Swell start

Hello again, my dear friends.

How have you been? I hope you've had a thoroughly enjoyable weekend.

Today for the first time in bloody ages, I have had the chance to make some new pieces. As mentioned in previous posts, I am going to be exhibiting at Handm@de Winchester on 5th July, so am starting to build up my stock. I've used some of my Brighton finds - what do you think?


Emerald city joy! This necklace is made from a vintage brooch, adorned with freshwater pearls and hung on vintage chain with a bit of asymmetry thrown in for good measure.



The weirdest looking ID bracelet of all time? Probably. I found this vintage ID bracelet and adorned with a vintage brooch to make it more feminine. I think it has a rather steampunk feel to it, but I quite like that.


I think perhaps I've been watching too much of The Tudors (I really love that show), but I think this necklace has a real Catherine of Aragon feel to it. It is made from a vintage broach, adorned with a freshwater pearl and hung on vintage chain. Definitely a statement piece!

So what are your thoughts? As always, I welcome any feedback that you may have for me. I won't be adding any new pieces to my etsy shop for a little while, but if you see anything you'd particularly like here, please feel free to email me at frankie@swell-vintage.com.

Thank you, again, for reading. You are my world.

Much love,

Frankie
Swell Vintage

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Swell times

Hello there!

It's been a while, hasn't it! How are you? I'm good thanks, finally feeling like I'm getting back on top of things. I've been a bit slack recently. Tut tut.

SO - what's been going on? Well, since finishing my Poirot DVD box set (best 11 days of my life), I've actually left the house a fair bit, which is pretty unusual for me.

I was accepted onto a 'Creative Industries' programme, an initiative run by Flying Start and the NCGE. They invited 33 students and recent graduates who wish to pursue freelance or business activity in any art and design related concept to Bournemouth for three-days of workshops and mentoring. It was a very intensive three-days in a hotel by the sea, but totally worth it, as I've learnt a lot. Hopefully I now have the knowledge necessary to take my jewellery stuff a bit further! Not only that, but they paid for EVERYTHING - the hotel, all of our food, the tutoring...if you're a UK student/graduate, I highly recommend you have a look at the Flying Start website.

Not only did I learn a lot, but I also met some very lovely, supportive and talented people! Hopefully I will have a chance to work with some of them in the future, as they all have something so individual and brilliant to offer. I'll let you know!

Due to my travels and general exhaustion, I've been a bit rubbish about making new stuff, but I finally managed a few new pieces today. Here are a couple:



Pure fan-tasy! See what I did there? This necklace is made from a very ornate vintage broach, hung on vintage brass chain and adorned with a vintage pearl. I debated adding more to this, but I think the fan itself is a fan-tastic centre piece. And an excuse for terrible, terrible puns.



The water of life! I am a non-drinker, but in my youth gin was my tipple of choice. This necklace is made from a vintage 'gin' decanter label, hung on vintage chain and adorned with vintage faux pearls. An ideal choice of any fan of gin, or if it happens to be your name!

Both of these necklaces are for sale on my etsy shop, http://swellvintage.etsy.com, along with many of my other designs. If you get bored, why not stop by and have a browse? Also, as always I welcome your feedback, please! It was recently suggested to me by Jody of Couture Allure that I should post measurements of my necklaces, and I think that's a great idea! I'll be doing that this very week.

Thank you for reading. You are rather lovely.

Where did the weekend go?!

Much love,

Frankie
Swell Vintage

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Swell selling - UPDATED!

...well, hopefully anyway!

Yes, today I've FINALLY put my jewellery for sale on etsy! To browse the Swell Vintage etsy shop, visit .

It's definitely been a long time coming, so fingers crossed the lovely people of etsy like what I do! I also put two of my newest pieces on there today, and I'd love to know what you think:



This necklace is very unusual! Made from a vintage broach, I've added a touch of vintage faux pearl and hung it on vintage brass chain.




This necklace is rather lovely - I just wish I could capture it better in photographs! It's made from an antique drawer pull, hung on vintage brass chain and is adorned with vintage faux pearl.

So, what do you think, my lovely lovelies? I'd love to hear from you, as always!

Also, a very sweet lady named ZoeDuthie has blogged about me! Go and have a little look at her blog - her project sounds fascinating! http://zoeduthiejewelleryproject.blogspot.com

Not only that, but my dear friend Amy of the Wonderland Boutique has written about me in her blog too! You can read that here. I highly recommend that you check out her etsy shop, http://wonderlandboutique.etsy.com, where she sells gorgeous vintage-inspired clutches, totes and purses! Amy has been so so kind and supportive since I joined etsy. It's also nice to meet someone who loves vintage as much as me!

Is it freezing cold where you are? It certainly is in the UK!

Hope all is well with you, and that you're having a lovely weekend!

Much love,

Frankie
Swell Vintage

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Swell resolve

Happy New Year, one and all! I hope you had a magical evening. I started the new year as I mean to go on - making jewellery!

2009, eh? I don't know about you, but I'm pretty excited about it. I have some plans coming up that could potentially lead to great things, so fingers crossed! I also have a few resolutions that I do hope to stick to:

• Get all of my jewellery items up on my Swell Vintage etsy shop, and hopefully achieve reasonable sales!
  
• Visit Edinburgh again and pop in to see my jewellery in Trinket. I love that city more than I can say...
  
• Get the Swell Vintage website up and running (hopefully by end of January/early February)
  
• Invest in a sewing machine
  
• Start saving(!!!)
  
  

I think that'll do for now...

So as mentioned above, I made some new jewellery last night. Following the lovely feedback I had on my menagerie, I hunted out more vintage animals:




La petite grenouille! This bracelet is made from a small vintage broach, linked on vintage faux pearl and brass chain. I don't want to toot my own horn (oh ok - toot toot!), but I really like this one. I'm tempted not to put it up for sale, even!





This necklace is made from a vintage broach, hung on vintage silver plated and faux pearl chain. It's bold, but quite charming (well, I think so anyway!).




This one is not for the faint hearted! This necklace is made from a very large vintage broach, hung on vintage brass chain. I've measured it so that it'll hang within the cleavage - sexy stuff! Could you handle it?

So I didn't just make animal themed jewellery last night. Here are some more!



This necklace is made from an antique drawer pull, hung on vintage faux pearl and brass chain. It's very light to wear, and is most unusual!



Fit for a pearly queen! This necklace is made from a vintage broach which has been adorned with a vintage faux pearl and hung on vintage brass and faux pearl chain. It is very shiny and suitable for your inner magpie!

This necklace is made from a vintage pocket watch (which no longer works, unfortunately), hung on vintage brass and faux pearl chain. It really is a beauty.

Well, I think that's enough for one day! What do you think? I'm going to be putting all of these on sale tomorrow, so feedback would be greatly appreciated!

I wish you all a wonderful and prosperous 2009!

Much love,

Frankie
Swell Vintage

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Swell plans

So I've finally decided to set a date for when I'll be selling my jewellery online through the Swell Vintage etsy shop: Saturday 3rd January 2009!

I figured there wasn't any point doing it before Christmas, and this way I have time to build up my stock levels. But don't forget, I'm still selling some lovely vintage items there at the moment, so why not have a browse? http://swellvintage.etsy.com!

Speaking of building up stock levels, I made a few items today. Please see the pictures below. I'd love to know what you think!




This necklace is made from a brilliant vintage broach I found whilst in Edinburgh, linked onto two different vintage chains and pearl. It's pretty bold, and I quite like that.




This bracelet is made with a vintage broach, decorated with faux turquoise, and a really nice thick link vintage chain. I added a chunky faux pearl because...I really like pearl!





I really liked this vintage 'shell', and thought I'd add a pearl (for a change) to keep in with the theme. It is hung on a vintage chain, and I think it's even quite pretty from the back!

So there we go! As I've said time and time again, I'd really like to hear what you think of these. I love getting comments, and every message/piece of feedback/idea is read and deeply absorbed!

In other news, I'm so looking forward to Christmas. Time off my day job = more time to do what I love! Hooray! Do you have any nice Christmas plans? Any nice Christmas jewellery/outfits?

Thanks for reading!

Much love,

Frankie
Swell Vintage

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Swell beginnings

So today I FINALLY opened my etsy shop! Hooray! Wanna see?

...I really must stop asking rhetorical questions in my posts. Here's the link:

http://swellvintage.etsy.com

Now I know what you may (or may not) be thinking - where's the jewellery at? Well, due to the mysterious news that I have blogged about previously, all of my jewellery stock will (hopefully still) be going somewhere else...somewhere up north, and therefore I won't have anything left to sell. So for now, my shop will just be selling vintage goodies. I would love to hear what you think of my shop, so if you have any feedback for me, please do let me know.

Here are a couple of my favourite items that I have for sale:

• Vintage Hermes scarf
  
  I love this! If only I wore scarves more...the design is amazing, and I love the image of Napoleon in the center:
  
  
  So very french and so very cool!
  
  
• Vintage Mulberry messenger bag
  
  Mulberry make some of the most beautiful bags in the whole world - FACT. This bag is absolutely stunning, made from gorgeous chocolate brown leather. If I wasn't one of those women that carry their lives around in their handbags, I'd keep this one for myself.
  
  
  I like to think this is a bit of a bargain too!

Also, I haven't forgotten that in my last blog I promised to write all about bracelets. So, here I go:

I love bracelets. While I tend to make necklaces, I am trying to branch out more into bracelets, and I have already made a couple. Want to see?

...right, not more rhetoric! Silly me.


This one is made from a pair of vintage earrings, and I've carried on the pearl theme for good measure.


I loved this vintage brooch, but I think it makes a much more striking bracelet! I've used a heavy gold chain to give this bracelet a bit more of an edge.

I am definitely going to make some more bracelets soon, but again, I'd really like to know what you think. I'm still learning, and because I have some really fantastic Etsians reading my blog, I know how much I could benefit from any advice. Positive or negative, anything goes please!

Argghhhghh, I can't believe the weekend is nearly over! Thank you for reading my blog, you are very lovely.

Come back soon, please!

Much love,

Frankie

Swell antiques

I've been a rather busy bee recently, but today I finally had some time to make some new pieces. Three, to be precise. Want to see?

...I'm going to assume that you were thinking 'yes'. Here they are:

This piece is made from an antique drawer pull! I've used a mix of vintage pearl and darker chain to soften it up and make it a bit more wearable. I quite like it!


I've let the vintage brooch in the center do the talking on for this one. I've used some dark embellished vintage chain to add to the gothic feel with a single pearl because...I like pearl! Also green is my favourite colour.

I apologise in advance for the appalling blurriness of this photo:


Made from a HUGE antique drawer pull, this is easily one of the boldest pieces I've ever made. I've tried to lighten it up with pearl and some light large-link chain. It would definitely take a brave person to wear this one!

So, what do you think? Please feel free to email or comment me with feedback, good or bad. It's the only way I'll learn!

I realise that I've mainly shown my necklaces in this blog, but there is more to my work than just that. My next post will be ENTIRELY bracelet based, so please come back and have a looky.

It makes me very happy when people read my blog, so thank you very much for reading.

Much love,

Frankie

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Swell progress

What a productive day I've had!

First of all, I FINALLY managed to win a cheap and decent mannequin body on ebay:

Apologies for the nipple display! This is going to make getting chain length right SO much easier. I've found it tricky measuring it on myself. I'm still in shock at how much of a bargain it was - £3.15! I can't wait to see what my designs look like on her.

Also, I made 2 new necklaces today. Not to toot my own horn, but I'm pretty pleased with them. I think I've just recently found my 'style' as it were, and I'm really enjoying it. A few people have asked to see photos of what I've done so far, and thanks to the lovely Bianca at Just Be Designs, I've finally managed to take some photos that aren't blurry! Hooray! I'm still trying to figure out the best way to position the items, so these photos are literally my first attempts. I will keep practicing, and fingers crossed that I'll manage to get some great shots for my etsy shop. Please please please let me know what you think! Any feedback will be welcomed!

So, here they are:



This is one of the ones that I made today. It used to be a small broach, which I've now mounted onto a vintage locket base. I've used a rather unusual double-link vintage chain that I think brings out the shine of the jewel in the center quite nicely.







I found this tiny perfume bottle in an antique shop in Edinburgh, and it was originally on a pin. Unfortunately the lid was glued shut a while ago, but I still think it's very pretty. I've linked it on some vintage pearl chain (you'll be seeing a LOT of pearl in my work), then used three stands of thin chain to make it look a little less dainty.







'E' is for Elixir - I was so pleased when I found this gorgeous perfume bottle. I threaded through some large jump rings, and linked it half to vintage pearl chain (see, told you!) and half to some vintage dark chain. I added a large pearl to the other side to create a bit of balance. This is one of my longer necklaces. I think it would be too crowded otherwise.







This is another locket of mine. The broach I've used was actually made to sit on it's side, but I think it looks much better in portrait style on this vintage locket. As you can see, once again I've used some vintage pearl chain to link it, as it matches the tiny pearl in the center. The photo quality isn't great for this one, so I've taken a close-up of the locket itself






That's better. I wore this locket to work as a 'test' last week, and received so many compliments on it! I'm really happy with it, and it makes me want to keep making more! I might have a hard time parting with it if someone were to buy it, but I guess I'll cross that bridge if I ever come to it!



So what do you think? Honest opinions please. I'm still very new to this, and am always looking to improve. I'd love to hear from you, so please leave me a comment or send me an email with any ideas/thoughts/suggestions that you might have!

In other news, I can't believe it's nearly Monday already! I don't want to go back to work tomorrow, I want to play with shiny things!

Much love,

Frankie

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