It's jewellery repair day and I wanted to share a piece I've been working on today, not because it's a great repair job but because it's such a cool necklace! It features a selection of really BIG wooden safari animal beads making it a fun necklace that really grabs your attention. Originally, it was strung on fishing line but it had unravelled in parts and a few of the round wooden beads were lost but other than that, it's in great condition. One strand of this double-stranded necklace has broken and some of the beads have been lost. There was little hope of matching those missing beads so it was just a matter of replacing them with a few beads from the back of the necklace where they won't be missed at all. It's a very straight forward stringing repair. I've been able to re-use all the findings but I replaced the fishing line with two strands of Fireline to make it really durable and strong. The two strands are actually part of the design too. I'm ......

If you've been following the saga of THAT dress, then you'll already know that today was to be the day I passed the verdict on which one of the 7 pieces of jewellery I've made this week that I will wear with the dress for Easter. It's not often that I make so many pieces of jewellery with myself in mind and so choosing one was a task I delegated to a friend who was coming over to the studio today. Unfortunately, we had a last minute change of plans and I'm in the studio on my own. So my plan to model each necklace with THAT dress has also gone out the window but nevertheless, I thought I'd have a little bit of fun with it and have a virtual fashion parade instead. So, cue the upbeat catwalk music and let the fashion parade begin.... Welcome to the Easter Jewels by Mill Lane Studio Jewellery Parade. Fashion experts agree that great jewellery can make an outfit and today, we'll be putting that statement to the test. If you want your jewellery to be noticed in......

6 pieces and counting! That's the number of necklaces I've made trying to find jewellery that will work with THAT dress! I don't think I have ever been so challenged trying to put together an ensemble before. I had my heart set on using wood in the design to tie it in with the blackish-brown of the dress. So from the beads I bought at the wholesalers last week, I used the kukui nuts and faceted wooden beads. To make it less heavy visually, I broke it up with some lovely metallic chocolate sea-themed elements. I love the finished necklace but as with all the other pieces I've made, it is simply lost amongst all the swirly colour on the dress. So I'm heading back to the drawing board and I'm going to totally rethink my original concept..... I'll keep you posted! 'Til next time..... If you can't get enough of My Tutorials and you want even more inspiration,  click here to find my books and printable pdfs...