Eske Storm Dragon Claw for Sue

In the past the posts that have marked the 100s have seen me looking at the links between jewellery and something more meaningful than just the "ooh shiny" part of enjoying jewellery.  I've decided to carry on the tradition for Post No. 300.

Back in 1992, I bumped into my Uncle who, being only 4 years older than me and growing up only a few doors down, has always been more like an older brother to me than a uncle.

I was really taken with the lady he was sat next to.  Spiky blond hair, nails you could cut steak with and she was wearing the most incredible silver jewellery.  

Yes, my ooh shiny habit has been with me for many years!

Sue was sassy, warm, interesting, had a twinkle in her eye and a beautiful Welsh accent.

When she went to the ladies, I leant to one side and in a conspiratorial whisper said "I really like your new girlfriend" shortly followed by "Whatever you do, do not let this one go!".  They had such a spark between them.

What I didn't know, is that they weren't a couple, they had literally just met.

I *really* didn't believe this, as if Disney had drawn animations around them - it would have been all cupids shooting arrows, animals bounding around and big hearts appearing like bubbles.  I've never actually seen two people fall in love in quite such glorious technicolour.

Over the years we've often spoken about that night and told that story because I was *so* disbelieving that they weren't already a couple.

From that point on they became inseparable and spent a very fantastic 22 years together, travelling, emigrating, travelling and generally just being there for each other.  I'd always described them to friends who'd not met them, as... if the world were to fall apart, and they were the last two humans on the planet, as long as they had each other they would be fine.

And then the world did fall apart, only they weren't the last two humans left.  Sadly Sue died very unexpectedly last October and left the rest of us behind in shock.

In the days that followed we spent a lot of time catching up in the UK; we talked about life back then, now and in the future and I was asked to choose myself a piece of jewellery in memory of Sue.

I've been thinking long and hard about this gift.  The plan was to buy a bead, however I couldn't quite find anything that really spoke to me enough with regard to Sue - plus I change my bracelets around quite often and didn't want something to be sitting in my jewellery box between bracelets.

Finally I turned away from the bigger brands and went back to more artisan designers and decided on a piece by Eske Storm.  The female dragon claw was a perfect fit for what I was looking for.

I'm currently wearing this on a Trollbeads Leather Necklace but expect to see this appear on bracelets and bangles in the future!

My Eske Storm Dragon Claw for Sue

My gift covered more than just the claw... I wasn't sure what to do with the rest until I saw Ohm's Rawr release, Sue will now also be remembered by helping to fund some dinosaur skulls in silver... Given that she once bought an actual human glass eye as a ring... I think she would have approved of my choices.

Have you ever bought jewellery in memory of someone?
How did you choose what to pick?

Trollbeads Pendants - Trolltree

Trolltree has to be one of my favourite silver beads of all time.  An incredibly large and detailed bead, well actually it's a pendant, and one of several silver beads designed to be able to hold a glass bead within the silver bead itself.

I love Trolltree and was admiring one on a necklace during our Troll Date with Friends, later that evening someone mentioned it was retiring* and I made a pact with myself to buy one as soon as the opportunity arose.

Trolltree is designed predominantly to be worn on a fantasy necklace and you can fit a small production sized bead in it's branches as well as it will also sit on another one beneath it's trunk

Although I don't have a fantasy necklace, I've seen some really great bracelets, particularly Halloween themed ones, with Trolltree as a focal piece, so when I finally had the opportunity during a sale to pick one up, I did!

I soon set to work trying it out on a bracelet, but my tiny wrists scuppered my plans... I take a 17cm bracelet and I just couldn't get Trolltree to sit right, it was way too big for my wrists and not only was it slightly uncomfortable, it didn't look right as it dominated my wrist (and not in a good way)... there was much disappointment and some rather choice swearing when I discovered this, clearly the really cool bracelets I've seen Trolltree on were much longer than 17cm.

Oh well, I shall just have to admire this one IN the bead box for now.  Get rid?  Not a chance!!

*I haven't verified this info and Trolltree was in the UK May 2013 Catalogue so nobody panic!

Jewellery I love!

As you might have guessed I quite like trollbeads... certainly enough to start a blog about them!  I also love pendants and rings and thought it would be fun to show you some of the jewellery I love and wear with my beads.

I regularly combine this bracelet with some amber to compliment my Baltic Gold bead (from the World Tour Collection).

Up until my recent holiday I didn't have an amber ring, although I've been on the hunt for the "right one" for many years.  Last month when I found this splendid chunk of amber in silver in a little shop in Gaois Harbour I was delighted.  I've seen a great many beautiful rings in my search for "my" amber ring but I find with jewellery I instinctively know when I've found the right piece for me.

The necklace pendant, by contrast, is quite a delicate piece, (and has it's own bracelet to match for when I need something delicate to match), it was only when I brought the ring home did I realise the twist in my necklace and the shape of the ring were a great pairing.  My pendant has huge sentimental value because it was a present from my parents-in-law, shortly before my father-in-law passed away.

In this blog post I made 2 more bracelets that have remained made up ever since, the first one I think of as my dragon bracelet.  This tends to get worn with another favourite of mine, labradorite.

I can't remember when or where I found the pendant, but Wales is probably a good guess!  This was the second labradorite pendant I bought, the first wasn't quite the right one (but still lovely) but at the time I bought it, many many years ago, labradorite was quite hard to find in jewellery, or at least it was for me.  The ring I found on a jewellery stall at a festival a few years ago, I love the strong, bold silver setting.

The next bracelet was a multiple attempt at using up leftover beads to create a colourful combination that I was inspired to make by seeing a rainbow bracelet made by another collector.  Whilst I wasn't trying to copy the design I wanted to create my own kaleidoscope of colours.

With this bracelet I tend to wear my all time favourite pendant, this one gets used so much and nearly always creates a comment from other people, there seems to be a great need to touch this stone and I too find myself caressing it's surface when I wear it.

The ring was bought earlier this year when I met a very old friend for lunch in Wales and we did a bit of shopping before parting company; just like old times when we were teenagers.  Just like now, I often bought a ring, or pendant, in some lovely independent shop found in a little side street tucked away from the main shopping areas.

Another pendant that I sometimes wear with this bracelet is my amethyst one, which in turn matches my wedding ring shown in the photo to the left.  My wedding ring was found in a jewellers that specialised in clocks!



The blue/green opal ring shown above also gets worn with this bracelet, (it really is a very versatile bracelet), I found this beauty whilst on honeymoon in Greece.  I'm also wearing this as I finish this blog piece, along with my wedding ring and the silver footprint thumb ring so I'm having a strange visual experience of seeing double from hands to screen.

I've had my silver footprint thumb ring for many years, where I discovered it, well that has become lost in the mists of time.  I'll take another guess at Wales though!  I almost lost the ring a few weeks ago when it fell off after I'd managed to knock it getting into my car outside a restaurant.  I heard that "plink" and then I could hear it roll away, on a very rainy night in a dark car park in Newcastle...  I'm not sure what passing folk must have thought when I was scrabbling around on my hand and knee in the rain under my car trying to balance on them like I was playing a solo invisible game of Twister.  Thankfully I did find and retrieve it; I would have been so upset to lose this ring, it's not in any way valuable, just precious to  me.

These are all pieces of jewellery that I love, and are some of my absolute favourites.  Those who know me well will not be at all surprised to see which pieces I chose to show you in my blog today.  In reality it was very hard to write this article and to bring it to an end as I have so many other pieces that could have been included too.  Maybe I shall write part II some day.