Winter Wedding in Winnipeg

 I had a fantastic opportunity to create wedding jewelry for a bridal party!  I do really love creating things for people.  There is something super exciting about creating a special piece for a person.  These were to celebrate the marriage of two of my dearest friends from Canada.

When I make personalized jewelry, it help for me to know the person.  Are they ostentatious?  Do they tend to dress up often?  What is their personal style?  What is their personality like?  If you've ever browsed a lot of jewelry shops or sites you start to notice that each and every piece seems to be suited for someone special.  There are huge, chunky necklaces just as often as there are dainty charms on delicate chains.  So, in a way, I was really fortunate to have a good friend as a client!

I wasn't given many variables to work with.  She wanted them to be mostly amethyst and the other wedding color was sapphire.  Other than that, she wanted it to be a Red Tail Arts original.  Would you believe having less guidelines is more difficult than having a long list sometimes?  After scouring Fire Mountain Gems website for a while, I finally found the types of beads I wanted to use.  There was high-grade dark Amethyst and lavender Amethyst spheres, sapphire Swarovski crystal, glass seed beads lined with silver, and some tab-clasps in sterling.  The hook clasp on the necklace was an after thought, because who really wants to struggle with a tab style clasp on a necklace?

Strangely enough, once I got the beads all the initial design idea I've had in my skull fell away.  My initial goal was to have a different balance, more silver and less amethyst so it was almost like ice with amethyst peeking out.  To be honest...it looked silly.  So I took a few days and just played around with the beads.  I probably made about 7 different designs before settling on the final.  It has just the perfect amount of silver accent, and the Swarovski brings out the color and shimmers just right in person.  Off it went for the bride's approval, and they were all shipped shortly after.

Sometimes the creation of jewelry doesn't go exactly as I plan, but it always turns out just the way it's supposed to.