I often get asked to make jewellery for people. Sometimes they have seen something on my website, and would like it made in a different colour. Sometimes, they have an old bottle or glass object that they would like made into a piece of jewellery. I love doing both types of custom orders.
When someone trusts me to take their glass bottle or object and make beads with it, it’s quite an amazing process to go through with them, so I thought I would share the journey with you.
Recently a customer contacted me and asked me to make something for her from a Moet bottle. The bottle had been a gift for her 50th birthday, and she was reluctant to just throw it in the bin. She had seen my work before, and got in touch. Having already made some beads with Moet bottles, I was able to let her know that the things we could do with a Moet bottle were more limited than with a lighter coloured glass. We could embellish the beads with gold leaf or fine silver wire. Or we could etch the glass to give it a matt finish.
Step 1 was all about that initial contact, discussing the options for the glass and the finished jewellery. On this occasion we agreed to make a very simple necklace with small round beads, where alternate beads were etched. A simple bracelet to match, and long earrings.
Tomorrow I’ll tell you all about the next step: Receiving the glass.
