Camali Design Jewellery Blog

Hi again!

I decided it was time to clear a little bit of space for new designs and so I am having a BIG SALE on my web site! There are necklaces, pendants, bracelets and earrings and they are all around 40-50% off. There is only one left of each item so get in there quick if you are set on something in particular.

This is a great opportunity to grab yourself some bargains or maybe get a brilliant present for someone! They are all shipped in gift boxes ready to give away.

PLEASE NOTE: Discount codes are not applicable to sale items, as they are already reduced substantially. If you would like to buy items from both the SALE section and other items from my shop please make separate purchases and I will refund double shipping charges after you have made your purchases.

BIG SALE on my web site

I am often asked for stud earrings and so recently I have introduced a bunch of new ones, some in just silver and some with set stones.

The first pair is called Starburst and are made using PMC, precious metal clay, and feature a starburst pattern. Pretty everyday pair!

Second are a pair of long earrings with stud fittings called Grunge Tab Trio. These feature handcut silver tabs that have been given a grungy look by stamping with a dot pattern. The oxidised silver gives them a slightly industrial twist, a look that I love.

The next pair is in a similar style but a shorter solid stud with silver granules adding more dimension. These are called Grunge Studs.

Lastly here are 2 pairs of studs with set gemstones and a textured rim. The first one has set faceted labradorite with a stripe pattern and the second faceted rainbow moonstone with a dot pattern. I will be making more similar styles with set stones soon.

All of these studs and many other earrings are available in my online shop www.camalidesign.com - check it out!

Next time I will show you some cool brangle bracelets, until then!

It’s been a while again! I have been really busy leading up to the Christmas events that I am doing down here in Cornwall. I have done Christmas markets at Falmouth, Fowey, Trelissick Gardens, Truro Late Night shopping and now remains only this weekend coming. On Saturday I will be at the Christmas Street Market in Truro and on Sunday at the Last Chance Event at Lemon Quay, also in Truro. After that I will have a lovely break over Christmas, which I am spending with the family in Sweden and then I will be in Austria for a week over New Year, also with family.

I wanted to show you some of my latest pieces that are made using only sterling silver, which is a bit unusual for me, being an avid fan of all the gorgeous gemstones available. It is always, however, nice to do something different every now and then and here is the result of this from the past month or so. I have had great feedback on these pieces and most of them are now sold, but I will be doing many more of these all silver designs in the New Year.

The Silver Petal earrings and pendant are simple and modern. They were made from silver sheet which was cut into petal shapes, then lightly domed using a dapping block and finally hung from hand made silver rings onto a modern ball chain. The silver has been oxidised and hand brushed and polished to obtain the gunmetal grey earthy patina that I love so much. I will be doing loads of new designs similar to these as soon as I get back in the New Year.

I have also been making some simple loops using thick silver wire that has been shaped, planished and hung simply on hand made earwires. These Loop Earrings are great everyday staples and again, more of the same will come soon!

Finally a pair of earrings that I absolutely love myself (would have kept these for myself had I not sold them before Christmas…). The Graffiti Earrings were made using tabs of silver sheet that I made holes in, textured with an interesting pattern and assembled together with hand made silver jump rings. They are hung on simple hand made earwires and have lovely movement when worn due to the “hinged” effect that the rings give. As usual the silver has been oxidised to bring out the  texture and add character.

Well, since I doubt I will have time to blog any more this year, I will take this opportunity of wishing you a Happy Christmas and a Happy New Year! See you in 2009!

Just thought I’d share a couple of pairs of earrings I made recently. They are very representative of the kind of work I do now, I am really into using silver sheet in my designs. I also love texturing, so stamping and dapping feature strongly in many new pieces. I still use my passion for gemstones by combining the two in almost all designs.

The first one is a pair of earrings that I made to match my Garnet Tab pendant necklace, and so I called these Garnet Tab as well. These earrings feature a thick hand cut silver tab that has been slightly domed and oxidised, together with rondelles of flashy labradorites and beautiful high quality deep red garnet nugget. The garnet is from a new supplier I found recently and are of a truly stunning quality (AAA).

The second pair of earrings are called Moon Flash after the pendant that they match. Again a hand cut rectangle of silver sheet has been stamped with my “grunge” stamp (my favourite!) and oxidised for character. A next to perfect Champagne Citrine was wire wrapped to the bottom and the earrings are hung on ball and post style earrings. I love the contrast of the perfectly clear and richly coloured citrine briolette and the industrial looking silver.

Unfortunately both of these earrings are now sold, but can be requested again as can most of my designs. I usually do something that isn’t exactly the same so that every piece is different.

The last piece I wanted to show you today is a new bracelet I made the other week. It’s an all silver piece, which is a little unusual for me, as I don’t do many of those. I like gemstones too much! Anyway, I have used large ovals of sterling sheet that I hand stamped with my “grunge” stamp and then domed slightly to make them lie snugly around the wrist. The ovals were then assembled together using oval silver jump rings. The clasp is also a first for me, it’s magnetic! I have never used these, wasn’t sure it they were going to be strong enough, but I am now confident that these are. They are oval and quite chunky and matches the silver ovals perfectly. This bracelet is very comfortable to wear with it’s slightly domed ovals and looks brilliant on. This bracelet is still available to buy in my online shop.

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!

It’s been quite a while since I last wrote a blog posting! I have been very busy in the past 3-4 months. We have finally relocated to Boscastle in Cornwall where we now live in an old Cornish cottage from 1750. It needs a lot of work and we will slowly make this 2 flat house back into a large family home again. So far we have met a few neighbours and are slowly getting to know the village, the people and the surrounding areas. We are thoroughly enjoying living here and I feel the stress of our “previous lives” lifting more and more each day. I know it’s not going to be an easy ride, but we are now both completely self employed and in charge of our own destiny, good and bad!

I have also done a few shows down here since we moved; Newlyn Fish Festival, Falmouth Tall Ships Regatta, and coming up are Boscastle Food and Craft Festival and the Falmouth Oyster Festival, to mention a few. I have really enjoyed meeting new people, seeing new places and have had good sales so far, which is very encouraging. Soon we are on to the Christmas events and if you want to check where I will be selling, have a look at my events page.

I am now busy making autumn and winter jewellery and while that’s in progress I thought I’d show you a few of the last of the summer earrings. Many of them I sold before I had a chance to photograph and upload, but the ones I will show you here are all listed in my online jewellery shop.

First up are a favourite of mine, Ruby Grunge. I love making stamped silver components and incorporate them quite a lot in my jewellery these days. There will be a lot of it in my autumn/winter collection. These little beauties feature sterling silver rectangles hand cut and stamped with a stamp that I call “grunge” which is quickly turning into my favourite stamp! The faceted hearts are ruby in zoisite and I think the grungy pattern of the silver complement them prefectly. I am not usually very keen on pink, but I love the shades of these stones and the pattern makes them “non-cute” which I really like. I will be offering a few new designs with this stone, in larger sizes for pendants.

I make a fair few of this next type of earrings. Simple wire wrapped stones on hand made earwires are very popular as they are so easy to wear and versatile. I have a few customers who have bought several pairs of this same style, to go with various outfits and colour schemes. These two pairs are called Just Peachy and Flashy Kites, made with heart shaped faceted Pink Moonstone and flashy Labradorite Kite shaped briolettes. I like really like these kinds of earrings, they are great staples and can be combined with all my jewellery. I don’t usually like matchy matchy jewellery and these earrings make it possible to have earrings that go well with other jewellery without being too much. Many more to come later in the year, so watch this space!

Lastly, the Silvery Blue earrings are made with gorgeous dagger shaped kyanites hung on tiny patinated disc chains. These earrings are just stunning, the stones are beautiful and they swing gently on ball and post style ear findings.

You will find many more styles of earrings in my online jewellery shop. Next time I write I will hopefully have autumn and winter goodies to show you! Until then…

I am really into stamping at the moment. So there are various new pieces of hand made jewellery in my online shop that incorporates stamped silver components. I have made a few new of the stamped dog tag style pendants that have proven popular. These are all hand cut silver sheet, filed, stamped with various patterns, oxidised and finished. Then hung on various lovely silver chains and decorated with a few well chosen semi-precious gemstones.

The “Flower Garden” pendant feature juicy purple amethyst and sparkling rainbow moonstone and is hung on a snake chain with discs, while the “Moon Flash” pendant is adorned with champagne citrine and labradorite and hung on an unusual textured criss cross chain.

Two more; the “Blue Sea” pendant again hangs from a criss cross chain and pale aquamarine and rich London blue topaz adds the sparkle. The “Mossy” pendant feature beautiful moss aquamarine and rainbow moonstone and is hung on a modern ball chain.

Also, a bunch of new earrings with hand stamped silver discs. “Boho Love” have a whimiscal heart stamped on a silver disc that swings below two luscious tourmalines. These are fairly weighty and so have been hung on ball and post earrings for safety. The “Dude ” earrings were just a bit of fun really! They have a “dude” stamped on a silver disc and flashy labradorite rondelles hung on leverbacks.

“Blowing Bubbles” are a pair of beautiful summery earrings featuring gorgeous aquamarine and fresh green prehnite along with bubble stamped silver discs. They are hung on leverbacks. The “Whiskey Nights” earrings are sophisticated with dark blue iolite and elegant whiskey quartz onion shaped drops, hung on my own hand made earwires.

All of these new goodies are as usual available in my online jewellery shop along with loads of other designs. Check them out and please let me know what you think of my new stamped pieces!

Thanks for reading, until next time.

Carin

Just a quick post to remind those who are local that this weekend is the Designer Arts and Crafts Fair at Sudeley Castle (14th and 15th of June 2008). A great selection of wares will be on display so will be well worth a visit. I will be offering my usual range of jewellery; necklaces, pendants, bracelet and earrings and for this event I will also have new silver and gemstone wrapped rings on offer, so come and check them out! There will be a special show price on these as they are new to my range and they will eventually go on to the web site for sale as well.

We will be located at the Falconry Lawn by the Castle and since this event is on at the same time as the Sudeley Hot Air Ballooning Grand Prix there will be more to see than arts and crafts! The designer arts and crafts marquee is open between 10am and 7pm.

For a full list of events I will be attending this year, have a look at my events page on my online jewellery shop site.

I’m very proud to tell you that I am exhibiting at The Gallery at the PACT Centre in Pewsey, Wiltshire, for the next 4 weeks (8th March to 3rd April). This gallery is run by volunteers and its aim is to promote and support local artists and crafts people in the Wiltshire area. The exhibition changes throughout the year to display a vast array of crafts.

I have a small display of jewellery amongst a wide range of paintings and glass and ceramic creations. The display was a challenge to say the least, as my allocated space is about a foot wide slice from floor to ceiling. You can imagine that much of that space is not really usable as people can’t reach or see properly. So, I have basically arranged my display over 3 shelves with a combination of busts for necklaces and pendants, a bracelet bar and individual earring holders. I was happy to work with that since they squeezed (quite literally!) me in although they were actually booked up until 2009… The fee and the commission was very reasonable and I have already made my fee for the display, in sales.

The Gallery has been running since 2006 and has built up a reputation for offering quality arts and crafts and is apparently visited by people from near and far. It’s also gained a reputation for being a good place to buy jewellery, which is great of course. I am hoping the exposure will do me some good, although I am not sure how much yet. Fingers crossed!

We had a private viewing evening the day before the exhibition opened. All exhibitors invited friends and family to a 2 hour viewing where we all got a chance to look at all the exhibits, talk to the artists and have a glass of wine or two. It was a great opportunity to make friends and network. I gained a few friends amongst the other fellow exhibitors and one contact that hopefully means I can use one of their kilns for some silver clay firing!

The Gallery is open Monday to Saturday 10am to 4pm, so if you are in the area, why not pop in! The Gallery also has a web site where you can see a few examples of current gallery exhibitors work, including mine.

Will post some pics when I get a chance.