Bijoux Chez Vous

03/09/2020

Finally found a reason to make a necklace I had envisioned for many years. I had bought these seed beads about 18 years ago, when I was just thinking about making jewellery, and found the blue square later on.
A dear friend’s son is getting married in Cambridge, England next weekend and her dress has a navy, boat neck top with a navy, blue and green floral skirt. It’s as though this combo was made for the dress. The blue square is very subtle on the navy top but sparkles and shows quite nicely. The earrings are simple Swarovski square crystals on silver studs.
We’re both very happy with the result!❤️🍾🥂.🌺👍🏻

09/25/2019

This was a fun thing! Was in the wonderful, new Spanish tapas resto, Olé, in Ste Anne de Bellevue the other day, buying rice for a paella. I complimented the co-owner, Margo, on her lovely turquoise and silver bracelet. Turns out it was a watch, that had been badly damaged years before, and which she was wearing for the first time in a long while. She mentioned that she had thought of taking it to a jeweller to see what they could do with the bracelet. Well, said I, perhaps I can help with that! She handed it to me and was happy to have me do whatever I wanted with it. It was another wee challenge, which is my favourite thing, and here is the result. The stone is an agate and can be turned to change the colour and the wire is 22 gauge silver filled. I threaded the wire through the stone, then through the spaces where the watch pins were and then back into the stone. We were both very happy with the result!

09/16/2019

A friend had two broken pearl necklaces that belonged to her mum and a crystal heart charm that she loved and wanted them made into one long necklace. Since I don’t do the knotting thing with pearls, I put tiny 2mm round Swarovski crystals between the pearls instead, which works well and adds sparkle. These are AB, which stands for Aurora Borealis = they reflect soft colours. I know that the knots are used mostly to prevent loss of the pearls if they break, but the multi-strand covered wire I use is high quality and stands up to a 10lb. pull. That should do it!
She also wanted a “clip over” for the crystal heart so she could wear it with the pearls. It was a challenge to get the clip and the charm together in a clean look, but “tenacity is us!”
There were some orphan pearls in the box, so added larger AB crystals and made the earrings to go with. Very happy with the results.

05/23/2018

A friend was given a very delicate bracelet by her daughter-in-law, a simple chain with a centre ring. She wore it all the time and then - it broke. I was able to fashion a fix with sterling wire and crimp covers. I added another “floating” crimp cover to the ring to balance the look. She’s now able to wear it again and likes it even more! Love being able to do things like this!

10/14/2017

Had to shorten the bracelet I just restrung for my friend, so we used the removed chips to make her a pair of earrings to go with - sodalite, aquamarine and agate with sterling ball posts. Fun!

10/13/2017

Here’s another “elastic” bracelet restrung, with wire and a silver toggle, for a friend. For balance I added a little sodalite and agate “drop” to the toggle loop. I thought her comment summed up the process well. “Now it’s jewellery!”

07/07/2017

I love to see the result of restringing a bracelet that has been strung with elastic. While it has its place, generally the look is so much richer with a clasp. I usually add something to the toggle clasp to balance the weight and this also adds extra interest. A new friend found this bracelet was too tight so hope she likes the remake. ....She did!

09/15/2016