Tag Archives: wedding jewelry
Inspired by a Celebrity
These two couples are popular celebrities in the Philippines. I will not go through the story on how their “surprise” “mob” wedding came about (just google: Carmina and Zoren wedding), but I will tell you how I came about noticing the beautiful earrings the bride wore.
THE REQUEST
A client approached me in December and asked if I saw the wedding on tv. I said I did not and she told me her sister, who lives in the US saw it. She was getting married in December and wanted a similar pair of earrings to that of Carmina’s (the celebrity).
TIME FRAME
2 weeks. I had about 2 weeks to make this pair. That, plus 2 other weddings I was preparing for. But I will never back out of a challenge. Besides, new supplies and materials just arrived from the mail and they were just sooo perfect to recreate the piece.
DILEMMA
There were no close up photos of the earrings. The closest I got was this photo:
THE PROCESS
The inspiration piece looked like it had a large diamond stud from where a teardrop-shaped dangler hung and from this dangler, a couple of smaller teardrop-shaped danglers also hung.
The ClassicSparklers’ filigree technique was fully used on this piece. All sterling silver where diamond Swarovski faceted bicones were scattered about for that added shine. For that diamond stud, I used faceted Austrian crystals. For the smaller danglers I used sterling silver bezel set cubic zircons.
THE FINAL PRODUCT
If you want us to recreate an inspiration piece for you, leave us a message here or email us at joanne@classicsparklers.com
A Vintage-Gangster Themed Wedding
It took a years’ worth of collaboration between the bride finally complete the collection.
THE REQUESTS
The bride told me the theme was vintage. Black and white, nothing else. There were lots of inspiration photos sent from Norway and Manila through Facebook and email. I guess you can say that the communication and collaboration was through the World Wide Web! (You can’t get more modern than that!)
The final result came to:
9 pairs of earrings for the Maids of Honor, Bridesmaids and Secondary Sponsors
9 pairs of personalized rosaries for the Principal Sponsors
Wedding Cord
Bridal earrings (of course!)
a. The Wedding Cord
I already knew I wanted to use diamonds. And not just crystals or quartz but its what we (customarily) call in the Philippines as “Russian Diamonds”. To combat the price, I had to purchase this a year ahead even if I would work on it a few months before the big day.
My ever reliable supplier had the right size and the right number of diamonds. They were large, about an inch in length. To stay within budget, I used plated sterling silver components to wrap and bind them together.
b. Earrings for the Entourage
Like every wedding I collaborate with, I have to ask what the dresses will be. I want to make sure that the jewelry will work with the dress or gown and not go against it. The bride said that there will be fascinators.
The ladies’ earrings were easier to make. The bride saw a previous filigree design and decided on it right away. It used blackened sterling silver, Austrian crystals and quartz. To make theirs more unique, I made them larger and used rock crystal quartz and larger briolettes. I thought that would be enough for the earrings to stand out even under their fascinators.
c. Primary sponsors’ tokens
The couple wanted this personalized and how much more personal can you get with birthstones! They decided on full length rosaries with beads made of the sponsors’ own birthstone 🙂 Real and natural gemstones were quite pricey a year ago and their prices have not gone much lower. To stay within budget, I used Austrian crystals and wrapped them together with plated sterling silver components. It will not be much noticed but this made them coordinate well with the wedding cord.
d. Bridal earrings
I had no idea of what the bridal gown would be. The bride just told me she wanted a white dangler similar to a previous design that was composed of freshwater pearls and white jade. …. but didn’t want it to be made of pearls. She wanted the white jade faceted briolette to remain. I searched my stock and was happy to have found some white agate sandstone! This little piece of magic had small “sparkles” all over. Again, to make it different from the inspiration, I used Austrian crystals instead of a regular filigree wrapped ear stud. I covered the agate with sterling silver in ClassicSparklers’ traditional nest design and then wrapped the white jade in sterling silver.
THE RESULT:
a. The Wedding Cord
b. The Ladies’ Entourage Earrings
c. The Personalized Tokens of Primary Sponsors
and
d. The Bridal Earrings
Each piece came with their own Certificate of Authenticity which describes the work process and the meaning between each component.
Should you want a unique wedding experience by gifting your dear participants with something as extraordinary as this? Leave us a message her or email us at joanne@classicsparklers.com
P.S.
Click here to see the full collection for the one of a kind wedding
Weddings and More
Sorry for the lack of posts but our December was full of weddings.
Instead of featuring them all in one bulk, I have decided to make a thorough feature in order to explain each and every process of the pieces….especially now since the brides have gave me their permission to post them here 🙂
Stay tuned!
Weddings
The request: 8 silver-filled engraved filigree heart lockets customized with freshwater pearls and birthstone Austrian crystals for the bridesmaids.
ClassicSparklers first started with weddings and 3 years after that, we are still at it!
Weddings are special occasions that are meant to last forever, because yes, I believe that love lasts a lifetime! The sentimental in me is showing. Sorry for that. But nevertheless, everyone wants to remember their wedding forever. So why not make every little thing memorable with little keepsakes the entourage can use during the wedding AND after the wedding 😀
14k gold jewelry, you say? It’s your way of saying “thank you”.
Carollyn will be getting married this May and a month ago she contacted me to create these beauties for her 8 bridesmaids. They’re now all ready to go! I do hope they’ll like it.
Wedding requests such as this instantly come with their own gift boxes and wedding tag so all you brides got to do is hand them over to your lovely bridesmaids!
I welcome any inquiries at thedesigner@classicsparklers.com or leave a message in Facebook.
I look forward to helping you make your wedding the best and most memorable moment in your life.
UPDATE (May 9, 2012):
A message from Carol:
The Things I Do for the Things I Love to Do
Stayed up ’til 4am this morning. If the husband did not convince (read: force) me to go to bed, I’d be probably wake up until now.
Nevertheless, I surprisingly woke up after 5 hours without feeling any grogginess and finally completed the new set of orders 🙂
Here they are for your viewing pleasure:
All About Diamonds
Image via Wikipedia
But not The diamonds. I’m referring to my current obsession with Herkimer diamonds.
Herkimer diamonds is the generic term for double terminated crystal quartz that were first discovered among the exposed outcrops of clolostone located in Herkimer, New York. The stone’s diamond-shaped appearance are natural faces. This means that the facets appear to have been cut but in reality, the facets were made by nature itself. This becomes possible with a high percentage of the stone’s unimpeded growth.
In the next post, I will show you photos of what these diamonds look like and how I have interpreted them and incorporated them in my designs.
Stay tuned!
Sugar Plum
Turquoise originality needle wrapped in 10k solid gold wire.
The needles hang from 14k solid gold ear hooks with cubic zirconia focal in the most brilliant amethyst color.
Drop from top to bottom is 2 inches long.
Dangle earrings that is organic in construction but elegant and classic. The design makes it wearable during the day, while the cubic zirconia makes it formal to wear at night.
Now available in my shop.
Louise necklace
A special request came in about a month ago.
Inspite of the hard work it took, I loved the idea and the outcome so much that I decided to include it in my shop! I’d like to introduce everyone to the “Louise” necklace. Two strands of large freshwater pearls are handlinked with 10k solid gold wire. To make it more versatile, I included a detachable brooch.
This elegant old-world inspired necklace is now available.
I’d be very happy to have one crafted in a different color or in sterling silver. Please leave a message and lets talk 🙂
Rock Crystal Quartz
Rock crystal is the name given to all clear colorless quartz and is the transparent variety of the silica mineral quartz that is valued for its clarity and total lack of colour or flaws. Vessels and spheres have been carved from large crystals since ancient times, and the application of the word crystal to fine glassware derives from this practice. Rock crystal formerly was used extensively as a gemstone (usually brilliant-cut), and although the resemblance to diamond is remote, the widespread use of colourless quartz in jewelry gave rise to the use of the word diamond …
Rock crystal is an alternate and traditional birthstone for the month of April.
My fascination for this stone lead me to create jewelry that mimics as well as make the most out of its sparkly beauty!
All available now in my shop 🙂
classicsparklers.com 