Charmed Bracelets

The Walk-a-Mile Charm Bracelet

 I'm calling this bracelet the "Walk-a-Mile Bracelet," as in "walk a mile in my shoes ..."

Or, in this case, in my huaraches, or Mexican sandals. 

The charm was made in Mexico, probably in the 1950s or 1960s, and it is not cast. Rather, it was made from sheet silver by cutting and soldering. That's a lot of work to make something smaller than one inch in size. 

I used the last of my supply of these square turquoise beads to make this bracelet. The beads are drilled diagonally and at an angle so that they overlap slightly when strung together. 

 The natural turquoise ranges in color from deep blue to brown. 

The bracelet has two strands: the turquoise beads and a sterling silver chain. I put the charm near the clasp rather than in the center of the bracelet because I didn't want to break the line of the overlapping square beads. The bracelet closes with a sterling silver toggle and is a standard length of 7 1/2 inches. 

Price: $120. The price includes taxes, postage, and insurance to U.S. mailing addresses. 

See more jewelry made with these beads:

 

Necklace: Asymmetrical Symmetry

Bracelet: Asymmetrical Symmetry in Turquoise

Photos: Monica Strasen. 

@ Jeanne Sather 2010. 

Faith, Hope, and Charity Bracelet

 This bracelet was also a special order. 

I made it for a friend who fell in love with the Faith, Hope, and Charity necklace, and asked me to find another one of these vintage charms.

The special vintage charm is a group of three charms (these always come in threes) that symbolize faith (the cross), hope (the anchor), and charity (the heart). 

It is a classic charm that has been popular since the early 1900s. This particular charm was made in the 1960s and is sterling silver. I bought it from my favorite charm dealer in England. 

In this bracelet, I paired the charm with sterling silver wire and chain, and black onyx beads of various sizes and shapes. I made one strand of the necklace by hand, connecting onyx rondelles with sterling silver jump rings. The second strand is black onyx beads in just the right size. 

The clasp is adjustable, and is finished with a square onyx bead and a square sterling heart bead -- sweet, but not too sweet. 

This bracelet is already sold, but I have one more of these charms and could make you either a bracelet similar to this one, or a necklace. E-mail me to discuss a special order: jeanne.sather@gmail.com

See also:

Faith, Hope, and Charity Necklace

Onyx

Photo: @ Monica Strasen 2010. 

Design and text: @ Jeanne Sather 2010. 

Queen Victoria Wore Garnets

 I have trouble keeping garnet jewelry in stock, most of it sells before it even gets up on my blog. That was true for this piece as well--It was a special order for a friend who saw the similar bracelets in my Garnets section and asked to me make her one.

I was happy to, because this is one of my favorite designs. 

I gathered up garnets of various shapes and sizes, and pulled the six strands together into flower-shaped cones of Thai silver. The bracelet closes with a sterling silver toggle clasp. 

The charm is a love token, made from an English 3-pence coin with Queen Victoria on the face. The reverse side is engraved with the giver's initials. 

Love tokens were a popular gift in Victorian and Edwardian times (mid-1800s through early 1900s). Some were handmade by the giver, others were engraved by jewelers.

I made a pair of earrings with clusters of small round garnets to match the bracelet. These earrings are one of the first styles I made when I launched my jewelry business about a year ago. I'm completely sold out of the earrings, but please e-mail me if you'd like me to make you a pair: jeanne.sather@gmail.com 

I will have more earrings in this style up soon. I'm making them in a variety of gemstones: garnet, amethyst, black onyx, coral, turquoise, and more. 

See more:

 Garnets  

Bracelets

Photo: @ Monica Strasen 2010.

Design and text: @ Jeanne Sather 2010.  

Linda's Necklace: Hearts and Flowers

 Many of my best customers are also friends of mine. 

I made this necklace as a special order for Linda, so not only is it one of a kind, but she picked out the beads and helped me with the design. We spent a couple of hours one afternoon recently playing with beads, and this was one result. 

Later, I did the actual assembly of the necklace. The interesting thing is that I never would have put these particular beads together--I had them all sorted in different ways--but Linda went through all my little bowls and boxes of beads and gemstones, and she picked bright green jade (they are greener than they look in this photo), rose quartz, amethyst in several different shapes, and some glass beads. 

The large glass beads at the center are vintage Czech ones with pink roses in them. 

I picked out the sterling silver components: small sterling flowers, three large sterling rings, and the chain of connected hearts. The necklace is long enough to go around Linda's neck twice, or she can wear it long. 

As I was working on it, I kept muttering to myself, "This is so Linda ..." She's coming by next week to pick it up, and I hope she's pleased.

Here's another necklace I made for Linda:

Light, Bright Glass Necklace

Here's one I made for Linda's daughter, Megan:

Playful Kitten With Rose Quartz

And here's one I made for Monica just the other day:

Monica's Necklace 

Please e-mail me if you'd like a necklace similar to any of these. All my necklaces are one of a kind, so it won't be exactly the same, but I'm sure we can work out a design that you're pleased with. 

jeanne.sather@gmail.com

Photo: @ Monica Strasen 2010. 

Design and text: @ Jeanne Sather 2010. 

Josie Shows Off Her Ladybug Bracelet

 Here is 4-year-old Josie, showing off the ladybug bracelet I made for her recently. 

There is nothing that makes me happier than making a child happy with something that I've made. 

Josie's bracelet has seven ladybugs in rainbow colors. I used a clasp that won't open easily. and made it adjustable so that she has some grow room. 

The end of the bracelet is finished with a sterling silver heart with a sun face on it--to make her smile. 

Go to this link for close-up photos of Josie's bracelet: Playing on a Rainy Day

@ Jeanne Sather 2010. 

Luscious as a Bowl of Cherries

Peaches and cherries? Or bakelite?

Stop and take a second look before you bite into these. Luscious as they look, they aren't edible. 

These vintage pieces are classic bakelite button earrings, one pair in cherry red, the other in butterscotch. 

They have screw backs, which was typical in the 1940s, when not too many women pierced their ears. 

I bought these to wear with my own bakelite jewelry, bracelets and necklaces I've made from recycled bakelite buttons. 

But if you'd like to buy a pair, I could probably be persuaded to part with them. E-mail me if you're interested: jeanne.sather@gmail.com

See also: 

Happy Bakelite Bracelet

Red Button Necklace

Playing With Bakelite

Photo: @ Monica Strasen 2010.

Text: @ Jeanne Sather 2010. 

Monica's Necklace

 My two closest friends are very involved in my jewelry business. 

My friend Laurie--writer, editor, massage therapist, and artist--inspires many of my pieces. I made this necklace and earrings for her for a Christmas gift, and only after I made her gift did I decide to make another set to sell on my site. 

Laurie has an amazing sense of color, and the colors she chooses to paint her walls or wear herself are ones that I am hard-pressed to put a name to: soft gray-greens, pale ambers, colors like that. The colors of that new jade necklace are perfect "Laurie colors." 

She also models my jewelry for me when needed. I like to have Laurie wear my necklaces, in particular, because she has the world's most beautiful neck. See: Faith, Hope, and Charity Necklace

Go to this link to see more than just her neck: Laurie

And then there's Monica--personal trainer, photographer, program director at a cancer nonprofit. Monica's favorite color is red, and the entire Lipstick Red category on this blog is dedicated to her. See: Lipstick Red

I made the necklace in the photo above as a gift for Monica, and, sorry, I don't have another one for sale. 

I found the little pottery bird, which is actually two handmade beads, on a recent trip to Omaha. I bought it for Monica, because I knew she would love it. 

I paired it with a strand of substantial carnelian beads, added a few inches of sterling silver chain, and then finished it off with a rectangle of black onyx and a small Thai silver leaf.

Photo: @ Monica Strasen 2010. 

Design and text: @ Jeanne Sather 2010. 

Mother-Daughter Ladybug Bracelets: SOLD

  This pair of bracelets is sold, within 12 hours of my posting them to the site!

But I will have several similar pairs of mother-daughter ladybug bracelets very soon. 

One pair is turquoise combined with red coral, one pair is multiple strands of coral, and one pair is rainbow seed beads, like in the photo on this post: 

Twelve Down, Two to Go  

I've made several pieces of ladybug jewelry recently, and now when I'm shopping online or at the bead store I find myself searching for ladybugs. 

I got lucky the other day when I found these handmade ladybugs of Thai silver. Thai silver is purer than sterling, which means it is slow to tarnish, and the pieces are handmade in hill tribe areas of Northern Thailand. (I've been to Thailand, and to Changmai in the northern part of the country, so I really love being able to get these handmade silver charms and beads.)

The ladybugs have a whimsical charm that is perfect for a mother-daughter set. Not too grown up for a little girl, not too childish for mom. 

The mother's bracelet has a Thai silver ladybug that is actually a bell. Shake it and it has a lovely jingle. 

I used five strands of gemstone beads for this bracelet: one of beautiful natural turquoise beads in a small tube shape, and four strands of Chinese chrysocola in various shapes: round, square, and small rondelles. The Chinese chrysocola is a mottled blue that goes perfectly with turquoise. The lighter areas of the beads are turquoise in color and the rest are a deeper blue. 

The strands are gathered into cones of hammered sterling silver, and the toggle clasp is adjustable to fit wrists from about 6 to 7 inches.

The little girl's bracelet is a scaled-down version of mom's. It has three strands of beads instead of five, a small claw clasp for security, and a smaller ladybug. It is adjustable to fit wrists from about 5 to 6 inches. 

The adult bracelet is $120 and the child's bracelet is $60, and this pair is only available as a set. The price includes taxes, postage, and insurance to U.S. mailing addresses. 

If you want only one bracelet, please e-mail me: jeanne.sather@gmail.com   

SOLD. MORE SOON.

See also:

Ladybugs

Little Girls

Photos: Monica Strasen.

Design and text: @ Jeanne Sather 2010. 

Classic Love Token Necklace

 I had never heard of love tokens until I started making jewelry professionally a little over a year ago. 

The first love tokens I saw were on Sandy's site, and I fell in love with them and started using them in my jewelry. Sandy is a UK-based charm dealer, one who consistently has the most interesting, well-made vintage charms. 

Love tokens were made from silver coins, and they were a popular gift in both the United States and England during the Victorian and Edwardian periods. The fashion ended--with legislation--in the United States in the early 1900s when laws were passed to prohibit the defacing of coins. I don't know if the same thing happened in England, I guess I'd better ask Sandy about that.

 To make a love token, one surface of the coin was filed smooth, and a name or initials and sometimes a date were engraved on the coin. It was the giver's name that was added to the coin, not the recipient's. Some love tokens were homemade, but jewelers would engrave them to order as well. 

Women wore love tokens on necklaces and bracelets, and men wore them as fobs on their watch chains. One popular bracelet style was a bangle with links to attach a dozen or more love tokens. 

Most of the English love tokens that I've had were 3-pence coins, a thin silver coin with a portrait of Queen Victoria. Now, Victoria reigned for decades, and it's fun to watch how she aged--and got plumper--by the decade as new coins were minted with updated portraits. 

I want to start a new fashion here. I think every woman needs a love token necklace as a staple of her jewelry wardrobe. 

I just made one for myself the other day, and I really love it. It's similar to the one in the photo, although mine has amethyst beads and a light purple crystal on it, rather than the bronze crystal on the necklace in the photos. 

I wear it alone, or with another shorter necklace. 

Here's the best part: The love token came engraved with my name. Sandy had it for sale, and offered it to me. 

I've used old Japanese coins in my jewelry as well. See: 

Asian Influences

Jade and Japanese Charms

I bought those coins several years ago from a coin dealer in Tokyo. I wasn't making jewelry then, so I bought them just to have. A little piece of history. 

I haven't been able to find a good source for old Asian coins either locally or online, but I plan to search for both Japanese and Chinese coins when I go to Hawaii at the end of the month. I think the coin and antique dealers there should have some. There is a Hong Kong coin from the late 1800s that was minted in England that I would like to find. 

I also have a bracelet made with 1940s Australian coins. This one is considered "sweetheart jewelry." It also is considered "trench art," which is what soldiers made when they were sitting around in the trenches waiting for the war to start. 

See: Trench Art Bracelet

Oh, the love token necklace is for sale. The price is $100. 

Here's a great example of a love token bracelet on Sandy's site:

Love Token Bracelet

Photos: Monica Strasen.

@ Jeanne Sather 2010. 

 

Even More Charms: Love & Marriage (& Baby Carriage)

 I bought this "mechanical" heart charm last fall from a dealer in Canada. It was one of three mechanical charms in a group of a dozen charms that had been collected during the mid-20th century by a well-to-do Canadian woman who traveled widely, adding charms to her bracelets as she went.

 I like to think that she traveled by ship, but in fact I have no idea how she got around. 

(A mechanical charm is a charm that has moving parts. This type of charm was very popular from the 1940s through the 1960s. After that, very few were made, probably because of the amount of work that went into each tiny charm.)

The 1960s heart opens to show an embracing couple, and it would be the perfect gift for a bride. It is valued at about $30.

 The heart with baby footprints is not a vintage charm. I bought it new because it was such a perfect fit for this jewelry series. It is so very sweet. 

See also:

Love & Marriage (& Baby Carriage)

The Love Letter Charm Bracelet

Photos: Monica Strasen.

@ Jeanne Sather 2010. 

More Charms: Love & Marriage (& Baby Carriage)

Here are some of the charms in my new "Love & Marriage (&  Baby Carriage)" series of jewelry. 

The baby's sterling silver mug is a tiny version of the classic new baby gift. It is a beautifully made charm from charm maker Beau Sterling. 

As I searched for charms that fit the theme, I focused on finding ones that were whimsical and playful, but also sweet.  

I've always loved baby shoes. There is something so tender and appealing about their chubby shape and small size. 

This little shoe is very well made, right down to the laces! 

I'm working on these pieces of jewelry now, and expect to have several bracelets and necklaces up on this Web site by early next week.

I'm using turquoise, peach moonstones, and rose quartz in the various pieces. 

See also: Love & Marriage (& Baby Carriage)

Photos:  Monica Strasen. 

@ Jeanne Sather 2010.