Having Fun With A Tucker Tool Shot Plate

I first came across these cool Tucker Tool dies in a Soham Harrison video on YouTube a while ago and immediately loved the decorative balls you could make with them. Then I realized you could only get them from the US and they were a bit hard to get hold of. Monsterslayer.com seemed to be permanently out of stock and another site I found that stocked them didn't reply to my email asking if they posted to the UK.....so I sort of forgot about it for a while.

Then I noticed Monsterslayer.com did have them back in stock and in a moment of over-indulgence ordered one knowing full well the postage was going to be quite high and that I'd have import VAT plus Parcel Force's stupidly high {even higher than Royal Mail's} handling charge on top. So it worked out to be a pretty expensive bit of metal.

You may have noticed the scratches on the plate in the photo......it didn't arrive like that - they were caused by me and a ball burr. But more of that later.

I started by melting some bronze scrap into balls and merrily hammered the first one in one of the holes on the shot plate.

It got stuck....

 So I tried using a fine silver ball to see if that worked any better. That got stuck too. It's recommended that you hammer a nail set or something similar into the back to prise the ball out. I used a centre punch but it wouldn't grip the metal and came out again. I hammered it in again and again but it just wouldn't stick into the metal. I then cut the excess off with a saw {which is why the back is flush with the plate in the photo} and tried heating the whole plate in the hope the silver and bronze would soften and I'd be able to get it out that way. That didn't work either. 

I was now beginning to think this purchase may have been a very expensive mistake! I decided to have another go and yes that ball got stuck too! 

                        The two holes in the back of it are from the centre punch in an attempt to get it out.

 My next attempt did work. The bronze ball was a bit mishaped to begin with which is why it's not perfect and there's a bit of a dent in the top but I'm just grateful it worked!

 I didn't hammer it as hard this time and it came out all by itself. I tried adding a bit of oil to the plate to help and things did improve as I got used to how hard and how many times to hammer the balls. I did manage to produce a few in bronze and fine silver that are usable. 

Then I watched a great YouTube video by Leslie Villarreal that shows how to use the shot plate and how to get the bloody balls out afterwards - I really wish she'd posted it a couple of weeks ago :D 

After watching it I feel more confident in what I'm doing and will have my oil and nail set ready for action next time I have a go!

Copyright © 2015 Cinnamon Jewellery. All rights reserved.

Northumberland

The week before last I spent a few days in lovely Northumberland. I have relatives who live in Ashington {about 18 miles from Newcastle} and although I wish we didn't live at opposite ends of the country it is nice to be able to visit such a beautiful part of the UK to see them.

One of the places I wanted to visit was Seaham in neighbouring County Durham, as it's a beach that's known for its sea glass. It's about half an hour from Ashington and the first thing we saw when we arrived was a beautiful steel sculpture of a WW1 soldier called Tommy on the seafront. It's by Ray Lonsdale and shows the soldier reflecting on the sheer horror of World War One shortly after peace is declared.

The detail and texture is stunning and the rust coloured patina reminds me of the Angel of The North. It was originally meant to be a temporary installation but the residents of Seaham raised money so they could keep it there permanently.

So.......the seaglass. Well I wasn't expecting to leave with a bucket load but I didn't find a lot of seaglass and definitely none of the gorgeous coloured stuff you see if you Google Seaham sea glass!

There are several beaches at Seaham and we tried two of them but I just found a handful of small but still lovely pieces. I managed to find more glass on the beach at Whitley Bay in about 20 minutes than I found at Seaham in a couple of hours. The Seaham glass is more rounded and pebble like compared to the Whitley Bay glass though.

Seaham sea glass. I did find one small yellow piece and some mint and yellow milk glass.

Flatter and less smoothed Whitley Bay sea glass. The pebble with the hole was found at Seaham. The hole is definitely man-made but how old it is I just don't know.

I also found this...

I first thought it was fossilised "worms" but after a bit of investigating on Google I discovered it's fossilised coral.

We also visited the Northumbrian Hedgehog Rescue Trust where my uncle volunteers one morning a week. He helps to clean out the cages and weigh the hedgehogs. I've never been as close up to one before!

Uncle Barry not smiling...I'm sure the hedgehog is though... 

We also visited Durham where we wandered around the shops for a while then went into the cathedral. 

You weren't allowed to take photos inside unfortunately but I noticed some of the columns were made of a black stone full of fossils and were beautiful. I've since found out it's Frosterley Marble, a black limestone similar to this photo.

Photo: Iain Biggs

We also drove up to Kelso in the Scottish borders, ate 99's and a mountain of fish, chips and mushy peas. I'd been looking for some fudge to bring back with me and hadn't managed to find any until we got to Newcastle train station on my way back home where there were a few stalls selling handmade stuff and fudge! It was made by a company called The Northumbrian Fudge Parlour and I tried the Chocolate and Caramel flavour. It was the most delicious fudge I've ever tasted. Sadly they don't seem to sell online or I would have put in a bulk order!

Copyright © 2015 Cinnamon Jewellery. All rights reserved.

New Torch Enamel Project In Making Jewellery Magazine

I was on holiday last week but just before I went away to the land of beautiful sandy beaches and castles - Northumberland in other words - I had another step-by-step torch enamel project in issue 81 of Making Jewellery!

The magazine came out on May 28 and this time the theme for our projects was "tropical".

I decided to go for a colourful combination of orange and seafoam opaque enamel colours and make a hoop style earring with turquoise jasper bead decoration on the earwires. As we have to provide three pieces I also made another pair of earrings with turquoise jasper dangles and a pendant with {you've guessed it!} turquoise jasper bead links.

I've done a few projects for magazines now but I still get a little thrill every time I see one of my projects finished and published!

Copyright © 2015 Cinnamon Jewellery. All rights reserved.