It has been four weeks since we’ve moved into our new house and my computer and quilling desks are still not all sorted out. sigh… I have some awesome quilling that was in the works before moving, and I haven’t touched it since. It’s getting closer, though, all the office boxes are unpacked, now I just need to finish sorting out the piles on my desks!
In the meantime I thought it would be great to share some of my jewelry designs that I never really highlighted here on the blog. On my old wordpress blog I had posts about most of the designs that I made, but very few have been shown properly here on the new blog. So between other posts that I have planned for the next weeks, I’ll also be sharing some of my favorite collections of my designs and the stories behind them.
To start today I want to share one of my very favorites – my seahorse jewelry!
When I started my etsy shop I sold most of my first paper quilled jewelry to friends and relatives. One of my sisters wanted a couple pairs of earrings, so I asked if she had any special design requests. She decided she wanted some little red seahorses. And thus the seahorse pattern was born! I remembered seeing a quilled seahorse pendant before, so I did a search for it and found it here from Inna’s Creations. Gorgeous! I wanted to make something smaller and more sturdy, though so I sketched an outline of a seahorse and then created my design from that. I started with the earrings and made some in different colors. I then made a larger size for a pendant.
I have been wanting to make some more of the seahorses in different colors, but haven’t found the time. But here are all of the ones I created. Most have already been sold, though I still have a couple of the pendants for sale in my Zibbet shop.
After I started creating tutorials I started getting requests for a tutorial for the seahorse pendants, so I finally created it and you can find it here in my Etsy shop, or my Meylah shop, or at Craftsy.
I am almost embarrassed to show this photo, but it was the first pair of red seahorse earrings (the very pair that was for my sister) so I have to! I don’t know if I took multiple photos, but this is the only remaining photo of them. I am certainly not an excellent photographer yet, but this photo shows that I have come a long way from those days! Anyway, besides the awful photo itself, I think these turned out pretty cute, and my sister was pleased.
I decided to make my second pair of seahorse earrings in a pretty buttery yellow color. I did have some awful photos of this pair as well, but luckily I was quickly learning some things about photography, and ended up with some pretty good photos outside. When you have the right light outside it can be quite easy to get great photos! This pretty pair was bought by someone here in Malaysia.
I think these coral ones turned out pretty cute. The tail was a bit differently shaped than the others. When making this type of earring, even with a pattern, it is pretty common for each pair to look a little bit differently. Each seahorse within the pair can look a little different as well, though I try my best to get them both to look the same.
This dark aqua color is one of my favorites. Now seeing all of these seahorse earrings, I really want to try making more pairs in more colors! I’ll add that to my list of things to do!
This lovely cream colored pendant is the first seahorse pendant that I made. I actually like the look of the pendants better than the earrings because it is easier to get nice details when it is slightly bigger. I was thinking of making a pair of earrings with the pendant sized seahorses.
I love how this pendant turned out. I think that it looks the most realistic. There is something about the slight shimmer of the gold edged paper.
These lime green and aqua pendants were made as a custom order for a customer. Cute and bright!
Finally, here is my favorite. Red is my favorite color, and I think this seahorse wears is proudly and well! This seahorse was one of the first that I dipped into resin for a true waterproof finish. However, the resin had already started to thicken by the time I dipped this cutie, so it left kind of a thick and slightly lumpy layer. That’s why I have it on clearance in my Zibbet shop. Other than the thickness and slight uneven-ness of the resin, this little seahorse is very solid and waterproof, perfect!
Sealant for the seahorses
For those are wanting to make your own seahorses, you’ll want to make sure they are sealed to be sturdy and water resistant before using them as jewelry. Click here to read all of the posts I have about sealant.
OR if you want a quick answer and product names, I would suggest this:
- Start by using a liquid sealer that will soak into your seahorse and make it nice and stiff. I suggest Ceramcoat All Purpose Sealer
- Finish with a topcoat to make your piece water resistant and sturdy. I recommend either PPA matte
, PPA gloss
, or Diamond Glaze
, though there are others that work well also.
So those are most of the seahorses that I have made so far. I did make one more black pendant, but I somehow never got around to putting sealant on it and my toddler got a hold of it. It has now disappeared. Time to make another one!
If you love these pendants and would like to try making your own, you can find the tutorial in my Etsy shop, Meylah shop, or at Craftsy.
Stick around, there is lots to see around the blog! Here are some places to start:
Click here to view free paper quilling tutorials!
Click here to view paper quilling tips and tricks!
Click here to view a list of places to buy quilling supplies around the world!
Click here to view some of my own quilling projects, with tips so you can make your own if you’d like!
*All products and supplies mentioned in this post I purchased and/or made on my own.
*This post contains some affiliate links, and some non affiliate links. If you purchase products through the affiliate links I get a small percentage (at no extra cost to you!). I only link to products that I believe in and/or love to use myself. Thank you for supporting my blog!
