Monday, 30 May 2011

A Bit Of A Featured Thing Going On!

There's definitely a featured thing going on at the moment - a pair of my earrings on fellow Folksy seller Linda's blog Uniquely Yours, one of the Featured Sellers on Folksy for the next two weeks (I'm thrilled about that, does it mean I've "arrived"?!) and a request for a feature on Handmade With Passon UK, a handmade directory and blog run by Crystal Clarke.


I'll have to start wearing dark glasses when I go to Sainsbury's at this rate................... :D





Friday, 27 May 2011

Silver-Filled Wire ~ An Affordable Alternative To Sterling

Browsing through the latest edition of Step By Step Wire Jewelry the other night I saw an article that mentioned silver-filled wire. I'd heard of gold-filled wire but not silver. I read a bit more and discovered silver-filled wire is pretty new and sounds like a great alternative to the much more expensive sterling silver wire.

So how is it different to silver plated wire I thought? Silver-filled has a thicker coating of sterling silver bonded to a copper or brass base. It can be hammered, oxidised and tumbled just like sterling and I should imagine it's less likely to wear off like plated wire can. I'm liking it more and more! Another plus is if you can wear sterling silver jewellery you'll be fine with silver-filled too.

I've just ordered some 20g from Etsy shop Cigarbox Supplies and at £4.36 for 19.5 ft it works out a hell of a lot less than sterling. I contacted another Etsy seller who uses it and asked her opinion - she loves it and said it behaves just like pure sterling wire. I'm not sure if it's available in the UK yet (probably not, maybe in a year or two!)

I can't wait for it to arrive so I can experiment and see for myself! Watch this space for an update in a week or two!

*Photo courtesy of Cigarbox Supplies

Tuesday, 10 May 2011

Just Photographed!

I thought I'd make the most of our continuing freakishly good weather, although we may get rain in East Sussex tomorrow so they say which is kind of more like it, and photograph the last few pairs of earrings I've made. I hate taking photographs so am always relieved when it's over!

A couple of sterling pairs, a riveted copper disc pair and a pair of torch enamel discs.....................


Sugilite jasper, freshwater pearl and silver disc

Turquoise jasper and sterling silver


Riveted copper discs with green impression jasper


Opalescent green (which looks blue!) and opaque enamel discs