Bellamoon Jewels

I’ve had a nice little bit of promotion hit the Internet today, with a feature appearing on a lovely Australian jewellery maker’s blog.  Samara is the person behind Maddabling, and she’s written her Friday post all about Bella Moon – or more specifically – me, Marti Cuatt.

I’ve been working with Samara for a couple of weeks now, answering questions and writing about myself for this feature.  She’s been so supportive and has enjoyed my story (and work) enough to go ahead and publish the bio, with photographs of my work.  I’m honoured.  I’m worthy.

So without further adieu, dear readers, why not pop across to Samara’s blog and have a read.

A while ago I wrote about the inspiration I gain from walking on my local beaches.  On my walks I gather pebbles and shells and other interesting bits and pieces that perhaps one day I’ll use for, or incorporate into, jewellery.

Today I worked with metal clay and made three pendants – one using a mould I made from one of these shells gathered from a local beach.

This is the shell – you can see there’s still some silicone stuck to it:

The inspiration

I used the end of the shell to press into silicone and ended up with this mould:

The end of the shell in silicone

The silver clay was pressed into the mould, then popped out and dried on a sort of dome shape, before being sanded to smooth out the edges, fired and blackened.  I actually made two shells, but one has fine cracks through it.  I’m thinking of selling it as a second as it’s still really interesting and quite sturdy.

The two shell pendants

So this shell has been on an adventure and will soon be worn around someone’s neck.

Three stages of a pendant

Here’s another silver clay pendant I made today, also available on my Etsy store.

It’s kind of an off-centre pseudo retro pendant, once again oxidised and finished with a satin buff.  It’s entirely unique – just like the person who’ll one day wear it.

Until next time, peace and love xx

I returned home from Melbourne on Tuesday evening (where I attended a wedding and shopped for supplies) and set to work on Wednesday pricing and photographing jewellery I’ve recently completed.

I photographed my new Akoya pearl set first (I decided to sell it as a set because I have limited stock of Akoya pearls and they are just made for each other) and put it straight up on my Etsy store.

Japanese Akoya pearls and sterling silver necklace and earring set

It was certainly very good timing, as within a few hours of listing this set it sold to a woman in Melbourne who knew my shop in Sydney Road and who has purchased Bella Moon jewellery in the past.

Apparently she’d been watching my Etsy store in the hope of purchasing a gift for a friend’s upcoming birthday.  When she saw this set it was just what she’d been looking for and bought it on the spot.

Lovely black Akoya pearls on sterling silver leverbacks

The beauty of how this first sale happened is, for me, the fact that she is a former customer who’s returned, albeit online and not off the street.  Either way, return business is an extremely positive sign.

The item was posted to her within 24 hours, so hopefully she’ll be very happy with it.

Japanese Akoya pearl tin cup necklace on sterling silver