Molly

Absolutely nothing to do with jewellery making, but I can't resist a post about my new kitten Molly. My husband Paul is VERY anti cuddly pets, and though I had a cat when we met and married nearly 30 years ago, when it died we never got another pet (apart from fish which leave me cold)!
Our daughter Bryony's friend needed to re home Molly, and Paul very reluctantly agreed we could give her a home......only because she was black and white, his hockey club colours, and because Bryony pulled the sympathy card having just had a major thyroid op!

She is beautiful, funny, and very very very naughty, gets into EVERYTHING, and seeks attention all the time. She was quite bitey and scratchy when she arrived, not surprising as we were her third home in as many weeks in her short life, so I tried the gentling technique, just massaging and stroking every bit of her at every opportunity. She is now pretty cuddly, though still naughty.

If I don't look at you, you won't see me.....

Blending in.......

She has brought fun into the family, already can't imagine life without her....though last week we nearly lost her. The lawn man was driving away in his van when he heard a miaow ...she was in the back of his van!

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Large cabochon sterling silver rings

A friend of mine Denise wears a large labradorite sterling silver ring, some 40mm by 25mm, with gorgeous blue green and grey hues. It's her signature ring that she wears every single day, and it is much admired and commented on. Most of my rings are quite delicate and not to everyone's taste, and I wanted to experiment with something bigger. I bought a labradorite cabochon off ebay, measuring 32mm x 20mm, and sold the ring before I had even made it to a friend of Denise's!

 I had difficulties soldering the bezel to the base, couldn't seem to get the bezel completely flat so there were gaps that the solder wouldn't fill, but all in all am pleased with the finished ring, and my customer loves it.

(The photo below is a rare one of me with reasonable looking nails....they are usually ragged and scruffy from being in the workshop.....one of the only downsides to silver smithing!)

I found some bargain cabochon's whilst visiting my sister Sue is Blandford Forum the other week. We strolled into the town and there is a small shop on the right on the way down the hill into the market square called aurora gems that I hadn't seen before. It sold a right mixture of beads, gemstones, rocks, as well as crystals and some finished jewellery and I found a marquise labradorite cabochon ring for £20 which I couldn't resist.

They didn't have any marquise cabochons for sale but the elderly chap behind the counter produced a tray of stones amongst which were some oval 20 x 10mm cabochons, labradorites, carnelian, aventurine, and jade. They were only around £1 each, (I would normally expect to pay £3 minimum, even as much as £6 for similar stones elsewhere) so I bought most of them.

For the carnelian ring I used some sterling silver D wire for the shank, and cut out the back of the bezel base to let the light shine throught the stone. Just sold my third one of these by word of mouth which is great!

I personally prefer the marquise cut to the oval, and I want to try making one of these next, though I expect it won't be easy to get neat corners like the one I bought, but practice makes perfect!!

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New lovelies

Some new lovelies for my etsy shop Tripoli and Rouge...
This necklace is made from a heart shaped glass cabochon. I have used loose chain from Silvercitybeads which is already oxidised and has a lovely vintage look to it.

This one is forged from a square of sheet silver, which I hammered and shaped to form a coil. I oxidised it for added depth and to make it look vintage. The chain is one of my favourites from Cookson gold, belcher no 3.

This one is made from a pebble of recycled sterling silver. I have left the pebble quite rustic and organic and oxidised, not polished, and I have set it in a scalloped bezel setting. I have been searching for scalloped bezel from a UK supplier and couldn't find any, so had to buy it from the USA. There are so many materials that I struggle to find from UK suppliers, especially some of my favourite cabochons, and invariably have to source from elsewhere which then means buying in small quantities to avoid customs charges.

The scalloped bezel looks lovely but it has it's challenges. It needs to be seamless, with even scallops all round, and I had to stretch it in my roller a few times to get it spot on. Easy to overdo it and waste the bezel strip! Same chain as the heart above, so pretty and goes perfectly with the pendant.

This one I love, I wanted to recreate a seed I found in my garden....I think it is from an ash tree. Starting with sheet silver, I cut out the basic shape using my jewellers saw, and sanded the edges to get them smooth. I made the centre groove first, using a strip of fine wire placed on the silver through my rolling mill, then I put through the mill again with a course feather to get the finer lines. I annealed it before shaping it using pliers. Oxidation emphasises the texture.

And this one, just a simple hammered and domed pendant, with a drop of silver in the base of the dome. Heavily oxidised, and hangs from the belcher no 3 from Cookson gold.

Lastly, a simple twist of 1.5mm sterling silver wire.

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Nature's inspiration

Am always on the lookout for inspiration, usually from nature, and these lovelies are in my studio waiting to be used in some shape or form.

A beautiful heart shaped leaf from Corfu,

Dried seaweed from Corfu,

always a favourite, dandelion seeds,

fading hydrangea petals,

...

and seed pods collected by my friend Sharon, not sure what plant these are from but aren't they gorgeous!

a thistle head,

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Amy and Lily's earrings

For my friend Catherine's two daughters Amy and Lily, bespoke earrings in mixed gold.

I confess up front the overall designs are not mine, Amy showed me photos of earrings she liked, but I have added my own touches.

Amy and Lily are beautiful young ladies who now live in Australia. My youngest Bryony is a similar age so I took some guidance from her. I haven't done much in solid gold so was a little nervous about these...

So some rose gold sheet, 0.50mm, 1mm yellow gold round wire, yellow gold chain, earhooks and jump rings....

I cut the gold sheet into 4 triangles with my jeweller's saw (very carefully!!) 

then spent some time sanding the edges smooth and the corners rounded - could be dangerous otherwise!

I deliberated long and hard about what finish to give them. They needed some texture but I couldn't imagine them hammered, so I decided in the end to reticulate them. This means heating them with the solder torch till the surface bubbles and the gold almost melts. When you remove the heat it leaves a lovely unique rustic organic texture. It was a bit scary though as I wasn't sure how the gold would react - I have reticulated silver many times and it is fairly predictable. The gold sheet was quite thin and I felt that just one second too long and the whole triangle would shrink into a blob. 

Next step was to make holes for hanging. Just bought a Eurotool metal punch that makes both 1.6mm and 2.3mm clean and tidy holes so easily. What a time saver.

 Then for Amy's I used gold wire to makes loops to hang from the earwires.

Joined them to the triangles with gold jump rings - lucky I had spares as they melted to nothing VERY easily!

I normally make my own earwires but these needed to close securely so I bought ready made from Cooksongold (where I buy the majority of my bullion - fantastic service, competitive prices and a great range of products).

Lily's were finished with gold chain instead of wire. I had problems reticulating the second pair, it didn't seem to matter how long I heated them the gold wouldn't bubble how I wanted it to, then again I wanted them to be different from Amy's and so they have a flatter but rougher finish.