Camali Design Jewellery Blog

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 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 have this thing about Swiss or London blue topaz… They have the most fantastic colour and just beg to be worn! Being a very expensive stone, I don’t usually have many, but I had a couple of Swiss blue topaz faceted heart briolettes that I wanted to make something with. So I decided to make one of them into a simple but elegant pendant, to really show off it’s beautiful blue colour. As I have mentioned before I have been learning a few new things from talented American wire artist Eni Oken and so I used her techniques as inspiration for this pendant.

I started by making a simple U-shaped component in thick silver wire, hammered it a little for strength and made a simple bail to hang the pendant in. I sized the component so that the topaz would fit neatly in the middle and then wire wrapped the stone onto this component using fine silver wire. Next, I made a larger silver component to go around the first one. This one I wire wrapped with tiny fine silver Hill Tribe beads attaching it to the inner component in the process. That all sounds very simple, but it takes quite a while, as it’s very fiddly to get it right and since there is not much room to work with between the silver components!

Everything is oxidised as usual and then hung on a simple popcorn chain. This is how it turned out!

I am very pleased with the way it came out, the stone is vibrant in the middle and the silver doesn’t take anything away from it, merely frames it and grounds it by using only silver beads and by the patina applied. This pendant is now available to buy in my online jewellery shop! More similar ones to come soon…