Can you make my favourite thing?
Can you make...? is often a question I'm asked and the answer will usually be 'yes'... if you have an idea for something special, a favourite food, animal or past time and want it turning into a tiny sculpture for a gift or piece of jewellery, then yes, I can make that for you. Developed from a passion of making my own favourite things, I now love making favourite things for people like you, I have made elephants in jungles and bees on the beach, what would you have?
My original CRZyBest ready to buy collection was inspired by my favourite things 'Dogs and Beer' you may have seen Barley my Jack Russell appear on my social media and he has even stolen the limelight at styled shoots, appearing over a full page in Quirky Wedding Magazine last year!
I create a whole variety of leaves in silver, copper and even bronze, people even send me special leaves in the post to create unique pieces of meaningful jewellery. From leaves that represent names, a Hazel leaf for a lady named Hazel, or leaves collected from a tree above a grave or special place, I have turned these into heirloom pieces, for meaningful gifts. I've even been sent a scan of a very special leaf all the way from Italy, which I then recreated in sterling sliver complete with an inscription, ready for framing.
My favourite leaves to create are hop leaves and i'm lucky enough to have a hop vine in my garden and I also walk past wild growing hops, self seeded from a local Derby Brewery. I love keeping my eye out for that special hop leaf, that will make a great piece of jewellery, the tiny hop leaves that I have turned into earrings, pendants, lapel pins and even a hair vine with 52 leaves, came from an unusual, well developed but still tiny hop leaf, that I turned into silver then made a mould so I could small batch produce the tiny leaf. One day, that mould will reach it's limit and my tiny hop leaves will be no more, but in the mean time I'm still making them for my ready to buy ''Beer & Dogs' collection. I also have a small hop leaf that I have turned into earrings, pendants and even a sterling silver lapel pin and I love it when people recognise my hop leaves for what they are. I also have a variety of other one-off hop leaves that I create as I find the real leaves to work from.
Alongside my leaf creations, I create tiny sculptures inspired by my love of 'Dogs & Beer' and in my ready to buy collection, you will find a trio of beer inspired stud earrings: A tiny classic dimple glass, a tiny nonic glass (these are the ones with the bulge near the top to help stop your hands slipping) and the third earring is a tiny hop flower, the fruit in your beer which creates the refreshing hoppy taste and surely must count as one of your five a day! I have have also made a beer glass lapel pin which is popular and is made using a combination of copper and bronze clay. I'm currently developing a brightly coloured range of my beer earrings, these are not yet available as I'm perfecting the finish, so keep your eye out for the launch of my colourful beer jewellery. Get in touch if you can't wait for the launch and I shall see what I can do.
Obviously, a 'Dog's & Beer' range wouldn't be complete without dogs and currently I have just one style of tiny doggo earrings, which I make in silver and copper options. I may develop more styles of dogs in the future, but for now I do accept bespoke commissions for creating your favourite dog or pet in sterling silver or copper. You may have noticed my original sculpture of Barley created in 950 silver clay and hallmarked (find out more about hallmarking in my 'CRZyBest Hallmark?' blog) as 925 Sterling Silver which takes pride of place on my business cards and around my neck as a pendant. The tiny sculptures I create for earrings, can also be used to embellish, bangles and rings if earrings aren't your thing or you want a full set.
My beer and dogs stud earrings have been developed from original tiny sculptures, made by me, which I then make moulds from so a I can create more. All the stud earrings I make have sterling silver posts and butterfly scrolls, whether they are made in silver, copper or sometimes bronze metal clay. You can find out more about metal clay in my 'What is Metal Clay?' blog.
All the silver earrings I make are made using 950 silver clay, kiln fired and they can be hallmarked as 925 sterling silver, read more about this in my blog about hallmarking.
I love creating bespoke pieces for people and in the past these tiny sculptures have included books, cameras, cakes, rabbits, rockets, various sea creatures, a Lambretta scooter, and even a tiny Norman Helmet on a family tree. I have also turned business logos into Jewellery and lapel pins, and tattoos into wearable sculptures!
You can choose to buy from my ready made collection or you can get in touch and ask me to make your favourite thing, especially for you.
If you're looking for something perfect for a special gift, or an ideal wedding accessory. Perhaps you have your own ideas? That's brilliant, message me and find out what I can make for you and of course, you could also make your own favourite thing, perhaps in a 1-2-1 workshop with me or by buying a Create with CRZyBest Copper Clay Kit.
Thanks for reading and perhaps stay a bit and have a look around, maybe buy something... use the code 'Dogs&Beer' for FREE 1st class standard UK postage as a cheers from me and Barley!
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