The Romantic Rose Collection – which is one of my favourites, and contains several pieces that are customer favourites – has now been around for nearly five years.
It ultimately represents timeless luxury and sustainable elegance, and despite often being promoted as a perfect gift for Valentine’s Day, it definitely doesn’t relate to just one day!
The Inspirational Rose:
The Romantic Rose collection was inspired by my first rose bush – given to me by my mum, that was called “Love Me Do”.
It’s a stunning plant that continues to bloom, despite me forgetting to tend to it sometimes, and always comes out with these gorgeous pale peach roses that smell divine!
Little Rose Stud Earrings
First up I created the Rose Studs – entirely made from one length of round, 0.8mm recycled Sterling Silver wire. You can read more about my use of sustainable materials here.
It took a few tries (with the cheaper copper wire) to work out my strategy and how to make them…. But included twisting the two ends of the wires around each other – to create the look of petals.
Here is a look behind the scenes at making a pair of Romantic Rose Studs:
Here is a look at the final product:
Adding Swarovski Crystals:
I then tried to include little Swarovski Crystals in the designs – with the wire wrapping around them. This was when I discovered just how fragile they really are, and how careful I have to be not to break them. (Yes, a few sadly broke during this testing process. 😦)
This was during the making of the rose and leaf drop earrings, which is also made from one long piece of wire forming both the rose, leaf and the earring hook.
Next up was the Rose & Leaf Pendant. Made very similarly to the drop earrings, but with a ‘D’ shaped loop at the top for a necklace chain to pass through.
So far, all my pendants have been made without the chain. A Sterling Silver or Stainless Steel chain may be bought separately, but I had always assumed that most people have their own necklaces for these pieces.
However, this may change in the future, as I look to consolidate the Curlicue NZ range.
Romantic Rose Rings:
Lastly, (at this stage) I created the Rose Ring. The first time I tried to do it in the copper wire, I added a leaf (see below left). However, later I decided it could be a bit annoying or often get caught on things – so I left it out in the silver version.
I then made a copper version of the rose ring with a large iridescent clear Swarovski Crystal, which turned out like this:
I really like this version, though I’ve never actually made another one, or done a silver version. What do you think? 🤔
Completing the Collection:
Most items of the collection were launched back in autumn of 2016. Then, a few years later, I added the Rose & Leaf bangle, made with thicker half round wire for the bangle part – including a hook, and 0.8mm round wire for the rose and leaf – with the leaf forming the clasp. I was pretty happy with how this one turned out, and it has since become a customer favourite.
All up, the Romantic Rose collection has been both a customer – and one of my own – favourites, since its beginning, so at this stage will continue to be featured on Curlicue NZ.
