28th February 2008 - Back to work! - Day of The Dead Necklace

Haven't been blogging for a few days as I have had friends from Canada visiting - very sad to see them leave - the time went far too quickly, but we had such fun! But it's back to work now. I have a long list of commissioned pieces to make - a funky cat charm necklace / a tattooed lady charm bracelet / a Frida Kahlo charm bracelet / an Oscar Night pearls and crystal necklace and bracelet / a 1970's Glam Rock charm bracelet ... and more! My wholesale customers have placed orders too so I am very busy. Thank goodness! Must get round to listing some new pieces on my own website too - Leandra Holder. I am very much still in the Rock Chick mode, but have also designed some really fresh and pretty summer flower bracelets that will be feminine but funky. Above you will see one of my hand painted skulls Day of The Dead necklaces.

20th February 2008 - Retro Styling Crystal Necklace and Summer Flowers Lucite Charm Bracelet

Busy, busy, busy at the moment - but above you will see two of my latest creations. The retro styling necklace is made from pale rose pink Preciosa crystals. The summer flowers bracelet is made from a mixture of vintage Lucite and new plastic flowers, plus some bright Preciosa crystals.

18th February 2008 - tattoo arm earrings

I've been at college all day today as I am doing a ceramics and glass course. One of the pieces I was working on today was casting some small arms in porcelain slip that I intend to make into earrings again. I have made a pair of these before and after a bisque firing I painted them flesh colour and then decoupaged some tattoos onto them before varnishing. I sold the first pair to a romantic man who bought them for his girlfriend for Valentine's Day. But I love them so much that I just have to make another pair! I never make exactly the same piece twice - as it would bore me to tears - so these will have different tattoos on them. The pair that you see above are the first pair I made last June (2007) I sell these for £50.00. Tomorrow I am working on my super-lamb-banana designs, I'll let you know how I get on with it. A lot of my friends are working on the same project and it's been fun seeing them today and bouncing ideas off one another. Can't wait to see what they all create!

February 17th 2008 - Taking Photos and Creating

Today I am taking photos of my latest jewellery creations, ready to put them on my website Leandra Holder. THEN I plan to start designing my lambanana for a competition for Liverpool's Year of Culture. Most people, in the UK, will have heard of and seen the amazing and big super-lamb-banana sculpture. To celebrate the year of culture Liverpool are planning lots of replicas of this fun sculpture to be dotted around the city centre - and people/artists are invited to submit designs for decorated lamb-bananas! So I'm giving it a go! I have three ideas I am planning to explore - I'll let you know how I get on. Above is one of my previous jewellery creations called Hooray For Bollywood!.

February 16th - Retro Crystal Necklace

The Rock Chick charm bracelet I was making yesterday is almost finished - I just have to get some silver hearts engraved with a special message for the customer who commissioned the piece, and it is done. Today I am working on a dangling crystals necklace - very retro / vintage styling - but with an edgy contemporary twist. I'm using pale rose 8mm Preciosa crystals mixed with silver tulip shaped bead caps - very 1950s feel to this one. Of course once photos are taken (and once my customer's wife has received her surprise!) I will post photos on here for you to see. In the meantime here's a selection of recent creations by Leandra Holder Jewellery (me!) Please respect my copyright on all my designs / photographs and text - I am a member of ACID (anti-copying in design) - if you would like to use a photo in the press or even in your own blog -then just contact me and ask.

15th February 2008 - Rock Chick Charm Bracelets

Above photo is courtesy of The Manchester Evening News - the photographer is Mark Waugh. Thank you for their kind permission to use this. Copyright remains with them.

Yes, that's me wearing one of my Day of The Dead hand carved necklaces! This was inspired by the annual Mexican festival of The Day of The Dead.

FRIDAY 15th FEBRUARY 2008 - Today I am working on a commissioned piece - a fabulous Rock Chick charm bracelet that has tattoo hearts as the main theme. It is full of sparkly Swarovski crystal charms - including a fab rhinestone guitar; long tendrils of vintage Swarovski jet and crystal beads; lots of silver music themed charms; and some blood red vintage rose charms ... it's a stunner.