We’ve given ourselves a new project – to take part in Folksy’s monthly listing challenge. The aim of which is to list at least one item per day, and promote the work of other crafters.

This month, the challenge is called September Stars, and there have been some spectacular entries so far. Here are a few of our favourites:

• Booties by Jojasca
• Butterfly Card by Lilly’s Night Garden
• Dinosaur T-Shirt by Cheerymishmash
• Marcasite Hair Grips by Steampunk Storm

Don’t forget to come back and see some of our new designs, which we are submitting for the September Stars Challenge: Lizzyanthus.folksy.com.

About Folksy

Folksy is a UK based site, that specialises in handmade items. The organisation gives individual makers the chance to showcase their work.

Visit Lizzyanthus on Stand 33, at the great Northern Mind Body Spirit Festival, November 2010.

In an attempt to make money from scrap metals and with Gold Rush fever hitting the nation; what would you do with a small amount of scrap silver?   Throw it away, leave it sitting in a draw or stockpile it till there is enough to trade in? 

Alternatively, you could create a new fashion statement…

Inspired by the latest trend for Charm Necklaces; we finally put a collection of scrap silver to good use.   Using sections of broken chain and scraps of silver that were too small to do any thing with, we started on this new project. 

_{[The following picture shows the silver scrap used.]}

Recycling Silver Scrap

Small silver off-cuts, left over from other jewellery projects, were heated to over 960°C until it melted and formed droplets.  These organic shapes were then individually fused with sections of broken chain.

The different lengths were then threaded onto a small ring to create a cascading waterfall and suspended from a section of wire, which had been fashioned into a large ring.  The large ring was then gently textured to complete the pendant.

With a final polish and a shiny new sterling silver necklace to finish it off, we have created this beautiful, modern pendant from broken pieces of chain and scrap metal.

The pendant has been independently tested by the Birmingham Assay Office and now carries the Sterling Silver Hallmark, completing the challenge.

After a perfectly timed holiday that saw plenty of sunshine in northern England, we have finally thawed out and dusted off our blow torches and soldering equipment.

Having had lots of fun playing with our new stock of gemstones and beaded jewellery, we’re now ready to get our hands properly dirty again… and ruin our manicures.  Who said jewellery making was for the delicate?

Here we’re busy soldering what’s soon to be a beautiful, gem set bracelet.  The finished piece is going to be so pretty.

We’ve also been working on: Adjustable rings, Brooches, Bangles…

Not sure we’ll ever get over how something so delicate can be created through brute force and power tools!  It’s certainly worth the wasted manicure though.

It’s been a very busy week for both of us at Lizzyanthus.  We’ve been concentrating on our new range of jewellery, soon to be available from our online store www.lizzyanthus.co.uk.

The new range of Lizzyanthus Jewellery will be available from May 2010 and will include: Angel Feathers, Heart Pendants, Earrings and more.

The Feather design featured here has been called ‘Angel Blessings’.  This is due to the lovely belief, that if you find a feather, it means that you have been visited and blessed by an angel.

The Angel Blessing pendant is made from solid silver, yet the detailing of the pendant seems to imply a soft, downy texture; and the shaping suggests a feather gently floating in the air.

We are very happy with how Angel Blessings Pendant has turned out, and we hope you like it as much as we do!

Today was a first!  Having previously heard about a lovely site called Craft Juice, where talented people exhibit their projects, we gave it a go.

Our first concern was what to choose.  Should we pick our chakra jewellery, a bespoke item or even one of our latest crafts?  In the end, we uploaded a picture of our very unique Sapphire and Swarovski Pendant.  Here’s hoping the Craft Juice community find it vote worthy!

The Pendant is made with Sterling Silver which has been shaped around a pretty blue, Galactic Swarovski Crystal.  Designed with contrasting materials, shapes and textures in mind, the silver was given a frosted look to complement the smooth planes of the crystal.  Three very lovely sapphires were then set on the front of the pendant for added sparkle and interest.

The Sapphire and Swarovski Pendant is truly unique, and hopefully you’ll like it as much as we do.  It is currently listed for sale at our shop on the Folksy website.

If you like the pendant too, please vote for us on Craft Juice. Thank you.

Gemstone, glass and crystal handbag charms

My goodness!  Is it that time already?  We can’t believe three months have gone already since our last instalment.  Well, we have been busy…

At Lizzyanthus, these twin sisters have been very creative.  We’ve been putting all our old beading stock to some fantastic use, and now have a selection of handbags charms and handmade candles for sale.

Lizzyanthus bag charms use a lovely mix of gemstones, glass and Swarovski crystals, which make some really pretty accessories.  The charms use sterling silver chain for added movement and fluidity.  It makes the bag charms very feminine.

Want to find out more?  You can see some of our bag charms on our shop at Folksy.

As for our candles, how can we use our beaded stock for handmade candles?  We managed it!  The homemade candles use the gemstone beads as a decorative feature.  We just have to get them packaged up and photographed now.

Thanks for reading.

New site design arriving soon
Get a preview here!

For the past eight weeks or so, we have been working on a revamp of the Lizzyanthus website, starting by adding the blog. As well as making the site look nicer, we’ve made it much easier to navigate.  The site now has modelled shots of the jewellery so it’s easier for you to see how it looks when worn. 

We have also been busy designing and making new pieces of jewellery, which will be launched with the new site.

We’ve got a large chunk of the work completed, so it seemed a good time to give everyone a quick preview of the new home page.  Hopefully you like it as much as we do.