Jasmine Hardisty 27/10/24
Last summer, when I was in France, I started collecting sea shells after an idea to turn them into unique jewellery pieces. I experimented with the ones I found, but they were tricky to use as they weren’t a cockle or scallop shell. I was determined to find suitable shells for jewellery, but because I don’t live near the sea-side, I had to wait until next summer.
In between, I had seen painted shells on Pinterest and thought that I could do something similar, but with gems as that related to jewellery more. I needed to think of ideas of how to make the gems stick to the shells, and I came up with the idea of coating the shell in resin, to protect it when being worn as jewellery. I ordered the materials online: UV resin, sparkly gems, a gem picker and new chain to put the shells on once bedazzled.
I experimented with a few shells I already had and the technique I thought of worked perfectly and I made 6 stunning necklaces from the materials:
(Jasmine’s Jewellery May 2024)
The resin also made the shell’s colour appear brighter, as they are now permanently ‘wet’.
A few months later I went on holiday to Spain and collected sea shells on the beach and also bought a pack from the local shop. This basket had some beautiful, colourful and exotic-looking shells inside, which is when I had the idea of naming them after The Little Mermaid characters. Each shell I had perfectly represented each one of the characters, so I bedazzled them with similar gems too:
(Jasmine’s Jewellery Little Mermaid inspired necklace collection 2024)
These necklaces are the pieces of jewellery that I’m most proud of because I had a random wave of inspiration and was determined to make the idea come to life. The technique I imagined worked perfectly, and I was surprised at how well it worked the first time, as I had never used resin before. I had so much fun making them and I proved to myself that when I have an idea, I can accomplish it.
(Jasmine’s Jewellery 2024)
These necklaces were apart of my Summer’24 Collection, but I didn’t end up selling any as my business is very small and it’s hard to reach the right audience. They are still available on my website, but will also be apart of my Summer’25 collection, as the quality will still be the same, and they are a perfect statement piece for the summer.
Thank you so much for reading! I will write more blog posts about other collections soon!
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