My Nina Designs creations

I'm a fan of Nina Designs jewellery components so when I read about their new blog partner programme and the chance for jewellery makers to get some goodies from them, I just had to ask if I could participate. And earlier this month I got a late christmas present in the mail. Inside were lovely bronze charms and components, soft deer hide leather cord and sheer silk ribbon.

Today I thought I'd show you what I made with the stuff I got (or at least most of it). I won't complain too much about the quality of my photos as I do that too often, but the light turned out to be more finicky than usual today and I just hope the pics are too bad.

One of the first things I did was to figure out something fun to do with the leaves. Thinking about it back and forth, I settled for two things I like: weaving and embroidery floss. Just like you would use a metal frame to weave and twist wire around in wirework, the 24 mm long skeleton leaf charms acted as a frame for weaving the floss. If the charm hadn't been made in such a pretty metal, I would've wrapped the outer lines with floss too, but this time I decided to keep the metal bare, which also frames the colourful floss.

I'm pretty pleased with this experiment and hope at least some of the charm of these autumn leaves will show in the photo too, which really was a balance between showing detail (which make it look clumsy, but shows up the weaving) and showing the dainty leaves in their natural size.

Originally I wanted to show them on a golden jewellery chain, which is how I intend to wear them, but I couldn't find it. So just try to imagine the leaves dangling on i thin matching chain.

 
The package also contained two coral branch charms, which I immediately wanted to embellish a bit. It was like they were crying out for some blossoms and leaves. This was my first version with tiny acrylic flowers wire-wrapped onto the branch. Simple, but fun. Not sure what chain or cord I want for this one, but will probably opt for a chain that'll go nicely with the colour and texture of the branch.

I also made a second version today with the same flowers but with added seed bead picot leaves where I strung the pendant on the green deer hide cord and finished by adding the toggle clasp that were also in my package. No pic of that as I'm still not sure whether I like it or not.

UPDATE: I just realised that it would've been a nice touch if I'd oxidized the branch first for a more earthtone colour rather than a shiny bronze. 

The sheer silk ribbon (aka fairy ribbon) I got had such a gorgeous dark purple colour I knew this would probably be my favourite piece. But what to add to it when I'm a girl that can wrap a ribbon around my wrist and find that a perfect bracelet in itself? Actually, this piece started out as and idea. It all began with the infinity link and my questioning myself what could be a fun and less usual way of using it. Why not make it into a slider, threading it onto the ribbon and adding a focalpiece to it? Which is exactly what I did by wiring an acrylic violet flower and two dark green acrylic leaves to the middle of the link.

To finish the bracelet, I added two -- for their size rather heavy -- lotus petal charms (such a simple and lovely shape) to each end of the ribbon. The idea is that they will both keep the slider from falling off and add some weight that'll keep the knot  in place when wearing the bracelet. I say bracelet, but it could probably also double as a necklace.

The final piece were a couple of earrings. Unfortunately I ran out of roses, but I didn't want to give up my idea so I simply made just one earring. The base for this earring is a three teardrops link that I attached to a bronze hook. I then played around with different ideas, arranging roses in different ways before ending up with this design. To attach the tiny metal roses I used something I rarely use: glue. A cheat and shortcut sometimes, but here pretty m uch my only option due to an unforeseen lack of suitable wire in the right colour.

 
Of cause, just making a single earring I ended up with a leftover hook and teardrop link. Therefore I made a second design using a single, velvet matte aluminium rose wired onto the bottom link. Very simple and "clean" compared to the first earring. Not sure if it'd look better on an earring with just one teardrop instead of three? But it's definitely  something for those that prefer simple jewellery and a single rose to a whole bouquet.

And that's it, my take on Nina Designs bronze jewellery components. I hope you liked them and perhaps were inspired by them.

~*~

Disclaimer: The materials above were provided as part of the Nina Designs blogging program. The author of this blog has not received any payment from above-mentioned company. The post above represents only personal opinion of the blog author.