Actually it's not quite true that I haven't been making anything lately as mentioned in my last post, as I have been playing around with some simple wire earrings. I need to stock up on some supplies before doing anything more complex, but I must say I'm quite into the contemporary and minimalist as far as earrings go at the moment, as long as they are made of copper.
Which reminds me of a scarey article I read online recently about the need to source metals, wires and jewellery components that are nickel free as your jewellery could be illegal to sell in Europe. Fortunately I source most of my supplies in the UK and Europe, as most of the metal findings and beads that would be illegal to sell here because of the nickel content, come from outside Europe such as the Far East and even USA. As I'm allergic to nickel myself it would be easy to test any metals on me although I'm wondering if there is a more scientific test one can do apart from taking the supplier's word for it? I did once buy a pendant from the USA which brought me out in a severe rash one summer because of my nickel allergy so I can sympathise with the need to find nickel free components as well as staying with EU law. Stuff gets moved around though and there are probably many shops in the UK whose suppliers are from countries where these laws don't exist. Anyway, I digress.
I haven't listed any of these in my online shops yet, and I'm quite excited that I've now opened an online shop at DaWanda although I'm mainly just duplicating my Etsy listings there for now.
Which reminds me of a scarey article I read online recently about the need to source metals, wires and jewellery components that are nickel free as your jewellery could be illegal to sell in Europe. Fortunately I source most of my supplies in the UK and Europe, as most of the metal findings and beads that would be illegal to sell here because of the nickel content, come from outside Europe such as the Far East and even USA. As I'm allergic to nickel myself it would be easy to test any metals on me although I'm wondering if there is a more scientific test one can do apart from taking the supplier's word for it? I did once buy a pendant from the USA which brought me out in a severe rash one summer because of my nickel allergy so I can sympathise with the need to find nickel free components as well as staying with EU law. Stuff gets moved around though and there are probably many shops in the UK whose suppliers are from countries where these laws don't exist. Anyway, I digress.
I haven't listed any of these in my online shops yet, and I'm quite excited that I've now opened an online shop at DaWanda although I'm mainly just duplicating my Etsy listings there for now.
I loved these metal beads that reflect a pink or green colour and intend to do some wire-wrapped hanging ones, once I've bought some finer copper wire. The earwires will also be copper plated (and nickel free) once I've ordered them as it looks too awful putting silver hooks with copper earrings. These beads were crying out for a contemporary unfussy approach, so I just threaded them on the thickest wire that would take them.
I had some crackle glass beads to use up and some ready-made copper chain. I made the hammered hoop and spiral myself out of thick copper wire. These earrings may look huge but they are so light to wear. I put a small crystal bead on either side of the centre bead, and just need to photograph it all with a black background so it shows up better. I'm giving a preview here of what's going to be added to my shop soon once I've re-done the photos, replaced the earhooks and made a few more of them.
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