Happy 2014!

I hope you all had a lovely holiday season, and a refreshing break! I'm so happy to be back at my bench, although I did sneak some hours here and there over the festive season. I haven't made a December bracelet, as I was a bit busy, and now it seems a bit late, but I don't like loose ends, so it's on my to-do list.
This year I might think up a different challenge - just to keep things interesting.

A new year means new ideas and inspirations, as well as lots of resolutions of course, lists of goals and a fresh burst of energy.
I have been working on a new collection - inspired by Arts and Crafts jewellery, and Klimt (well, everything 'spirals' reminds me of Klimt).

Most of my designs are lead by the raw materials I have to work with, and these came about by wanting to make earrings out of sea glass pieces I can't match into pairs. The frame and spiral design set a slightly mismatched but close enough shape to the earrings, so that the pieces of sea glass can be similar but not the same. That was the theory anyway, and it seems to work.

The first pair I made were the red sea glass ones - the silver oxidized black for a 'Gothic' look:

Red sea glass framed spiral earrings by Tania Covo

Then came the seafoam ones - the silver oxidised then buffed to give an aged look, very 'Arts and Crafts':

Seafoam framed spiral earrings by Tania Covo

Then the translucent sea glass (it's gorgeous stuff - the closest sea glass gets to opal, as it changes colour at different angles, going from orange to a blueish hue): In these ones the silver is given a satin finish.

Translucent sea glass framed spiral earrings by Tania Covo

I'll be working on pendants and necklaces over the next few days...