I’ve meandered into making wire jewellery, mainly rings. Not quite sure how my interest swivelled from working with needles and/or hooks to pliers and mandrels, but I’m just going with the flow for now.
I needed some sort of ring display for the Spier Craft Art market and didn’t want to spend any substantial amount of cash. Solution: go to Pinterest and see what ideas clever people have already come up with. I found this.
So I made this, using old corks from – well, not hard to guess, since the market is situated on a wine farm! – and the thin wooden drawer that came from a jewellery box made by my grandfather. I use the box for other things now so the two separate levels weren’t needed anyway.
I’m busy getting stock ready for a local market in Rondebosch on Saturday, so have been up later than usual at night making more rings. They will be displayed in an old wooden box with a glass lid that I fitted out with dense foam and sprayed copper. Not as artisanal-looking as the corks but fine for a day.
I try to post regularly on instagram and facebook, you can find me there if you’re interested in seeing more of what I get up to.
Gratuitous information: Cape Town has been jolly hot lately, which is normal for this time of year but still something I’ve always battled to get used to. The temperature in Stellenbosch the other day hit 40 deg. It’s a three-quick-showers-a-day time of year. I dream of autumn days…
I’ve been inspired to write this ScrapHappy post by Kate at Tall Tales from Chiconia. On the fifteenth of every month lots of people often publish a ScrapHappy post: Kate, Gun, Eva, Sue, Lynn, Lynda, Birthe, Turid, Susan, Cathy, Tracy, Claire, Jan, Moira, Sandra, Chris, Alys, Kerry, Claire, Jean, Jon, Hayley, Dawn, Gwen, Bekki, Sue L, Sunny, Kjerstin, Vera, Nanette, Ann, Dawn 2 , Bear, Noreen, Preeti, Edith and Jule
If you fancy joining, contact Kate and she’ll add you to the list. Any use of any type of scrap material is welcome.
Nice piece of work 
What an excellent ring holder – and perfect for your venue.
And many more corks where those came from, should they be needed….! :)
What a clever idea. You certainly can’t get bored with your crafting as you keep coming up with new ideas of things that you can make and sell. So versatile!
You know me – never give up! *laughs*
Lovely rings and a very clever display piece!
Thanks. And it cost me niks [Afrikaans for ‘free’] – even better :)
Gorgeous rings, I’d wear at least 90% of them (probably many of them at the same time if I’m totally honest)… I do love how you’ve co-ordinated your display to your venue, a real compliment to the hosts. Clever girl, and a really attractive display format.
Thanks Kate. I’m quite taken with them myself, and learn new techniques as I go. They are selling well at Spier, but they are the sort of style that you either love or hate.
I love the cork-display! How perfect is that for a Winery venue!! The rings may not be for me but I do love to look at other people wearing them, and they look amazing on the cork-display – I might be tempted by the button ring however. You’re so clever!
Thank you – but I don’t know about clever, I just work with whatever happens to be lying within my reach…which is pretty much a bit of everything! That particular button is mother of pearl so it has a lovely gleam to it.
that’s an excellent dispay. Really clever. Would you mind if I ustilised some of my excess corks to do something similar, please? At the moment they go into a dish in the kitchen, and then progress to the allotment as extra mulch for the blueberry bushes, but I like this idea more!
I would be happy if you did, it’s not even my idea anyway!!!! Just fyi, I wanted to be sure to leave enough space between the corks for some of my chunkier rings to fit comfortably into so I laid out the corks with 3 straws in between each one. Once the glue was beginning to set I wiggled them around a bit so that I was happy with the placement. I think the original idea was to fix the corks in place with extra long pins or something similar (can’t remember now). The straws don’t actually show up but if they had I would have given them a quick coat of light brown paint with a thin brush to disguise them.
oh, that’s genius. Thank you
love the cork display, it shows off the rings perfectly.
They might have more impact against a plain black or plain white background, but I resisted the temptation to get out the spraypaint. (The truth is that I actually don’t even know where it is….)
Well I call this genius, display of goods is key to success. Bet you do well with them. Love the rings too, and Good to change round your crafting.
Yes, sometimes change is good! xx
I love it! Great idea!
They’re so beautiful! And I love that you used the corks for display at a winery :D
Thank you! They are doing well so far :)