Handmade jewellery gifts are special. They are made of the intended recipient with love and care. They contain within them the memories of being received /worn on a particular day and from a specific person. In the past two months I have been working on several pieces of jewellery to be given as gifts. I completed and gave away three and two more are in the works. They each have distinct forms, materials, and moods.
Jewellery gifts
The first piece is an elegant necklace-and-earrings set. I made this for a junior assistant at work who got married recently. Apart from being good at her job, she is a great baker and highly skilled with origami. I wanted to make her something that she could wear with her dressier outfits but I wanted it to be light – both visually and weight wise.
Agate bead necklace and earrings
I wasn’t sure of her favourite colour but I ended up picking beads ranging from a angelic pink to a magenta. I chose agate beads, glass crystals, silver tone spacers and shell pearls to match silver findings. The oxidised GS pendant has peacocks which are symbols of grace and beauty. I used a twisted metal ring, agate beads and small faceted crystals in the earrings to balance movement with sparkle.
Interestingly, the day I gave it to her, she was wearing a silk saree in light teal and baby pink for a theme party. The necklace and earrings matched perfectly, providing the right amount of contrast while still fitting in with the colour palette.
Brass earrings
An old student of mine invited me to spend Deepawali with her as she was away from her family. So I got dressed and went to her house with a green kurta and a pair of brass earrings as gifts for her. I was really glad that they both fit her well. Along with a classmate of hers, she cooked lunch and we spent a peaceful yet satisfying day together.
Since the kurta had rectangular gold border on the neck and sleeves, I used the same as basis for my earring design. I wanted the piece to be lightweight and suit multiple types of outfits – from Indian to western, from casual to festive. The concentric circular studs symbolise harmony and continuity, contrasted by sleek rounded rectangular brass drops that create bold linear movement. I added a bold black line at the end of the rounded rectangle to make it look edgy. I might do a whole range with different coloured lines based on this piece.
Green and teal beaded necklace
This last jewellery gift involves a bit of reuse and was made for my mother to match with her Deepawali saree. A vibrant hand-beaded pendant with a magenta crystal chaton, sits at the centre creating a striking focal point. It was given to me by Birgit Franck during a Bead swap in 2021.
I took the original “fuchsia flowers in the bush” necklace apart a few years ago to make myself earrings and the pendant remained unused. Therefore, when I was looking for components for the new necklace, I found it to be the best choice. I added Czech glass beads in teal, Indian glass crystals in light green and some golden metallic beads to complement the dark teal, gold and magenta in the saree.
Making jewellery gifts, really helped me in my relearning jewellery making process. All three jewellery gifts turned out to be those liked by the receivers and hence were worn immediately. The only downside, I did not get to take good pictures of the jewellery before they were gifted.
I hope you find it interesting
Cheers
What do you think?