Other things I've made - Chiyogami pendants

One of my first online friends, the lovely Quiltin' Sandy who I met on Our Craft Forum, has reminded me that I keep promising to list some of my handmade pendants and other crafty jewellery in my store.

These pendants are so colourful, made from snippets of Japanese Chiyogami paper set behind little tiles of glass. No two pendants are the same because I've used dozens and dozens of different papers and a mix of coloured ribbon necklaces, satin cords and silver chains, whatever suits the pendant. I've also made rings and earrings using the same technique.

There's just one problem. I'm really bad at taking photos. I mean, really really bad. I just can't seem to get the lighting right. So we'll have to make do with these photos I took at the Goulburn Rose Festival earlier this year.

In this first photo you can see a variety of square, round and rectangle pendants hanging at the back, mostly made with Chiyogami paper but also some Christian-themed ones and some rose designs I made specially for the Festival. On the bottom left is a tray of Chiyogami rings, on the bottom right is a tray of badges, and in the centre are some gift-boxed items.


In the second photo you can see some gift-boxed Chiyogami earrings on the right, some 3-dimensional molded resin flowers turned into rings, and some rose-themed fridge magnets I also made specially for the Festival.


I have hundreds (thousands!) of these little goodies hiding in my cupboards. I first started making them about 2 years ago. I remember that I gave some to my work colleagues before Christmas 2009 and one of my friends at work loved them so much that she started selling them to her colleagues. She sold over 100 (yes 100) in just 2 days. I was so surprised!

That was a good excuse to keep on making more and more pendants and to branch out into rings and earrings, and in the leadup to Christmas 2010 a friend of mine sold over 500 at the markets. I couldn't believe that he sold so many just doing one market a week (because it was a quite a small market), and he couldn't believe that I still had so many left over.

So a few months ago I decided that I would sell my crafty jewellery items wholesale. I think they would be great for party-planners and boutiques as well as for markets, especially in the lead-up to Christmas. They really catch the eye of buyers plus I can make them fairly cheaply so everyone gets a bargain. The hold-up has been that I'm just not happy with my photos of my products.

To give you a taste of some of my stock, I've reactivated some expired listings from my old Etsy shop and am clearing everything out at just $5 a piece. These old photos are a little blurry, but I hope you get the idea. My newer pendants are actually made a little differently, but I'll tell you all about them another day. The pendants shown in the Etsy ads are the ones I'm clearing out at the moment.


I've also listed some of my dogtag shaped pendants which are also made with Chiyogami paper (you can tell that I love it, can't you) adhered to metal dogtags and finished off with a resin top and an extra-long ballchain.


P.S. If you're in Sydney and you're interested in seeing my crafty jewellery in real life, please get in touch. Keep in mind that I also make other great market-stall gift items like hairclips, badges, magnets etc as well as the pendants, rings and earrings, and as always I am happy to custom-make and gift-box any items for you.