Norwegian Jewels

I first came across Wenche's beautiful jewellery through Lima Bead's Design Gallery. She has a real eye for colour and bead combinations and uses her talent to produce stunning necklaces and bracelets from her home in Norway.

Meet ......... Wenche Brennbakk
My name is Wenche Brennbakk and I live with my two girls and my husband in a small city close to the Artic circle in the northern part of Norway. During the day I work full time as an engineer with environmental issues, but during my sparetime I love to work with my beads making jewellery, and I do it as often as I can. I have spent many late night hours creating new bracelets or necklaces, and it seems like I don't need to sleep when I do that! I really enjoy it!

                       Carnelia




                      Snakeskin
                     
What started your interest in jewellery making?
I have always loved jewellery, and as a young girl I used to work in a jewellery store. I think my eyes have been wide open for nice jewellery all my life, and when I discovered online shops that could give me the materials I wanted, it became possible to start making some myself.

How would you describe your style? What influences and inspires your designs?
It's difficult to describe, I think. The pieces I make and the ones I like best myself are in a way minimalistic and a bit chunky, but not always. I try to make different styles and have new ideas all the time, and the most important thing for me is to make a nice mix of beads, shapes and colours.

                  Murano

                                                                                      Amazonas                                                                                                                                               

                      
Why did you decide to start selling online?
In the beginning I sold my jewellery to family, friends and collegues. After a while I started thinking about creating a website, and when some of my friends asked for it I decided to do it. I made my Norwegian website Wenche Design and now I also have an Etsy shop Wemai1510 for foreign customers.

Do you sell anywhere else? 
Private shows so far. I think I will try some craft fairs too, but we don't have many of those here where I live.

                                          Aqua

One of your necklaces was recently featured in an advert for Lima Beads. How did this come about?
I posted some designs in the Design Gallery on Lima Beads website, and then suddenly they picked one of my necklaces for their new advert. Yes, that was fun and a great surprise!

Where do you buy your materials? Are there many online and local bead stores in Norway?
I buy almost everything online, from foreign shops. There are some Norwegian shops online, but they are not very good. The local bead stores in the biggest cities in Norway are not bad, but they are very expensive and they don't have much of the materials I like best.

Green Hearts

What is your favourite material to work with?
I love semi-precious stones, freshwater pearls and silver. These are my favorite materials. I also like to mix these materials with some nice lampwork beads.

What would you like to achieve with your jewellery this year?
It would be nice to sell to customers outside Norway, and I also hope I will have one of my designs featured in a beading magazine.

White & Purple

Which celebrity would you like to see wearing a piece of your jewellery?
That must be one of the prettiest actresses I know of - Kate Winslet, and I think it has to be one of my bracelets on her wrist!

       
          Eggs In The Nest

                                                        Orange & Creme

Tusen Takk Wenche!

I'd like to thank Wenche for doing this interview and for answering my questions in English! I wish my Norwegian was as good! The Norwegian above means thank you very much and I very skillfully copied and pasted it from a translation site :D

To see more of Wenche's jewellery visit Wenche's Etsy shop Wemai1510

Wenche's Norwegian website ~ Wenche Design 

Folksy Friday Featured Seller

Today's Folksy Friday is slightly different ~ I've decided to feature the work of one Folksy shop which this week is ..............

Millicent!

Folksy shop Millicent is run by Janet Allinson from Lincolnshire and is named after her daughter Milly. Janet worked as a reporter for her local paper for 17 years before returning to her art roots. She got into recycling in 2006 (when her husband began hiding his shirts!) and regularly scours her local charity shops for interesting materials, particularly spots and stripes.

Bag Tag

Once her finds have been washed Janet is ready to start creating her bright and colourful paperweights, fridge magnets, tags, pencil cases, hangers and bookmarks. Each piece is unique and evolves in it's own way. It was her very cute mouse paperweights that made me stop and investigate her shop! 

Retro Mouse Paperweight

Folk Bird Hanger

Blackboard Bookmark

Fi-Fi Fridge Magnet

Felt Cone Hanger

Heavy Heart Paperweight

For more very cute and well made items, including Elvis Fan and Tubby Terrier fridge magnets, not to mention a French Onion Seller, pop into Millicent!

I love this Cat Paperweight!

Photos - Still Searching . . . . . . . . .

.....for the perfect background.

A while ago I decided that my white backgrounds were boring so decided to try something different. I tried bright orange (see example in my Etsy shop in sidebar), really liked it for a few days then decided that it was a bit much. So I then thought I'd try backgrounds in other colours, maybe a bit subtler.......... I now possess backgrounds in all colours and patterns imaginable but STILL I'm not happy with my photos!

The only thing for it was to consult the Etsy forums where there are lots of threads about photographing jewellery ~ we all obviously think alike! After reading through several the general consensus about backgrounds seemed to be GREY. Yes, grey is apparently the colour to go for. Here's a photo of my earrings using a grey background

I'm not sure about it, it seems a bit drab because of the grey! I know it can depend on the colour of the beads but it still looks a bit dull to me. I've seen so many gorgeous photos of jewellery on Etsy using grey - maybe it's the wrong shade!

I then tried a more neutral background ~ a lightish brown ........

But it still looks drab! Maybe I'm just so used to using white that anything else is going to look wrong!

Here's some copper earrings I used a white background for...

I think these look better although the photo isn't that sharp ~ been fiddling about with my camera settings too much which can affect the sharpness! I've since reset them all back to "normal" so will see if that has any effect next time I use it.

After experimenting I've come to the conclusion that white is best for me, although I may use another light shade if it fits the colour of the beads!

Anyone want a big pile of background papers?? 

If you have any tips or advice please feel free to let me know!

New Beads!

The beads I ordered from Lima Beads last Sunday arrived today ~ not bad going, less than a week from the States!

Lima Beads are currently running an Easter Egg Hunt on their site. They've hidden 100 eggs all over the place (and I mean all over the place!) The first 10 people that find all 100 are entered into a draw for a $250 Gift Certificate. The competition closes today (4 April).
However, there are bonuses along the way ~ 15% off your next order when you find 10 eggs, free beads when you find 25 eggs and more free beads when you find 50 eggs. I managed to find 52 eggs then realized I was becoming a bit obssessed so stopped there and made use of my 15% discount!

Here's what I ordered

10mm Mystic Blue Feldspath rounds

10mm Synthetic Aquamarine rounds (I think that means glass!)

The Mystic Blue Feldspath drop was a freebie!

10mm Red Coral Rounds

6mm Green Impression Jasper Rounds

3mm Red Coral Rounds ~ another freebie!

I also bought some Lepidolite coins ~ deep purple with sparkles but forgot to photograph them.

I'm going to start making some earrings with them later today I hope, some fairly simple designs to start with which I will post on here when they're done!

*Note to self ~ Do NOT leave steel shot from my tumbler on a teatowel to dry on the floor as Eddie my cat WILL think what a fantastic game is it to flick said teatowel and almost every single piece of shot as far as he possibly can. I knew it would happen but I still did it!

Folksy Friday ~ It's Got To be Chocolate!

My Folksy pick this week just HAD to be........

 CHOCOLATE!

~♥ ENJOY!! ♥~

Chocolate Cake Coin Purse

Dinky Daisy

Chocolate Mocha Bubbles Pearl Bracelet

AMI Designs

Chocolate Hot Water Bottle Cover

Amanda Sainsbury

Galaxy Of Chocolate Wedding Tree Bouquet

jamball

Chocolate Cupcake Card

Snowdon

Chocolate Lollipop Cushion

BLONDEDESIGN

♥ Some of these Folksy shops are familiar to me, some aren't, but they are all selling the most beautiful, well made, handcrafted items you could find anywhere ♥

~♥ Take a look ♥~

And one last chocolate photo just for the hell of it!

Meet......Linda Jones Jewellery Designer & Author

*Meet ...............Linda Jones

A UK Jewellery designer, author of several jewellery books and an instructional DVD, and regular contributor to Make Jewellery and Step By Step Wire magazines.

I own one of Linda's wirework jewellery books so was thrilled to discover she had recently started her blog Wireworkers Guild.

She very kindly featured me and my jewellery on it recently here and agreed to do on interview for me in return...........

If like me, you'd love to have a piece of your jewellery featured in a magazine, read on for Linda's tips on how to do it..........

Amonite Brooch

How long have you been making jewellery and what made you start? 

I’ve been making jewellery for about 20 years. It’s a long story and I will try to condense it as best I can … I have always been creative, making and fiddling with all sorts of crafts from a very young age: painting, drawing, sewing … and I’ve studied textile batik making and copper tooling in Indonesia in my gap year when I left school and following that, a Foundation Art Course at Canterbury Art College specializing in Theatre Design … but then, reality hit and I fell in love, got, married and needed to earn a living … so it was first catering and then admin. office job for the next 8 years … until I got serious creative withdrawal symptoms – a craving to do something artistic – so I enrolled at the Sir John Cass Jewellery College (now called the London Metropolitan University in Whitechapel, London and did a City & Guilds in jewellery making, specializing in enamelling, which led on to 1 year of an HND course in metalwork as a maturing student of 30!

Orbital 

What made you concentrate on wirework jewellery?

Wirework choose me, rather than the other way round! It was a case of survival at the time, as sadly, my marriage broke down and I was left looking after 2 small kids of 6 and 4 years old as a single mum. Therefore to ‘make ends meet’ I had to either go back to office work or try my hand at selling my jewellery, which up to this time was much more of a hobby between looking after the children. I decided to give selling my jewellery a go, as it had become an all consuming passion and I got an agent and was relatively successful selling my photo-etched, mixed metal pieces in shops and galleries around UK , especially London. However, the mark-up was high and I could see that I could never make enough profit for the all the time and effort I put in! That’s when I decided to teach – and wirework was the natural answer, as I had fallen in love with metalwork! Solderless wirework did not involve investing in expensive tools and equipment and was portable … and I had always ‘played’ with beads. So I approached my local arts authority and managed to secure a grant to set up ‘Creative Wire & Bead Jewellery’ Classes at my local adult education centre (I should mention, that I had previous experience of teaching Enamelling, which had provided me some confidence to face the public). These classes grew in popularity and everything else has evolved from this beginning…

Metalwork Jewellery

You are the author of several wirework jewellery books and frequently contribute jewellery projects to magazines in the UK and America. Was this hard to achieve?
I have just been very lucky and began designing wirework jewellery before the market became over-saturated. I was spotted by my publisher, 7 year’s ago, when I was demonstrating and teaching at Art in Action Craft event (Oxford) when wirework was not particularly popular in the UK, just in Canada and the U.S. so my designs stood out – however, people still want to buy and make unique, original pieces to complement their personality and style. My 6th book : ‘Making Beautiful Bead & Wire Jewellery’ is out this year around July (but can be pre-ordered on ‘Amazon’ from April onwards). I have had many projects featured in magazines over the years because I love sharing my designs: it’s a case of being passionate about what I do and trying to pass that on. The fact that I teach, has always challenged me to thinking of new ways of working with wire and stretched my imagination.

Autumnal Garden

What advice would you give to anyone wanting to submit projects/articles about their jewellery to magazines?
If I can give any advice to designing for magazines – it’s, just to give it a try … and keep trying until you get something accepted. My personal motto is: ‘Perserverance Pays’! Magazines want to see jewellery that ‘jumps out of the page’ – they love colour and boldness, so that the pieces photograph well and stand out. Find the editor’s name on their website, or inside cover of the mag and email one or two images of suggested contributions … and then just sit back and hope they will reply… It’s a good way of promoting yourself and getting publicity. The pay is not brilliant, but having your pieces printed in glossy techni-colour is very self-satisfying!

Eastern Delight

If you weren't a jewellery designer, teacher and author what would you do?
I would have always done something creative and I’ve been incredibly lucky to be able to follow my heart and fulfill my dreams. I never planned to teach or write books, that has just evolved naturally and gradually as a way of passing on my passion to others around me.

Red Berries

*You can see more of Linda's work and information on classes at her website ~ Wire Jewellery 

Blue Allsorts

I'd like to thank Linda for letting us know a bit more about herself and the story behind her success 

Earrings Giveaway Winner!

And the winner is............................... using a random number generator.......................

Charlotte Hupfield!

Well done Charlotte!

I hope you enjoy wearing your new earrings!

Blog Nightmares And Don't Forget!

I decided last night to change my blog template as the flowers in the border had mysteriously vanished. I've searched for one that's "just right" and spent most of the day faffing about with changing templates. They either a) didn't work with blogger  b)
looked nice on the site but horrible on my blog or c) made my computer freeze at which point I felt like screaming!
In the end I found this background which I like but had hoped I could change the page colour as I don't like the white but I can't using blogger. Aaarghh!! It will no doubt change again in a couple of days when I've found the "perfect" background. Here's hoping :D

Don't forget to enter my Giveaway for these Sterling Silver and Lampwork earrings!

The winner will be chosen tomorrow!

Click here to leave a comment!
Not sure if this photo is showing, there seems to be a problem which rounds off my blogging day perfectly!
You can see a photo of the earrings when you click the link above

Do You Enjoy Writing?

IndieSmiles is looking for columnists from Folksy and ArtFire to write articles in return for a free shop advertisement on the IndieSmiles site!

If you're interested please visit the IndieSmiles blog here (you will need to sign up) and read the columnists guidelines. If you'd like to have a go either leave a comment here with your email address or contact Sue at indiesmiles@gmail.com

So if you think you'd enjoy writing about all things handcrafted and selling online why not give it a try!

Wireworkers Guild ~ New Jewellery Blog

The Wireworkers Guild is a new blog set up by Linda Jones, author of several jewellery making books, teacher and regular contributor to Make Jewellery and Step By Step Wire magazines.

Linda has very kindly featured me and my jewellery in a mini interview! Even more exciting ~ Linda has agreed to do a mini interview for me which I will post in the very near future!

They're here!

Several nice things have happened this week ~ I reached 50 sales in my Folksy shop, I decided to make my life easier by buying a jewellery tumbler AND I won a blog giveaway for a gorgeous keyring from Dinky Daisy! 

The tumbler arrived a couple of days ago and it's fab!

It will save me an awful lot of time and brings my jewellery up to a lovely shine :D

The print I ordered from Folksy shop Sascalia also turned up yesterday and it's as beautiful in real life as it looks on the screen

And the very cute stickers I ordered from Moo are here too

They're so sweet!