Year: 2021

Did you know? I have to wear special safety glasses when making glass beads. Didymium glasses have a filter that lets me see through all of the orange flame and just focus on the bead that I am making.

Some new recycled glass necklaces and bracelets featuring beads made from an assortment of blue and green bottles heading to @naomischwartzjewellerydesign gallery in Henley Beach. Looks like a beautiful weekend for a beach trip too!

If you love shiny and etched beads, and if you are like me, and you can’t decide which finish you like best, then these earrings are great because they combine the two! I love the simple contrast of shiny and etched beads, I love that the same glass can look so different. These earrings feature beads made from a Banrock Station Wine Bottle.

Autumn/winter is the perfect time to wear stud earrings. They are a lovely little addition to layers of clothing and chunky scarves. Both of these stud earrings have been made from a Moët champagne bottle, with one pair left shiny and one pair etched for a matt finish.

Sometimes you need to walk away from your first attempts at putting a new idea together, have a holiday on the Yorke Peninsula, and then come back with fresh inspiration and some new ways of making this necklace. I grew up on the Yorke Peninsula, and whenever I go back I just feel happy and content. The vegetation on the coastline is so beautiful, and the break helped me to rethink my first prototype for this necklace. Lots more colour and movement, more abstract flower styles, I am looking forward to finishing this one soon.

Another gift combo idea. This necklace features beads made from Hendrick’s original and midsummer solstice gin bottles (dark brown and dark purple) along with Fever-Tree tonic bottles.

Maybe gin is more your mum’s thing? How about a pair of earrings featuring beads made from a Hendrick’s Gin bottle?

This may be more your mum’s style. A necklace made with recycled glass beads from gin, tonic and champagne bottles! Turns out that Chambord can be used to make gin cocktails too! A simple pair of earrings from a champagne bottle certainly adds some wow factor!

Could this be the perfect Mother’s Day gift for your mum? A pair of earrings made from a Moët champagne bottle, along with a small bottle of Chambord Black Raspberry liqueur so your mum can make a fancy champagne cocktail next time she has a glass of bubbles? I know my mum prefers gin and tonic, but I would love this as a present! Now how will I get my kids to look at my social media 😛!

I usually start sketching my ideas for new jewellery so I can get a feel for things. Then I will take some existing beads and do a bit of a prototype. This helps me work out if what is in my head is actually going to work or not, and what else I need to think about. I think I need to let this one sit for a couple of days before I go back to it.