Christmas Wishes!

Image: Leo Reynolds on Flickr

Now that the madness associated with selling online at Christmas has gently drawn to a close... but not after two last minute make-them-and-get-them-in-the-post-today bangles I wanted to say a big Christmas thank you! to everyone of my customers this year. It's been a great year for selling and despite sometimes just wanting to stop making findings/earrings/bangles and the packaging I also make for them to go in, and just go and veg out in front of the TV, I really have enjoyed every minute of it!

I also wanted to wish everyone who reads and comments on this blog and those who have emailed me to ask questions or just for a chat about making jewellery a very Merry Christmas and thank you for making it feel like it's worth it. 

••♥••

And Relax...........

photo courtesy of Andy Beal Photography

www.govisithawaii.com

After what has felt like weeks of making made to order bangles and findings, deleting items sold on one site from the other two sites they are also listed on, packing orders and printing postage labels, walking to the post box, and dealing with queries, the Christmas rush is now over..... or at least it will be when I get one last bangle made and in the post by the end of today. This has been my best Christmas selling-wise so far. My copper and silver bangles have been a big hit so I'm so glad I had a go at making a bangle in jewellery class last year when I didn't know what else to make!

Now it's just the pre-Christmas induced twitchiness of "can you tell me when my order will arrive?" type of queries to deal with. I've had three so far and after reassuring the buyers that their item should turn up soon and asking them to be patient (nicely) two have turned up and the other (in France) hasn't got back to me since so hopefully the item has arrived.

 I understand the buyers' anxiousness completely and try to put myself in their shoes when replying to their messages. Buying from a small independant online seller can be a risk at times but the majority are hard-working, honest people who are over-joyed to share their creations with their buyers. I know I am.

To mark the start of getting back to doing "normal" things instead of having my head full of all things jewellery, I went out with friends yesterday for Christmas lunch. We went to a buffet style Pan Asian place called Cosmo in Eastbourne. It's very popular and you can eat as much as you like. We did take full advantage of that and began with some starters like battered prawns, sesame toast and satay chicken. Then we hit the hard stuff and went for beef in black bean sauce, chicken with cashew nuts, Thai-style pork, egg fried rice and lots of noodles. I finished with a slice of chocolate cake.  They also had a chocolate fountain! I was in heaven and had to restrain myself from putting my head in it a la Dawn French in The Vicar of Dibley! I did try a couple of marshmallows dipped in it though. Delicious. The diet starts in the new year...... :D

Cuttlebone Cast Silver Pendant

I mentioned a while ago that I'd been doing some cuttlebone casting at my jewellery night class and that I would post about it. Well this is the pendant I made from the cast silver. You wouldn't know it was cast from a cuttlefish bone really but I did learn several things by making it including what not to do when tube setting!

I took some scrap silver in to college to use for the casting rather than pay for casting grains and made my mould in the cuttlebone. I went for a simple rectangle shape just to keep it simple rather than try to create a more intricate design that possibly wouldn't work. My first mistake was to use all the scrap silver I'd taken in - all 35g of it! It took forever to melt in the crucible and at one point there were two of us with two torches going at it. I actually gave up at one point then realized that the silver was stuck in the crucible so I'd have to carry on and get it flowing. Eventually (after about 20 mins) the silver scrap started to melt and it could be poured into the cuttlebone mould. Part of the cuttlebone snapped off at the bottom as it was too thin but I did end up with this....

 It was thicker than I hoped but what a lovely texture! I wanted to thin it down a bit as I was hoping to sell whatever I made and didn't want it to be over 7.78g otherwise I would need to get it hallmarked so I took the thing with the beautiful texture and flattened it in the rolling mill!

I then cut a shield shape out of it and added a partial heart cut out at the side. I soldered on a bail and a silver ball. The silver ball took three attempts - the first time I soldered it to the back of the bail by mistake, the second there wasn't enough solder and it came off so I did it again at home. I usually need to sort out things at home as soldering in class always seems to go wrong for some reason.
In the meantime we were shown how to tube set so I thought I'd add a tube set faceted gemstone to the pendant. My first attempt didn't go too well. I forgot about the culet (the pointy bit at the bottom of the gemstone) and cut my tube too short! So when I set it the culet touched the pendant and the gemstone skewed over to the side slightly. I also used a setting punch which was too big and left a lovely ring stamped around the base of the tube on the pendant. I'd been so engrossed in looking at the gemstone when I was setting it I didn't even notice the stamped ring. So after swearing quite a bit and sanding out the stamped ring this is what it looked like after I'd oxidized it.....

You can see in this photo how the gemstone isn't level. I finished it but wasn't really happy but when I took it into class everyone said it looked ok and you couldn't see it wasn't completely level. I was sort of reassured but as I wanted to sell it and knowing it wasn't "right" I decided to sort it out and start again. So here it is with the stone and tube setting removed, cleaned up and new tube setting soldered on...

Putting it through the rolling mill did flatten the texture a lot but it still has some texture plus I was able to sand the bottom part smoother making it easier to solder the tube setting onto it. I finished it by setting a stabilized turquoise cab into the tube setting and oxidizing it.

I was quite glad to see it finished to be honest! I seemed to spend weeks working on it. I listed it in my Etsy shop and it sold earlier this week and is now on it's way to California. 

Goodbye my first cast and tube set pendant, you drove me completely nuts but thank you for teaching me what not to do :D

Rolling Mill Textures - Leaf Skeletons

Last time I blogged about the Durston rolling mill I'd just bought. I love it. I haven't had a chance to really have a play with it yet thanks to being busy with orders (which is a good thing!) But I hope to have a good old go on it soon. I received some textured cards today from Rolling Mill Resource, a wonderful shop on Etsy. The cards are specially textured for use with a rolling mill or metal clay and are available in lots of cool designs and sizes. Here's one of the designs I choose.....

I was really pleased to see that the shop owner Tracey Perseverance Johnson had included a couple of extra patterns too which was very kind of her. So I'm slowly collecting textures to try with the rolling mill. I have some brass texture plates and some very fine netting (it's probably got a proper name but I'm no seamstress so haven't got a clue!) I also have a couple of embossing folders that you use to add raised texture and patterns to paper and card. They are made of sturdy plastic and if I can cut them so they fit the width of my rollers I'll have a go with those too. I'm also interested to see what twisted wire looks like when flattened. So I think I'm going to enjoy experimenting with my favourite piece of machinery :D

I did try some copper and sterling silver with the leaf skeletons I've had for a while and here's what I made with the results...

A pair of simple studs in oxidized finish. I love these and must make myself a pair! I also made a pair in a bright silver finish too. 

Copper leaf earrings with tube set stabilized turquoise and fine silver balls. I'm still finding tube setting a challenge as I think I'm a bit gung-ho with the grinding of the seat and struggle a bit to get the stone to fit sometimes without a lot of trying the fit and re-doing the grinding bit then making a mess and having to start again! I was the same with cabochon setting at first but I got there in the end. Tube setting is supposed to be "easy" according to some people. One day I will be one of those people  :D

A sterling silver leaf pendant with tube set moonstone. I love moonstone. It goes really well with oxidized silver and this tube setting was easy to do compared to the copper earrings which gave me a false sense of security.....but not for long!

 I will post more on rolling mill textures as soon as I get a chance.