Jewelry special!

[omshanti]

For the next week (until November 16, anyway) I'm running a special on my jewelry!

Buy any piece of my jewelry, enter code AUTUMN-DW when you check out, and you get any single bath and body item free! Just let me know which one you want.

And I'm posting lots of new jewelry over the next week, so there'll be plenty to choose from. Just watch this space Om Shanti Handcrafts!

This piece is called Slippers of Glass.

"Slippers of glass weren't intended for dancing;
They're all I had to wear.
I did not come for the chance of romancing,
I would not dream to dare.

They tell me that the story's spread
For leagues beyond my door,
And now I share a prince's bed --
I'd once have swept his floor.

Glassmaker's daughter whom nobody wanted,
I only came to dance.
I had been beaten and I had been taunted;
I never had a chance.

They tell me that the story's grown
To something strange and wild.
I never could have guessed or known
I'd bear a prince's child."

It's another Seanan McGuire song -- I've been on a real kick with her music lately, and she's really inspired a lot of jewelry. I figure eventually I should send her some, just out of sheerest gratitude, but I don't want to come across as too fangirl, y'know?

Anyway, gorgeous lampwork glass beads, rock crystal, and tiny garnet beads to set the whole thing off.

Autumn and deepest summer marry in this amber and jade piece.

"When we were children we swore we’d be married,
We ran and we played at the dawn of the year,
But autumn came quickly -- the spring never tarried --
The winter arrived and you buried me here,
Do you know me now, know me oh, know me my dear?
Come and follow me follow me down.

Ours is the union of cycles and seasons,
From planting to harvest, from flower to frost;
We made all our choices, we knew all our reasons,
Each time that you kissed me, I knew I was lost,
All our debts have been paid, and we’ve counted the cost,
Do you know me now, know me oh, know me my dear?
Come and follow me follow me down..."
Follow Me Down, Seanan McGuire

I'm getting more comfortable with working with chips, and I think you can see in this piece. I love how the little goldtone spacers set off each chip and give the whole thing definition. Sometimes chip pieces feel jumbled and cramped to me, and this one wound up light, almost airy -- not intentionally, mind you, I'm still feeling my way into using chips, but intentional or not I'm pretty happy with the way the thing turned out.

Another thing I haven't worked with a lot is pendants, and especially wire-wrapped pendants. I didn't do the wrapping on this one -- it was a gift from a friend, with instructions to 'use it well' -- and it was a good while until I felt comfortable playing with it.

I'm more proud of this piece, then, because it uses chips as well as a pendant. These chips had enough heft that I felt comfortable using them individually this way; other chips I've worked with were small enough I had to use them in groups (you'll see an example of that posted tomorrow). Sodalite chips to go with the sodalite pendant, chrysocolla beads to give it some heft to balance the size of the pendant, and aventurine to set off the green in the chrysocolla. It's called The Light, and one might say it's another sea-piece.

"Cradle of sirens and selkie girls
Rocked in the arms of the tide,
Bower of driftwood and seafoam swirls,
Haven where sea-children hide,

And they're safe and they're warm
In their castles of coral,
Preserved from the storm by the depths of the sea.
They sing through the night
Voices plaintive and choral,
Beseeching the light to return and set darkness to flee..."
The Light, Seanan McGuire

Remember, there's a special all this week at Om Shanti Handcrafts!