Showing posts with label Jill MacKay. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jill MacKay. Show all posts

Soho Nights

November 18, 2009






So much for making charm bracelets......I don't know why but I've really got the urge to create necklaces these days.  This one came out of nowhere, and I love it.  Once again, my love of vintage-inspired jewelry reveals itself. As well as my unabashed love of pearls.   

It's 24" long, toggled.  I alternated glass pearls, citrine glass beads and silver-wire-mesh-coated citrine glass beads.  I added a Jill MacKay silver sphere pendant with sparkling gems as the focal point of the piece.  I really wish that I could take a better picture so that you can truly appreciate the necklace.  One of these days in my spare time (ha) I'll learn how to take a great blog photo with my fancy Sony digital camera.  I promise. 

I'm not sure what will happen next, but when the muse strikes again I'll be sure to post whatever I create.  And hopefully by then I'll be a picture-taking diva as well.  Ciao for now.

"A pearl is a beautiful thing that is produced by an injured life.  It is the tear [that results] from the injury of the oyster.  The treasure of our being in this world is also produced by an injured life.  If we had not been wounded, if we had not been injured, then we will not produce the pearl."
-Stephan Hoeller 
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Time to Tassle

October 3, 2009


Ok, so here's the tassle necklace I just finished.  I based the design on a ready-made one I found at Michael's Crafts. The round silver pendant on the left is from Jill MacKay's collection.  I added black and white pearls and black and silver beads to round it out.  It looks kind of bulky in the picture but it's actually quite a light and delicate piece.  I love wearing it with turtlenecks.  It looks great with turtlenecks or any collared shirt for that matter (especially fitted button-down oxfords left open at the top -- the tassle hangs beautifully over the outside of the shirt).  I'm loving wearing it and plan on making quite a few more with other Jill MacKay pendants combined with silver and pearls.

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Silver Fantasy?

October 2, 2009

Tonight I found a great site for sterling silver charms- www.silverfantasy.com. They have a varied selection of silver charms at very reasonable prices.  I have to confess that I love it not only for its diversity of charms, but also for the fact that it carries Irish dancer charms, Irish dance soft shoe charms and other celtic-themed pretty cool charms.  I realize that these charms only appeal to a small section of the charm bracelet-making population, but I was psyched to find them.  I'm hoping that there are other feisanna mamas out there who'll be interested in buying an Irish dance charm bracelet.  My girls' next feis is the Mullane-Healy-O'Brien Halloween Feis in Chicago which takes place on (you guessed it) Halloween.  They get to wear costumes!  It's a rare occasion that they are allowed to dance in anything other than their Irish dance dresses.  It should be fun.

Now on to more mainstream topics......There is a jewelry designer I love named Jill MacKay.  She has a collection out there that is distributed by Darice, Inc. and is sold (I believe) exclusively by Michael's.  It's called (surprise) The Jill MacKay Collection.  It consists of sterling silver plated adornments as well as leather look necklaces ripe for adding her signature pendants onto them.  I checked with the Darice website and they only sell her items wholesale -- i.e., to Michael's.  So it looks as though we're limited to buying her designs through retail.  They were inexpensive, costing around $4.00 a piece.

It's too late to add a photo tonight (they haven't been put onto the computer yet).  But I will add a photo tomorrow of a necklace I've designed that is grounded in Jill MacKay's stuff.  It's a tassle necklace (that's what I call it) and I really love it.  Any designers you really love?  Let me know so that I can check them out.  Well, Irish dance class comes early on Saturday mornings.......so ciao for now.              
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