Circlets for a Ballet

Sparkles and ribbon and silver and gold!

I'd forgotten completely to blog about this, but last year I was commissioned to create eleven circlets for a ballet studio in Indiana. These circlets are like the Aurora Circlets that I make, but in custom colors.

The circlets have more ribbon than the normal headpieces-- a strand of pale sparkly gold, and a strand of green.

I purchased peridot green rhinestone chain to use on these. This was only the second time that I have made these circlets in anything but white, cream, or champagne pink!

As you can probably tell, this project took an insane amount of work. Everything is completely handmade-- I make these circlets with nothing but a roll of silver-plated wire, rhinestone chains, and spools of ribbon.

The circlets are adjustable for different sized heads; I think the ballerinas were going to weave braids in and out of the top "zig-zags" of rhinestones.

When I was a little girl, I loved ballet-- it was so much fun to participate in ballet in my own small way, by making pretty headpieces for the dancers. :)

I heard that their performance went beautifully!

Dragonfly Wings, Rhinestones, and Fairy Garlands

I found this post in my drafts from earlier this spring! 

When I was little, I used to think that dragonflies were the fairies' cousins. They are so quick and beautiful, with sparkling, flitting wings... I actually got the idea for this necklace while sitting out by the pond watching some dragonflies hover above the water!

It's a stylized version of a dragonfly, though. Very Art Nouveau. The tassle thing is new. I've never used anything like that in a necklace before but I like it!

Copper is so beautiful to work with and so deliciously creamy when paired with pearls.

(This necklace is on my Shoppe).

Here is the necklace, along with other assorted jewelry I've made, on one of my lovely models.

This one's called the Woodland Fairy Garland! I made a necklace similar to this for my friend Laura's Entwife Costume that she wore to a Lord of the Rings ball-- pictured below.

So, the new necklace is not a new idea, but I do like it better the second time around. The vine-like branches are studded with iridescent Czech glass leaf beads and I made a flower pendant as a centerpiece.

This little fella is just something pretty. It wasn't inspired by anything but shiny beads. I think I'll name it after something related to stars, though. Think it looks like a shooting star? I'll go with that. :) This is a Shooting Star pendant.

These two beaded necklaces were not as complex to make (although I'd forgotten how long it takes to string a necklace instead of using chain!) but that doesn't mean they are boring!

I've found myself wearing smaller pieces like these quite often; more will be appearing in the Shoppe. Sometimes the simple things are the most elegant.

Also this necklace was featured in the Saint Louis Post Dispatch. :) Here's the link to the story! I thought it was funny that they chose this necklace set, because it was far simpler than the other ones I brought by their photography studio. However, I think they chose it because it's more conventional than the all-out costume fantasy jewelry I lean towards.

EDIT: I wrote this in the spring, but I wanted to let you know that this summer I've made more variations on this beaded double-stand leaf and flower necklace. Here is one, in more busy summer sunset colors!

Another Aurora Circlet! This one already sold, but I usually have one or two in stock. These pieces are frequently made to order in any case, so I can adjust band size and colors and such.

Here it is, modeled by a beautiful friend:

You can see more pictures of various Aurora circlets I've made here on a masterlist of all posts containing the circlet and it's variations!

And here is another piece that I completed recently; an arm cuff (now sold) inspired by the same Entwife jewelry set.

That's all for now, I'm busy with classwork but keep in tune because this summer I will be working on jewelry full-time in the midst of my summer classes!

EDIT: Hi, now it's me from the summer, aka NOW! I hope you enjoyed this peek at just a couple random jewelry pieces! Love, Shaylynn. :)

Rosie, Princess and Photographer

Always a smile!

"Shaylynn, WHY ARE YOU BLOWING A FAN IN MY FACE?!"

This is my sister, Rosie. If you've read my blog before, you've probably seen her quite a bit. She is a fearsome little girl who will gladly go defeat any dragon with her super-awesome taekwando skillz gained both from classes and from having four brothers, but she is such a sweetheart and girly-girl, too. Sometimes more of a girly-girl than me (when I was her age I hated it when fantasy books had romance instead of pure adventure. Just today, Rosie spent quite a while debating whether Miri from Princess Academy should be with Peder or the prince.)

Basically she is a real life princess.

Not too long ago I was photographing on of the Aurora Circlets I made (this time, finally with silk in pink champagne to more closely match the ribbon in OuaT), and she was in my studio making some jewelry. Of course I roped her in to being my little model minion. I am such an evil overlord sister. MUAHAhahaha!

She just got her hair cut (it used to reach past her hips) and positively squealed when she saw how "flippy and swingy" her hair is now, especially in these pictures.

I'm going to lose proper English for just a minute and enter the dialect of Tumblrspeak: d'AWWW ALL THE CUTENESS I. CAN'T. EVEN. WHAT.

She also modeled the circlet that Gwen wears as Queen in the BBC show Merlin. I was very excited to be able to create such a close replica, and Rosie was just ecstatic that I FINALLY made some jewelry based on her favorite show.

Then, I gave her a few tips and she photographed some pieces on me!

(Above is a double necklace set inspired by the one that was featured in the St. Louis Post Dispatch, and below is a necklace I handstamped that says "all that is gold does not glitter").

She also got some ones with my face in it which is funny because I can't pull off the whole starry-eyed princess look.

Rosie has been becoming very good at photography and has been getting some beautiful shots of our baby sister "Josie." I should download the photos this weekend and teach her some basic Photoshop editing!

I'm so grateful that she'll come in my studio and pose for me at random times of the day! :) I sure miss her when I'm away at school!