We recently re-designed our very useful tulip crimp ends to have more compact hooks and cleaner lines, and now they’re also available in sterling vermeil! The new sterling vermeil crimp ends have the same rich 24K satin finish as the rest of our gold plate items. This is exciting news because now it’s just as easy to create jewelry combining silk cords and deer hide lace with gold plate as it is with silver. Simply crimp the gold plated tulip crimp ends onto the silk or leather, just as it’s done with the silver versions. Voila - an easy, elegant way to finish a necklace with a gold plate pendant strung on a vibrant silk cord!
Tip: after the end knot is inserted into the tulip cup, pinch two petals together a little bit, then the other two, then back to the first two, etc. until you’ve closed the tulip as tight as possible. If the first two petals are closed completely in the first pinch, there is no space left for the other two petals to neatly fit into the tulip when they’re pinched closed.
New gold plate tulip end caps neatly finish deerhide leather cord.
This gold plate tulip end crimp has a hook and eye built in - so easy to complete a necklace!
We are all so excited about the new silver pinch bails that arrived in our office last week! Pinch bails have been on our to-do design list for years. With so many sizes and shapes of pendants that require pinch bails, we were overwhelmed with the wide variety of possible shapes and sizes and so pinch bails we continuously pushed to the back burner. However, after what seemed like the hundredth request, we acknowledged that it was time to get to work!
Our new pinch bails address one of the main issues we found in existing pinch bails: after the bail was on the pendant, the pendant hole was still visible which created a messy, incomplete look. Our pinch bails are designed so that the decorative pattern hides the hole on the pendant. The finished piece looks clean, complete and professional.
Please see our classroom instructions on how to pinch the bails so that the inside prongs are as flush as possible, ensuring a tight fit on the pendant. The correct plier position for best results is a little counter-intuitive.
Testing new pinch bails on a variety of pendants.
Pinch bail on a carved Lilly Pilly pendant
The new sterling silver woodland animal charm collection has been continuing to grow here at Nina Designs. Our sterling silver squirrel, hedgehog, owl, and bunny charms scamper and romp in my day-dreams while I work. I have been sketching images of squirrels stashing the tasty fruits of their labor, little hedgehogs peeking out between flower petals and sweet bunny rabbits feasting in a garden. But upon the arrival of our new textured tree branch jewelry links in 4 different sizes (and one knock out center piece!), my focus shifted immediately to the sterling silver owl….
I wanted to create a simple necklace that illustrated my dainty owl friend coming out from her little hollowed-tree home. I contemplated which size link to use for my necklace, and based on the proportions of the owl, decided to go with the smallest branch link. Next I combined our Saturn Chain and my favorite green Idocrase rondelles. These elements added color and texture for added depth to the design. By combining all of these sterling silver forest-inspired jewelry components, I think my necklace makes the perfect snapshot of a sweet owl sitting outside of her home.
Home Sweet Home Necklace
Whoo's there?
Designing New Silver Pendants and Charms has been front and center this week. New Styles were pushed to the back burner during our busy holiday season, but this week, it was our primary focus. We’re working on a new dog bone charm that is stamp-able, a bicycle charm, a lucky elephant, and most exciting, horses! Horses have been on our to-do list for a few months now, both requested by customers and by our staff.
Straight from a little girl's dream - a beautiful white horse.
As with many young girls, I had a love affair with horses. I read books about horses (The Black Stallion series, Misty of Chincoteague, National Velvet, etc.); I watched horses on TV (Olympic Equestrian events); I leased a horse named “Angel” with money I made from my paper route; I read the newspaper classified section “horses for sale” and fantasized about owning my own horse; I drew pictures of horses; and one of my biggest scars is the result of a horse fall.
Imagine my delight this week when it was my job to draw horses! Back when I was a child little did I dream that drawing horses could be part of a career! I’m often amazed at how life comes full circle in many unexpected ways. Thank you, our customers, for your support of Nina Designs. It is our goal to spark your creativity with new, exciting findings so that you can bring beautiful jewelry to life.
We’re thrilled to introduce a new collection of Silver Pendants and links inspired by Rene Lalique. Rene Lalique was an Art Nouveau jewelry designer and glass artist from Paris who worked at the turn of the 20th century. His jewelry designs were pivotal in the shift away from precious gemstones and towards more realistic, natural forms based on close observation of nature. His work features plants, flowers, flowing lines and mysterious gemstones such as opal and turquoise.
A recent exhibit at the Legion of Honor showcased the works of Lalique, Tiffany and Faberge. Lalique’s jewelry is incredible: inspired designs, amazing workmanship, and so much emotion in each piece. Each item was a masterpiece, and yet around the corner would be an even more transcendent pendant or brooch, with poppies so exquisite they seem alive, carved horn birds about to fly out of the case, and miniature human figures literally climbing out of the jewelry. We left the exhibit stunned, saturated with beauty and totally enthralled with Rene Lalique.
These silver pendants and links are based on the roots of an ancient pine grove in one of Lalique’s fabulous pendants. Their knobby, gnarly forms will bring an organic, earthy feel to your creations. They will be available in mid-January.
Knobby twisted branch silver pendant and links will add an earthy feel to your jewely designs.
Winter Pines pendant by Rene Lalique
During a recent design session, bird cage silver pendants seemed to flow from our pencils! A loose sketch of a bird on a perch quickly became a chandelier component, with open leaves from which to hang dangles. We love the arabesque curves of our lotus petal hoops, so we used the same lines to create a charming onion-topped cage. The larger version birdcage will be great for layering (imagine a gold plated swallow hanging in front!), and the smaller one contains a little songbird. Finally, the idea of a pagoda inspired a decorative cage with a cutout bird on a swooping branch. It’s always a gift when the creative muse decides to visit – we hope you enjoy these birdcages as much as we enjoyed designing them! We expect these bird cages the office in early November.
Use bird cages to tell a story with your jewelry creations.
Pandora™ style customizable bracelets and necklaces created with unique “moment” beads are the latest trend sweeping the jewelry world. In Style magazine has ads from Pandora™, Troll™ and Chamilia™ featuring beads to commemorate memorable events and milestones; Italian Vogue Jewelery has ads from Italian companies Tedora™, Piroppo™ and MaVi™ featuring “celebration” beads; and Elle Magazine has a four page promotional spread of Pandora™ customizable jewelry.
We couldn’t be more thrilled with this trend! It has provided an opportunity for us to select some of our most special beads and rework them with larger holes so they can easily slide onto Pandora™ style chain, leather or silk cord. The timing is great: over the last few years, we’ve seen a decline in bead purchases as interest has shifted towards pendants and charms. While we have become accustomed to items trending in and out, it was especially disappointing to see the beads diminish in popularity because beads are the ideal canvas for highlighting the meticulous and precise craftsmanship of the Balinese silversmiths. These gorgeous new large hole “slider” beads are a great way to bring the incredible skill of the Balinese silversmiths back to the forefront. Click here to see our entire collection of large hole slider beads. Gold plate versions of some of these beads will be available shortly.
Gorgeous large hole slider beads slide easily onto chain, leather or silk cords.
Create your unique Pandora™ style bracelet with these large hole slider beads.
Here at Nina Designs, we love our gold plate sterling vermeil style charms, pendants and clasps. We have been offering gold vermeil style items for over 15 years, but in the last 3 years, gold plate has grown in popularity. Many of our customers are requesting additional details on our plating process. Here is more specific information about our gold plate vermeil style collection.
It is standard practice in the Fashion Press to refer to gold plate over sterling as Vermeil, to distinguish it from gold plate over base metal. This is a useful distinction. However, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) defines Vermeil as 100 micro inches (2.5 microns) of plating over sterling silver. Most gold plated jewelry has a thin wash of as little as 1 micro inch (.025 microns). Our gold plate is 40 TIMES as thick, at 40 micro inches (1 micron). We find this thickness extremely durable and more affordable than the 100 micro inches mandated by the FTC to legally label products Vermeil. Therefore, we will refer to our products as Vermeil Style instead of Vermeil.
For our Vermeil Style gold plate, we use gem quality plating that is 40 micro inches (1 micron) thick and very, very reliable. Our regularly stocked gold plate has a satin finish with 24 karat color. The electroplating process uses 98.5% pure gold. There is a fine layer of Nickel between the silver and the gold to prevent the silver from migrating through the gold to the surface. The Nickel layer greatly increases the longevity and durability of the gold plate. What do you think of our gold plate vermeil style collection?
Sterling Vermeil Style buddhas add a warm elegance to these earrings.
Sterlin Vermeil style Chrysanthemum pendant.
Designing silver pendants occasionally requires unstructured “doodle” or play time. When playing or “doodling around”, ideas can surface that are normally repressed during more structured activities. We recently spent some time playing with our marquis links. Our organic bubbles collection had been successful, and since the marquis links are in the same design family, we hoped there was some potential for putting together a similar marquis-shaped collection.
The marquis links are more challenging that the circle links: the longer lines increase the dimensions and the pointed ends dictate the overall shape. We started with little piles of the three marquis link sizes, and then began laying them out on the desktop in different combinations. Changing the size of one of the links in a cluster changed the overall look. We had to be careful not to sneeze or we’d lose our “perfect” layout! After we settled on a few possibilities for silver pendant clusters, we taped them down to tracing paper. This allowed us to poke holes in the paper and hang the clusters from different points to make sure we liked the way they draped.
We’re pleased with the final results and the variety of creative ways the links can be used: don’t feel limited by the jump ring placement! What techniques do you use to free your mind so that inspiration can bubble to the surface?
After playing with the marquis links, these are the final marquis cluster silver pendants.
Lotus marquis cluster silver pendant.
Inspired by miniature hedgehog figurines unearthed from Egyptian tombs, these new hedgehog silver charms are adorable! This past fall, Nina and I were at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Many years ago when Nina was just starting her jewelry findings company, she would go to the Met and sketch clasps on display from ancient Greece and Rome. These sketches were the inspiration the Balinese silversmiths used to make some of the first clasps in the Nina Designs collection.
On our recent visit, it was the tiny Egyptian hedgehog figurines that captured my fancy. Further research reveals that in Egyptian mythology, hedgehogs were protective talismans as they attacked “bad” animals such as snakes. They could survive in the desert, lending them further protective qualities.
In Celtic lore, the hedgehog is a symbol of rejuvenation and spring. When the hedgehog is happy and safe, its needles are relaxed. When frightened, the animal turns into a prickly ball, teaching us to be less defensive in order to enjoy and appreciate life more.
These little hedgehogs are darling and will be available towards the end of September.
When relaxed, the hedgehog is soft and touchable.
So adorable, these little hedgehog charms will be available in late September.