To help make room for my new Victorian-inspired jewellery range, I’ve created a sale section in my handmade jewellery shop.

A number of pieces have been discounted and I only have a limited quantity of these items on hand, so get in quick before they disappear!

Finally I have a new range of handmade jewellery almost ready to put into production! And I thought I would share a sneak peak of this work with you.

This work is primarily inspired by my fascination with Victorian-era aesthetics - the mish-mash of cultural and historical influences, a hint of modernity and a strong connection between words (or ideas) and visual design and art.

There is also the mixture of culture with nature which seems to be so much a part of aesthetics from this period - something I also find endlessly fascinating.

These pendants have all been created in sterling silver, with some featuring an 18ct gold (or 18kt if you’re American!) highlight, some suspended on sterling silver chain and some on black natural silk.

Many of the pieces are etched with a variety of designs; printed text, handwritten text, a damask-type pattern, an engraved image of plants and more. Some of the etching has had the recessed areas blackened, while some have had these areas left a silver oxide white.

The earrings are all made entirely from sterling silver, again with some of the etched areas blackened and some whitened.

In addition to the Victorian-inspired pieces, I’ve also created a pair of butterfly wing earrings to match my butterfly wing pendants - one of my most popular designs.

As yet, none of this work is listed for sale in my handmade jewellery shop. There’s still a fair bit of work to do to get to that point: creating a few more pieces, photographing each piece of jewellery properly, selecting and editing the photographs, pricing each item and - finally - listing it in various outlets.

I’ll let you know right here once they’re ready for sale. But for now you can see more images of this new work on my Flickr.

I have been working on designs for a new range of handmade jewellery for far too long!

And here is a pile of resulting ‘bench junk’ now sitting forlornly on my bench as a result of testing, testing and yet more testing.

The designs I’ve been working with are inspired by my visit to Ubud in Bali last year.

I’ve been playing around with some different metals to those I usually work and particularly with colouring some of them using a variety of patinas, along with a variety of surface finishes.

However, while I’m still happy with my original drawings and designs, I’ve so far struggled to get the finishes working consistently enough to be suitable to sell online where a single image needs to be applicable for every time the piece is made again. Additionally, the labour involved in finishing the pieces is just too much given the simplicity of the designs.

So I’ve been tying myself up in knots of frustration while trying to get this range of jewellery finished! And for now I’ve decided I need to walk away from it and get to work on something entirely different.

And that’s what I’m doing! The good news is that my entirely different ideas seem to be coming together quickly and work is thankfully progressing fast. I hope to share some of my new handmade jewellery with you soon!

As for the original range, well, sooner or later I’m sure it will come together. Once I’ve had some time away from it, I’m sure I’ll be able to come back to the samples I’ve made with a fresh approach and it will all come together.