Charmed

Sprinkled with pearls, hearts, stars and gemstones full of symbolism, a charm bracelet is the ultimate in meaningful jewellery. Following the development of modern jewellery-making methods that do not require soldering, and the craze for customising that has brought a cornucopia of contemporary charms to the market, the new jeweller now has the chance to make long-lasting, pretty, high-quality pieces at home. In her first book, accomplished contemporary jeweller Gabriella Sellors shows you how to design and create your own beautiful pieces using a wide variety of inexpensive materials and charms, such as faux pearls, freshwater coloured pearls, glass, semi-precious stones, and silver and gold charms. Gabriella begins with a glossary of charms and their meanings, and also provides a masterclass in creating and designing charms, showing you which materials work best with each other and which set each off. The main projects feature 50 designs for charm bracelets, necklaces, earrings and rings, as well as bag and mobile phone charms. Through chapters 'Protection and Healing', 'Love', 'Zodiac' and 'Colour', she shows you how to create charms for every occasion - charms for friendship, birthstone charms for birthdays and semi-precious charms for protection against negative energy. She also makes use of new charms on the market to personalise gifts for friends and family - a fairy charm for a friend's safety while travelling, handbag and shoe charms for your shopping-mad friend, and a series of symbolic flower charms for a bouquet of bridal charms. Including ethnic charms from the Orient, such as jade, coins, amber and the characters for love, hope, peace and joy, as well as designs for the traditional Western celebrations of anniversaries, holidays, coming of age and friendship, the book is a compendium of practical advice and inspiration for you to create unique pieces of lasting beauty.