The (ECO) Wedding Season!

Upcycled aqua sea glass wired necklace from £65 from glasswing jewellery

Wow, it's amazing, people are really getting the recycled silver jewellery bug, and from a romantic, and ecological perspective, the number of people determined to have a green wedding, who are 'sealing' their commitment to one another with eco-conscious recycled silver wedding rings is absolutely brilliant!

Personalised adjustable recycled silver ring from £65 at http://www.glasswingjewellery.com/

So Glasswing's becoming quite a regular customer at the uber-efficient sales department of Hoover & Strong, the US makers of Harmony Metals (TM), 100% recycled metal bullion for use in the ethical jewellery trade, of which Glasswing Jewellery is a new and committed member.

Delicate 3mm recycled silver personalised ring . Prices from £60 at http://www.glasswingjewellery.com/

I love the fact that now, the majority of my orders are for fairtrade, recycled silver jewellery pieces, especially my personalised wedding rings and bridal jewellery. Sea glass is proving really popular, for brides, bridemaids and grooms alike! I have some lovely cufflinks in the pipeline, and have just completed a lovely set of Cornish aqua sea glass necklace and heart earrings.

Upcycled aqua sea glass with recycled silver heart earrings £40 from glasswing jewellery

The Cornish Green Revolution

Very exciting - Glasswing Jewellery is featured in this month's edition of Cornish World!

Recycled silver personalised ring set

I made these beauties for some lovely customers who are tying the knot next month. They specifically wanted ethical, eco-conscious wedding rings, and to have them personalised, unique and totally special to them. I hand stamped each ring prior to soldereding them - I love the clean, sharp look of the letters. I have simply given them a light polish by hand, keeping a warm soft shine to the silver. They are hand profiled - the larger one is 7mm thick, I have formed the D-shape myself, for a lovely organic feel. The narrower one is 5mm, and again, I formed the D-profile by hand.

I am still enjoying using the lovely "Harmony Metals" 100% recycled silver stock from Hoover and Strong - their customer service is amazing, and their delivery time is good. It's lovely silver to work, and is available in so many different shapes, everything I could wish for. The only problem remaining, is to find chains for my pendants in recycled silver, other than that Glasswing is well on the way to turning over completely to recyled silver in the near future.

My first recycled silver order!

Evening sun over the bay

Wow, has it been that long? With summer weddings, spring sunshine and Mother's Day, work has been hectic, and blogging seems to have taken a back seat . It's a cruel irony that the return of the summer sun has heralded an upturn in jewellery orders for me, so instead of basking in the rays, I'm nose to the anvil, in my thankfully cool, but rather shady subterranean workshop. But I'm not complaining, not one bit of it...what an honour to be doing what I love as my living.....

Green sea glass hoop earrings

So anyway, what's been going on? The latest and most exciting development is a move to start using recycled silver in my designs. One of my lovley customers is planning a summer wedding with the fabulous remit of having the smallest carbon footprint possible - an eco-wedding with all the trimmings....using vintage charity shop bought, re-donateable crockery (with a price tag of a mere hundred pounds or so...compared with hiring boring old wedding crocks at way above that...)... to sourcing local beef from the farm down the road....and trying to source vintage wedding clobber...and of course, ordering bespoke, locally hand-made wedding rings of 100% recycled silver, from Glasswing Jewellery.

Cube sea glass earrings

I have offered recycled silver jewellery for a while now, on the Glasswing website tentatively I have to say. The will has very much been there, as the mining of precious materials for the manufacture of jewellery, certainly leaves a lot to be desired....what industry doesn't in this day and age? I would eventually like to turn over completely to recycled metals, to fit comfortably with my policy of sourcing recycled/fair trade and ethically produced beads and materials wherever possible. Glasswing Jewellery strives to be an ethical and environmentally responsible company as far as possible. The main component of my work, is sea glass, - beautiful, magical, tumbled glass from the ocean - the product of yesteryear's litterbugs essentially! It's hand picked, local, resourceful and fun.

Satin finish 8mm band

Frankly though, I had little idea where to source 100% recycled precious metals, particularly in all the shapes and sizes I'd need .

So anyway, nothing ventured.... I figured once an order came in I would have no choice but to find some, and quick! It did - a set of recycled silver wedding rings by July? The hunt was on and my mission began, to fulfil my customers brief, and to learn a lot more about these issues in the process.

First stop - my usual bullion dealer, but I drew a blank there... although of course all milled silver contains a certain percentage of recycled material from the scrap returned by jewellers and collectors alike, they were unable to say how much (I guess it fluctuates), and certainly didn't know where to suggest I look for a reliable source of 100% recycled silver.

Deep oxidised heavy sterling silver ring set (6mm and 10mm)

Thankfully, there is a growing awareness and concern amongst a small number of metal smiths, jewellers, suppliers and consumers worldwide, striving to establish a more equitable and sustainable supply chain of everything jewellery related - gems, beads, tools, metals and findings for our industry.

I have to say though, there is a serious lack of resources and information, particularly in the UK. There are no companies here (at least none that I have found) supplying 100% recycled silver stock for example. My hunt will continue, and I'll keep you posted on my progress.