It had been quite a while since I last made a piece of jewelry by hand. I think winter is the perfect season for this kind of activity, especially since I tend to spend much more time indoors than during the warmer months. If you enjoy this kind of project, I have also written about some of the handmade jewelry I’ve made.
After a cup of hot coffee and a freshly baked chocolate croissant, I got to work. I brought out the beads, wire, chains, pliers and all the other little supplies that seem to multiply every time I decide to make something.
Two hours later, out of that little pile of materials came a new handmade jewelry set: a pendant and a bracelet in beautiful shades of emerald green.
How the Jewelry Set Came About
This particular set actually has a story that I really like.
Some time before making the pendant and bracelet, I had made a pair of earrings that I gave as a gift to someone from England. She liked the color and design of the earrings so much that she wanted a complete jewelry set to match them.
And that is how the pendant and bracelet came to be.
I love it when a piece of jewelry I make doesn’t simply remain an object I spent an afternoon working on, but ends up being worn and appreciated by someone else. And the fact that something I made with my own hands eventually made its way all the way to the UK makes it even more special to me.
Making Another Handmade Jewelry Set
I’m not sure I could recreate exactly the same set now. Quite often, when I make handmade jewelry, I start with a few materials and a general idea, and the rest takes shape as I go.
That is actually one of my favorite parts.
I choose the beads, combine different colors, try out different variations and, after a while, I realize that what I have in front of me is beginning to look like the idea I had in my head.
This time, emerald green was definitely the star of the show.
And, as it usually happens when I get caught up in a project, the two hours I spent at the table went by much faster than I would have liked.
Handmade Jewelry With a Story
Maybe this is one of the things I like most about handmade jewelry. These aren’t mass-produced pieces, and they don’t all turn out perfectly identical. Each one carries a little bit of the time, patience and mood I had while making it.
And some of them end up with a story of their own.
The emerald green jewelry set is one of them. It started with a pair of earrings given as a gift and continued with a pendant and a bracelet made to complete the set.
And I have to admit, I feel lucky when I think that a piece of jewelry made by me ended up so far away from home.
