Camali Design Jewellery Blog

Whilst working on new designs and stocking up for the season, I thought I’d share a wedding commission I worked on last year. I have been training with a silversmith for a while now and this has given me hugely increased confidence in trying new things and I have also learnt to set stones amongst lots of other things. It’s amazing what a bit of hand-on teaching can do for your skill set!

Anyway, I was asked to do 4 bridesmaids neckaces and earrings for a lovely lady I have previously done commissions for. She described the girls’ personalities and styles to me and I came up with 4 different designs to suit them. The common theme was the use of Brazilian Amethyst to match the gorgeous dresses they were wearing. I also made simple gemstone studs to match.

Here are 3 of the 4 necklaces I made, unfortunately I failed to photograph the fourth necklace before I sent it to the bride!

I just thought I’d share a commission I did a while back. It was for a wedding set at beautiful Prideaux Place near Padstow in Cornwall, here in the UK. The bride wore a stunningly beautiful dress made of multiple layers of organza where the gorgeously draped skirt was decorated with hand embroidered starfish along one side of the dress. This was complemented by a matching hand dyed silk bag, also embroidered with a starfish motif. The bridesmaids wore fantastic sea blue dresses and matching silk bags and flip-flops!

My task was to produce jewellery that would complement their outfits and the coastal theme of the wedding. The bride wanted a bracelet and earrings so for the bracelet we chose white freshwater pearls and crystal clear quartz combined with starfish shaped Hill Tribe silver beads. To go with this I also made some subtle cascading earrings from tiny white freshwater pearls, so as not to overpower with jewellery. The bride wore no necklace which made sure that nothing competed with her and the simple but stunning dress. The bracelet and earrings allowed her to still wear some elegant and luxurious jewellery.

For the bridesmaids I made similar bracelets in amazonite and teal coloured freshwater pearls combined with Hill Tribe silver sea shell shaped beads. The fabric sample got lost in the post but luckily the colours matched the dresses perfectly!

This was such a fun one to do, with pretty much free reign for me as a designer, since the bride trusted me completely to deliver the goods. She was very happy with the jewellery and the wedding went well too!

I don’t usually do men’s jewellery, not because I don’t want to but because there is so much else I want to do as well! Therefore I have never really given it a whole lot of thought. But, when I was approached by a customer to make a custom piece for her boyfriends 30th birthday I jumped at the opportunity!

The lady wanted me to create a pendant necklace using the logo of a music club that her boyfriend manages. She sent me the logo and after some work in Photoshop I had an idea of what we could do with it. I sent a picture of the proposed pendant to her and we agreed I would make it from silver, hang it on thick leather cord, and potentially add a few beads as well.

So, I started by cutting out a backplate out of thick silver sheet that I then added some grungy texture to, with a metal stamp. Next up was cutting (sawing) out an overlay in silver sheet which was quite fiddly, because, as you can see in the picture, it has quite a few awkward turns in it. Then I did some additional shaping and filed it smooth, making sure the 2 layers were a good fit to solder. I then sweat soldered them together which made a solid pendant where the textured backplate showed through the cutout top layer. I then cut and shaped 2 little corners to the pendant (I had left the top corners on the back piece especially for this) and drilled holes in them to attach the rest of the necklace. So, that was the actual pendant finished.

Making jewellery for men is a little bit of a challenge I think, as it needs to look masculine and so choice of materials is very important in my humble opinion. I wanted it to look a bit “rough” and “industrial” and remembered that I had some smooth river pebbles in a grey/brown colour. I fitted one either side of the pendant and then on to thick black leather cord. Finally I made a simple hook clasp from thick silver wire. Just like all my other jewellery, I also oxidised the silver and gave it a good rub with steel wool to give it depth and a well worn look.

So, the result is, as you can see, a gunmetal grey silver pendant with the textured background showing through the smooth logo cutout, combined with pebbles and leather, in a pendant that I think looks every bit masculine. I have to say I was very happy with it myself and I might even consider adding men’s jewellery to my regular range in the future.

As you all probably know it can be hard work doing a commission, depending on the complexity of the project and the nature of the customer. In this case I have to say it was a pleasure as the client was very positive about all my ideas, worked with me through the design process and trusted me enough to let me get on with. So, all in all, a very successful commission for me and wish I get many more like it in the future!

Oh, and the boyfriend loved it too! Phew!