Archive for the ‘Handmade jewellery’ category

Christmas best sellers

It’s been an extremely busy lead up to the festive season for me so far – and there’s just a month to go until the big day!

So I thought I’d share some of my top selling handmade jewellery items and more from November.

Christmas pudding coins.   Blossom earrings - sterling silver.

Medieval arabesque pendant.   Japanese etched pendant on red silk.

Rose post earrings in sterling silver.   Butterfly wing earrings.

Flying birds necklace in sterling silver.   Sterling silver stacking rings.

Elizabethan etched dish post earrings.   Handmade sterling silver chain.

Christmas pudding coins

These have been by far my biggest selling item so far this festive season – thanks to being featured in the Christmas issue of House & Garden magazine. As I write they are currently in stock in the shop, so if you’d like a set get in quick – they sell fast!

Check out the Christmas pudding coins.

Thanks to everyone who dropped by at Bowerbird

It was a very busy three days at Bowerbird Bazaar in Adelaide last weekend. Lots of people came by who knew of me in one way or another. It was great to put some faces to names and to meet some new people and re-meet some old ones!

Bowerbird Bazaar in Adelaide, November 2012.
I’m lurking somewhere in this photo playing Where’s Wally! Image courtesy of Bowerbird Bazaar.

Bowerbird was my final market for 2012, but I plan to be doing more next year – I’ll keep you posted!

Of course you can still visit my online handmade jewellery shop in the interim!

Next market: Bowerbird in Adelaide

Bowerbird Bazaar design market in Adelaide.

I’m going to selling my wares at the Bowerbird Bazaar design market in Adelaide this coming weekend, 9-11 November:

  • Friday 4pm – 9pm
  • Saturday and Sunday 9am – 5pm

Bowerbird Bazaar is held at the Adelaide Showgrounds, with entry and parking via Rose Terrace.

I’ll be there with a selection of designs, including market only prices and market only pieces, so if you’re in town come by and say hi!

Christmas pudding tokens

I’ve just relaunched my Christmas pudding tokens (coins or charms) for the 2012 festive season!

These are always one of my most popular items at this time of year, however, this year they’re being featured in the Christmas issue of House and Garden magazine, which is out in early November.

So if you’d like a set I suggest you get in early as I don’t know if I’ll be able to keep up with demand, given the sets are all handmade!

Christmas pudding coins, charms or tokens in pure silver.

What the tokens are for

If you’re wondering what the tokens are for, in Britain and various commonwealth countries it’s been a long-standing tradition to put silver coins or tokens into Christmas puddings, which are then served to guests on the big day. The idea is that if you find one or more tokens in your slice of pudding, it will bring you good luck for the following year – especially in relation to money.

In my family we used silver sixpences and threepences when I was growing up. However, this tradition started dying out when real silver coins were replaced by modern coins made with base metals, which are toxic to use in cooking.

So I decided to make a pure silver set etched with vintage Christmas illustrations for my Mum to use in her puddings. I got a lot of great feedback about them, so decided to put them into production.

About my tokens sets

My tokens come in a set of six which are accompanied by recipes my family’s easy to make Christmas pudding and delicious brandy sauce.

View the Christmas pudding tokens.

New in the shop: gift cards and jewellery

I’ve added some new bits and pieces to the handmade jewellery shop.

Gift cards, Christmas cards and Christmas tags

I’ve added some handmade gift cards. All are blank inside and the cards come with recycled envelopes.

There are individual cards, including some Christmas cards. Plus there are sets of 10 Christmas cards and 8 Christmas gift tags, all featuring different vintage festive season illustrations.

Gift card: hibiscus pattern   Gift card: butterflies
Christmas card set in green   Christmas card set in blue

Lots of customers purchase jewellery as gifts to be posted directly to their gift recipient, so you can now opt to purchase a card to send with the gift and include a message.

New handmade jewellery

I’ve also added a couple of new jewellery designs to the range.

The first is a pair of simple and fun blossom post earrings.

The blossoms range, including the three blossom earrings and blossom necklace, are some of my most popular designs – I must have sawn out thousands of these little blossoms over the years! So I thought I’d add some post earrings to the range.

Blossom post earrings handmade in sterling silver.   Japanese etched pendant in sterling silver on chain.

Another very popular design for years now has been my Japanese etched pendant, which I’ve now created with a sparkly chain rather than just a silk necklace.

You can also still purchase the original silk version of the necklace.

Visit the Handmade Jewellery Shop.

Thank you to everyone in Melbourne!

Just a quick note to thank all of those who dropped by at Finders Keepers in Melbourne on the weekend. It was a very busy and exhausting couple of days, but well worth the trip!

Also a very big and special thank you to my glamorous assistant, Jodie Nicholson! I couldn’t have managed it without you.

Handmade jewellery market display at Finders Keepers in Melbourne.

Next market:

The next appearance of me and my handmade jewellery will be at Bowerbird Bazaar in Adelaide from 9-11 November at the Adelaide Showgrounds. See you there!

See you in Melbourne next week!

I’ve been absolutely flat out making enormous quantities of jewellery for the Finders Keepers design market in Melbourne next weekend.

Partially completed handmade jewellery designs.
Partially completed jewellery pieces for the market fresh out of the tumbler.

I’ve been working very long, hard hours in recent weeks to make sure I have enough jewellery made for the market – I was so unwell in September that I ended up very behind schedule.

But I have just a few more pieces to make to reach my target. Then there’s a whole lot of other organising work to do! Hopefully I’ll manage to get it all done in time – and with my worn out fingers still intact!

The market is at the Royal Exhibition Centre in Carlton on this coming Friday 19 October (6pm to 10pm) and Saturday 20 October (10am to 5pm). I hope to see you there!

PS. If you’re in Adelaide I’ll also be at the next Bowerbird Bazaar design market at the Adelaide Showgrounds on 9-11 November. More information coming soon!

20 years: thank you!

A big thank you to everyone who joined in for my 20 years of jewellery making celebrations in September!

I have to admit that I had a bit of a rotten month for various reasons* but the support from my lovely customers and friends helped to make up for it!

Prize winners!

I ran a couple of competitions during September and I can now announce the randomly drawn winners:

  • $100 voucher (every customer in September was entered into the draw): Amber
  • Pin and win competition (to win a medieval arabesque pendant): Von Kilpatrick

Congratulations and I will be in contact with both of you!

* I got a cold, it morphed into something nastier, I lost my voice completely for 10 days and it still hasn’t entirely returned, I had such a bad cough that I very badly injured my neck and am still recovering … and more besides! Yep, it really wasn’t a great month.

My jewellery making history (part two)

Hand that Feeds cutlery in sterling silver by Simone Walsh (circa 1999)
The Hand that Feeds cutlery in sterling silver – not jewellery of course, but a set of cutlery I made while a jewellery and metal student.

Here is part two of my jewellery making journey over the past 20 years.

You can also check out part one and how you can benefit from the 20th anniversary celebrations with 20% off 20 pieces, a $100 voucher to be won and more!

More study

In 1997 I returned to Australia and moved Sydney so that I could study full time at Sydney College of the Arts, University of Sydney.

There I completed a Bachelor of Visual Arts with a Jewellery and Metal major, graduating in 2000.

After studying I continued making jewellery while living and working in Sydney and sold my work in a few retail outlets around Australia.

Selling jewellery online

In 2006 I decided to experiment with selling my jewellery designs online. I wasn’t convinced at all that jewellery could be sold successfully via the web, but within a short time of launching a shop on Etsy I realised I was wrong!

After being featured on a few key indie design blogs, my sales took off and soon enough became a major part of my income. This allowed me to change to part time employment while running an often more than full time business.

Within a couple of years I became disillusioned with Etsy and needing to rely upon it so heavily in my business, so set up my own independent online shop at shop.simonewalsh.com, which is now the primary outlet for my handmade jewellery.

After a few years of selling online I finally took the plunge to become entirely creatively self-employed in 2009.

The end (so far!)

And here I am, a whole 20 years after spotting the necklace which first made me curious, still making jewellery and I’m now privileged to be making something vaguely resembling a living from it!

* * *

Read part one of my jewellery making history.

Don’t forget to check out my 20 years, 20 jewellery pieces, 20% off range for this month only, as well as the other celebrations for the 20th anniversary.

Want to win this handmade pendant?

Medieval arabesque pendant - pin and win! All you need to do is repin this Medieval arabesque pendant pin on Pinterest and you’ll be entered into the draw to win it!

The pendant is handmade in sterling silver and is worth AU$79.

The winner of the pendant will be randomly drawn on 1 October and announced in the comments – so get pinning!

PS. You can also follow me on Pinterest.

My jewellery making history (part one)

Fish pendant in sterling silver and titanium by Simone Walsh (circa 1994).
The first piece of metalwork jewellery I designed and made – a fish pendant in sterling silver and anodised titanium (1994).

It was way back in 1992 that I spotted a piece of jewellery in a shop which really intrigued me in terms of its construction.

It was a necklace which was eye-catching (but fairly ‘chunky and clunky’ as things were back then!) and made from wire which wrapped discs of coloured glass.

When I got home I kept thinking about how it was made.

Soon after I bought some wire, pliers and glass and started experimenting with ways to put the materials together and turn them into something wearable.

Soon enough I became hooked on the idea of making contemporary jewellery and was very keen to learn more!

Making a start

Initially I made very simple pieces using wire wrapping, beads and manufactured components. I made mostly for my own enjoyment, but also started selling pieces at markets in Adelaide, South Australia.

Back then I was working in the music industry, but was unhappy and looking for a new direction. After making very simple jewellery for a year or so I made a decision to pursue this work more seriously and learn to make ‘real’ jewellery.

Getting an education

I resigned from my job and started full time study in 1994, when I began a Visual Arts diploma with a Jewellery major at a technical college in Adelaide.

During my first year of study I learnt an incredible amount in terms of the core technical skills I use to this day. At the end of that year I was very proud to be presented with The Most Outstanding Jewellery Student award at my college.

Leaving the country

After another period of full time study the following year, I decided to go to London, where I lived for a couple of years.

While there I was only able to do a minimal amount of jewellery making with a few tools, but I was able to soak up a lot of ideas and inspiration.

Eventually I returned to Australia with the intention of continuing my studies.

* * *

Read part two of my jewellery making history.

In the interim don’t forget to check out my 20 years, 20 pieces, 20% off jewellery range which is on sale for September only.

Learn more about the 20th anniversary celebrations and how you can get involved!

Celebrating 20 years of jewellery making!

V and A insignia pendant in sterling silver.Amazingly enough 2012 marks a whopping 20 years since I first began making jewellery!

This partly makes me feel old and partly makes me feel very pleased to have reached such a milestone – and to find myself doing this work for a living all this time later.

Join in the celebrations!

Throughout September I’ll be celebrating this 20th anniversary with my lovely customers.

Here’s how you can take part:

  • 20 years, 20 jewellery pieces, 20% off!

    Enjoy 20% off some of my most popular jewellery designs for this month only. I can’t guarantee they’ll all be in stock for the month, so get in quick!
    View the 20% off range.

  • Win a $100 voucher!

    Every customer in September will go into the draw to win a voucher to spend in my shop.

  • Get a free mini polishing cloth!

    Spend $35 or more in my handmade jewellery shop in September and you’ll get a mini precious metal polishing cloth as a gift (first 25 customers only so be quick!).

Visit the handmade jewellery shop.

Be social and win good stuff!

Keep your eyes out for a competition I’ll be running on Twitter.

Plus you can take part in a ‘pin and win’ competition on Pinterest where you can win a handmade jewellery design.

More details to come!

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