Camali Design Jewellery Blog

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!

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!