Ethics within Jewellery

The first thing that springs to mind when it comes to ethics and jewellery is the origin of the sone and how it was mined: A blood diamond (also known as a war diamond or conflict diamond). These are stones mined in a war zone usually exploiting the workers mining them. One of the big problems is that by the time the diamond gets to the customer they do not know its a blood diamond and therefore is being sold like normal. The more the word about these conflict diamonds gets about the more aware jewellery lovers will become of them!

For more information brilliantearth.com is a fantastic site and has a lot of useful information about diamonds on!

Construction tools

These are the basic jewellery making construction tools.... (from top left clockwise) side cutter, round nose pliers, flat nose pliers, bent nose pliers and long nose pliers (I got mine as a set from Hobbycraft they don't come with any sort of long term storage but they fit in a case i already had beautifully) I would recommend some with a grippy non slip handle (mine in a lovely pink) as they are much easier to use with this feature!

Sustainability within Jewellery

Jewellery can be reworked to make something that fits with fashions or that is more wearable. A lot of places do this now, its almost like recycling rather than using more and more of our resources. Companies can completely melt the jewellery down and make something completely new or the original piece can be revamped, I like this side better as I think it keeps more of the vintage/antique character to the piece. Although if an individual really doesn't like the feel of a piece anymore yet wants to keep it it's a really good idea to make sure the jewellery still meets the purpose it was made for: to be worn!

Materials

From the previous post 'Colour' you can see that I like to use unusual materials to make jewellery, I have extended this into more jewellery.

This is like a traditional buttonhole with a twist, this is temporary jewellery and will not last forever.I made two different versions

 This just shows how you can use pretty much anything to make jewellery, this is a bracelet i made out of a normal for bent around with the prongs bent too

I like the idea that jewellery doesn't have to be the standard jewellery that is initially thought of, this is a 'necklace' I spray painted onto an old oversized t-shirt to give it a new lease of life! The template used can be used again on different items too.

Colour

Hi!

I recently found an old jigsaw in a charity shop, inspiration instantly hit me: it would make fabulous colour popping jewellery!

I covered the jigsaw pieces in clear glue to make the cardboard more durable.

Once these had been left to dry over night i peeled them off the foil and hole punched them all. I then added to the bright jigsaw colours with a bright red ribbon threaded through to them all to create the funky jewellery piece, tied with a big bow!

Competition

Hi,

As part of completing my FdA in Design I've been entering competitions. I have just entered a Tigerprint competition with the title of 'colour'. I really enjoyed the challenge of it. Give it a go, there are fresh competition titles regularly!

Heres a link to the competition entries, mine are the five which include peacock feathers

Screen Shot of my entries from the Tigerprint website (link below)

Tigerprint Competition Entires