I’ve been following the creative pursuits of Ismay for quite some time now. She creates beautiful illustrations, as well as running a jewellery company called Paper & Chain with her best friend. If I could I would buy everything in their collection. She also has two amazing cats who are some of the most beautiful creatures I’ve seen. Take a look at her amazing round up of affordable jewellery.
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Hello! I’m Ismay from Two Two Oh Four. I’m pretty excited to be guest posting for Catherine today- I’ve been reading (and loving) this here blog for a good old while. Catherine is the best at finding wonderful things for us to look at.
With the idea of sharing wonderful things in mind I’ve decided to show you some of the beautiful jewellery I’ve seen around the internet of late. You know when you see something you really love, and then you see the price, and your heart drops because it’s so far out of your budget you have no chance of owning it, ever? Well this post isn’t going to be like that, this is all about beautiful, affordable jewellery. In fact the whole idea of beautiful affordable jewellery is the reason I started my own jewellery company, Paper & Chain, with my best friend, so it’s a subject close to my heart. Hooray for nice stuff we can afford!
Let’s start with these gorgeous onyx and marble necklaces by The Vamoose. I have the marble one, and I gave the onyx version to my mum! We both love them, the stones are so satisfyingly cold and heavy. Onyx and brass necklace £43 / Marble and brass necklace £48.
Usually I’m not the biggest fan of resin jewellery, but the addition of gold leaf in the designs by Rosella Resin makes them extra special. I especially love the shade of smokey grey-blue alongside the gold in this bracelet. It’s like some kind of magical underwater scene. Sky blue eco resin bangle with suspended gold leaf £56.
Brass and orange! another beautiful colour combination. I bought this black ring from Nomoi Koru for my mum and she loves it (is there a theme here? Jewellery is my go to gift for my mama!). I might have to get the orange one for myself, the colour with the gold is perfect. Orange octagon ring $18 / Black octagon ring $19.
More brass with bright colours, I’m telling you- if you can’t afford to adorn yourself with lashings of gold, brass is the way to go. The great thing about brass is that when it tarnishes, you can polish it up like new really easily with a cloth and some toothpaste. I hear ketchup does the trick too! These rings from Cyclical Industry come in 14 different colours, including an amazing royal blue which I think is my favourite. Neon geometric square rings, $15 each.
This set of rings by Kat Seale is kind of like a fashion-forward knuckle duster. I love the simplicity of the design. You can buy a single silver ring for $80, a set of four for $225 or better yet you can get the more purse friendly set of four oxidised copper rings for $90.
These little rings are made by the writer of one of my favourite blogs, WSAKE. If you ever feel like finding a bit of peace and quiet amongst the madness of the internet, go and check out her blog, the words and photographs are thoughtful and beautiful. It makes sense, then, that she would also make delicate and pretty jewellery. WSAKE counting rings, from €55.
Some people have all the talent- Kaye Blegvad is one of them. Not only is she a very talented illustrator but she also manages to translate her drawings beautifully into little wearable pieces of art- awesome. If you visit my blog or my instagram you might discover that I am pretty heavily into cats (ha!). The Cat Face lapel pin ($22) is therefore a dream. I already own one of Kaye’s Watchful Eye rings and wear it to death, but I think next on my list is the Golden Protective Hand bangle ($68). Actually, it’s pretty fair to say that everything in the Datter Etsy shop is on my list.
I’m a big fan of geometric shapes when it comes to jewellery- they influence our designs at Paper & Chain quite a lot. So I’m really into these tiny triangles by Stone & Honey, especially the unique design of the earrings. Very cool. Dunes necklace $69 / Sitka earrings $83.
Ever wish you could wear a tiny planet in a pretty ice-cream shade around your neck? Yep me too. Well thanks to the awesome Après Ski, you can! Saturn necklaces €24.
And finally, I feel a bit weird plugging myself here but it would be strange not to mention my own jewellery wouldn’t it? Made by my bff Naomi and I, here are a couple of Paper and Chain designs: the Hex Bar necklace in silver, and the Hex Trio necklace in silver, both £25.
I hope you enjoyed that little round up, and thank you so much for having me, Catherine! It would be lovely to see some of you over on Two Two Oh Four if you want to come and say hello.
She’s been described as a self-styled Nancy Sinatra, something she has worked hard to pull off. She’s cool, she’s iconic and she’s very now. Everyone wants a piece of the Del Rey fame from photographers like Terry Richardson and Mario Testino (see featured images), to our own musical master Spoek Mathambo who recently remixed Born to Die.
