I finished my fiddliest project to date today, a pair of Victorian inspired silver earrings with lovely big blue spinel stones for one of my aunties. Normally when I make these, I use 7x5mm or 8x6mm cabochons, but these spinels are a whopping 11x9mm and faceted to boot! So rather than make a bezel from sheet silver soldered to the central oval of the earring, I cut it out entirely and made a mount from wire. Quite tricky, but worth the effort, I think. 🙂
The three of us got together today for the first time in ages, and spent a lovely sunny day making things. Pauline on wirework, Sally on beading and Mel on silver clay monograms.
Oh, and I finally got to make some more poison bottles. Some filled with pure silver dust and the others with blood. Not real, obviously. Still, a great accessory for all the vampire lovers out there. Just a fiver each on a silk and chiffon necklace or plaited hemp.
My mother-in-law is seventy in a few weeks and has been irritatingly unhelpful in giving us any ideas as to what she might like as a gift. It’s a family joke that she’s a bit of an old witch, so I thought I’d make her a witchy themed brooch for her new coat 🙂
I’ve been running a few ideas around my head, but none seemed right, wearable or within my capabilities. I made a ring using hammered 2mm silver wire yesterday, and thought it had great potential as a broomstick handle…
Rather than skinny bendable bristles, I thought a representation of them would work, so made these from the same wire, curled and hammered.
When I was happy with the shape, I sawed it in two and soldered the two pieces into shallow grooves filed into the broom handle. And that, dear reader, is as far as I have got! It’s bathing in the pickle while I have a nice cup of tea and a late lunch while reading the paper in the sunshine…
A bit more hammering to hide the joint…
And a handmade brooch fitting, a polish and we’re almost done. A little twist of silver wire to represent the twine tying it all together, and that’s job done 🙂
I wasn’t feeling spectacularly inspired today, and not terribly well either, truth be told. Still, I had a bee in my bonnet to make this ring, and I have to say it came out as good as I’d hoped although it’s practically impossible to photograph well. The silver ring has a satin hammered finish to subtly frame the carbon and glass cabochon – I wanted a more industrial look to the ring to suit the material. Of course I may well decide to polish to a high shine later!
One of my lovely brothers makes carbon fibre bodywork for a top F1 team, and last time I went to his factory I scrounged some scraps to have a play with. As well as making some guitar picks which are being tested by friends before I launch them for sale, I’ve finally got all the bits together to start making shinies. I’m planning rings and all sorts, but here’s today’s effort, a simple silver coloured pendant.
My lovely cousin-in-law gave me this stone as one of the contenders for her Cariad necklace, so I thought I’d make it into a delicate ring. Up until now, I’ve made just a simple bezel setting and then soldered it to a plain ring band, but it’s time for a change! The band on this pretty ring has a small-scale hammered texture to add to the delicate feel.
One of my printing blocks featured a small poison bottle complete with label. I made a bottle with copper clay and the tag with silver, but it just didn’t look quite right! So I ditched the copper bottle and filled a tiny glass one with silver dust, glued the top on and wired the tag to that. I made the silver findings too, and fixed them to some lovely grey velvet ribbon. Looks rather good, I think! I have some more ideas on the poison bottle theme, so do watch this space…
I recently treated myself to some vintage printing blocks and made this skull from copper clay. Beardy reckons it would make a good guitar pick and I think he is dropping hints for a silver one for his birthday!
Garnet, Citrine, Yellow Sapphire, Emerald, Topaz, Sapphire & Amethyst Silver Ring.
Spiny Sharkly Things 