New postings

Fri, 13 Aug 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Have a good look around the site today. I have uploaded many new items for sale. In particular, don’t miss the gorgeous bridal Love Blossoms set which featured on the June cover of Beads & Beyond magazine and the very cute Denim patchwork bracelet. Let’s not forget the fantastic Marie-Antoinette which oozes luxury.

Remember if you like any of these pieces but would like a different colour or size or something made for you especially, I am only an e-mail away.

And for all you jewellery makers out there, check out 2 brand-new tutorials: Deco Diva Earrings and Marie-Antoinette ring, bead and hair-slide. They are easy to make but have a very surprising construction. So, time to pick up your pliers....

Advice to men on buying the right jewellery

Wed, 5 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT

No gift in the world will please a woman more than a thoughtfully chosen piece of jewellery. It will also be a constant and lasting reminder of your love. Think Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor and that enormous diamond. There is something magical about opening a cute little box with the expectation of finding a precious and beautiful object. Unlike, say, an electrical appliance, a piece of jewellery is a very personal gift: it is worn on the skin, it is highly visible and it also makes a statement of wealth, taste and fashion. Would a woman ever get tired of being given jewellery? The answer is emphatically NO, but do try to vary what you buy. You should consider the occasion, the personality, age and size of the wearer, current fashion trends, materials and last but not least, price.

Occasions:

Wedding anniversary The major anniversaries are usually assigned a particular stone or material. For example, 25 years is Sterling silver, 30, pearl, 35, emerald, 40, ruby and so on making it easier for you to choose.

Birthday Birth months are also assigned a stone but this should only be bought once or twice. No problem if she was born in April (diamonds) but a little tedious if she was born in December (garnet)

Christmas is usually an occasion for something sparkly and showy to go with all those party dresses. So go for diamonds if you can afford them otherwise, crystals or facetted stones.

Valentine’s Day A piece with a heart is a popular and charming idea. The heart could be made of silver or gold but also of gemstone, crystal or unusual hand-made foiled Murano glass.

The birth of a child In my opinion, the birth of a child should always be marked by a piece of jewellery. Choose a pink stone for a girl (rose quartz, pink sapphire, star ruby) or a blue stone for a boy (sapphire, tanzanite, lapis lazuli, blue topaz, blue lace agate). Pink or blue freshwater pearl earrings would also be a good choice. Childbirth is a joyful but also painful and traumatic event in a woman’s life. Everyone naturally fusses over the baby often ignoring the mother. Show her how proud you are of her and how much she means to you by this thoughtful and unexpected gift.

Sorry Yes, flowers might work but a gift of jewellery would go a long way towards eventual forgiveness! It would show that you really mean it.

Thank you Show your appreciation by buying her an unusual piece of fashion jewellery unexpectedly. You will get lots of Brownie points for this one.

Your partners taste and personality:

Is she a larger than life character who wears huge earrings and bright colours? Then a thin chain with a small pendant will almost certainly not be to her taste. Large, bold earrings or a 3-strand necklace with lampwork beads or a clinking colourful cuff will be more her style.
Does she like or hate a particular colour? Be aware of this when buying jewellery.
Older ladies look their best in pastel colours. Choose rose quartz, lavender amethyst, pale milky green amazonite, aquamarine or pearls.

Size matters:
There is no pleasure in wearing something that is too tight or too large. Bracelets and rings will be lost if they are too loose. If you buy on the Internet the size of the piece ought to be mentioned. Unlike clothes which are sized to fit women from the thinnest to the largest, jewellery is not. Bracelets in particular only go from 6.5 to 8.5. I see a lot of women with bracelets tight around their wrists when they should be hanging loosely. If your lady is outside the middle range of sizes:

1. Measure a piece of jewellery that you know fits her well as a guide and take a note of it.

2. Choose necklaces and bracelets with extension chains.

3. Consider bespoke jewellery where the piece will be made to your specifications and measurements. It costs very little more and you have a truly unique piece. (I enclose a card with all my jewellery explaining the design, the materials and can even name the piece after her).

Fashion
How important is fashion in jewellery? The answer is: VERY. Jewellery has been worn since times immemorial but if you look at what ladies were wearing in a particular era you will notice that the pieces are similar but also very different from another era. For instance, jet was the thing to wear under the reign of Queen Victoria; in the 1920s flappers were never seen without their very long strands of pearls. The younger your partner, the more fashion tuned she will be but remember the baby boomer generation of women is not settling down to twin-set and pearls either. That said, there is no need to be a slave to fashion. You can’t go wrong if you buy freshwater pearl jewellery for instance. The clever Chinese have found a way to dye them in all colours thereby giving a classic material a very modern twist. Semi-precious stones in all shades, cuts, sizes, shapes have also become very popular and make jewellery much more affordable.

Price
Yes, finally, we come to cost and let me first de-bunk the idea that jewellery is an investment. Few pieces resell at a profit as the consumer is charged a huge mark-up plus tax. The jewels that sell for fabulous sums have either been owned by a famous person (Princess Margaret, the Duchess of Windsor, Jackie Kennedy for example), made by a famous house or have an antique value. On saying that, precious metals do keep up with inflation and are very durable as are good quality diamonds. Here we come to a divergence of opinions. Men get really hung up on the price. They equate the amount they spend with the size of their love. Now, don’t get me wrong: women know cheap when they see it! But they will be much more impressed and will derive far more pleasure from a piece of jewellery that their partners have spent time, effort and care in choosing. It is not necessary to spend a fortune. It is far better

Magnifique Marie-Antoinette

Tue, 4 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT

First of all, I am home at last and I can’t tell you how happy I am! I just have so much to do and so many new ideas floating through my brain that it hurts!

You will notice that I have made a tutorial out the magazine article. That’s because the tutorial is much more detailed than the article and I am able to show you every tiny step of the earrings production with full colour photos so everything is explained very clearly.

This month’s magazine article is a 5 pager and I think you will love the sheer opulence of this set of jewellery.

I want to come home!

Wed, 21 Apr 2010 00:00:00 GMT

I never thought that when my family and I set out for the holiday of a lifetime to the Far East taking in Indonesia, singapore, Hanoi, Saigon and Jakarta that it would turn out to be such a nightmare.

Don’t get me wrong, the holiday was simply wonderful and Vietnam is a fascinating country with the cleverest people on earth. However, we should have returned to Edinburgh last Friday and we are now stuck in Jakarta and to date we have no idea when or if we are going to get home.

On the minus side, I have now had to live 3 weeks without my tools and I have serious withdrawal symptoms. On the plus side, I have visited the gemstone market in Jakarta and I have bought some fabulous cabochons that I can’t wait to make up into some stunning jewellery.

In the meantime, why not have a go at making some of my designs either by purchasing one of my tutorials on this site or buying the May edition of BEADS & BEYOND where you will find a 6 page spread (pages 10 to 15) of my Magnifique Marie-Antoinette set, a glamorous, easy-to-make design for a ring, bracelet, necklace, hairpin and earrings.

I just heard that Heathrow has been re-opened so with a bit of luck it won’t be too long before I am home. Wish me luck!

Deco diva Earrings

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT

The April edition of Beads and Beyond magazine is now on sale everywhere. First you will find my photo and some very flattering comments about my work (Hey, we all need those from time to time!) on the editorial page and then you will have to turn to page 74 to find my design.

These gorgeous earrings are aimed at the intermediate wireworker (see explanations on the meaning of intermediate on the right hand side of my front page) and please do not hesitate to e-mail me if you hit a snag. I’m always happy to help.

You can expect to find my work in print in the magazine in the coming months and I can tell you there are some pretty exciting designsgns in the May and June editions.

If you are just starting to make your own jewellery, Beads and Beyond magazine is a pretty good place to start. The editors have managed to secure the services of many talented and versatile designers, the projects are easy to make and all the explanations are fully supported by step by step photos unlike other magazine which have a lot of razz but fail to teach the techniques. I wish Beads & Beyond had been around when I was learning, I might have made much quicker progress.

I don’t know about you but I need to have plenty of pictures in front of me when attempting to replicate someone else’s design. This is what you will find in my own tutorials as I like to shoot every little turn of the pliers as well as the reverse of the work when needed.

My Deco Diva earrings are in Beads and Beyond magazine!

Sun, 7 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT

It seems such a long time ago that I completed this project but that’s the way it works with books and magazines. The deadline is months before publication. In fact I have already completed and sent a second project.

The April edition will hit the shops on 11th March and I hope you will all be buying it and I would love to hear your comments particularly if you have had a go at making the earrings.

I’m off now to work on my third project. There’s just no stopping me. My fingertips are abuzz and creativity is flowing. Oh yes!!

Magazine project

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 00:00:00 GMT

I can’t tell you how excited I am about this. Beads and Beyond Magazine asked me to contribute a two-page project but after the excitement had died down, I had to get to work!

Sometimes I have to ponder for weeks at a time on a new design, sometimes I come up with a design on which I spend weeks and I have to abandon because it simply does not work but this time it all worked magically (after a few dead ends and a lot of trial and error).

If you have already bought the March edition of Beads and Beyond, you can see a sneak preview of some of next month’s projects on the last page and my Deco Diva earrings are featured.

So make sure you don’t miss the April edition. They are really unusual, very Art Deco and although they require precision, are quite easy to make. So, I hope you will have a go.

New re-vamped website

Mon, 25 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Although it has been many months since its inception, the new look website is finally ready and I really like it. I think my web designer Glen of Cargo Studios has done a great job and it contains many more features than the old site. Please feel free to tell me what you think.

Two important additional features are the tutorial section and the blog. Those of you who are budding jewellers can now have a go at learning to make some fantastic jewellery. All the tutorials are my original designs and are classed in order of difficulty. All are lavishly illustrated with close-up photos of every step taken guaranteeing success. Keep visiting as I will be uploading new tutorials regularly.

In this blog, I want to apologize for the look of the shop. Glen changed the format of the front picture to square. This means all the photos look a little odd. Basically, it means re-shooting the lot so it fits in with the new format. Obviously, this is going to take me some time even though I have not yet figured out how to make a tiara square! So, I hope you will forgive me in the meantime but I promise you some new and exciting pieces very soon.

Jewellery Maker of the Year in wirework

Tue, 1 Dec 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Dear friends and customers,

Welcome to my new blog on all things sparkly and I start my blogging career on a high note as I have just been awarded the title of Jewellery Maker of the Year in wirework by Beads and Beyond magazine. I could not believe my eyes when I read the e-mail from the editor, Michelle Powell, telling me that I was on the short list and inviting me to the Artisan show at Leamington Spa for the award presentation. I arranged to stay with my daughter in England and she was as excited as I was on the day. Beads and Beyond magazine had laid on a delicious buffet lunch for the 24 finalists and it was a chance to meet and talk to like-minded people (jewellery-making obsessed, that is!).

After lunch came the awards and I can tell you that I now know exactly how Oscar winners feel: the anticipation, the nail-biting wait, the mounting tension and finally the thrill of being recognized by your peers for your achievement. All the entries were displayed at the entrance to the show in beautiful tower display cases that visitors could walk round and I had the added pleasure of seeing the word “winner” displayed next to my earrings.

But it was not just the kudos that went with the title, my prize was a substantial £500 worth of tools and supplies donated by the Shiney Company and it was like all my Christmases had come round at once. They had been very generous and included all sorts of hard to find tools that I had been coveting for a long time. So it has been jewellery-making heaven for me ever since. The prize also includes writing up two projects for the magazine so look out for that in the future.

And the winning entry? Well, it’s my Twirly Whirly Earrings which you will find as a tutorial in the jewellery-making section of the website. They require few tools and are very easy to make so why not have a try yourself?

Martic Jewellery Blog