These are some of my favourite beads to make, and I love the mix of colours in this necklace. It feels just right for a warm day like it is here.
I have used an assortment of recycled glass to make the beads in this necklace. It has ended up being a longer style necklace, another option that is perfect in this warmer weather.
Hello, and welcome to my blog for 2018! I’m a big fan of New Years. I also love new months, new weeks, and new days! This year I have decided to challenge myself a little bit. I’m going to share a photograph of recycled glass jewellery every day. I love making beads from recycled glass, and I love that people resonate with it so much.
To kick the year off I have made a necklace from some of the recycled glass beads that I made from a Coopers Ale bottle. I love the sparkly gold and silver beads in between.
To be honest, I really love that a product destined for a bin can be transformed into a beautiful, wearable piece of art! Thanks for joining me on this journey for 2018.
I recently had a request to make a special necklace for a 50th birthday present. The birthday lady quite liked champagne, and in particular Moet. I mentioned I could make a necklace with Moet glass. I made a couple of necklaces for her to choose from, and pictured below is the necklace that wasn’t chosen.
Now is a great time to contact me regarding custom orders for Christmas presents. They can take a little while, depending on whether or not I have the glass. It’s a bit of extra effort, but it can definitely be worth it.
OK, I confess, Coopers Sparkling Ale is my favourite beer!
I love being able to use the bottles to make glass beads.
I featured jewellery made from a Coopers Ale bottle it in my Anti-Depression Glass exhibition.
In 2013 a necklace of mine, made from Coopers Sparkling Ale and 14ct Gold Leaf, was featured as a finalist in the Toowoomba Contemporary Wearables exhibition (see second photo below).
I also exhibited jewellery made from a Coopers Sparkling Ale bottle as part of the “Wear a Piece of Adelaide” Fringe exhibition held in 2013.
I love working with Coopers bottles for 2 reasons. First, they are a South Australian company. And second, they are a very environmentally conscious company. Win-win. Both things that resonate completely with my work. South Australian, eco-conscious.
Here is a small sample of work created from a Coopers Sparkling Ale bottle.
Every now and then I go on a mission to find a particular type of glass. It might be Green Depression Glass, or white glass (which is really hard to find by the way), or like the other day I was on a mission to find non-matching sets of glasses.
These non-matching sets of glasses are also known as Harlequin Glass. They were really popular in the 1950’s. It can be tricky to get a complete set of 6 glasses, and more often than not you’ll find at most 5 glasses left in the set.
I didn’t mind what I found. I had an idea for a necklace in my mind, and I needed the glass to make it happen!
So, I visited all of the Op Shops in Murray Bridge, and managed to find a few assorted glasses. I was really pleased with what I found, but wondered if I might be able to find some more on a trip to Mount Barker. Like I said, I was on a mission!
We tried a couple of Op Shops before I found one with THE most helpful volunteer I’ve ever found. She was more than happy to look out the back to see if she could find what I was looking for.
Success, she found a mis-matched set of 5 shot glasses. The colours were great, but the glasses were quite small. Still, it was better than nothing.
“I’ll take them,” I said. “Don’t worry too much about wrapping them.”
She was a bit taken aback with that comment. “You’re going to smash them, aren’t you?”
I smiled. “Yes, I am.”
“Well, if you like recycled glass you have to take a look at this great exhibition at the City Library that is on at the moment. It’s part of SALA. The artist has made all of these beads from recycled glass, you should see some of the colours.”
I smiled again. “That’s actually my work.”
True story!
We talked for a little bit longer, while she told me what her favourite jewellery was from the exhibition, and where all of the Op Shops were in Mount Barker!
I thought I would take a month to write about my favourite recycled glass colours!
It all started with Green Depression Glass! I had never used recycled glass to make beads, it hadn’t even occurred to me, until it was time to come up with a brilliant idea for SALA 2009! It was around the time of the Global Financial Crisis. My daughter, Ciara, had just been born. There was a lot of talk about the next Great Depression! I couldn’t imagine what it would feel like for our family to live through that.
I have always loved Green Depression Glass, the colour is simply beautiful and very reminiscent of that era. It also has a great story. It was used in the Great Depression as a stimulus for the economy!
I put one idea with another….and my Anti-Depression Glass exhibition was created! I exhibited this work at Lustre Galleries for the month of SALA. I had (from memory) 9 different collections of work. My favourite collection was the jewellery made from a Green Depression Glass platter.
You will see in the photographs below, the different types of Green Depression Glass jewellery that I have made. Some of the photographs are of current work that is available, so if you would like to purchase any, simply click on the photograph. I am taking you to my Etsy shop at the moment because I have a special 30% discount in there. Simply use the code FLASH30 when you check out.
Congratulations to Bec for being the newsletter subscriber picked at random to win a pair of earrings from my online shop.
Bec chose this pair of Kronenberg Flower Earrings. Nice choice, they are in the mail.
If you would like the chance to win a pair of earrings from my online shop, simply subscribe to my newsletter. Yes, it’s that easy!
I nearly didn’t go for a walk this morning! We had a big weekend visiting our mum’s for Mother’s Day. I hadn’t slept very well most of the weekend. So I didn’t set my alarm this morning, because I wanted to get as much sleep as possible. When I woke up there was still time for a walk, and I’m glad I made the effort.
I’ve got lots to think about at the moment:
Have a great week.
I am getting ready for the Flinders Street Market this weekend. It’s a special event market, where all of the stallholders are making eco-friendly products. I will be there Saturday and Sunday, from 10-3. I’m really looking forward to being part of this market again.
I will have a range of recycled glass beads and jewellery available, and I’ll also have some “sale” items.
Hope to see you there!
