How It's Made Archives - Motley Mix Jewelry

Posted on October 24, 2020December 13, 2020 by Motley Mix — Leave a comment

Necklace with many kinds of vintage fresh water pearls

Multi strand necklace with vintage pearls, seed beads, and metal components lying on a cream-colored fuzzy mat with a blurred light shadows of leaves over it.

I’ve started working on this necklace in the middle of many art shows happening all at once or back to back at the end of 2019. For a while, all attempts to make much progress were very futile.

Then just as the beginning of 2020 started to look a little more promising, COVID-19 demanded major adjustments to both creative and non-creative aspects of what I do, and all I could manage was projects with deadlines attached to them.

It is wonderful when people have interest in your work, yes, and it means even more to me when their lives are affected by the pandemic. It’s just that jewelry you started because an idea looked cool in your head fails to materialize for weeks and months, and then it’s a challenge to recall what you wanted to create. Luckily, I learned to take notes, and this time notes let me work in tiny spurs here and there without losing sight of the final look.

Like it happened before so many times, the original pearls came from the Blackbird Granary in Mt. Angel, Oregon.

Photo of a beginning stage of the designing a multi strand necklace with vintage fresh water pearls of different shapes and colors ~ work in progress ~ Motley Mix Jewelry — Beginning stage of the design

Realizing that the central part could have more strands

Posted on September 13, 2019September 13, 2019 by Motley Mix — Leave a comment

My introduction to ear climbers

I was asked to make custom ear climbers, and I never made those and never even heard of them. So the first thing I wanted to do was make a test pair and wear it for a little while to see how those things would feel, how to best keep them secured on the ear, and how high up an ear I could go to keep them practical. To stay on the safe side, I made a shorter test pair out of whatever was laying on the surface which happened to be composite mother of pearl shell and various glass. The test happened to be very short because the same day a nice lady approached me with questions about those earrings and what else I make and eventually bought them.

Ear climber earrings with composite mother of pearl shell and glass beads

So I made myself the second pair of climbers (they are also adorably called ear crawlers!) with reconstructed turquoise and some other glass, and that pair is still with me, and I got to wear it for a few days.

To my surprise, ear climbers are so comfortable that I can’t feel them, and my ears are quite sensitive. I don’t know why I never ever heard about them and now think that more should be made because they are awesome and so different from what I normally make.

Posted on July 31, 2019July 31, 2019 by Motley Mix — Leave a comment

Elegance in blue goldstone and gun metal

Elegant tall earrings with blue goldstones and gun metal - designed by Motley Mix Jewelry — Elegant tall earrings with blue goldstones and gun metal

Custom earrings with oval goldstones, black faceted vintage glass beads, and gun metal. Made them for my daughter whose Birthday is right around the corner, in October, and apparently they match her hair pretty well!

Goldstone is a doubly misleading name for a sparkling glass that is neither a stone, nor have anything to do with gold. It is often used as a substitute for more expensive sunstone, and its blue variation can also resemble dark lapis lazuli.

Posted on June 6, 2019August 5, 2021 by Motley Mix — Leave a comment

Jewelry repair that became a custom design

Photo of an unfinished custom necklace with vintage pearls and natural amazonite beads, work in progress — Work in progress – custom necklace with vintage freshwater pearls and natural amazonite beads

Either a few pearls got lost when the original necklace broke, or the neck measurement was not right, but now this jewelry repair has turned into a custom design. Once the problem of too few beads became apparent, it only took a few messages with photos of various bead combinations to finalize a new design. It still highlights these gorgeous white pearls but also has pale mat amazonite and pseudo-vintage metal niceties. Thank goodness for agreeable customers. Now, would not it be nice if amazonite beads were easier to pair by color!

My first design idea was quite different though. I went for a classical combination of pearls and rondelle beads with Swarovski crystals, but it turned out I had none and bead places close to me had none either. Now I think it’s for the better. A less predictable look is more interesting.

Updated June 7th, 2019

Photo of the finished custom necklace with vintage pearls and natural amazonite beads — Finished custom necklace with vintage freshwater pearls and natural mat amazonite beads

Aaand the customer loved the result when we met. Phew! Why is it always nerve-wracking to show your creation to the person who is paying for it, no matter how many times you did it before and with good outcome?

Posted on February 4, 2019February 21, 2019 by Motley Mix — Leave a comment

Custom set of bridesmaid earrings, with a special meaning

Bridesmaid earrings with Vintage glass pearls and sparkling clear glass

Vintage glass pearls for this set came from the Mother of the bride’s 3-strand necklace. The bride will wear two strands, and pearls from the third one went into earrings for her bridesmaids. They are all close friends of the family and no doubt will appreciate these thoughtful gifts.

The faceted glass rondelle beads are Vintage from my own bead hunting, but by now I forgot where I found them.

The maid of honor gets special earrings and necklace with chains created from remaining glass pearls, and this still requires some planning, but the above earrings have been approved and started their journey to the East Coast.

Updated February 21, 2019

Maid of honor earrings and necklace with vintage glass pearls, mother of pearl shell, and sparkling clear glass

And the set for the maid of honor is done too. I’ve added mixed glass seed beads and some mother of pearl shells to help it stand out a little more. Also, I have lots of respect for brides who make so many decisions about an upcoming wedding and still keep their sanity.