A brief history of Depression Glass: it was manufactured in the 1920s to 1940s and was essentially given away in an attempt to stimulate the sale of various products or services and to subsequently stimulate the economy during the Great Depression. Many colours were produced, but green, pink, light blue and amber are the easiest to find. Highly collectible since the 1960s. In this photo I have used pink and green Depression glass. (The blue is Harlequin glass).
I’ve been busy making flower stud earrings in a range of recycled glass colours. In this photo you can see Banrock Station, Bombay Sapphire Gin, Skyy Vodka, Hendricks Gin and Tanqueray Gin.
So I had to follow up today with a pair of earrings that I made from a Hendricks Gin bottle and a Fever-Tree Tonic bottle! I really like the speckles on the beads, it makes them look so pretty.
Last week I was making a couple of Gin and Tonics, when I had a tiny little brain wave. Instead of trying to find a clear gin bottle for my “Be-Gin Again” exhibition, I would use tonic bottles instead! Hence the idea of having necklaces made from Gin AND Tonic bottles!
This is the first attempt at a Gin and Tonic necklace. I used a Hendricks Gin bottle for the darker beads, and a Fever-Tree Tonic bottle for the clear beads. I have enamelled the copper tubes in between, and made a note to myself that next time I do this – USE MORE RED!
I was recently asked to make a necklace, bracelet and earrings with Pink Depression Glass. We talked back and forth for a while about what that might look like. This is the end result of those discussions. A beautiful set of jewellery made from Pink Depression Glass with a lovely mix of contrasting finishes and shapes.
As part of Colour Play each month I like to make some new jewellery. This month I have made the same necklace and earrings, in a variety of colours. Last week I shared the red version. This week, it’s time to show you the purple version of the long necklace, and square hoop earrings.
My husband loves my work! Don’t get me wrong, we don’t drink all of the alcohol bottles that I use to make beads. I get a lot of gin and wine bottles donated to me. But I am happy to buy the beer bottles when I am getting low. And my husband is happy to help drink them!
[I tend to use Coopers Ale beer bottles for the brown beads I use, and Coopers Clear beer for the clear beads. I also use Peroni to make a really pretty green bead].
Today as I was unpacking all of the beads that I took to T’Arts yesterday, I was also thinking “what on earth am I going to make today?” Sometimes I am a bit more organised than this when it comes to my daily challenge to make a piece of jewellery from recycled glass. Sometimes I have beads made from the previous day that are ready to make into jewellery. And sometimes, I’m just a bit behind, and it kind of forces me to look at what I have on hand, and what I can make from that. I find this way very stressful, but it has also resulted in some nice pieces of jewellery too!
So today I was putting all of my green beads in this pile, blue beads in that pile, and I thought “why don’t I use some of those small blue and green beads in a bracelet?”
And this is what I made:
I was supposed to post this yesterday, but after a long day at T’Arts and then coming home to my family…it just didn’t happen. Here it is…
Today I worked at T’Arts. I love my days in the shop, sometimes they are really busy, and sometimes they can be quiet, depending on the weather and other things that might be happening. Today it was a bit of both, which meant I had time to mess around with my display, and I had time to make some things, and I had time to serve customers too!
I was sitting down to make my recycled glass jewellery challenge piece, and was a bit cross with myself for not having anything planned for today. Why?? It would have made my life so much easier. Anyway, I was looking at the recycled glass beads that I had brought with me, and I was looking at some jewellery on display, and I thought….”why not take that bracelet apart and do something else with it?”
I had been super keen to make another necklace with my enamelled copper tubes, and I seemed to have a nice little selection of green and purple beads, so this is what I ended up making! Hooray for serendipity, because I definitely would not have made this if things hadn’t aligned the way they had.
I had no idea what I was going to make today! I was kind of running out of time too. The pressure was on. I picked up a blue bead. I felt like I hadn’t made anything blue for a little while, so it seemed like a good place to start. I picked up another blue bead, and another…and at first I thought I was making a bracelet, but when I had enough blue beads out I thought to myself “this would make a pretty necklace.”
And this is what I made today!
