Mary Tucker's Trinket Boxes

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Difficulty:

Category: Jewelry

Type of item: Accessory

For: Women

Style: Romantic, Cute, Classic, Traditional

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Materials

sterling and fine silver, silver beads, pearls, smoky quartz beads

What was your inspiration?

Mary Tucker is an amazing artist and exceptional designer. So I keep coming back to her website http://wiredelements.com/ to look at her beautiful pieces over and over, marveling about their intricacies and perfection - and read about the design process behind them.

I made these vessels when Mary first published her Trinket Box Tutorial on her TheAngstyArtist-blog. She has a new website now and also offers it for free there : http://wiredelements.com/learning-center/free-tutorials/trinket-box-tutorial/. But make sure that you'll also have a look at her gorgeous jewelry and her wonderful blog -and be prepared to spend many hours there :).

The silver box is is the only one I made in silver (fine silver for the vessel, sterling for the beadcaps). The beadcaps for the necklace are very much inspired by Perri Jackson's (ShaktipajDesigns) work: For some I used her Periwinkle Beadcap Tutorial (http://www.etsy.com/listing/114684491/holiday-sale-periwinkle-bead-cap?), for others what I've learnt from her Rose of Sharon Tutorial (http://www.etsy.com/listing/112055690/holiday-sale-rose-of-sharon-coiled?).
The netted beads (8mm faceted smoky quartz) are inspired by Delia Stone's work: http://www.deliastone.com/

I love the sphere shape and the bead embellishment (2mm smoky quartz beads for the silver box, 3mm garnet beads, 2mm copper beads and 2mm pearls for the copper boxes).

What are you most proud of?

It's really a challenge to make both halves fit and sit flush to each other. It took a few attempts and several practice pieces, but finally I'm entirely happy with it. Both halves fit almost perfectly all around the box and I love the combination of silver, smoky quartz and pearls.

What advice would you give someone starting this project?

Begin with the shape Mary shows in her tutorial. Hinge and clasp need practice. Then experiment with different shapes and different weaves. Mary shows some awesome pieces on her old blog, http://www.theangstyartist.blogspot.de/, mostly in the 2010 archive section.