chunky necklaces

I'm making chunky jewellery for a friend's website.  These are designed to be fastened by ribbon allowing the wearer to determine how short or long the necklaces should be.

Coming soon to the Mango Frooty site near you!

Tassel pendants

I have been working up new pendant ideas since I came back from Thailand with a bag full of stones.

These are loosely based on the good luck chinese bead charms with lucky knots and tassels you see often hanging in car windows.

I've teamed up Indian cut beads with my forged silver circles (such a strong feminine symbol), and jewel bright colours to put a sparkle in your outfit.

These will be around $45AU each.  Please get in touch if you are interested.

New pendant designs

Myself and him indoors went on a long awaited break to Thailand. Him indoors sat around the lovely posh resort in Chiang Mai and I went on daily little forays to the local markets for exotic snacks, fresh fruit (it's currently mangosteen and lychee season), and of course all the stuff I use to make jewellery and gifts - that left all the locals scratching their heads as to why anyone would want such items.

Just before flying home we stopped off in Bangkok where I managed a trip to the world famous weekend market at Chatuchak and bought more beads, fabrics and silver bits to tide me over for the next few years.

New pendants and jewellery designs are being dreamt up.

First up is a new range of colourful tassel necklaces. The top one is Smoky quartz, Garnet and silver with a cotton tassel. The one below is Amethyst, Carnelian, Serpentine and silver with a green cotton tassel.

More boho chic.

daisy chain necklace - shorter length

Here is a heavier daisy chain necklace made of coral, turquoise, carnelian, lapis, smoky quartz, cloisonne and sterling silver.

As it is a heavier weight I thought I'd make this one a little shorter. It sits perfectly outside your favourite roll neck.

Have a lovely weekend

Silver and gemstone daisy chains

and here is another take on those daisy chain necklaces.

I have been making bead chains for a number of years and although I like them being so delicate I wanted to add a bit of oomph so decided to mix it up with different coloured stones and some of my forged silver circles.

The results are not too shabby: delicate but eye-catching and not too heavy. These are 88cm and 83cm in length respectively.

NZ greenstone pendants

NZ jade is called 'Pounamu', in Maori. It is a sacred stone and is found only in the South Island of New Zealand. The remote river where it is found, is still only reached by trekking into the area and cannot be taken by the general public.

Any visitor to New Zealand will see a huge selection of carved jade pendants in souvenir shops around the country. I suspect most of the carving is not completed by traditional artisans but by workshops in SE Asia. I doubt that the jade used is even from NZ.

As an antidote to this practice I have sourced some rough pieces of pounamu. Some are pebbles, some are offcuts of larger pieces. They are unpolished.

I think these pieces are more beautiful and spiritual than any factory-carved pendants.

For longevity, prosperity and luck. Jade also promotes happiness.

Have a lovely weekend all.

summer downunder jewellery

December is all about giving.

This year I'm working on sea-themed jewellery. I have forged big silver circles and threaded recycled Balinese glass beads onto them. They are frosted so they look like sea glass. Of course the frosted quartz pebble has made a reappearance - once these are gone I don't know where to get more - I originally bought this strand in Hatton Garden, London.

I have a myriad of shells picked up on beaches from around the world - many with holes just waiting for something to be made from them.

Finally I hit on the idea of making them into silver circle and seashell earrings. These shell slices came from Thailand - but I think the sea worn shells I have in my collection will also make wonderful earrings.


These haven't made it to etsy or the website yet but if you are interested - please get in touch. The earrings and frosted quartz pendants will be around $35AU. Balinese glass bead pendants $30AU.

cast silver pendants

These went to NZ today....

Well the gumleaf with the bite and rough garnet, the lace pendant with the amethyst drop and the right hand lace pendant - I added a grey baroque pearl as a drop at the end.


hope they like them!

gemstone cufflinks

I have neglected jewellery for men for too long so have started to make cufflinks.

These are made of sturdy sterling silver wire with the ends melted to form a 'head'. I like to think the slight 'wonkiness' of the ends adds to their 'crafty' appeal.

Have size tested these ones to fit through a man's shirt buttonhole - nothing worse than cufflinks that don't fit.

These are not on the website yet but will be $30AU a pair.

What do you think about that?

jingle jangle silver charm bangles

So here are my finished charm bangles in sets of three or five.

The colours of the stones appear to be a little random but I like them that way. I am using headpins I have also made myself - the soldered end looks so much better than looped wire.
The diameter of each bangle is approx 7 cm but will vary by a fraction.

Price details are on the website.

cast lace pendants

Antique lace from a NSW county fair dipped in wax and cast in sterling silver.

I've welded little silver rings to the lace then onto larger, forged silver circles to make pendants.

jingle jangle silver charm bangles

I've finished hammering my bangles.... I just need to add gemstones

Got a new shipment in today of some rough garnets, coral and frosted quartz. The garnets look like rough red diamonds. I think they are beautiful but I'm guessing they might be an acquired taste - will post more pictures when I'm done.

cast sterling silver gum leaf pendants

I finished my cast silver gum leaf pendants. I re-thought the original, hammered versions and changed them to sit on two hoops: one small which interlocks with a larger circle, giving the pendant a natural swaying movement.

I have decided against adding any stones to these pendants. I prefer to keep them as is - the elegant shape of the gum leaves can speak for themselves.... any addition would make the piece too fussy.

Am thinking leather thonging rather than chain.

Any thoughts?

I put some on the mf website here.

forged silver circles: pendants and rings

This week I've been concentrating on jewellery - more specifically, on silver smithing stuff.

Just in time for the Australian summer.



I'm a huge fan of the forged silver circle. It's such a feminine shape and fits so well with some rough or smooth pebbles. Look a little closer and you can see I've made the headpins for the beads. These look so much nicer than looped silver wire ends.

They're slightly kooky because I let the silver melt and form its own shape.

The chains are different lengths and thicknesses - chosen to suit the stones.

And on Wednesday we got our silver cast results back in our little community collage course.

A big 'wow'. The lace came out spectacular and who'd have thought star anise would be so cool - cast as is - without dipping in wax?

The gum leaves were a little disappointing - the thick coat of wax meant that the finer leafy details were lost so I've hammered these a little to thin them out a little more but also to strengthen the silver.




And finally got around to making stack ring sets. Does one bead add enough bling or should there be more?

My favourites are the rings - these carved wax and cast silver rings originally had little flowers on them - but they fell off before they were cast. Never mind, I thought these were pretty though him indoors said "Very impractical".

more silver bangles with dangles and silver stack rings

I'd neglected silversmithing for a while as I have been painting furiously for these exhibitions.... I think my painting mojo has run out for a while so am working on some stack rings and more silver charm bangles.

Soldering and hammering metal is extremely satisfying.

Tibetan turquoise and silver hoop necklace

So here is a silver and turqoise necklace for the weekend. The turquoise was found in Kathmandu - in a shop selling Tibetan turquoise beads by the gram. The quality of these beads is better than any I've bought anywhere else: deep deep blue and smooth pebble-like stones.

Some are small, some are big and sadly I didn't buy that many.

silver stack rings

Here are some stackable rings for a Friday.

Hammered silver wire and Thai Hill Tribe charms.

Aquamarine, flower charm and silver hoop necklace

A Thai Hill Tribe flower charm and an Indian faceted aquamarine bead makes for a cute little necklace.

children's silver jewellery

I've started photographing the children's jewellery I've made. It's nice to be able to offer the same level of craft and materials for children though I also do wonder how many things you give kids end up lost and forgotten somewhere in the back of a cupboard or in the sandpit....

These are on the website.

jingle jangle bangles

bangles ... don't forget bangles


These are work in progress. They are hammered, polished and slightly kooky. They will have more charms and dangles added when I get in the mood.