These triple sea glass earrings coming soon to my new summer shop...🌞

I'm celebrating the welcome return of the sunshine, long days (and evenings!) on the beach, and a new set of designs I've been longing, but too busy to make until now! 

Very soon these beauties and other gorgeous new jewellery will be arriving on the website. It will all be ready made and available for immediate dispatch (rather than made to order which takes a little longer...) 

If you'd like to be one of the first to see the collection be sure to sign up to my email list because subscribers get to shop earlier than everyone else!

Really hope you're enjoying the sunshine!🌞 x

P.S. There'll be a handful of Glasswing favourites in the shop too, like the stamped sea glass ring pendants. So if you've been coveting one of these for a while,  be sure to join my list to hear first when they become available! 🌞

Beautiful Ethical Sapphire Engagement ring with a low Setting

A lot of my customers ask me about the height of the setting and stone on my rings, especially if they are sporty, in a caring profession or enjoy gardening and are worried about either knocking the stone, losing it or possibly getting it caught in clothes.

This engagement ring is an example of a very low setting with a beautiful ethically sourced mid-blue sapphire from the fabulous company Fairtrade Gems in Hatton garden, which I made for a customer recently.

It is created from smooth ethical 9ct white gold, which has been left un-plated (it is available in different golds, unplated or rhodium plated if requested) and it really is a lovely low profile ideal if you have any concerns about the stone on your ring protuding too much.

The couple are so happy (and of course she said yes!) that they have just come back to me to make their wedding rings too!

Wedding and engagement rings and ethical jewellery made to order in Fairtrade gold

I've registered again with the Fairtrade Foundation for this year, so I'm delighted to say that almost all my gold wedding and engagement rings, bridal jewellery and everyday jewellery ranges are now available to order in fairtrade gold, for details check the Glasswing Jewellery website.

 

Choosing fairtrade means a good deal for mine workers and their families and ensures more responsible, sustainable treatment of our precious earth.

Until recently small UK artisanal jewellery makers have had difficulty accessing Fairtrade precious metals in the quantities they require, however it is thankfully becoming easier to source.
So from now on, I'll be working hard to offer everything I make in Fairtrade gold wherever possible.
Fairtrade gold means a fair deal for miners and their families, and by choosing it you are actively changing the landscape of the jewellery industry and potentially the lives of thousands of workers throughout the world.

This is taken from the Fairtrade Foundation's website..
"Fairtrade Gold is produced fairly and transparently. When buying jewellery made with Fairtrade Gold you make a difference to the miners, their families and their communities. Your support can provide them with the chance to be paid a fair price, better working conditions, build their futures by investing in social projects such as new schools and healthcare, and make their own way to prosperity.

There are currently 16 million small scale gold miners and further 100 million people who indirectly rely on small scale mining for a living – miners, their families and their communities. Small scale mining is one of the most dangerous industries in the world, and miners often work in very remote and harsh conditions with little or no health and safety measures in place. Fairtrade Gold offers a lifeline to these miners, their families and communities. Fairtrade gives strict standards on working conditions, women’s rights, child labour and environment management; in return miners gain access to markets and receive the Fairtrade Premium – the extra sum they receive to develop their businesses and invest into their communities."

For more information about Glasswing's range of wedding and engagement rings, go to www.glasswingjewellery.com

Aquamarine sea glass and white gold engagement ring

One of my favourite rings I've made this spring season is this simple yet stunning pale aquamarine sea glass ring I made for a lovely couple living here in Devon. I used the customer's own sea glass which he sent to me, had found it on the beach where the two of them had spent one of their first romantic dates together.

I cut, shaped and set his lovely pale sea glass in 14ct recycled white gold. I think it made a truly one-off engagement ring with impeccable eco credentials. 

If you have a special piece of sea glass you'd like made into a unique piece of jewellery you can always contact me through my website where you can see other designs I have made, and find out ways to commission me to make a unique piece of jewellery for your own special occasion. 

I don't just make engagment rings, I've used customer's sea glass finds, for special necklaces and earrings for events like birthday, anniversaries, to celebrate bridesmaids, best friends and Mother's Day  - any excuse to spoil someone in your life who loves sea glass and the ocean! 🌊

Blue sea glass and diamond engagement ring in recycled silver

I've been really enjoying working with sea glass and diamonds, I think it makes an amzing combination sea in fairtrade gold or recycled silver.

I created this triple ring in 100% recycled silver with a piece of rare blue sea glass and 3mm brilliant cut diamonds. A special engagement ring to celebrate Carys and Ross's not just having found each other and their beautiful union of love and joy, but also to signify the way that hope, and an extraordinary relationship with the ocean has helped to heal after deep tragedy. 

I am so honoured to make rings for all my customers, and to share in a small but significant way in some wonderful, romantic and sometimes awe-inspiring stories.

If you'd like to know more about about Glasswing Jewellery handmade ethical jewellery, sea glass and wedding rings head over to the Glasswing Jewellery website.

Gorgeous emerald green sea glass and diamond and white gold engagement ring

I think an important part of the Glasswing Jewellery service is offering a 're-design' for my customers if for any reason they'd like their jewellery tweeked...it hasn't happened much I have to say.....

So adding diamonds to her green sea glass and white gold engagement ring for a customer actually involved re-building the entire ring ... sea glass won't tolerate any heating whatsoever, so it had to be removed, but that's OK - I love a challenge! :)

This ring is all 14ct recycled white gold, and the little recycled diamonds are a lovely quality VSI just under 3mm diameter either side of the glass.  I'm so pleased I decided to leave the back open, I totally love the way the light comes through. 

Sea glass - what exactly is it?

Sea glass , "seaglass" or sometimes "beach glass" is glass which is found on beaches after having been tumbled smooth and frosted by the ocean waves over an undetermined length of time.



Some of the glass I have found is very old, from an era when glass was far more widely used, and attitudes to the environmental damage caused by dropping litter into the sea were somewhat different to what they are today.

There is an infinite variety of colours of sea glass, and of course every single piece of sea glass is totally one off, having been on its own unique journey through the tides and currents of the ocean.

Some sea glass has travelled great distances, washing up on shores far away from where it was originally dumped, whilst other pieces have stayed trapped for decades in harbours, dropped by sailors and smoothed and tumbled by the tides whilst yachts and fishing boats go by.

Around the coast of Cornwall, we find lovely sea foam, aquas, pale greens, deep greens, and whites. These shades to me, represent the colours of the sea in Cornwall, and are the perfect choice to reflect the unique coast of my favourite place! Much rarer colours found on Cornish shores include blues, certain greens and deep aquas, and lavender.

Grey, pink, teal, black, yellow and turquoise and red (found once in about every 5,000 pieces), and orange (the least common type of sea glass), are all extremely rare colours. Rare sea glass in these colours is almost certainly rarer than diamonds.

The older pieces tend to be smoother, and rounded in shape, whilst the newer pieces wash up in all manner of squared or flat shapes. In jewellery all different shapes are used , and to great effect. The special 'glow' of sea glass, the way in which each piece catches the light in a different way, and the variety of subtle shades - pale aquas, frosted whites, palest blues to deepest colbalt blues and of course the array of greens all add to the magic and mystery of sea glass.

Recently my passion for genuine Sea Glass has led me to look for this increasingly rare commodity further afield.

I have managed to source some amazing examples of glass, some of which are at least 100 years old, that were discarded from an old glass processing in the North East of England, at Seaham in Durham. I have started to design around these pieces of glass, and I really love the pieces I've made.

‪#‎seaglass‬ ‪#‎ocean‬ ‪#‎treaure‬ ‪#‎mermaids‬ ‪#‎sea‬ ‪#‎glass‬ ‪#‎beach‬ ‪#‎coast‬ ‪#‎coastal‬ ‪#‎upcycled‬ ‪#‎recycled‬

Lovely customer feedback to boost the morale..

We've been very busy here at Glasswing, catching up after a horrid dose of staff flu. What lovely feedback to find in my overflowing inbox!.....

"Hi Kate,

We're just back from South Africa, newly engaged. I wanted to belatedly thank you warmly for rushing the ring through for me in January - I really appreciate it. The ring fitted perfectly (my worries were unfounded!) and my fiancee absolutely loves it. She's also very impressed with your ethical production methods and sourcing of materials. The quality is fantastic and it has drawn a lot of comments from admirers - I've passed your website address on to a few people!

So thanks again for all your help. I won't hesitate to recommend you to my friends.

I've also attached a pic of my fiance holding a very friendly gecko which she rescued from the shower in our treehouse in KwaZulu-Natal, which shows the ring off nicely! Thought you might appreciate it.

Best,
Will (London) "

Gorgeous! We do appreciate it, thanks Will, and many congratulations!

Who says sea glass can't be bling?

 

 

Who says eco-friendly sea glass jewellery can't be bling?

These beautiful ocean-worn nuggets of glass were sent to me by a customer, collected from #beaches on the Isle of Wight and New Zealand.

My customer commissioned me to make another set of two charm bangles, this time for her daughter (she kept the first set for herself).

All the sterling silver is 100% recycled, the upcycled sea glass is hand cut or drilled by me, and the bangles were then tumble polished for a deep shine. 

 

Pretty 9ct white gold engagement ring

A recent commission that went out just before Christmas, a sweet Malawi fairtrade blue sapphire set in recycled 18ct yellow gold on a twisted 9ct recycled white gold shank. Ahh - a romantic Christmas proposal, gorgeous! http://www.glasswingjewellery.com

Raised blue sea glass nugget ring commission

I thought it was time to write a post detailing the process of setting a small piece or 'cabochon' of sea glass into a ring, not least the painstaking hand shaping involved. Sea glass is nowhere near as strong as the majority of gemstones, glass is obviously easily breakable, and despite having rolled around in the ocean for unknown lengths of time, sometimes decades, gaining its gorgeous texture and frosted exterior, one small slip of my tool or drill renders my hard gained beach treasure nothing more than a splinter of sharp, unusable coloured glass. 

So, much of the shaping I do is by hand, taking great care not to touch the lovely surface of the sea glass which will be showing once the ring is finished. Whilst many processes are quicker using a pendant drill, I prefer to take my time and stay in control of the situation rather than remove more material than I intended, and then have to waste any hard-won sea glass pieces!   I use a grinding stone flat on my bench, soaked in water, and I keep the work liberally sprinkled with water whilst I work. This stops any glass dust from flying around, and keeps the piece cool too.  The glass is carefully dragged up and down the stone, turning as I go, the aim being to make a rounded edge to my cabochon. The bottom is easily smoothed to make setting more straight forward, and eliminates the rocking that sometimes happens when setting irregular shaped stones or other materials. 

It can sometimes take a good hour or so to get the little 'gem' of sea glass to the right shape and thickness, and in the meantime, my hands have taken quite a hammering!  It's not unusual to find the tips of my fingers are somewhat smoother than they were at the beginning!  I find microporous tape wrapped around the fingers quite useful at times like these. And lashings of hand cream!

Once the sea glass is the required shape, all that remains is to set it into the ring.  I make sure that the rest of the ring is completely finished.  The last thing you need to be doing is filing or cleaning up once the glass is in situ, one false move with the file and I'd have a lovely scratch right across my precious, and at this point now, totally unique sea glass cacbochon.  This particular piece of blue sea glass is SO RARE, it is in fact the only one of this shade of blue I have ever found, in this particular shape. 

So the glass I have carefully shaped to fit, is popped into the fine silver bezel, which I made to fit the ring band - and the silver bezel edge is gently pushed over the glass wth a pusher tool to hold it in the bezel securely.  It is smoothed down using a polished burnisher, taking care not to slip and scratch the glass.

I find the glass will easily withstand a short spin in the tumber with stainless steel shot, but not too long about 15 mins is probably enough, I don't want to loosen the setting, or lose any of the frosted texture of the glass.  Once the ring is totally dry, a little polish with wire wool gives me the final warm polish I really like, and it won't harm the glass.  To protect it though, I usually place my thumb over it whilst I do any last minute polishing.

 Simple 5x2.5mm sterling silver band, with rare mid-blue sea glass cabochon. All recycled materials.

I love the way the light catches the sea glass, it appears to glow from within - but then that's why we all love sea glass isn't it?!

18ct white gold eco wedding rings for Valentines weekend

This set of personalised 6mm and 7mm 18ct recycled white gold wedding rings were commissioned at the very last minute by a lovely couple tying the knot in Cornwall just after this Valentines weekend. 

 I hand forged them from 100% white gold bullion refined and milled here in the UK.

stamping the gold

forming the rings using a hide hammer (veggie
options are available,but I'm afraid I just don't
 find they come up to scratch)

after soldering, forming the edges for a low
dome half round profile

 The finished rings.


 Despite the storms, the flood, 48 hour power cuts, and the Post Office's best efforts to stop them, these beauties arrived at their destination, with three hours to go before the wedding ceremony.  One relieved jeweller!  The happy couple were delighted, and I was absolutely thrilled to make these rings for them.

Fair ruby engagement ring

There are so many gorgeous coloured stone rings around this year, I've been really inspired!  I've got around to setting this lovely vibrant fair trade 0.2ct ruby from Ruby Fair, UK ethical gemstone supplier (find out more at: http://www.rubyfair.com/)  

Also my first time using recycled 14K gold tapered bezel setting - a great way to ensure rings sit beautifully together - great for stacking up.

  3mm comfort fit recycled silver ring, with fair trade ruby 

Fair trade ruby engagement with oxidised hammered 8mm comfort fit flat band, recycled silver

The different ethical fair trade gemstones available in Glasswing Jewellery rings

Customers are always asking what gemstones I can get that are ethically sourced, so I have just updated my website to include a list and I thought I'd post it here too for information.

For more information about Glasswing ethical gemstone rings customers can visit my website.

I can now source more gemstones than ever from ethical suppliers here in the UK and abroad. More and more are becoming available as suppliers are becoming increasingly aware of the need to be socially and environmentally responsible in the the way they do business.

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If customers would like to commission a ring, or other piece of jewellery and wish to incorporate a particular stone, there is a chance I will be able to source it for them.

 

So, below is a list of the stones available at the moment. If you don't see what you want, it is always worth dropping me a line through the contact page so I can see if it has become available.

3mm recycled 18K white gold recycled diamond solitaire

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Ethical Gemstones 

Recycled “Harmony” Diamonds Round cut diamonds Rose cut diamonds (round flat bottom) Cushion cut diamonds (rounded square) Lab grown Moissanite (Alternative to diamond)	Ethical Rubies Ruby Cabachons Ruby faceted stones Emerald cabachons Emerald faceted Opal	Ethical Sapphires (various) Blue Sapphire Pink Sapphire Yellow Sapphire White Sapphire Orange Sapphire Lavender Sapphire (Treated and untreated)
Teal tourmaline Green tourmaline Black tourmaline Amethyst Citrine Peridot Blue Zircon Rhodolite Tourmaline Seafoam tourmaline Diopside	Aquamarine Moon stone Blue moonstone Ethical Spinel Red Spinel Blue Spinel Purple Spinel Black Spinel White Spinel (various)	Jadeite Willow creek jasper Golden desert jasper Rhodonite Smoky quartz Iolite Cortez Pearls Purple sage chalcedony Garnet Rose quartz Green quartz

Satin finish recycled diamond engagement ring - TOTALLY conflict free!

This quite chunky recycled silver recycled diamond 6mm wide engagement ring features an 18 carat recycled gold bezel with 4.5mm 0.3ct Harmony recycled diamond.  It's quite a statement ring. When I initially recieve an enquiry from a customer, we work closely together to realise their exact design to create their perfect engagement and wedding rings.  

I source each recycled Harmony diamond especially, from the ethical bullion and diamond supplier, Hoover and Strong, according to each customer's requirements and budget. Having recycled diamonds in your engagement ring guarantees your beautiful ring is totally ethical, with no risk of having contributed to the promotion and supporting unethical supply chains and work conditions.  Not only that, many of the diamonds sourced from vintage jewellery are particularly well cut, and can be super sparkly and pretty.

I have had a lot of satin finish commissions this year, and I particularly like the contrast of the soft brush texture next to the bright uber-crisp sparkle of the diamond in this one.

It is paired with a 4mm D-shaped recycled sterling silver wedding band, also in satin finish.

Different profiles of Satin Silver Wedding RIngs

stacked up satin finish recycled silver wedding rings

Satin wedding rings are going a bit like hot cakes this wedding season at Glasswing Jewellery with lots of folk requesting I finish their rings in either soft satin or satin brushed.  These rings I made yesterday are satin brushed, and I really like the soft silvery almost luminous finish.  When I stopped work last night, I stacked them up (see above) and photographed them in the evening light.  Having them all together gives me a chance to describe some of the different ring profiles I make.  At the very top is a 6mm flat hammered comfort band, sometimes called 'flat court' profile,  which I made from the same piece of silver as the 8mm band at the very bottom. It is flat on the outside, and curved on the inside.  It is shaped down to the narrower 6mm width by hand, and then I file, polish and finish it, again all by hand, to give a lovely soft edge.  The excess silver removed is recycled and used for new jewellery pieces.

recycled silver satin wedding rings showing profile shapes

The middle two rings are also a set, the larger one is an 8mm D-shaped band, with a flat edge inside against the skin.  The other, the smallest ring in the stack is a 4mm D-shaped band.  All these rings are hammered with the same hammer, to give a quite subtle and slightly uneven surface, without an obvious hammering pattern

Glasswing ethical wedding rings are made with 100% recycled sterling 925 silver, and these ones are all hand stamped with secret messages inside.  I stamp with 1mm and 2mm fonts.  This could be the date of the ceremony, names, sentiments, shared words.   .

8mm and 6mm comfort fit bands, made from the same piece of recycled silver, showing the inside 'comfort fit' or 'flat court' profile with stamping

For more details about these rings, and how to commission your own Glasswing ethical wedding ring, plus details of my other handmade wedding and ethcially sourced gemstone engagement rings made to order, go to my website.

Summer sea glass bangles

These Glasswing sea glass bangles are proving very popular in the Custom House Gallery in Porthleven, Cornwall, now that the summer weather has really arrived! 

Made from 925 100% recycled silver stock, they are available in single, double, triple and five 1.5mm gauge bangles, adorned and joined by a fixed ring with genuine sea glass nuggets, upcycled from Cornish and other English beaches.  I need to make some more to replenish stock!

sea glass bangles

Another sweet thing I made recently was this Sea Treasures necklace,  made with recycled silver, and a collection of aqua sea glass and blue china tumbled by the waves around Sennen in Cornwall.

sea treasures necklace

All hung randomly on totally handmade 100% recycled silver findings, on a compact silver snake chain.  I still can't find recycled chains yet, but I'm hoping one of the environmentally friendly bullion dealers I use will start making some very soon.