Extremes

Whoa, three posts in a week! I'm spoiling you...

I have been at the extremes of my jewellery making spectrum this week. These first three items - although good little earners, don't exactly stretch me.

A memory wire bracelet, commissioned for a young man (8) to give as a birthday present to a young lady he has a soft spot for:


Then two spectacle chains. They continue to be the Google search that brings the majority of people to my website, so I really must get more on there. I practicaly sold out before Christmas!



Then two sets. The first one features lampwork beads by my chum, Suzy Hannabuss. I fell in love with the colours in the focal and even though I'm not usually too keen on 'bumpy' beads, I had to have this one and its accompanying spacers.


It is teamed with some fabulous Thai Hill Tribe beads, loads of Swarovski crystals and sterling silver tubes.

I have named it Tyuratam - the place where Sputnik was launched from in October 1957.

As an aside, I love the mini-adventures I have when naming my pieces. I usually have some sort of idea what I'm going to call something as I'm making it, but I then like to take it off at a slight tangent... which involves delving into the thesaurus, Brewers dictionary of phrase and fable and Google. I know all sorts of facts as a result that I don't suppose I will ever need in my day to day life... but I'm getting pretty good at quizzes!

The last one to show you, showcases the work of the supremely talented Isabelle Anderson. I adore Izzy's beads and have to really sit on my hands not to click and buy way more of her beads. I bought these back in November and already had an idea how I was going to use them, but then had to wait for the Christmas rush and the move to the new workspace to get to it. Then, I ran out of chain and had to wait for that to arrive... But, at last here is Tribal Arcs:

Tribal - because Izzy named the beads 'One Tribe' and the Arcs is pretty self-explanatory. I have hammered the curves of silver to give them texture and strength. I think when you have such wonderful beads to work with, they don't want to be fussed over, but shown in a way that gives the spotlight to the bead in an interesting way.

The same goes for the earrings, which I have simply teamed with a couple of sterling silver beads and dangled from my favourite large kidney earwires.

So, what are you up to this weekend? Now we've got the accounts out of the way, I'm hoping we can have some fun. Maybe the cinema - there seems to a loads of good films out at the moment. Brian mentioned doing a bit of gardening... but that's not exactly my idea of fun!

Hope whatever you're doing, you have fun.

Take care and much love to all. xx

First items from the new workshop!

Do you think it's ever going to warm up? Ever again? I'm so fed up with being cold, aren't you? I've got the new heater in the workshop, and it's a bit warmer but it's still quite cold in here. Hey ho. Remind me of this when I'm moaning about being too hot in the summer, won't you!

Anyway, I've finally got round to making some jewellery! Just a pair of earrings, but it's a start. This is a design I've had in my sketch book for months, just waiting for time to get to it. I'm pleased with how they turned out and will probably make some more.

I have shaped and hammered the curves to give them texture - they really catch the light well. The beads are faceted Amethyst rondelles.

The next two photographs are of a project I did in my silversmithing class. We had to make beads. The first one is copper.

It started life as two squares which I textured with a tiny 0 punch and then domed. I then turned the corners and soldered them together.

The next one was as a result of me not wanting to do what I was told (nothing changes!). The idea was to make a round bead. So, you cut out two circles of silver, dome them and then solder them together. But, my urge was to kick against the norm and so I soldered my hemisphere's back to back to make a sort of egg cup shape.

I incorporated it into this necklace, with Tanzanite coloured Swarovski crystals nestling into the cups. The rest of the necklace is (ready made) sterling silver beads and smaller Tanzanite Swarovski Crystals.

We started on the etching project on Monday - it was very exciting - and I've bought some bits and bobs to have a go at doing some at home too. It's a bit scary as it uses strong chemicals, but I promise I'll be careful!

Hope you've got a lovely weekend planned. We're going to be doing accounts :-( Hey ho, it has to be done.

Whatever you are up to, have fun and keep warm!

Much love xx