Focus on Ocean Jasper Pendant

2008-11-20T19:30:00.003-04:00

Feature Designer

Outi, a Finnish jewelry artisan was one of the earliest designers I featured on this blog. I liked her simple and elegant style of designing jewelry and shared her love of beautiful gemstones. Shown here is one of her many creations - a wire wrapped ocean jasper pendant necklace.

Although I couldn't read a word of Finnish, pictures are worth a thousand words. Her blog, Helmetti and her website show her skilled versatility but above all the quality of her products and attention to detail. Her sites show her preference for clean, uncluttered lines.

What really impressed me in my early days of struggling with jewelry photography, was how well she photographed her work. She is truly an inspiration. As many people have been asking her how she takes her photos, she recently took pictures of her worktable/studio and posted it on her blog and on Flickr.

As you can see below, she has a fantastic worktable as it is right by a window - perfect for jewelry designing and for taking photos on the spot. As I myself learnt the hard way, you don't need a light box. Natural light works very well. Outi has " a pretty decent camera" as she puts it but even a good point and shoot camera works. Just make sure you have the white balance set to daylight and cloudy/indoors.

The camera also must have a macro function for close ups otherwise everything will be fuzzy. If you have a steady hand, you can omit the tripod. I sometimes use a tiny tripod right on the table or brace my elbows against my body. One great tip from Outi is the use of a white background - a folded piece of white paper or card to reflect the outside light. Nothing fancy and minimum effort!

Related Post
13 Things I Learnt About Jewelry Photography
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The Beading Gem's Journal

The Eco Jewelry of Mana Bernandes

2008-11-19T19:50:00.003-04:00

Feature Designer

Mana Bernandes is a Brazilian eco jewelry designer who shows us visually stunning jewelry can be made by using recycled materials. Like I said before, it's not what you use but how you use it that really distinguishes inspirational designs.

She is part of the design collective called TOUCH which is all about "creating hand-made products, rather than mass produced." Hear, hear. The group also says, "Our goal is not only to make products that are beautiful, but good for the environment and those who make them." This gold and black necklace is just gorgeous, reminiscent of Egyptian collars and it was cleverly made from bobby pins!

Tons of used phone cards must get tossed everyday and yet, in this designer's hands, they make colourful "beads" in an illusion style necklace. A great way to reduce landfill waste!

Where Bernandes really stands out in terms of creativity is in her recycled PET jewelry (below) made from beverage and water containers. If I didn't tell you what they were made of, I bet you wouldn't have guessed. She cut up small pieces and built up her clever designs from them. There are Swarovski crystals somewhere but I can't see them. She used long bamboo toothpicks and pearls for her earring design.

Via
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The Beading Gem's Journal