Maple seed pod pendants

I collect the maple seed pods mostly from a big tree in East Sooke, where I stay when I'm in Canada.

Cactus Pendants

Earrings

All earrings have sterling silver settings.

More cactus hair clips

My own ceramic beads

These are some of the necklaces I make with my own ceramic beads. The beads are formed with different colours of clay, made by mixing the glaze powders directly with the clay. In this way the designs or patterns go right through the bead. I make a kind of roll with different colours and then slice it with a thread. They are fired in an electric kiln.
I use waxed cotton or polyester threads in varied colours to join the beads in a single or multi-threaded necklace. There are no metal parts so they are ideal for people with allergies.

More hair clips

The hair clips I make are surprisingly light and very strong. They also look good in hair and last a long time!

Rainbow Earrings and more beads

Rainbow earrings


Rain pendant


Frog pendant


Turtle pendant

The Rain pendant is made with both ceramic and glass beads.
Frog and Turtle pendants are made with glass beads only.

Rainbow Pendant

Rainbow pendant

I'm also into beading, though I can never find the time to do much. It's very meditative. I found this technique years ago in a reference book in the Vancouver public library. It's a Native American technique but I can't remember exactly from where. There is no loom involved, only one needle and thread.
This is made with small ceramic beads from Peru. I sometimes make my own ceramic beads but they're a lot bigger and do not lend themselves to this process, which requires smaller, fairly regular beads.

Cactus Hair Clip

Cactus hair clip

The lacy looking stuff is the dried skeleton of the prickly pear cactus plant which abounds where I live in Italy, on the island of Sardinia.

Maple Seed Pod Hair Clip

Maple Seed Pod hair clip

This site was created four years ago by a friend and although I am, and have been during this time, an artist doing what the first post says, I've only just now got around to getting images on here. Partly because I am what my nephew calls technologically challenged but also very busy with many things.