March Craft #5: Wedding Necklace, 3 pairs earrings

I've mentioned before that I have an opportunity to be a part of a new business venture with one of my friends. I'm going to be designing wedding jewelry, basically. A lot of it will be my own customized sterling and fine silver jewelry, stamped names, pendants, and such, but I'm also going to offer other jewelry designs, both genuine silver and Swarovski crystals and pearls and all of that and a more costume jewelry line for those brides who want to look beautiful, but don't have a hugely beautiful budget.

The pieces I made today were made with some of the stuff I picked up at Beads Galore today on their super 40% off sale. I got some glass pearls, Chinese crystal (my new absolute favorite thing in jewelry making), and a ton of AWESOME silver plated findings that were so cheap, but look so good! Obviously, these pieces are going to be part of the costume jewelry line. I haven't priced out the necklace and earrings yet, but they will be considerably cheaper than they would have been if they'd have been made with genuine or Swarovski pearls and crystals and the Bali silver that would have been the equivalent of these things. Basically, this is costume jewelry that is constructed with the same skill and attention to detail that I have honed over 9 years of jewelry making with my finer materials. At least, that's how I'll try to sell it. ^_~



I've debated long and hard over whether or not starting to make costume jewelry will demote me as a jewelry maker in some people's eyes. I guess I've finally decided that I don't care. Quite frankly, it's fun to play with designs and jewelry pieces when you're not as concerned about "wasting" your materials.

Anyway, here they are, made with a gimpy finger. It's weird working pliers without the index finger of your dominant hand. LoL.