower necklaces on the last row. I used a pair of very heavy earrings to create two separate necklace and earring sets. There is no end to the jewelry you can create using new and used materials. Although I haven’t pictured any, I try to round out my jewelry sales with new and used jewelry that can’t be made by hand such as lovely metal jewelry pieces and those made with rhinestones. I hope my gallery has inspired you to make lots of pretty jewelry for fun or as a business. If you have any questions please use the contact form and I’ll try to answer them. Happy Beading!
